Ed Vulliamy’s article on poverty and income inequality in the United States focuses on New Haven, Connecticut, as an example of the stark differences in wealth that exist there. He employs the narratives of homeless individuals, whose daily struggle for survival takes place in close proximity to Yale University, one of the most prestigious and wealthy institutions of higher learning in the country. Also presented are the voices of the working poor, whose labor keeps the machinery of Yale going, yet they struggle to break free of the culture of poverty. He describes the incongruity of such poverty existing in the shadow of enormous wealth and offers New Haven as being emblematic of America’s income inequality. While the problems of homelessness and poverty have not gone away in the decades since the 2002 article, Mayor Justin Elicker’s 2024 State of the City address is hopeful that programs that the city has initiated can address some the issues and improve the quality of life for the citizens of New Haven.
Having grown up in a suburb of New Haven, I have always been aware of the tension that exists between Yale and its host city. My father taught Head Start summer classes at Welch School during the 1960’s and some days brought me with him. I recall him telling my mother that “if our kids had to go to school in conditions like that, we too would be rioting in the streets.” I was aware at an early age that where you lived mattered. I have always been puzzled that Yale does not put more effort into improving its surrounding neighborhoods. For its students studying sociology, medicine, education, or business, the city would seem to offer a living classroom, that if combined with the resources of the University could be engaged to ameliorate the conditions of poverty that surround it. When I consider that the wealth gap in New Haven is symptomatic of a larger trend in the nation, I am reminded of Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1967 speech The Other America. In his description of separate realities based on race, income, education, and opportunity, that coexisted side by side, he could have been speaking of ‘the other New Haven.’ I do admire Mayor Elicker’s optimism and his efforts to remake the city. It would be nice if Yale shared his enthusiasm for what is, after all, their city too.
A good journal, Brian, with some thoughts that are on point. I think one of the interesting things about New Haven is that there are clearly two (or more) Americas here, and that these two Americas really aren't far removed from one another, one of the points of the Guardian piece. While that is probably true a lot of places, New Haven's urban geography and its relative smallness bring this into stark relief, which is both potentially productive and also problematic. On the question of Yale, I think that a closer look would reveal that the university and its students are tremendously invested in the community in terms of service, programs, as a place to study various dynamics and to test social science theory. Since the Guardian piece was written, the university has promised much more in terms of annual gifts to the city, although not enough to make up the deficit of lost tax revenue. I'm wondering how you see these two readings in conversation with one another. What do they have in common, how are they different?
ReplyDeleteI guess I see the Guardian article as laying out the problem in terms of the incongruity of Yale's wealth and status in relation to the city's level of poverty, while Mayor Elicker is laying out a vision for the future that is proactive, and while welcoming Yale's help, is not waiting around as a helpless victim. In a sense, the city is displaying agency in its circumstances, rather than demanding that Yale solve its problems? Both readings acknowlege the problem while Elicker's message is offering solutions.
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