Sunday, November 8, 2009

Jesus On Food Stamps


Born to a homeless family and pretty much in a barn, with only his parents and some animals to keep him warm, Jesus would have been on food stamps in 2009.

Years later, one of his most memorable miracles was feeding four to five thousand hungry people with a few loaves of bread and a small basket of fish. This is cited in Matthew 14:13–21, Mark 6:31-44, Luke 9:10-17 and John 6:5-15.

I bring this up now because I just got wind of this news: Many US Children May Live In Families Receiving Food Stamps. That's the least offensive link I've found summarizing Vol. 163 No. 11, pp. 973-1072, November 2009, of the Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine journal. You have to subscribe to read the full article, but you can read their abstract summary here.

It says that up to 50% of all American kids and 90% of black children will grow up in a household by age 20 where they or someone receives food stamps.

As an African American, I felt bad. Embarrassed. Ashamed. Their statistics feel like bullets that wound me.

I also doubted the conclusions. I mean, 90%? Come on. How many times have people lied with statistics? Or been wrong? But still... I wonder. What if it's true, or even remotely true?

Why are their projections so bleak? Research-gathering techniques of that magnitude sucked 30 and 20 years ago. The internet didn't even begin to get good until ten years ago.

If the government wasn't going broke and we hit Great Depression II with a vengeance and could afford to feed that many households of all races, then it might become true. Otherwise I just don't see it.

And, if they redid this study using stats of only the past decade, I wonder what their projections would be?

I know I live in an area of the country that is friendlier toward my people than nearly anywhere else. I speak of the DC-MD-VA beltway loop, where good government jobs, military and corporations abound, where the real estate market has held fairly steady while other areas have plunged, and so forth. Jobs have been tight this year but not impossible to get.

Hardly any the folks in my social circle have ever needed food stamps, and if so, it was only for a very brief time between jobs. Sure, I've had goo-gobs of clients who have relied on them, but the educated black middle and working class is strong in the DC area.

With this in mind - that my culture is only one of many subcultures in Black America - I grieve if the estimates are accurate.

I keep in mind that they are only statistics based on the past 30 years and projections of the future, and are not necessarily reflective of the present.

This is what's missing in so many news stories. It's all over the place and watered down or distorted to make it look like a current reality or a foregone conclusion... and for what purpose?

To give mainstream White America yet another reason to pity us?

To be fairer to us when we apply for jobs and in the workplace?

To throw up their hands and write us off as hopeless cases not worthy of saving when economic shit really hits the fan in 2010?

Or worse, to hate us en masse for our (unwanted) poverty, and at so many of us who are struggling for a figurative meal of fish and bread?

Jesus on food stamps... I picture this in my mind. It's the only thing that keeps me from feeling worse, and that we're not in such in bad company after all.


10 comments:

  1. This makes me think of my initial feelings towards Black in America II. They're always portraying the poor members of our community and then BIA threw us a bone and showed us the upper echelon. But never are those of us in the middle shown. I think we're the ones America needs to see; to know exist because we are always overlooked. Us black folks in the middle who don't own mega corporations or run balls up a field or have our own popular medium... no one's paying us any attention.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I heard about this too. I don't know but 90% of our kids on stamps seems really hard to swallow. I might buy that 60% are but 90% seems wrong. Who the hell are they talking to?

    It's funny because I know way more white folks who are accessing services like this than Black folks. Hell, most of my Black friends are doing fairly well.

    Like you I wonder at the reason for sharing these tidbits with us? Once again, it would appear to make us seem less than yet the reality is the Black middle class has grown in the past few decades. My very existence is proof, my grandparents were sharecroppers in Arkansas. Yet several of us (grandkids) hold not only college degrees but advanced degrees.

    Of course wealth wise we may lag behind whites (but look at where we started) yet I fully expect that the playing field will be truly even for my grand or great grandkids.

    ReplyDelete
  3. A.Smith, Great point, that the documentary BIA showed the very poor or the very rich, and left out those of us inbetween, who have so much in common with our white counterpart Americans.

    BGIM, Agreed, that is hard to swallow (90% black, 50% white). I went back and put in bold this sentence in the middle of the essay:

    I keep in mind that they are only statistics based on the past 30 years and projections of the future, and are not necessarily reflective of the present.

    Why are their projections so bleak? And research-gathering techniques of that magnitude sucked 30 and 20 years ago.

    If the government wasn't going broke and we hit Great Depression II with a vengeance and could afford to feed that many households, then it might become true. Otherwise I just don't see it.

    If they redid this study using stats of only the past 10 years, I wonder what their projects would be?

