We are in essence punishing the poor for their poverty, as if poverty were an ethical breach, not the result of interlocking social, political, and personal realities, many of which are entirely out of poor people’s hands. How often do city planners consider the job disruption caused when they cancel (or never build) a bus route? When corporations decide there’s no profit in reliable internet access for rural communities, how do the rural unemployed complete online job applications?
