White poverty exists, ignored

[restorefreedom]

poverty affects everyone, which is why bernie's core message is the winner here

--------

The War on Poverty has brought little change to Appalachia, where towns such as Booneville, Kentucky remain among the poorest in the nation.

Granted, 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 it’s 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.

http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/leonard-pitts-jr/article2518087.html

[AZ Progressive]

1. The deeply racialized view is so that poor blacks could be attacked

By making it look like poor people are mostly black, one is able to use the dog whistle politics of "We, the white people who play by the rules and work hard, should not be allowing the lazy poor blacks to be taking our money!"

As written by Joe Soss, who cowroted the book Disciplining the Poor: Neoliberal Paternalism and the Persistent Power of Race:

In the 1980s and ’90s, a kind of narrative had emerged that I call the story of illegitimate takings. It held that there were white people who played by the rules, and then there were people of color — and particularly black people — who were taking from those people in an illegitimate way.

- http://billmoyers.com/2014/05/12/how-bill-clintons-welfare-reform-created-a-system-rife-with-racial-biases/

[guillaumeb]

2. When the right actually talks about white poverty,

it is only in the context of:

"White people are only poor because Mexicans and blacks stole their jobs."

That way white poverty can be explained as "reverse racism" rather than the natural consequence of a predatory capitalist economy.

[restorefreedom]

11. on the right wing, that certinaly seems to be true

shall we call it the trump doctrine?

[PonyUp]

3. Yes, there are more white people on foodstamps than other races combined.

Assistance Program are white. According to 2013 data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which administers the program, 40.2 percent of SNAP recipients are white, 25.7 percent are black, 10.3 percent are Hispanic, 2.1 percent are Asian and 1.2 percent are Native American.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/28/food-stamp-demographics_n_6771938.html

[Robbins]

24. yep

I am one of whites on foodstamps.what right wing does is try to say it's mostly blacks who are committing fraud on food stamps so
they can justify cutting food stamps.when gingrich called obama the food stamp president that was racial dog whistle.many whites need to realize right wing cuttig food stamps would affect them too.and for the record if people think it's easy to get food stamps think again.every year i have to file paperwork to keep my food stamps.

[mikehiggins]

4. This was one of the biggest lies of the Reagan scum

I was shocked when I learned that MOST of the people who were receiving help were poor, WHITE kids, often from families where the dad (probably a Christian conservative) simply took a powder.

The thing about Bill Clinton that shocked me was that he was from the same roots and when he was in a position to help the other poor whites he cut them loose just like he did the blacks.

And he's our idol?

[restorefreedom]

12. i know, i don't get it. he has forgotten and now is a 1% er just like the rest. nt

[mak3cats]

5. And before anyone tries to turn this into a "black versus white" thing...

...Leonard Pitts is a black man, and one of the finest opinion writers out there. I've never read a column of his that I did not agree with. He's stellar.

[restorefreedom]

13. agree. a superb voice. nt

[Deny and Shred]

6. True, it exists

Thing is, rural folks have moved and still can move. If one wants to break out of poverty, there are places to go that hold more opportunity than Appalachia.

There in the American story is the fact that many rural black Americans moved to northern cities because of opportunity. Those opportunities cam with a rude awakening as well. They became city-dwellers anyway.

If Appalachia was willing to pull up its roots and move to where that jobs might be, then they might break the poverty cycle. They probably wouldn't be as badly discriminated against in the cities as blacks were historically, redlining, only able to get 'certain' jobs, etc.

Make the efforts and sacrifices that the AA has made historically to break poverty, and maybe you'll have a point.

[MisterP]

8. you DO realize what the Okies found once they reached California

no jobs and more Okies

[Shandris]

9. "Not in the cities? Fuck 'em."

"H-hey, why is people looking at Donald Trump?!?!"

[DemocraticWing]

10. This is fucking offensive.

As a rural Kentuckian who grew up poor and has watched generations of my family move to cities and FAIL to find a more affluent life, I'd like you to know that you have no idea what the fuck you are talking about.

Black people have it harder because of racism, but there's not some magical trip to the city for white people that cures poverty. The fact that you seem to think that people should move to "break the poverty cycle" shows an amazing lack of understanding of poverty and the people who have to live with it.

