White poverty exists, ignored

[mfcorey1]

BOONEVILLE, Ky.

In a small office on the first floor of the Owsley County Court House, across the street from the Hometown Cafe, Johnny Logsdon, chief of the two-man police department, is talking with a reporter about life in this town of 82 people in the hills of eastern Kentucky.

Logsdon keeps his answers short. He acknowledges that drug use — methamphetamine, mostly — is a problem here, but insists it’s about the same as you’d find anywhere. He is much more interested in describing the department’s policy of free motorist assistance. “If they lock themselves out of their cars, we provide a service; we unlock it for them. Away from here, they charge $60 to $100. We just do it for free as a community service.”

It’s not that he is unfriendly, but there is something guarded about him, something that is constantly taking your measure. People here, he explains, have been burned before by media.

Indeed, people here are still talking about the story the New York Times ran in June declaring neighboring Clay County “the hardest place in America to live.” Which was positively complimentary compared to a piece the National Review ran six months before, declaring Owsley “The White Ghetto.” Reporter Kevin D. Williamson wrote that instead of contemplating their bleak reality, the people here escape it with “the pills and the dope, the morning beers, the endless scratch-off lotto cards, healing meetings up on the hill, the federally funded ritual of trading cases of food-stamp Pepsi for packs of Kentucky’s Best cigarettes and good old hard currency, tall piles of gas station nachos, the occasional blast of meth, Narcotics Anonymous meetings, petty crime, the draw, the recreational making and surgical unmaking of teenaged mothers, and death …”

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/leonard-pitts-jr/article2518087.html#storylink=cpy

[Le Taz Hot]

1. **crickets**

Kinda says it all, doesn't it?

[JI7]

2. i think minorities who are better off in terms of income and education are more likely

to live among other minorities who are not so well off. although minorities are usually blamed for being in poverty unlike whites in poverty.

but whites who are well off are less likely to live among other whites in poverty so you have a group that ends up being more ignored.

[shaayecanaan]

3. Whites who are better off are more likely

to live amongst minorities who are not so well off than amongst impoverished whites. That's more a product of gentrification in many cities than anything else.

[JustAnotherGen]

8. You are abroad right - i.e. outside of the US

I think the past five years its not race -

It's haves vs. have nots. At least in the North East that's what is going on.

[brush]

18. You're spot on

Last edited Thu Oct 9, 2014, 07:42 AM - Edit history (1)

It's class, and that, imho, is one big reason why white poverty is ignored and knowledge of it repressed.

If it's acknowledged that it's economic class and the crime rates, drug use rates, out of wedlock child bearing rates, etc. of poverty stricken whites are remarkably similar to those of poverty stricken blacks . . . well all of their rational of racism towards lazy, criminal, drug-using blacks just got shot to hell.

IT'S BEEN ABOUT ECONOMIC CLASS ALL ALONG but you can use the 'divide and conquer' tactic on the poor of all ethnic groups if they know don't it's about haves and the have nots.

[JustAnotherGen]

21. This part I'm not sure I agree with

you can use the 'divide and conquer' tactic on the poor of all ethnic groups if they know it's about haves and the have nots.

Because for black Americans - who are poor - they don't have hang ups about their 'supremacy'. The 'smug' is just not there.

The dominant culture tells even affluent blacks we are not as worthy as the poorest white.

But in terms of where one lives - in the wealthier communities we live among one another fairly peacefully. Now an affluent white family may not have friends that come to their home that are NON white - but there's a good chance a black family has friends of many flavors in this community.

[brush]

25. Sorry, I left out a critical word in that sentence

As you noted, it read:

IT'S BEEN ABOUT ECONOMIC CLASS ALL ALONG but you can use the 'divide and conquer' tactic on the poor of all ethnic groups if they know it's about haves and the have nots.

It should have read:

IT'S BEEN ABOUT ECONOMIC CLASS ALL ALONG but you can use the 'divide and conquer' tactic on the poor of all ethnic groups if they know DON'T it's about haves and the have nots.

[A Little Weird]

4. Not ignored

The title doesn't really make sense with what is said in the article. White poverty is talked about a lot (like it says in the article - it seems there's always someone doing a story about Owsley County). I think it would be more accurate to say that white poverty is maligned. Coming from eastern Kentucky, I can certainly agree that the hillbilly stereotypes do get really old. But I'm not sure that I agree that it's specific to white poverty - it seems that all poor people are treated like dirt in this country.

