Shame, By Dick Gregory, Pimpare, And Randall Williams

In 2015, 13.6% of Illinois residents lived below the poverty line, that is 1,703,258 people. Poverty is a growing epidemic that plagues more people than you would think. In three articles by Dick Gregory, Stephen Pimpare, and Randall Williams, the theme of poverty is discussed and dissected. We learn the stories of people living in poverty and how they feel about their situations. People living in poverty should not feel ashamed of their situation because many times, it is not their fault and they didn’t have a choice in the matter. Many times, people are just born into poverty. In the short story, “Shame” by Dick Gregory, we see that Dick was just born into a poor family, he had no choice in the matter. He constantly feels ashamed of his situation, “There was shame in running out to meet the relief truck. I hated that truck, full of food for you and your kind.” (Gregory 5). This quote shows that Dick is very ashamed of his situation, especially because he is constantly labeled “you and your kind”. Pimpare brings up this point in his article about how movies promote, “misleading prejudices about people who live in poverty (Pimpare 1).

Pimpare’s article, talks about how Hollywood movies promote that poverty is a “state of mind, rather than a condition we create through our politics and public policy” (Pimpare 2). This show how our society has stereotyped people who are living in poverty, as people who just don’t care. This is clearly rebutted in “Daddy Tucked a Blanket Around Mama’s Shoulders. Tears Were Dropping Off His Cheeks” by Randall Williams. He talks about how hard his dad worked to try to improve their status, “No matter how much money Daddy made we never made much progress up the social ladder” (Williams 1). This quote shows that they should not feel ashamed because they are working hard to try and improve their situation. It is not their fault that the system was built against