The Democratic Party used to be a working class party, but it's been hollowed out and now this kind of bullshit is spewed as "progressive." No wonder people don't fucking vote.

[restorefreedom]

18. +100 nt

[Dragonfli]

19. That poster should read more, I would suggest the Grapes Of Rath

Or if reading is too hard, the movie, although not as powerful IMO, is still pretty good.

[Deny and Shred]

27. I've read it.

Now that I've felt your "rath", perhaps you should read a bit more, like the title of the book you've referenced.

I would suggest learning the proper spelling of the words you use, particularly if you are attempting to humiliate someone else.

[Dragonfli]

37. Reading does not appear to necessarily include comprehension

Moving does not grant income when most places to move to have less work than people. I see a great many young people with degrees competing with displaced 50 year old factory workers for min wage jobs.

One can not escape a rigged and fucked up economy with nearly all the money going to the top simply by uprooting everything and moving to some mythical land of opportunity that no longer exists.

(edited to ad the w on my keyboard sticks sometimes and I don't always catch it, give me a break, or not, I really don't care.)

[Deny and Shred]

38. Never said it did.

A 'fucked up' economy - we agree on that.

If Appalachian areas aren't attracting jobs, do you think they are about to in the next 6 months? Next 6 years? When are the major corporations establishing new headquarters and factories there?

The OP is about white poverty. Staying put in rural areas without new employment opportunities won't result in climbing out of poverty.

The uprooting comment was in reference to the courage that it took for black Americans to leave the South without a promise of greater pastures. When US industry still employed millions, that movement was worthwhile. We agree that heading to the cities isn't nearly as rosy of a prospect anymore.

My friend stays on what had been his Grandad's 3 acre farm in east Tennessee, and he complains about the lack of opportunities to get ahead. He's been saying it for almost 20 years. What can I tell him other than maybe your prospects would be better elsewhere?

What are the solutions to rural poverty?

[Deny and Shred]

28. Whoa, I am not supressing the vote

I have two long-time friends who have stayed put for decades, one in very Western NC, and the other in very Eastern TN. Any time we talk, they complain about money, lack of work, trying to make ends meet.

They both insist on staying on 'family' land. I won't say that 'the city' is a magical windfall, but if it ain't working in Appalachia, think bigger.

Why don't the wonderful corporate recipients of decades of trickle-down build factories and headquarters there?

I don't want anyone in poverty. Staying put in the mountains of East TN isn't the solution.

What is the solution? I will back it if it makes sense.

[restorefreedom]

17. many are too poor to rip up roots

many lost good jobs when crappy free trade agreements sent their factories away. and for some of them, all they have left in life is their family ties.

vacating and abandoning poverty stricken areas and leaving them to become third world countries for those who remain is NOT the solution, even if some could.

we need to rebuild our society and infrastructure.

[Deny and Shred]

29. I totally agree, and it blows

But if people don't relocate, and companies aren't coming in to replace the former factories, we all know the eventual outcome.

Solutions? Please proffer any you have.

I don't have any, other than consider relocating. For that suggestion I've been told I'm this ,that and some other stuff as well.

[restorefreedom]

30. well, my solution is long term and massive

but it involves rebuilding communities, getting jobs back to the depressed areas, and yes, spending buku money to make that part of the country fiancially and educationally inhabitable again.

the alternative is for the people who can to flee and leave the area to devolve into third world status for those unfortunates who can't escape.

i have to believe we can do better.

one possible start

http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20140730/PC1603/140739913

[Deny and Shred]

31. That would be great

My buddies would love it.

There are literally thousands of North American comunities that once had factories, once had mines, once had logging concerns, once had ... you name it.

I want them to come back with $30 an hour jobs. The problem is they aren't even remotely looking at North America because they won't spend $30 an hour, heck, they won't spend $13.

And if they did, it wouldn't be in the eastern hills of TN.

I believe we can do better, and I don't want to give the impression tht it is all smiles and sunshine if one uproots to the big city. These are global strucutral problems. The fact that my friend's dad had a decent job in Apalachia until '86 isn't helpful. In fact, it is hurtful because it provides false hope that it could be true again.

