"The Poor Just Aren't News"

Last Monday the photographic and multimedia exhibit "Fighting for the Forgotten" opened at the East 91st Street Christian Church in Indianapolis, featuring the work of 16 well-known photojournalists sharing their images of what it means to be poor in America. The exhibit is being sponsored jointly by AmericanPoverty.org, the East 91st Christian Church and the Indianapolis Star. It began touring the United States last fall in multiple exhibits sponsored by Catholic Charities USA. The organizers hope that by pushing the hidden adversity of Americans into greater view, the fight against poverty will become a national priority once again.

Change.org spoke with Steve Liss, one of the exhibit's featured photojournalists and director of AmericanPoverty.org. Liss is an award-winning photographer who worked with Time magazine for 23 years before beginning a teaching career at Northwestern University. His recent book, No Place for Children: Voices from Juvenile Detention, won the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award in 2006. We talked to him about the new exhibit and the thinking behind it. These photos, and many more, are in the exhibit. To see more, go to AmericanPoverty.org.

Change.org: What was the impetus behind the photo exhibit?

Liss: We started this because we feel very little attention is being paid to those suffering from poverty in this country. Poverty is all but ignored by the mainstream media. It doesn't exist in terms of newspaper and television coverage. The poor just aren't news.

I know this because I've tried to push those stories but corporate media is to worried about offending their advertisers. Mainstream media wants nothing to do with images of poverty in America.

So a group of photojournalists from across the country who are committed to issues of domestic reform and social justice felt that we had an obligation to focus on this largely invisible problem of poverty and on this largely invisible segment of American society.

Our mission is to put a face on poverty and to start dispelling the destructive myths and stereotypes about poor people. We are attempting to raise awareness about poverty in the United States and encourage action on behalf of the poor.

Change.org: What are some of those myths and stereotypes you spoke of?

Liss: There are a lot of inaccuracies out here about poverty and who poor people are and those inaccuracies need to be corrected. One of the biggest myths is that the poor don't work, that they are content to sit at home watching television and collecting welfare. The fact is that most poor people are employed. Many of them are working several low-paying jobs and despite all their efforts they  still can't make ends meet. For America's poor everyday is a struggle to survive.

Another myth is that there will always be a permanent underclass in this country. It doesn't have to be that way. America is the richest country in the world, that is why I know poverty can be eliminated in the United States if we as a nation have the will to do so.

More than 40 years ago in the 1960s, thanks to the Great Society and its War on Poverty initiative championed by President Lyndon Johnson, millions of individuals and families were lifted out of poverty. That's another myth that has to be corrected; that the Great Society was a failure.

Change.org: Can you tell us more about the photo exhibit?

Liss: There are 60 images in the exhibit. Some of the photos represent the life's work of the photojournalist, but most are images taken in the last five years that put a contemporary face on American poverty.

We have held exhibits across the country in places like Albany, New York, San Jose, California and San Antonio. And just like the exhibit now in Indianapolis, where we are in a church, we make it a point to select venues that are nontraditional. Our goal is to bring our images to audiences not normally exposed to poverty. We're not about preaching to the converted.

On Sundays more than 5,000 people attend services at East 91st Street Christian Church and all those people will see our photographs in the lobby. They will see images they haven't seen before and confront issues that, despite East 91st Street's long-standing tradition of service to the community, they may not have thought much about. Our multimedia examination of the daily struggles of impoverished Americans is a wake-up call.

The comment I hear most from people after going through the exhibit is that they didn't know the extent of the problem. I enjoy finding out what they find most surprising about our exhibit. Often they're surprised by the impact poverty has on children. The reality is that the vast majority of poor are children, yet there is no discussion of poverty in our schools. In addition to the exhibit, we are working to develop a curriculum for middle schools and high schools to teach about poverty in America.

I spoke to one of my college students recently and this was a very intelligent young man but he had no idea about poverty. He thought poor people were lazy and refused to work. That they sat around watching one of their two or three televisions and drove around in Cadillacs. That is when it occurred to me that this younger generation hadn't seen what poverty is.

I know once this younger generation understands the extent and impact of poverty in the country they will be moved to action.

Another action component is to use the exhibits as a conversation starter to bring groups and individuals together to explore ways to attack poverty on local level. We want our imagery to serve as a catalyst for creating anti-poverty programs and initiatives that will make a lasting impact in the lives of poor people.

Change.org: What do you hope to accomplish with the exhibit?

Liss: We are not so naive as to think there will be an immediate change. Our goal is long term. We want the issue of poverty to have a place at the table during the 2012, 2016, 2020 elections.

We are hoping to start a conversation, a meaningful dialogue about poverty that will help to create a climate where the issues of the poor are taken seriously. We want to be a prelude to a national commitment to achieving legislative initiatives that down the road will lead to the alleviation of poverty. Basically, we see the exhibit as part of an aggressive marketing campaign on behalf of poor people in the country.

After Indianapolis the exhibit will travel to Cleveland, Chicago and in September it will be in Washington, D.C.

Photo credits, from top: Brenda Ann Kenneally, John Partipilo/The Tennessean, Steve Liss/Polaris, Jon Lowenstein/Noor, Rick Friedman, Carlos Javier Ortiz, Danny Wilcox Frazier