This Appalachia Life: My Mother Wasn't Trash

[ehrnst]

My mother died the day she turned 55.

This Sunday will be my first Mother's Day without her, but nearly a year after she died, I still find it impossible to be heartbroken over her passing. As I wrote in her obituary, she suffered from both mental and physical illness for much of her life. However, despite her struggles, she selflessly loved and supported those who meant the most to her. In so many ways, she loved those who society deemed outcast and unloveable, and through her relentless love of others, her relationship with God was readily apparent. While I miss her dearly, it would be selfish of me to wish that she were still alive and suffering rather than at peace.

.......................................................................

Many of us who have personal experience with poverty understand that addiction, mental illness, poor health, and lack of education are symptoms of poverty rather than causes. When I think about all the suffering my mother endured over the course of her life, I can't help but wonder how anyone could think that she was to blame for her poverty. She started working at 12, and she worked every day for years, long after her body gave out on her. She made choices, some good, and plenty bad, but poor people have fewer options when faced with impending and potentially life-changing decisions. Poor people like Mom are often forced to choose from a small number of shitty options, and most of them try to find the one that is slightly less shitty than the others. When people are eaten up mentally and physically by a lifetime of compounded shitty choices, they reach a point where they can't even decide what is best anymore, because they realize that no matter what they do - no matter how hard they try - they are cogs in a broken machine and nobody cares about them anyway. Poor Appalachian people are broken, but not nearly as broken as the systems that keep them poor.

.........................................................................

At least a fourth of the folks who have reached out since I published "Blessed are the White Trash" have asked how I feel about J. D. Vance's bestselling book Hillbilly Elegy. This book has, for many Americans, become their primary source of information about Appalachian culture and poverty. The short answer is that I disagree with both Vance's conclusions and his methodology. As I told a group of my students recently, I am heartbroken that Hillbilly Elegy will likely be the most popular and important book about Appalachia in a generation.

Vance writes: "I don't know what the answer is, precisely, but I know it starts when we stop blaming Obama or Bush or faceless companies and ask ourselves what we can do to make things better" (256). While this is not blatant victim-blaming, it comes close. This line of reasoning promotes the individualistic philosophy so prominent among those on the political right in the US. It sounds like it came directly from the pen of Ayn Rand. It calls for a bootstraps-up set of solutions for people who lack boots. It calls on poor people to fix their own problems by changing their culture. Vance calls it a "culture in crisis." What his book lacks, however, is the important historical and economic context that explains how Appalachia came to be impoverished. While he is critical of Appalachian culture, he doesn't bother to find out how it came to be as it is.

For generations, first with timber and coal and later with tourism, Appalachia has served as a sort of internal colony for the rest of the United States. People with no desire to live here came to pillage and plunder. They cheated Appalachian people out of their land and their resources, their dignity and their humanity. In central Appalachia, coal companies engaged in ruthless and ethically bankrupt tactics like using the broad form deed. They moved people into coal camps where they paid them poorly and forced them to buy everything from the overpriced company store. They were compelled to work and remain silent or become homeless. In southern Appalachia, timber barons came for the lumber. They clear-cut the mountains and left environmental and economic devastation in their wake. In both instances, Appalachian people were transformed from independent farmers and craftspeople into laborers treated like nothing more than replaceable parts. They were deprived of their resources, and the profit most certainly didn't flow back into their communities. Today, all that remains in much of Appalachia are minimum wage service jobs. In the more touristy parts of the region, the people whose ancestors once thrived in these mountains now serve sweet tea and fried chicken to the vacationing descendants of those whose communities and wealth were built in part with the resources extracted from Appalachia.
.....................................................................................

While we must not approach any instance of poverty, whether in Kinshasa, Congo or Frakes, Kentucky, with the flawed notion that we fully understand it, we must understand that the solutions will be found in action both by those who are impoverished and by those who are not. This is not a problem to be fixed by condescending outsiders, but neither is it a problem to be fixed only by those who are impoverished. Neither group can fix it alone.

https://www.thisappalachialife.com/single-post/2017/05/10/My-Mother-Wasnt-Trash

[Squinch]

1. I have not read Hillbilly Elegy, but I interpret the excerpt differently than the article author.

Not having read the book, I might be missing a context that proves the article author's point, but I suspect I'm not.

