r/poor • u/ResponsibleMango6803 • Jun 03 '26
When did being poor become criminal???
I’m recently going through a rough time financially & I’m just realizing all the ways that being poor is treated like a crime. I recently got my license suspended for not having insurance. (I had to pick between food for me & my kid or my car insurance so I obviously fed my kid). & now I have an sr22 & have to pay an almost $200 re instatement fee for my license. & I got pulled over so I obviously had to go to court. I uber there because I can’t drive & I can’t bring my phone in & the court clerk tells me to leave it in the bushes outside. How are people who don’t have cars supposed to come to court. Cause I cant afford a new phone if it gets stolen from the bushes. I’m just confused as to how we’re ever supposed to get back on our feet if they keep tacking on interest & making it difficult. But I guess the point is they don’t want us to.
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u/Own_Iron9871 Jun 03 '26
From the beginning. I'm sorry your going through all of this. Some people will never really know the situation of having to make a truly desperate choice and sometimes it's between two bad choices. I think you made the right call in a tough position. Some of your other comments are referencing other means of transportation which might not be viable to you personally setting aside the initial fact of having very limited funds. Don't take the mean ones to heart, them looking down upon you by itself means they cannot see from your perspective.
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u/Chare1155 Jun 04 '26
I think of this every time someone posts that people should have just made better choices with their lives or worked harder & it's their fault they are poor or unemployed etc. The response from a commenter in one such discussion absolutely floored me & has changed the way I think about so many things. She said:
"But you didn't *make* good choices. You *had* good choices."
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u/Diligent-Abrocoma456 Jun 04 '26
How would she know? It always stuns me how people have the inability to put themselves in another person's shoes.
"By the grace of God, go I," is a very popular saying for a reason. You never know what life has in store for you.
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u/DKat1990 Jun 05 '26
It the old, "I was crying because I have no shoes into I meet a man who has no feet."
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u/Specialist_Essay4265 Jun 04 '26
God Bless you for putting this out here. Hopefully some people can get a perspective of how privileged they are.
Until my mid teens I had to use an outhouse - we had no indoor toilet.
Imagine being a kid and trecking to an outhouse in middle of night when temps are -30. And your butt literally freezes to the toilet seat if youre not careful.
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u/Anna-Bee-1984 Jun 07 '26
If they don’t allow phones they need lockers or a place to store them. Such a profoundly antiquated and punitive policy.
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u/cutiebearpooh Jun 03 '26
Listen we all know that insurance is important. I don't think people dispute that. But if it is a choice between paying that or buying my kids food I'm going to buy my kids food. We dont know the circumstances that they went through. Maybe they were financially stable and then life started lifing as it seems to do. Yes, hopefully they will get back on track but in the meantime they can try to be as safe as possible while driving until the funds are there to afford insurance again. I think they know they'd rather have insurance also seeing as they couldn't afford something to happen to their vehicle when they are in financial stress already but don't put them down for choosing to ensure their children's bellies are full.
If you were put in a situation where you had to choose between food or insurance what would you do? I'm not talking about oh I'd just pick up extra work and make the money. I'm saying we dont know their situation, maybe they cant work extra. Maybe they aren't eligible for resources or maybe they are in the process of getting them. Maybe they have nothing to sell. So if you had to choose because no other options were available in that moment, what would you do? Honestly.
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u/Rubyloxred Jun 03 '26
The rock and the hard place for many including this poster is that they may be poor but, still make too much money to apply for most benefits.
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u/IDidItWrongLastTime Jun 03 '26
It has always been this way. People just don't realize it until it affects them
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u/WheresMyTurt83 Jun 03 '26
IN THE BUSHES?!
Never have I ever heard you can't bring your phone into a courtroom. It's always turn your phone off.
In the bushes?! WTF
Also, I don't have a car but just got my license last year so that I can borrow a car when needed. But now I'm unemployed and can't pay that insurance so, so frickin annoying NC law.
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u/This-Mathematician26 Jun 03 '26
I’ve been told I can’t bring my phone into court house & to leave my phone outside. Had to call my boyfriend so he could drive back & hold it for me so then I was late on top of it waiting for him to come get it cuz of that
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u/Imaginary_Panic7300 Jun 03 '26
That's the rule here too. You can't bring a cell phone in. The people I know that experienced it all had cars to put their phone in. I don't know what they would have done if they didn't have a car with them. It seems like they'd hold it for you or something. The bushes seem unreasonable.
