Acknowledging the Truth About Poverty
What I watched: The Story We Tell About Poverty Isn't True by Mia Birdsong for TED Talks. Posted October 5, 2015.
One of the joys of my life is opening email I get from Refind. Every day they send me seven links directing me to articles, videos, and much more, all targeted to my interests. I can’t recommend the Refind service enough.
Today’s email included a cool quiz from TED Talks that presents a few questions and then based on your answers suggests a TED Talk you might find interesting. Well, it sure worked for me. The TED talk linked to here is what the quiz suggested I watch. It’s so good!
The speaker is Mia Birdsong. It’s worth your time to click on the link to learn more about this amazing person.
Birdsong’s talk is compelling. In it Birdsong acknowledges that we all want to end poverty, in this case poverty in the United States. But rather than buy into the mostly false narratives about poor people, Birdsong suggests we instead look directly to those poor people for the solutions because the truth is every day poor people and those in marginalized communities figure out creative ways to lift themselves up even when the odds are stacked against them.
We should honor the skills, drive, and initiative that poor people bring to the struggle every day. Birdsong offers a few real-life examples of poor people making a positive difference in their own lives and for the lives of those people in their communities. Poor people may be broke, but contrary to the stories many want to believe about poor people, they are not broken.
Watching the video made me yet again realize that I come from a privileged background. My ego would like to tell myself that I’m entirely responsible for my successes. Yes, I’ve worked hard, but I’m also a white man who came from an upper middle-class upbringing with a remarkable father who gave me every opportunity to get a good education and explore my interests unfettered. Without such a lucky leg up in life, perhaps my situation right now would be quite different.
Here's a section of Birdsong’s talk that gets at the crux of her message.
I am the exception because of luck and privilege, not hard work. And I'm not being modest or self-deprecating - I am amazing. But most people work hard. Hard work is the common denominator in this equation, and I'm tired of the story we tell that hard work leads to success because that allows those of us who make it to believe we deserve it, and by implication, those who don't make it don't deserve it.
We tell ourselves, in the back of our minds, and sometimes in the front of our mouths, 'There must be something a little wrong with those poor people.' We have a wide range of beliefs about what the something wrong is.
Some people tell the story that poor folks are lazy freeloaders who would cheat and lie to get out of an honest day's work. Others prefer the story that poor people are helpless and probably had neglectful parents that didn't read to them enough, and if they were just told what to do and shown the right path, they could make it.
For every story I hear demonizing low-income single mothers or absentee fathers, which is how people might think of my parents, I've got 50 that tell a different story about the same people showing up every day and doing their best.
I'm not saying that some of the negative stories aren’t true, but those stories allow us to not really see who people really are, because they don't paint a full picture.
The quarter-truths and limited plots lines have us convinced that poor people are a problem that needs fixing. What if we recognized that what's working is the people and what's broken is our approach? What if we realized that the experts we are looking for, the experts we need to follow, are poor people themselves? What is instead of imposing solutions, we just added fire to the already-burning flame that they have? Not directing - not even empowering - but just fueling their initiative.”
Birdsong suggests that in the same ways money is poured into technology and other ventures by wealthy investors, perhaps we should be doing the same with poor people who are creating businesses, community organizations, and other ways of improving their lives and the lives of others.
At the end of the video she speaks to, as she puts it, her people. I assume based on the inspirational references she includes that she means the Black community. I leave it to you to watch that portion of the video because as a white guy I feel it best that Birdsong’s message comes directly from her.
Watch the video. If more of us watched it, absorbed its message, and recalibrated how we see poverty, the world would be a better place.
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