The article quotes this line:

"I don't know what the answer is, precisely, but I know it starts when we stop blaming Obama or Bush or faceless companies and ask ourselves what we can do to make things better"

. The author concludes that this line by the author of Hillbilly Elegy comes dangerously close to victim blaming and Republican-style bootstrapping.

If the 2016 election and the attitudes of my West Virginian relatives are any indication, the quote's advice is exactly where Appalachians need to start if they are going to end the plunder of their lives by corporations.

I was always surprised in my visits to WV during the Obama administration at the misinformation that even educated people spouted. "Obama ruined the coal industry; Obama's taxes are killing us; Obama only cares about guns." These were the most common refrains I heard, and yet not one of them contained even a kernel of truth.

Many Appalachians are people who depend on government to survive, but who hold their prejudices so dearly that they voted for a man who clearly was going to screw them, just like the robber barons who have always screwed them, just as the article describes. And they passed on a candidate who had a really innovative plan for the economies of the rust belt and the coal belt, bringing clean energy industry jobs in to replace the lost coal and oil jobs. The plan was ingenious, and it probably would have worked and worked quickly.

But the people the article describes rejected that because of blaming the wrong people and because they never actually took the time to compare the two candidates to figure out which one would have benefitted them.

The quote is right. The people of Appalachia need to actually look at what -and who - are causing their plight, and learn to vote in a way that makes sense.

[n2doc]

7. This is just as much magical thinking as the Ayn Randians

These folks get their information from very few sources. Neighbors, Preachers, Radio and TV. They are isolated, distrustful of outsiders. You expect them to get on the internet, wade through all the FUD and lies being spewed, as well as the constant "both sides do it" from more mainstream sources, and figure out the truth of their situation? Even if they do get on the internet they likely are mostly using Facebook and getting inundated with RW crap from at least a few relatives or their friends. There are very few places that still provide a modicum of truth, and these are labeled 'Left Wing crackpots" by the propagandists.

We have a bigger problem here, with the huge amount of propaganda folks are subjected to from all sides. It is a different world than the 1890's or 1930's or even the 1960's. Propaganda has been proven effective over all of human history. It isn't getting less so now.

[workinclasszero]

25. "You expect them to get on the internet, wade through all the FUD and lies being spewed,

Last edited Sun May 14, 2017, 11:59 AM - Edit history (1)

as well as the constant "both sides do it" from more mainstream sources, and figure out the truth of their situation?"

F**K yes, I DO expect them to open their damned eyes and realize that Fox news, hate radio and most likely their preacher are lyin their asses off and are systematically destroying them and their loved ones!

WTF? Are these people mentally deficient in some way? Do we need to spoon feed the poor babies as well? Give me a fucking break!

An ignorant person needs to live in a dictatorship. A democracy demands an informed and aware electorate. It's not like other people have never wised up to the lies of the republican reich wing and the religious right.

Me for one and three quarters of my family as an example. There is no excuse for their ignorance except blind hatred. IMO.

[mrsadm]

70. As one of my favorite professers often said ...

Stupidity is willful ignorance.

[workinclasszero]

72. Agree

100%!

[Squinch]

31. They get their information from very few sources, and if we are going to have any respect

for their intellectual capacities at all, we need to point out to them that the information they are getting is not working for them and they ought to be able to see that and perhaps try something different.

[WellDarn]

75. There is no doubt that

a substantial number of working class white folks are, as Dylan put it, "only a pawn in their game." I have to repeat, however, that the working class, like other oppressed groups (all of whom would benefit if our party were able to obtain and keep power, but, have continued to suffer because we have not), voted in a majority for Clinton. They may not have voted in as overwhelming a majority as other oppressed groups, but it was still a majority. Moreover they did so despite the limited sources of information you described.

Upper middle class white suburbanites, however, not only have multiple sources of information, they benefited tremendously under Obama and, unlike oppressed groups, yes even working class voters, they STILL voted in a majority for Trump. THEY are the group with NO EXCUSES.

[Dustlawyer]

8. +1!!! The same goes for many here in Texas!

[WinkyDink]

15. "bringing clean energy industry jobs in to replace the lost coal and oil jobs" was never more than

a pipe-dream, a totally unproven campaign promise.

Would YOU have believed in it?

[JI7]

21. the kentucky coal museum is moving towards use of solar

A democratic president with a supporting congress would have invested in these things.

Just as a democratic president with dem governor helped with healthcare in these areas even though he got no credit for it. And now the republican gov and pres are trying to take it away.