[JustAnotherGen]

7. I think down a bit in the article

It makes sense. It's Leonard Pitts. It's what he's good at.

[TBF]

5. Poverty is treated as an individual failing in this country -

not as a systemic problem. Therein lies the issue.

[NaturalHigh]

31. +1

[JustAnotherGen]

6. I think the Title of the Article and Thread Subject

Are better explored with these two paragraphs:

But if it is important not to overstate that nexus, it is also important to acknowledge that it exists, and that blinding African Americans and poor whites to its existence — dividing and conquering them — has long been a favored stratagem of American business and political interests. King said this plainly in a speech at the end of a 1965 march for voting rights: “To keep the poor white masses working for near starvation wages in the years that followed the Civil War,” he said, “if the poor white plantation or mill worker became dissatisfied with his low wages, the plantation or mill owner would merely threaten to fire him and hire a former Negro slave and pay him even less.”

In lieu of a living wage, in other words, poor whites were given the cherished social capital of whiteness. Said King: “If it may be said of the slavery era that the white man took the world and gave the Negro Jesus, then it may be said of the Reconstruction era that the southern aristocracy took the world and gave the poor white man Jim Crow. And when his wrinkled stomach cried out for the food that his empty pockets could not provide, he ate Jim Crow, a psychological bird that told him that no matter how bad off he was, at least he was a white man, better than the black man.”

And now we fast forward 100 years to 1976 - when the Welfare Queen was introduced by Ronald Reagan.

The reality is - white establishment and dominant culture created this problem.

If one doesn't believe that the 'w.p.' thing exists and HARMS white folks - I don't know what to say. This is precisely how it works. Well at least you aren't . . . instead of - Join with all of the Have Nots and put the bullshit about your supremacy aside. You ain't shit to a billionaire.

[Blue_Tires]

17. Fast forward to today

when Fox news and talk radio for years has been telling white folks they are poor because of the "job-stealing Messicans"

[La Lioness Priyanka]

9. how is white poverty ignored? we are constantly talking about people voting against

their economic self interest.

[theHandpuppet]

10. There are plenty of Democrats who go hungry

The problem is much broader and more systemic than that.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

13. of course there are, but white poverty is often discussed in the context of

why poor whites are voting against their best economic interest

[brush]

19. Yeah, but that's just a phrase used here . . .

that everyone is supposed to understand, and most here on DU do understand it, but do you think poor whites who vote repug understand that the real issue is economic class — haves v the have nots — and the haves are dividing them from other have nots with the same economic interests that they have by pointing out that they are "better than blacks or browns" because of their skin color?

[JustAnotherGen]

23. +10000

[VanillaRhapsody]

27. they don't care about that.....they care that someone is suffering more than they are...

it gives them their false sense of superiority...

[brush]

29. Exactly! nt

[VanillaRhapsody]

26. THAT was my first thought.....I happen to KNOW some Whites in poverty

They just keep on voting for Republicans because they think that they beat down Blacks and other Minorities.....and as long as they can find people suffering more than they are....they think they are winners!

[jwirr]

11. As a poor white family mine lived among other whites of all income levels. We were often hidden

from sight in that most people did not know how poor we really were. I was fortunate that the director of social services belonged to my church and that is how I got to go to college and get a degree. But what all of them forgot is that I had a severely disabled daughter that needed 24 hour care 356 days a year. The degree did not help my situation unless I was willing to place her in an institution, which I was not. It would have worked had she been healthy as I had job offers over the years but I always took the low income ones that were part time with flexible schedules so I could be there when she needed me.

Thus I cannot address the idea of the kind of stereotyping that the people in the OP were subject to. But I can tell you that the stereotype is as incorrect for white poor as it is for black poor. We are just all people who are having hard times. We are not perfect but we are not criminals either.

We are poor.

[graegoyle]

12. Difference "white poverty" and "everyone else" in poverty:

The cop interviewed speaks protectively about the (white?) poor people there turning to drugs, drink and dreams because they are poor (and brings to mind all those local factories "outprofited" [ I hate the phrase "outsourced"] to some foreign country full of foreign people).

But when blacks and other groups of poor, they seem to be portrayed conversely: They love the drugs and drink too much, so they sit on their butts and sponge off everyone with the welfare checks.

