Back in 2013 I had the thrilling pleasure to hear Bryan Stevenson. He is the executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative.1 I was moved by the passionate description of his work on behalf of people wrongly accused of crimes. They had been jailed for inhumane periods of time under equally inhumane conditions. He further detailed the unequal justice system in our country, especially for citizens of color. The mass incarceration of our less fortunate countrymen and countrywomen raises serious question about our ability to fairly apply the standards of justice in our country.
His work had left a haunting impression and struck a real chord.2 But the real impact was a statement that has stuck with me ever since – “The opposite of poverty is not wealth; the opposite of poverty is justice.”
Let that sink in for a minute. Our society has always operated, in my view, on the glories and benefits of wealth. Those who are less fortunate and living in the throes of poverty often aspire to have wealth. So, the gap between these two groups can be seen in rather simple terms – let’s just settle the monetary discrepancy and it will solve the problem. People of means have often thought of those in poverty as free-loaders and welfare queens. I would argue that such a cynical view of people in poverty only serves to belittle them and almost make them undeserving of assistance. I still today hear politicians and read on social media about the lazy folks who just want to ride the welfare train. I am so tired of those arguments.
If we listen to Bryan Stevenson for a moment, we realize that the problem is related to decades (arguably centuries) of injustice that have plagued those of lesser means. If we flip his definition, we could state that the opposite of wealth is injustice. As we consider that perspective, we should take a deep dive at the injustices that have occurred and endured and then realistically analyze what has happened, what is still happening, and what to do to improve the situation. What follows is a partial list of some of the injustices that point dramatically to work that needs to be done.
- The injustice of housing – It is well known that those of lesser means usually have inadequate housing. It is often crowded and restricted to certain areas. It is more likely to be near highways or factories that contribute to poorer air quality. It should be remembered that the practice of “redlining” certain neighborhoods singled them out as bad investment risks and thus condoned the practice of silent housing discrimination which was prohibited by law.3 Folks affected by this type of discrimination were thus more unlikely to buy housing that they could subsequently sell or pass on to subsequent generations. This latter practice, passing houses on to the next generation, is a major source of what is called generational wealth and the ability to grow assets in a family and decrease debt going forward.4
- The injustice of hunger – Far too many children in poverty receive a less than healthy diet in terms of amount or content. Arguments for enhanced school nutrition (to expand the number of meals and increase the nutritional content) have been greeted by some as unnecessary or outside the scope of the educational system. I am astonished by such arguments as we seek to enhance the learning opportunities for all. Hunger is counterproductive to learning and completely unacceptable in a modern society such as ours.
- The injustice of health care – It is well known that those of lesser means usually have inadequate health care. They are more likely to have no health care coverage or need some assistance. And Medicaid assistance does not rise to the same level of support as private insurance. Therefore, they are more likely to have inadequate preventive care, acute care and chronic care. The difference in some disorders (hypertension, certain types of cancer, renal disease, hypertension) are shockingly higher in terms of those affected per capita for those in poverty. These discrepancies carry over and persist from generation to generation if the factors that lead to these disorders are not corrected.
- The injustice of transportation – The modes of transportation for those in poverty in urban and rural areas are limited. They do not have the freedom of mobility, by and large, that others have. We take for granted the ability to load up one’s family in a car to get to the doctor, for example. In the city, this is much more of a burden, and I have seen this firsthand for families in my clinic before I retired.
- The injustice of climate change – The rise in hurricanes and their intensity have become a more common occurrence along with the need for evacuation. But families of lesser means find that to be substantially more difficult to do. A frightening case in point is the situation at Memorial Hospital in New Orleans at the time of Hurricane Katrina (people trapped and dying in a city hospital and memorialized in a TV mini-series and book)5 or all the folks that showed up at the Super Dome to find inadequate shelter.
- The injustice of the environment – With restricted housing options, pockets of poverty tend to occur in areas where adverse environmental exposures are more likely to occur. The rise in childhood asthma in such areas has been shown to be related to exposures to certain air quality measures. Lead exposure for developing children is also more likely to have long-term effects.
- The injustice of education – For far too long, children in poverty have received a lesser quality education than others. Within my lifetime, the lingering effects of segregation have been shown to persist even when laws were passed to eliminate such effects. If education is the ticket to the way out of poverty, then our efforts when viewed as a whole are sorely lacking and need substantial improvement.
- The injustice of legal representation – Our legal system is indeed two-tiered with those who can afford above average to excellent legal support and those who cannot afford the same and therefore receive below average to no legal support. Bryan Stevenson’s work has attempted to right some of these wrongs, but I’m sure that he would agree that singular efforts can only go so far. Systemic change in our legal system is necessary going forward.
- The injustice of voting – To argue that the gross inequality for voting rights that existed for so long in our country has been resolved is to ignore the reality of generational frustration. Blacks in the South had to fight (and sometimes to the death in the 1960s) for the right to vote. That discrimination has had long-term consequences and still persists in some quarters today.
I could go on but will simply point out that the short list above (housing, hunger, health care, transportation, climate change, environment, education, legal support, and voting) all contribute together to less justice for those in poverty. I am sure that some will argue with my conclusions. They might state that all of the barriers that I mentioned have been eliminated or have significantly been reduced. I don’t think that the barriers have been eliminated, and any barriers that still partially exist are a burden that our society shares together.
To ignore the plight of others of lesser means accentuates injustice in our society. Bryan Stevenson’s analysis – the opposite of poverty is not wealth; the opposite of poverty is justice – of our current situation should be a call to action. While our duty to increase financial resources for those in poverty exists, without addressing the injustices that are present, we do not address the real problem and continue to delude ourselves and ignore the core issues. The war on poverty should not just be a financial one. The war on poverty needs to be an all-inclusive one bringing justice to all. That gets us closer to the credo that “all men were created equal.”
And it matters most of all for the children. They are the ones that bear the effects going forward. For the children, we must persist in bringing justice to all.