Essay On Marginalization

When the Depression began, there was no federal relief for the unemployed or assistance for families facing starvation. Some states operated relief programs but curtailed them due to declining tax revenues. Religious and charitable organizations provided relief in many urban areas; however, in many of these organizations operating in the North as well as the South, there was a lot of discrimination and racism, which excluded African Americans from their "soup kitchens." In communities where relief work was offered through state agencies, African Americans were given less in monthly aid than white applicants. The reason I am referring to African Americans is because I have recently read a book that dealt mostly with the great depression and welfare programs. This book is called "There are no children here" and it is written by Alex Kotlowitz. This is not about a fictional story of hardships and struggles but rather it is a harsh reality that exists in this country, one to which we turn our backs and close our eyes to daily. This book is touching only if you understand and acknowledge the facts that perpetuate poverty and welfare dependency in the United States. Although I learned a lot from this book I

Hays goes on to say that “As anyone who has ever spent time in a welfare office knows, it is a world of women, children, and diversity.” Black and Hispanic welfare recipients make up 38% and 24.5% respectively of all welfare recipients, while those populations comprise 12.3% and 17% respectively

In this response, I am going to discuss how a person’s experience in the U.S can be affect by marginalization based on their ethnicity. I will refer to Tommy Pico’s Nature Poem to provide examples. Tommy Pico is the author of Nature Poem, as a gay, native American male Pico has face a fair share of adversity and marginalization throughout his life. He shares many of his experiences in Nature Poem. Your experiences in the U.S can be different based on your nationality, your sexual preference, and the area you live in.

The third image is that of the welfare mother… the new version that sees the welfare mother as breeding animals who have no desire to work, but are content to live off the state (Woodard Mastin, 273). This character is typically not a major or supporting character within the story. This stereotypical black woman is part of a protagonist’s hardship that they must overcome in some way. One example of this character in popular culture is from the film Precious, which was released in 2009. In this film, the protagonist, Precious has been impregnated by her father twice and if forced to live with her abusive mother. Both women in these film represent this stereotype of the welfare mother but her mother is the one who depends on the government’s help to support herself. In one scene, the mother tells Precious that she needs to quit school and go to welfare to get the help she needs to support her family. In reality her mother only wants the food stamps and other government help for herself. She still receives some welfare from Precious but wants more now that precious has two children. In another scene, she explains through a voice over that her mother collects the welfare for her children as well as herself. A social worker then enters the scene to ask about the child and the mother’s work finding status, she tells her that she has tried finding work but has not been successful (Precious). But in other scenes during the film she is just sitting in the house

At a campaign rally in 1976 Ronald Reagan talked about welfare queens and poverty. He said, “She used eighty names, thirty addresses and fifteen telephone numbers to collect food stamps, social security and veteran’s benefits for four nonexistent deceased veteran husbands as well as welfare. Her tax free cash income alone has been running 150,000 thousand dollars a year.”The welfare system is full of gender stereotyping. Stereotyping is when we make perceptions on what we make about others. In the past forty years America welfare system has been designed around Reagan’s fake welfare queen (Black, Sprague). This slur has had negative effects for the families on welfare that urgently need support and are struggling. This paper will discuss the lies of the welfare queen and how it originated and its negative effects on African American families and young girls.

Doetsch-Kidder’s (2016) monograph defines the important role of intersectionality as a defining sea-change in the way that women of color began to unify across racial and cultural barriers. Interviews with minority activists define the perception of the diversification of feminist ideology through the lens of intersectionality. One interview with a African-American activist named Donna illustrates the unity between women of color that evolved in the 1970s: “But overall, we are all fighting for civil rights, so there has to be some type of overlap with each one” (Doetsch-Kidder, 2016, p.103). This development defines the “overlapping’ ideology of different feminist groups, which soon began to devolve the racial and cultural barriers not only between women of color, but also with white feminist groups. In Doetsch-Kidder’s (2016) point of view, the civil rights movement laid the foundation for intersectional feminist principles to be practiced for women seeking greater representation in the workplace.

Society has structured us to believe that people of color do not prosper in life. I know it happens to many people when you are walking down the street you cannot help to feel intimidated by the colored man that walked passed you. It is because we are so adjusted to knowing they are the first to be convicted for assaults. Tim Wise (2012) states, “Yet despite all this we continue to believe, at least most of us, that people of color are taking advantage of “welfare” and that this is what explains everything from their own economic condition to the nation’s current budgetary woes” (p.47). Our tendency to believe that people of color or Hispanics live off welfare has not changed. I think this has a great deal to do with our sensing of people of color. We blame them for living off welfare and assume that the majority of them do since they are the ones that struggle in succeeding. This is due to the limitations that are placed on them when trying to better themselves. We have seen numerous people of color become professionals. Our President is a very intelligent black male that has made it this far despite the difficulties that people of color faced in our country.

