America, we can be better than this

Roland and his mom, Myra Gregory. from The Takeaway.

16% of US children live in poverty. That may shock you as you begin to compute the millions of children that percentage represents. Keep in mind this: this percentage represents a ten percent decrease largely created during President Bush's tenure and President Obama’s tenure. Why the decrease?  What happened?

Government happened.

Government policies and practices helped to lower the percentage of children living in poverty. The market and trickle down economies did not help to lower the percentages of children living in poverty. Government helped. 

Presidents Bush and Obama are of course, gone from office. So too are responsible and ethical budgeting. In an article from The Huffington Post,  Alon Ben-Meir, a Senior Fellow Center for Global Affairs at NYU wrote (Oct. 27, 2017):

"Here is the glaring cruelty of Trump’s budget cuts. Over the next 10 years, $190 billion is being cut from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (food stamps), and $616 billion cut from Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). In addition, the cut from Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (welfare) is $21.6 billion. There is a proposed cut of $40.4 billion from earned-income tax credits and child tax credits."

The very programs that helped to lower the poverty level are being drastically reduced by the GOP and Trump. Instead of ensuring children have health care and food, we are building a wall that is not needed, nor will it be effective. Consider this:

"In each year from 2007 to 2014, more people joined the ranks of the illegal by remaining in the United States after their temporary visitor permits expired than by creeping across the Mexican border, according to a report by researchers at the Center for Migration Studies." (from NYT, 3.6.17)

Trump's deluge of tweets suggests that market gains represent the best indicator of what makes America great. This isn’t too surprising given his wealth and the insulation that such wealth often presents. For him and other 1%ers the stock market is a fine and accurate measure of success. CNN Money (2017) reports that "88% of those making more than $1 million are in the market, which explains why the rising stock market tracks with increasing levels of inequality" (from here). Consider that "On average across the United States, only 18.7% of taxpayers directly own stocks." For average Americans and certainly for Americans who suffer from poverty, the stock market is at best an indicator of the increasing divide between the wealthy and everyone else. The stock market gains that Trump boasts benefits the richest Americans, like him. 

There’s something rather amoral about budgeting decision of the Trump administration and the GOP in Washington. 

They have cut government to better ensure their own financial gains and to forward their social values. 

 

At the beginning of January (2018) Pence and his wife hosted "faith leaders." For these people, abortion is considered evil.  I wonder though where their outrage is for actual living children--those no longer in the womb? Where is their fight for those 9 million children whose health care is not being funded (CHIPS).  A month ago I heard a story on The Takeaway about a mom (Myra Gregory) and her little ten-year son, Roland, who has stage IV lung cancer. Because Congress has not funded the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), her boy has had no scans since last summer and his very necessary pain meds are no longer guaranteed. He’s fighting what my husband died from at 60. Rob said the pain from the tumors on his spine was like an ice pick being driven into his back over and over. Imagine that kind of pain  being felt by a child? Pain that could be managed if Congress could find CHIPs.   

The stock market will never be my measure of economic success in America. A better measure of economic success is when Roland and all other child are well fed, have steady places to live, and have access to health care that rivals Congress. 

Come on, America—we can do better than this. 

Making Ends Meet: Children's Books That Explore Social Class, Homelessness, and Poverty

I. Contemporary Works

Boelts, Maribeth. (2009). Those Shoes. Illustrated by Noah Z. Jones. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press.

Castaneda, Omar. (1995). Abuela's Weave. Illustrated by Enrique O. Sanchez. New York: Lee and Low Books.

Chinn, Karen .(1997).  Sam and the Lucky Money. Illustrated by Cornelius Van wright ad Ying-Hwa Hu. New York: Lee and Low Books.

Cohn, Diana. (2005).¡Si, Se Puede! / Yes, We Can!: Janitor Strike in L.A. Illustrated by Francisco Delgado. El Paso, TX: Cinco Puntos Press.

Cohn, Diana. (2011). Roses for Isabella. Illustrated by Amy Cordova. Great Barrington, MA: Steiner Books.

Cooper, Melrose. (1998). Getting Through Thursday. Illustrated by Nneka Bennett. New York: Lee and Low Books.

from A Shelter in Our Car.

Croza, Laurel. (2010).  I Know Here. Illustrated by Matt James. Toronto, ON: Groundwood Books.

Cumpiano, Ina. (2009). Quinito's Neighborhood. El Vecindario de Quinito. Illustrated by José Ramírez. New York: Lee and Low/Children's Book Press.

DiSalvo, D. (2001). A Castle on Viola Street. New York: HarperCollins.

Fine Edith Hope. (2007). Armando and the Blue Tarp School. Illustrated by Judith Pinkerton Josephson. New York: Lee and Low Books.

