Take A Walk In Their Shoes

  Growing up in a poor family helped me to see the good that welfare does for a family. I was raised in the house with my mother, my father, two older sisters, and my grandmother and aunt would be in and out. My father, as well as my mother, had full time jobs, but we were still poor. I can still remember being about ten years old and we had to go to my uncle's house to eat every day for about two or three days, because the bills were paid but there was no food to cook and the link, or food stamps, were all gone for that month.

I also remember that my father went to work every day, and my mother went to her job every night but they would still show that we were struggling. They tried their best to keep it from the kids, but my sisters and I knew enough to know that we did not have a lot of money. For my family welfare helped up to get where we are today. So, I understand that some people really need it, and I also understand that there are people that receive welfare and are comfortable. Many people in today's society, particularly middle and upper class whites believe that blacks choose to receive governmental assistance simply because they are lazy and do not want to work hard. For the majority that statement is false. As I stated before both of my parents worked very hard to support their family, but the paychecks obviously were not enough to survive on with three kids. After reading the first chapter of the book, American Apartheid, by Douglas Massey and Nancy Denton I received a new insight on why people may believe that welfare is s system abused by African Americans. In the first chapter of the book the authors explain that racial, residential segregation was a major contributing factor to the poverty level of black neighborhoods. As the authors explained, when neighborhoods are so racially segregated like the neighborhoods in the city of Chicago the residents of the poverty stricken neighborhoods as isolated form the rest of the city. When there are poor people living around other poor people they have no one they can network with because they most likely have the same amount of connections. Also as explained by William Julius Wilson in his book, The Truly Disadvantaged, social dislocation of jobs has a major effect on the poverty level. In other words, when the ghettos where formed throughout the city many of the decent paying jobs and jobs that minorities could qualify for left the black neighborhoods. If there are no decent paying jobs, poor educational systems, and no people that could help you get a job then it is pretty hard to survive without some help. I personally hate when people say that blacks are lazy and just want welfare. My parents worked hard while on welfare and have been off for over ten years now, so not every black person wants to be on welfare. The poverty and residential segregation that effects the black neighborhoods today were strongly influenced by the way things were in the past. Before the Fair Housing Act in 1968 neighborhoods were racially segregated because it was legal. However, according to Massey and Denton the Act did not change anything. Whites still discriminate against blacks moving into their neighborhoods, but they are not so open about it. Now, in today's society the neighborhoods are still segregated which is keeping the African Americans that cannot afford to move out of the ghettos isolated.

Blacks and whites do not have the same opportunities in life because of the neighborhoods that we grew up in. We do not know the same types of people and we do not have the socioeconomic status. Another major factor is the fact that the schools in poor neighborhoods do not prepare the children for higher education, which makes it harder for them to find a good paying job. Not to mention the fact that welfare makes it harder for people to get off then to get on. In other words, it is very easy to begin receiving governmental assistance as long as you qualify for it, which is also easy. However, there are many rules to receiving the assistance and some seem like the government is trying to keep people on welfare. For example, my professor explained that a person can have a job that pays minimum wage and still not be able to support a family. Then, once they get on welfare they cannot make "too much" money or they will receive less money, or no money at all. It is also hard for a woman with a husband to receive welfare, so that too contributes to the high number of female headed households. At the end of the day there are many people out there of all races that need and benefit from governmental assistance. So, people need to get it out of their heads that only blacks are on welfare because they are lazy and do not want to work, because all the people I know personally that are on welfare need it. Most people probably may actually need more than what they receive.  

 Here's a link that is related to the topic of welfare:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/storyline/wp/2014/09/15/why-temporary-assistance-may-not-be-enough-for-the-neediest-of-families/