[Squinch]

32. The clean energy industries add more jobs to the economy in two years than the entire number

of jobs that exist in the coal industry.

The entire coal industry employs fewer people than Wendy's fast food chain.

So yes. I would have believed that this was entirely possible. Wouldn't you?

[WinkyDink]

69. Let me be specific: Would you, as a former coal miner looking over your despoiled W. Va.

landscape, wondering what's been hindering private enterprise from coming and building those clean-energy industries in my area, have believed any politician who is famous for foreign policy but not domestic job development?

Or might you just be desperate enough to go for the candidate who was known for business acumen (whether true or not)?

[Bradical79]

63. Yes, of course -nt

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

57. I can see why Hillbilly Elegy rubs some people the wrong way

but it is an excellent book.

[PETRUS]

60. No it isn't.

His personal story and family history is interesting, and I think it's valuable to expose oneself to other points of view but that's about all there is to recommend it. It's intellectually shallow and the writing - while clear and serviceable - isn't particularly remarkable. I can't call a book "excellent" unless it has beautiful prose and/or some profundity.

[WellDarn]

2. K&R

[JustAnotherGen]

3. I've read the article at the link

Several times.

I'm in "survival mode" and I just can't "hear" it.

I'm not giving them the free pass on victim blaming - when they overwhelmingly voted for a man that blamed people that look like me for their problems.

Sorry - I have poor black and Latino people in Elizabeth and Camden to worry about. You know - the ones these folks blame.

[JI7]

44. yes. we never hear this type of stuff about poor minorities

Below sometime clAimed democrats don't get poor votes. In fact democrats do get more poor voters .

Only way they don't is if you are excluding non white voters.

[ms liberty]

4. This article has a lot of truth in it. n/t

[bucolic_frolic]

5. Salute for your perspective

I seem to recall reading somewhere that "Appalachia" extends beyond the geophysical area,
or the coal mining industry, or whatever other boundaries one chooses to draw. Pockets of
rural poverty are sprinkled across Pennsylvania, upper New York state, and into New England,
and surely west, southwest of West Virginia. I've seen small areas where the housing is from
the 1930s, but the 60s and 80s housing that descendants built adjacent to their parents and
grandparents homes are not huge improvements. Families still struggle with an old pickup, a
seasonal factory or service sector job, nutritional challenges, and barely enough income to
keep a lifestyle going. For that matter, I took an alternative route one day, and found myself
in what must have been a 1950s or a 1930s suburban development. Most homes seemed occupied,
the grass was cut, but money had not been spent on maintenance anywhere. The homes needed
paint, the roofs (hoof - hooves, roof - roofs ain't the English language fun) were moss covered
or stained, the streets probably not paved since 1965, but patched with spatula feathered tar.
So it can happen anywhere.

[WellDarn]

6. I wonder why it's so much easier

to blame victims who voted for Trump against their self interest and permanently throw them under the bus than it is to do the same to the privileged white suburbanites (BOTH MEN AND WOMEN) who put him in office?

[JI7]

14. we do blame them. that's why we dismiss the economic anxiety argument

And know the real reason they voted for trump.

[WellDarn]

22. I am having trouble

Remembering the 1000s of posts demanding that we don't change our message to attract upper middle class whites and/or to avoid offending them.

Sorry.

[JI7]

23. the message that appeals to them is the same.

[WellDarn]

24. Do you mean the same

As our current message?

Yes, you are correct, we are already targeting upper middle class whites. We have offered them, who already have so much, everything they could want.

And yet they still voted overwhelmingly for Trump.

[JI7]

26. no the message that appeals to them is make America white

And ban Muslims and deport hispanics .........

[MoonRiver]

71. Hillary won the popular vote by 3 million.

That number hardly equates to upper middle class whites voting "overwhelmingly" for Chump.

[WellDarn]

74. She did indeed

But the fact remains that, in places like Michigan, it wasn't just that a majority of upper middle class white voters voted for Trump, it's that 18% of upper middle class white female voters (and an even greater percentage upper middle class white males) who voted for Obama turned around and voted for Trump. That is a huge swing.

I'd like to mention one other thing. This has nothing to do with Hillary. Her campaign was better than Gore's and Kerry's by leaps and bounds. She, IMHO, was also a better candidate than both of them. I think the numbers you mentioned bear that out.

This is about the unbridled anger and blame being directed at working class voters (many of who are now lower class voters) EVEN THOUGH A MAJORITY OF THEM VOTED FOR HILLARY.

