Stupid Criminals & Other Stereotypes
By oraclegurl@googlemail.com
Hey, Welcome back! First, I’ll tell you about, a “stupid-criminal” who tried to defraud the welfare system and discuss those all so common stereotypes about public assistance recipients. You know, the “they just want to sit at home and collect a check”, or “they keep having babies so they can collect a check”, or even the “I’m tired of all these ghetto black girls, comin’ in here like they’re doing me a favor” (stated by an actual case worker).
Before we begin let me throw something at ya’ll. I found this to be very interesting and thought this would be great to start this posting with. According to Eight Great Myths About Welfare by Anitra Freeman,
“The most famous myth about welfare may be the one begun by Ronald Reagan on the 1976 campaign trail: the story of a woman from Chicago's South Side who was arrested for welfare fraud. "She has 80 names, 30 addresses, 12 Social Security cards and is collecting veteran's benefits on four non-existing deceased husbands. And she is collecting Social Security on her cards. She's got Medicaid, getting food stamps, and she is collecting welfare under each of her names." Many investigative reporters tried to track down this "Welfare Queen". She didn't exist”.
Personally I think this is some bull, because the woman is conveniently from the “SOUTH SIDE” of Chicago. Why couldn’t she be a woman from Provo, Utah? (A city with one of the highest populations of Caucasians, according to The Bay Area Center for Voting Research). I believe many of us have heard this story in one variation or another. Yes, there are those who truly defraud the system, but they are far and between.
*A True Encounter*
Now, OracleGurl has the scoop for you, I have seen proof of a “defrauder” who shall remain nameless. I must tell you how it went down because if I can save one idiot from a trip to Brooklyn House (detention center) and stale bologna sandwiches, then my job is done!
Place: Downtown Brooklyn, the now closed (not due to this stupidity) Human Resources Administration eligibility review center at 330 Jay Street. (It is now the new & improved Brooklyn Family Court House)
Date & Time: A mild May afternoon in the mid 90’s
The ACT: A man walks into the Public Assistance office with his common law wife and their three daughters, to get a new identification card (FYI – this is before the EBT cards), for his recently recertified case(s) –read on you’ll understand-. The man’s first alias is called and he goes up to the designated window to take his picture and sign for the ID. Ok no problem. However, the defrauder goes back to his seat and sits patiently as if waiting for something else, even while his children are getting fidgety.
Two hours later, guess what, Defrauder’s second alias is called; he goes up to the same window (with the very same clerk) to take the picture and sign. Now said defrauder does NOT change anything about himself but his last name. Nope, not his outfit, SSN, first name, silver earring hanging from his ear. NOTHING. Upon taking a better look at the signatures and information in front of her, the clerk has an epiphany and calls the defrauder, by his second alias, back to the window. Now, no one seems too concerned with the situation. Until ten minutes later when the defrauder’s first alias is called. By then, people have been looking around wondering why this guy has been called four times. The defrauder pays none of this any mind.
It is now 4PM and the family is leaving to take the train home after a long day at the public assistance office. When the family walks out of the main entrance, four NYPD officers in full uniform, arrest said defrauder in front of his family, who for some reason has this look of bewilderment on his face.
Long story short, as a gift the defrauder received a brief stay in jail and was banned from receiving public assistance for ten years.
So ladies and gents, it’s really not worth it, to defraud the system especially when they aren’t giving you much to begin with. I’ve had a case worker tell me straight to my face….”we don’t give you enough to be comfortable we give you enough to barely survive, so that you’ll be motivated to do for yourself…. you do know this is temporary”!
*Stereotypes of Welfare and its Recipients*
Now, on to those vicious stereotypes. Those who haven’t experienced poverty first hand or have the wrong idea concerning public assistance, create a lot of the stigma and negative views about public assistance and its recipients. Some of these stereotypes are discriminatory, if not outright racist; many of them have occurred or are true for a select few of the public assistance (or PA recipients). But the mistakes of a few become the struggle for the rest. Now, with out further adieu….
