Rev. William Barber is one of the nation's preeminent advocates for the poor, and he employs a phrase to describe our wilful obliviousness to the poverty in our midst.

"We’ve had such attention violence," he said. "Both by the media and by the politics of our nation."

But the pandemic has made it harder to ignore American poverty.

"One out of every seven of our families are food insecure in the richest, wealthiest nation in the world," he said. "This is a moral and economic travesty."