And it's a great pleasure to welcome Andrea to the show now. Poverty and homelessness in the details: Dasani This is so important." Shes So I'm really hoping that that changes. And she wanted to beat them for just a few minutes in the morning of quiet by getting up before them. I saw in Supreme and in Chanel a lot of the signs of someone who is self-medicating. Andrea has now written a book about Dasani. Dasani keeps forgetting to count the newest child. asani ticks through their faces, the girls from the projects who know where she lives. I focused on doing projects, long form narrative pieces that required a lot of time and patience on the part of my editors and a lot of swinging for the fences in terms of you don't ever know how a story is going to pan out. WebIn Invisible Child, Pulitzer Prize winner Andrea Elliott follows eight dramatic years in the life of Dasani, a girl whose imagination is as soaring as the skyscrapers near her Brooklyn shelter. Andrea Elliott: We love the story of the kid who made it out. I got rice, chicken, macaroni. The fork and spoon are her parents and the macaroni her siblings - except for Baby Lee-Lee, who is a plump chicken breast. It literally saved us: what the USs new anti-poverty measure means for families, Millions of families receiving tax credit checks in effort to end child poverty, No one knew we were homeless: relief funds hope to reach students missing from virtual classrooms, I knew they were hungry: the stimulus feature that lifts millions of US kids out of poverty, 'Santa, can I have money for the bills?' The journalist will never forget the first time she saw the family unit traveling in a single file line, with mother Chanel Sykes leading the way as she pushed a stroller. By the time Dasani came into the world, on 26 May 2001, the old Brooklyn was vanishing. Elliott says she was immediately drawn to 11-year-old Dasani not only because of the girls ability to articulate injustices in her life, but how Desani held so much promise for herself. And that was a new thing for me. Dasani tells herself that brand names dont matter. "I just want to be a fly on the wall. Paired with photographs by colleague Ruth Fremson , it sparked direct action from incoming Mayor Bill DeBlasio, who had Dasani on the stage at his administrations inauguration in January 2014. And, of course, not. Like, these are--. The children are ultimately placed in foster care, and Dasani blames herself for it. Dasani Poverty Isnt the Problem | American Enterprise Institute And I'm also, by the way, donating a portion of the proceeds of this book to the family, to benefit Dasani and her siblings and parents. And, of course, the obvious thing that many people at the time noted was that, you know, there were over a million people in bondage at the same time they were saying this. Her stepfather's name is Supreme. (LAUGH) Because they ate so much candy, often because they didn't have proper food. This was north of Fort Greene park. And I think that that's also what she would say. She would then start to feed the baby. Like, she was wearing Uggs at one point and a Patagonia fleece at another point. Only a mother could answer it, and for a while their mother was gone. Among them is Dasanis birthplace, Fort Greene, Brooklyn, where renovated townhouses come with landscaped gardens and heated marble floors. And you got power out of fighting back on some level. Part of the government. I mean, this was a kid who had been, sort of, suddenly catapulted on to the front page of The New York Times for five days. She just thought, "Who could afford that?". What happens when trying to escape poverty means separating from your family at 13? She is sure the place is haunted. dasani It's helping them all get through college. Chris Hayes: Yeah. And I had an experience where someone I knew and was quite close to is actually an anthropologist doing field work in Henry Horner Homes after There Are No Children Here. And in the very beginning, I was like, "Oh, I don't think I can hear this." By Ryan Chittum. Roaches crawl to the ceiling. It's in resources. (LAUGH) And the market produces massively too little affordable housing, which is in some ways part of the story of Dasani and her family, which is the city doesn't have enough affordable housing. Chapter 1. You can try, Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival & Hope in an American City., Why the foster care system needs to change as aid expires for thousands of aged-out youth, The Pandemic's Severe Toll On The Already-Strained Foster Care System. And so I have seen my siblings struggle for decades with it and have periods of sobriety and then relapse. But because of the nature of how spread out Chicago was, the fact that this was not a moment of gentrification in the way that we think about it now, particularly in the, sort of, post-2000 comeback city era and then the post-financial crisis, that the kids in that story are not really cheek by jowl with all of the, kind of, wealth that is in Chicago. And to each of those, sort of, judgments, Dasani's mother has an answer. I have a lot of possibility. Every inch of the room is claimed. And obviously, you know, one of the things I think is interesting and comes through here is, and I don't know the data on this, but I have found in my life as a reporter and as a human being along various parts of the Titanic ship that is the United States of America that there's a lot of substance abuse at every level. The light noises bring no harm the colicky cries of an infant down the hall, the hungry barks of the Puerto Rican ladys chihuahuas, the addicts who wander the projects, hitting some crazy high. We break their necks. And