portraits-of-america:

     “We’re fighting a huge battle because the system is built to keep poor people in their place. It’s a very profound structural problem, and the only way to change it is to change the balance of power. Poor people face tremendous obstacles. This town probably has great schools because they have people with tons of money, so there’s a good tax base. But poor school districts get little funding, so they have bad schools. Everything stands against these people, but then they’re blamed because they can’t make it on eight dollars an hour. We go door to door to meet low-income people, and they tell us their stories, like one mother who works 80 hours a week as a chef and only sees her children once a week, or the guy who had his heat turned off, or another mom who didn’t have food for a five-month-old child, and she told us that she shouldn’t have had the baby. That’s what bothers me: when people listen to the narrative that tells them, ‘It’s your fault.’ Poor people are not saints, they’re not perfect, but neither are the rich people. When I was in college, I met all these dumb rich girls, so I know they exist. And you know what? If you are a poor three-year-old that eats a lot of lead paint in older housing, then you’re not going to be very smart, either.”

Great Barrington, MA