Putting a face on poverty

"I would like everyone to understand that it's not just hitting the very poor poor, it hits everybody. Even someone that's out like me - that's working and trying hard to take care of their family - and I'm not talking about just any family. My kids are great kids, but it hits us hard, harder. So, I want them to see a face on how this economy is affecting us." - Joyce Washington, Single Mother

It's unfortunate that the "poor" makes for terrible politics in our national discourse. Politicians and the media frame the debate in a way that cuts poverty almost completely out of the picture. You have the wealthy, and then you have the "middle class."

Well, in actuality, you have the "middle class," the "working class," the "working poor" and the poor. We allow ourselves to ignore poverty because it's easy to pathologize. In our short-sightedness we point the finger at the poor and say, "It is your fault that you are in this predicament."

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