In response to Ben Carson…

No! Just no! Poverty is NOT a state of mind!!!

A child or youth’s poverty is NOT a state of mind! A single parent’s poverty is not a state of mind! A family of 5’s poverty is not a state of mind! A senior’s poverty is NOT a state of mind!

Yes, maybe some people who have “everything taken from them” and are “on the street” somehow are able to get themselves off it. But that is not the norm for just anyone living in poverty… How can anyone get off the street with just “the right mindset!?” (At some point, you have to have access to some resources.) How can you even have the “right mindset” when you are starving… And how on earth are the 45 million people living in poverty in the U.S. (one of the wealthiest countries in the world) supposed to just get out of it when there aren’t enough jobs out there (or ones that pay a living wage)? When there isn’t enough affordable housing? When quality education is only accessible for children with a certain income? When higher education is so expensive that most grads graduate up to their necks in debt? When Medicaid, food stamps, and other services are being cut? When mental health agencies, immigration/refugee resettlement organizations, after school programs, and other crucial service organizations are underfunded? And oh… the list goes on…

No! Poverty is NOT a state of mind! And while we are trying to tell ourselves that to make ourselves feel better, children are going to bed hungry.