By: Richard J. Van Dyke
Pikes Peak Community College
JOU105125 Introduction to Mass Media: SS3
Kitty King: Instructor
On
Friday, March 14th, Pikes Peak Community College (PPCC) hosted day three
of the “Multi-cultural Awareness Conference (MAC) on Poverty” at its Centennial
campus. According to its organizers, the MAC is
designed to be a vehicle to expose PPCC students and faculty to the plight of
the impoverished and to highlight ways to get involved and make a
difference. The title of the keynote
address for day three was “Bridges out of Poverty”. The speaker for this day of the event was
originally scheduled to be Doctor Regina Lewis who chairs the Communication
Department at PPCC, but due to a scheduling conflict, one of her mentors, Bart
Givens, gave the presentation in her stead. As the retired Executive Director
of Pikes Peak Community Action Agency, and with over 30 years’ experience in
domestic and international anti-poverty work, Bart Givens was an eminently
qualified substitute speaker.
The
presentation began with a video introducing the audience to a poor family
living in rural America. The family’s
home was a dilapidated mobile home surrounded by junk cars and other
refuse. The narrative of the video
outlined the extreme hardship faced by the family. The mother had to walk 10 miles to a fast
food job every day to earn enough to support her children. She was dressed in her Burger King uniform
and appeared much older than her years. Her
sons had aspirations to better themselves by going to college, but they were
vague on how they might accomplish this.
The father was nowhere to be seen and not mentioned. Overall the video did a good job of setting
the tone for the lecture and presentation to follow.
During
the lecture portion of the key-note Givens focused on a “Framework of
understanding poverty”. This framework outlines
how different classes in society manage the resources that they have (or do not
have) available to them. Classes were
broken down into poor, middle class, and wealthy. According to the Givens, the poor rely heavily
on relationships with family and friends to provide support for
themselves. The middle class focuses on achievement,
and the wealthy on traditions and history.
Givens further broke these distinctions down into ‘Mental Models” describing
the ways in which these diverse groups see themselves and the world in an
effort to emphasize the daily struggles those gripped by poverty must
endure.
One
of the topics that seemed to resonate with the audience was the idea of “Hidden
Rules”. Givens argues that each class possess
a set of rules that it lives by and hands them down from one generation to the
next. An example could be something as
simple as knowing how to correctly set a table for dinner. These rules are rarely verbalized, and those
following them hardly know they even exist.
In following and understanding these rules the classes maintain their
own status quo and are able to identify others of the same or a different
class. Not understanding the rules of
other classes is one more barrier the poor must surmount to escape the bottom
rung on the social ladder.
Other
topics of the presentation included access to education, reacting versus
responding to a crisis, and control over ones destiny. Givens claims that the poor have little access
to education, believe that “fate” has great influence over their lives, and
live in constant “crisis mode. The
middle class have greater access to education and put great value on it. They believe that they have the power to
change their future and have the means to save for the adversities that they
may face. The wealthy see education as a
means to make social and business connections that will serve them later in
life. Their opportunities are vast and adversity
does not hold power over their daily lives.
The
powerful ideas delivered by Bart Givens during his “Bridges Over Poverty”
keynote address are vital for his (primarily) student audience to connect with. That PPCC would give them such a prominent
platform, speaks volumes for the college administration’s dedication to the causes
of social and economic justice. Far too
often, in our popular American culture, these issues are not given the
attention they deserve.
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