Overt Racism

It is impossible for a system to be developed without the encompassment of the creators’ ideology. Everything that is developed by humans will inevitably have their set of beliefs engrained in whatever system they create. This statement stays true to form when observing the system in which welfare is dispensed in the United States. In a nation that was developed by and for the white male, a majority of systems in the United States have been developed solely with their intentions in mind. Racism is one of the oldest and most widespread ideologies that continues to plague society. It is clear that racist ideology is engrained and continues to develop in the dispersal of welfare in the United States.

With the dispersal of welfare, came the United

States establishing that it’s the role of the state to assist its citizens in need. However, if the assistance is accompanied by prejudice and debilitating methodology, it harms the demographic it claims to assist.

With the development of an organized system of government assistance, came a new form of racism and prejudice manifested with keeping an overwhelming amount of black Americans poor and financially illiterate. The welfare program put in place result in the ability for policy makers to continue to oppress minority groups without being accused of overt racism. This systematic oppression has gone undetected and continued to enforce ideas that were supposedly diminished with the abolishment of Jim Crow south. While the North American welfare system may be masked with notions of good intention, it is underlined with decades of systematic racism.

It is imperative to have a clear understanding of systematic racism when evaluating the dispensing of welfare tin the United States. This form of racism manifested with the development of more complex political organization and widespread organizations. With momentous shifts in the expressed attitude towards race. Individuals that maintained the same archaic

ideology had to find more covert methods of enforcing racism that mimicked that of Jim Crow south. Systematic racism can be described as, racism that “includes the policies and practices entrenched in established institutions, which result in the exclusion or promotion of designated groups. It differs from overt discrimination in that no individual intent is necessary”. According to University of Calgary, this developed system of racism manifests itself in two ways, institutional and structural racism. Institutional racism is derived from individuals that carry out racist ideology and dictate the quality of life for members of the oppressed society. This can be displayed in government organizations schools, etc. and the people employed in these institutions employing the racist beliefs of the institution on the oppressed group they are set to target. In relation to the dispersal of welfare, this form of racism is displayed in the physical institutions for government assistance and employees that work there consistently expressing racist sentiment to the oppressed individuals receiving assistance. On the other hand, structural racism is rooted in a system wide operation of society that excludes a significant numbers of oppressed individuals from participating in major social institutions. This is the key type of racism that is instrumented in the universal dispersal of welfare in the United States. It is because of the racism in this widespread program that a major of black individuals in need of government assistance are being profiled and are not benefitting from the system currently in place.
Even though an established welfare state doesn’t fit into the democratic manifesto of the United States, there is a clearly developed widespread system of government aid. Widespread government assistance was introduced to the United States after the Great Depression. At this time every individual was in need of financial assistance. Because of this, the welfare system was initially developed with the intent of excluding black Americans. The white activists that were behind shaping the welfare system intentionally made ways to isolate black Americans from representation and the reception of resources Welfare encompasses those government programs that provide benefits and economic assistance to no or low income American. While the welfare system is newly under the jurisdiction of the state, benefits from major programs such as food stamps, public housing, section 8 housing, the refundable earned income tax credit, the Women, Infants and Children food program, energy aid, and Medicaid, can be found active in every state uniting the welfare system on a national level. Because of the immense similarity between the programs and the six decades of federal mandate, it is appropriate to refer to the current welfare system as a program of the entire nation.
The current welfare system develops a labor policy that deprives minorities groups of equal opportunities when obtaining higher wages.

The development of welfare policy creates a systematic dependency that is forcing recipients to rely on welfare as a necessity to have a This agenda is accomplished by adjusting the line of poverty to the point where an individual must maintain a lower paying job in order to still qualify for benefits. The Fiscal Research Division of the General Assembly analyzed the decisions confronting individuals and families enrolled in various government welfare programs. A single mother with two children ages 1 and 4 earning $15,000 a year through work would be eligible for government benefits (such as Medicaid, housing vouchers and subsidized day care) equivalent to roughly an additional $35,000. Situations such as the presented above force individuals the settle for a lower paying in order to keep benefits that are more that double that of their yearly income. Even the slightest raise in income would result in a loss of welfare and then a loss of the majority of valuable resources coming into the family. With 73% of black children being born into single parent families, it is clear what demographic is being largely affected by the development of the poverty entrapment. By forcing mother of minority groups to choose between losing benefits and slightly increasing her paycheck, the current system of welfare is forcing minority groups to stay enrolled

in programs that don’t allow for financial mobility.