Discuss the following New York Times article, which discusses Reagan’s 1976 campaign rhetoric about female “welfare chiselers,” in relation to the racial politics of welfare reform as discussed by Bezusko. How is this kind of representation pertinent today?
March 20, 2019 at 2:20 pm
In this New York Times article, Reagan uses this singular blown out of proportion case about Linda Taylor – of whom the term “Welfare Queen” was first dubbed, as a scapegoat and overgeneralization of those on welfare as abusers of the system. Because Reagan’s whole speech against the welfare system is focused on people of color who abuse the systems (references to Linda Taylor and the “slum dwellers” in the Taino Towers of New York City who are primarily Puerto Rican and Black and should not be able to “afford” this type of housing according to Reagan). Thus, his war on Welfare really became a war on the Black Poor. White images of the poor became the “sympathetic coverage” while images of African Americans took over the “ antagonistic coverage” during the war on poverty and welfare. (46).
The idea in Bezusko’s piece that “those who did not succeed given the benefits of American capital expansion were explained through family pathology” (45) is a way to put complete blame on culture and race rather than the American system itself. When, in 2018, Trump signed an executive order directing federal agencies to add work requirements to federal assistance programs, he claimed it would incentivize people to work harder and help economic mobility. But, these new “work requirements” are actually about punishing black people – as many of these states are including exemptions for countries with the highest unemployment levels – made up mostly of rural and white individuals. Urban areas in which there is a large proportion of black people unemployed but the actual city level of unemployment is not too bad, really just targets African Americans and puts this “work requirement” only on them.
March 20, 2019 at 1:59 pm
In the New York Times article, it discusses how Ronald Reagan would go around on the campaign trail stating how Linda Taylor, a woman from Chicago, was taking advantage of the welfare system. Reagan used this on the campaign trail as a way of garnering support for his campaign since he wants to show that these people are a drain on government money. In order to prove his point, Reagan did not always use proper facts. When it came to stating how many people he got off welfare and how much an apartment at Taino Towers cost, Reagan did not state the actual numbers.
This article relates to Bezusko’s article since she discusses how welfare reform has gone on since the Cold War. Welfare was under scrutiny during this period since it represented a lack of freedom and “anti-American values.” The idea of welfare became linked to that of the “lazy, licentious, and ultimately un-American Black welfare queen.” This was the image that represented someone on welfare. This image of the welfare queen is one that has been carried on and portrayed in film and in the media.
This kind of representation I believe can be related to the way in which Donald Trump campaigned. Throughout his campaign, he made statements about illegal immigrants and how they are stealing US jobs and are a drain on the US economy. This can be compared similarly since many of Trump’s claims are not ones that contain actual facts or statistics, but rather generalized statements.