    I think I'll edit the post to add that for clarity. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Can we say self fulfilling prophecy? I am so tired of hearing this type of thing. It makes me feel like something is being rubbed in my face.

    People act like my family is freakish because we have nice things and high education. This statistic is the reason why.

    We need to see more of the average, black, middle class please.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Well, the government calls me "Black" (I identify as "Other" due to the Native blood I will not deny). And I'm on foodstamps. And clapped my hands with joy today when I got them and got my increase cuz it meant I could put some food in this house.

    Here's the thing; there's no need to be embarrassed about the statistics.

    50% of ALL AMERICAN kids is a lot of kids, and does not just include "black". But to be honest, 90% of AfricanAmerican kids is not that far fetched because:

    a.) The way the statistics are broken down is not always fair. If you as an enlightened person (such as myself) put's "Other" on your application and the person taking your application decides you are "black" you are "black" to the government. And there was a study done a while back that said that many more people are identifying themselves as "other" or "multi racial" but the government comes along and changes the designation for various reasons. So the identity "black" may look like a larger pool than it actually is. It's highly likely that the "statistics" are skewed.

    b.) Studies have shown that the African American community has been hardest hit by the recession/depression. MORE of us are unemployed and therefore there are now more of us seeking help.

    c.) I'm glad you all in the DC/MD area are doing well, but let me tell you, NYC is pretty bleak. And when I'm in the food stamp office, it's mostly Black and Latino women, and of the latino women many could be identified as "black" since there are a lot of brown-skinned Latinas... usually from the Dominican Republic.

    d.) Be clear that Foodstamps is NOT welfare... and most people who are on Foodstamps are actually working. You have to have some form of income. So foodstamps doesn't necessarily equate "poverty". But it probably does mean "the working poor".

    Personally, I don't get put out by the thought of me or other people being on Food Stamps. I worked and paid taxes--lots of taxes--so if I need them now, I'll take them.

    but yeah... people are suffering. Times are hard. And it's not like you can pick up and go someplace else...

    ReplyDelete
  6. Kit this was powerful; loved the way you ended it. I don't know about that 90% shit either. But I do know that currently there are about 40 million people or so on foodstamps and it's the highest in years. That said, there are a whole lotta "certain people" using them joints who suddenly throw all pride out the window.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Devon, you hit the heart of my feelings about these projections when you said, "People act like my family is freakish because we have nice things and high education. This statistic is the reason why."

    I'm with you; I'm tired of being clobbered by stats that over-emphasize the downside of Black America.

    Bear Maiden, I know you're struggling from your blog in NYC. I especially like that you said, "I worked and paid taxes--lots of taxes--so if I need them now, I'll take them." That's a damn good point.

    Rippa, Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  8. White folks are getting food stamps like gangbusters too.

    That high and mighty superior stance melts away quick and fast once the pink slips come down.

    The mass media is quick to share stats on blacks as a group, but very reluctant to share stats on whites as any group.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Wildflower is right, white folks are getting a lot of gubment bennies at the moment. Hell, they were the ones that gave me the idea to apply for medicaid for my daughter. The hubby and I work but since he is self employed and business has been down and I work but have no health coverage we spent a year or so having no coverage.

    Well I was wondering how white buddies of mine who I knew had worse off financial situations then me had health care? So I asked, turns out quite a few Honda Pilot driving on the surface soccer Mamas are getting benefits.

    Shoot, I now notice em with the food stamp cards, and Wic coupons in the store. I had the lightbulb moment and realized wait, you mean I can get health coverage? Well long story short, they initially turned us down and I persisited and thankfully we have coverage. (all of us!)

    I am thankful we don't need food stamps but if I needed them, I wouldn't hesitate.

    Like Bear Maiden said, folks have paid into the system and I admit seeing folks I had no clue were getting benefits really was eye opening.

    A good friend of mine (a sista) used to live in the same town in Maine where the Bushes have a home...girl, she was telling me how many of her buddies (white folks) were getting assistance. One woman was talking about how she needed to say her hubby was gone so she could get help. (insert big eyes with mouth hanging open look).

    So again, I wonder who are these folks they are talking to when they come up with these stats.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Good post KIT. This really gave me a different perspective thinking of Jesus on food stamps. They really might want to update this study though, because a lot of "other" folks are throwing pride out the window when it comes to public assistance these days.

    ReplyDelete

Hi, this is Kit.

I haven't posted since summer 2010, and comment moderation has been on for a very long time.

My old blogger friends (you know who you are) are welcome to email me.

I can be reached at:
kitsmailbag@gmail.com.