“It is the people who matter, not the masses.” (The Long Loneliness)
Looking back, it seems easier to see which people were poor during the Great Depression than to see them today. They were people you see in black & white.
Then, papers printed pictures of “Hooverville” camps, shanty towns with houses made of cardboard, scrap lumber, tin, whatever the people could find. People evicted from their homes built them across the country. They were clearly poor.
A Hooverville, Seattle 1933
Poverty 2013
(picture by Karen Apricot)
The soup lines went down the street and around the corner.
1933 2013
The Great Depression was so long ago. The Great Recession is still with most of us. People live in inadequate houses, stand in line for meals today as then. But our image of poverty has changed. People look more destitute in back and white photography. In the 21st century, an improbable number of U.S. citizens blame poverty on people who are poor. Unsavory politicians claim that race, low I.Q., laziness are to blame. Democrats are to blame, Republicans are to blame, Obamacare is to blame, Roosevelt is to blame, Reagan is to blame.
In the 1920’s – 30’s, radicals discussed which ideology might lead to a more just society. Socialism, communism, anarchism? Dorothy was not as interested as her co-workers in theory.
“It is the people who matter, not the masses.” (The Long Loneliness)
People use the New Testament as justification for all kinds of political agendas, not noticing that the New Testament does not talk about political agendas.
Dorothy’s outrage at poverty and the crushing of civil rights combined with an insight about the connection each of us has to each other …to each person as brother and sister. She saw God in each person. She focused on the person in front of her.
The debate continues. What is our country’s best direction?
However, the question, “Who are you calling poor?” is easy to answer. The person in front of you, down the street, in the other country, who needs food, housing, warm clothes.
That has not changed.
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