Poverty in the United States is of a staggering scale, and becoming more entrenched by the month. Fifty million Americans live at or below the federally defined poverty line; a similar number survive on food stamps. Tens of millions more hover just above the poverty line, their lives dominated by insecurity, but deemed ineligible for government assistance.
Voices of Poverty was conceived, in conversation with the Open Society Foundations, as a way to tell the stories, in their own voices, of impoverished men, women, and children around America. My aim was to put together an audio archive containing the voices, and stories of America’s invisible poor.
Visitors to the site can listen to a growing audio archive of interviews, exploring many different gradations of poverty, causes for that poverty, and potential solutions to this crisis. Over the coming months and years, the site will grow to include stories from around the country. The site also contains national and statewide poverty data, as well as photographic archives documenting poverty.
As I have traveled around the country these past months, chronicling stories of hardship in 2011 America, three things have struck me with particular force:
The first is the sheer loneliness of poverty; the fact that poverty pushes people to the psychological and physical margins of society—isolated from friends and relatives, pushed into dilapidated trailer parks, shanties, or ghettoized public housing, removed from banks and stores, transit systems and cultural institutions. The poor live on society’s scraps—a few dollars in government assistance or charity, donated food, thrift store clothes. They can afford neither transport to venture out of their communities, nor simple luxuries such as movies or a cup of coffee with friends in a café, to vary the routines of their daily lives. Embarrassed by their poverty, many told me that they have essentially withdrawn from all but the most necessary, unavoidable social interactions.
The second thing that struck me is the diversity, the complexity, of poverty. Its causes, and therefore its potential solutions, cannot meaningfully be reduced to a pat list of features. There are people with no high school education who are poor; but there are also university graduates on food bank lines; there are people poor because they have made bad choices, gotten addicted to drugs, burned bridges with friends and family; and then there are people who have never taken a drug in their lives, who have huge social networks, and who still can’t make ends meet. There are people who’ve never held down a job, and others who hold down multiple, but always low-paying, jobs, frequently for some of the most powerful corporations on earth. There are people who have never had a bank account and use payday loans and other predatory lending sources whenever they need access to extra cash; and there are others who, during flusher times, owned huge suburban houses and expensive cars. There are children whose only hot meals are what they are given at school; young adults who have nothing now and never really have had anything earlier in life either; military veterans who have struggled to find a place in civilian life; middle-aged and once-middle-class people falling down the economic ladder as the recession fails to fully lift; and elderly people cascading into destitution as savings evaporate and expected equity in their homes fails to materialize.
Poverty is, in other words, as diverse as is America itself. What the poor have in common, however, is an increasingly hardscrabble existence in a country seemingly unable—or at least unwilling—to come to grips with their collective tragedy.
Yet if the lives of America’s poor are increasingly desperate, the desire to make something of those lives remains a force to be reckoned with. The third thing that struck me in my travels around the country is the sheer resilience of people who, battered by tough economic times, could be excused for thinking life never gives them any breaks. Instead, many of the men and women I talked to were doing everything they could to ensure that their futures would look brighter than their pasts. They were going to school, taking job training classes, looking for any and every source of income, struggling to make sure that their kids had enough food to eat and little extras to enjoy. It was, in many ways, a humbling, inspiring experience.
Some of these people will, indeed, succeed; they will be the ones who pull themselves up by their proverbial bootstraps. Yet millions of others, despite their best efforts, won’t. The problems confronting America, the scale of the poverty unleashed, is simply too large. They are problems that require tremendous social investments and political imagination. This is America’s challenge-of-the-moment.
In seeing the size of the challenge, my hope is that site visitors will be stimulated to place poverty back where it belongs: full-center in the American political debate. That fifty million Americans live in dire poverty, their economic security shattered, their prospects dim, ought to trigger both outrage and creativity: outrage that such a situation has been allowed to fester, to grow, for so long; creativity in that solutions to these problems have to emerge at every level of society—amongst the political classes, but also at the grassroots; amongst regulators and policy innovators, but also in classrooms, in community credit unions, in union halls and amongst the poor themselves.
The more time I have spent immersing myself in this project, the more I have come to believe that this is a challenge with existential significance. It’s not just about dollars and cents; it’s about our collective values, our priorities, our sense of justice.
AMERICAS NEWS AT 0500 GMT
AP Worldstream May 29, 2008 TOP STORIES:
US-BUSH-EX-SPOKESMAN'S BOOK WASHINGTON _ Former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan writes in a new memoir that President George W. Bush relied on an aggressive "political propaganda campaign" instead of the truth to sell the Iraq war, and that the decision to invade pushed Bush's presidency "terribly off course." By Jennifer Loven. AP Photos WX203, WX202, WX201.
