American bottom: it is the tenacity and struggle of the American bottom and the bottom of the world.

Not only does it give a detailed and vivid description of the real and cruel life at the bottom of the United States, but it also gives a painful and profound reflection on various social problems in the United States.

What moved me most was the author's empathy.

This is a work that truly empathizes with others.

As the preface says, this book is to reflect on what is valuable, pay tribute to what is immeasurable, and listen and stare with an open mind.

Yes, it did make a humble listening and watching.

A successful Wall Street trader, after three years and 240,000 kilometers, went deep into the bottom of society and tried to show a real and divided picture of American society with his lens and words.

This long time and mileage precipitated into this book-The Bottom of America.

Let me think more about empathy and realize my arrogance and shallowness.

Due to the limitation of space, I will write an article on empathy alone.

In this article, we look at the lives of the poorest people in the United States, as well as the tenacity and struggle of the United States and the bottom of the world.

The characteristic of this book is that it is the author's own on-the-spot investigation, and it is also a long-term interview and investigation of the bottom people.

It is written based on precious first-hand information and in-depth interviews with living people at the bottom, not on cold statistics or arrogant guesses by experts.

Therefore, the temperature is naturally infectious, full of vivid characters and dialogues, not as rational and cold as academic papers, full of data and charts.

What is even more rare is that it is not satisfied with simple records, but goes further to reflect on why this is the case. What is wrong with our system? How to solve the problem?

You can know the main contents of the book by reading the catalogue first.

This book is divided into McDonald's, drugs, religion, community culture and reckless struggle for dignity.

It seems to be an independent story, but in fact they are reflected in every chapter.

They have penetrated deeply into the lives of the people at the bottom, and they are closely intertwined, so it is impossible to single them out completely.

There are many cultural symbols with distinctive American characteristics, which are inseparable from the historical, political and economic situation of the United States.

McDonald's in China, in my impression as a poor student, is not cheap. Going there for a meal is not cheap, and even makes me feel a little distressed.

Is an outsider in China. We don't have much affection for it, but sometimes we just want to change.

However, it is very cheap in America, even cheap. It is the activity place of the people at the bottom, and it is also the object ignored and laughed at by the upper class.

It is the "native" of the United States, which deeply contains the free and leisure fast food culture in the United States. You can sit there all day and buy nothing. As a result, it has become a paradise for the bottom people, one of the few most popular spaces for them, and even the core of the bottom community.

There, you can see people on the ground floor chatting and entertaining, and you can even see people washing clothes and taking a bath in its bathroom.

It can be said that if you want to know the bottom of America, it is the best place.

In America, drug abuse has become a serious social problem.

Almost all the people at the bottom of the United States contacted and talked with by the author took drugs or sold drugs.

Why do they take drugs?

Because they think life is not worth living, they become reckless and addicted to drug abuse, a form of self-destruction.

They know that this will bring them close to death, but because they are so miserable and desperate, even death is a temptation for them, and they are ready.

Just like suicide, drug addiction is usually a desperate reaction after rejection.

This is usually due to childhood trauma, especially when they have just left the wolf's den and entered the tiger's den. They were abused by people who were supposed to save them, which completely destroyed their trust in others, so they began to flee, both mentally and physically.

I take drugs to feel happy and happy, and forget all the pain and my problems. I feel stupid. Nobody needs me. They saved my life. Without them, I might kill myself.

The sense of exclusion comes from social forces, especially racial discrimination.

Also, because the community is stigmatized because there are a few drug addicts, people's stereotypes and discrimination make the whole community excluded and isolated.

This self-sustaining exclusion, isolation and drug cycle are eroding the texture of the community, further isolating this group and consuming more lives. As long as the time is long enough, even those who try to stay away from drugs will be dragged into the whirlpool of drugs by the expectations of the outside world.

Regardless of personal factors or collective factors, in general, drug abuse is because of feeling excluded and abandoned by society. They gradually turned from pain to despair and could only escape through drugs.

The author interviewed a prostitute who gave birth to eight children.

Why do you have so many children?

I didn't intend to ask for so much, but I'm pregnant.

People will read this and think, you'd better not have children.

They should feel my situation. I have nothing but my family. They are all I have and my addiction.

Just like drugs, religion is also a way for the bottom people to escape from reality.

Of course, it is also a beautiful sustenance.

