Learn More about Poor People
Gwen Brown, International Liberation Reference Person for People Raised Poor
First, let’s talk about capitalism. While it initially raised large numbers of people out of poverty into the middle class, global capitalism is now leaving most of the world’s people in poverty, and life on this planet at risk. Making decisions solely on the basis of profit for a few rather than what works for most of the world’s human beings means that today most of the world’s people are poor. And most of the poor people are children of the Global Majority.
So, if we are going to get ourselves out of this crisis, it makes sense that we all—every one of us, from every class background and no matter how we are living now—make efforts to learn more about poor people. It makes sense that we all commit to working on our classism and racism and any other isms that leave us inactive and feeling superior—and reach for caring, loving relationships with poor people, teach them Co-Counseling, and bring them into our Communities. We have no other good choice at this point, which is why at the last RC World Conference we agreed on a goal to do just that.
Contrary to the myths, poor people are smart, loving, good, creative, and compassionate—just like you. In fact, they are often more generous, less competitive, more able to connect, and freer of pretense than many people from other classes. And they have fought hard in the face of harsh and persistent oppression to hold on to so much of their humanness.
But being at the bottom of the economic system means they are surrounded by subtle and overt violence and the persistent message that their lives do not matter. The statistics are clear: among poor people infant mortality is higher and more children witness or are subjected to violence and the
ravages of war and pollution. If they get to go to school, their schools are often underfunded and inferior. More of them end up homeless, in jails, and in the “mental health” system. The pollution, violence, and lack of health care cause them to die earlier. More of the mothers die in childbirth. And, as we know, poor people are more likely to be the ones who cannot escape the biggest repercussions of climate change.
Poor people are the group that nobody wants to be in. They are used to keep working-class and middle-class people scared of the consequences of organizing and getting fired. Their stories are often the hardest to listen to. But listen we must. Fortunately, we now have a powerful and growing group of poor and raised-poor people in Co-Counseling. So we know it is doable.
We all need to discharge whatever is in our way of reaching out to poor people and sharing what we know about discharge and liberation. We need to discharge whatever is in our way of fighting for policies that end the outrageous income inequalities in our current system.
Poor people, right now, in every part of the world, are waiting for our support to become the powerful, deeply good leaders that they were born to be and that the world needs. So let’s do this. Let’s take our old but powerful direction “I can, and I will.”
Wilmington, Delaware, USA