Morning Joe, Poverty, and Wall Street

Yesterday, the "Morning Joe" program on MSNBC featured a segment with Tavis Smiley and Princeton University professor Dr. Cornel West. The topic was poverty in the U.S., and they spoke about a "Tavis Smiley" PBS show that features clips from an 11-state, 18-city tour Smiley and West took in August to detail the economy's effect on individuals and families.

While poverty has increased among all ethnic groups, except Asians, blacks have been the hardest hit; the black poverty rate is 27.4 percent; the Hispanic rate is 26.6 percent. In comparison, the poverty rate for white Americans was 9.9 percent.

On their tour, Smiley and West found that poverty's face is changing."The new poor in this country is the former middle class," Smiley said. Both men called for a national poverty summit to bring together economic, social and cultural leaders.

While you may not have seen the Smiley PBS special, it would be hard to miss the coverage of the Occupy Wall Street protests, which continue unabated. Protesters are demanding efforts by Congress to reduce inequality and to support the needs of the thousands of out-of-work Americans. They also want increased financial regulation, more resources to reduce unemployment, and a push to erase economic inequality.

Clearly, whether it's Tavis Smiley and Dr. Cornel West or the thousands of protesters on Wall Street (and other cities nationwide), we are hearing more voices being raised about the plight of the poor and the unemployed.

Again, as I have over the past several weeks, I invite your thoughts on what is taking place in our economy and among our citizenry. As the Buffalo Springfield song of the 60s put it: " There's something happening here. What it is ain't exactly clear."

As social workers, what can we contribute to the discussion? How do we express what social workers think and feel about the plight of the poor?