Just the other day I was
listening to a piece on NPR, on my car radio, and they had an
interview that really disturbed me. It turns out that a program the government
runs to help low income people move into good houses usually doesn’t work at
all because residence in the better homes won’t let poor people move in.
The program, for Section 8
housing vouchers, provides these poor people with vouchers to help them pay for
apartment or housing rent until they can make enough income to pay it on their
own. To begin with, this is one of those programs were the money is available,
but for most of the people who need it, there just isn’t enough to go around.
There is a waiting list. It can take up to six months to finally get the
vouchers. The vouchers expire if not used in a short span of time.
"It
took me six years to get my voucher but I got it," Farryn Giles told NPR. "You can best believe I'm going to
utilize it."
But
she won’t be using them. It turns out that getting these doesn’t accomplish
anything. Few if any landlords will accept them. And even if they do, angry
middle and upper class residence will stop her from moving in. It all comes
down to America’s last great ism, next to racism, sexism and homophobia—classism.
Classism
is still perfectly acceptable to a great many people here in this country. The NPR story is a testimony to that. Unlike
racism or sexism, no one seems to rush in and defend poor people when they are
a product of discrimination. This last ism may be America’s worst form of
discrimination at this point in time. And as this story points out the damage
is very real.
"I've been to Oak
Cliff, I've been to south Dallas, I've been to Pleasant Grove," Giles said. "I've
been way down south. Nobody wants my voucher."
And it is not that the
money is no good. The government pays out. But prejudiced middle and upper class
people run prospective renters, such as Giles, out of their part of town.
The NPR article gave the example of Developer Terri Anderson who ran
into problems trying to build an apartment complex, with 13 units set aside
specifically for voucher holders.
"The city actually
called a public hearing for our property and about 250 angry residents showed
up," she said. "Our superintendent has been
threatened, issued a criminal trespass warning. Police officers blocked our
entrance."
It seems that people who
can pay their rent don’t want poor people moving in near them. Their reasons
are nothing short of preconceived ideas about what poor people are like. They
are reacting to stereo types that conservative forces have reinforced in their
rhetoric for decades. They have implied or just came right out and said that poor
people are lazy, dangerously attracted to criminal activity and most of all,
they have different values. They lack the values the upper class people believe
are responsible for their better lifestyle they can afford. And most of all,
they just won’t fit in.
One thing that really stands
out is that most of these arguments are the same that white people used to say
about Afro-Americans back in the 1950s and 1960s when efforts were being made
to wipe out racism in housing. In many ways this problem is simply an extension
of plain old racism in housing. Such problem that goes back over the last
century and the classism of today is really a product of past racist attitudes.
Nicole Humphrey, who
lives a couple miles away from Anderson's development, provides us with an
example of the classist attitudes that get in the way of a person, such as
Giles, trying to make a better life for her and her son.
"I feel so bad
saying that," Humphrey
told NPR. "It's just not people who are the
same class as us."
She continues:
"In this
neighborhood, most of us are stay-at-home moms with young kids," she says. "The lifestyle that goes with
Section 8 is usually working, single moms or people who are struggling to keep
their heads above water."
When asked if others who
did not have the same opportunities as her could live in her neighborhood, she
says: "The problem
with that is I hear a lot of the unfair of: 'Oh we haven't been given this or
that, or we haven't been afforded things you have been afforded.' I don't look
at multi-millionaires and think, 'Why don't I have a yacht?'"
Humphrey says the issue
for her is not about race. She says her neighborhood – with rows of tidy new
houses and with well-cut lawns — is diverse. The real concern, she says, is
that the voucher holders won't fit in or they won't understand her life.
All of this is straight
out prejudice and ignorance about what poor people are really like. Chances are
good that Humphrey has never spoke with a poor person of the lower classes to
see what these people are really like. And chances are even better that she
goes out of her way to avoid talking to people such as Giles. This all
reinforces the stereo types that keep these bigoted views alive among people of
the middle and upper classes.
The US is guilty of
ignoring this problem and conservative forces[1]
are guilty of perpetuating the stereo types of the lower classes. People who
defend the lower classes are often labeled socialist, communist or some other
kind of nasty word that paints support of the lower classes as anti-American.
But this housing problem demonstrates just how destructive these types of
prejudism are. We are a society that values wealthy people and stigmatizes the
opposite. We are bombarded daily with commercials that tell us how important it
is to “make it.” The messages are very clear: “If you are not making enough
money to afford the things you are entitle to, the things you need and want,
you are a LOSER!”
Over the last half
century, the cold war has allowed our society to ridicule anyone who dares to
defend the culture of the lower classes. But now is the time to fight
back and reverse that trend.
One part of this change
is to fight against the stereo types and attitudes that devalue the lives of
the poor. This means speaking out for such people publicly. We need to
challenge the stereo types that imply that it is the fault of the poor for
being poor. People don’t usually choose poverty. Many people are born into it.
We can confront politicians at their town hall meetings. We can write blog
articles and letters to the editor. Whenever such stereo types appear, public,
in print or other media, we need to speak out. Let’s make classist attitudes on
par with racism, sexism, homophobia and any other ism that discriminates.
We should encourage
people to get to know persons who live in poverty. We need to challenge the
middle and upper class people to talk to the poor. They need to find out what
they are really like. It may be possible to hold events that will allow people
of different classes to meet up personally.
We need to support
political people and institutions that can challenge the stereo types against
poor people. We can support Democratic
Socialist of America and like-minded politicians and institutions. DSA
promotes politics that oppose discrimination against poor people. Socialism
means departing from the attitudes that we should worship the wealthy. Poor
people have value. Their lives have value. We need political parties and people
who respect that attitude.
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