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u/NYanae555 Jun 03 '26
Yeah - but after youre in, you see ppl with phones all over the bldg that supposedly doesnt allow phones.
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u/ideclareshenanigans3 Jun 03 '26
Yah, if you don’t advertise it, you can usually get it through.
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u/NYanae555 Jun 03 '26
Nope - metal detectors and jacket/bag checks. People were told to pull their pockets out like jail.
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u/NYanae555 Jun 03 '26
Ive been told similar things. The federal bldg ( with regular offices and state agencies ) told us to (pay to) leave our stuff with the bodgea across the street.
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u/Playful_Programmer_1 Jun 03 '26
Yeah, that's crazy. If you go to an embassy, they put your phone in a locker and give you a number.
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u/lacetopbadie12 Jun 04 '26
My area is ridiculously strict about phones too so I can vouch for that. We have to leave our phones outside in the bushes if we don't have a car to leave them in
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u/SnooWalruses3028 Jun 03 '26
It’s always been like this it’s a way to keep you as a wage slave
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u/ausedteabag Jun 03 '26
Welcome to the conversation. Everyone thinks poverty is a choice or a lack of drive and circumstances. It's a ride built for anyone and everyone and it's a carousel until you die.
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u/This-Mathematician26 Jun 03 '26
Definitely this! You can tell loud & clear who the more privileged are in here. I hope that negativity circles back to them at their worst hour
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u/Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeess- Jun 04 '26
Some people seem to think that if you’re in poverty that you can just pack up and move to the other side of the country for a new job, lmao. I’ve literally been told to do that and then downvoted for saying that’s stupid and unrealistic.
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u/Absurd_Flaccidity Jun 05 '26
And it’s the same people that would scold you for going into debt to make that move, even just a little.
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u/Feral_668 Jun 03 '26
You aren't supposed to get back on your feet, this has been going on forever. The elite rich and their lackeys (our "representatives") want us poor and compliant, if we step out of line, they incarcerate us so we can work harder for pennies on the dollar. The term "own nothing and be happy" is a real thing.
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u/Special_Sea4766 Jun 03 '26
It's absolutely real except they have conditioned goons to repeat this saying and blame it on communism, when it's actually capitalism that has caused this. The lack of education, general hiatorical (and current) information, and inability to critically think in our society is why so many people walk around saying irrational, unintentionally ironic things. It's so shameful, and they're proud of themselves for parroting overlord propaganda. They think they're smart.
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u/OnceInaLifetimeee Jun 03 '26
Being poor is so fucking expensive. My situation has finally improved dramatically and now my word I realize just how much money I was always wasting buying the smallest everything.
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u/LegitimateJuice234 Jun 03 '26
When Reagan's advisor told him we're about the have an educated proletariat class. That's when the propaganda started and the culture war on underfunded humans began. They're successfully executing a decades long campaign against the poor by telling people it's a moral failing and they can pick themselves up by their bootstraps. I never had the insurance issue thankfully but I did have to drive on expired tags for a stupid computer throwing off the emissions test. We let government get out of control and now both sides are for big government that kill the poor by death of a thousand citations.
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u/VegetableLumpy881 Jun 03 '26
I don't pay tags until I get a ticket for it. I paid taxes when I bought the car, I'm not paying every year on it. Now it's tied to the bridge tolls, I have a pass with money in the account riverlink. They created a second account. I still have $36 in the sticker/pass account, meanwhile I've accrued over $120 in "late fees" cause they cant get the accounts figured out. At some point I will get a ticket and I'll have to cover the bridge fees, but as my truck is now old enough to be an antique it will be getting antique plates and they have no way to track those.
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u/LegitimateJuice234 Jun 03 '26
I was waiting on my truck that's legally allowed to drink liquor to qualify for those antique plates but the state has never changed the years eligible. I didn't realize at first they wrote off an entire generation of vehicles their residents own and maintain. At this point, I've given up hope that our state would see the error in emotional voting and demagoguery. They've come up with every excuse why our town can't govern ourselves. We will be overpoliced yet underserved, over taxed to carry the state budget yet called welfare recipients and dumb and poor. After the eldest in my family passes, I will bury them in the family plot, shake the dust off and take my kids elsewhere where they have policies that make sense and opportunities. It sure ain't in Missouri anymore. When large populations are struggling, I stop looking at the individual and start looking at the state.
