Introduction
The book A People’s History of Poverty in America by Stephen Pimpare is a story from the horse’s mouth. The book tells the story of poverty in America by the poor themselves. Pimpare gives the poor a voice to be heard sharing how undignified they feel. Millions of American people live in poverty they talk about the discrimination they feel, control by others and disrespect. Pimpare gives his research from the testimonies and personal accounts from the early days in America to the present. Reading the book, I realize that the immoral things we do not cause poverty, it is caused by the lack of understanding we have. This is a book report on A People’s History of Poverty in America by Stephen Pimpare. This report will summarize important things learned in the book, and later an evaluation of the things learned.
People Also Read
Pimpare explains that Poverty has often been misunderstood. To most people, poverty is caused by moral, personal failure, lack of work ethics and weakness of character. Further, poor people are characterized by hatred for law enforcement authorities like the police, early sexual activity, low marriage rates, high dependence, having the women as the breadwinners of the family and unwillingness to abandon the poverty culture. The poor are blamed for being poor, and Politicians have from time to time been heard saying that efforts to eradicate poverty are all futile (Pimpare 1).
Poverty is most of the time defined as lack of essential human needs such as food, shelter, clothing and education. To some people, however, poverty is the lack of freedom. Freedom, Pimpare explains is the inability of a person to live the life they desire and value. The Millennium development goals by the United Nations all aim at poverty reduction. When poverty is reduced or eradicate, the members of the society are free. The World Bank has been at the forefront in ensuring that people are secure and have freedom (Pimpare 33).
Pimpare says that charity should be the last resort to poverty eradication. This is because charity means power over the lives of other people. Before charity is given questions have to be asked, most of us do not like when strangers come asking personal questions, it is humiliating. He gives a story of a widow with two children, a story told by his son. The widow refused to have his sister and him adopted and said she will work hard to ensure her children have enough to eat and clothe. The men in the society dislike charity, most of the poor people are accustomed to working and feeding their families, and when food is given to them on a silver plate, they dislike it and would rather starve that seek help (Pimpare 34). The well off in the society looks at the poor as lazy and despises them for accepting charity. Michelle Manley despises charity since she says that they want to know too much about our lives for very little money. The charity also affects children; parents under shelter relief have their lives monitored. For example, they are not supposed to acquire a new TV or radio; if they do they will be asked lots of questions to find out where they got the items. Charity makes the poor feel less human and not better than animals taking all their decency away (Pimpare 24).
Evaluation
Poverty is not a choice; most of the people in our society, the homeless on our streets are not poor by choice. It is, therefore, disheartening to say that poor people are poor because they choose poverty. Poverty is deep rooted in American society and is caused by several factors, illiteracy, and lack of freedom and lack of government support.
Pimpare’s book is a voice for the poor to the rich and middle class in the society. Most of those who run charities have not or never experienced firsthand poverty. They, therefore, lack the skills and experience to handle poor people. It is humiliating for someone to come to your poor household see your starving children and asks how much food do you eat or require. The social worker, for instance, explains that she felt ashamed that she had to go through the closet of the poor man to determine how many more clothes they needed. Although it is necessary to determine if a person needs help, it is important to do this is a respectful way. The government has a role to play in ensuring that Americans have equal access to basic needs. With access to education for all, poverty shall reduce considerably.
Conclusion
A People’s History of Poverty in America by Stephen Pimpare explains the story of poverty in American society. Pimpare looks at different aspects of poverty and the blindness of the well off in the society. The poor are looked down upon by the well off when they seek relief. To the rich, poverty is a culture of the poor and is caused by their immoral character, women-centered households, sexual behavior and failure of marriages. Public charity demeans the poor further; they have to line up like cows to receive food and clothing. The charity givers do not empathize with their situation they talk to them rudely. They have to disclose very personal information to get help. It is important for those who work is charities to be people who have experienced poverty to create a good rapport between them and those they serve. Additionally the government has a role to play in ensuring that poverty is eradicated.
Work Cited
Pimpare, Stephen. “A people’s history of poverty in America”. New York: New Press, 2011.
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