“One of the problems of American abundance is that it conceals and camouflages acute deprivation. Superhighways carry speeding commuters around the slums so they need never be aware of their existence. Suburban zoning laws and the high cost of property guarantee that most middle-class Americans will never have to rub shoulders with the poor. Installment credit and no down-payments make it possible for even the poor to possess the trappings of prosperity.”
Our Quote of the Week reminds us of the deprivation that exists in the shadow of great abundance in the United States. We reflect on these words on Black Friday, as the holidays get underway and the pressures to focus on “the trappings of prosperity” increase.
In a speech he gave at a poverty summit during his tenure as US Ambassador to France, Sargent Shriver pointed out that too many people were unaware of the pervasiveness of poverty in the US. Through his remembrances about the War on Poverty in the speech, we come to realize that the poverty efforts expanded economic opportunity in many communities, and brought awareness about poverty into the mainstream.
In the speech, Sargent Shriver outlines the causes of generational poverty, which we continue to see today:
“Poverty exists in America because some of our citizens have been unable for a variety of reasons to enter the mainstream of the flourishing American economy. They, and in many cases their ancestors, have been barred by racial discrimination, geographic location, illiteracy, lack of skills, poor education, bad health, malnutrition, age ...”
To be sure, our society’s awareness about the causes and effects of poverty has increased since Sargent Shriver began his tenure as head of the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO), the Office of the War on Poverty, in 1964. And yet, in the wealthiest country in the world, it is still possible not just to ignore those causes and effects, but to exacerbate them, through policies that deepen economic inequality and business practices that exploit the poor.
The holidays are always difficult for those struggling with economic insecurity. In addition to expressing our gratitude and our wishes for joy and peace this holiday season, may we also find creative ways to bring about the conditions so that all of us may enjoy the undeniable abundance that exists.
We hope you had a peaceful Thanksgiving and we wish you a safe and harmonious holiday season.
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