Last week, I wrote a story about how Republicans in Congress are trying to reform the free breakfast program in schools. This is not new. Republicans have been trying for quite some time to cut this and other similar programs like free lunch, citing concerns about fraud and wasted expenses. Of course, just like their claims of supposed “illegal voting” that needs to be stopped, they have no real evidence that fraud of this type exists.
If you look at their motives, this actually has nothing to do with waste and everything to do with the stigmatization of poverty. At a time when low-income students comprise the majority in our nation’s public schools and children are the country’s poorest people, it is downright cruel to make it difficult for millions of needy students to eat. But there is little empathy for the poor among this group, even when they are children.
There is a lot that Republicans get wrong about poverty, often suggesting that there is something deficient about those who are poor while at the same time lauding those who are rich—as if their wealth somehow makes them good and decent people. Our country’s obsession with wealth and individuality has become a sickness that has blinded us to reality and the notion of working on behalf of a collective good. This was exemplified by the presidential election in November when more than 60 million people decided to vote a con man, serial abuser, and narcissist who had no government experience into the highest office in the land because he is a billionaire and promised to make them all rich. Even poor people—no, make that especially poor people bought the snake oil and thought he would bring back jobs and put an end to benefits for the undeserving who “mooch” off the government. Of course, they actually are the ones who are receiving government assistance but they are so brainwashed that they don’t even want to help themselves.
To be clear, this is not meant to demonize the poor. In fact, just like women, people of color, LGBTQ folks, and other minorities, the poor internalize a number of harmful societal messages around them that reinforce their inferiority and marginalization. And when it comes to white poverty these messages are mixed in with white supremacy, which reinforces a sense of superiority over people of color. This creates a toxic stew that causes poor whites to vote against their own interests and support policies that are far more damaging than they are helpful.
