Government disinterest in poverty and homelessness is highlighted in the new book The Rich and the Rest of Us by Tavis Smiley and Cornell West. According to Tavis Smiley, 1 million US cictizens have fallen into poverty in the brief two years from 2009 to late 2011.
In a recent interview, they describe an Ann Arbor, Michigan tent city they visited in 2011, that is inhabited by the elderly as well as middle-aged and youth. Government Social Services directed these homeless to the tent city as the only recourse in their search for a home.
These homeless citizens, whose tents are set up among trees, have to endure harsh northern winters in these so-called "shelters."
In other areas of the United States, homeless tent dwellers have had to relocate to locations "unseen" by residents with houses and those who are wealthy and do not want to know about the burgeoning homeless and poor throughout the United States. Northern California tent cities are just one example of this disgrace.
If the United States cared about the poor, rather than discontinuing so-called "entitlements" like food stamps and medical and dental care, they would increase taxes on the rich and turn their attention to humanitarian efforts. But for years, the United States gives more to the poor of other countries than those inhabiting every part of this nation.
Tavis Smiley characterizes the scores of middle class individuals who have fallen into poverty as the "new poor," describing growing numbers of poor as "perennial poor," "new poor," and "near poor."
I highly recommend recent interviews with these two individuals who have devoted their lives to following the anti-poverty principles of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
I also highly recommend their book.
Bravo for their courage to say what most cannot or will not.
In a recent interview, they describe an Ann Arbor, Michigan tent city they visited in 2011, that is inhabited by the elderly as well as middle-aged and youth. Government Social Services directed these homeless to the tent city as the only recourse in their search for a home.
These homeless citizens, whose tents are set up among trees, have to endure harsh northern winters in these so-called "shelters."
In other areas of the United States, homeless tent dwellers have had to relocate to locations "unseen" by residents with houses and those who are wealthy and do not want to know about the burgeoning homeless and poor throughout the United States. Northern California tent cities are just one example of this disgrace.
If the United States cared about the poor, rather than discontinuing so-called "entitlements" like food stamps and medical and dental care, they would increase taxes on the rich and turn their attention to humanitarian efforts. But for years, the United States gives more to the poor of other countries than those inhabiting every part of this nation.
Tavis Smiley characterizes the scores of middle class individuals who have fallen into poverty as the "new poor," describing growing numbers of poor as "perennial poor," "new poor," and "near poor."
I highly recommend recent interviews with these two individuals who have devoted their lives to following the anti-poverty principles of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
I also highly recommend their book.
Bravo for their courage to say what most cannot or will not.