Women on welfare have more kids to get more benefits
Most welfare mothers have one or two children; in fact more than 70% of welfare families have only one or two children. The benefits gained from having extra children usually don’t cover the expenses needed to adequately care for the child (ren). The average increase in benefits is only . (I don’t know about you but my kids can run through dollars in less than a week. Let’s see pampers, clothes (laundry), bottles, baby bath, wipes…ooops there goes that .) For a mother on public assistance, the chances of getting out of poverty decreases with each child she has.
Most of the recipients on welfare are inner city black or Latino.
According to the U.S. government, the majority of welfare recipients are white, live in the suburbs, have two kids, want to work, and stay on welfare an average of only two years. Women of color are over-represented among welfare recipients because they are over-represented among the poor (Self Sufficiency). According to Vanessa Gallman’s SMASHING THE MYTHS OF WELFARE, whites make up 38.9% of welfare recipients, while blacks make up 37.2%. (Not much of a difference, I know but it’s proof. Just because we don’t many Caucasians in the job centers doesn’t mean they aren’t there).
The Census Bureau's most recent annual poverty report found that urban black mothers constitute less than one out of six of all poor households. Rural white families account for more--one out of five. White suburban families account for even more--one out of four. (I’m shocked beyond words)
Welfare recipients are lazy and don’t want to work.
Most welfare recipients (about 82%) are children under the age of ten. (So of course they don’t want to work…because they can’t. Don’t we have child labor laws?). Of the adults, 70% return to work after two years. Of those who return to work, 45% return to welfare within a year. It’s not that they don’t want to work. (If you add the cost of childcare, work expenses, medical benefits, and everyday necessities, the average worker will still need to receive benefits just to break even.)
Public assistance is only for the unemployed.
Many of the people receiving public assistance are currently working. Low wages, seasonal work, and a low number of working hours can lead to a need for assistance with food, cash, or health coverage. (I rest my previously stated case).
Welfare benefits are generous.
Actually the average monthly benefit in the city of New York is 1 (for a family of three). The national average is about 0! That totals a little under ,600 a year. The federal poverty level is set at ,242 (for a family of three). (I really don’t see the generosity, considering that the yearly gross income is less than what some people make in a month).
A majority of welfare recipients are black teenage mothers.
Most welfare recipients first gave birth when they were adults. (Didn’t we just go through this…if a majority of the recipients are Caucasian then how can the majority of the recipients also be black teenage mothers. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never heard of a white black teenage mother).
Welfare recipients commit a lot of fraud.
Reforms passed in the late nineties have limited fraud in several ways, some states require home visits while others fingerprint every adult recipient; recertifications are frequent, and documents are checked for tampering. Welfare recipients commit about 7% of all fraud cases with vendors (stores, supermarkets, doctors, hospitals, etc…anyone who receives payment from the government on behalf of a recipient) committing the remaining 93%. (With the exception of the defrauder from the true encounter and a select few, most welfare recipients are good, honest, hardworking people, who just happen to be going through tough times).
Welfare mothers breed welfare daughters.
Two long term studies reported by the House Ways and Means Committee in 1992 found that only about one in five daughters of "highly welfare dependent" mothers themselves become highly dependent on welfare. The rest rely on welfare sporadically or not at all. It is very difficult for families to make a career out of assistance due to work requirements and time limits. (“While poverty can be inherited, being on welfare isn’t. Carol Burnett (actress/comedienne), and six members of Congress are former welfare kids”- Anitra Freeman. And what in the hell is “highly welfare dependent”??)
For more information on these myths and more:
1. Project Self Sufficiency - http://bcn.boulder.co.us/pss/welfare.html
2. Smashing the Myths of Welfare - http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/VA-Pilot/issues/1994/vp941206/12060564.htm
3. Women and Children on Welfare: Fact Versus Stereotypical Perceptions - http://tiss.zdv.uni-tuebingen.de/webroot/sp/spsba01_W98_1/denver2.htm
4. Eight Great Myths About Welfare - http://www.anitraweb.org/homelessness/columns/anitra/eightmyths.html
5. The Myth of the Welfare Queen - http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1316/is_n7_v29/ai_19596314
Do you have a stereotype or myth you want to demystify? A response, opinion, question, or story you want to share? Feel free to hit your girl up at oraclegurl@googlemail.com.