The American way of Poverty

By Sarah Ampadu

In the American Way of Poverty, the attitudes towards welfare recipients shift in the U.S. around a specific time. Welfare was starting to be looked down upon during the Reagan era. He referred to mothers on welfare and “Welfare Queens” and wanted to eliminate the fraudulent use of the system by making it difficult to get on welfare. Following this Bush passed the bill welfare-to-work, which actually kicked people out of the program without a secure way to pay their bills. In a scene these two presidents turned a lot of mothers into “Welfare Queens” by giving them so support during their time of need if they were actually trying to help themselves.

          The question of why most poor individuals and families concentrated in the southern part of the country in the book. Due to the inequality in other states in the U.S.A the south is seen to have the lowest life expectancy rate not just because the life expectancy rate was at a fall, but unequal society and standards of living we citizens being put through versus other countries which are exceeding the improvement rate over the United States. Due to there being a higher prevalence of low birth rate and infant mortality, the lower life expectancy is hand in hand with the less access to healthcare in these southern states. All this can have an unequal effect on the way the southern states life expectancy.

           Many specific passages from the book have struck out to me so far. While reading, it surprised me when the author discussed how our country leaders have dragged us and how they didn't do much to change poverty but just keep pushing it under the rug like it was nothing. I surprised me because it was true and we just don't notice it as much due to other media outlets distracting us. Also she pointed out how when Obama was elected he promise all this change especially with poverty areas and we all idolized him while he was running. However, when he didn't actually follow through on the promises and people elected him again to see if he was going to make good on his word and still hasn’t it makes you think about even being a democrat due to these individuals claiming to be for the people and being for themselves. Through the chapters it was interesting to read people's stories and imagine the struggles they went through, not because they didn't want to work or because they were lazy, but because the government wasn't doing their job for the citizen they are so called suppose to protect. One sentence stood out to me “Poverty is evidence of a problem; it's not the source of the program”, (pg.11). I felt like that put the issue more into perspective, for us to understand that the government has a issue which is causing poverty.