Coalition to debut documentary on NC poverty this weekend

Raleigh, N.C. — A coalition that embarked on a statewide tour eight months ago to see how poverty is affecting North Carolinians plans to show a documentary this weekend that chronicles what they found.

The Truth and Hope Poverty Tour, led by the state chapter of the NAACP, will screen the 26-minute film Saturday during a daylong poverty summit at Opportunities Industrialization Center, 402 E. Virginia St. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m.

The coalition also plans to unveil its agenda, goals and the costs involved in reaching them.

Since January, the coalition – which also includes the North Carolina Justice Center, Institute for Civic Engagement and Social Change at North Carolina Central University, AARP of North Carolina and the UNC Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity – traveled 2,000 miles and met thousands of people in 27 communities across the state.

They say the purpose of the Truth & Hope Poverty Tour Report Mass Meeting and Summit is to allow the greater public to see the faces and hear the accounts of some of the people they met who are out of work, homeless, without health care.

More families, the coalition says, are falling into poverty. The North Carolina Justice Center says the statewide poverty rate last year was 17.5 percent, the highest in 30 years.

"We cannot just write off 1.6 million people in our state and millions in our country and think that somehow that does not render suspect all of our claims of being a moral society, a just society, a noble society," State NAACP President Rev. William Barber said at a news conference in Raleigh Wednesday. "We're upping the ante."

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"Did you go door-to-door and knock on everyone's door to see who owns the new car?

How about this, next time you perform your observance exercise, count up the number of used cars (3 or more years old) vs the number of new and luxury cars. "

Ok, riddle me this one then. At the grocery store, see that the items are paid for with a government card - happen to see them loading said groceries in their vehicle, hop in the drivers seat and off they go, in a car way more expensive than I have ever owned (or would pay for).

I've seen that scenario too many times to believe that priorities are upside down and some play the system like a fiddle.

Nancy
August 9, 2012 3:06 p.m.

tarheelfan1,

no way to tell if the people there were there to see the first lady or were they volunteers or were they actually poor people. I've volunteered at Urban Ministries in Durham many times through the years, and I don't recall ever seeing any of the people with a cell-phone.

Also I think many of you all see 'working poor'; who may actually be able to afford some items that are viewed as 'luxury'. Also some of the things they receive are through programs that collect the cast-off items of more affluent people.

issymayake
August 9, 2012 10:19 a.m.

How about this, next time you perform your observance exercise, count up the number of used cars (3 or more years old) vs the number of new and luxury cars. I'm willing to bet dinner at the Mint that the ones there will be many more of the former than the latter.

And I mean not tax-deferred apartments; I mean the projects. Both Raleigh and Durham have some.

issymayake Sorta reminds me of the photo op pic of Ms. Obama at the soup kitchen. Of course, she drew a huge crowd of everyone wanting to see the first lady. So what do the fine folks at the soup kitchen do? Pulled out there cell phones with built in cameras and snap pictures! They cannot afford to buy a meal but have phones with built in cameras! At the time I had a job but could afford a phone with a camera as they were a bit pricy back then, yet soup kitchen clientel could. That disgusted me.

tarheelfan41
August 9, 2012 9:26 a.m.

Nancy

Did you go door-to-door and knock on everyone's door to see who owns the new car?

How about this, next time you perform your observance exercise, count up the number of used cars (3 or more years old) vs the number of new and luxury cars. I'm willing to bet dinner at the Mint that the ones there will be many more of the former than the latter.

And I mean not tax-deferred apartments; I mean the projects. Both Raleigh and Durham have some.

issymayake
August 8, 2012 7:55 p.m.

"Income inequality" - socialist talking points!

Until you realize you are the victim of it. Eventually you will wise up. Probably when your savings is zapped by inflation. godnessgracious2

Or you lose your appreciable assets, like undeveloped land because your income has not increased in twenty years and you can no longer afford to pay the taxes.

Or you have to sell your vacation home to a rich developer because you can't find enough people working to rent it out for a week to pay the mortgage.

Or you get laid off from your precious private sector mid-level management job and find that the only place hiring is Wal-Mart and the movie theater.

Or until your 401K/403B/Money Market retirement plan is destroyed by another recession. These folks aren't making money on profit from selling a commodity or good, they're making money on hedging; and they always bet enough to come out ahead. And they are doing it with your money.

issymayake
August 8, 2012 7:50 p.m.