Stupid Poor People & Status Symbols


If you read this post at tressiemc, you might pull back on the hateration when you see "poor people" walking around with nice iPhones and sweet threads.

I mean, I could have told you not to be an ass, or you could read an entire article telling you that in insightful ways. You don't know, dude. You don't know.

I don't think it's wise for anyone who's not straight up rich to buy a $2,500 purse. What I am saying is, shut up. Here's one of the places where the impulse comes from:
I remember my mother taking a next door neighbor down to the social service agency. The elderly woman had been denied benefits to care for the granddaughter she was raising. The woman had been denied in the genteel bureaucratic way — lots of waiting, forms, and deadlines she could not quite navigate. I watched my mother put on her best Diana Ross “Mahogany” outfit: a camel colored cape with matching slacks and knee high boots. I was miffed, as only an only child could be, about sharing my mother’s time with the neighbor girl. I must have said something about why we had to do this. Vivian fixed me with a stare as she was slipping on her pearl earrings and told me that people who can do, must do. It took half a day but something about my mother’s performance of respectable black person — her Queen’s English, her Mahogany outfit, her straight bob and pearl earrings — got done what the elderly lady next door had not been able to get done in over a year. I learned, watching my mother, that there was a price we had to pay to signal to gatekeepers that we were worthy of engaging. It meant dressing well and speaking well. It might not work. It likely wouldn‘t work but on the off chance that it would, you had to try. It was unfair but, as Vivian also always said, “life isn’t fair little girl.”

Comments

  1. I will shut up about welfare recipients buying status symbols when they shut up about how it's our responsibility to continue to support their lifestyle.

    If they want the lifestyle, that should motivate them to go out and earn it, instead of sitting on their duff collecting a check and appearing to live lavishly on the backs of those who work hard.

    Jesus felt no compassion for the lazy.

    This bunk about being denied things because someone doesn't dress a certain way or doesn't have certain things is absolutely ridiculous. We have tons of rags to riches stories that have been made in this country, and no where in any of those stories was the excuse used, that because that person didn't have a nice suit or the right pair of shoes, they were denied some opportunity they wouldn't otherwise have.

    It's an excuse that causes an individual to think they are doing everything else right so they can blame one area or aspect of society as to why they aren't getting what they want.

    It's avoiding responsibility, it's irresponsible.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I just re-read over the article to see if there was anything I missed. And I see that you're making a connection between welfare recipients that need their benefits such as the grandmother raising her granddaughter, vs those who spend their welfare checks on things they don't need.

    This is erroneous. The intentions of the two groups of people are completely different and should be judged accordingly.

    There are those who need welfare, and those who want welfare. Those who want it and have it outnumber those who actually need it. Welfare abuse is such a big problem here, that trying to justify those who want by only looking at those who need it is most certainly viewing the situation through rose colored glasses.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm not justifying anything. I'm saying you should have mercy and do good.

      Delete

Post a Comment