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Minneapolis native Peter Edelman was a top aide to Senator Robert F. Kennedy and they tried to raise awareness of poverty in America 50 years ago.


Now 80 years old, he's a Georgetown law professor and has written a book about ways to reduce poverty and reform the criminal justice system. It's titled, "Not a Crime to Be Poor: The Criminalization of Poverty in America." 


In 1967 RFK embarked on a poverty tour of the American south to try to raise awareness of the poor conditions many people faced. There, Peter Edelman met activist Marian Wright, who became his wife the next year. Marian Wright Edelman, the founder of the Children's Defense Fund, is probably much better known than her Minnesota husband.


Peter Edelman made news when he left a job in the Department of Health and Human Services in the Clinton administration, to protest the administration's welfare reform plan. 


Edelman shared his ideas about the history of efforts to reduce poverty in America, and to reform the criminal justice system, during an event held November 28, 2017 at the JFK Presidential Library in Boston. Lisa Mullins of WBUR was the moderator.

To listen to the event, click the audio player above.

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Minneapolis native Peter Edelman was a top aide to Senator Robert F. Kennedy and they tried to raise awareness of poverty in America. Fifty years later, he's written a book about ways to reduce poverty and reform the criminal justice system.

Peter Edelman on poverty and criminal justice

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