The Particular Struggle of the Poor
October 25, 2007
Let me lead today with the words of a college student, Alyssa Katharine Ritz Battistoni, quoted in The Nation:
“The invocation of the American dream is more disingenuous than inspiring these days; the America that we're inheriting is one that treats its own residents disgracefully. Poor people have become second-class citizens, and the stigma attached to poverty is justified by the illusion that we live in a meritocracy. Segregation is acceptable as long as it's rationalized by socioeconomic status, since that is supposedly determined by a person's choices in life. We don't like to admit that it helps to have been born into the right neighborhood, race, gender, family.”
Alyssa is onto something very important. It is so true that our “fates” are so closely linked to the roll of the dice that results from the simplest and first life determinant – the geography of our birth. Where we are born and to whom have overwhelming impact on how well we do financially and socially.
We are intrigued and inspired by stories of those who “pull themselves up by their bootstraps.” But these tales are few because the odds are so steep against even the most determined. I often wonder, for every story of success – moving from poverty to wealth – how many other stories are there about people who have been every bit as determined and tried every bit as hard, but simply did not have the breaks fall their way? They are left pretty much where they started. We just don’t hear their stories.
One more quote from Alyssa: “What it really comes down to is not morality or work ethic but that some of us have sufficient resources to cushion us from our mistakes and others do not. For millions of Americans, one fluke event can turn a delicate balancing act into financial free-fall. And when the government doesn't provide an adequate safety net, it's a long way down to the bottom.”
So true. We all – rich and poor alike – make mistakes and bad choices. Those of low income simply do not have the resources to recover like those with sufficient wherewithal.
Check out Alyssa’s entire article at this link.
An Example
This recent article points out that Alabama ranks third in the nation in fire-related deaths. Poverty has a role here too, according to a health department educator: “Durham said poverty played into Alabama's high death rate.
Rural counties have mostly volunteer fire departments that aren't as well equipped as municipal departments, he said. Response times in thinly populated rural areas can be longer. And there also are fewer fire hydrants in rural communities.”
More About Geography
This time it’s about health disparities. This study looks at those disparities in terms of race and county. This writer suggests that addressing health disparities cannot be dealt with by policy simply on the basis of location. “Complex social pathologies associated with modern epidemics of obesity, alcoholism, and smoking compel us to think more contextually and seek insights at the level of systems,” he writes.
Those systems operate within the context of income, however. For instance, “Although there have been dramatic decreases in smoking in the US, most of the benefit has gone to the upper rungs of society.” Read more to draw your own conclusions. Wonks will love this one!
Still More on Geography
The Delta Regional Authority is doing work to address poverty in a geographic areas shared by Alabama, Mississippi, and six other states. They realize that the problems they face are rooted largely in an outdated economic model. The DRA bears watching. Read more about their latest conclusions here.
And Then Two More Related to Students
This article from The Crimson White at the University of Alabama contains an inspiring story of a single mom who is working full time and going to school full time. But it also reports an alarming increase in the numbers of single mothers in our state, that a 2006 U.S. Census report indicates there are “149,388 single female householders in Alabama raising children under the age of 18 - more than double the 73,882 single moms in 2000.”
Now there’s a challenging statistic.
And students at Auburn are desperately needed to respond to the annual “Auburn-Alabama Food Fight” this year. According to this story, food supplies at the Food Bank of East Alabama are at the lowest level since 2002. It seems that demand is up and distribution is greater, all at a time when the bank faces a problem common to food banks around the nation.
You might not expect this as one reason: “Food companies have also become more efficient, putting fewer labels on upside down, and selling dented cans and similar food items to secondary market retailers instead of food banks,” according to the article.
One Final Quotation
"Because things are the way they are, things will not stay the way they are." Bertolt Brecht
That’s true, and I get some encouragement from Brecht here. But I also hear a challenge - to work toward the kind of change I would like to see.
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