With plenty of thought and prayer at the end of 2023 the board and staff of Boston Faith & Justice decided we would focus on poverty in 2024. Alongside our community we wanted to learn more about the lived reality of poverty as well as the structures and systems that make it seem intractable and discover how we could best work toward a more just world for everyone!

We have had some really incredible podcast guests who’ve helped us dive deeper into different aspects of poverty (Ari at Circle of Hope and Jenifer from International Justice Mission) as well as the many intersecting issues that perpetuate and exacerbate it such as healthcare and homelessness.

Our book group which is examining Ron Sider’s Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger has been a challenging and encouraging space where we have grown in knowledge about the issue and considered together how to engage to make a difference.

As we move further into 2024 we will continue to offer resources and opportunities for everyone to learn and participate with us.

I (Elizabeth) have found myself reading books, articles and blogs written by people with lived experience with poverty, those who have been working as advocates and leaders to make change and scholars and theologians who have dedicated themsleves to understanding the issue and helping others do so as well. In this blog I want to share a few of the books I’ve read and why they have been helpful on my journey toward a better understanding of what poverty is, why it persists and how I might live differently and engage more fully to change things.

Note – the links are to Thriftbooks and BookShop, my preferred places to purchase books. Most are available pretty much everywhere. In addition I have noted which might be available on Libby, the library app, as well.

Poverty by America by Matthew Desmond– this book is an essential primer on what poverty looks like in the US today. It examines the heartbreaking realties and causes of poverty. Through the stories of individuals, the presentation statistics and history Desmond challenges us all to face the realities of not only what poverty is but also why it continues in one of the richest countries in the world. I also recommend another of Desmond’s books – Evicted. Its focus is on housing which is obviously closely connected to poverty. Evicted helped me deepen my understanding of homelessness and housing insecurity. (both available on Libby)

“Poverty is often material scarcity piled on chronic pain piled on incarceration piled on depression piled on addition – on and on it goes. Poverty isn’t a line. It’s a tight knot of social maladies. It is connected to every social problem we care about – crime, health, education, housing – and its persistence in American life means that millions of families are denied safety and security and dignity in one of the richest nations in the history of the world.” (23)

Under the Affluence by Tim Wise – the subtitle for this book is shaming the poor, praising the rich and sacrificing the future of America. That is what you find in its pages. An examination of a culture that valorizes the rich and demonizes the poor. This book was an essential part of my journey to gaining a clearer understanding of the whys of poverty in the US. I was made uncomfortable by a lot of what Wise said and I feel like that is almost always a good sign.

“So let us be bold in our efforts and even bolder in our vision. Let us tell the story of an America becoming – of a nation breaking free from the limits of its own arrested development and transforming onto the place we were told about in school but which never really existed as such. Just because that place has been a cruel and taunting mirage for so long does not mean we cannot mold it into a reality . . . Come let us build a new world together.” (313)

White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America by Nancy Isenberg– like Under the Affluence this book both broadened and deepened my understanding of why poverty persists in the US both from a historical and systems lens. (available on Libby)

“At all times, white trash remind us of one of the American nation’s uncomfortable truths: the poor are always with us. A preoccupation with penalizing poor whites reveals an uneasy tension between what Americans are taught to think the country promises – the dream of upward mobility – and the less appealing truth that class barriers almost invariably make that dream unattainable. Of course the intersection of race and class remains an undeniable part of the overall story.” (xxviii)

Broke in America: Seeing, Understanding and Ending U.S. Poverty by Joanne Samuel Goldblum and Colleen Shaddox – again the description of this is basically there in the subtitle. It walks the reader through basic human needs (like water, housing, health etc) and how people living in poverty are kept from obtaining or keeping access to them. It is comprehensive and informative. One piece I really appreciated was at the end of each a chapter the authors offered a variety of practical steps the reader could take to address the problems they outlined. (available on Libby)

“Whether a person is facing the criminal legal system or simply trying to get involved in the political process, poverty creates huge disadvantages . . . So long as rights are afforded on a pay-to-play basis, we do not (live in a democracy). A government with a foundational duty to protect the liberty of the governed routinely robs people in poverty of theirs.” (197)

These are just a few of the books that have helped me in my journey toward understanding the realities of poverty, the systems that allow and enable it (and my own role in them) and how I can engage to make a difference. I’ll share more next time!