Jesse Jackson recently wrote an article in which he says America has a poor excuse for poverty. He writes:
We glimpsed misery in America during Katrina, as the poor were stranded in the storm. But those shocking pictures were misleading. America has a growing poverty problem, but it doesn’t look like New Orleans.
Most poor people are not black or brown. Most poor people are white. They are disproportionately young, female and single. Most of them are not on welfare. They work every day that they can — but they still cannot lift their families out of poverty.
An analysis of 2005 census figures by Tony Pugh for McClatchy Newspapers revealed almost 16 million Americans living in “deep or severe poverty,” with the percentage of the poor living in severe poverty reaching a 32-year high. Our rich are getting richer and our poor, poorer.
I highly recommend reading the entire article.
Jesse Jackson points out a serious misconception. Many people think of poor people as minorities, criminals, or the unemployed. I think that the corporate-owned media portrays this falsehood, because it makes people less upset about poverty and hunger. Sadly, if we look at the true of face of poverty, we see a young, tired, and overworked single mother, who will probably never have the opportunity escape the rat race.
What do you think?