It's about working class voters being used as the "face" of the Deplorables, EVEN THOUGH A MAJORITY OF THEM VOTED FOR HILLARY.

It's about this mantra being pushed that we need to ignore working class voters because they can't be reached without sacrificing our values as a party, EVEN THOUGH A MAJORITY OF THEM VOTED FOR HILLARY.

It's about the absolute refusal to call out the white people in the suburbs OR to say out loud that it is in their gated enclaves, even more so than the hills of Harlan County Kentucky, where racism is the NUMBER ONE MOTIVATOR. The suburbs had everything under Obama. He saved their 401k's. He made their employer-provided health insurance better than ever. He gave them domestic security and kept them out of foreign wars. He gave them low inflation and low interest and, with that, nicer homes, cars, etc. He gave them a first family that exemplified their values.

So why did they leave him in 2012 and then flat out abandon our party in 2016?

Might I suggest that there is only one thing, and one thing only, that Obama did to disturb their precious little world . . . he said right out loud that race matters, that privilege matters, that the criminal laws are racist, and that the United States is founded on racism. That single act was all that mattered in the suburbs. That single act outweighed the benefits he had heaped on them. That single act transformed the Democratic Party into something that a huge percentage of suburban whites just couldn't stand, the party of black people. When you throw in how we eventually stood behind other oppressed groups, we were lost to them forever.

IMHO, (and not to minimize any of these factors) more than Comey, more than Russia, more than a lazy complicit MSM, more than voter suppression, THAT was what Hillary was up against . . . a huge swath of privileged upper middle class white voters toward whom our party had already bent over backwards and who STILL weren't going to vote for us. To do what she did against that (AND Comey, suppression, Russia, worthless MSM, and all the other shit) was nothing short of laudable. It was actually pretty amazing.

All of that, though, is in the past. The conversation we are having now is should be, given that we need some white demographic to vote with the rest of us (to overcome the shit), whether that demographic should be the working people who voted for us (even though they suffered), or the white suburbanites we've done so much for already and who still voted against us.

[Squinch]

34. Did you see any posts saying we SHOULD change our message to attract upper middle class whites?

If so, I'd love to see the link.

This is a weird argument.

Sorry.

[WellDarn]

38. Perhaps because

Contrary to what was just stated elsewhere in this string, we have pandered to them for 30 years.

[Squinch]

42. In what way?

[WellDarn]

47. Let's look at just a small sample

How many areas are out there where our policy is good, even great, but our messaging is "white?"

Who do you think we were trying to attract with (admittedly) inspiring stories about high achieving DREAMERS? Was it the undocumented Spanish-speaking immigrant toiling in a field, or cleaning a home, or hanging sheetrock? Or was it the white suburbanite who looks down their nose at the guy helping to build the new addition on their home who can't speak English, who has a DUI conviction or a DV restraining order and who SOME PEOPLE feel we have to convince suburbanites we AREN'T standing behind. Good policy, white messaging.

How about gun control? Are we trying to attract people like me who know that they are a target and that the police aren't there to protect them but instead to join the firing line? Or are we trying to attract suburbanites for whom mass shooting and accidental death simply because of the proliferation of guns are one of the few dangers they face in their protected lives? Good policy, white messaging.

How about the (admittedly) inspiring Gold Star families? Are we trying to appeal to the patriotism of white suburbanites? Or, are we trying to tell the millions of Muslim families this country who don't support our military actions that we stand behind THEM too? Good policy on immigration, tolerance, etc., but once again, white messaging.

And then how about the areas where we lagged behind what I consider Democratic Party values even as a matter of policy until white suburbanites give (or gave) their approval? How many years did it take to back off of racist drug laws? When are we going to federally prosecute blue on black crime and/or conspiracies to conceal blue on black crime such as happened in Ferguson? When are we going to stop supporting/enforcing the death penalty? When did we finally stand up for the rights of our LGBTQ community? When are we going to stop vilainizing poverty? When will we have a NATIONAL movement to emulate and then expand what Terry McAuliffe did in Virginia by restoring the voting rights of felons? Only when white suburban America say/said it is either okay or that it is no longer an issue that mattered to them.

I am a black man and I have voted for every Democrat on every ballot in every election in which I was legally permitted to participate because I know that in a binary system every Democrat is better than every Republican. But don't tell me that the people who won't stand up for me, or even for someone like Willie Horton for that matter, is targeting my vote.