Poverty and homelessness are serious issues in the U.S. today, especially because of the current recession, with levels of poverty and unemployment higher than at any time since the 1930s. Blacks and Hispanics are being affected disproportionately by homelessness, as well as poverty and unemployment in American society. This is just another example of the racial caste system and institutional racism that goes far beyond that of social class, and has always been the case in recessions and indeed with every other social and economic problem in American history. Even though the country elected a black president in 2008, wealth and incomes for minority groups, which were already far lower than whites, have been in severe decline for the past few years (Baumann 2001). Compared to the trillions of dollars in federal assistance that has been extended to the large financial institutions from TARP and the Federal Reserve, programs to aid the poor and homeless have been very inadequate, and are even being cut back on the local, state and federal levels.

Marginalization, the second form of oppression, is the most common form found in the United States. However, Young enlightens us that despite the common narrative, marginalization is by no means limited to racially marked groups. She explains that “marginals” are those that cannot or will not be used by the system of labor, which means that the term is inclusive to those that are elderly, unemployed, and even mentally and physically disabled. And because of this, it is “perhaps the most dangerous form of oppression.” (pg. 53) Marginalization works by excluding people from participating in the productive activities of social life,

Imperialism is the domination of one country of the political, economic, or cultural life of another country. Imperialism is more often than not fueled by two major schools of thought known as nationalism and Social Darwinism. Nationalism is a feeling of pride and devotion to one’s country. This can drive a person to think that their country is the most powerful, and in essence drives that person mad with power and a hunger to conquer, which not ironically is exactly what many countries did. Social Darwinism is the very idea that a more powerful country conquer the smaller countries. “Survival of the fittest,” as the well renowned Charles Darwin used to say. Imperialism is also sometimes sparked by military motives, such as when USA set up

“Imperialism is the creation and maintenance of an unequal cultural, economic, and territorial relationship, usually between states and often in the form of an empire, based on domination and subordination. Imperialism functions by subordinating groups of people and territories and extracting everything of value from the colonized people and territories” - unsetting Americans. (https://unsettlingamerica.wordpress.com/2011/09/16/cultural-appreciation-or-cultural-appropriation/) They are talking about being harmful and unequal but they are just the same. They are talking about how their ancestors killed some people but they have no fault in it. History is the past and the generation now has nothing to do with

Edin and Lein wanted to discover the surviving strategies of single mothers who are on welfare or work on a low-waged job. They argue “neither welfare nor low wage work gives single mothers enough income to meet their families’ expenses” (253). To find out the set of survival strategies of single mothers to make ends meet Edin and Lein interviewed 379 low income single mothers. They chose their interviewees from different cities, different aged group, and different ethnic background. Most mothers who are on welfare wanted to find a job and be out of the welfare but the primary problem that single mothers face was that “family economics”. With the minimum wage income it was impossible for the single mothers to bring the ends meet. Neither working nor being on welfare was enough to survive therefore mothers who are on welfare supported their budget by generating substantial supplementary income. Edin and Lein states that “welfare recipients generated extra income by working at side jobs, obtaining cash from network members, community groups and local charities”. They also get cash help from the family members, child’s fathers, and from a boyfriend. Because they were afraid to lose welfare benefits they did not tell anyone about the extra income they have. To survive they needed both the welfare benefits and the extra income. It was very difficult to establish a trust with the interviewees in the beginning because they were afraid if they talk about it they might lose the

(Rogers 407) Since 2012 more African Americans are attending college to work toward a higher education to at least help them out of poverty. There is also an increase in older college students in their late thirties to fifties that also returned to school for a higher education. (Ebony Magazine, 2012. Women of African American seem to have a much harder time, than other race of people, in poverty and are even harder for them in older age. “The term triple jeopardy has been used to describe “female ethnic-minority elderly.” Members of this particular group face discrimination in three ways-being a women, elderly, and a member of an ethnic minority group-putting them even more at risk for poverty than other adults”.(Rogers 407). People who live in poverty often have other problems such as stress, prolonged illness and disability, reduced access to health care, poor living conditions and malnutrition problems. The formal support system for African Americans who experience living in poverty can get help from: Tax Credits (Snap), subsidies programs – Section 8 program, Habitat for Humanity’s and free school lunches for children. The problem with some of these programs is that many people do not qualify for these services even as they struggle with poverty. Some ways of helping themselves is to help at home and lower the electric and gas bills by turning off lights when not needed. When taking shorter baths,

According to (www.blackdemographics.com),” 32% off African Americans do not obtain a high school diploma.” The unemployment rates are diverse when dealing with the African American population. According to Dodson (2009), “African Americans have an unemployment rate almost double that of the overall population.” African American women have a greater opportunity for employment through the federal, state, or local government than African American men. A high percentage of African Americans are primarily employed in a management, professional, and related occupations. The poverty levels of African American have increased since 2009. The head of households in an African American family is usually run by women. The majority of American families are single women raising children as a single parent. In certain situations, this can lead to the women to relying on public assistance for support. Some African American women live in section eight housing in which the government pays the majority of the rent. She may also receive food stamps or a government assistance check.

As many people know, Imperialism has shaped the culture and customs all over the world. Imperialism is the dominance of one country over another politically, economically or socially. Western culture can be seen in all parts of the world; from Asia to Africa, to the Indies and the Americans. The downside of having the bits of western culture all over the world, is how it got there. Western influence was forced upon places in Asia, specifically India, Indonesia with a hellacious price; lives and poverty.