Poverty of Today

How the Other Half Lives made me think of the many homeless and poverty stricken families that are still living in tiny apartments or on the streets today. Many times people do not think of those who can barely feed themselves week to week let alone their families because these families tend stay under the radar. If you can't see the problem, then maybe it is not there. When we were asked to think about crossing borders earlier in the semester, the issues talked about in How the Other Half Lives never crossed my mind and I believe it's the same reason mentioned above; it is not a an easily visible issue, especially around here. Racism and sexism on the other hand is visible and dealt with everywhere on one level or another. Another difference between some of the other borders we have crossed this semester is the very fact that living in poverty happens to any race, sex, or ethnicity making the problem universal instead of labeling the problem to a certain group.

The United States is seen as one of the world's riches countries, yet the level of poverty is more pronounced than most believe it to be. According to hungerreport.org, 37 million people live in poverty, including 13 million children under the age of 18 in 2007. There are a larger percent of minorities than whites in this category as well. 21.5% of Hispanics and 24.5% of black live in poverty compared to 8.2% of whites as of 2008, according to the website. More than one issue can be seen through these statistics. Why do Hispanics and black have a higher number of people living in poverty than whites? What is causing such a high poverty rate in general, especially when it has gone up since 2000 instead of down? In our present recession, it is more likely that the number will increase again.