This just fucking sad.

“Some might ask why a UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights would visit a country as rich as the United States. But despite great wealth in the US, there also exists great poverty and inequality,” Alston said in a statement.

Alston will spend Thursday in Lowndes County, where he will be looking at issues like health care, access to clean and safe drinking water, and sanitation.

The Guardian reported in September on a study exposing the fact that a small number of people have tested positive for hookworm - a parasitic disease found in impoverished areas around the world - in Lowndes County.

This has been like this for years. Lowndes County is basically 20 minutes away from where I live. There are people who still use outhouses. Cities that either don’t or barely have running water. Alabama is a cess pool of poverty and racism and it’s been this way for YEARS!