US-BUSH-WORLD OF SPIN WASHINGTON _ In a White House full of Bush loyalists, none was more loyal than Scott McClellan, the bland press secretary who spread the company line for all the government to follow each day. His word, it turns out, was worthless, his confessional memoir a glimpse into Washington's world of spin and even outright deception. By White House Correspondent Terence Hunt. AP Photos WX203, WX202, WX201.
US-ELECTIONS WASHINGTON _ Barack Obama took on Republican rival John McCain on the veteran Arizona senator's western U.S. turf, as he picked up some fresh support heading into a primary that could finally put him over the edge for the Democratic nomination. AP Photos AZJC115, MTEA104, NVJH105.
WITH: PUERTO RICO-PRIMARY CLINTON US-MCCAIN-BUSH-NUCLEAR WASHINGTON _ John McCain's nuclear proposals are largely in line with those of the unpopular President George W. Bush, despite what appeared to be recent attempts by the Republican presidential candidate to distance himself from the White House on the topic. By Military Writer Robert Burns. AP Photos AZCD210, AZJC118, AZJC117, NVJC112, NVJC107.
US-NY-GAY MARRIAGE ALBANY, New York _ Same-sex marriages legally performed elsewhere will be recognized in New York in response to a state court ruling this year, the governor's office said. By Michael Gormley. go to site ny gay marriage
US-LESBIAN INSEMINATION SAN FRANCISCO _ Guadalupe Benitez claims that after being treated with fertility drugs for nearly a year, her Christian doctors refused to inseminate her because she is a lesbian. California's highest court is considering whether doctors' religious beliefs give them the right to withhold medical treatment from lesbians and gay men, a group specifically protected under state anti-discrimination laws. By Lisa Leff.
US-TRAIN WRECKS NEWTON, Massachusetts _ Two commuter trains collided and derailed during the evening rush hour outside Boston, trapping and killing the operator of one train and injuring several passengers, authorities said. By Steve Leblanc. AP Photos MASR101, MASR102, ILBK105.
UN-IRAN-NUCLEAR UNITED NATIONS _ Iran insisted that the International Atomic Energy Agency must now deal with its nuclear program in a "routine manner" because it resolved six outstanding issues and the U.N. nuclear watchdog says the program is peaceful. By Edith M. Lederer. go to website ny gay marriage
US-MIDEAST-DEAD PEACE DEAL WASHINGTON _ If Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has been done in by a corruption scandal, so is President George W. Bush's effort to broker a Mideast peace deal by the time he leaves office in January. By Diplomatic Writer Anne Gearan.
GUANTANAMO-DISMISSAL MOTION SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico _ An Afghan detainee at Guantanamo Bay was the alleged victim of an abusive tactic meant to decrease his resistance to interrogation, a Pentagon-appointed defense attorney says in a motion to dismiss charges. By David McFadden.
ARGENTINA-DIRTY WAR BUENOS AIRES, Argentina _ DNA tests establish the identity of an Argentine woman taken from her parents during the country's military dictatorship _ the 90th such child identified by a group of grandmothers searching for their missing relatives. By Mayra Pertossi.
US-PHOENIX MARS TUCSON, Arizona _ Scientists began releasing the robotic arm on NASA's new Mars spacecraft a day late because of a radio problem. By Arthur H. Rotstein. AP Photos NY115, NY116. AP Graphic PHOENIX LANDER.
US-ICE SEALS ANCHORAGE, Alaska _ Fresh off a successful campaign to list polar bears as a threatened species, a conservation group Wednesday petitioned to provide Endangered Species Act protections to the bears' main prey because of global warming. By Dan Joling. AP Photo AK901.
BUSINESS & FINANCE:
US-CHEVRON-SHAREHOLDERS SAN RAMON, California _ Chevron Corp. Chief Executive David O'Reilly faced intense criticism from environmentalists and human rights advocates who detailed their grievances at the company's annual shareholders meeting. Activists blasted Chevron for alleged environmental and human rights abuses in Ecuador, Nigeria and Myanmar. By Terence Chea.
AP Photo CAPS102.
US-KBR-TRUCKERS KILLED NEW ORLEANS _ A federal appeals court revived lawsuits against military contractors over a deadly ambush that killed civilian truck drivers in Iraq. By Michael Kunzelman.
US-YAHOO CARLSBAD, California _ Yahoo Inc. CEO Jerry Yang rejected the image of his company as "under siege," telling conference goers that executives are rallying to streamline Yahoo's offerings and make it more relevant to consumers and to advertisers. By Allison Hoffman.
FEATURES:
MEASURE OF A NATION-THE MUSIC MINEFIELD NEW YORK (AP) _ "Happy Days Are Here Again" may have worked for FDR in 1932, but ever since President Reagan asserted in 1984 that Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA" was a patriotic paean, both U.S. parties have revealed tin ears as they try to convey that they're plugged into the same mass entertainment as their fellow Americans. And in doing so, they reveal the national temperament. By National Writer Ted Anthony. AP Graphic MEASURE LOGO.
