Blog 3: Post K, Extra Credit

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Article 25. (Right to Shelter & Nutrition)

• (1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.

Interestingly, I recently learned that the only two countries in the WHOLE world who do not follow and apply these Universal Declaration of Human Rights is the UNITED STATES and Somalia! How crazy is that the our great nation, the free world, the leader of the world, does not practice or bother to put in place these basic human rights for their own people, but yet we as a nation are quick to shake our fingers to other nations for not taking care of their own!!!

According to globalissues.org, (http://www.globalissues.org/article/139/the-usa-and-human-rights) "The leaders of the United States of America are proud to present the picture of being the foremost bearers of human rights."

• "Yet, they have often been heavily criticized for advancing their own interests and of double standards."
• "They often have not ratified various international human rights related treaties (and where it has, there have been many, many reservations)."
• "US diplomats were influential in drawing up the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, yet the USA has not always put (some of their own) words into action."

Clearly I understand why the U.S. chooses not to follow these rights, because then they would be put on the spot in front of the world as to why we are poorest richest country of all.  The U.S. has failed its people on so many levels including the  right to adequate shelter and nutrition. These rights do not exist in the U.S. because there are MILLIONS of people who are HOMELESS, they live on the street, they don't have a lease to their name, they don't have a key to a home or apartment of their own.  The right to adequate food for oneself and their families also doesn't exist here in the U.S. because MILLIONS go to sleep each night HUNGRY without food in their bellies.  The U.S. talks a good game in being wealthy, and the government is so quick to jump into other countries to solve their problems, instead the U.S. should take that time and MONEY to invest in their own people by providing affordable housing for all who need it, food for every single person, medical insurance for everyone, etc,.

What are the Universal Declaration of Human Rights? follow the link below and educate yourself and be your own judge as to how the U.S. is denying us these basic human rights!

http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/index.shtml

Blog 3; Post G, Food Insecurity in Cook County

Article: 'Families Feel the Pangs of SNAP Cuts'.
Authors: Bowean, Juan Perez Jr. and Vikki Ortiz Healy .
Published/Written: November 10, 2013.
Source: Chicago Tribune.

This article brings to light the struggles of the working poor in Chicago. Many working poor families qualify for food stamp benefits (SNAP) because of their low earning wages.  The food stamp benefits offer a lifeline for many families to be able to put food on their tables each day.  Since the economic fallout, the government increased food stamp benefits on a temporary basis acknowledging that the working poor would be the hardest hit as they were the ones to lose their jobs and homes during this time.  That extra benefit has come to expire for millions in the state of Illinois. 

The families interviewed for this story were stunned to learn that their benefits would decrease by as much as $30.  Many are already having a hard time to feeding their families with the amount already given to them, and now with these cuts, they don't know how they are going to survive.  Like Shipler from 'The Working Poor' states, these families are working families either in part-time jobs, with children, earning minimum wage, faced with everyday struggles. 

We have read in Shipler's book and experienced  in our Oxfam hunger banquet, how one minute everything is ok and the next minute everything can go wrong from a lost job, and illness, a repair needed on a car, etc,.

These families are doing everything right, but when the funds decrease how are people expected to live and feed their families?  Most of these families, like the families in the film 'The Red Wagon' , will have to stretch their hard earned dollars and turn to an already maxed out resource: their local food pantries. "The cuts have also raised concerns from social service advocates who worry that families will lean more heavily on maxed-out aid agencies."  Many families have never had to utilize this resource, but now they have to and depend on them to make ends meet.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-food-stamps-cuts-2-20131110,0,6008699,full.story

Blog 3: Post B: Shipler, Chapter 11, Skill & Will.

Mr. Shipler states that all ways to get out of poverty must be accomplished at once, and to this I do not agree. 

Let's look back to what "all ways" include to be. On page 4 of the introduction section, Mr. Shipler states that "A set of skills, a good starting wage, and a job with the likelihood of promotion are prerequisites. But so are clarity of purpose, courageous self-esteem, a lack of substantial debt, the freedom from illness or addiction, a functional family, a network of upstanding friends, and the right help from private or governmental agencies." 

While ideally it would help out every single poor working person to have everything put in place all at once to finally escape the shackles of poverty, realistically this idea is not feasible. It would never work, it would have to be that all the stars would need to be aligned for it all to work out for everyone at the same time.  All social organizations would have to work together to make this happen by providing everyone with resources for affordable housing, medical insurance, food stamp benefits, etc. All employers would have to agree to pay their workers at least $15 or above for an hourly wage, more dependent on the average cost of living of a particular city.  And with those jobs, everyone would have to be guaranteed the possibility of a promotion.