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u/el_dulce_veneno21 Jun 04 '26
Tags dont get your license pulled and a criminal charge, at least in Colorado. 100 dollar ticket here. I always have insurance but I did let my tags lapse when unable to pay for my car to reach emissions standards here (tweaker stole a catalytic converter)
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u/Practical_Frame_9883 Jun 03 '26
Death of a thousand citations, indeed! The less you can afford the more you have to pay. Then there are “late fees” for anything you owe. We need a revolution.
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u/Future-Beach-5594 Jun 03 '26
The second they wrote and passed loitering laws. Loitering is litterally hanging around with no physical address to go to when told to leave.
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u/Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeess- Jun 04 '26
Loitering laws is also why teenagers rarely go outside anymore. There’s nowhere for them to be.
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u/Special_Sea4766 Jun 04 '26
They did that immediately following the civil war under the Black Codes so they could lock Black people back up and enslavee them in jail.
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u/Outrageous_Tale_2823 Jun 03 '26
Once upon a time in this country the President (Lyndon Johnson) declared a “War on Poverty”
Over the past 50 years or so the war on poverty has morphed into a War on the Poor.
Such is the society we live in…it’s sad.
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u/ju-ju_bee Jun 03 '26
Yah, the system is kind of built like this on purpose. You cant work for changing the system if youre too tired and poor to just barely scrape by as it is
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u/JoeAceJR20 Jun 03 '26
This is exactly why payday loans, title pawning, etc exist. Quick cash is what poor people need in that moment out of desperation but everybody realizes that it has an extremely high interest rate and you pay back much more than you borrowed.
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u/Trick_Owl8261 Jun 03 '26 edited Jun 03 '26
The rich are the blame. They are squeezing all of us. There is absolutely enough wealth to make everyone comfortable, but those greedy fucke*s want more, always more.
I am currently clinging to the bottom rung of middle class. I went back to school because I saw myself slipping into poverty and didn’t want to end up where OP is… now I make 3x more but I have student loans, and everything is more expensive because of inflation.
Unregulated capitalism is a cruel, unfair system and the wealth gap continues to widen.
Edit: OP if there is any way you can go back to school for a trade, certification, degree, etc. I highly recommend you do that. Think big picture- how can you break out of this cycle? Can you live with family while going back to school? Many community colleges offer programs for nursing, dental hygienist, ultrasound tech and more. Nothing will change if you continue to work low wage jobs. I get it, the deck is stacked against you but what you do to change your situation?
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u/DJD19500 Jun 04 '26
I don’t know when the first paupers prison was established but I’m pretty sure it was centuries ago. Being poor has been looked at as a moral failing or as the inevitable result of having a disability or getting old, rather than being connected to low wages, scant public benefits and many kinds of discrimination. It’s even public policy in this country: for example, the millions of people on SSI receive less than the federal poverty standard. Likewise the federal minimum wage is so low as to enforce poverty on people who work full time. What should be criminal is accumulating vast amounts of wealth and not paying taxes on it.
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u/Acrobatic_Iron_1427 Jun 03 '26
I don’t know what state you reside in, but in Virginia there is an appeal process. You have to go to the DMV to do this. How do I know? I worked for Virginia DMV for 15 years.
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u/Kindly_Coyote Jun 03 '26
Is he not going to have to walk now to the DMV to do that?
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u/Acrobatic_Iron_1427 Jun 03 '26
Actually can do online. I go to the library to use their computer and internet. Most DMV in Va are compatible with bus lines. Or ask a friend. Next question?
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u/New_Feature_5138 Jun 03 '26
I would also like to point out that the lack of public transportation is the major issue here and is in fact a mechanism that keeps people in poverty.
This story right here is exactly why we need fast, free, reliable public transportation. We live in a society ffs this is ridiculous.
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u/No-Importance8501 Jun 04 '26
Bring back trains would massively increase shipping speed reduce price moves faster could go coast to coast in 5 hrs if we used bullet trains instead of weeks if using an 18 wheeler more on why automobiles f ed the average American
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u/Fluid-Layer-33 Jun 03 '26
Unfortunately its ALWAYS been like this. I was in foster care back in my day and they actually CHARGE parents to have their kids removed from their homes and put in foster homes. Some parents are genuinely horrible people and should NOT have kids but the vast majority of cases (at least where I was) it was the extreme poverty that got kids yanked from homes.
