General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhite poverty exists, ignored
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/leonard-pitts-jr/article2518087.htmlGranted, America seldom discusses poverty of any hue, except insofar as conservative pundits and politicians use it as a not-subtle proxy for racial resentments among white voters. But white poverty is the great white whale of American social discourse, believed to exist but seldom seen.
As it turns out, our deeply racialized view of poverty bears no resemblance to reality. Though its true that African Americans are disproportionately likely to live below the poverty line, it is also true that the vast majority of those in poverty are white: 29.8 million people. In fact, there are more white poor than all other poor combined.
Owsley County (Booneville is the county seat) is the epicenter of that poverty. Median income here is less than $20,000. The obesity rate is 50 percent. Life expectancy: 71.4 years, more than seven years below the national average. With 36 percent of its citizens living below the poverty line and 98.5 percent of its population identifying as white, it is the poorest and one of the whitest places in America.
daleanime
(17,796 posts)Hunger is color blind.
JustAnotherGen
(31,810 posts)tularetom
(23,664 posts)Consistently vote for politicians who champion policies designed to keep them poor and obese.
Because, regardless of how much their lives have turned to shit, at least they aren't minorities.
KamaAina
(78,249 posts)We have a winner!
daredtowork
(3,732 posts)My Democratic "political representatives" don't do a thing for me. Seriously, they do not so much as have an assistant call me to commiserate with my dire problems. All they do is spam me with auto-emails bearing headlines of increasingly crass hyperbole with shake-downs for money. So I can see general anger at their situation and perhaps lack of education devolving into picking on scape-goats instead of being channeled into ways that could actually help their situation. Speaking from experience, the powerlessness is pretty overwhelming. There isn't a lot you CAN do to constructively help your situation. Please do not say GOTV.
hifiguy
(33,688 posts)and they'd vote for their own death warrants. Which they are already doing, in slow motion.
daredtowork
(3,732 posts)Politicians always try to perpetuate the myth that "welfare" is black. But if you look at welfare statistics, the majority doesn't work out to be black. So the big dirty secret of black poverty is that it is a crisis of WORKING people who being held down permanently by a class system in America.
By the way, I'm currently on welfare, and I'm white.
The other big secret is geography is destiny. I grew up in a poor rural (white) town. There were few jobs, and ALL of them were low skill, minimum wage. The school guidance counselor urged kids to join the military as the only way out. Perhaps the military would pay for college, but it wouldn't pay for the "connections" needed to move up class levels.
KamaAina
(78,249 posts)That's what Jesse Jackson calls "the economic draft".
daredtowork
(3,732 posts)No one could earn any money to stay a few months in a city to look for a job. Our high school education was poor because we couldn't get good teachers. (I ended up going to college - but this involved a great deal of foresight and planning on my part (which came through my reading and TV watching, not adult guidance), two years in high school in another town, and the need to choose a college with very flexible entrance requirements). But anyway, before I started scheming in the college direction, I was seriously considering the Air Force. It had the shortest Basic Training.
My sister tried to follow my example without commuting to the out of town high school. She saw one of her college recommendations, and it was filled with spelling errors. She didn't get in anywhere she applied on the first try.
daleanime
(17,796 posts)and yes he was right.
daredtowork
(3,732 posts)Though now I'm imagining Jesse Jackson in drag.
daleanime
(17,796 posts)now I imaging the same.
With those knees Jesse should never wear a short skirt.
OldRedneck
(1,397 posts)2008:
McCain - 76%
Obama - 23%
2012:
Romney - 81%
Obama - 18%
http://abcnews.go.com/US/photos/impoverished-appalachian-community-pulls-prom-16202563/image-16202682
noiretextatique
(27,275 posts)see post #12