In a magic world I could see this happening, and wouldn't it be great to finally eradicate hunger, homelessness, drug addiction and overall crime?  

Yes, I would love to see the day where we would all be equal and treated based on our character and not on the stereotypes that come accompany us based on our race or gender.  The truth is the powers that be, the ones who control our society would have to give up their crowns and thrones, and who ever wants to give up their power for the sake of helping us meager folk? No one. It'll never happen..businesses would lose out on what drives this country..greed, money, fame...

To eradicate and solve poor people's problems would mean to lose out on money made out by businesses that cater to their weaknesses like casinos and payday loan stores.  Prisons would be forced to shut down because of decline of population because poor people would not have to resort to steal and kill for money and food and their drug use because they have the good paying jobs now, they can afford the things they need.  

This brings me to a cliche' I often hear, "when you know better, you do better".  While one wants to believe that knowledge is power, not everyone will apply those skills because they lack the will to do and be better no matter if everything is put in place for them to succeed. 

Shipler, D. (2005). The Working Poor: Invisible in America. New York: Vintage Books

Blog 3; Post J, Little Red Wagon: Facing Hunger

The role of food banks in America is one that is crucial and necessary in feeding the millions of American's who often have to choose between food and medicine or rent.  The film 'Little Red Wagon: Facing Hunger' discusses the food insecurity issues of a rural town in Vermont.  When I think of food insecurity I think of big cities with dense populations and often homeless or working poor minorities who use food banks the most.  

This film brought to light that anyone, anywhere in the richest country of the world, can suffer from food insecurity.  When I think of Vermont, I think of maple trees, farmhouses and owners with acres and acres of land at their disposal, growing agriculture items for the rest of the country.  I would have never thought that hunger was an issue that rural tows would face. 

The film highlights a small food pantry that is run by volunteers and serves primarily white working poor Americans.  They work in blue collar jobs earning minimum wages and barely making ends meets. The film shares stories from a single mother, an upper class woman who recently divorced and a handful of elders who are on limited funds like SSI and medicare.  Each story unique, and each with the same desire to feed their family.  They all acknowledge the importance of their pantry and what a lifesaver it is, and that without it they would go hungry.

Feeding America is an organization that collects and distributes food to food pantries nationwide, including the one in Vermont.  According to their website, "Challenges facing rural areas differ from metro/urban areas in several significant ways". They further go on to say that "Employment is more concentrated in low-wage industries; unemployment and underemployment are greater and education levels are lower".

Because of these challenges, there are MORE issues of hunger in rural towns as "15.5% of rural households are food insecure, an estimated 3.1 million households and 8.5 million Americans (17.7%) living in rural areas live below the federal poverty line."

I believe it is important for everyone to educate themselves about hunger and food insecurity issues that affect their communities and  do something about it, whether donating time by volunteering or money or donating food items to their local pantry.

The Red Wagon: Facing Hunger (2005) Directed by Jim Ritvo and Dave Raizman 
 http://feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america/hunger-facts/rural-hunger.aspx

Blog 3; Post I: The Business of Poverty

I am to discuss an issue raised in the film, Bill Moyers Journal: The Business of Poverty. (2008).

One of the many realities of being poor is that you'll end up paying for items such as a car, furniture, small appliances at a much higher rate because most of the time poor folks don't have the good credit or cash at hand to purchase these items. If they wait till tax season for their refunds, they still end up paying more in cash because businesses have become privy to this practice and usually jack up their prices during this time. Another option for us poor folk is to fall into the traps of payday loan stores. Which is what most poor people do because the loan store business is a booming and profitable business. According to Business Inside, "In the U.S., 12 million people borrow nearly $50 billion a year through payday loans."
 

The film touches on the issues of how businesses such as payday loan stores and used car dealerships take advantage of the working poor. While I do agree that businesses are founded on the principle to offer customers goods to purchase at a profit for the business; I do not agree that they should target and abuse a certain group of clientele; the working poor.

These businesses take advantage to the point of using unethical practices to lure the customer in and once in the door, hooking them into a purchase with promises of easy credit and affordable payments. It is said that most working poor people lack the proper reading and math skills and comprehension skills needed to fully understand what kind of contract they are signing into. Unfortunately, these business take advantage of these statistics and never explain interest rates, hidden fees, and the rights of the consumer.

 

 

 

•  http://www.businessinsider.com/outrageous-facts-about-payday-loans-2013-10#ixzz2lsxXa8YV
•  If you have time I advise you to watch the Bill Moyers video following this link.  http://video.pbs.org/video/1629435064/

Blog 3; Post A: Shipler, Chapter 8: Body & Mind

In this chapter, Shipler says: "The difficult conditions in which lower-income people live, their vulnerability to disease and stress, are now seen as affecting the brain itself." (Page 218).  We are to answer based on our reading how we think this process works.

