"The Rich and the Rest of Us"

On Monday the 23rd, I went to the California Endowment to see Tavis Smiley and Cornel West talk about their new book "The Rich and the Rest of Us" and their Poverty Tour.  They talked about poverty and how it is not fashionable for candidates to talk about it.  They said that one of two Americans are in or near poverty...either those who are in persistent, new poverty or the working poor....150 million people.  Smiley quoted from George Carlin: "The American Dream, you have to be asleep to believe in it."

Smiley was the most moving as his words are poetically delivered.  He grew up in LA with ten children, mother, father and grandmother all living in a 3 bedroom, one bath mobile home.  He began working with Mayor Tom Bradley in 1985 and started his radio and television career 20 years ago.

West is more lambastic but clever and provocative.  He is moving from Princeton University to Union Theological Seminary.....wonder why. 

Poverty, they said, is the moral and spiritual issue of our time....a poverty of imagination, passion, and compassion.  The poor don't matter...a political consensus.  The focus is on the middle class during this election.  Not since LBJ's War on Poverty has it been an issue.   His programs like Medicare, Medicaid and others brought millions out of poverty. 

"We are the Help that Hope needs."  They discussed the importance of hope even when reality is bleak.  Check out http://www.occupymay1st.org/