[Squinch]

49. What the everloving fuck??? This is bonkers.

You are saying that our support of DREAMERS is aimed at wealthy white people and not the actual DREAMERS?

You are saying that gun control is something that we espouse because it appeals to wealthy white people?

You're saying that "good policy on immigration" is "white messaging"?

I'm not even going to try to decipher whatever it is you're saying about Gold Star families and Muslims not supporting our military actions (I'm sure my Muslim Marine neighbor might want to try to figure out what the hell that means, but I don't.)

You've basically taken every ill that our country faces and placed it at the feet of the Democratic Party, and your thesis for this nonsense is that as a party we are catering to wealthy white people. You've listed as the crimes of the Democratic party exactly those areas where the Democratic Party concentrated on pushing for the civil rights of others: LGBTQ people, victims of blue on black crime, victims of the death penalty, people living in poverty.

THEN you say Democrats are horrible because they aren't standing up for Willie Horton???

This is too loony to be real. Especially that last bit about Horton. That seems to me to be a clear dog whistle. I'm not buying that you are who and what you say you are.

Have a nice day.

[JI7]

51. that sure was revealing

[Squinch]

52. It was. I was going to PM you to see if I was crazy. Willie frickin' Horton no less.

[WellDarn]

53. I'm going to make this as clear as I can

Let's limit it to one example.

There are millions of undocumented Spanish-speaking immigrants in this country.

Every one of them has hopes and dreams as important as the hopes and dreams of he high achievers that we feature in our adds. Every one of them is every bit of deserving of the benefits this country offers as the high achievers we use as the face of our inclusiveness in our ads. That is true even if they are no better than the citizens they wish to join, citizens who have flaws, citizens who themselves are not all high achievers.

So far, we should be in agreement because that is the policy we espouse as a party . . . not that only the best Spanish-speaking immigrants are welcome, but that all are welcome.

So tell me, why are the only undocumented immigrants we see in our ads the high achievers (or the undeniable victims)?

[Squinch]

54. You blew it with the Willie Horton comment. Give it up. ETA: Actually, let me point out your

other tell. It was your comment about the millions of Muslim families who don't support our military.

Not sure where you got this picture you are holding in your head about the beliefs of Democrats, but you probably need to go back to the drawing board before your next attempt at what you are doing. Your slip - nay, all of your underwear - is showing.

[WellDarn]

55. Do you know the difference between the military and military action?

Well, of course you do. And you also know that support for our military intervention in the Muslim world is, shall we say, far from universal. In short, we were not met by people throwing flowers.

As for Willie Horton . . . he is s symbol of the great leap to the suburbs. After Dukakis was eviscerated, some within our party suggested that Reagan had painted us with the same "Democrats are soft on criminals" (STILL a dog whistle for blacks) which Nixon used on us and that it had yielded the same results. In other words, we had lost white suburbanites. During the next election and the years that followed, we made sure that would not happen again. We made a spectacular show out of executing a black man who was so brain damaged that he left a piece of pie in his cell to eat after he got back from his execution. We passed a crime bill that was intentionally designed to demonstrate that there would be no more Willie Hortons on our watch and that "criminals" would spend decades in prison, that there would be no parole, no rehabilitation, nothing but punishment.

You suggest I go to the drawing board.

I don't have to, I can go to the mirror.

[Squinch]

64. Really, now it's just sad.

[WellDarn]

65. Did you say something? n/t

[Steven Maurer]

66. I haven't until now, but I will

Who do you think we were trying to attract with (admittedly) inspiring stories about high achieving DREAMERS?

Christians.

Actual Christians, I mean. Not the fake pharisaic kind. Those that actually understand Matthew 25:31-46:

"But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. Before him all the nations will be gathered, and he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will tell those on his right hand, ‘Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry, and you gave me food to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was a stranger, and you took me in. I was naked, and you clothed me. I was sick, and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came to me.’

“Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, and feed you; or thirsty, and give you a drink? When did we see you as a stranger, and take you in; or naked, and clothe you? When did we see you sick, or in prison, and come to you?’

“The King will answer them, ‘Most certainly I tell you, because you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ Then he will say also to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you didn’t give me food to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink; I was a stranger, and you didn’t take me in; naked, and you didn’t clothe me; sick, and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’

“Then they will also answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and didn’t help you?’

“Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Most certainly I tell you, because you didn’t do it to one of the least of these, you didn’t do it to me.’ These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

A lot of people don't know that Hillary Clinton is deeply religious. The mistake she made was to believe that people who claim to be Christian, in any way, actually are.

[WellDarn]

67. That's also inspiring

Thank you.

[JI7]

56. dreamers are the kids of those working in fields and other hard work

I'm not white or suburbanite and i support gun control and many of the things you attacked.

[WellDarn]

58. You're evading the question

No one questions whether DREAMERS deserve our support, or, for that matter, whether they should be PART of our showing of support for Spanish-speaking undocumented immigrants. But DREAMERS are a small (and might I mention, most palatable to the white suburbanites we refuse to condemn) slice of the undocumented immigrant community and the remainder of that community, the one composed of just ordinary folks (and the one loathed by white suburbanites) are conspicuously absent when it comes time for us to publicly display whom we support .

As for gun control, let me just say our experiences differ. To the people I grew up with, "gun control" is five years consecutive minimum mandatory when you get called out by some cop for walking down the street with a few rocks in your pocket.

As a matter of policy, gun control is vitally important, but what it has become in practice is just another way to keep us in prison.

Btw I honestly thank you for your response. You know why.

[JI7]

59. dreamers is about policy . you are the one that ignores it

The people working the fields care about these issues.

And the pro gun agenda is about white racists.

[WellDarn]

61. Cannot deny either one of those statements

As I keep saying, our POLICY on immigration is excellent given the political reality. My point is that, when we go to present that policy to the public, we present it with an eye to not saying anything that will offend white suburbanites.

Guns, I agree that an ever increasing percentage of white gun buyers are doing so because they flipping racists. If it were up to me, I'd stop the sale of guns to anyone who can't demonstrate a history of sporting use AND a need. I'm just saying that it isn't at the top of issues for people where I grew up.

I know you're going to get tired of this but once again thank you for your post. My mom and dad taught me to give and recognize respect. I've failed too often at doing the first, so I try to make sure I don't at the second.

[democrank]

9. I just read the entire article.

We spend time on so many issues, but not nearly enough on poverty. This article is gut-wrenchingly real.

[KG]

40. i recall reading that poverty was never a subject brought up in any debate in '16

[Kath2]

10. Very well-said.

Thank you.

[mrs_p]

11. This resonates with me

Growing up poor in the PNW.

Great writing and analysis.

[Hestia]

12. Sissy Spacek narrates a documentary "Appalachia" that delves into the history of the

Appalachia, from Georgia to Maine, it is interesting and eye-opening.

Appalachians were not poor until the Chestnut Blight. The regions used chestnuts for food, fodder, furniture and timber. They could afford to be isolated because they didn't need outsiders or outside money to live. They could afford to pull themselves up because they had the boots to do so.

Now, post-blight, is what we are all familiar with, and it is relatively new - less than 100 years.

[mountain grammy]

13. I recommend this post, but don't agree some of his conclusions.

It's heartbreakingly honest, and any of us who've lived on the margins know the exploitation and lack of services that exist for the poor. But they can and do fight back. The UMW and Mother Jones and many nameless miners fought for humane condidtions and mine safety.

I grew up poor, wtih plenty of others in my same situation, but people can be poor and informed all at the same time. I know the bubble, I have relatives in Texas and elsewhere who succumb to the relentless propaganda, and a few who haven't. But, at what point do you finally say, stop hating your fellow man and work for the good of all? Maybe when the preacher says it?

[WinkyDink]

16. Maybe when you're not worrying about your lack of money for food and medicine?

[JI7]

17. there are poor black amd latino people that don't blame poor whites

For their lack of money for food and medicine and didn't demand Obama cut them off ACA in order to support him.

[WellDarn]

50. Who do we blame?

I can answer that question (partially), at least for me.

I blame rich white people.

I blame the people who stole $60 Trillion from my ancestors

I blame the people who stripped every human institution from them with the lash and the noose

I blame the people who STILL hold the money and power THEIR ancestors stole from us

Now tell me, what do you say to people who, just like me, and just like millions of other black person, have worked hard their whole lives and are still getting cut down but who also happen to be white when they say "I blame rich white people."

Do you call them friend? Do you call them ally? Do you even call them victim?

Do you wonder why they are so vulnerable when there are charlatans out there who will call them victim and will give them someone to blame?

[mountain grammy]

19. worrying about lack of money for food and medicine

describes many Americans, and doesn't justify racial hatred.

