Over the last few years I've written a lot about people on
welfare and being on welfare. Others, such as Mike Marlett, for F5, Jan. 16, 2014, have also written on
what it is REALLY like to be on welfare.
AND STILL—the stereo types persist. I keep hearing people
talk about all the "free stuff" people get with the Democrats are in
office. "When we finally get rid of President Barack Obama the Republicans
will stop all that that free stuff he is giving away" (to his constituents),
I hear over and over again. I get tired of hearing that and there is little I
can do about it other than writing these stories to try and educate people.
It doesn't take long to see that many people think of black
folks when they think of welfare. (Public assistance has not been called
welfare in many years. Still it is the term most people still use as I am using
it here.) I saw a comment in Yahoo News were a person blamed the Baltimore riots on
liberals giving "those people" handouts rather than forcing them to
work. Supposedly we let "those people" become lazy and that is why
they are rioting.
Kansas Senator Michael O’Donnell wrote an editorial to The
Wichita Eagle, April 25, defending the new rules for those on welfare:
"A recent study shows that most Kansans support the intent of this bill
– to make sure resources are there for needy families and to encourage
independence rather than dependence. The study, conducted by the Remington
Research Group, shows that 64 percent of Kansans support the HOPE Act. A
majority, 66 percent, also agreed that limiting benefits from 48 to 36 months
encourages self-reliance."
I don't deny the results of the poll. Much of what I hear
people say about those on assistance, and the comments I read on various news
sites would indicate that many people are badly misinformed and much of what
they seem to believe is just plain wrong. I would bet that O'Donnell knows they
are wrong but uses those on assistance as scapegoats. The poor are helpless
people and when the right-wing political establishment has problems with their
own policies, blaming them is a way to divert people's attention somewhere else.
It is possible that O'Donnell really believes his own blather and if he is that
stupid he has no business in politics.
And what is the stereo type of a person on assistance? —They
are lazy; they are on drugs/alcohol or both; they make no effort to work or
find a job; they are uneducated and people with low moral standards.
We see a man or woman sitting on a couch watching TV and
drinking all day. These people are believed to get everything they want or need
free; including phones and housing. Apparently these people are scene as those
who decided it is easier to declare they are poor and then everything they need
is given to them for free. They are getting a free ride while the rest of
society works hard and makes less money. People get angry because they believe
they are giving much of their income to those who don't work. Of course the
reality is quite different.
What poor people get is not that much and little of what
they get is really free. When I was doing research on my book, War on Drugs, War on People, in the 1990s,
I found that Black people make up less than half of the people on welfare. I
doubt if that has changed much since then. Another way to look at it is that
more whites than blacks are on welfare and most black people ARE NOT on welfare.
I was on assistance with my ex-wife back in the late 1970s.
Back then the two of us got $240 a month in cash. A single person I knew was
getting $116 per month cash. That was before Ronal Reagan. Since that time
welfare across the country has been cut—not once, but several times. I have
been told recently, by people who work with poor people, that people on welfare
get less benefits today than I did when I was on welfare 30 years ago. Kansas has not increased
benefits at all since that time and the federal government has not either.
There is no truth to the mistaken belief that Obama has increased the money
people get on welfare. More money has been spent on welfare but that is only
because the need for such assistance has gone way up do to the increase in
joblessness.
I talked to Debbie Frank, from the Call Center
"A single person can get $194 for food," Frank
said. She added that a mother with two children can get $347. That isn't much
different from the late 1970s. But getting cash is a different story.
Frank said that a single person can't get any cash
assistance at all. Only people with children can get cash. She couldn't give me
an exact figure, however she said they look a
person's income. Most people that come in for welfare have some income,
most likely part-time jobs.
There are a lot of hurdles to get cash. The recipient has to
take part in a jobs program, take classes, pass a drug screening and if the
recipient is a sing mother, they have to cooperate with the states efforts to
collect child support.
When I was on assistance in the 1970s I considered public
housing but there were lots of restrictions. We had a dog and cat. We would
have had to get rid of them. There was a waiting list. When I lived in Junction City , Kansas
Over all nothing from the government is really free. There
are restrictions, background checks and all kinds of hurdles to keep most
people from ever getting on welfare. And that includes people with
disabilities. The government makes these benefits as hard to get as possible and
the recent new restrictions on how people can spend their money is a good
example of that.
I'm growing tired of the ridiculous stereo types that seem
to be a part of middle and upper class culture today. These stereo types are
wrong and they are harmful. Many people in this country have not gained the
benefits from this society that we all take for granted and many of these
people have worked hard. Some are still working at minimum wage jobs. Some have
gone through tragedies, others simply made honest mistakes. It is bad enough
these people have a hard time getting health care and other necessities. They
don't need to be falsely identified as being lazy moral-less people. I for one
am tired of hearing all the insults and lies. All I can do for now is try to
educate people as to what poverty in this country is REALLY like. People in
poverty are the most powerless people in the US . That is why so many politicians
use them as scapegoats. They can't really fight back.
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