Comments on: Sesame Street “I Am Somebody” Segment with Jesse Jackson

By: Reebcca

Reebcca — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 20:10:34 +0000

And what if getting a car is the only way to get *off* welfare? If I didn’t have a car to be able to go to work, I would not have a job. I would be….drumroll please….on Welfare. But getting the car meant I had to lease it when I was still recieving public assistance.

Don’t be an asshole. Try to think of things from the perspective of the person who takes the action.

By: annee

annee — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:13:06 +0000

This video makes me very happy. I wish it was updated so the quality could be improved, as I want to watch it over and over again with my kids… my government subsidized health care havin’ kids.

By: Forestroad

Forestroad — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 19:06:23 +0000

I’m a little late to this party, but one thing I noticed about the current health care debate is the reference to “Cadillac” insurance plans from people that want to derail the public option. Is it just me, or is this a pretty transparent attempt to conjure up that Reagan quote and all the racism that goes along with it? Because that’s what I think when I hear it. It’s not like they’ve chosen to talk about spending taxpayer dollars on “Mercedes Benz” or “BMW” plans.

By: Sesame Street “I Am Somebody” Segment with Jesse Jackson | Racialicious - the intersection of race and pop culture

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:01:33 +0000

[...] By Guest Contributor gwen, originally published at Sociological Images [...]

By: Ang

Ang — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 21:00:23 +0000

Marie, I’m glad you spoke up. I was going to post something every similar, but you said it way more eloquently that I would have.

By: Marie

Marie — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:31:02 +0000

Having grown up on welfare, having lived in the projects – I never saw anyone of my social class driving anything near a new car. We often didn’t have a car. We had a black-and-white TV. We had hand-me-down clothes and furniture. Now I have a good job and live in a nice suburb and I owe that all to welfare.

And it sickens me to death how often I’m told apocryphal stories about poor people. Even as a child I remember hearing so often about how we were “lazy” because we were poor. My dad worked himself to death. I got my first job when I was 12. How the hell is that lazy?

… sorry… kinda triggering for me.

By: possiblyj

possiblyj — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 06:50:10 +0000

To clarify, by “new” I meant original owner new.

If the car was necessary, unsafe and unable to be repaired, the responsible thing to do would have been to replace the car with a used car.

By: anonymous

anonymous — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 05:38:30 +0000

My mother was on welfare and bought a new car when a mechanic told her her previous mechanic had lied (knowing that a child would be in the back seat) about the frame being cracked quite badly… I’d say it was responsible.

By: Mint

Mint — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 04:27:08 +0000

This makes me feel warm and fuzzy. I’m writing my thesis on the history of a welfare program where I live, and know first hand how welfare went from being “let’s help the people who need help, because it’s the right thing to do” to being “the people who need help only need help because they didn’t do the right thing, so why should we help them?”

By: Theo

Theo — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 00:19:30 +0000

For academic completeness: the video is from 1971.

By: possiblyj

possiblyj — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 18:37:34 +0000

Buying or leasing a new car is not a responsible decision for anyone receiving welfare.

By: Jillian

Jillian — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 17:52:29 +0000

Oh, I know. Perhaps I wasn’t clear: we were poor, too. It was frustrating that people on welfare had nice cars because we actually were poor (my parents inherited their home) but my parents were too proud (my opinion) for welfare, and didn’t care about having new-looking things. We never had health insurance or retirement savings either.

By: Rosa

Rosa — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 17:47:33 +0000

Jillian, I think that conflation of wealth with “stuff” is a big part of the attack on poor people, and it hurts middle-class people who fall for it too.

Basic security factors – rent, health care, child care, retirement savings – are all way more expensive than a nice car, nice clothes, jewelry, a big TV. The idea that people don’t have the former because they waste money on the latter is part of the campaign against social programs. The truth is, you could give up all those things and not come out with enough cash to provide a safety net for your family.

By: Phoebe

Phoebe — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 17:26:45 +0000

Yes, I had a similar experience growing up. My parents never had a lot of money, but they refused to lease a car.

By: Jillian

Jillian — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 17:24:49 +0000

Oh, I know that now. I didn’t know that as a 10-year-old who was embarrassed by her parents’ old Chevy.