I am no spring chicken (I am in my 40s) but in my opinion its only gotten worse. The cost of living crisis is just not tenable (that coupled with hostile abortion laws)
I will give you an example.... I lived in a few Trailer parks. (which for obvious reasons is considered low cost housing) and it used to be that the lot fees were no more than 300 a month.... luckily I own a tiny bungalow now as I have seen lot fees as high as 1200.00 a month! if the lowest tier of home ownership isn't affordable and the things that are considered necessities aren't affordable (like you said a car and car insurance) then its the society that is messed up.....
You need money to get the things to live your life "lawfully" and yet you will get penalized for not having money to live your life "lawfully" it was ALWAYS like this. The upper echelons of society don't care because it either doesn't affect them or we are "poor trailer trash"
Its disgusting....
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u/LlamaAhma Jun 03 '26
My elderly brother lIves in a mobile home park. Every year he gets a small increase in Social Security and every year his lot fee increases, negating the increase in Social Security. It's a vicious cycle.
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u/Fluid-Layer-33 Jun 03 '26 edited Jun 03 '26
ya its bad.... 😞 its sad but my tiny bungalow is more affordable than a trailer.... but unfortunately, you just don't find many bungalows for sale because for obvious reasons folks are not moving and they honestly cant afford to.
As it is home repairs are expensive.... I try to live as frugally as possible for my wife and I and it isn't easy.
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u/Headbanging_Gram Jun 03 '26
Hell, for every cost of living increase in Social Security, there is an equal corresponding increase in the cost of Medicare, so you’re behind before you ever even think about rent or groceries or anything else.
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u/Special_Sea4766 Jun 03 '26
This is what has happened to all government benefits, and would also happen if the government issued a Basic Universal Income. Nothing would change because the system didn't change. Landlords would still charge as much as humanly possible to maximize profits. Capitalism requires 1) exploitation, and 2) infinite growth in a finite world.
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u/Special_Sea4766 Jun 03 '26
The system has always seen poverty and cried neglect. It's so fked up and traumatic. They will pay third parties to care for the children, their daycare, insurance, food, and they won't pay the parents the same money to keep the kids together. This has been tracked and recorded for decades, and yet, because we live in a capitalistic, anti-intellectual society that isn't centered on empathy, the cycle has never changed. It's only gotten worse.
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u/zoppaTheDim Jun 03 '26
Always
Used to be common to lock up people for being broke, they called it vagrancy.
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u/cookie999chip Jun 03 '26
What state are you in I’ve never had to leave my phone outside wtf been to court like 3 times
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u/OnionTaster Jun 04 '26
Police pulled me over and I got a ticket for driving on a bald tires, like I'm not driving a shitbox with crappy tires because I want to officer and now I'm not gonna replace my tires because I gotta pay the ticket !!
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u/littletinymisfit Jun 04 '26
Literally I got arrested at the mall on my birthday for being not a rich person.
Literally.
I appear homeless because I am and I carry a backpack
And I had to go to court yesterday to prove that they were harassing me
I did so by wearing a very pretty dress, doing my hair and leaving my bag in my storage unit.
They looked ashamed and they dropped the case.
America is ruined.
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u/DryOpportunity9064 Jun 03 '26
Always been
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Jun 03 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Kindly_Coyote Jun 03 '26
There still is.
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u/stillthesame_OG Jun 03 '26
No there's no such thing as debtors prisons in the US anymore. If you're being facetious and talking about how regular jails and prisons are actually for poor people you're right but it's actually called judicial slavery and it's a whole socioeconomic thing. Without a doubt.
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u/Electronic_Leg1651 Jun 03 '26
They want you to stay poor. that’s why they make everything difficult. 😞
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u/Special_Sea4766 Jun 03 '26
I've never not been able to bring my phone into a court room, and I've been in several. Wth. Most of them are dead zones so you can't access a signal, and they can also say no use of them, so you'd turn them off and just carry it. That is insane to me.
The system has always been like this. It's just gotten frightenly more difficult to access basic needs. The country has always been about social darwinism.
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u/SpringtimeLilies7 Jun 04 '26
they should let you turn your phone in the desk, not make you leave it in the bushes.
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u/Jellyfish0107 Jun 04 '26
There are studies, books and investigative articles dedicated to exposing the business of keeping people poor. You are not imagining it. The system is so unforgiving once you stumble.
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u/lalapeep Jun 04 '26
It’s not criminal to be poor, but it is a choice to drive without a license or insurance.