This was actually an interesting read and something that has never crossed my mind before.

The process is clear:  a person who is poor has limited means to proper nutrition, and the foods they often eat lack the vitamins and minerals that the brain needs to properly function. Life of a poor person has a vicious cycle.  We begin with the daily stressors of life, lack of quality food, housing issues, lack of income, job insecurity, etc. and because our minds and bodies are always on high alert, our bodies are on high stress mode.  And we all know that when we are on high stress mode, our bodies immune system is weakened, which in turn makes our bodies vulnerable to disease.  If our natural defenses are down, then we get sick, either through a cold, body aches or depression.  Depending on the severity of the illness, we have to miss work, which adds to the cycle of stress because minimum wage jobs don't get paid sick days.  And if we don't get paid, bills aren't going to get paid, groceries are not going to appear on the table, and at the end of the month, our belongings could be out in the street.  Life of a poor working person is hard.  We also know that stress affects the brain in many levels.  Poor people are higher likely to snuffer from depression.

                                            

An idea that I always seem to hear is that people are born into poverty and once they are in it, it is hard to escape the vicious cycle.  Chapter 8 touches on this by saying that, "The damage that malnutrition does to the brain development and physical health is stealthy, because it precedes the retarded growth that usually sounds the alarm." (p.215)  "The most sensitive periods of brain growth comes during the last trimester of pregnancy and the fist two years after birth....malnutrition in the third semester retards their maturation and inhibits the production of branched cells called glia."  That being said Shipler uses research to come to the conclusion that babies in womb are affected by their mother's poor eating habits.  They are born with lesser chance of a healthy start.  If their brains are not properly developed they will have problems in the learning process at school when they get older.  If they have problems at school whether it be learning, physical and/or emotional disabilities, they will end up with dead-end jobs,and will likely face the same struggles as their parents. 

Shipler, D. (2005). The Working Poor: Invisible in America. New York: Vintage Books

http://www.minddisorders.com/Kau-Nu/Nutrition-and-mental-health.html

Blog 3; Post H: The Hunger Banquet

Our class was part of the Hunger Banquet presented by Oxfam America at our University.  From what I heard from previous hunger banquets is that people are assigned a 'class'  based on the piece of paper they pick.  And based on their 'class' they either get to eat nothing (poor class) or a fancy meal (upper class).

I was already running late to class because I had cover a shift for a co-worker, usually I don't work on Tuesday's because of my class, nonetheless I was running late and I really wanted to be in and live in the experience; and based on my luck at these sort of 'experiments'  I knew I would end up in the poor class, so because of health reasons I had a small snack and coffee just in case.  

Just as I was told, we formed a line and gave our government names to our host. I was fourth in line and was presented with a box of white pieces of paper.  I reached and grabbed....MIDDLE CLASS! yay! I was going to eat :)  I was then told to sit at a table.  I looked around to see what the other choices were, and I was glad I got a table.  I learned that if I had picked the poor class I would have had to sit on the floor,  but then I took a look at the upper class seating arrangement and I was a bit jealous.  The lucky ones got to sit at a beautiful table with a tablecloth, candles and a server. I took a peek at their food and I was drooling, they even had champagne!   

Upper Class meal

Middle Class meal

The host started the presentation by giving us information about Oxfam America and what their mission was about and facts to support the disproportionate number of families that go hungry each night.  Then next thing you know I was given a scenario on how quickly life as a middle class-er could change in an instant because of a lost job or medical emergency and I was thrown to the poor class.  yup, my meal was gone and life as I knew it took a change for the worse.  I was amongst others sitting on the floor while the upper class started their meal without a care in the world.  They didn't offer us poor folk any crumbs, they ignored us with their fancy food.  The middle class enjoyed pasta and garlic bread, while us poor class were offered broth. No one else in my group wanted the broth, they just talked amongst themselves. Being the team player that I am, I took a sip and almost spit it out, the broth had no flavor, no salt , nothing. It appeared to be made of oil and hot water. I was just glad that I had eaten a snack previous to this and I still had my coffee.

Flavorless Broth: Lower Class meal

What did I get out of this experience? Well, I have lived through these experiences, of the reality of living paycheck to paycheck.  Of knowing what it is to be hungry, of being so poor that the flavorless broth would have been a blessing to me and my children.  I know the reality of what an unexpected illness, a job loss, one of my children being sick and having to care for them, could do to someone with limited income.  because of my past experiences I don't take anything for granted and neither should anyone who is blessed to have some sort of food on the table each day.

                                                            http://www.oxfamamerica.org/