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How the War on Poverty Stalled

Kim Phillips-Fein The New Republic
The study of poverty has flourished in recent decades. Why haven’t the lives of the poor improved?

George Floyd's Death Is a Failure of Generations of Leadership

Elizabeth Hinton The New York Times
Policymakers in the 1960s had the answers - give political and economic power to the people - but walked away. Instead, policymakers blamed black people for the instability, ignoring the buildup of centuries of racial oppression.

Poverty or Inequality: What’s the Problem?

Peter Marcuse Peter Marcuse's Blog
“War on poverty”, “ladders of opportunity”, “upward mobility” and “fight against inequality”: How do the terms used to describe a basic social problem in the U.S. differ, and why is it important?

Racism, Sexism, And The 50-Year Campaign To Undermine The War On Poverty

Igor Volsky Think Progress
Beginning in 1964 and stretching through today, conservative leaders systematically undermined the programs that shaped Johnson’s War on Poverty, frequently deploying racist and sexist arguments to take away public assistance from the poorest Americans. Their rhetoric didn’t directly undo these social programs, but it chipped away at their foundation and altered Americans’ perceptions about the proper role of government.

Marian Wright Edelman Marks 40 Years of Advocacy at Children’s Defense Fund

Krissah Thompson The Washingon Post
Forty years after founding the Children’s Defense Fund, which advocates for federal and state resources for children, Edelman is still at work in the fund’s red brick building on E Street NW, displaying at 74 the same passion she had in 1967, when she was a 27-year-old civil rights attorney leading Sen. Robert F. Kennedy through the Mississippi Delta.
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