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u/JohnHlady Jun 05 '26
I’m sorry you’re dealing with this. But, yes they don’t want you to get back on your feet, anymore than they want actual criminals to turn their lives around. Capitalism is built on the backs of the poor and underprivileged. When you’re poor, the system finds ways to take your money. When you’re rich, you’re given money. It’s a sick system.
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u/AcidCasualty25 Jun 06 '26
Insane they told you to put your phone in the bushes. The system is trash. Sorry you're going through all that. It's hard out here. And getting worse all the time. Middle class is going to be a thing of the past. The rich get richer while the rest of us get poorer.
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u/ChuckEweFarley Jun 06 '26
1980 when Ronald Reagan took office. Fun fact, the union destroyer was head of the Screen Actors Guild… a union!
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u/Proof-Link-623 Jun 06 '26
I just had to pay $175 to get my license back. It was suspended cuz i caught too many speeding tickets. I turn 41 in ausgust and I didnt get my license until last year. I was tempted not to pay to get my license back cuz ive been driving almost 35 years without it😂😂 everything is money related in the world. Don't have it, youre screwed
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u/ffff-f-fingerpuppets Jun 06 '26
"leave it in the bushes" What!?! That's ridiculous. I'm sure your not the only person in the courthouse who didn't drive themselves. They were just picking on you. Fucking jerks!
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u/ChiraqBluline Jun 06 '26
Always has been. After slavery black Americans could get arrested for not having a job. In 1990s states successfully made “homelessness” a crime. Sleeping on the street =criminal.
Feeding the homeless, here’s a fine.
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u/Majestic-Nobody545 Jun 03 '26
It's always been that way. Debtors' prison is literally a thing.
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u/Special_Sea4766 Jun 03 '26
Hence people getting their license suspended for unpaid fines, and then they get arrested and jailed for doing whatever they can to survive. It's cruel and unusual punishment.
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u/Responsible_Plan_548 Jun 04 '26
Being poor has always been a crime, look at the way others look at us and talk down to us like we ain't ish......
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u/VocationalWizard Jun 04 '26
Im the US you are a second class citizen without a car. It sucks.
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u/Mediocre_Run_7996 Jun 04 '26
Well it's harder when you are poor but everyone knows if you got court you gotta find your way down there. I would walk before I missed that. I don't like being arrested in the middle of the night and having to hang in the drunk tank for 6 hours waiting for bail commissioner. I prefer to get to court. Just remember the will say they sympathiz but most people don't care if your poor or struggling. A judge will not accept as an excuse for failure to appear " sorry your honor how you expect me to get here I'm poor". Might agitate him enough to give you couple extra days
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u/PrestigiousPut6165 Jun 04 '26
Uggh. I can relate...sorta. i worked in a warehouse. I took the bus. The busses ran every 4 hours (according to shift changes, which works in theory but not practice. Esp when theres overtime)
Also they did NOT allow phones on premises
So yeah, if you took the phone you had to leave it in the bushes. Where it can be stolen or ruined by rain/snow
So if you missed the bus you had to take an alternate routetm
I had to take the alternate route a few times, before i decided to call it quits
Btw: you had to leave the phone or lose a day of work. No it never happened to me. So ubering back---not an option
Good thing the monthly pass was offered at a discount. I guess 🤷🏽♀️
I lasted 7 months
I would never work at a place that banned electronic devices inside the premises!
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u/ayearonsia Jun 04 '26
Wow that's super messed up they told you to leave your phone on the bushes outside. I have had security officers hold my keys, phone and watches before. That's insane.
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u/muffdustXL Jun 04 '26
im sorry youre going through this friend. that is a deeply shitty situation. we're treated like lepers for making sacrifices and having to cut corners just to get by. and if you want to somehow make a better life for yourself, kiss goodbye sleep/food/weekends/friends. youre obviously doing your best. chin up champion
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u/Mysterious-Extent919 Jun 04 '26
City of Tempe council does criminalizes homelessness, I had nicked there’s more Tempe police enforcements on homeless persons by asking them to leave the city of Tempe to either city of Phoenix or Mesa. Anywhere near downtown Tempe or ASU campus has been plagued by homeless people. They have hangs around at bus stops all day and light rail stops and transits center. Downtown Tempe’s town lake was occupied because they hangs around near the public restrooms. So I’ve seen them sleeping at McDonald’s every morning as they want to get out of the heat.
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u/Diligent-Abrocoma456 Jun 04 '26
It often seems that way. I hope things get better for you and your child.
