Trash

A Poor White Journey

By: Cedar Monroe, Liz Theoharis - foreword

Narrated by: Janet Metzger

Every day across the US, 66 million poor white people pay the price for failing whiteness. In this sweeping debut, activist and chaplain Cedar Monroe writes indelibly about and for poor white people: about unlearning the American dream, untangling from white supremacy, and working for liberation alongside other poor folks.

Monroe introduces us to people who are poor and unhoused in a small town in Washington, who eke out a living on land that once provided timber for the nation. On the banks of the Chehalis River, we meet residents of the largest homeless encampment in the country, who face sweeps and evictions and are targeted by vigilantes before bringing their case to federal court. We watch a community grapple with desperation, government neglect, and its own racism.

Capitalism and colonialism have stolen land from Indigenous people, forced workers into dangerous jobs, and then left them to die when their labor was no longer needed. But what would happen if poor white folks rejected the empty promises of white supremacy and embraced solidarity with other poor people? What if they joined the resistance to the system that is, slowly or quickly, killing us all? Trash asks us to see anew the peril in which poor white people live and the choices we all must make.

©2024 Cedar Monroe (P)2024 Tantor

Honest and Real

Thank you for your honest and real perspective on a complex issue. As someone who lived in GH during the time frame of this book and worked in social services, so many of the stories were familiar. Thank you for your outreach and embrace of a community that deserves more.

Hope and Liberation.

Trash is an important story that offers a path forward for poor people struggling with poverty, racism, and other deadly social forces.

Thought provoking and powerful—an important read for faith leaders, community organizers, and people in general.

Excellent perspective

An excellent perspective on poverty, homelessness and addiction in our hometown. We really appreciated your honest portrayal of the impossible problems faced by poor people in Aberdeen/Grays Harbor. Thank you for your efforts to help people in that area and for sharing your story! We can't wait for your next work. Please write something else soon!