This being Birmingham, AL, I just got to see Winter’s Bone, a dark portrayal of what is we down here often refer to as “trailer trash”. The dark interiors, stuff spilling out everywhere, the ubiquitous trash on the lawn, the oddly shabby homes of even the more successful drug dealers (plus the Cadillac), all felt right. That families love their children, that often they try to help their kids do better in school even if not effectively, is so distanced from the middle class perspective of poor people. What is familiar to me seems as distant as Timbuktu to others. How do we cobble together public policy without a hint of understanding of these people’s lives?
Advertisement
I totally agree. I grew up in the Ozarks area of Missouri (Lake of the Ozarks region) and the film rang and looked SSSOOO true. My wife and I spent a couple of days comparing notes of the similarities to people and homes we knew when living there.
For years I listened to the talk of what qualifies as middle class, a small business and what the poverty level is and was dumbfounded at what others called middle class that we called rich folk. That is EXCEPT for how the federal government determined (and still does) poverty levels.
Starting with Reagan and continuing under every US President since the Federal Government continually found a variety of ways to UNDERREPORT poverty levels for US citizens. It is a game that must end now so that we can truly determine what needs to be done.
On a personal aside, I would encourage any readers curious about the Ozarks region to take a moment to view this homemade video clip at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTKWqKTGwTg
Nice to hear a similar reaction…
Sometimes I listen to public policy dialogue in amazement. The assumption is of course that poverty is created by a character flaw, and if they would just “get it”, their lives would instantaneously improve.
Susan Swartz
RUSH Initiative
505 North 20th Street, Suite 1015
Birmingham, AL 35203
o: 205-521-6313
c: 205-907-1215
http://www.rushinitiative.org