Far from being an anti-poverty program, welfare reform, as we now know it, has become a program that punishes people who are poor and in many cases makes them even poorer. Welfare reform has eliminated a federal commitment to protect poor children and replaced it with a program to separate poor women from the work of caring for their children and to force them into poverty-level jobs, often at less than a minimum wage.
The ideological shift from a program designed to alleviate structural economic difficulties to one designed to correct the perceived character flaws of individuals has resulted in increased discrimination in the operation of welfare programs.
As the color of welfare recipients has changed across time, the welfare program has abandoned its original mission of providing economic support to keep children and their parents out of poverty in favor of controlling the allegedly deviant behavior of its recipients. It should not surprise us that since preventing poverty is no longer its goal, neither is it any longer the effect of the American welfare system.
Excerpted from Poverty to Punishment: How Welfare Reform Punishes the Poor.
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State Welfare Programs Violate The Law. New Study Illuminates Recession’s Impact on Workers of Color, Calls on Congress to End Widespread Discrimination in Public Benefits Programs. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE. Report Released June 20, 2002. CONTACTS: Gina Acebo(510) 653-3415 ext. 338, Menachem Krajcer (510) 653-3415 ext. 304. |
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New Welfare Survey Reveals Disturbing Trends. Report Released. February 1, 2001. Contact: Andre Banks , 917-456-7759. |
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How California's CalWORKs Keeps Families Poor. For immediate release. July 14, 2003 contact: Menachem Krajcer (510) 653-3415. CDSS Director Rita Saenz on Notice: Investigate CalWORKs Illegal Activities |
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Corporations Prospect for Gold Among the Poor. New Report on the Privatization of Welfare. Report Released, May 8, 2001. Contact: Andre Banks 917-456-7759 |
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By Gary Delgado. It used to be that we didn't have to do much to smash the racist stereotype about welfare. After listening to some know-it-all drone on about Cadillacs and welfare queens, all we had to do was point out that--uh, incidently, most people on welfare were white, and that would usually shut them up. Full article available on ColorLines here. |
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Fighting Welfare "Reform." Rinku Sen asks why Clinton's welfare "reform" passed so easily in 1996--and whether progressives are ready to challenge reauthorization in 2001. Full article available on ColorLines here. |
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