Gonzalez, Rigoberto. (2003). Soledad Sigh-Sighs. Illustrated by Rosa Ibarra. San Francisco, CA: Children's Book Press. 

Gunning, Monica. (2004). A Shelter in Our Car. Illustrated by Elaine Pedlar. San Francisco, CA: Children's Book Press. 

Hazen, Barbara. (1983).  Tough Times. Illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman. New York: Puffin Books.

Kurusa. (2008). The Streets are Free. Illustrated by Monika Doppert. Buffalo, NY: Annick Press.

Lyon, George Ella. (1994). Mama is a Miner. Illustrated by Peter Catalanotto. New York: Orchard Books. 

from Yasmin's Hammer

Malaspina. Ann. (2010). Yasmin's Hammer. Illustrated by Doug Chayka. New York: Lee and Low.

McGovern, Ann. (1999).  The Lady in the Box. Illustrated by Marni Backer. New York: Turtle Books.

Mora, Pat. (2000). Tomas and the Library Lady. Illustrated by Raul Colon. New York: Dragonfly Books.

Perez, Amanda Irma. (2008). My Very Own Room/Mi propio cuartito.Illustrated by Maya Christina Gonzalez. New York: Lee and Low.

Ryan, DyAnne DiSalvo. (1997). Uncle Willie and the Soup Kitchen. New York: Harper Collins.

Seskin, Steve and Allen Shamblin. (2006). A Chance to Shine. Illustrated by R. Gregory Christie. San Francisco, CA: Tricycle Press.

Smothers, Ethel Footman. (2003). The Hard-Times Jar. Illustrated by John Holyfield.  New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux.

Stuve-Bodeen, Stephanie. (2008). Babu's Song. Illustrated by Aaron Boyd. New York: Lee and Low.

Williams, Laura E. (2010). The Can Man. Illustrated by Craig Orback. New York: Lee and Low.

Woodson, Jacqueline. (2012). Each Kindness. Illustrated by E.B.Lewis. New York: Nancy Paulsen Books.

II. Historical Fiction 

Birtha, Becky. (2010). Lucky Beans. Illustrated by Nicole Tadgell. Morton Grove, IL: Albert Whitman & Company.

Fitzpatrick, Mary Louise. (2001). The Long March: Choctaw's Gift to Irish Famine Relief. San Francisco, CA: Tricycle Press.

Henson, Heather. (2008). That Book Woman. Illustrated by David Small. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers.

Hopkinson, Deborah. (2006). Sky Boys: How They Built the Empire State Building. Illustrated by James E. Ransome. New York: Schwartz & Wade Books / Random House.

Johnson Angela. (2003). I Dream of Trains. Illustrated by Loren Long. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Levitin, Sonia. (2007). Junkman's Daughter. Illustrated by Guy Porfirio. Sleeping Bear Press. 

Lied, Kate. (1997). Potato: A Tale from the Great Depression. Illustrated by Lisa Campbell Ernst. Washington, DC: National Geographic.

Lindsay, Kathleen. (2008). Sweet Potato Pie. Illustrated by Charlotte Riley-Webb. New York: Lee and Low Books.

Miller, William. (2008). Rent Party Jazz. Illustrated by Charlotte Riley-Webb. New York: Lee and Low Books.
Mills, Lauren. (1991). The Rag Coat. Boston: Little, Brown.

Rawlings, Marjorie Kinnan. (2011). The Secret River. Illustrated by Leo Dillon and Dianne Dillon. New York: Atheneum Books.

Rocklif, Mara. (2012). My Heart Will Not Sit Down.  Illustrated y Ann Tanksley. New York: Knopf.

Schoettler, Joan. (2011). Good Fortune in a Wrapping Cloth. Illustrated by Jessica Lanan. Walnut Creek, CA: Shen's Books.

Wallace, Ian. (2005). Boy of the Deeps. Toronto, ON: Groundwood Books.

III. Nonfiction

from Brave Clara

Brown, Monica. (2004). My Name Is Celia/Me llamo Celia.  Illustrated by Rafael Lopez. New York: Cooper Square Publishing.

Herrera, Juan Felipe. (2001).  Calling the Doves/El canto de las palomas. Illustrated by Elly Simmons. New York: Lee and Low Books.

Jimenez, Francisco. (1998). La Mariposa.  Illustrated by Simon Silva. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Lyon, George Ella. (2009). You and Me and Home Sweet Home. Illustrated by Stephanie Anderson. New York: Atheneum Books

Markel, M. (2013). Brave Girl: Clara and the Shirtwaist Makers’ Strike of 1909. Illustrated by Melissa Sweet. New York: Balzer & Bray.

Schrock, Jan West. (2013). Give a Goat. Illustrated by Aileen Darragh. Gardiner, ME: Tilbury House. 

Shulevitz, Uri. (2008). How I Learned Geography. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux.

from How I Learned Geography