Title: 5 Lies That Dehumanize Poor People - Everyday Feminism
Headings: 5 Lies That Dehumanize Poor People
5 Lies That Dehumanize Poor People
People who feel the shame-inducing scrutiny of many judgmental Americans aren’t paranoid.
Silenced, Closeted, Poor
1. The Bootstrap Myth
2. Poor People Are Unemployed
3. Poor (Read: Lazy and Uneducated) Equals Black
4. Poor People Refuse to Work
5. Education Necessarily Remedies Poverty
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Content: They work together to structure a system of thought that distorts, oversimplifies and ultimately fosters ignorance about, and shame amongst, oppressed groups of people. 2. Poor People Are Unemployed
The bootstrap myth works together with the stereotype that all poor people are unemployed. This thinking gives rise to the conclusion that the best way to address poverty is to get everyone a job. But these fallacious assertions gloss over the glaring fact that many poor people are working. The Census reported that, in 2010, 7% of those aged 16 and older who worked some or all of the year were in poverty. And the Department of Agriculture reported that 30 percent of households receiving food assistance had earnings in 2010; 41% of food aid beneficiaries lived in a household with earnings from a job. Nearly a quarter — 21.8% — of non-elderly adult food stamp recipients were employed. Of course none of this is surprising to those who know from experience what it means to work for $8 an hour.