[News] Over 20 million people are living in deep poverty in the U.S. - Sixty Five Million Left Out of July 4 Celebration

[Anti-Imperialist News]

    Sixty Five Million Left Out of July 4 Celebration


      by Bill Quigley

"/*Over 20 million people are living in deep poverty in the U.S."*/

Over sixty five million people in the US, perhaps a fifth of our sisters 
and brothers, are not enjoying the "unalienable rights" of "life, 
liberty and the pursuit of happiness" promised when the Declaration of 
Independence was adopted on July 4, 1776.   They are about twenty 
percent of our US population.  This July 4 can be an opportunity to 
remember them and rededicate ourselves and our country to making these 
promises real for all people in the US.

More than two million people are in our jails and prisons making the US 
the world leader in incarceration, according to the Sentencing Project, 
a 500% increase in the last 30 years.

Four million more people are on probation and parole, reports the US 
Bureau of Justice Statistics.

  On the night of July 4 and on any given night, over 600,000 people are 
homeless, according to the US Department of Housing and Urban 
Development, a quarter of which, over 130,000, are children.

Over 4 million people live in homes where each person lives on less than 
$2 per day (2.8 million are children) according to the National Poverty 
Center of the University of Michigan.   Over 20 million people are 
living in deep poverty with incomes of less than 50 percent of the 
already low US poverty lines.

About 5.2 million people in the US are native peoples, either American 
Indians or Alaska Natives.  Nearly ten million people were unemployed as 
of the latest report by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.  Another 7.3 
million are only working part-time but would like to work full-time and 
another 2.1 million people have been unemployed for more than 12 months 
and are not counted.

Finally, the Department of Homeland Security estimates there are 11.5 
immigrants in the US who the government does not consider legally here 
with us.

While some of these sixty five million people may eat hot dogs and watch 
fireworks, they are left out of the July 4 promise of life, liberty and 
the pursuit of happiness.

/Bill Quigley teaches at Loyola University New Orleans College of Law 
and can be reached at //_quigley77 at gmail.com_/ <mailto:quigley77 at gmail.com>
-- 
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