"Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City" by Matthew Desmond

Lack of social safety net for its citizens is the sad truth about the US which I struggle to understand. Desmond's book is the result of his research focused on the rental market in Milwaukee. Specifically, he is zeroing in on the poorest tenants (both black and white), most of them are on SSI, who rent barely livable properties and yet spend 70 to 80% of their monthly income on rent.

Extreme poverty in the United States is real, and yet, as a society, we choose to do nothing about it. In fact, we close our eyes to it. We avoid those neighborhoods, we do not hear about them on the news (unless a shooting is reported), and our politicians definitely do not feel any urgency to deal with this crisis.

For an average middle or upper class American, it is easy to think that "those people" are just lazy, they don't want to work, or live in poverty by choice. In Desmond's book, all the people he comes in contact with struggle from some sort of mental or physical illness. There are single mothers whose husbands/boyfriends are in prison or simply absent. There is addiction, domestic violence and child abuse. On top of all that, they have trouble keeping a roof over their heads. Children are constantly forced to change schools (if they even go to school!). Basic survival and constant need to deal with one desperate situation after another is the daily reality for these families.

This book had a huge emotional impact on me. It is a required reading for the incoming freshman class at the University where I work, and I think it is a great choice for young people to read and discuss. In fact, this should be a required reading for all Americans. I want to think that all of us are by nature compassionate and able to emphasize with others. As one of the richest countries in the world, how can we allow such extreme poverty and desperation to exist right around the corner?