Natti717

"Wars against nations are fought to change maps; wars against poverty are fought to map change."
-- Muhammad Ali

"Poverty is the parent of revolution and crime."
-- Aristotle (384-322 BC)

In a country well governed, poverty is something to be ashamed of. In a country badly governed, wealth is something to be ashamed of.
-- Confucius

To live in poverty is to live with constant uncertainty, to accept galling indignities, and to expect harassment by the police, welfare officials and employers, as well as by others who are poor and desperate.
-- Barbara Ehrenreich

The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty, and all forms of human life.
-- John F. Kennedy

How unthinkable that, in a country of such bursting plenty, so many people are facing ongoing hunger and poverty. If we are truly each other's keepers, let's support school lunches, food stamps, neighborhood garden projects, and so many other wonderful programs working to put an end to this cruel and needless blight once and for all.
-- Bonnie Raitt

Songs about this topic:
Another Day in Paradise--Phil Collins
Merchandise--Fugazi
No Woman No cry--Bob Marley

All these things influence my view of poverty and homelessness, especialy the poverty and homelessness that is all around us. Poverty is not just something that exists in third world countries, it exists in the United States just as much as anywhere else. In other parts of the world people may not be able to live with electricity or running water due to circumstances that go beyond money, but here, some people are still living out of their cars and working two minimum wage jobs just trying to get by, and are still unable to afford an apartment.
The above pictures really affect how I view poverty because those pictures were all taken around the Twin Cities. Typically poverty is portrayed as something that does not affect Americans, but it affects us just as much as it affects anyone else. America has more homeless people than most other first world countries, and something needs to be changed. It seems like poverty in America is something that goes unnoticed, the media chooses to ignore it and glorify the American lifestyle as something glamorous filled with many luxuries. For anyone who has driven throughout uptown or downtown MInneapolis, this is clearly not the case. A day doesn't go by when there is not a homeless person standing on some random corner with a sign begging for money. For many people it's not even that they don't have a job, it's just the fact that affordable housing does not exist.

What I think needs to be changed is there needs to be more sustainable, low income housing for people to be able to live in. Just by doing the math, living on one minimum wage job alone doesn't cover all the expenses one person would have to pay for in a single month, and there are many people, including single parents that have to live off of minimum wage not just by themselves but with their children as well. Today, not much is being done to help make affordable housing for low-income families. If there is affordable housing, it is usually too far away from people's jobs in order for them to live there because many people don't have a mode of transportation. Otherwise, where there is affordable housing it may not be the type of neighborhood that a family would want to live in.