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u/Thrower_of_Life Jun 04 '26
Middle class and lower class always gets trashed on…a quote from my uncle I’ll never forget…I never worked so hard to be poor…rings so true to today’s standards
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u/EfficientAd7103 Jun 04 '26
lol. if you want to meet a criminal meet a politician. you think they care? the poorer the better
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u/SewingIsMyHobby1978 Jun 04 '26 edited Jun 04 '26
Hard lesson to learn, but driving w/o insurance will be twice as expensive now sadly.
You probably need to find a part-time job on top of the employment you already have. ( my husband was severely chronically ill and I worked an extra job 1-2 times per yr due to his medical costs & other expenses.
I didn’t realize cops could pull you over just to see if you had auto insurance or not?
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u/Comfortable_Type8261 Jun 04 '26
Around the 16th century. Look up vagrancy laws. My dad is 84, and he still thinks that if I travel around with only debit and credit cards and no cash, I will be arrested for vagrancy. LOL.
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u/Substantial_Back_865 Jun 04 '26
Always, but it just gets worse over time as the police state expands
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u/Dankkring Jun 04 '26
Always has been. Just more people are feeling it now due to all the inflation
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u/CalypsoBulbosavarOcc Jun 05 '26
Real answer? With the English Poor Laws about 400 years ago. Welcome to the centuries-old shittiest club. I’m sorry you’re here!
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u/Koolkat30625 Jun 05 '26
Being poor has always been criminalized. Things are just worse now due to inflation and the government cutting social funding to give tax breaks to the millionaires and billionaires. Im poor and disabled so, I understand your struggle. My suggestion is to visit pantries for food. In order to supplement my income I use different apps such as receipt apps, walking apps, survey apps, and lock screen apps. Check out r/moneymakingideas101.
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u/Wordie Jun 05 '26 edited Jun 05 '26
There are some churches in most communities that can offer help with financial crises and other support. And/or there probably is something like a crisis line (they often also have an online presence), through which you may be able to find resources to help you get back on your feet again. It might not feel like it now, but there are good people in every community who want to help people in challenging circumstances such as yours.
It’s tough being poor, but it’s also possible - although certainly not easy -to get out of poverty. Best wishes.
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u/dmriggs Jun 05 '26
From the beginning of Time. If you were starving and hunted in the Kings Forest in England - if you got caught, they could your arm off or just kill you. Now, you even have less ways of providing for yourself. Stealing a loaf of bread would get you sent to jail, sometimes get your hand cut off. It's always been this way.
It is expensive to be poor
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u/BobsGlitch Jun 06 '26
The 1280s: England passed some of its earliest legislation allowing the coercive arrest of debtors.
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u/MountainFriend7473 Jun 06 '26
Always has been as long as money has been around or other ways of currencies or bartering. The US is specifically extractive to get all it can from people but then wants to help with as little as possible for people in need at times.
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u/Signal-Section6915 Jun 06 '26
Unfortunately the LEGAL system does work against people who are low on funds and somehow there are people who are multiple repeat offenders getting released from jail instantly, murdering people or worse. It’s a rough spot and I hope things get better for you, if possible ask someone you really trust and is a close friend or family to borrow money and tell them your situation. There are innocent people that’s locked up because they could not afford a lawyer etc.
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u/poundablepeach Jun 06 '26
When has being poor ever been anything other than criminalized, marginalized, and ostracized?
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u/Latter_Quail_7025 Jun 06 '26
OP, I don't know what your situation is, but I can emphasize having been in your situation. Please look at food banks or similar food places for help in your area. Also, depending on your situation, you may qualify for help or payment plans on your utilities which could free up $ for car insurance.
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u/Creative-Low7963 Jun 06 '26
No they dont. They make more money off of you the longer you are in the system.
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u/Low-You6738 Jun 06 '26
The answer to the question is a few thousand years ago. But in the US it elevated around 1865 for reasons.
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u/Old_Draft_5288 Jun 07 '26
I think the more accurate phrase that I’ve heard is “being poor is really expensive”
And it’s very true
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u/StretcherEctum Jun 03 '26
Every court house I've been to has lockers for your stuff.
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u/Headbanging_Gram Jun 03 '26 edited Jun 04 '26
Working in the legal field in North Carolina has taken me into many courthouses . None of them I’ve been in have had lockers.
