Confessions: I was a Welfare Queen

I've seen food stamps (also known as SNAP or EBT) in the news a lot lately. There's a lot of vitriol about them, and a lot of judgment. People like to refer to "welfare queens" that have a better living on government benefits than those who work, when they are just as capable of working. I've tried sharing links to the statistics about EBT with little reaction, and now I'm attempting to bring in a truth that may help to change a few minds about this program. So here it is.

I was a welfare queen.

Twice.

For a year each time.

Now, Erin, you say, you weren't really a welfare queen. You only used one government program, and not for very long, and you were working, and you really needed the help. You bettered yourself and worked hard, and now look at you stand on your own two feet. That's not being a welfare queen.

Okay. So how many programs would have made me a welfare queen? I also should have been on Medicaid, but through some restrictions and bureaucracy wasn't. That's not to say that I wouldn't have used Medicaid if I could have. I also would have used section eight housing subsidies at the time if the waiting list hadn't been so long. It's actually really hard to get that many benefits or keep them for very long, but I would have done so if it meant that I could live in a safe apartment, have regular medical care, and know where my next meal would come from. Because, you see, while I was working, in most cases two jobs or full time or on a stipend that MSU must have believed was a living wage, my hours were so irregular and my pay was so low that even with a college education, I needed some help.

To those of you who count me as somehow better than the people you actually perceive to be welfare queens, perhaps because I only used EBT for a short time or was working (which is how most people use them - see link), do you believe that the food stamps allowed me to get out of poverty more quickly? Do you believe I would have escaped my low income situation faster if I had been allowed to run out of money, sell my car, get even sicker from malnutrition, lose my job because I couldn't reliably be there? I've heard that argument - that if I had hit rock bottom, I would have worked harder. Maybe. I'm glad I didn't have to find out.

To those who think that every person who ever uses food stamps should be like me, I will also assert that I came into the Recession - into poverty, into the hemorrhaging of money that a forced relocation to the Detroit area after my MA program and Rebecca's preclerkship ended - with much more than many. I had two BAs and an MA from a quality university. I had work experience. I had the ability to finance a car. I had a network of people around me who were employed and could vouch for me. So while I didn't have money, I had a lot. I'm grateful for all of that. Things could have been much worse - I see much, much worse for some of my students. And I would argue that they still don't deserve to starve. Ideally, we would offer them job training and assistance in finding employment, although it's not that simple, but in the meantime, they don't deserve to be homeless (oh, did I mention that I've been homeless?).

Jesus said that as we do unto the least of these, we do unto Him. Jesus preached the Beatitudes. So whatever you say about welfare queens, I hope you would be willing to say about me. I hope that my story comes to mind. I hope that you're willing to consider people needing grace and help in a time when things are really hard and really scary.