Cornel West and Tavis Smiley on ‘The Poverty Tour’

One in six Americans are poor, which means 50 million people are living in poverty in the United States. Dr. Cornel West and Tavis Smiley, hosts of PRI’s “Smiley and West,”  went on “The Poverty Tour: A Call to Conscience,” an 18-city tour of the United States  in August, to speak with Americans living in poverty and get a sense of what it’s like to be poor in America today. This week, PBS will air the first of five episodes of “The Poverty Tour.” Dr. Cornel West,  professor at Princeton University, and  Tavis Smiley, who also hosts his own show on PBS, talk about what they saw on The Poverty Tour.