Walk This Way

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Posted by Grist at 12:42 PM on 13 Feb 2006

Activist and evangelist Charlotte Keys founded Jesus People Against Pollution to help clean up her hometown of Columbia, Miss., site of a now-shuttered plant where Reichhold Chemical once manufactured Agent Orange. The company shut the factory down after an explosion in 1977 and abandoned or buried thousands of barrels of toxic waste near the water supply of the predominantly poor, African-American neighborhood where it had operated; flooding and leaks followed. In this virtual walking tour, Keys describes life near the plant and her fight to win justice for her community.

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Caddy

Why did one of the people in this neighborhood have a Caddilac in his driveway? What is that all about?

by atreyger at 1:23 PM on 14 Feb 2006

Caddy's and the poor

Why does it matter if "one of the people" had a Caddilac? Does this suggest that they are therefore undserving of having a safe environment to live in? Does this mean they don't fit the proper image of the "deserving poor"?

If they have found a way to "beat the system" and earn some money, why is this wrong? If we went on a tour of a middle class neighborhood, would we ask the question? How about a rich neighborhood?

What are our assumptions about poverty and what it means? Are they helpful to protecting the environment?

by bookerly at 5:56 PM on 16 Feb 2006
[ Parent ]

being poor

If you're poor in this country you're supposed to "look" it. You're not supposed to have a decent car, you're not supposed to buy any so-called luxuries with your food stamps (when people know you're paying with food stamps, they scrutinize what you buy and make judgements about it). You're not supposed to go on a vacation or out to dinner and you're supposed to shop only at discount stores and second-hand stores. If you're poor you must be mismanaging any money you do get because otherwise you wouldn't be poor now would you? If you're poor you're supposed to be ready and willing to do any shit job for the priviledge of being paid regardless of your gifts and talents, regardless how mind-numbing or spiritually depressing it is. If you're poor you don't deserve better. If you're a poor mother, you're supposed to pay someone to take care of your kids so you can work, but if you're not poor you can stay home and still hire help with the kids and housework and that's okay. If you're poor, it's your fault. After all, this is America and anyone can make it, right?
Yup. I've been there. And I'm not far from being there again. So many of the posts in the poverty blogs seem to me to be so supercillious and arrogant. No wonder environmentalists have a bad name in poor communities.

by SMLowry at 10:35 AM on 17 Feb 2006

SMLowry,

Right the $*%@! on! I couldn't have said it better myself. Thank you.

grist.org

by David Roberts at 12:31 PM on 17 Feb 2006

Poverty is a way of life

The validity of poverty is a key question in politics right now. The government recently put out a report about this very subject. But it is as much a red herring as the mediated form of "environmentalism".

It is all too true that in our media-hindered eyes poverty is supposed to stick out like a sore thumb, because that is how it is supposed to be treated. Like an ailment. The poor are to be seen as a bunch of people who don't have enough money and all the stuff that goes with money.

But media does not cover the whole story. It does not let you talk to these people with your own voice, walk their land with your own feet or eat the food that is placed upon their tables. So when you see a Cadillac in the frame, remember the big picture:

The environment is the essence of empathy that runs through every body on this planet.

The environment is the shared experience of the world. It is reality and it is us.

Don't confuse it with the images you see on the computer screen.

by juddfranklin at 12:11 PM on 18 Feb 2006

Yes, but...

If someone can afford to buy a Caddilac, does that make them poor? I am poor right now, and I do not spend my money on expensive cars. My point is that people are too focused on looking good, rather than 'being' good, whatever that may mean. I think that 'poor' implies more than the lack of money, as it is related to the monetary supply around you: you are poor only by comparison to people that have money. The person that owns the Caddilac (provided that he does own it, and is not a Limo driver, an important point) is saying to his community: "hey, I can buy more than you and thus you should envy me for being richer!" This is the basis for capitalistic economies, and thus the consumerism culture.

I would prefer to focus on the other side of being poor: leading a 'poor' lifestyle. This includes things such as eating unwell, or spending your money on things that are undeserving of your time and effort. Of course, it might also include things such as crack, heroin, gang violence, 'ghetto mentality', etc. This is a different horse from the lack of money. I prefer to think (with some empirical evidence) that people without money in a non-consumerist setting tend to lead a much 'richer' lifestyle. For example, think Amazon or Inuit tribes, or even my buddy who is an organic farmer (not a breed known to have a lot of money). So I still stand by my somewhat innocuous question of why the guy had a Caddy in his driveway (I was actually looking for an answer, even if it came out a bit snotty).

by atreyger at 9:53 AM on 20 Feb 2006

Cadillacs

Wilma Dykeman wrote a wonderful book called "Neither Black Nor White." She talks about Cadillacs in poor neighborhoods and provides a context. She reminds us that historically, a black man could not walk into a bank and borrow the downpayment for a new home. Even if he had the money, he couldn't buy a well constructed house in a "nice" (read "white") part of town. It cost less to put a down payment on a car, and the car dealership was one place he could go where they would take his money regardless of the color of his skin. So in a world where blacks experienced degredation and indignity daily, owning a nice car became a way of saying "I am not dirt. I am someone."

The older gentleman in front of the car looks like he lived through and remembers that time. He looks like he takes good care of his house, his car and himself. His worst sin is probably that he believed that if he behaved and looked like a respectable citizen of this country, he wouldn't be dumped on by a callous, irresponsible chemical company.

Buying a nice car might not seem like the best use of one's funds, but the desire to feel some sense of personal power is very human. Even those of us who try not to be materialistic often try to achieve the same end with our degrees of higher learning and by parading out our superior world view and opinions. Real humility is hard to come by.

It is one thing to choose to live simply, it is another to have to do without in a consumer culture that judges our worth by what we have been able to acquire, be it goods or degrees.

by AnneB at 11:22 PM on 21 Feb 2006

yes!

Thank you! That is what I was looking for!

by atreyger at 12:12 AM on 22 Feb 2006

ADVERTISING POLICY

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