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[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] FLAVOR oatmeal with cooked pumpkin or sweet potato (vitamin A!) plus some cinnamon and maple syrup [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] SPREAD toasted whole-grain waffles with ricotta instead of butter, then add honey and orange slices. go to site healthy breakfast ideas
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] STIR toasted hazelnuts and dried cherries into hot multigrain cereal.
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Stay Informed
Your project is stupendously important, and I admire you for undertaking it. I think you will find, however, that Americans are deaf. They cannot bear to hear the words "poverty" or "tragedy," the topics you so nobly consider.
There is perhaps nothing Americans dreads more than poverty for themselves. Many who have grown up poor go into stock brokerage, saying "Never again will I be poor." They are committed to doing anything, ANYTHING, to avoid this outcome. I have seen that this is the case now with most Americans, who have spent their lives dreaming of riches and the eternal advantages over "the rest" that these are thought to convey. It is rare for an American to give up advantage of any kind, for their dread of "falling behind" is severe.
The greatest American anxiety is to "become poor," which is associated with loss of STATUS vis-a-vis "the Other." This is the cause of abiding racism, for to "sink" to the formerly lowest order of the African slave is considered to be an unimaginable disaster; it is the source of terror in the American mind: the terror of SHAME at becoming "the lowest of the low." It is impossible to exaggerate the power of this dread and terror over the insecure, acquisitive, status-hungry American mind. Poverty must stay "away."
Surely you have gotten to the heart of the matter of our American tragedy of poverty today, within the 1-99% frame. Yet, I fear that you hope in vain, no matter how just your argument based on the notion that America is a nation of human beings capable of facing tragedy, or of having mercy for their poor compatriots.
Americans, squeezed more and more into "rich and poor," will reject the "poor collective" vigorously, as though they had a contagious disease. There can be little doubt that "Salaam Bombai" is the vision of America in the future; for Striving Americans will do whatever it takes to associate themselves with "the rich" in their imagination, until they also fall into the the abyss of poverty, or die trying to be rich.
Poverty is a "the" number 1 threat.
It threatens everything in a very dynamic way. The only way to combat it is to "Design completely new financial structures/money systems"
I think Mr. Soros has an interest in this or has it been forgotten?
Design new financial/monetary systems and like a silver bullet - EVERYTHING will change in a very BIG way. It can be done quite rapidly and no one need lose anything.
IMHO the only good the current financial/monetary apparatuses provide is the already established global highways or connections that will allow for needed change to be implemented - very rapidly.
Many problems we face today are man made - the solutions are also man made. It seems beyond silly to create problems and pretend as if they are some sort of "magic" beyond our control.
If we build walls around our water supply - we have no right to complain of our thirst.Nor will any amount of praying benefit such stupidity.
If there is any project Mr. Soros pursues that will bring about the greatest benefit - there can be non greater than bringing a much needed redesign of the monetary/financial systems.
I wont wish you luck on your struggle with poverty - its not luck that is needed - some common sense and the will to do what is necessary will do the trick.
Abramsky's article was very well written, and very true about poverty in America. Women and minorities have a very hard time finding education and employment.
While grants are available in the state of Indiana, they barely cover the cost of education. Housing paid for leaves little if any for food and clothing. As a student of Criminal Justice in Indiana, and a woman, I would like to see more grants to woman making career changes due to the economy. I have worked hard all my life, and when my place of employment went out of business, I had to go back to school for new work. Many women who can't pass college entrance exams remain homeless.
I admire Sasha Abramsky for taking up such a complex project. I agree with most of what is in the outline of Voices of Poverty in America. It is something in which, at one time long ago, I was involved. At that time I found few people interested in what we were trying to do and some blatantly hostile.
I agree with Bernard Thrifilley that Americans, squeezed more and more into 'rich and poor,' will reject the 'poor collective' vigorously, as though they had a contagious disease". The poor will be too tired and very limited in their activities while the rich, with few exceptions, really do not care.
That is, indeed, sad. One can only hope that the more people draw attention to what is happening to America the more actions will take place to alleviate the suffering of so many.
I now lsive overseas but my husband and I discuss endlessly what is happening but are so limited in what we can do from where we are. Many people in our part of Italy where we live are going through exactly the same thing right now.
diana de marco
UN Pensioner and Disaster Volunteer in Italy
Central Italy
This is a very powerful and true article. Poverty is all over America and becoming more and more prevalent with our economy. I agree that people in America need to be made aware of the issue and bring it to the for front. I believe that this is a huge is and everyone should try and do what they can without placing blame or making assumptions. Because it is such a large problem, the government also needs to intervene and come up with creative ways to help these people in the long run and not just a quick fix. We need to education them, reteach ways of living and behaviors, and provide the same opportunities as the middle class and wealthy. We all need to set aside our biases and work together to help solve this problem