Why do so many Americans live in #poverty? Because so many #rich people benefit from it, the sociologist Matthew Desmond tells Annie Lowrey. ?https://lnkd.in/eb2rx3tb (From 2023)
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Desmond says that being poor is different in the U.S. than in other rich countries. “We have so many resources,” he told Lowrey. “Our tolerance for poverty is very high, much higher than it is in other parts of the developed world. I don’t know if it’s a belief, a cliché, or a myth. You see a homeless person in Los Angeles; an American says, ‘What did that person do?’ You see a homeless person in France; a French person says, ‘What did the state do? How did the state fail them?’” ?
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Desmond argues that many wealthy people will fight against poor families moving into their neighborhoods. “If you think of #zoning laws—that is how we build walls around our communities, how so many affluent communities keep out not just affordable #housing, but any multifamily housing,” Desmond said?
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The segregation that is created with exclusionary zoning contributes to racial disparities in poverty. “It is impossible to write a book called ‘Poverty, by America’ without writing a book about racism,” Desmond continues. “In white America, there’s no equivalent of the incredibly segregated and poor neighborhoods so many Black families find themselves in.” He notes that segregationists in the 1930s and ’50s used “the same exact arguments that we do today. They talk about property values, schools, and crime.” But, he adds, there are solutions to America’s poverty problem. Read more of Lowrey’s interview with Desmond: https://lnkd.in/eb2rx3tb
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??: Photo-illustration by The Atlantic. Sources: Getty; Shutterstock.
