The precise economic principle most grossly violated by these women was, according to many, that they were getting something (ADC) for nothing (another black baby). Entering into this scam made single black mothers into chiselers, determined to cheat the public with a bad sell. The fact that it was, overwhelmingly, a buyer’s market for black babies “proved the valuelessness of these children, despite their expense to the taxpaying public. White babies, of course, entered a healthy seller’s market, with up to ten couples competing for everyone one adoptable infant.
Spokespeople for this point of view believed that black unmarried mothers should pay dearly for the bad bargain they foisted on society, especially on white taxpayers. Governor Orville Faubus complained in 1959 that ,” By taxing the good people to pay for [ADC], we are putting a premium on illegitimacy never before known to the world.” Many felt that rather than paying for their sins, black women were being paid, by the ADC grants, an exchange that could encourage further sexual and fiscal irresponsibility."
—
Rickie Solinger, Wake Up Little Susie: Single Pregnancy and Race Before Roe v. Wade (emphasis mine)
HOLY SHIT. I have never seen this broken down so simply and concisely before. I can’t believe I never saw it.
This is it!
This is why this argument about “babies for welfare checks” is still around, why it has such weight with so many white people, and why the fact that welfare benefits don’t increase NEARLY enough to cover the additional expenses of an additional child doesn’t sway their conviction that Black women on welfare are just “popping out more babies for more money.”
It doesn’t matter HOW MUCH money it is. It doesn’t matter that more white people are on public assistance. It doesn’t matter that having babies for a welfare check defies logic on every possible level. It doesn’t matter how many times you show them the math!
What matters is that Black women who have babies while on public assistance want SOMETHING (“our tax dollars”) for NOTHING (Black babies).
What matters is that Black babies are seen as worthless, because Black life is seen as worthless. And the white outrage is that not only are Black women going around giving birth to Black babies — which is bad enough — but now they want paid (ANY AMOUNT) for this garbage (BLACK LIVES), too?
I fucking get it now. HOLY SHIT WHITE SUPREMACY.
(via thecurvature)
(via cabell)
