The Alachua County Labor Coalition will join the Civic Media Center, located at 433 S. Main St., to screen “Dream On” today at 7 p.m. The film will later air on PBS.
The documentary is hosted by John Fugelsang, a former host of America’s Funniest Home Videos, who argues the American Dream is dwindling and wage inequality is increasing.
“It talks about a state of being that a lot of Americans are experiencing right now: a declining middle class who are working longer and harder hours,” said Jason Fults, a Santa Fe College professor and co-chair of the coalition.
Fults said he feels disheartened when Gainesville residents feel stuck in a certain socioeconomic class.
It’s also unfortunate, he said, when recent college graduates have to worry about maintaining a livable wage.
“I know a tremendous number of over-educated poor people,” he said.
Alachua County has the highest wage inequalities in the country, said Sheila Payne, a membership coordinator for the coalition.
She said county workers could put more money into the local economy if they spent less on living.
“They’re not going on fabulous vacations to the Bahamas,” she said of county workers. “They’re just paying their rent on time.”
UF history professor Paul Ortiz previewed the film and said he enjoyed following the travels of Alexis de Tocqueville, a propagandist of the American Dream.
“I would say that the condition of the American Dream right now is in peril,” he said.
