Well, the bliss form yesterday’s racism free today was ended fairly quickly today. It happened by 10:00 a.m. Why though?

I stepped out early to get my cup of joe at my local UDF. That went smoothly as planned. Then, I stopped at Aldi’s to buy dog and cat food for my pets. I bought more than planned and decided to pay with my debit card. Even though I didn’t buy a lot, I had to wait patiently behind a white mother and her daughter as they purchased 144.00 worth of items which at Aldi’s is a MASS AMOUNT OF FOOD. Typically, it is custom to allow a person with fewer items to go before you, if their purchase will be complete before unloading your items. It’s just considered polite. She chose not to let me go ahead which I respected because her child was BUSY! Their purchase, paid for with her debit card, went smoothly. 

I followed up with my small purchase and as I went to go pay with my my card, the cashier asked me loudly and abruptly, “Is that an EBT card?” For those who don’t know, an EBT card has taken the place of food stamps from days of yore. I was taken aback, but said nothing because the young White guy was new. I had never been asked that question before at that store which I frequent often. Several times a week, at least. I assume he will be trained well and he will not ask such a question again. I lingered longer than necessary to determine if he would ask the White woman behind me the same question. He did not. 

Today we will talk about The Myth of the Black Welfare Queen. The GOP of the 80’s and 90’s propagated this image in hopes of cutting funding for the “welfare state.” The Blavk welfare queen was thought to have a lot of kids by a lot of different men (5? 10? Who knows?)  who was too lazy to work and was abusing the welfare system meant to help truly needy people (read: truly needy White people). The electorate bought into the this notion and supported budget cuts to welfare programs. This lead to the rise of welfare to work programs (which I don’t necessarily disagree with). 

However, according  to analysis from 2018, the average welfare family is White with 1.9 children. White recipients of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families make up 75 to 85% of all recipients while Black families make up about 13% of recipients. African-Americans make up about 13 to 14% of the total US population, thus this number should be expected with all things equal. 

When White people, in particular, buy into the notion of The Myth of the Black Welfare Queen, poor White people, bite off their noses to spite their faces. This is what I call one of the “tricks of Racism.” If I am part of the 1%, I can convince the White electorate to support cuts to the “welfare state,” because I have convinced them the recipients of welfare are Black or undocumented immigrants. I can also convince you that Brown people shouldn’t be allowed to stay in the country if they access any welfare programs. Problem is undocumented people can’t access the “welfare state “ because they don’t have the documents needed to sign up for TANF. Secondly, the people who are most likely to access the needed funds are poor White people. Cuts to the programs disproportionately affect this subgroup of America. Unfortunately, they have been tricked into supporting cuts that directly affect them and the well being of their children. 

Honestly, that’s all I have to say about that. Maybe this is the post that should have been called “check yourself before you wreck yourself.”