Is the South "the Other America?"
John Edwards' presidential campaign bid might be in trouble, but his message about "the two Americas" -- which riffs on Michael Harrington's 1962 classic book, "The Other America" -- is as relevant as ever, especially in the South.
According to new figures released by the U.S. Census Bureau, our country still has a poverty problem: over 38 million U.S. Americans live below the poverty line, 13.3% of the population.
What's striking is how completely the South dominates the list of states ravaged by poverty. Despite all those banks in Charlotte and all that Coke in Atlanta, eleven of the 15 states with the highest poverty rates are in the South:
STATE & PERCENT LIVING IN POVERTY
1 - Mississippi, 21%
2 - Louisiana, 20.2%
3 - New Mexico, 18.4%
4 - District of Columbia, 18.3%
5 - West Virginia, 18%
6 - Texas, 17.5%
7 - Arkansas, 17.2%
8 - Alabama, 16.9%
8 - Kentucky, 16.9%
10 - Oklahoma, 16.4%
11 - Tennessee, 15.6%
11 - South Carolina, 15.6%
13 - North Carolina, 14.9%
14 - Montana, 14.6%
15 - Georgia, 14.5%
Or another way to look at it: every Southern state except Florida and Virginia fall in the bottom 15.
Some say the South is losing its regional distinctiveness in today's homogenized world. But the above statistics may point to another conclusion: the South still has defining features, and one of the big ones is poverty.
The South is "the Other America."
According to new figures released by the U.S. Census Bureau, our country still has a poverty problem: over 38 million U.S. Americans live below the poverty line, 13.3% of the population.
What's striking is how completely the South dominates the list of states ravaged by poverty. Despite all those banks in Charlotte and all that Coke in Atlanta, eleven of the 15 states with the highest poverty rates are in the South:
STATE & PERCENT LIVING IN POVERTY
1 - Mississippi, 21%
2 - Louisiana, 20.2%
3 - New Mexico, 18.4%
4 - District of Columbia, 18.3%
5 - West Virginia, 18%
6 - Texas, 17.5%
7 - Arkansas, 17.2%
8 - Alabama, 16.9%
8 - Kentucky, 16.9%
10 - Oklahoma, 16.4%
11 - Tennessee, 15.6%
11 - South Carolina, 15.6%
13 - North Carolina, 14.9%
14 - Montana, 14.6%
15 - Georgia, 14.5%
Or another way to look at it: every Southern state except Florida and Virginia fall in the bottom 15.
Some say the South is losing its regional distinctiveness in today's homogenized world. But the above statistics may point to another conclusion: the South still has defining features, and one of the big ones is poverty.
The South is "the Other America."
Labels: poverty
6 Comments:
And if you include DC and OK as part of a broadly-defined South...the numbers are even worse for the South.
FYI, I took an economic history class a number of years ago at a major European university. The instructor thought - perhaps from visiting Florida, Atlanta, etc. - that post-war economic growth eliminated most of the disparity with the rest of the country. We ran the numbers and saw the picture had not changed all that much.
so why do all these folk vote GOP?
The American unCivil War ravaged The South and "Reconstruction" made it worse. The War was not about slavery per se, it was about who would control the American economy - The South, or the MidWestern & NorthEastern Industrialists. They did to The South what the Bush administration has done to Iraq. 100 years later, post WW2, The South began to emerge from the destruction wrought upon her by The Industrialists. No wonder she's "behind" in joining the Corporate World.
All red states are poor states. They are also feudal states and, ironically, federal welfare states. Go figure.
And every state on that list voted red in 2004.
I got news for you--the Southern economy was nothing, ever. Such as it was, it was built on slavery and would have collapsed as soon as Britain had completed its efforts to eliminate the African slave trade.
But one hing is true, the CivilWar wasn't about slavery. It was about keeping the South from seceding. As such, it was, even counting Vietnam and Iraq, by far the dumbest war ever fought I mean, how much better life would be if we had cut loose all those flthy, toothless, shoeless, bigoted, lazy, ignorant, blubber-bellied, overall-wearing, moonshine-making, double-wide dwelling, Jack-swilling, NASCAR-watching, sister-marrying hayseeds and let them fend for themselves. Then we could finally make some real progress without having to support and subsidize them with massive giveaways. Let them be, on their own, the banana republics that they have always have, and always will, be.
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