Poverty and the reasons for it have been in the news media a
lot recently. I live in Seattle and most
of the poverty news has been related to the progressive raising of the minimum
wage to $15.00. One of the recurring
themes that I have heard for NOT raising the minimum wage to a livable level
has been that those who have minimum wage jobs always have the choice to work
their way out of them, go to school, move up the career ladder, in other words,
pick themselves up by the bootstraps and get the hell out of poverty, another
way of blaming the victim, because the underlying reasoning would be, “it is
your fault that you are poor, do better.”
The trouble is, many of the people casting this argument have never been
poor themselves. There is plenty of
research out there that suggests those who have money feel entitled to have the
money that they have even if it is inherited rather than earned, in fact, even
the illusion of “earning” money can cause an almost immediate entitled
response. If you want to learn more about this immediate
elitist mentality, check out this TedTalk with Paul Piff, https://www.ted.com/talks/paul_piff_does_money_make_you_mean.
This
post, however, is not going to be about the behavior of those who have monetary
means, it is going to be about their attitudes which I attribute to a possible
knowledge gap regarding some of the oft not mentioned reasons people are poor.
1. Childhood Abuse: Now I know that there are always stories
about those who were abused in childhood, but managed to overcome these
obstacle and do great things. While it
is encouraging that these success stories exist, this more often than not is
not the case. There is new research out
that suggests abuse in childhood can actually alter the cellular structure of
the brain. Beginning at about the age of
10, the brain has less plasticity (the means to heal itself) so many of these
changes are cemented on a cellular level.
Positron Emission Topography (PET scans) are one means researches have to
study brain differences in action and “normal brain” reaction areas are being
patterned for a number of different development and learning activities which
means that we can actually see what used to be hidden and mysterious, the parts
of the brain that function while doing things like learning. The current research is focused primarily on
the effects of physical abuse. Long term effects of emotional abuse and
neglect remain to be discovered. A few
characteristics of these children all grown up, include the following: Learning
disabilities, emotional disturbances, and attention issues.
2. Learning and Cognitive Challenges: One thing that I have learned in my 20 years
of working with special needs populations is that some people have cognitive
and emotional abilities that will only take them so far in life. Getting a job that is not route and routine
will NEVER be something that they can do, why not? Because they can’t, end of story. Whether because of a learning disability,
cognitive impairment, head injury, neurological event…even with the best
therapy in the world, everyone has their limits. Not to mention the thousands of
children that go undiagnosed or misdiagnosed with behavior problems and wind up
dropping out of school because they are really learning disabled, but no one
has caught on to that and given them the services that they need to succeed in
school. My limits are that I will never be an engineer, why? Because I can’t do
math. We all have our ability limitations,
some just have more than others.
3. Lack of Mental Health Care: Mental health care is expensive and it is
not easy to access specialized mental health practitioners even if one has good
insurance and money in the bank. I have experienced this first hand. Research proves over and over again that
medications work best when paired with good therapy which is hard to find and
often unaffordable to those that need it the most. Many specialized mental health drugs are not
covered by insurance and can sometimes run as much as $600.00 a month, which
means that people who can’t afford it are prescribed an alternative and less
expensive, also maybe less effective, medicine or they just don’t take their
meds because they can’t afford to. I
realize that on every level in this country our health care system is
broken. If there is anything to learn
from the recent suicide of Robin Williams, it is that people with mental health
problems are sick and they need help regardless of their financial status.
4. Family History of Drug and Alcohol Abuse: Just because someone is poor, does not mean
that they are a substance abuser (although I do have to hand it to some people
for hanging on as well as they do without being a substance abuser, I am not so
sure that I could do as well myself).
This is what growing up in a drug house can be like, you never know when
the cops are going to come, you never know when the drug lab that your dad is
operating in the garage will be busted or explode, you have probably already
had police unexpectedly in your house in the middle of the night shining a
bright light on you and your sister asleep in bed. I got this information first hand when I
interviewed someone raised in a “meth house.”