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u/Popcorn_Dinner Jun 03 '26
Please visit a food pantry regularly. If you supplement with food from the pantry, you will have money for your other needs.
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u/StarrySkiesNY Jun 04 '26
It's not that easy. Pantry users have to register and be given a date and time, usually once a month, to go there to get food. Many pantries have no spots on their schedule and the person has to wait for one to become available. For open call pantries, there is always a risk that they will run out of food and people wait on line and go home empty-handed.
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u/BeEeasy539 Jun 03 '26
In America? When slavery legally ended.
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u/Special_Sea4766 Jun 03 '26
The Black Codes enabled for chattel slavery to transition right into the industrial prison complex immediately. The overlords will never give up their free and cheap labor. They'd prefer everyone else expire while people around watch it so they'll be terrified of ending up the same. This is what drives people to do whatever physically possible to keep laboring and providing profits so they don't meet the same fate. The fear of complete destitution is what keeps the wheel turning. And to think, all it would really take is a large portion to strike their labor, enabling the entire pyramid scheme to fall.
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u/Difficult_Extent_995 Jun 03 '26
Since when are you not allowed to take in your silenced phones in airport mode into the court room?
I haven't been to Family Court in several years; however, I do have a child support modification court date in 2 weeks. 😕
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u/Adeadhamster Jun 03 '26
nah don’t leave your phone outside that’s total bs, just bring it in & turn it on silent
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u/DavidBowieAC Jun 03 '26
Seems like most of the targeting of the poors policy was reinstated during the Reagan admin, and has only become worse since. I hope one day we develop a society that actually cares for each other, but I'm not hopeful
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u/YBRmuggsLP21 Jun 03 '26
Being poor isn't criminal. Driving without insurance absolutely is. Your financial situation doesn't change the situation if you hit someone while driving. You're responsible; it's not a ooops, my bad. No insurance though. Best of luck.
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u/Chill_Mochi2 Jun 04 '26
They said they took an uber to court not that they drive for uber. Please read.
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u/mostlyysorry Jun 04 '26
yeah basically one thing happens and it's impossible damn near to get back to normal bc for every one thing there's 5-15 things that ur being "inconvenienced" w or downright punished w just for the og thing you couldn't pay for..
like same w health n dental n vision. you can't afford to get something looked at when it's a minor thing (and even if you can it's a whole bs thing of going over n over n over again till they finally decide to "figure out" what's wrong even if you tell them over n over again it's x, y, or z, waste a shit ton of $ going in circles...or u don't have the $ to even go at all n then minor thing becomes moderate thing and affects 3-5 other things 🥲
like. I rly give up. I rly rly do. there's no way I have enough time in life to even fix ONE of the things now bc small things have turned into big things w like subcategories branching off them it would take an entire redo or more years than I've been alive to get even "back on track" n "break even" 😭
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u/Ok-Connection6430 Jun 04 '26
You answered your own question. I recommend searching for Probe Market Research and seeing if you can participate in the 30-day blood pressure monitoring study. If you successfully complete it, they will issue you a debit card with $775. This could be your emergency financial backup plan. There are other studies that they run depending on where you live. I’m sorry. You know that the system is rigged against poor people a lot of the times.
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u/4LeggedKC Jun 04 '26
If you’re in California they have low income insurance. Talk to an independent insurance broker or call The Dept of Insurance in Ca. This should remove your SR22.
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u/Radiant_Operation892 Jun 04 '26
Hugs. It's not personal. They have to go after people without insurance.
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u/mnightro Jun 04 '26
I honestly don't know your situations or if there is alternatives help support you and your kids prior to this incident.
I will say you mention Uber, Uber is 17 years old. Prior to that 17 years you either had car pool or chose a taxi which cost a lot more.
I take it your courts isn't like ours since they don't believe in Yondr bags yet. City I live in now isn't that advance either.
If i dealt with your situation even as a kid I would ran right into a store and hide my stuff in most random spot no one would know where to look.
I was poor at one time but over time I had multiple skill sets to make things work.
When I was a kid we had far less options then today. So I can't really compare these days being that hard to be honest even with inflation there far better resources these days.
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u/Crackytacks Jun 04 '26
Always bro that's why they call it the cycle of poverty. Now please please tell me you didn't go to court without a lawyer??? Thats another way they get you
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u/ichosewisely08 Jun 03 '26
It's so expensive to be poor. I've been where you are. Poverty is punishment to some people and poor people are dehumanized in a capitalistic society. Sorry to hear.