It won't.

Solutions? I am fresh out.

[restorefreedom]

32. yeah, i know

as for the jobs, one start is the bernie (and yes, trump) approach to CRAPPY trade deals that are killing jobs.

also have to stop rewarding companies that offshore jobs and penalize the living crap out of them. reward companies that stay here.

strengthen unions. impose tariffs. lift minimum wage. universal sp healthcare and take the burden away from employers.

they all work together for a better system, but we have the collective will to do it. sigh.

[Deny and Shred]

33. I agree with pretty much all of what you just said

It sounds great. Improving the industrial base of the US would be fantastic !

I don't want to throw cold water, but with so many formerly industrial communities in MI, OH, PA, WI, IL, NJ, TX, CA ready to embrace such an revival, I just can't see it extending to Appalachia.

[restorefreedom]

34. i would like to see a nationwide rebuild.

those other areas need help too, but we can't forget the rural south. its criminal the way some are living. maybe bernie can convince some southern lawmakers its in their best interest to revitalize their communities.

[Deny and Shred]

35. I am all for it

Economically speaking, the South has wage advantages over the aforementioned formerly industrial locales. I believe the South is as attractive as anywhere in the US. There have been several plant openings, Japanese car-makers among them, that speak to this potential.

Convincing lawmakers, whether Southern, Northern, Eastern, Western, that is in their best interest to revitalize their communities would be game-changing.

It won't happen by preaching basic incrementalism.

Bern now ... and hopefully a political follow-through over the next 5-20 years. Then we might really see the fruit of what we are talking about.

[restorefreedom]

36. yes....love it!! nt

[JoeyT]

39. Yeah, you can totally move to the city and make good money.

You just grab your nonexistent savings, pile up in your vehicle if you're lucky enough to own one that actually runs, drive over to a place where rent for a month costs more than you were making in three months back home, and apply your non-existent job skills from your barely coherent education that you probably didn't finish to score one of those jobs that a hundred people that are from that area and have a support network are competing for.

Those jobs the black Americans moved to cities to get? Those have been gone for a long long looooooong time.

Edit: Since I hate to make a snarky post without some kind of a solution: There's a slight skilled trade shortage now, and a HUGE one on the horizon. A government funded program to teach folks out there how to weld, fit, repair/maintenance conveyors, etc would probably do more good than a dozen anti-poverty programs.

[MadDAsHell]

7. I've never understood why crime rates in Appalachia are so much lower than other high poverty areas;

are there any scientific studies that have looked into this?

I think the statistics I've seen show that rates on some types of crime are elevated above the national average, but no rates are anywhere near the rates of other high poverty areas of the US.

[closeupready]

14. I don't know, but I DO know that studies show, in general (not region-specific)

that crime lingers in geographic areas as if it were an entity itself.

That is, if you look at crime rates in certain neighborhoods in Chicago around 1910, and then looked at crime rates in the same area in 2010, you'd find some statistics that are remarkably similar, even though much of the population has changed - even racially and ethnically.

[MadDAsHell]

21. That's fascinating; never read that! nt

[alcibiades_mystery]

15. What's your theory?

[MadDAsHell]

23. I'm thinking same as HerbChestnut below; population density. There's no other rational explanation.

[HerbChestnut]

16. Don't have any studies, but if I had to guess...

I'd say it has to do with population density. More people living on top of each other in poor urban neighborhoods compared to poor people spread out over a larger area in rural places. Again, just a guess.

[1StrongBlackMan]

20. From what I've read ...

there are several factors that explain the crime rate differences, chief among the explanation is the disparity in policing ... urban communities are far more heavily, and heavy handedly, policed than Appalachia.

[MadDAsHell]

22. So maybe a combination of more reportin of crime + police-inspired crime? nt

[1StrongBlackMan]

25. Reporting of crime + police inspired crime; but more, ...

police occupying urban communities looking for/fabricating crime.

[MadDAsHell]

41. That's got to be it; I can't think of a single other difference between these communities. nt

[TIME TO PANIC]

26. Bingo.

[olddots]

40. eventually people will have to replace robots