American Winter Page #7

and now, all of a sudden,

the economy has changed

around them

and they need to be re-tooled.

We need the money and the

investment to help them re-tool.

They end up costing us more

sitting on the sidelines than they

would if we invested the money

to get them the skills

they need to participate.

- Hey, baby.

- What's up, lady?

Nice.

What's up?

Well, how was your day?

Fine, till I checked

the mail. Heh!

What's in there?

- Do you want to know?

- Yeah.

We got a shut-off notice

from the electricity company

even though I just

gave them 280 bucks.

$336.

Sit down.

Why? Ha ha!

Well, I got bad news.

The bad news...

they fired me today.

What do you mean,

they fired you?

They fired me.

I got pulled in the office

and...

I got fired.

OK.

And, look, and when

I was leaving,

Jerry said...

- Who is Jerry?

- Jerry's the owner.

Said apparently

he should have listened

to Jason and not hired my kind.

So, at that point, I told him

that that was racist

and it's just not right,

it's not fair.

Things started happening,

as far as me getting accused

of doing things wrong.

It started probably

about maybe a week ago,

when the painter was

talking about

a customer's car, you know,

and I kind of had an idea.

He has a big rebel flag

tattooed on his neck.

He was like, "Oh, great.

Now I get to paint

another n*gger's car. "

And he looked at me and he goes,

"You're not n*gger, are ya?"

And I just kind of smiled

and I was just, like, going,

"I'm American," you know?

I said, "I don't really

see any color. "

It just pisses me off.

Just another stump.

Yeah, but it hit us

hard right now.

We still have rent to pay.

And then this.

Did you get your check today?

I asked him

to give me my check,

and he said he had 24

hours to get it to me.

I was hot.

I was, like, really upset

and very angry.

I wasn't only angry about the

situation, you know what I mean?

About me being fired and stuff like

that, because all these things that's

running through my head is, "Now

we're going to struggle again,

and I've got to tell

my wife this. "

And now everything's

pushed back on her.

So how do you feel

about this whole thing?

Hurt. Upset.

Distressed, disgusted

with people.

So what is real? Like, how do

you feel about everything?

You losing your job hurts

the most just because

just because of the fact that

we were bringing in more money.

Might not seem

like it right now,

but it was helping

with the bills.

Well, I have

no control over that.

That's why I feel like

you're kind of blaming me

for losing the job and

everything that's going on.

No. I don't

blame you at all.

You had no control over this.

It's just this whole thing affects

me in a weird way, you know?

I just don't get the fact

that people are racist.

God made us all

the same, right?

No.

Some of us are darker.

I still love you.

It's all that matters.

Honestly,

the way I look at it is,

I don't know how I'm

going to make it.

I have no money

saved up for college.

I don't have any of that stuff.

And I want to go to college.

I want to be able

to have a good life.

And it makes me worry, like,

how am I going to be successful?

And how am I going to be able

to provide for my family?

I worry about that every day.

Oh!

Oh, my goodness.

It's so cute.

It's trying

to find its mama.

That doesn't surprise me that,

among the folks who are showing

up on the 211 phone line,

that they're questioning the

American dream 'cause you know what?

It's not a part of the American dream

to have to call and ask for food help.

It's not a part of

the American dream to think,

"I'm not going to be able

to pay my rent. "

I think people still believe in the

American dream and want the American dream.

I think there's more and more

people who are being denied it

by the growing income

inequality.

And they're saying, "I work

hard. I play by the rules.

I see corporate profits

going through the roof

and I can't get ahead. "

I am a single mom

that really needs help with coming

up with the rest of our rent.

We just got an eviction

notice and we have nowhere to go.

I am out of food,

and I've got very little for the baby.

- How old is your daughter?

- She's 17.

- Are you sleeping in your car?

- Under a bridge, actually.

Yeah, and it's cold.

It is really cold.

Think we check in

right over here.

All right,

so you guys are disconnected

on PGE and Northwestern, right?

- On everything.

- And our water.

We have never gone through this,

so we really let things...

we don't, you know...

it's been almost a month.

I was in a similar situation.

I've been homeless,

been in apartments

where I couldn't afford

anything, got evicted.

You know, finally got a place but

couldn't get my electricity back on.

I actually came to

Human Solutions for help,

and they're the one who helped me

with the housing, with electricity

and, you know, with everything,

and then, next thing I know,

they offered me to volunteer

here and I got a job.

- No way.

- Really?

- Wow.

- Yeah.

Everybody goes

through something.

Mm-hmm.

OK, so, with PGE,

your balance is $1,439.

- Mm-hmm.

- So we are

helping you with

$945.

- You're kidding me.

- Oh, my God.

Did you know that they

told us one of the options

is we could get it turned

on if it was over $700?

Yes.

We're going to get electricity?

Turned back on today

and your gas, too.

Today?

It's all going to be today.

- Yeah.

- You're kidding me.

- Heat and electricity?

- Oh, my God.

- Thank you so much. - So I will be

right back in just a second, OK?

I'm dumbfounded.

What does it mean to be in America?

What does it mean

to live in this country?

Everybody wants the same thing.

We want to be able to live

in a place of freedom.

Want to be able to live in a place where we

have the chance to be the best we can be.

- Awesome.

- Thank you very much.

That's why you're

seeing so many other nations

appreciate that about America,

yet we're throwing it away,

and it's our most

powerful asset that we have.

My daughter's been very

ill since September, off and on.

And I have, like, hundreds of

thousands of dollars in doctor bills.

And I didn't know if,

like, I can get help

with those or

I don't know what

to do at this point.

OK. Well, I appreciate it

very much.

OK, thank you very much.

Uh-huh. You, too. Bye.

What'd they say?

There's nothing they can do.

- For reals?

- Yup.

So basically they're telling you that

you have to pay every single bill?

Pretty much.

They don't go back and pay

past medical, due to

budget cuts and stuff.

How does the doctor

expect anybody

to have that kind of

money, like, honestly?

I just feel like it's all my fault

that you have to pay so much money.

Honey, it's not your fault.

So what? You got sick.

We couldn't change that.

But I don't want you to stress

about it every day, by all means,

I want you to just be a kid

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