The Carolina Public Press has an article about children in poverty in Western North Carolina. The report it cites says half the children fill the bill. It’s been that way since the food stamp explosion several years ago. The article makes a very strong case for whatever by saying children living in poverty are more or less likely to do this or that. They are also stigmatized as being like half the population. If we could trim just one percent off childhood poverty, these kids could at least have minority status. On the bright side, these kids are insured, which by today’s parlance means they’re in the database.
As always, I beg our advocates to show me a child in Western North Carolina who is really starving – not some poor, stigmatized brat with only three pairs of $80 gym shoes and last year’s Android who can’t take Julliard dance classes – and I’ll go homeless or sell my car if I have to to make sure they can eat. Most adults would. I think that is why I don’t take these reports too seriously.
