In late 2020, a crowd of mostly Black and Hispanic workers rallied outside the statehouse in Albany, New York to gather support for a $15-an-hour minimum wage for tipped workers. A group of white people wearing red MAGA hats approached. Coincidentally, the protest was taking place the same day the state legislature was meeting to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election — and MAGA protesters had gathered to challenge the count. You’d expect clashes to ensue. But when some Trump supporters stumbled upon the workers of color pushing for higher wages, they shook hands and joined their protest.
Matthew Desmond recounts this story in the epilogue to his ground-breaking new book, Poverty, By America to suggest that a movement to abolish poverty could transcend our toxically divided […]
Broken link.
I know what poverty feels like, for sure! I have lived with it for years now. I am trying to get a reverse mortgage to alleviate some of my discomfort, since my dear wife died. Without her income. I do not have enough money to live on by just getting Social Security. S.S. does not allow me enough money to live a “NORMAL” life, even though I grow about 50% of my own food in my organic gardens. The bills are just overwhelming for insurance and taxes and the products I need to buy in the store.