Take a look at Jane Devin’s blog, especially this piece on the attitudes of the middle class toward the poor.
I don’t know who she is, but she writes good stuff.
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Here’s An Interesting Blog by Jane Devin
July 29, 2012
Marks Mississippi Sucks Up To The Rich White Man
July 20, 2007
Jenn Abelson writes in the Globe today about John Edwards’ visit to Marks, Mississippi during his poverty tour.
The knee-deep potholes on Cotton Street were filled just hours before Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards arrived this week. Residents had waited years for them to be fixed in a city so overwhelmed by poverty it once moved the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to tears.
Think about that. Knee-deep potholes, unattended for years. Years, for chrissake. But all of a sudden, here comes the rich white politician, and the town finds the money and the time to fix the holes in the roads.
I’m not knocking Edwards. He probably didn’t have a clue about the matter. Why would he?
No, I’m looking at the government of this town, a town with enough poverty and problems to make MLK cry. But they can fix some potholes – find the money, find the time, find the workers – just to impress a politician. Or maybe keep themselves from feeling ashamed. It doesn’t matter. If they could do it for Edwards, they damn well could have done it for themselves long ago.
How much else could the people of Marks do for themselves, for their town? Why do they wait for an Edwards to come to town before they show some spine and concern and care for themselves? Maybe they need to kick out the local pols and get a new set of politicians and a new set of balls.
