Black Women & Welfare

This piece was very interesting to me. The author starts out by explaining an experience that she had on the Oprah show, arguing her point and then goes to further explain why she has established this view. She experienced first hand how people use welfare the wrong way and manipulate the government to set up a cushioned lifestyle, without work. The author chronicles her life, beginning at age 21. At this stage, she was introduced to welfare while living a fast life full of partying, promiscuity, and drugs. She learned that a pregnant woman can get a welfare check for three months to live on, but also make money selling Medi-Cal stickers to others. By doing this, she lived for a long time with no job and a care free life. Later, after having a baby she decided that she wanted to quit using welfare and form a healthy lifestyle for her daughter.


This article expands on how people misuse welfare and other things given to them. This can make it hard for people to do things on their own, because when things are given they are taken for granted. As stated in the writing, the "welfare brats" can form a sense of entitlement and feel that they do not have to work when they will be taken care of by the government. This is not a positive mindset, as many people work hard and should not have their money being wasted. I think that the author's point was that although it may be easier to take something that is given, it is better to work for it. Although she and her daughter might have lived well off of welfare, she still needed to keep working to improve their lifestyle and not let the sense of entitlement to government money get in the way. This ties back to black women and literacy, because I think as black women we are supposed to use or literacies to continue growing rather than to settle for what we are given.