Poverty in America, which is hidden

If you want to see the poverty of America, take a tour of the black and native American settlements there.

Capitalist and wealthy people live in their open and spacious houses in lush green suburbs isolated from the city. Their wide lawns, separate houses, long cars parked in front of the houses suggest a separate world.

On the other hand, people living in slums differ in their habits, attitudes and tendencies. Their houses are connected to each other, so the neighbors are fully aware of the conversations that take place in their houses.

Music recordings and the sound of television are everywhere. Not only blacks live in slums, but poor whites also live there, albeit in smaller numbers.

In the affluent suburbs, it is sunny during the day, all the people are out for work or study, but in the poor settlements, even at noon, people are sitting outside their houses, women are sitting on the doorsteps and chatting with the neighbors. The boys are playing in the streets.

The reason is that the majority of the people living in these settlements are unemployed, or the entire family is supported by the income of a single person. Education and health facilities are lacking. In leisure time, everyone keeps talking together.

There are shops in the street. When a family does not have money, they buy goods on loan from retail shops, which is very expensive. If he wants a loan, he is willing to lend at low interest. If there is an urgent need for money to buy food items, they mortgage their goods. In pawnshops, poor people’s belongings are seen, such as utensils, shoes, shirts or coats, and a musician’s guitar.

Despite their destitution and poverty, slum dwellers do not like to take alms. They help each other in times of trouble. They are satisfied with the little income they have.

But sometimes these settlements become a hindrance to the development of the city. For example, a new highway is to be built or a skyscraper is planned to be built for the offices of banks and capital companies. Together they come to the footpath.

Now they need houses to rent, and a new settlement begins to spring up in some part of the city.

Similar to England where workhouses were built for the poor, America also built temporary housing for the homeless. These houses used to shelter mostly women who came here destitute due to domestic violence, divorce.

Pregnant women also came here who did not have any facilities for childbirth. As for the men, they came here to eat and sleep. During the day he used to roam around in search of work.

In the 1930s, when the economic crisis came and the majority of the poor people became homeless and unemployed, housing arrangements were made for these people in different cities of America. One or two rooms in the old buildings that were lying vacant were given to homeless people.

Apart from this, their accommodation was also arranged in hotels and hospitals. Large halls were constructed for men. In which there were three sleepers from top to bottom for sleeping. Their number was 30 to 40. The windows were kept closed, which led to a stalemate.

People used to snore while sleeping. There was also coughing due to which deep sleep was impossible for others. A lamp was placed in the center for light. These people used to wake up in the morning and go out in search of employment.

Those who have written about these shelters observe that there is no sanitation. There is dirt and filth everywhere. There is no cooking facility either. Children are everywhere. Due to lack of cleanliness, there is bad smell everywhere in the building. In this environment, poor people are living their lives in poverty and destitution.

Due to the economic crises of the United States, a new group of unemployed youth has emerged. These were called wandering groups. They used to go out from their villages and small towns in congregations to cities and towns and beg. At night they slept either in the forests or on garden benches in the city.

They were happy in their wanderings, when they were hungry they would go to people’s houses and ask them for food. He said that it was the poor people who helped us, and especially the blacks, who not only gave us food but also provided us with a clean place to sleep at night.

Because vagrancy and begging became a crime, the police used to arrest them and send them to jail, but after their release, they started vagrancy again. Women also wandered, some disguised as men and some as women, enduring the hardships they faced in wandering.

The poor people who had nothing to eat used to look for food in garbage. Leftover food from hotels and restaurants that went bad when left on the sidewalk. So it was a blessing for the hungry poor.

A poor student in a school said that he had nothing to eat at lunch time, so he would wait for the children to throw away their leftovers, then quietly go and eat the sandwiches they left behind and eat his own. He used to take it home for his brother.

Demonstrations against poverty were held in different cities of America. Rallies and processions were taken out, voices were raised against inflation, but all this remained in vain. Poverty has not been eradicated and America is still torn between capitalism and poverty. America’s bankruptcy is no longer hidden. The suffering of his poor has come to the fore.

(For more details see Stephen Pimpare’s book (A People’s History of Poverty in America)

Note: This column is written by Dr. Mubarak Ali, who is a well-known historian and intellectual of Pakistan and has written about a hundred books on various topics. Their main subject is the common people and the effects of their customs on society rather than kings.