[AZ Progressive]

14. White Poverty is ignored because of the idea of "self reliance" especially with southerners

Southerners which tend to be of Scotch-Irish descent brought with them cultural values of self reliance. Scotch Irish roots are in Calvinism, so to them it is embarrassing to ask for help from the government, while other groups that don't have those roots don't mind in protesting for help.

[AverageJoe90]

16. This isn't quite true, TBH.

In fact, at least the slight majority of white Southerners are Anglo-Saxons, and if ANY Southerner will resist any help from the government, they're liable to be an Anglo-Saxon before anything else(P.S., a good number of Colonial Anglos were Calvinist, as well, and in fact, it was, and still is, significantly more common in Anglos than Scots-Irish, even in the South; Scots-Irish tended to be more Baptist, if anything.....).

[KamaAina]

34. Again with the Scots Irish stuff?!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025632723

[AverageJoe90]

15. Yes, it really *is* largely ignored by our media, sadly.

Not that they really devote all that much discussion time to People of Color in poverty, either, but white poverty is just not even *seen* by many. Hell, some hardcore cons absolutely will not admit that it even exists. You know why? Because in their little world, any white person who isn't on the top of the pile is either there by some twisted form of divine providence or that they're lazy, etc., and not because of any personal hardship, or financial problems, etc.; in other words, white people are special in their eyes.

[VanillaRhapsody]

28. the problem is...THEY don't believe THEY are in poverty....

My God...

[AverageJoe90]

32. Not quite what I said.

What I did say was, that a lot of cons believe that any white person who happens to be down on their luck is there either because "God's will" or because they are lazy.....or, to add to that, because of some sort of grand conspiracy, in the eyes of some of the kookiest cons.

[VanillaRhapsody]

35. No they believe bad things only happen to bad people....

But I don't sympathize with them....I have been a White person in poverty...THEY are their own worst enemy because they STILL think they are superior to a poor person of color.

Just like men refuse to acknowledge THEIR privilege...they don't acknowledge that they are closer to the poor Black guy...then they are to Bill Gates...

[AverageJoe90]

36. "No they believe bad things only happen to bad people...." Well, yeah, that's part of it too.

I'm honestly not sure what exactly we disagree on so far......

[VanillaRhapsody]

37. Aren't you one of the people that refuses to admit that there is such a thing as

White Male Privilege...

[RadiationTherapy]

20. It is not ignored. For instance, Bob Dylan wrote of this dynamic 50 years ago

A South politician preaches to the poor white man
“You got more than the blacks, don’t complain.
You’re better than them, you been born with white skin,” they explain.
And the Negro’s name
Is used it is plain
For the politician’s gain
As he rises to fame
And the poor white remains
On the caboose of the train
But it ain’t him to blame
He’s only a pawn in their game

Read more: http://www.bobdylan.com/us/songs/only-pawn-their-game#ixzz3FalJu8dR

[JustAnotherGen]

22. Arrested Development wrote this about 20 years ago

She's asking the Lord to let her cope
So one day she can see the golden ropes
What you pray for God will give
To be able to cope in this world we live
The word "cope" and the word "change"
Is directly opposite, not the same
She should have been praying to change her woes
But pastor said "Pray to cope with those"
The government is happy with most baptist churches
Coz they don't do a damn thing to try to nurture
Brothers and sisters on a revolution
Baptist teaches dying is the only solution
Passiveness causes others to pass us by
I throw my line till I've made my decision
Until then, I'm still fishin' 4 religion

Fishin' 4 religion

A vast difference in those churches and how we can challenge what they are preaching in just two songs.

[sendero]

24. I don't think poverty..

... has a color and black poverty, brown poverty, white poverty is all the same to me.

[jen63]

30. This is an Appalachian story.

There are many dynamics at work in Appalachia that people don't understand. It's a coal colonized region. The coal companies came in and stole the land for pennies on the dollar. Many were ignorant of what their land was worth. Before the coal barons came in, these "hill people" were totally self sufficient, farming their land. When the coal companies came in, those proud subsistence farmers had no choice other than go to work for the very people who stole their land. Coal was the only game in town and the miners were beholden to the company. (they had to live in company housing and use the company store).

Now that more coal is being mined with less workers, the culture of poverty is prevalent. The companies don't care as long as they're pulling in the money. The are destroying the oldest mountains on the planet in the name of the all mighty dollar.

[KamaAina]

33. Why is your thread doing so much better than mine?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025638530

Nobody likes me!