Still Separate Still Unequal Research Paper

Poverty, hunger, and homelessness are all fairly sizable problems in the United States of America. Unfortunately poverty is an issue that is often unseen by many while poor people’s voices are infrequently heard. A child’s definition of poverty from Jonathan Kozol’s “Still Separate, Still Unequal” is, “It is like being hidden. It’s as if you have been put in a garage where, if they don’t have room for something but aren’t sure if they should throw it out, they put it where they don’t need to think of it again.” (Kozol 38) There are government programs to help pull people out of poverty, but apparently the government can only go so far to assist. Mainstream methods such as welfare cannot take care of all needs for a family in debt up to their …show more content…
Many churches like to get members to participate in donating shoeboxes filled with toys, basic hygiene products, pencils and paper, band aids, and/or towels. My mom always goes to the dollar store and stuffs a shoebox full of everything she can get in it. The gesture is wonderful as it is amusing. The program is focused on to children in third-world countries in Africa, where they will be getting things they can’t even find to purchase. Even then, those children are still going to suffer from hunger and what are people doing to help then after Christmas. The message itself is terrific, but what about the children in our own country that won’t get a single thing for Christmas? Kozol gets this response in an interview, “They do this once a year. What’s going to happen on December 26? Who is this charity for? In a way it’s for themselves so they won’t feel ashamed going to church to pray on Christmas eve.” (Kozol 44) Some people get so caught up in how much good they think they’re doing that they can let themselves have a free conscious for the next 364 days of the year. Before spreading aid beyond our American borders, we should concentrate on our more predominant domestic national issues. The topic of America’s foreign policy is seriously debated, and a judgement on how to deal is very hard to come upon. It seems as if we are finally fancying towards less aid to foreign countries, as we try to cut inefficient expenses. The American government is finally opening its eyes to the understanding that all of the aid we are handing out may not be worth it in the end. Our main concern should be to help our adrift citizens rather than other countries '