In my short time working at a community-based neighborhood association, I have begun to authentically understand the realities of poverty. It is one thing to to make sense of it when you are reading about it in a book; it is entirely different when you are working side by side with people who are the reality of poverty. I do not use the phrase "victims of poverty" because that has a negative connotation associated with blame about their ability to challenge the effect poverty has had on their lives. I will instead refer to it as the "effects of poverty" because the real life situations facing the people I work with can at least be traced to a world greatly impacted by economic realities. The more I am in contact with people of poverty, the more I think they are courageous in their ability to challenge the conditions that have created their social reality. How they challenge these conditions and the outcomes from their behavior runs the gamut. There is the reformed ex-gang leader who is now holding down a solid job and providing for a family. There is the person who made different choices and is now looking at incarceration. While I do not want to call this person a victim of poverty, I cannot help but think had they grown up in different circumstances, their life would be far better.
I am working with young kids right now and I truly believe none of them are hoping for a life of incarceration. However, if that premise is right (uneasy optimism), the knowledge acquisition that results from their social realities makes me think they to a certain extent are powerless to the effects of poverty. Does this make them victims of poverty? Perhaps not completely, but it does make them human....
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