Welfare Queen

This is an excellent breakdown of poverty in the US, the welfare system, and who is really gaining.

I met with over 250 AmeriCorps VISTA volunteers this year at PSO, and in our small group we spent most of our time discussing poverty. "What is poverty?" "What causes poverty?"

I was disheartened when our conversation kept leading back to this concept of "Welfare queens". Many people, whether they had lived in poverty or not, felt that accepting food stamps was something to be ashamed of, something to work your way out of. 

I was taught to take what the government would give growing up because there were so many times that we felt disenfranchised by the system. Not having dental care, as all of our teeth rot and fall out like sand. Not having health care, as we rack up debts we will never pay. Not affording our taxes on the land we inherited, struggling, but always finding a way. Looking towards the future in all it's insecurity, unsure of how we will ever afford the medicine and the care that aging parents will one day require. As I watched my classmates and their families, with good credit and nice cars and excellent dental insurance, I never felt ashamed to take food stamps. And I never felt poor, and going to Mexico made me feel like a queen. 

I just listened and didn't say much at our orientation, I didn't want to sound like the nutty conspiracy theorist. But it is not a conspiracy that corporations and governments do not have the best interest of the people in mind. It is not a conspiracy that poverty, like racism, is institutionalized and ingrained in our history. 

I really love this video. Please watch. 

Momma Welfare Roll

Her arms semaphore fat triangles,
Pudgy hands bunched on layered hips
Where bones idle under years of fatback
And lima beans.
Her jowls shiver in accusation
Of crimes clichéd by
Repetition. Her children, strangers
To childhood's toys, play
Best the games of darkened doorways,
Rooftop tag, and know the slick feel of
Other people's property.

Too fat to whore,
Too mad to work,
Searches her dreams for the
Lucky sign and walks bare-handed
Into a den of bureaucrats for
Her portion.
'They don't give me welfare.
I take it.'

Maya Angelou