[llmart]

18. Very well said and close to home for me...

I grew up poor in a large family but my parents were readers and believed strongly in education, especially self-education. My mother used to always say, "If you can read, you can educate yourself on many topics." She introduced all of us to public libraries and set the example by going once a week and taking us with her. Even though we were poor there was always a newspaper subscription and since we saw them read it every day, we followed their example.

The answer mostly lies in education. My parents and grandfather taught us about propaganda. Heck, my son was taught in middle school about how to recognize propaganda through a sort of game playing exercise. My parents also didn't believe in indoctrinating children into religion, which teaches young children to be followers and to believe things just because an authoritarian tells them to.

My parents did a lot of things wrong, but they also did some very important things correctly and outside the mainstream, telling us "always be a leader and not a follower". They both only had a high school education, but you can be poor and informed as you say.

[heaven05]

20. NO ONE is trash

unless, like the despicable deplorables, they make themselves trash, PURE TRASH.

[northoftheborder]

27. 4 generations behind mine......

(i'm speaking of my ancestors) were rural pioneers, poor, living off the dusty dry plains of Texas. But, although uneducated, (not stupid), they lived through several depressions and droughts and each descending generation got a bit more education, even the women. From a high school education, to a year or two of college, to full degrees, to professional advanced degrees now. However, there are still large numbers of people in deep poverty today. I blame high costs of living, outrageous medical costs, and expensive education for much of it. As long as we have in power people who view these people as unworthy of consideration nothing will change.

[BeyondGeography]

28. Nancy Isenberg wrote the definitive book for me

And, yes, it's called White Trash. As a depiction of ancient cultural truths and centuries-old political exploitation (yes, Virginia, there is such a thing called class warfare), it's miles better than Elegy. Required reading for anyone looking to get a better understanding of American political reality.

[Demit]

29. I agree wholeheartedly with the author on J. D. Vance and Hillbilly Elegy.

Whether it was deliberate, or out of laziness, JD Vance completely ignored who exploited the people in Appalachia & perpetuated their poverty. Also the efforts of government and organizations who came in and tried to alleviate it. It was a bad book. There are many better ones.

[Docreed2003]

30. This seems appropriate..

[William769]

37. I am from Harlan County and my family has been there since it was Harlan County & before.

My siblings & myself are no longer there but that doesn't mean our hearts aren't.

To understand this place, you have to know it's history and you are not ever going to understand just by reading about it.

I am disappointed in several people in this thread.

[Docreed2003]

39. I'm disappointed as well William...

While I don't pretend to understand everything about coal country, though I have family and connections in that area, I do know my own rural upbringing in Middle TN, actually just south of KY. I've been away and lived and seen so much of the world and damned if I'm not right back where I was raised.

I agree completely with your point that reading about an area doesn't equate to understanding...to understand why people think and act the way they do you have to actually sit down and listen and probe and share some level of empathy about how people have been used as pawns for years by politicians and business people, and that's just the tip of the iceberg!

[Left-over]

62. They need to research

I am from a county that borders Harlan County and have many friends living there. If you think that the people who live her have not been manipulated by the Coal and other energy companies then you need to research what the union struggles in this area in the early 1900's were about. Not only that but living here I know of more than one family whose ancestral property was basically stolen by coal company contracts that were mis-represented to land owners who were uneducated.

[democrank]

33. Kick

[Docreed2003]

35. This is an excellent piece, thank you for sharing...

While I don't necessarily agree with everything he said, he does bring up some important point that we would all benefit from digesting and discussing.

Reading some of the comments here though I wonder if some will even try. Some comments are not only hateful but condescending and dispicable coming from the mouth of liberals....how can you expect to understand these people if you insist on becoming the EXACT thing the right wing portrays us as in discussing their issues? If I made even half of the comments some have made here following the election in discussions about Appalachian poverty but in reference to places suffering from similar poverty that happen to have large populations of persons of color, I would be banned from this site. If we're ever going to be successful as a party in these red areas we have to seek answers to why the people in these areas think and vote the way they do. Are many racists? Hell yes they are, but why? Because for generations politicians have sold these people on the idea that they are in the position they are because of "the other". Those beliefs have percolated and been stoked by RW radio and, frankly, mainstream media to the point that you have a whole segment of society that truly thinks they're missing out on something while people different than them are being lavished with handouts. I know that's nonsense...you guys know that's nonsense, but if you are indoctrinated into that mindset and bred on a diet of RW hate news and follow RW politicians, because that's the only people who show up and pretend to show any real interest in your condition, well you begin to understand why some of these folks think the way they do. And that's just scratching the surface, that doesn't even being to describe the ways in which the evangelical churches which populate these communities like cockroaches have warped the minds of so many with their thinly veiled GOP talking points which have twisted and contorted the words of Christ to the point that the actual biblical teachings of Jesus are unrecognizable.

