Harvard sociologist and MacArthur Genius, Matthew Desmond, won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize in General Nonfiction for his heartbreaking book EVICTED: Poverty and Profit in the American City. I read Evicted after hearing this story on an old Diane Rehm show on NPR.
Even in the most desolate areas of American cities, evictions used to be rare. But today, most poor renting families are spending more than half of their income on housing, and eviction has become ordinary, especially for single mothers. In vivid prose, Desmond provides a intimate view of one of the most urgent issues facing America today. Evicted follows the stories of actual families forced into shelters, squalid apartments, or more dangerous neighborhoods. Readers bear witness to the human cost of America’s vast income inequality, systemic poverty, economic exploitation, and real Americans' determination and intelligence in the face of hardship.
It is brutal to witness... and yet
And yet the Epilogue provides some fresh ideas for moving forward - it is titled Home and Hope.
I'll leave you with this question from the Epilogue:
All this suffering is shameful and unnecessary. Because it is unnecessary, there is hope. These problems are neither intractable nor eternal. A different kind of society is possible, and powerful solutions are within our collective reach.
But those solutions depend on how we answer a single question: do we believe that the right to a decent home is part of what it means to be an American?
No comments:
Post a Comment