Poverty By America

Adult nonfiction 

     "Why is there so much poverty in America?  I wrote this book because I needed an answer to that question.  For most of my adult life, I have researched and reported on poverty.  I have lived in very poor neighborhoods, spent time with people living in poverty around the country, pored over statistical studies and government reports, listened to and learned from community organizers and union reps, drafted public policy, read up on the history of the welfare state and city planning and American racism, and taught courses on inequality at two universities.  But even after all that, I still felt that I lacked a fundamental theory of the problem, a clear and convincing case as to why there is so much hardship in this land of abundance."

     Why indeed, in the richest nation in the world do are so many people forced to subsist under levels of poverty we associate with much less developed countries?  I'm sure most of us have pondered this question.  Luckily Mathew Desmond has put his serious drive and academic experience behind seeking the answer, resulting in Poverty By America.

     If Desmond's name sounds familiar awhile back we read his Pulitzer Prize winning Evicted:  Poverty and Profit in the American City.  

     Not surprisingly, in a nation sipping on the Kool-aid of the meritocracy myth and the just world theory, many people blame the poor.  If they weren't so lazy and unmotivated, if they made better decisions...  Many blame politicians...the other party of course.  Still others see it as a tragedy we don't have the resources to solve.

     Desmond checks none of the above on that multiple choice.  

     "To understand the causes of poverty, we must look beyond the poor.  Those of us living lives of privilege and plenty must examine ourselves.  Are we--the secure, the insured, the housed, the college educated, the protected, the lucky--connected to all this needless suffering?  This book is my attempt to answer that question, addressed to that 'we.'  Which makes this a book about poverty that is not just about the poor.  Instead, it's a book about how the other other half lives, about how some lives are made small so that others may grow."

     Some lives are made small so that others may grow.  I have never before seen this relationship summed up so perfectly.  What jumped to my mind was how Upward Bound, a program that helps extremely motivated and hard working first generation and low income high school students get help to get admitted to and succeed in college is having its funds cut while politicians are striving to make permanent the huge tax cuts given to the wealthiest and most powerful.  I bet if you try you can come up with a similar juxtaposition that really angers you.

     Desmond explains ways in which the poor are prevented from rising not because they make poor choices, but because they have no better choices.  He reminds us that despite the stereotype of the poor Black recipient, most welfare payments go to whites at or near the top of the wealth pyramid.  But the most important part of the book is the part of the book where he discusses personal responsibility on the part of the haves.  The resources do exist to end the scourge of poverty.  It's up to us to make sure they're diverted into this direction.

     In the end we'll also be helping ourselves.  Right before his epilogue Desmond asks us to ponder the following questions:

     "How many artists and poets has poverty denied us?  How many diplomats and visionaries?  How many nurses and engineers and scientists?  Think of how many more of us would be empowered to thrive if we tore down the walls, how much more vibrant and forward-moving our country would be."

     This very important book needs to be in all public and college and university libraries.

On a purrrsonal note, Eugene and I had our plans to spend the weekend at camp 🏕 undone by Mother Nature.  We're in the middle of a rainy 🌧 spell.  We did go out for breakfast and a ride.  We stopped in a town's local hardware store.  I really miss the one that used to be in Orono.  I think that patronizing the local stores that pay decent wages and offer dignified jobs rather than the exploitative big box ogres fits in with Desmond's vision.  (Jules)

Rain, rain, go away.  

Let the birdies come out and play.  (Tobago)

A great big shout out goes out to Desmond for his commitment to getting at the truth and sharing it with the rest of us.

Tobago and Jules Hathaway 

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