Generations of poverty afflicts many white rural American communities much like inner city Black and Hispanic communities, why are they so far apart politically?
We had a guest minister today in the pulpit, Reverend Brock Leach, who has done a lot of social justice work on the ground both internationally and locally through the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC) and most recently the Headstart Program in my county. His philosophy, which stems from the UUSC, is that when the struggle for basic needs — food, shelter, healthcare and education — is lessened, people have the space to grow and become self-sufficient. But the effort needs to come from within the community itself. Until the community comes to terms with their issues and their needs, and then organize and advocate for them, their conditions will never improve.
Rev. Brock noted in his sermon that people are espousing that Hillary missed her chance because of her failure to connect with the working class. I bristled at this as I know for a fact it is a very specific segment of the working class that refused to see Hillary as a viable candidate for President, the white working class. I spoke to him about this after the service and had a very productive conversation with him, which I will get to momentarily.
One of the readings he used during the service was from The Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance where the author describes the life experiences of a teenager in Appalachia Kentucky, which he states is not unusual for many in Appalachia, including himself. The description includes a drug addicted mother, a complicated and often estranged relationship with his father, and a 15 year old caught in the middle of it all trying to find his way. His mother dies suddenly and while the son had not been living with his mother for years, Vance notes that the love her son had for her was no less real than those of us who are more fortunate. His separation from her was for survival purposes, not lack of love on his or her part. Separation can occur voluntarily or can be forced by the state, but survival is always the impetus behind it. The question in the end was what was to happen to this child? He did have family to take him in, but where was he to go from there? Who would give him the support to get the education and skills necessary to grow beyond his current circumstances? Vance determined it had to come from the community and for that to happen Appalachia had to wake the hell up.
It struck me that while the location and race of those described were different, the story may sound similar to those told of the inner city. Hardship arising out of poverty driving a drug epidemic that tears apart families, lack of resources such as good public schools, healthcare, healthy food and community outreach programs perpetuating the problems. I lived in such a neighborhood in the 1990’s in L.A. Vance’s description of Appalachia therefore struck a chord with me and that made me wonder why the reactions to Hillary are so different within the inner city working class and the rural working class. It is this very subject that I brought up with our guest minister.
It is hard to avoid the obvious differences of race in the equation and in the end that may drive the wedge not only due to racism but due to expectations. Black Americans especially, but Hispanic Americans as well, have been told over and over not to expect a “bailout”, that they don’t deserve it, that it is up to them to fix their own problems because white America wants little to do with them. Thus, those in inner city neighborhoods are ignored until something bad happens, and then they are rounded up and sent to jail.
This never ending cycle, many inner city neighborhoods decided, had to stop. Churches and local community organizers turned to each other to help out their neighbors and themselves. I saw it happen in L.A. Programs being organized in local churches that eventually became strong enough to garner support for a community center, which then provided outreach programs for children and adults alike. Not everyone could be helped. But I did see success stories and with every one of them the community had more hope.
This battle continues today as the neighborhoods are still chronically ignored in many areas and therefore government funding for public schools and social safety nets like food stamps, affordable healthcare, housing and job training is lacking. Churches and local organizers are on the battlefront daily trying to fill the gaps and reach the most vulnerable of the populations, the children, before it is too late. They are also in the halls of government advocating for the government programs that can give these communities, as well as those in rural America, financial and intellectual space to grow and prosper.
When Vance looks at the Appalachian communities, he sees little of the same efforts that inner city communities often put in trying to save the future of their children and their communities. Instead he finds people complaining that they have done everything they are supposed to, standing in line waiting patiently for their turn, and that turn never comes, while those black folks or illegal immigrants get all these handouts. I pointed out in my conversation with the Rev. Brock that standing in line waiting is pretty passive and to expect opportunity to find them instead of them finding the opportunity is a rather backwards way of doing things. Why is there so much more community organizing and leadership among the Black and Hispanic communities trying to make things better for themselves? What is different in the white working class communities?
Expectations. The white working class has been told over and over that because they are white, they are better. White privilege thus should be bringing them opportunity, jobs. In this day and age as technology and corporate farming take over many of the middle income jobs of white working class America, that mindthink does not work anymore.
But since they feel that they should come first in line due to their innate status in our society, they sit and watch those in inner cities better themselves while they continue to stagnate and wonder why “those people” should be given special “privileges”, such as Affirmative Action and minority scholarships. Ignoring the historical fact of 400 years of oppression, they fail to see all the hard work, blood, sweat and tears that go into every success story from the inner city, because they have always been told the only reason “those people” succeed is because of hand outs.
Therefore, instead of taking stock of their community’s needs and working towards meeting them through community outreach and advocacy, which are viewed as liberal activities to help minorities get more handouts, the white working class holds onto the white Christian conservative mythos that because of who they are, things should just happen. The white working class needs to adapt and start looking to themselves for change. In the end they just might realize those liberal ideals of a functioning government that serves to lessen the struggle to meet basic needs will allow them to build stronger communities with new opportunities while their not so distant neighbors in the inner city are able to do the same.
But how does anyone convince them this is needed? They put their faith in a man who knows nothing about them, cares even less, and is a bit insane to boot. Will they wake up before the inevitable crash and burn of our country and stop the madness? As progressives, we cannot make them do this. Obama and then Hillary showed no matter what awesome policies you put into place, if you are considered a liberal elite (which is just about everyone nowadays that is not a white conservative male), you will not get through to them. Until those that they look to for leadership, white Christian men, begin to actually care more about their own communities instead of their status as white Americans, I fear little will get done and the farther we will get dug into a fiery pit that will burn not just the white working class, but everyone else as well.
Alas, the only people that can help the insular white working class is themselves. A lesson forced upon minority communities for decades upon decades. Too bad the same history that taught black Americans it is up to them to fight like hell for opportunities to succeed also taught white Americans that by default they should have first dibs on opportunity without having to do much at all.
