Professor Gene Nichol’s Presentation on Poverty, Full Recording
Presentation on poverty by Professor Gene Nichol, Distinguished Professor of Law and Director of the Center on Poverty at the University of North Carolina School of Law.
The following is a full recording of Professor Gene Nichol, Distinguished Professor of Law and Director of the Center on Poverty at the University of North Carolina School of Law, Presentation On Poverty. Professor Nichol’s presentation was given at Campbell Law School and was hosted by Campbell Public Interest Law Students Association (CPILSA) on October 15, 2014.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0ESHq3Kveo
At noon on October 15, 2014, Professor Gene Nichol, Distinguished Professor of Law and Director of the Center on Poverty at the University of North Carolina School of Law, gave a powerful presentation on poverty in North Carolina at Campbell Law School.
After making known his “great affection” Campbell Law School and putting out the disclaimer that he does not in fact speak for the University of North Carolina, Professor Nichol went straight into a serious and “important” discussion on the problem of the “invisibility of poverty” in North Carolina, which Professor Nichol contended is “the largest challenge that we face in this state,” and “the largest challenge we face in the United States.”
What follows are some of the more poignant excerpts from Professor Nichol’s presentation on poverty in North Carolina:
“In the richest nation on earth, the richest nation in human history, we have in raw numbers, more poor people in our country than in any other moment in our nation’s history; more in the nation, more in North Carolina, more in Raleigh, more in Chapel Hill, in Durham, in Orange County. About fifty million of us nationwide, fifteen percent, really a quarter of our children, almost thirty percent of all African Americans, Latinos and Native Americans.”
“Poverty numbers, especially child poverty numbers, are higher than any other advanced western democracy. We have the greatest gaps between the rich and poor since we started collecting the data five decades ago, and are now documented to having the greatest gaps between rich and poor in the advanced world.”
“North Carolina has one of the fastest growing poverty rates in the country. Two millions of us are classified as hungry. Nearly six hundred and fifty thousands of North Carolina children, according to the federal government, don’t get enough to eat…”
“When you lose everything, you lose your sense of having a space in the world.”
Professor Nichol’s words rang loudly in the auditorium of Campbell Law School and shined necessary rays of light onto the stunning “invisibility of poverty” in North Carolina and the United States at large.
Professor Nichol’s presentation was given at Campbell Law School and was hosted by the Campbell Public Interest Law Students Association (CPILSA).
Jeff Cox
Treasurer, CPILSA
