The Media vs. Black Women 2: The Welfare Queen
Iwas digging through some old files from my college days and encountered a relic that documented the day the entire world changed for me in a very negative way.
And it was all thanks to the carelessness of television and their desire to always throw their shit on black women.
It was a short diary entry I wrote, I'm guessing, sometime between 2006–2008. At the time, I was in college and living in a homeless shelter with my young son:
I was sitting in the tiny studio apartment (my hotel room in the shelter), watching 20/20 on TV, still reeling from a segment about televangelist's spending habits when the next piece came up. This was about the "Marry Your Baby Daddy Day," created by one woman who was fed up with African-Americans making children and not getting married.
I watched with interest, wanting to know her story and how this idea came about. I should have been better prepared for a heavy shot of black woman bashing, but I wasn't. This was an ambush! And the entire world changed that day in an instant.
This televised piece started tame enough, innocent even. It explained how black men and women must unite in love and unity. Sure. All those catch phrases sound good. They always do.
But then…they started talking about why so many black couples are having babies out of wedlock. Now out of the devil's own mouth, did John Stossel say that they aren't exactly sure WHY the rate of out-of-wedlock mothers in the black community was rising. I was ready to accept this answer because I knew there was more than one reason why it happened.
But then John goes into this — SPIEL — about one possible reason ("they") think black people don't get married because black women won't get as much money in their WELFARE CHECKS if they put their husbands on it, so this discourages black women from getting married.
Quote from the website article:
This was not the historical norm. Most black kids were born to married parents until the time when President Johnson promised to end poverty. Perhaps because poor people were offered more government aid, moms had less need for a husband. Some mothers could lose a welfare check if their husband made money. People respond to such incentives, and the out-of-wedlock birth rate has continued to grow across the board, but especially among blacks.
I was floored! What the hell did he just say? People respond to such incentives? What "People?" Once again, is "People" a code word for "Blacks?" So you mean to tell me I escaped my abusive ex and ended up in a homeless shelter because I'm trying to get a welfare check? Are these people serious?!
I was livid but made myself calm down. Who would believe all these black women left their husbands/baby's fathers for a welfare check? Do you know what kind of pitiful money welfare gives? For me and my young son TOGETHER, we got around $90 dollars monthly cash. I lived in a shelter, so that took care of the rent. I also got food stamps for less than $370 a month and W.I.C.(A program which gives food vouchers that can only be used to get food for children and baby milk), which maybe amounted to about $50 in food vouchers monthly. So, I got around $550 month living in NY between food and cash assistance. And only about $90 dollars of that could I use for anything but food.
Nobody is kicking a man out for $90 dollars a month and food UNLESS that man is abusive, cheating, or refuses to work and help support the household!
Also, why wouldn't men be able to get welfare IF they meet the income guidelines? By then, I had been in a welfare office more times than I could remember. And what did I see there? MEN. Some were with their families, some were single, some were gay, young, old, black, white, asian, whatever. But men were definitely up in the welfare office, getting all types of welfare!
These men will get up in his baby mama’s face and try to demean her for getting food stamps to feed HIS child, all while having a food stamp card in his own wallet! Lord knows my ex did!
But once again, I thought that accusation was too stupid for anyone to believe. Who would believe someone would leave a good man who was supporting his family for $90 dollars a month and food to eat?
Unfortunately, a LOT of people believed it or wanted to act like they do. Even people who I am sure knew better.
Men who grew up with mamas on welfare and saw their own mothers struggle to keep food on the table, work 1 or 2 jobs while getting welfare, just trying to survive and make ends meet, even some of them repeat the "Black women and welfare" foolishness. Why? Because it's a way to shame black women and cover up the real reason the family dissolved: Their own hatred of black women and black children!
And this lie went worldwide, casting a stigma on black women everywhere.
All from a dirty insinuation coming from the television screen.
"People respond to such incentives..."
How 20/20 didn't get shut down for such blatant racism is beyond me.
We don't know why there are so many single-parent homes…but it's probably because black women kicked black men out to get welfare.
They forgot to mention that this "no man in the home" stipulation was not for the children's father. It was for any man who could replace the absentee father and be a potential stand-in father.
Under the man-in-the-house rule, a child who otherwise qualified for welfare benefits was denied those benefits if the child's mother lived with or had relations with any single or married non-disabled male. The man was considered a substitute father, even if the man was not supporting the child.
Basically, they said any man dating or hanging around the mother, even as a friend, was now somehow obligated to be a stand-in daddy. What kind of weird crap is this? Although it's great and noble if another man wanted to be a stand-in substitute father to a woman's kids, this is not something the government should ever impose on anyone.
But it didn't have to make good sense. For some reason, good sense goes entirely out the window regarding black women.
Like 20/20 could get away with such blatant misogynoir and say, "People respond to such incentives," insinuating black women would kick men out of their homes just for food stamps. The government was allowed to enforce the man-in-the-house rule, which was a way to prevent black women from remarrying and cast moral judgment on them.
One official testified that the regulation applied only if the parties had sex at least once a week, another official testified that sex every three months was sufficient, and still another placed the frequency at once every six months.
And it's women like me, just trying to survive and live life, that takes the brunt of these attacks socially.
There's no surprise for me here. The media hasn't been black women's friends for a long time.
But black women are tough as hell. Despite all these lies promoted against us, we are still kicking!
I hope that truth distresses these liars greatly. :)
Thanks for reading!
❤️ The Media vs Black Women 1: A Tale of Two Cartoon Characters
Be sure to subscribe for alerts when I post new articles!
Coke Francis created the banners/animations from images purchased from Dreamstime.com. ←This is a referral link. Click on it and I get a percentage of every sale!
