I'm Gregory Dawson sitting
in for Clifford Baines,
who's being fitted for a sarcophagus.
Recession which has left
thousands of American home-owners,
destitute for the first time,
may be giving rise to a new form of bigotry.
Are traditionally poor Americans being
unfairly prejudiced against the Nouveau poor?
Yes, and it's wrong.
Men and women who have
just become impoverished
are encountering
terrible animosity from the poor
who have been sleeping in
vacant lots their entire lives.
They can't help the fact
that they weren't born poor.
Yes, poverty should not
be a club with locked doors.
But it's hard not to
sympathize with old poor.
Now if your family has a tradition
of going to a particular KFC dumpster,
for a night out on the town,
and you get there and there's a bunch of
Nouveau low-lives throwing their
chicken bones on the ground,
how do you react?
- Any vagrant with just a modicum
of self respect, knows that's just
going to bring rats to the dumpster.
Oh I'm sorry that just wreaks of classicism.
- I'm sorry, but,
What makes America so
special is that no matter
how many advantages
you were born with,
you too might wind up
sleeping underneath a highway
overpass eating nothing
but mustard and relish packets.
Being poor is more than just
not having money.
It's about having the
right kind of attitude.
It's a lifestyle.
- Frankly, some people just don't have it.
It is true that over the years a
small number of prominent families
have worked very, very hard to control
who is allowed into the poor man's club.
Yes, the Jenkins of lower Delaware who
have been in the pan-handling business
for more than 3
They've had a member of their family
imprisoned every year since David Jenkins
first came over with the Duchess in 1631.
- Yeah, it's a legacy. It's a legacy.
But the Nouveau poor have no interest in
learning the way that things are done.
Now that is just a stereotype.
- They just want to sit on the bus stop bench
and cry and shiver, rather than
just fading into the landscape,
like the more experienced
poor know to do.
That doesn't justify discrimination.
My brother lost
his house last year,
and since then he and
his whole family
have endured horrible prejudice
from other members of the lower crust.
Oh please, do we have to hear this again.
- My brother told me that all the other
poor kids laugh at him, because he
got his clothes at the Dollar General,
instead of picked out
of the garbage can.
Shameful.
- Like the other kids.
I'm sorry.
- They won't let him play Poke the Rat
with them.
- Buying clothes?
Yes, exactly. - It sounds like your
brother isn't even really poor.
Oh what, just because
my brother lives in a mini-van
and doesn't sleep in the bushes,
now that is snobbery.
Sounds like mansion trash.
- Excuse me?
Are you aware,
- He's making a point,
I think what's important,
- Sorry Dave. - Sorry.
You know I'm down here,
please keep it down.
Sorry. - Apologies.
- What's going on Daddy?
Nevermind Sam, these people
are just making a lot of noise.
Let's go back to sleep.
- Sorry.
Let's get these
cans out of here.
My point is that you can't
separate the two classes.
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