The facts about whites vs. blacks on welfare rolls
A reader made a snarky remark on an earlier post of mine about reparations. As I said, I’m not taking a position on the issue right now. I haven’t made up my mind. But the reader’s comment said “they” should get reparations when “they” return the money for welfare, food stamps and other government aid.
“They,” of course, means “black Americans.”
The Census Bureau looked at this question in a 2006 study with the sexy title, “Dynamics of Economic Well-Being: Participation in Government Programs, 2001 Through 2003.” You can read the whole study in PDF form by clicking right here.
The study looked at participation in means-tested programs such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families; General Assistance; food stamps; Supplemental Security Income; Medicaid; and housing assistance. Here’s a few facts from the study:
- In raw numbers, more white people took government aid. In 2003, about 15 million blacks, 14 million Hispanics and 25 million non-Hispanic whites participated in a program for at least 1 month.
- Similarly, the study says, “during the 2001–2003 period, approximately 8 million blacks and 5 million Hispanics received means-tested assistance for 12 or more months, compared with 10 million non-Hispanic whites.”
- The participation rate among blacks is higher than other groups. In 2003, the average monthly participation rate for blacks, 33.7 percent, was higher than that for non-Hispanic whites, 9.7 percent.
Yes, blacks get welfare at a higher rate. But I can’t put those number in context any better than Time magazine did in 1991, when writer Barbara Ehrenreich debunked the assumption that one’s race was inherently a predictor of welfare participation.
Welfare is a program for poor people, very poor people. African Americans are three times as likely as whites to fall below the poverty level and hence to have a chance of qualifying for welfare benefits. If we look at the kind of persons most likely to be eligible — single mothers living in poverty with children under 18 to support — we find little difference in welfare participation by race: 74.6% of African Americans in such dire straits are on welfare, compared with 64.5% of the poor white single moms.
That’s still a difference, but not enough to imply some congenital appetite for a free lunch on the part of the African-derived.
So, why are black disproportionately poor? Ehrenreich anticipated that question, too.
Consider, for a start, that African Americans are more likely to be disabled (illness being a famous consequence of poverty) or unemployed (in the sense of actively seeking work) and far less likely to earn wages that would lift them out of the welfare-eligibility range.
As for the high proportion of black families headed by single women (44%, compared with 13% for whites): many deep sociohistoric reasons could be adduced, but none of them is welfare. A number of respected studies refute the Reagan-era myth that a few hundred a month in welfare payments is a sufficient incentive to chuck one’s husband or get pregnant while in high school. If it were, states with relatively high welfare payments — say, about $500 a month per family — would have higher rates of out-of-wedlock births than states like Louisiana and Mississippi, which expect a welfare family to get by on $200 a month or less. But this is not the case.
Ehrenreich closes her 1991 article:
So we white folks have a choice. We can keep pretending that welfare is a black program and a scheme for transferring our earnings to the pockets of shiftless, dark-skinned people. Or we can clear our throats, blush prettily and admit that we are hurting too — for cash assistance when we’re down and out, for health insurance, for college aid and all the rest.
Racial scapegoating has its charms, I will admit: the surge of righteous anger, even the fun — for those inclined — of wearing sheets and burning crosses. But there are better, nobler sources of white pride, it seems to me. Remember, whatever they say about our music or our taste in clothes, only we can truly, deeply blush.
(5 votes, average: 3.4 out of 5)
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Kurt is the director of social media for the Post-Dispatch, where he has worked since August 2002. He's been a journalist since 1982, covering municipal government, courts, education and two hurricanes as a reporter before becoming an editor. 
People must realize that attaining this kind of love is not natural and cannot be attained without the love of Christ/God operating at the forefront within us. Even then, we still run into situations and people and conflict with ourselves having difficulty loving in this way because we are imperfect.
When we do find that we are having difficulty loving the way God has called us or even letting go of things, we must acknowledge it to God and prayer to Him to fix our hearts in the correct way towards all who cross our paths and in all situations.
I would much rather be the butt of institutionalized racism, disabled, poor and always needing a handout and always fighting for justice than to be a self righteous compassion lacking person with no financial worries in this world.