For me, it symbolizes peace, tranquility, security and protection. It reminds me that there are better things in the distance, better than the world and human beings, better than everything in front of me.

Because God loves everyone, they are praised and affirmed by God for the first time and find the value and meaning of life, so they are very pious.

Can you imagine what it's like for a drowning man to grab a board?

At the age of 50, I was saved and religion changed me. I never felt valuable until I was saved. I'm so stupid. Now I begin to understand that God thinks I am worth it. When you hear people say that you have been stupid and worthless all your life, you begin to believe these words. God changed all this.

For us, the church means everything. God makes us happy.

I have experienced difficult times, but with you and God, I will hold my head high.

With the rise of globalization, in order to reduce labor costs, manufacturing factories have moved overseas.

Those Americans with low education are unemployed and can't find better jobs.

Once prosperous cities and communities gradually declined, and many people moved away, leaving ruins and desolation.

We always feel that China's local culture is profound and strong, and our hometown is our root, while the United States seems to be an excessively free country, and the country itself is based on immigrants. Where did it come from?

But they also have roots.

Wherever I go, I will come back. It's one thing to suddenly want to leave, but you must be prepared to pay the price. I can't afford it. You will still miss your home and family. I don't think I'm ready.

Cairo is my home. Although it is a small community, this is my home. You can't abandon people you grew up with.

Yes, no one wants to leave their hometown.

It's just that life forces us to be economic immigrants.

We are unemployed and have no jobs.

The "front row" (upper class) waved and moved.

Moving requires high physical and emotional costs, as well as leaving behind family responsibilities.

Get the best education and go to the best school. However, does our society really discriminate against those children who stay to take care of their parents?

The situation of racial discrimination is as bad as before.

Black people left the South for a better job and a better racial environment, but racial discrimination has not changed at all.

Everyone says that we don't have a job because we lack something. In fact, we don't have a job because we lack something, but because we have something-black skin.

/kloc-slavery was abolished in the 0/9th century, and blacks became legal freemen.

But today, more than a hundred years later, this kind of tangible or intangible discrimination still exists.

Most African Americans are still "inferior".

It seems that apartheid was abolished, but the new system is also discriminatory.

According to knowledge and income, people are divided into three or six classes, which makes it difficult for too many ethnic minorities to move.

You can't refuse anyone because of the color of your skin, but you can refuse someone who doesn't have a suitable diploma. On the other hand, blacks have relatively few suitable diplomas.

Although the standards have changed, people who are discriminated against are often black.

Without a good education, it is difficult to find a decent job and gain social respect.

You may find that most famous black people in your mind are stars or singers. It is often difficult for blacks to get a good education, and they can only seek class breakthrough through other means.

There are also a few lucky people who have successfully broken through the class.

In fact, their requirements are not high, but this requirement is still difficult to achieve.

I don't think people will risk their lives to cross the desert or river to come to America if they think it won't give them a chance.

I grew up in war zones and refugee camps, and I want to live in a small and safe community.

Although they can change the status quo through the rights movement, it can't solve the fundamental problem.

On the one hand, it still believes that the main problem is the lack of academic qualifications or diplomas, which implies that if you value those immeasurable meanings, you can only accept the status quo.

In other words, blacks are just resisting some unfair phenomena, but in fact they are still limited by the world view of the white people in the front row, struggling to call for equality in their definition of success.

In this case, even if they succeed in defending their rights, they actually fail.

Because you still have no right to speak, the standard is still set by white people.

On the other hand, the rights movement aggravated racial tension and increased the rift between whites and blacks in the back row.

Because they are also at the bottom, blacks have the opportunity to rise because of their successful skin color rights protection, while the whites at the bottom are still at the bottom.

White skin color is now a disadvantage.

This creates a crack at the bottom.

There is too much pain at the bottom of America.

Social injustice has brought them great pain.

We can see them escape and sink, but many times I have deep respect for their dignity and resilience. In that kind of pain, they will still try to find love, enjoy life briefly, have sustenance and hope.

I'm sorry to see their situation.

While living a comfortable life, there are still a group of people who even have problems with their survival.

We are not an island, our destinies are closely linked, and we need to examine and think more about the plight and destiny of the collective.

Limited by space, this paper can only simply show the author's record of the tragic living conditions of the American bottom people, the author's reflection in the next part and some of my thoughts.

From here, welcome to pay attention ~ ~