"Hillbilly Elegy"

[Millhouse]

(09-22-2020, 05:44 PM)fredtoast Wrote: One of the biggest points he makes is about poverty is that people who are raised surrounded by poverty often don't see any way out.  they think getting rich is for "other people".  He talks about how poor people need to be exposed to some people who have succeeded just so they can see that it is possible.  And not just driven through a rich neighborhood.  they need to know these people on a personal basis so that they can actually identify with them.  This was one of the goals of the program that led to Trump accusing Biden of "destroying the suburbs".  It is important to have government housing somewhere other than just in the absolute poorest conditions.  When the only people children ever know are poor losers then they obviously identify as a member of that group.  Instead they need to be around middle class families and be exposed to a normal way of life.

My best friend growing up in elemntary and middle school was black, and lived in subsidized housing out here in a burb of Cincy. He had no father or dad that he knew of and 4 siblings. It was/is mainly a white suburban area with mostly middle to working class people. The housing he grew up in was from some program or something that relocated people from the poorer urban areas of Cincinnati to move them out to a literal opposite area in almost every way possible.

My friend got to go to a ton of places he wouldnt have otherwise, as my Dad took us on day trips out of the city to places like Serpant Mound, Big Bone Lick over in KY which we always laughed about, Air Force Museum up in Dayton, things like that. And this was back in the 1980s, so it wasnt exactly a common thing looking back, but I think it worked out for him at least. He has a good job now, kids, married. He never did go to college, but doing good for himself.

At least for him, he had a chance for a better overall standard of life and it worked out in the end.