Life is very short, just think, most of us are gone by the time we are 85 and if it means putting up with all this craziness for a while, even suffering upon this earth for those 85 years, so be it as long as you do not allow it to turn you into being a compassion lacking polluted hearted human being that so many are proving to be each and every passing day.
White people are not the only race guilty of this attitude. I find many Blacks and people of other races to have these same self-righteous attitudes towards the poor or others who are not as motivated as they.
Population of US approx. 305 million
Whites approx. 221 million 25 million on welfare rolls 11.3%
Blacks approx. 41 million 15 million on welfare rolls 36.5%
Hispanic approx 43 million 14 million on welfare rolls 31.6%
Out of wedlock births…..
Whites 28%
Hispanic 51%
Black 72%
“At midyear 2008, there were 4,777 black male inmates per 100,000 U.S. residents being held in state or federal prison and local jails, compared to 1,760 Hispanic male inmates per 100,000 U.S. residents and 727 white male inmates per 100,000 U.S. residents.
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/prisons.htm
WOW!!
Kurt:
How is an 18 year old opinion piece from Time magazine relevant at all in discussing race relations in 2009?
Amazedbythelunacy,
Certainly, these Black births are from teenage pregnancies mostly, a group who usually do not discuss birth control issues with their parent(s) or even doctors freely, shows that most at least have a conscience operating within.
White teenagers, even those from Conservative families abort their babies, but most White teenagers place their out-of-wedlock born babies up for adoption. This explains much of the discrepancies that we see with the percentages that you have given us.
I wish someone would tackle the number and percentages of babies placed for adoption who are White babies each and every year. Where do you think those White American babies come from and have always came from that goes up for adoption each year? Maybe these numbers would stop some of the foolish judgmental attitudes by people like you.
Black teenagers do not usually place their children up for adoption for many reasons including, not many people looking to adopt Black babies.
Now, what is your point concerning these percentages that you have posted? Certainly, you are not suggesting that White teenagers do not have out of wedlock sexual relationships at the rate of other races, are you? I just wish White people such as you would cease with all these racist attitudes that are so deceptive, but more disgusting than anything else is that you and others truly believe your own lies as if they were really true.
Kurt, people like you and Ehrenreich who propose blushing with white guilt as a solution to chronic poverty are a huge part of the problem. You still won’t accept that identifying and addressing cultural and behavioral causes of poverty are not inherently racist. Drugs, violence, despair, and neglect don’t care about their victim’s skin color. Why do you?
After trillions in ineffective Great Society spending, it is time to put aside the racial straw men and address the root cause behaviors and attitudes that impoverish families of every race. Rural white, urban black, migrant Hispanic, homeless, addicted, elderly all deserve a chance to stand on their own without the political baggage of the liberal agenda.
Despite professed good intentions, the Left’s racism of excuses and low expectations is the most bigoted, opportunistic, and destructive of all. Stop patting the poor on the head and start demanding their best effort to climb above the safety net of public and private aid.
JasonM,
Did you read the 18-year-old piece? Nothing has changed about the facts that she revealed in that piece. Read it and you will hopefully see your error.
Walker I posted facts, you posted assumptions.
Congratulations, Amazed. You’ve proven you can copy and paste statistics. Well done.
“A#” writes: “You still won’t accept that identifying and addressing cultural and behavioral causes of poverty are not inherently racist. Drugs, violence, despair, and neglect don’t care about their victim’s skin color. Why do you?”
You’re missing my point. This started with a comment by a reader who obviously attributes all of this to skin color. I don’t know what “cultural” or “behavioral” causes you’re talking about — perhaps you have some thoughts on the matter?
I agree that there are underlying causes of poverty that need to be addressed. I also agree that they have nothing to do with skin color.
Here’s how I know that: Whatever those causes are, they affected 54 million Americans for at least one month in 2003 — and most of them weren’t black.
Amazedbythelunacy,
Anyone knowing anything about the human psyche along with the racial injustices within this country would not be at all surprised by these prison figures that you posted. My question is what type of warped mind and unclean heart do you have that you are so surprised by these numbers or would even dare attempt to use these numbers in such a way?