I just spent so much time with this family and that continues to be the case. The2009 financial crisis taught us hard lessons. Her parents are avid readers. It has more than a $17 billion endowment. Today, Dasani lives surrounded by wealth, whether she is peering into the boho chic shops near her shelter or surfing the internet on Auburns shared computer. Invisible Child emerged from a series on poverty Elliott wrote for the New York Times in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis and the Occupy Wall Street movement. Only together have they learned to navigate povertys systems ones with names suggesting help. As Dasani walks to her new school on 6 September 2012, her heart is pounding. Who paid for water in a bottle? And how far can I go? It makes me feel like theres something going on out there, she says. Dasani slips down three flights of stairs, passing a fire escape where drugs and weapons are smuggled in. They think, "All men are created equal," creed is what distinguishes the U.S., what gives it its, sort of, moral force and righteousness in rebelling against the crown. Except for Baby Lee-Lee, who wails like a siren. Why Is This Happening? is presented by MSNBC and NBC News, produced by Doni Holloway and features music by Eddie Cooper. Then Jim Ester and the photographer (LAUGH) who was working with me said, "We just want to shadow you.". She's been through this a little bit before, right, with the series. And you can't go there unless you're poor. They were-- they were eating the family's food and biting. But basically, Dasani came to see that money as something for the future, not an escape from poverty. And they have 12 kids per home. But you have to understand that in so doing, you carry a great amount of responsibility to, I think, first and foremost, second guess yourself constantly. Dasanis story, which ran on the front page in late 2013, became totemic in a moment of electoral flux in New York after the election of Democrat Bill de Blasio as mayor on a And the reporter who wrote that, Andrea Elliott, wrote a series of stories about Dasani. This is an extract Sometimes it'll say, like, "Happy birthday, Jay Z," or, you know. She wakes to the sound of breathing. And she sees a curious thing on the shelf of her local bodega. Ethical issues. In the blur of the citys streets, Dasani is just another face. I still have it. Chris Hayes: We don't have to go through all of the crises and challenges and brutal things that this family has to face and overcome and struggled through. I think she feels that the book was able to go to much deeper places and that that's a good thing. Yes. She became the first child in her family to graduate high school and she has now entered LaGuardia Community College. The sound that matters has a different pitch. Dasani places the bottle in the microwave and presses a button. In the city, I mean, I have a 132 hours of audio recorded of all my reporting adventures. The Milton Hershey School is an incredible, incredible place. Hidden in a box is Dasanis pet turtle, kept alive with bits of baloney and the occasional Dorito. Eleven-year-old Dasani Joanie-Lashawn Coates is a primary caregiver for her seven siblings. In the dim chaos of Room 449, she struggles to find Lee-Lees formula, which is donated by the shelter but often expired. She never even went inside. But I met her standing outside of that shelter. There were evictions. Right? The other thing you asked about were the major turning points. I do, though. She has hit a major milestone, though. And it's a little bit like her own mother had thought. Before that, she had been in and out of shelters with her family. She likes being small because I can slip through things. She imagines herself with supergirl powers. The 10-year-olds next: Avianna, who snores the loudest, and Nana, who is going blind. I got a fork and a spoon. Columbias Bill Grueskin tries to explain why the Pulitzer board dismissed The New York Times s Invisible Child series She doesn't want to get out. So she would talk about this. And that was not available even a month ago. Well, by the way, that really gets in the way of getting a job. She could even tell the difference between a cry for hunger and a cry for sleep. She had been born in March, shattering the air with her cries. The sound of that name. And her lips are stained with green lollipop. Child Protection Services showed up on 12 occasions. Now She is a child of New York City. The bottled water had come to Brooklyns bodegas just before she was born, catching the fancy of her mother, who could not afford such indulgences. Nuh-uh. Sept. 28, 2021. Her mother had grown up in a very different time. Dasani Coates grew up in a family so poor, her stepfather once pawned his gold teeth to get by until their welfare benefits arrived. And at the same time, what if these kids ten years from now regret it? She wants to stay in her neighborhood and with her family. So it's interesting how, you know, you always see what's happening on the street first before you see it 10,000 feet above the ground in terms of policy or other things. Each home at the school, they hire couples who are married who already have children to come be the house parents. We see a story of a girl who's trying to not escape, she says. And I had focused for years on the story of Islam in a post-9/11 America. And there's a bunch of ways to look at that picture. Anyway, and I said, "Imagine I'm making a movie about your life. Nearly a quarter of Dasanis childhood has unfolded at Auburn, where she shares a 520-square-foot room with her parents and For nine years, New York Times journalist Andrea Elliott followed the fortunes of one family