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Well, I was also unaware that so many Americans lived in such abysmal conditions, until recently (I'm also an American, BTW). For instance, about half a million are estimated to live in these conditions in Arizona and New Mexico alone.
You see, all these pictures were taken in what we call colonias. The following report does a good job describing the characteristics of colonias (I removed the references to simplify the text):
Colonia is a Spanish term for neighborhood or community. In Texas, according to the Office of the Attorney General, a colonia is a residential area along the Texas-Mexico border that may lack basic water and wastewater systems, electricity, paved roads, and safe and sanitary housing. Colonias typically have substandard housing, inadequate plumbing and sewage disposal systems, and high concentrations of low-income residents. Colonias can also be found in many areas in the U.S., but mainly in New Mexico, Arizona, and California and Texas. Texas has both the largest number of colonias and the largest colonia population. It is estimated that there are more than 2,294 colonias in Texas.
At the federal level, Colonias are defined as any identifiable community that (1) is in the state of Arizona, California, New Mexico, or Texas; (2) is within 150 miles of the border between the United States and Mexico (except for metropolitan areas with populations exceeding 1 million); (3) is designated as a colonia by the state or county in which it is located; (4) is determined to be a colonia on the basis of objective criteria such as a lack of a potable water supply, inadequate sewage systems, and a shortage of decent, safe and sanitary housing; and (5) was in existence and recognized as a colonia prior to Nov. 28, 1990 (USCA, 1479).
Given its name, colonias are prominently populated by Hispanics. Although many residents are (legal) immigrants coming from Mexico and Central America, most are actually Americans born in the U.S. (see page 4 in the link above).
An example about the level of poverty can be observed in the figure below. One can see that more than 69% of the residents living in this particular Texan colonia live below the line of poverty. Furthermore, more than 25% live under half the line of poverty. How many of you could survive with less than $5,000 per year?
There you have it, folks. I know I could write much more about colonias, but I am sure you get the picture.
You should now be aware that many Americans live in Third World conditions, without adequate sanitary housing, basic sewage facilities and running water. Is this something we should be proud of? Given what I observed recently, many 'rich' Americans (this is not a generalization, but there are many more than what I would like to see) could not care less, as seen here and here.
The next time you see a post or comment gloating about how the U.S. is doing well economically, please think about your fellow Americans living along the U.S.-Mexican border (as well as those who are classified below the 15%-percentile threshold living elsewhere in the US).
On a final note, although the conditions I described above are abysmal, people living in colonias still have a relatively positive outlook on life and a good sense of belonging to the community (see page 43 in the link above). I do not think we can say this about the rest of the country.
For those interested in reading more on this subject, you can find additional information here:
PBS Documentary: The Forgotten Americans (aired December 2000)
University of Texas: Poverty in Texas: Colonias
Doebele, W. (1994). "Urban Land and Macroeconomic Development: Moving from 'Access for the Poor' to Urban Productivity," in Methodology for Land and Housing Market Analysis. Ed. G. Jones and
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