Poverty in America

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People in America often suffer from poverty and the treatment that comes with it, throughout their everyday lives. The question raised is why are poor individuals dehumanized by high structures of power? Some people with a higher income feel like they have a choice and a real recourse to justice rather than a lower class individual. They also believe that they are entitled to the world and their opinion matters because of their financial status versus someone who doesn’t have material things. Lessin’s and Deal’s film , Natasha Trethewey’s Memoir, and Bell Hooks’ excerpts, depicts that the poor are often dehumanized and neglected by structures of power, such as the government and media, because of their lack of money and education, however some of structures of power are ignorant to how the lives of poor people really are.
The film, Trouble the Water, directed by Tia Lessin and Carl Deal, is a testimonial story of an inspirational couple, Kimberly Roberts, who is an aspiring rapper, and Scott Roberts, an ex-drug dealer, that survived Hurricane Katrina, the failed levees of New Orleans, and their horrible past. After the storm they found inspiration, and gained a new outlook on life. Even though, Kim and Scott were dehumanized and neglected by the government, they still managed to keep faith and stay strong throughout their recovery process. Kim and Scott heard about the Hurricane but couldn’t afford to leave New Orleans. The couple lived in the ninth ward, which was a place where people with low or no income would live. After the disastrous storm hit, they believed that even though they did not have much, life wasn’t over yet. They didn’t resist agency and with the very little education they had, they found quick strategies to help...

... middle of paper ...

...he horrible aftermath of the storm. This conveys that poverty and intelligence has no correlation, meaning that one’s intellectual level has nothing to do with their financial status.

Works Cited

"fema." Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 15 Nov. 2013. .
Hooks, Bell. "Narratives of Struggle." Critical Fictions:The Poltics of Imagnitive Writing. N.p.: Dia Center for the Arts, 1991. 53-61. Print.
---"Seeing and Making Culture: Representing the Poor." Outlaw Culture:Resisting Representations. New York: Routledge, 1994. 431-37. Print.
Trethewey, Natasha. Beyond Katrina: A Meditation on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Athens: U of Georgia, 2010. 83-125. Print.
Trouble the Water. Dir. Tia Lessin and Carl Deal. Perf. Kimberly Roberts and Scott Roberts. HBO Network- Home Box Office, 2008. DVD.

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