Evicted By Matthew Desmond: Summary

Colorism is a discrimination that favors lighter skin more than darker skin. For the black community, these images in the media have a profound effect on women of color because in our society lighter skin is seen as “prettier”. This is why attractive black women are constantly asked if they are mixed, because it is not the “norm” for a darker skin woman to be considered beautiful. There are some mixed women who are born with thicker hair, regular brown eyes, and brown skin, and they receive discrimination because they are not the type of

Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City, a New York Times best seller, written by Matthew Desmond, truly captures the lives of not only people who are getting or have gotten evicted, but also the landlords who have to evict these people. Desmond follows the lives of eight families including Sherrena, Arleen, Tobin, the Hinkstons, Lamar, Scott and several others, to discover more about their lives and how they have dealt with evictions in Milwaukee. The evictions of these eight families take place all other Milwaukee, the Northside, Southside, Westside and Eastside.

After reading chapters 4 through 6 in Matthew Desmond’s Evicted it was very interesting to learn about the goals and stories of those affected in the book. In chapter 4, Desmond focuses on a trailer park owner, Tobin Charney who is told by the Common Council that he has to begin evicting some of his tenants. Throughout this chapter, it is evident to recognize how Desmond focuses on how the city has been threatening to close down Charney’s trailer park if he did not follow through with evicting his tenants, who were known as troublemakers. Two of the noted people from the book were Pam and Ned. Pam had a very tough childhood and upbringing which led to her becoming a crack addict. The eviction of Pam and Ned was an important part of the chapter because Tobin filed for eviction against his tenants for not paying the rent. Tobin originally gives them 28 day notice but he managed to get them out in 5 days. This chapter was eye-opening because of the way Tobin reacted to his tenants, particularly Pam and Ned. I believe Tobin reacted like this because he was afraid to lose his trailer park to the town and cause problems with the council. Also it was eye-opening to see that Tobin only evicted this couple and not others who did not pay their rent, and in my opinion he did that because they were deemed as troublemakers. Later on in the chapter the goals that I noticed were that Tobin evicted Pam and Ned because of them being seen as troublemakers but used the reason of violations which covered that up.

Evictions have a mental price on kids, who will remember that event for the rest of their lives. Desmond shows the huge impact it takes on the children who are not responsible for their upbringing and can ingrain the “poverty mentality” early on. An

In How the Other Half Lives, the author Jacob Riis sheds light on the darker side of tenant housing and urban dwellers. He goes to several different parts of the city of New York witnessing first hand the hardships that many immigrants faced when coming to America. His journalism and photographs of the conditions of the tenant housing helped led the way of reformation in the slums of New York. His research opened the eyes of many Americans to the darker side of the nation's lower class. Though it seems that he blamed both the victims and the board forces of society, I believe that he placed more of the blame on the board forces for the conditions that many immigrants faced.

There were a lot of touching stories throughout the book titled Evicted written by Matthew Desmond, one story that really stuck out to me was the story of a man named Lamar. Lamar lived in a housing unit owned by Sherrena. Lamar is hard working man, who lives his life in a wheelchair, and recovering addict. Lamar’s story seemed to have a lot of similar characteristics to what I might expect for someone to have a hard life.

Eviction, while it hurts the family the most, also takes a toll on the communities in the form of ingroups and outgroups. In his book, Evicted, Matthew Desmond says, “Eviction even affects the communities that displaced families leave behind. Neighbors who cooperate with and trust one another can make their streets safer and more prosperous”(p. 298). To make those streets safer and to develop trust and a sense of security, in-groups are created by those in the neighborhood who talk to each other often and form a friendly relationship. Eviction can break that relationship and sometimes result in the removal of the security and trust in the ingroups. It also creates worry about what the next renter will be like. When that renter moves in they

When telling the reader about the Box Man’s choice to be homeless, Ascher refers to an anecdote where the Box Man encounters the mayor of New York City, “Last winter, Mayor Koch tried, coaxing him with promises and the persuasive tones reserved for rabid dogs. The Box Man backed away, keeping a car and paranoia between them.” When describing this scene, Ascher makes the mayor sound condescending by using words like “coaxing” and comparing the way he speaks to the way one would speak to “rabid dogs”. The way that the mayor treats the Box Man makes the reader feel sympathy for the Box Man and the way homeless people are treated, and the readers feel guilt due to the way they might have treated homeless people like the Box Man. This advances Ascher’s argument and further persuades the reader to reflect on their own actions and thoughts towards the idea of homelessness. Another tool that Ascher uses to help argue that homeless deserve respect is precise diction.

