poverty
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Detroit Figures Out How to Charge Poor People for the Right to Not Die From Coronavirus
If you had one shot, one opportunity to help someone, would you capture it or would you let them die of thirst? His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy. There’s vomit on his sweater already, mom’s spaghetti…Hopefully, it’s not the coronavirus. Because if you live in Detroit, you might not be able to…
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More Than Half of Homeless Families Are Black, Government Report Says
More than half a million Americans experienced homelessness in 2019—a number that has slowly ticked upward in recent years. Of the families that make up that number, the Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress finds that 52 percent are black. Of an estimated 568,000 Americans who were without shelter last year, individual black Americans comprised…
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Poor People Are Already Financially Literate. They Just Need More Money
I don’t remember when exactly I first realized there was such a thing as class. I think I might have been 10 or 11, but I’m not certain. But even before I possessed the language to articulate class distinctions, I understood them. I knew where my family existed on that spectrum. I knew what where…
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Trump Administration Seeks to Literally Take Food Out of Poor People’s Mouths
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 36 million Americans were receiving an average of $121 monthly in food stamps as of April of this year. If the Trump administration has its way, that number will be cut by at least 3 million when proposed new regulations are released on Tuesday. Bloomberg reports that the…
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Study Finds Folks in Chicago’s Affluent Streeterville Live to Almost the Century Mark, While Blacks in Impoverished Englewood Don’t Live Long Enough to Collect Social Security
It’s just nine miles between Chicago’s predominantly white and wealthy Streeterville neighborhood and the predominantly black and poor Englewood in the city’s South Side, but the gulf of difference in life expectancies between the two represents the largest such gap in the nation. A New York University School of Medicine study has found the average…
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The 15th Anniversary of Kanye’s 'Fuck Higher Education' Album
On February 10, 2004, Kanye West, aka Yeezy, released his debut album, The College Dropout. The album remains a classic that won multiple Grammys and the certification of triple platinum. Its message also explains why it remains important today. The album was the most popular indictment of the higher education system. West formed a lyrical…
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Living Paycheck to Paycheck Looks Different For Everyone, But the Struggle Is Still Real
There are a great many people in this country who are one missed paycheck away from financial ruin. They may not look like what you expect. They may drive nice cars, live in nice neighborhoods and even be what some people on Instagram would hashtag as #Goals, but beyond the happy smiles on social media,…
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It's Not Unrealistic for Issa on Insecure to Be 30 With Multiple Jobs and Homeless Because I've Been That Too
The characters on Insecure sometimes make decisions that make me question if they were born on the same Earth that other earthlings inhabit. (For instance, Lawrence in season 2 bringing Aparna to Tiffany’s birthday dinner from hell.) Also, I agree with Vulture’s Jasmine Sanders in that the writers sometimes seem to be too influenced by…
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Federal Judge Stops New Orleans From Jailing Those Who Fail to Pay Fines, Rules That They Must Have a Chance to Plead Poverty
Instead of being immediately tossed into jail for failing to pay fines or fees related to whatever legal issues you may have, a federal judge has ruled that anyone who owes money from criminal convictions in New Orleans must have a chance to plead poverty in a “neutral forum,” before being put behind bars for…
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It Takes Heart to Fight: What Boxing Taught Me About White Supremacy
Editor’s note: In recognition of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Samoan writer Rudy Mageo shares his story. As a first-generation immigrant from Samoa, my experiences growing up in the Dana Strand Projects in Wilmington, Calif., a poor community near the Los Angeles ports, align with other disenfranchised immigrants and other persons of color…