Until we recognize that poverty is a national struggle, no matter where it occurs, and that the powers that be are pitting poor community against poor community based on race and religion etc, these discussions will go no where. In no way am I suggesting that we ignore what makes our party great, or turn our backs on POC or women or the LGBT community by focusing on economic over social concerns. In fact, I completely reject that dichotomy that some seem to be insisting on...I don't think we can have one without the other. I think we have to be willing to do everything within our powers to break the current paradigm and reach out to all communities that are being left behind and, rather than using them as political pawns as the Right does to Appalachia, actually dig deeper and listen to their concerns and make efforts to address those issues...whether it's a holler in Harlan, KY or a project in Detroit. That's what my political hero RFK tried to do...I hope that the current Democrats will push to do the same.

[JI7]

45. but they don't want to be grouped in with poor blacks hispanics and other non whites

[Docreed2003]

46. I know...the question is why??

Why do they see themselves differently? Because they've bought into the multigenerational BS of their corporate owners and GOP politicians and their limited news exposure and played right into the hands of those who only want to use them for votes and care nothing of their condition. We have to do the hard work and show all communities, white..black...Latino...all communities that are struck by poverty that we have a message and a plan for helping to alleviate their struggles.

Again, let me reiterate what I said above, we can do that without losing our commitment to social issues. We can do it without allowing the right to frame us as being focused on "identity politics", which to my mind is a bullshit right wing talking point because standing up for the rights of all people is not about identity....we as Dems are committed to improving the lot of all Americans...we recognize the historical racism of this Country and its effects that still ravage communities to this day...we stand with our gay and lesbian and trans brothers and sisters to push for equal rights..we stand with all women to ensure their rights and equality...I think we can make inroads into communities without sacrificing those things, if we stand in our convictions and are willing to sit down and listen to people and try to understand their struggles and concerns.

[WellDarn]

48. Pardon me?

It is pretty obvious that the vast majority of people who are attacking the disaffected former working class- now just poor (while conveniently forgetting that they are both white and black) don't think they deserve to be "grouped in" with the rest of us.

[QC]

36. Thank you for posting this.

It made me cry. This woman could be a member of my own family or one of my students.

[KG]

41. too much emphasis on the 'middle class' . i recall reading that poverty was never brought up in any

debate. the dem party has basically done nothing to address the poverty since the sixties then seems bewildered that the they don't get many votes from poor .

[JI7]

43. democrats do get more votes from the poor than republican

Why exclude black and hispanic voters ?

[PinkTiger]

68. I just got finished with the book and I had some issues with him, also.

Vance isn't very sympathetic with people who "wrong" him, especially his mother. And I think I agree with another OP, below, that it isn't a great book if you are looking for a policy document; however, the story is interesting in one very special way: if you read it and realize the narrator is unreliable, then you can read between the lines.
This is how I approached it, once I realized that his tale was full of bias and false bravado.
He also reminds me of my baby brother, who has accomplished a great deal in his life, but started out rough and survived because people cared about him. He fails to acknowledge this fact.
He doesn't want his wife and son to know that he narrowly escaped a jail sentence when he was 18, because his sister (me) worked for the local prosecutor and was able to take him before the judge and get his case dismissed if he joined the service.
So he did, and they sent him to college and then to special language schools, and he retired from the USAF as a captain.
Today he lives abroad after selling his business, and plays a lot of golf.
He is a dyed in the wool republican.

[snooper2]

73. A big part of the problem is how poor white people embrace ignorance

There is a reason "Proud Redneck" and "Proud White Trash" t-shirts are sitting in Wal-Mart shelves...


I grew up poor in the middle of the country. Where people aspire to getting the steps fixed on the porch one day while slamming a case of beer before the sun sets.

We don't need no college..
We don't need no fancy suburban house...
We got the trail to the crick down there for fishin' this is the good life...

Our culture is better, don't try to improve yourself. Then when the 16 year old car on a tote-the-note ges repoed it is Obama's fault.