Pockets of poverty grow larger in United States

My dear friends, don’t let public opinion influence how you live out our glorious, Christ-originated faith. If a man enters your church wearing an expensive suit, and a street person wearing rags comes in right after him, and you say to the man in the suit, “Sit here, sir; this is the best seat in the house!” and either ignore the street person or say, “Better sit here in the back row,” haven’t you segregated God’s children and proved that you are judges who can’t be trusted?

James 2:1-4 (The Message)

There is disturbing new data on poverty from the U.S. Census Bureau. These analyses compared poverty statistics between the years 2000 and 2010. Among the key findings is that poverty has become more concentrated in areas where at least 20% of residents live below the income threshold used by the federal government.

In 2010, approximately 14.9 percent of the total U.S. population lived in poverty. However, poverty is not distributed evenly across neighborhoods. There are neighborhoods in every state that have higher than average poverty rates. The U.S. Census Bureau designates any census tract with a poverty rate of 20.0 percent or more as a “poverty area.” In 2010, more than 77 million people lived in poverty areas.

Between 1990 and 2000, the percentage of people living in poverty areas fell from 20.0 percent to 18.1 percent. This trend was reversed in the past decade. Between 2000 and 2010, the percentage of people living in poverty areas grew from 18.1 percent to 25.7 percent. While the overall population grew by 10 percent over the decade, the number of people living in poverty areas grew by about 56 percent.

As noted by Danielle Kurtzleben, the increased concentration of poverty in particular areas is associated with other social, health, and economic problems, all of which make it more difficult for people to ever escape poverty.

All of this matters because living near poverty can carry with it some major problems, Higher crime rates, for example, are associated with higher-poverty areas, as are worse housing conditions, worse public schools and worse health. In addition, economic segregation is correlated with lower economic mobility. If America's poorest are growing more and more concentrated, that could mean lower mobility (though importantly, these associations aren't causal), further entrenching these sorts of economic problems.

People living in pockets of poverty has become particularly prominent in the southern tier of states. As shown in this graphic from the Census Bureau, states in dark blue have the largest concentrations of people living in poverty.

As a follower of Christ, I find these numbers profoundly disturbing in relation to the narrative coming out of many of our Christian leaders. They take to social media and the airwaves to bleat about genital morality, but these same "leaders" are too often silent about the injustices that plague our society. From Genesis to Revelation, there are more than 2000 verses that speak to our obligation as people of faith to lift the burdens of the poor. They trumpet the absolute letter of the law when it comes to matters of sexuality but remain silent on the pain and suffering of the most vulnerable in our society. That smells like a whitewashed tomb to me.

Seeing people suffer fills me with impotent rage when all I can do is offer token gestures. It brings me to prayer, begging for better tools. It is in these times that I feel the presence of the Lord. But it raises a question. It seems to me that if people of faith really care about the poor, then I cannot fathom why so little has been done to create more and better "ladders of opportunity" for those living in resource poor communities. If all the great culture warriors stopped talking about genitals for even a year and started agitating for meaningful solutions, the body of Christ might accomplish something useful to the point of miraculous. Instead we debate religious liberty for corporate executives all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Face-palm. Head-wall. Seriously?

The narrative in this country surrounding poverty is bullshit. Since poverty has not been eradicated in the past fifty years, our political leaders have pronounced the federal "War on Poverty" a failure and  begun slashing the safety net. There was nothing in those federal programs designed to create living wage jobs. That was the responsibility of our corporate leaders who decided to export jobs to cheaper labor markets oversees instead. The War on Poverty was destined to fail unless people could find jobs that lift them out of poverty. D'oh. Me thinks our political leaders fail basic integrity, most especially when they sport their cross lapel pin on the campaign trail.

Government, "closely held" corporations, and non-profits have simply not done a credible job of creating adequate "ladders of opportunity" for the poor. The statistics are there for everyone to see. Given this remarkable cluster of failure, there is an extraordinary need for people of faith to put our heads and hearts together. We need a new paradigm. Instead I have Christian leaders telling me to mistreat my neighbors, co-workers, and fellow congregants if they are involved in same-sex intimate relationships. There is something wrong with this picture.

I always thought "thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven" included lifting people out of poverty. We live in an ethically bankrupt political and corporate culture. All they care about is power and wealth so it should come as no surprise that pockets of poverty continue to grow. If the Lord's will be done, then people of faith will have to play a large role. That seems strangely fundamental to me.

Today I Give Thanks (TIGT) for threatening skies that did no harm.