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America. Hello. Are you there? I have a question. How did this happen?
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Another 2.6 million people slipped into poverty in the United States last year. (2010)
Nearly one-third of the American middle class--mostly families with children--have fallen into poverty
46 Million people are now living below the official poverty line. The highest number in 52 years.
Nearly 16 Million of these people are children. |
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I wonder sometimes if we fully comprehend the magnitude of these numbers. Let me see if I can describe these statistics
in a more visual way. I'll start with the kids. Let's say we've invited our nearly
16 Million kids to the
movies. We are going
to meet them at the Bijou Movie Theatre in Washington DC. As it happens, we arrive late and find all of our kids standing
in line waiting for the doors to open. We are politely asked to go to the back of the line. No cuts allowed. Know where
the end of the line is? I'll bet you'll never guess. The line formed by our kids, as an example, would go from Washington DC
to Los Angeles, CA to Austin, TX to New Orleans, LA to Tampa, FL and then back to where we started. Washington, DC
The line is actually 6,060 miles long. (Assuming kids spaced 24 inches apart ) Our
6000 mile trip would look like this.
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Let me express this another way. If it were possible to drive at a constant 60MPH, our 6,060 mile trip would take about
101 hours. During every single minute of those 101 hours, we would pass by 2,640 of our kids. If that line was extended to
include all of our 46 Million people living in poverty, that line would be...wait for it.......
SEVENTEEN THOUSAND, FIVE HUNDRED MILES LONG. ( 17,500 miles assuming 24 inch spacing )
By comparison, our planet has a circumference of 24,900 miles. And our 60MPH road trip would now take about 12 days.
These facts should have you outraged. Oh where, on Earth, is Howard Beale when you need him.
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Is there not a moral imperative here to act on this outrage? The level of poverty in our country is nearly incomprehensible.
How could we have allowed this to happen. It is a tragedy. The manner in which we treat our citizens is a reflection of our
national identity and what it means to be an American. This poverty crisis should be seen as a national embarrassment.
We should deeply saddened. We should be ashamed of ourselves. And we should have tears in our eyes. I know I do.
I believe that any serious effort to confront this problem should start with education. Until we, as a Nation, and our leaders
and would be leaders have a full and complete understanding of just what it means to live in poverty, we will never adequately
address these appalling conditions. Several years ago I saw an HBO movie entitled "LaLee’s Kin: The Legacy of Cotton"
It was nominated for an Academy Award in the "Best Documentary" category. It is the saddest movie I have ever seen.
It is a powerful depiction of what it means to live in abject poverty. And it illustrates, in an extraordinarily clear way, the
importance of education. A clip of this movie can be seen here.
The movie follows a Mississippi school district and LaLee Wallace, a 62 year old great-grandmother struggling to
hold her world together in the face of dire poverty. You see her tell her distraught granddaughter that she may have
a nickel and a few pennies for her to buy her school supplies. Those supplies? A few sheets of paper and a pencil.
I'm going to say that one more time. Buying a few sheets of paper and a pencil is a struggle. She has no running water
and must haul her water in empty milk jugs that she fills at a local facility. And that doesn't even begin to describe how
just how difficult her life is. This poor lady will break your heart. And that's a promise. At the local school, you hear about
children arriving for class that don't know their own name. Children that don't understand the concept of color and that
it is a description of, well, the color red for instance. This is gut wrenching stuff.
If you see this movie, and when you regain your composure, which you will surely lose, you'll be tempted
to ask who, in our government, it was that should have been representing her and looking out for her
I guess she must have voted for someone that didn't really care about her and her grandchildren. That is if
she did actually, you know, vote. Well, it turns out that one of the people elected to represent her at the time
was Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott. Well, that should tell you something. If someone as powerful as the good
Senator couldn't find help for these people, then this will be a really difficult problem to solve. Safety net indeed. |
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So, why have we not been able to adequately address our poverty
crisis?
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"This Idea That Americans Are Going To Bed Hungry" Is Not True -- "You Can Survive Off" Rice And Beans
FOX News host Sean Hannity
"Poor In America Is Not Poor Like Around The Rest Of The World"
FOX News host Sean Hannity
"I'm not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there."
Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney
"I don't want to make black people's lives better by giving them somebody else's money."
Presidential Candidate Rick Santorum
"You know, we should not be giving cash to people who basically are just going to blow it on drugs and not take care of their own children."
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah)
"You know, people are poor in America ... not because they lack money; they're poor because they lack values, morals and ethics."
Radio personality Bill Cunningham
"You gotta look people in the eye and tell 'em they're irresponsible and lazy .... Because that's what poverty is, ladies and gentlemen."
FOX News host Bill O’Reilly
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The
above are just a few actual quotes from some well known figures. The
ignorance
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and cruelty displayed by comments such as these is despicable.
And it indicates that.........
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Ok, here's a
communication from someone who would never have scapegoated the poor.
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More
communication for those unfortunate and sometimes greedy souls who just don't get it.
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LINKS |
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Child Fund
National Center for Children in Poverty
Children's Defense Fund
First Focus Campaign for Children
Planet Hope
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The Children's Aid Society
Feeding America.
The Southern Poverty Law Center
U.S. Anti-Poverty Organizations
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Think Poverty
is a poverty awareness campaign from Mitchell Yards Inc. a
non-profit organization 501(c) status pending
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and from David L. Aho -
Metal Sculptor and Proprietor of the Mitchell Engine House
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The
Mitchell Engine House Restoration and Rebirth as an Arts and Learning
Center Project
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