“The home is the wellspring of personhood. It is where our identity takes root and blossoms, whereas children, we imagine, play, and question, and as adolescents, we retreat and try. As we grow older, we hope to settle into a place to raise a family or pursue work. When we try to understand ourselves, we often begin by considering the kind of home in which we were raised” (Desmond 2016, 293). Evictions! The root of poverty? Matthew Desmond’s novel “Evicted: Poverty and Profit in America City, portrays the lives of tenants, landlords, and house marketing on the poorest neighborhoods of Milwaukee. Desmond gives the reader overwhelming evidence and revealing testimony illustrating the major impact of inadequate housing on individuals, local, and national level. Desmond’s analysis and observation of his case study enables him to portray the reality of poverty, and to persuade the readers that evictions are a major consequence, and primary contributors in the relentless cycle of poverty. Desmond build his argument using two Aristotelian rhetorical appeals, ethos, logos and inductive reasoning to illustrates the importance of ending the cycle of poverty.

We saw prejudice and discrimination throughout the book. For example, when Lafayette’s was charged with a crime due to hi, been associated with who did it. When LaJoe lost her benefits from the state due to her on and off husband using her home address and when collecting unemployment benefits which LaJoe did not claim as income coming into the home. In both instances, the Rivers were treated as if they were liars and criminals. Because of Lafayette being from the inner city, there was this predetermine thought about any youth that lived in the inner city from the court system. LaJoe was treated with disrespect by the welfare office because of the prejudgment they had formed about people that lived in the inner city. Due to the location in which they stayed, the importance of healthy living condition was not a priority to the city. They were forced to live in the vicinity of garbage, broken sewer systems, dead animals, etc. Also, the children were forced to either stay in their apartments or play on the railroad tracks because the city had only a few areas for them to play. These areas had become run down and it was unsafe for kids to play in. It is unsure why the was such neglect for those areas of the inner city, but one could only think that it had to do with how this race has been treated for years.

Poverty and inequality cripple America in every state and region of this country. These social problems overlap between social class and different cultures. As we read Evicted by Matthew Desmond, and Hillbilly Elegy, by J.D Vance, these problems were brought to the forefront in their own unique way. Evicted focused on the lower class level of urban poverty in the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The people that were highlighted in this book were struggling to make ends meet every month, and keep food on the table. Many of the families that we read about were evicted countless times, and struggled to stay out of local homeless shelters. Hillbilly Elegy focused more on the struggles of the working class, and how the people of

The excerpt we read from the book Evicted moved many people. It provoked powerful emotions and caused many to rethink they their feelings about the tails of told by far too many. Evicted the story of families on both side of the housing epidemic focusing on renters and landlords. I will be comparing my own views and using my experiences to gain a deeper understanding of: the people effected; the impact it has on families of both sides; the lesser and the lessee; the reason we are in this crises; and what can be done. Evicted is no doubt a piece that can stir the emotions of everyone who choices to sit down and read it.

“In New York City, where colored people are about half of the population, 80% of the NYPD stops were of blacks and Latinos.”(Quigley 1) Racism is like a barricade holding colored people back from becoming as successful as they want to be. Racism affects people in the workplace by limiting their chances to seize a job or promotion they are qualified for and should get. As an example, it has been proven that people who have white names have double the chance to be interviewed for a job than a person with an African American name. Racism is not the only persecution that affects people, sexism also is still a big problem in America. Sexism demeans and is unfair to women all around the globe, these women deserve to be treated as equal to men. In terms of women in leadership positions, the number of women with managerial positions is substantially lower than men. “In 2009, less than a quarter of CEOs were women in the US, and they earned significantly less than their male colleagues made.” (Gender Inequality and Women in the US Labor Force) Women are treated differently, even in places where gender has absolutely no importance towards the job. As an example, most people interview women and men differently, many questions women have to answer have zero importance to their qualification for the job. For example, interviewers ask women about children, which has

Those who have experienced evictions are forced into multiple logistical housing situations. Due to the stigma associated with a court-ordered eviction, landlords would often engage in rent screenings to ensure that potential renters not only have a “clean” criminal record but also an eviction “free” record (Desmond, 2016). As Desmond discusses (2016), the landlord’s double barrier screening is shielding their neighborhood from criminality and poverty. Correspondingly, some landlords knowingly do not engage in these screening practices as a “business model” to potentially profit off of the poor (Desmond, 2012a). As the person who is evicted fall into the bottom of the rental market, the housing fate of the evicted

While a portion of today’s society turns a blind eye to the subject of the criminalization of homelessness, an even larger quantity of people are not aware of the situation that is happening in every major city of America. For those living an affluent lifestyle, it can be difficult to discuss the amount of poverty and homelessness that is constantly occurring. The definition and meaning behind the absence of home is also arduous to discuss. While homelessness is commonly associated with sleeping outside or in provisional areas, this word also identifies with an absence of belonging. This absence of belonging can relate not only to a community, but also to the people that dwell there (Baumohl 3). Within the portion of those who are aware of the homelessness situation, there is a section that detests the poverty stricken persons of our society. These biased members of the American population express their antipathy in several ways. It is necessary to reveal the privileges that homeless persons have been violently stripped of, and expose and broadcast the freedom they are entitled to. Through