Peg Tyre and Matthew Philips report on the growing problem of suburban poverty:
Once prized as a leafy haven from the social ills of urban life, the suburbs are now grappling with a new outbreak of an old problem: poverty. Currently, 38 million Americans live below the poverty line, which the federal government defines as an annual income of $20,000 or less for a family of four. But for the first time in history, more of America’s poor are living in the suburbs than the cities—1.2 million more, according to a 2005 survey. “The suburbs have reached a tipping point,” says Brookings Institution analyst Alan Berube, who compiled the data. For example, five years ago, a Hunger Network food pantry in Bedford Heights, a struggling suburb of Cleveland, served 50 families a month. Now more than 700 families depend on it for food.
Suburban poverty can also be invisible. Poor people who live in the city tend to be concentrated in subsidized housing or in neighborhoods where the rent is low, which in turn attract retail businesses that target customers with low incomes. Poor suburbanites often live in the same ZIP codes as their affluent neighbors, shop at the same stores and send their children to the same public school. And if people don’t see themselves as poor, they often don’t seek the help they need.
Sadly, the official numbers underrate the problem. For example, take a single-parent making $21,000 a year and trying to support three kids with the substandard public school systems of lower-middle-class America; the government considers them above the poverty line.
Additionally, the majority of supposedly well-off working-class families live in debt.
Anyway, suburban poverty shows once again that this massive social problems – poverty, hunger, and homelessness – affect all of us. We all need to organize and work together to put an end to these social ills.
What do you think?
While what you say is true, nothing will change. People are too concerned with themselves and are ignorant to the root causes of most problems. Consequently, that ignorance leads to a misunderstanding of the people suffering from these problems and other problems you discussed in previous articles. As a result, people who are middle and upper class often feel it is the people suffering these problems fault they are in that predicament in the first place. They think these people are just too lazy to fix it for themselves (and probably don’t want them too because in many cases it is their poverty that helps sustain their wealth) . Unfortunately, it is those people who NEED to care about their less fortunate citizens for change to occur. Until they care, and have an understanding about why there are problems in the first place, it will be very difficult if not impossible to make life better for everyone.
Zach,
Thanks for your comments!
You are correct. We cannot make the world a better place for anyone without the collective help of both the middle-classes and the lower-classes.
You are also correct that the majority of wealthier people believe that poorer people have caused their own poverty. I call that the Myth of Meritocracy. Although, the myth represents a partial truth; poor people hold at least partial responsibility for their problems. In an analogy (one I know you’ll like), life is more than just the cards one is dealt; it is also the way they are played.
Generally, most poor people are lazy, not because they are poor, but because they are people. Generally, people are lazy. Generally people are shortsighted, feeble, and ignorant. This goes for the poor as well as the middle-class.
The status quo victimizes both the middle-class and the poor. Although they seem wealthy in comparison to the even poorer, the middle-class only gets a fraction of what they deserve. Both poor and not, the entire working-class gets systemically robbed while a tiny minority of ultra-rich thieves live lazily in unbelievable luxury.
Both poorest and not, we all need to change ourselves. We need to work hard and work smart, and work in such a way that we retain the wealth in our own wallets and our own communities. Individuals cannot change the world, but they can behave as leaders to motivate and inspire the people of this world to change their own lives and change society.
We can make our lives better, both individually and collectively. All of us, both poor and not, can organize and make all of our lives better by giving up short-sighted, self-destructive, and addictive habits, and dedicating ourselves – both individually and collectively – to working hard towards long-term goals of helping ourselves, our friends, our families, and our communities.
Thanks,
Scott Hughes
I respect everyone’s opinion but to say that poor people are lazy is not correct, im a single parent of three and a very hard worker. No matter how much i work i will never become rich or as you will call it highclass people because i have never had anything handed to me. you have to also understand that people that are called poor people dont get the opportunity that middle class or rich people get, but it is really sad that we live in the most powerful and supposley the place that gives you all kinds of opportunity and still have to live in these conditions.
Eli,
I agree, in that I see no correlation between poverty and laziness. However, in my experience, most everybody is lazy and shortsighted. Nobody’s perfect.
As you point out, classism denies poorer people the same opportunities given to wealthier people. However, we can neither blame our problems nor the problems of poor people solely on classism. To reuse the same analogy, life is more than just the cards we’re dealt; it’s also the way we play them.
My heart goes out to single mothers, especially poor single mothers. However, generally (I don’t know your individual situation…), even single parents cannot blame their situation solely on events out of their control. In almost all cases, they chose to have children (a) with someone to whom they were not permanently married and/or (b) with both parents not life insured.
I mean not to insult single mothers in any way. It’s just one example. To expect anyone to be perfect is absurd.
Both poorer and not as poor, we all have room for improvement. We all can work harder and smarter.
Not only is nobody perfect, but also by definition most of us aren’t exceptional. Most of us aren’t Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Mohandas Gandhi, or Yeshua (Jesus) of Nazareth.
We make mistakes, and we engage in wasteful, shortsighted, and foolish behaviors, whether it’s smoking, drinking, drugs, materialism, television, overeating, gambling, or whatever.
We do need to recognize the unfairness of the current social structure, but we cannot use it as an excuse for ourselves or for poor people in general; doing such would lead to hopelessness, which would push us towards self-destructive indulgences, such as drugs, television, and alcohol. Rather, while we realize the unfairness of the status quo, we simultaneously need to organize and work hard towards long-term self-beneficial goals, so that we can better our own lives and the lives of all people.
I hope the best for you, Eli. Keep up the good work. My thoughts will be with you and your three children.
Thanks,
Scott Hughes