The Example Of Poverty In America

Imagine not being able to provide the basic needs for your children. Imagine not knowing if you ever will get back on your feet. These are the thoughts thousands Americans face every day. Throughout history every great civilization has had poverty; Rome, Egypt, Britain and of course America. Poverty effects every race, age, gender and religion, no one is assured to be unaffected by it. A prime example of poverty in America is the Great Depression of 1929. An extreme crash of the stock market and numerous banks failing left 13 million American without jobs, let alone homes. Thanks to president Franklin D. Roosevelt and his policies America was able to recover and those who were left in poverty were able to get help. Poverty today is a massive …show more content…
Each of the individuals interviewed in The Line are volunteers, people who have lived at or below the poverty line and advisees for removing poverty. One of the first people spoken with in the video is Melissa Travis the Senior Director of Programs, Basic Services, at the People’s Resource Center. The People’s Resource Center of DuPage County, Illinois, is a private donation facility where people living in poverty can come and obtain things such as food and clothes for their families, when government assistance is just not enough. She represents ethos because she works so closely with individuals and families of DuPage County living in poverty. Another individual that represents ethos is Rev. Julian DeShazier. Through his ministry he is trying to stop violence in communities with high levels of poverty. He has started after school programs for children. So they can have somewhere to go besides the streets, where they feel safe and will not get in trouble. By helping these children, he hopes to give them the inspiration to break the cycle of poverty and give them the chance to be more than what people think of them. Through his after school programs he and other mentors are teaching children creative ways to release stress and anger without resorting to violence or crime. An additional advisory for poverty is Sheila, not only has she struggled with poverty in her life but she has started a …show more content…
The people who tell their stories about living in poverty provide an unrealized perspective on poverty. They allow for the audience to connect with an actual American who is facing the woes of poverty or their stories of triumph over poverty. The first story we hear of is that of a man named John. John is currently living in poverty with his three children after losing is six-figure salary job. He retells of the thoughts of having to going to a food pantry, “You 've been brought up never to be a charity case, never to have to ask for help, and all of a sudden, you 're in that position where you got nowhere else to go, and it 's hard”. His story is emotional, because he is having to go through so many struggles and fearing that his children see him as a failure. Living in poverty has proved to John that sometimes just good enough is fine. The next story the audience learns of is that of Sheila’s. She grew up in an area called “K town” that was known for poverty and extreme amounts of violence, so when she went to work as a bank supervisor people were shock to learn of where she came from. She retells of the accident that put her on disability, “There was a screw. My boot got caught in the screw, and I fell headfirst 14 feet into a wall. I broke my arm in two-- two places. I knocked my brain into my spinal column”. If it hadn’t been for this accident she may have never had to go on to