Everyone's attitude about the food stamp program, SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) can stink. It offers nutrition assistance to millions of eligible, low-income individuals and families and provides economic benefits to communities.
No matter whether a person is on them or not the shameful stigma looms. Even though it helps feed 1:8 adults & 1:4 children, too many of them think the use of SNAP is a confession of failure. In my opinion, it is because of how we are all educated about the program. Those that are on it are not properly educated on how to use their stamps. Those that are not on them are educated with biased information based on stereotypes.
Lawmakers love to argue to abolish the SNAP program. They use cases like these articles
Tax dollars withdrawn at liquor stores, strip clubs, or
Steak and lobster? Not with food stamps, says lawmaker. The media put out mug shots of the various people who misuse the system. Oh and let us not forget the documentaries of food deserts that are within impoverished areas.
Have you ever seen a sign like this? It is probably because you were shopping at or passing by one. Can you tell me if you know anyone who is on SNAP who shops at a farmer's market? Have you ever asked somebody on SNAP if they knew they could shop at fresh produce markets? I have. The answer I got was nobody says it but the addresses are in the info pack they received when they get on the program. It's like there is money in basic informing, misinformation, & fear but none in the education of the program. But how did it happen?
Let me introduce you to the "Welfare Queen" story. The term "welfare queen" became a catchphrase during the political dialogue of the 1980s and 1990s. The most well-known person to use this moniker was Ronald Reagan.
Starting with his 1976 presidential campaign, Reagan gave America a sunny "Morning in America" optimism, but the "Welfare Queen," an infamous character description
"There's a woman in Chicago," Reagan said, according to an article in the now-defunct Washington Star. "She has 80 names, 30 addresses, 12 Social Security cards. ... She's got Medicaid, getting food stamps and she is collecting welfare under each of her names. Her tax-free cash income alone is over $150,000."
Now Reagan never gave the Welfare Queen a face, but he didn't need to. From the 1970s onwards, women became the leading face of poverty. The media's image of poverty also shifted from focusing on the difficulty of Appalachian farmers and the factory closings in the 1960s to images of poor residents in urban areas. By 1973, in magazine pictures depicting welfare recipients, 75% featured African Americans even though African Americans made up only 35% of welfare recipients and only 12.8% of the US population.
Then on August 8, 1974, Linda Taylor filed a police report claiming that she had been robbed of $14,000 in "cash, jewelry, and furs". Chicago Detective Jack Sherwin, who took the report, recognized her from a similar, previous report and suspected her of insurance fraud. Upon investigating her, Sherwin discovered Taylor was wanted on welfare fraud charges in Michigan Reporting on welfare fraud began during the early 1960s, appearing in general-interest magazines such as Readers Digest but this "interest" now had a real face.
Linda Taylor was born around 1926 in Summit, Alabama, under the name Martha Louise White. She denied being her. According to United States Census records she also could've been Martha Miller, born in Tennessee sometime between 1925 and 1927 to Joe and Lidy Miller. In either case, she was identified as being White, with a possible percentage of Native American ancestry. Throughout her life, she presented herself as being of various racial and ethnic identities, including Black, Asian, Hispanic, and Jewish. She represented herself as being of many different ages, too.
One government official stated in 1974 that "it appears she can be any age she wishes, from the early 20s to the early 50s". She was arrested at the end of August 1974 for possible extradition to Michigan. Released on bond, she fled the state and was a fugitive until October 9, 1974, when she was caught in Tucson, Arizona. She was ultimately charged with committing $8,000 in fraud and having four aliases. She was convicted of illegally having 23 welfare checks using two identities She was sentenced to two to six years in prison. During the same decade, Taylor was additionally investigated for murder, kidnapping, and baby trafficking. Taylor died of a heart attack on April 18, 2002, at Ingalls Memorial Hospital outside Chicago Her remains were cremated.
Thank to Linda Taylor's fraudulent dealings & "unknown" racial makeup and the media coverage of poverty, our narrated lessons on welfare & food stamps have been passed down for at least 40+ years. But it is not the only story that has to be told. I have covered a few politicians, chefs, and actors doing the Food Stamp Challenge,
HERE &
HERE. And though it's easy for me to be judgmentally weirded out by someone using their benefits on an $80 cake & disturbingly laugh at somebody being able to use their SNAP card to get a lap dance, I would rather hear about the affluent try to understand by taking the Food Stamp Challenge. I would rather go to a farmer's market and see a family trying to feed their kids fresher foods than hear the "trendy" compare apples to oranges. I rather see the addresses & schedules of those markets and places providing fresh food education to the impoverished on my social media timelines instead of the faces of welfare fraud. Eating healthy is not a rich person's privilege. No one can teach me that and I refuse to pass on that lesson. I want to pass on awareness.
Ok, I heard the concerns & requests. You guys like a food recipe when you learn. Request Granted!!! Since I mentioned farmer's & fresh produce markets a lot in this post, I will share with you something I tell All my clients. "When in doubt, make a Salad". There is a salad for every occasion. A Garden Salad is gluten-free, salt-free, fat-free, dairy free & best of all inexpensive (LoL Thought I was going to say, Free.). So, here is a recipe for the basic garden salad.
Basic Garden Salad
Ingredients
• 2 tomatoes (diced)
• 1 onion (diced)
• 1 cucumber (sliced)
• 1⁄2 head lettuce (such as iceberg, romaine) (cut up)
Directions
1. Combine all ingredients and serve.
I promise to have recipes in all Food-It-All posts from this one forward.
As Always, Talking to You in Adult Terms
