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Letters: What the middle class means to you

Kai Ryssdal Jun 6, 2012
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Letters: What the middle class means to you

Kai Ryssdal Jun 6, 2012
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Kai Ryssdal: President Obama is in Los Angeles today. It’s a fundraising trip, so yeah, he’s going to be in Beverly Hills. No surprise there.

But he’s also gonna be in the black Beverly Hills. It’s a part of L.A. known as View Park. We aired a story last week from our Wealth & Poverty Desk about the neighborhood. Generally, you liked it.

But this comment right at the end of the piece by a woman who lives in View Park got some of you a little riled up.

Carol Thompson: I was telling all my neighbors, we have to all get out and vote. And not just because he’s black. But, well yes it is because he’s black, I’m not going to tell a lie.

That didn’t sit well with Luis Gonzalez from Port St. Lucie, Fla.

Luis Gonzalez: It seemed like the people of View Park were rightfully so very proud of him going there. It just struck me that I don’t agree with the premise that we should vote for a candidate simply because they’re Hispanic, black, white, whatever their race may be.

Mr. Gonzalez went on to say his own race isn’t going to be a deciding factor in his vote this fall.

As part of that piece on View Park, we asked for your help in defining what it means to be middle class by sending us a picture. Here’s just one that we got.

Lorraine Gonzalez: It’s a photo of my daughter picking out a couple of small gourds that she’s going to take home.

That’s Lorraine Gonzalez of Sacramento, small gourds is what she said. She’s the daughter of migrant farm workers.

Gonzalez: My father went to college and was able to provide a more comfortable lifestyle for me. I too wanted to go to college and I knew that if I wanted to have children too, I would be able to provide for them and have them live a bit more of a comfortable life.

Which is what every parent wants.

What we want are your pictures of what it means to you to be middle class. Post ’em here or on our Facebook page.

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