Growing up like this leaves you anxious, you often have sleep
disturbances, what you really need is a mental health counselor and appropriate
medications, but you may actually become a drug user yourself because things
like pot and alcohol are cheaper and more readily available than adequate mental
health services.
5. Dumb Luck: And by luck I mean, “bad
luck.” People don’t get to choose the
family that they are born into. Some
people, like me and most of the people that I know, were born into a family
that valued education, goal setting, and ambition. It goes without saying that in addition to
passing these values on to me, my parents also had the financial means to
support the adventures and experiences in my childhood that made me who I am today. There are some parents out there who don’t
try and do the best for their kids regardless of their economic resources. While some poor parents do everything that
they can to ensure that their offspring will have a better life, others do
not. They don’t value education or
finding meaning and happiness in life and these attributes are not passed on to
their children. Although some people may
choose to differ, it is really hard to overcome messages from your childhood as
an adult, especially when your peer group may have similar issues and you do
not have access to or knowledge of therapy and healing wounds from childhood.
6. Incarceration: You don’t need to look
very far to get the statistics, poor people are incarcerated more than those
who are not poor. A few months back I
was listening to a program on NPR about this very thing, it included live
recording of a judge talking to the defendant.
The defendant was back in court because he hadn’t paid a fine, the
dialogue between judge and defendant when something like this:
Judge: “You need to pay this
fine today or I am going to have to send you back to jail.”
Defendant: “I just started a
new job and I get my first paycheck on Friday, I can pay you $50.00 then.”
Judge: “Friday is too late and
$50.00 is not enough, why can’t you pay more? How old are you anyway?”
Defendant: I can only pay $50.00 because this is my first
paycheck and I have to pay rent, I am 27 years old.”
Judge: “You are 27 years
old! Look at yourself, what have you
done with your life, you haven’t done anything, you ought to be ashamed of
yourself.”
Defendant: “Yes, your honor.”
Judge: (more comments on the client’s age and how
useless he was) “Well, I am going to have no choice but to send you to jail if
you can’t pay that fine.”
Defendant: “Your honor if I go back to
jail, I will lose my job and then I won’t be able to pay the fine.”
End of story: Judge
sentences defendant to jail time with the stipulation that the defendant must
have a job by a certain time or face going back to jail and an increase in the
amount of the fine once her is released.
While this is, of course, only one example, I think that is
relevant to note that the judicial system and prisons are economic
enterprises. A recession means that they
are no longer being allocated the same amount of public funds and it becomes “necessary”
to obtain those funds from elsewhere, especially if you are the government and
cutting back is not considered an option.
To be fair, those with money and privilege are also arrested and fined,
the difference between the two populations is, of course, that one can afford
private legal services, and can, in fact, afford to pay the system and get out
of trouble without losing their job. I
am also certain that judges hear sob stories all of the time and, in their
defense, may get weary of the same old routine.
This may mean that it is time to retire, take a long vacation, get a
different career, invest in some self-care, I find it very hard to have pity
for anyone who has resources available, does not take advantage of them, and
takes their problems out on the people that they are supposed to serve. A judge is not in this category:
What amazes me is that even in light of the constant media
poor bashing , victim blaming, lack of resources, and social circumstances is
that any of the working poor ever make it to work. They put in full time hours at jobs that I
most certainly would not last a day at. Not
everyone can be a CEO, we need people in lower level service jobs, the economy
does not run without them. It is a
national disgrace that they are required to do this work for:
For an insider’s view (and by “insider” I mean people like
me) it gives you the inside scoop on what being in the working poor is like
without becoming a member of the working poor yourself. Barabara Ehrenreich is well educated, upper
middle class writer who actually goes out a works in several positions that are
considered “working poor,” including a house cleaning service and retail
assistant.
Unless you have walked a mile in someone else’s shoes, you
never really know…
No comments:
Post a Comment