Philip Alston wanted to know: Just how bad is poverty in the United States? He’s an Australian law professor who in 2014 was appointed as a United Nations special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights. He contacted the Obama administration before the presidential election to get permission to undertake a fact-finding mission in the United States. The Trump administration honored the invitation. Now, after two weeks of reporting, Alston has released his preliminary findings.
And they present a bleak picture.
The American dream, he says, is an "American illusion." But he did find a few glimmers of hope.
Alston undertook his expedition with a series of questions: "Are those in poverty able to live with dignity? What does a government do to protect those who are most vulnerable?" To gather information, he traveled to Washington, D.C.; Los Angeles; San Francisco; Alabama; Puerto Rico; and West Virginia. He talked to poverty experts, civil society organizations, government officials and regular people born or thrust into poverty.
In a statement released last week and in an interview for All Things Considered, he shared some of his conclusions. Just who are the poor? Alston says that many of them are children […]
Full article: U.N. Investigator On Extreme Poverty Issues A Grim Report — On The U.S.
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