Consider the poor
Unlike other university graduates, I didn’t go in search of a profession. My head filled with dates, names, places, I intended to be a history professor. Uncle Sam postponed it by drafting me. In short order I was sent to Korea, where a “police action” was in progress.
Staying in uniform was out of the question when it was clear that I didn’t fit into Gen MacArthur’s boots. Back in the States, it struck me that I was a product of the Great Depression. There were still plenty of poor. What could be more worthwhile than helping them?
I entered the civil service as a social investigator. Not quite a social worker, my job was to track down husbands who’d abandoned their families. If and when found, the Department of Welfare got them to contribute part of their income to family support.
Alas, I discovered that all too many husbands weren’t missing and the Dow was being scammed big time. When I reported this, the result of personal investigation, I was criticised for breaking rules and regulations. So much for my good intentions.
It was as a backpacker (Europe, Asia) that I took up writing for newspapers along the way to continue my travels. I’ve been a journalist ever since. My earlier experiences remain vivid in my mind. How well I remember academia, the military, the social services, my journey.
In Evicted, Matthew Desmond describes his life among eight impoverished families in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, between 2008 and 2010. I dealt with many of the same problems. Families evicted for not paying the rent, forced to stay in vermin-infested shelters in crime-ridden neighbourhoods.
His heart goes out to them. Is it their fault they can’t find work? There are doubtless people like that, yet my years on the job in the Big Apple generations earlier make me a mite cynical.
That the rich are rich and the poor are poor is a fact of life. No “ism” is going to change it. Still, a massive overhaul of the welfare system is essential. Desmond makes us feel indignant about landlords, unconcerned that they have to make a living and pay taxes too. Give them a break.