Why We Hate The Poor, Part II

By TIM KILLEEN

Yesterday, I started a discussion about a provocative subject: our hatred of the poor. I'd like to expand upon, and explain, that statement a little bit. Saul Friedman's piece about the War on Poverty shows just what a dismal failure it has been. Estimates state that there are some 50 million poor people in our country (that is, people living below or hovering just above the poverty line). For any country, such a number would be inconvenient and unfortunate. For the most prosperous and charitable country in the world, the number is an embarrassing tragedy.

It's not difficult to feel both pity and disdain for a beggar on the street. We are a nation built upon an "up-by-your-own-bootstraps, self-made" capitalist mentality- a mentality that has, in many ways, proven itself to be extraordinary and has attracted immigrants from around the world. At the same time, we are a generous nation with great principles and morals ingrained into our very founding documents. This creates in us both a sense that we'd like to help the poor and a sense that the poor should just help themselves. One reader, questioning my somewhat overly-dramatic title, sums it up perfectly:

Hate the poor. Perhaps hate is not the correct term. I believe most people are completely apathetic toward the poor among us. We look away when we see a person asleep on the street maybe because we don't understand how someone got there. We tolerate their presence because it is not something that can be fixed with batteries, a new sd card or cable. It would require something of us.

Our history with poverty portrays those exact contradictory feelings quite perfectly. We have created programs such as Medicaid, Food Stamps and WIC, as well as set up thousands of food banks, homeless shelters and community aid clinics throughout our country. Still, however, we have cut government funding for public assistance, mental health clinics and unemployment assistance when we knew that the people who would be affected wouldn't make any big waves about it in the election booths. We've all heard the expression "the true measure of a civilization is the way it treats its weakest citizens" and it can be argued that our national actions reflect the uncomfortable feelings and underlying resentment we feel every time we're asked to spare some change.

With all the good we've done- and we've done a lot!- the fact of 50 million poor Americans still exists and ties into many other problems like public and mental health issues, drug and alcohol abuse, single-parent households, education, crime rates and many others. Our treatment of the homeless and the hungry sits as an embarrassing pockmark on the otherwise fairly solid record we hold as a nation. Though we've tried, we clearly either haven't tried enough or haven't tried the right things. In Part III of this discussion, I'll look at the ways we can move forward to fix the abysmal botch of a job we've done on poverty. Please feel free to comment on this quick snapshot of where we're at and check in later to discuss possible solutions.

Why We Hate The Poor, Part I

By TIM KILLEEN

A lot of things go into determining what I write about on any given day. Often times, as may be obvious, I find something interesting written by a journalist or a blogger and try to comment and expand upon it. At other times, I may have a conversation or come across an idea in my everyday interactions that spark an interest. Sometimes, it's a combination of things.

This weekend, I was out with a friend who recently graduated with a Masters Degree in Social Work and our conversation turned to the provision of social services in our country, especially when states are feeling the harsh effects of the recession and are in financial ruin (especially our own State of Illinois). I noted that social services, in general, have always seemed to me to be a direct counter to the argument that the free market is best equipped to deal with any situation. I don't see a lot of venture capitalists jumping at the chance to offer HIV/AIDS treatment to the urban poor or to quell rising unemployment rates in Appalachia.

The next day, while sitting down to write my first post of the week, I came across this piece by Saul Friedman discussing the War on Poverty and its silent, but sure, demise. While looking at the history of poverty-killing measures throughout the last 50 odd years, I was reminded of my conversation with my friend and thought it worth discussing.

For the past year or so, I've sat on the Board of a street magazine in Chicago that helps homeless and near homeless individuals get their lives back together through direct sales. The vendors, many of whom have proven themselves to be hardworking and dedicated people with rocky pasts, buy the magazine from the organization and sell it at a profit. In addition to offering this "hand-up" approach to fighting homelessness, the organization has also recently embarked on an expansion, of sorts, through partnerships with other projects to offer job-skills training, housing assistance and other necessities to vendors who want to better their situation.

Through my work with this organization, I've learned a lot more about urban poverty issues, the struggles that the poor deal with and the stereotypes others have about them. Quite simply, I've learned that, as a whole, we kind of hate the poor. Mr. Friedman's delve into the history of the War on Poverty, as well as numerous other indicators, which I'll discuss more in Part II of this series, have brought me to this conclusion. However, there is also hope in this situation and ways to reinvigorate our War on Poverty (both through governmental and local organizational approaches) which I'll discuss in Part III. For now, please feel free to leave your thoughts and comments on the current state of poverty in America and where we can go from here.