From Common Dreams:
by Donna Smith
Published on Friday, January 13, 2012 by CommonDreams.org
Last evening, Tavis Smiley hosted a program that was broadcast live on C-SPAN live and that focused for two-and-a-half hours on the issue of poverty in America. It was terrific. The energy and commitment of the experts assembled to investigate and help alleviate poverty made the conversation rich beyond anything I’ve seen in ages. Each panelist came at the topic from a different perspective. That added to the richness of the discussion about being poor in America.
Good stuff, Michael Moore, Cornell West, Barbara Ehrenreich, Suze Orman, Majora Carter, Roger A. Clay, Jr, and all who participated as panelists or who helped pull this together. If you didn’t see this show, Remaking America, from Poverty to Prosperity, you can watch it in C-SPAN’s archives. And you can find out more at Smiley’s website.
Even though I’ve been through the slide from middle-income to poor and now am fighting the unwinnable fight to climb back out, I still need the affirmation these sorts of discussions can give to remember that it still isn’t my fault. The system crushed me, and the system will crush me again unless I stay intensely vigilant -- and maybe it will crush me again even if I do. But I do not want to stay vigilant about the wrong things.
I want a life without the terror of poverty. I hate fearing what I cannot control. It’s worse than any horror movie could ever be. I do not want a lot of stuff. I do want some peace.
I especially appreciated Michael Moore and Barbara Ehrenreich last night as both have given much of their life work to telling the realities for people like me – because very few people let me tell my own story. We don’t suffer fools in this nation, and we still often see as fools those who do not achieve financial success. Last night I didn’t feel like a fool during most of that program.
Continue reading at: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/01/13-12
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