by Bill Thompson
Preface: While the point of this brief is not to advocate for Universal Healthcare, it is not an unfair expectation to suggest that children should NOT suffer medically because of their socio economic status. According to the US Census Bureau 34% of those in poverty in 2007 were children.
It is entirely possible that there is no task more daunting than trying to explain “Poverty” in a single extemp brief. Before I begin I would like to preface that I have a larger investment in this issue than most who will read this. For the last 7 years I have worked with homeless and abused teens in my hometown of Louisville, Kentucky. I have seen firsthand the toll that poverty has on its victims and the gravitational pull that it emits, making it at times like a blackhole pulling in those who get too close to it. Poverty is also not just an issue because of America’s current economic woes. “From 1975 to 2001, the U.S. child poverty rate did not go below 16%. For much of that time, the child poverty rate was at or above 20%.” (National Center for Children in Poverty, Low Income Children in the United States: A Brief Demographic Profile, March 2003)
I suggested this brief to Logan because in the 16 years I have judged extemp I can count on one hand the quality extemp speeches I have seen on the topic. This is due to a few causes: 1. Most extempers have an aversion to the subject that causes them not to take poverty questions or write them when they become coaches. 2. Those who do take poverty questions address them in a very narrow manner and do not understand the many facets of this subject. I say this because there is no way in a single brief that I will be able to adequately navigate all the causes and effects of poverty. However, it is my hope that by first addressing what poverty is and how it is measured and next the side effects of poverty on American citizens that those reading will have a better understanding of poverty and it’s toll on America.