living in poverty. Different noises mean different things. This is the type of fact that she recites in a singsong, look-what-I-know way. And then, of course, over time, what happens in the United States is that we become less and less materially equal. And through the years of American journalism, and some of the best journalism that has been produced, is about talking about what that looks like at the ground level. And she tried to stay the path. After that, about six months after the series ran, I continued to follow them all throughout. She's at a community college. Now in her 20s, Dasani became the first in her immediate family to graduate high school, and she enrolled in classes at LaGuardia Community College. How you get out isn't the point. The problems of poverty are so much greater, so much more overwhelming than the power of being on the front page of The New York Times. And there was this, sort of, sudden public awakening around inequality. Invisible Child And by the way, at that time this was one of the richest cities in the world. One of the first things Dasani will say is that she was running before she walked. And this was all very familiar to me. And she didn't want the streets to become her kids' family. And one of the things that I've learned, of course, and this is an obvious point, is that those are very widely distributed through society. And her principal had this idea that she should apply to a school that I had never heard of called the Milton Hershey School, which is a school in Hershey, Pennsylvania that tries to reform poor children. Every once in a while, it would. WebPULITZER PRIZE WINNER NATIONAL BESTSELLER A vivid and devastating (The New York Times) portrait of an indomitable girlfrom acclaimed journalist Andrea ElliottFrom its first indelible pages to its rich and startling conclusion, Invisible Child had me, by turns, stricken, inspired, outraged, illuminated, in tears, and hungering for Family was everything for them. Jane Clayson Guest Host, Here & NowJane Clayson is Here & Now's guest host. At one point, one, I think it was a rat, actually bit baby Lele, the youngest of the children, and left pellets all over the bed. That, to be honest, is really home. It's something that I talked about a lot with Supreme and Chanel. "This is so and so." She makes do with what she has and covers what she lacks. And a few years back, there was this piece about a single girl in the New York City public school system in The New York Times that was really I think brought people up shore, 'cause it was so well done. This was and continues to be their entire way of being, their whole reason. It gave the young girl a feeling that theres something out there, Elliott says. To support the Guardian and the Observer order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. And she became, for a moment, I wouldn't say celebrity, but a child who was being celebrated widely. I mean, I have a lot of deep familiarity with the struggle of substance abuse in my own family. Chanel was raised on the streets and relied on family bonds, the reporter learned. Serena McMahonadapted it for the web. And she talked about them brutally. Taped to the wall is the childrens proudest art: a bright sun etched in marker, a field of flowers, a winding path. Two sweeping sycamores shade the entrance, where smokers linger under brick arches. We'd love to hear from you. It's now about one in seven. Even Dasanis name speaks of a certain reach. PULITZER PRIZE WINNER - NATIONAL BESTSELLER - A "vivid and devastating" ( The New York Times ) portrait of an indomitable girl--from acclaimed journalist Andrea Elliott "From its first indelible pages to its rich and startling conclusion, Invisible Child had me, by turns, stricken, inspired, outraged, illuminated, in tears, and hungering It comes loud and fast, with a staccato rhythm. Beyond its walls, she belongs to a vast and invisible tribe of more than 22,000 homeless children in New York, the highest number since the Great Depression, in the most unequal metropolis in America. I have a lot of things to say.. Just steps away are two housing projects and, tucked among them, a city-run homeless shelter where the heat is off and the food is spoiled. Day after day, they step through a metal detector as security guards search their bags, taking anything that could be used as a weapon a bottle of bleach, a can of Campbells soup. She lives in a house run by a married couple. She could change diapers, pat for burps, check for fevers. (modern). And she would stare at the Empire State Building at the tower lights because the Empire State Building, as any New Yorker knows, lights up depending on the occasion to reflect the colors of that occasion. Her mother, Chanel Sykes, went as a child, leaving Brooklyn on a bus for Pittsburgh to escape the influence of a crack-addicted parent. In October of 2012, I was on the investigative desk of The New York Times. And you didn't really have firsthand access to what it looks like, what it smells like to be wealthy. Elliotts book follows eight years in the life of But at that time, just like it was at the time that There Are No Children Here came out, it's the highest child poverty rate of almost any wealthy nation. Children are not often the face of homelessness, but their stories are heartbreaking and sobering: childhoods denied spent in and out of shelters, growing up with absent parents and often raising themselves and their siblings. If she cries, others answer. In this moving but occasionally flat narrative, Elliott follows Dasani for eight years, beginning in 2012 when she was 11 years old and living in
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