CRACKING ON EBT: Racists Don't Get It Tho.

There are a couple of videos I came across while researching supposed 'free' money, that certain people with a specific political agenda, is claiming the Obama administration is handing out.

One VID, 'It's Free Swipe Yo EBT' by Chapter  is actually commenting on how ridiculous the HRA Public Assistance system is. The amount of money people on HRA get is miniscule. This young lady is using metaphor and sarcasm to flip the picture. It is absurd to think that one could purchase all the things she raps about getting with $137.50/month and $200/month in food stamps (base amount for 1 person). What I find most compelling are the racist reactions: not considering the artistic license being employed here - that just went right over their ignorant ass head.  So quick to think what she's saying is actually true, eh? So you can fuel those xenophobic belief systems?


Here's a couple of those uninformed comments:

"God damn it fucking EBT is why your worthless waste of flesh and your many spawn are alive? Get rid of EBT right now!" BlueBerryWizard, 23 hours ago

"It's sad that alot of people on welfare an stuff abuse the governments money and have the ablity to work but dont beause they are lazy and get a check every month...I get that there are people out there that really need it and thats what it is there for not lazy ass people who need money but refuse to get a job.... the people that don't abuse it are the ones that feel the most bad for being on it." kiera791, 3 days ago

Actually, B-BerryWiz, with a mind-set like that, the spawn we need to get rid of is yours. And it would be nice if Kiera791 could actually write coherently. Lazy?  Either she wasn't paying attention in Writing class or she's just slacking. More like the pot calling the kettle...black.

And this VID, 'My EBT' by MoneyMaineNGP, found on an 'Expose Obama' site. The headline claims: "Now Another Rap Song Celebrates EBT Card".  Are you serious? As if Obama invented EBT or Public Assistance. 


These young people are poking and jabbing, using 'Black humor' (pun intended). This is a tool that is part of many cultures, especially when oppression and exclusion is prevalent on a daily. I've seen it all my Life. My own father used to invoke this kind of humor during the most challenging times. It's a way of getting through so you don't lose hope -- or your freaking mind. Yet, people with ingrained racist belief systems perceive these videos as actual fact because it feeds into the picture they have chosen to paint of all poor people of color being parasites. 

Check these comments out from the 'Expose Obama' site:

C Dickens · 25 weeks ago

"Definition: rap (hip-hop) - "The spectacle of an angry black man in baggy pants jumping up and down, shouting obscenities into a microphone to the rhythm of a monotonous, pounding drum beat." It's not music - some say it's an art form; but if this is art, then the pile my dog left in the back yard must be a masterpiece."

HAD EFUKNNUFF · 25 weeks ago

"STOOPPIIDD MONKEYS SO PROUD OF THEIR THEIVING WAYS


TYPICAL SHITBAMA MENTALITY, BRING ON THE FUKN RACE WARS


LETS FINISH THIS OFF, WE HAD TO FIGHT ON OWN RELATIVES , AND KILL THEM TO BIRTH THIS NATION, LETS PUT THIS BIOTCH TO BED, WAR."
  

One could say that the definition of Punk Rock is: the spectacle of angry white boys in worn out leather pants and torn up t-shirts jumping up and down, breaking $1000 guitars to the rhythm of a monotonous, pounding drum beat, incoherent lyrics and insane screaming. So, hey -- let's keep it real on what is or is not art. And using racist ideology to define it is just, well - whack. 'Cause I dig Metal and Punk...I'm a Goth Punk rocker from waaaay before Emo, as a matter of fact. There were times that I was the only person of color in a Punk club. And I can tell you, me and other people of color have experienced plenty of  racism in those circles. 

Yet, it's ok for a white boi punk to make a video glorifying being on 'the dole', shooting up and roaming the halls in the 7 Towers (a project in Dublin) to make a socio-political statement, like Black 47, for example (Irish Punk Rock group).

I am on Social Security Disability and receive $200/month in food stamps, yet what would be lost on these fools is that I worked on Wall Street and for Fortune 500 companies for 25+ years.  Although, what they would see is another black B!ch wicking money from the taxpayer's pockets.  Well, I have some shocking news:  I've been paying taxes since the age of 14.  And most of the people I know have worked since they were youngsters helping their parents support their families.  We grew up poor or working class in the South End of Montclair, NJ; Newark,NJ and Harlem.  We knew what it meant to earn our merits - our parents made sure of that. I'm sure the very same was going on in the neighborhoods of LA, Chicago, Seattle and Miami too -- all across America's inner-cities, rural areas and suburban enclaves.

So is it now MY fault that liquor store owners are cashing in on the EBT card?  Or the corner bodega where one can trade food stamps for cash at the highway-robbery rate of $3.00 for every $10.00 exchanged? Banks don't even get that kind of percentage per dollar! Those commentators need to take their heads out of their rear end! It's so far up there the perception is completely obscured.  Take a good look at what they are really saying in these videos.

One has to deal with subsistence 'benefits' then, within our neighborhoods, we are confronted with merchants and retailers, who have only just arrived here and have absorbed all the stereotypes thrown at them by the media.  They hold their noses with one hand and pocket the little money we've got with the other.  What these young people are up to is exposing the exploitation going on in their communities.

What needs to be addressed is the below poverty income the HRA Public Assistance Program insists upon. The WEP Program (Work Experience Program) is also bogus. Relegating people to filing folders and sweeping floors for 3 cents/hour in government offices. Usurping the full-time employees and creating an atmosphere of resentment. They offer NO training for the actual skills needed in a professional work environment.  Some activists call it 'The New Face of Slavery'. One has to 'work' for benefits. What is truly ironic is their audacity to call that abysmal amount of money 'benefits'. It's only beneficial for the politicians, who continue fueling the fires of racism with their rhetoric.  And it is a joke - one that is not lost upon these Spoken Word artists, however.

TO THE IGNORANT COMMENTATORS: Wake up call folks! Get educated on what's really going on with Public Assistance!  You might be surprised at what you learn about Public Assistance and what is truly happening to people who need to access it...or maybe you'd rather stay stupid so you can have someone to blame for this insane, money-scheming system called the US government?