贫困和美国国家优先事项

事件回顾

周二, 2月26日, the Boisi Center convened three distinguished scholars from diverse perspectives to discuss the nature of poverty in the United States 和 issue’s place (or lack thereof) among American national priorities.

著名社会学家威廉·朱利叶斯·威尔逊，刘易斯·P. 琳达·L. 哈佛大学间歇泉大学教授, 以对种族关系的分析开场, 种族和贫困. While affirming President Barack Obama’s call (in his 2013 State of the Union Address) for all young people to obtain a good education and solid job skills, Wilson lamented that today’s high schools frequently fail to provide these ben­efits to black and Latino youths. Despite the sizeable gains that racial minorities in the United States have made in education, 他们的高中毕业率和大学太阳城网赌平台率仍然很低. 这种教育的失败与行业重组的氛围相结合, 全球化, 放松管制, de-unionization, 经济衰退导致了非技术工人的减少, 在美国体面的工作. 在回应, 工人们被迫缩短工作时间, 选择低薪工作, 甚至完全离开工作岗位. 威尔逊认为，这种趋势对黑人和拉丁裔的影响尤为严重.

These occupational trends are deeply connected to residen­tial segregation based on race, 种族, 和类. Poor neighborhoods are moreover hit especially hard in reces­sions because of budget cuts 和 resulting decline in the quality of public services. 威尔逊建议我们应该考虑周全, 以学校为基础的就业倡议，以减轻甚至纠正这些问题.

苏珊·克劳福德·沙利文, 圣十字学院的社会学副教授, 讨论了宗教在穷人生活中的作用, 尤其是靠福利生活的单身母亲. Many poor women employ religious narratives to interpret their suffering and see themselves as working with God to face their daily challenges. Despite high rates of religious belief, most poor women do not attend church regularly. 尽管教堂经常被视为穷人的避难所, the women in Sullivan’s study explained that they frequently felt stigmatized by and unwanted in religious communities. 教会和穷人之间的这种脱节尤其令人不安, Sullivan称, 因为宗教团体可以潜在地提供很多需要的精神, 情感, 为贫穷的单身母亲提供物质支持.

Princeton University theologian 埃里克·格雷戈里 concluded the panel with a powerful theological reflection on Ameri­can national priorities. 而平等并不要求经济上的相同, 他认为, 经济不平等往往是政治不平等的代表. The covert financial and economic prerequisites of our political process alienate the poor and serve as an intolerable form of systematic inequality. Our institutions and public policy reflect the character of our nation; what we value and what we accept or refuse to tolerate says much about who we are as Americans. 格列高利质疑国家和基督教会的优先次序, 指向尚未实现的自由和正义的承诺. Few politi­cians today prioritize care for the poor, 他认为, 和 church is not much better. “想象一个世界,格雷戈里说, “where poverty was debated with only half the intensity of homosexuality in America 和 Catholic Church.”

只要市场是人类创造的结构，就可以被人类改变. 为此目的, Gregory closed with a call to replenish our commitment to poverty relief by recalling the deeper history of our interconnectedness. 我们必须打破狭隘的经济利益的诱惑, 他说, 将教会的智慧带回公共领域.