On Friday I got by EBT card. It was strange, walking into an office and waiting among other people who are applying for the same if not more benefits than you are. There was also the event in which the man out front had a table advertising free phones, and when he caught my attention he went through his speech, and then he said "and there is a booth inside with information about work opportunities if you are interested." To which I simply replied "Thanks, but I am already gainfully employed."
I was kind of offended by that. Just assuming someone doesn't have a job because they are coming to the assistance center for the city. But then again, maybe he was just trying to be helpful?
There have been many thoughts around poverty that I have had recently. It is amazing simply being in the position of having to use those social services, and being in that position of need. I didn't think I would need to be so far, but it is amazing how expenses come up, and circumstances change. It really gave me a new perspective to the "situation-based poverty" instead of "perpetual poverty"
After getting my EBT card, I went shopping today (Sunday) with it. That was also a strange experience because... I unintentionally felt ashamed asking of the place accepted EBT. I put it off until I had my basket full of groceries, and finally I asked someone quietly at the bakery counter "Do you guys accept EBT?" and she said yes, they accept all forms of payment. It was a large relief, because I had all of my groceries by that point, but I still felt shy about asking it. I still felt ashamed to have to use it. The same happened with the check-out counter when I asked. I did not know it would automatically detect it was an EBT card and not a regular credit card. A lot of lack of knowledge and strange unintentional feelings of shame came with the whole experience.
This leads me to my second point, which is the entire perception of poverty.
It seems as though the perception of poverty has been built up over so many years, by so many powerful people, that it has ingrained itself as the popular majority. The same could be said with any kind of identity/condition, but it seems as though poverty, or in other words assumptions based upon class, is one of the most prevalent and visible out there today.
Such a history has been made about racism and sexism throughout the ages, that it has popularly been pushed back and labeled as "being taken care of". (Although we know that there are still many "outed" and "closeted" societal norms based around racism and sexism prevalent to this day.) But it seems as though assumptions and stereotypes about class (positive and negative) are still "open" and very kosher in today's society. There are still many criticisms, public statements, and prejudices of one's class that it doesn't take very long to identify. There are still many destructive discriminatory actions based on class in today's society, carried out by today's people. (I say destructive because I do believe that constructive actions are beneficial, and help to come to equality and equity.)
I would be incorrect in saying that I did not fall to these destructive discriminatory thoughts and actions. I too have been raised in this society which still openly degrades people in different classes, and I have too held these thoughts about people in different classes. I do have destructive thoughts (but not so many actions) about people in classes that are higher than me. I do have destructive thoughts about people in classes lower than me (albeit less now then before I started college.) I am now just realizing that I even have these thoughts which are deep seeded in me. I also harbor those same unintentional societal thoughts within race and gender, I have just simply tried to combat them more via college & my coming into adulthood. But class... Not so much.
The world today says class is okay to discriminate against. Society says it is okay to look down upon, and degrade those who are lesser or greater than you in wealth, because... Well why because? That is something I am still trying to figure out. It is still something I am trying to combat in my own circumstance. I am trying to get rid of my hatred towards those who hold higher economic status than I do. I am trying to include them into my world and my feelings, because I believe it is not okay to degrade anybody to less than a human being based on any of their values and mindsets. At the core of it, we are all still human.
But alas, it is very difficult.
That is why I think that in this field we need to constructively discriminate against those who are different from us. We need not degrade them, but empower them to use their positions of power, or powerlessness, to help those who want to elevate themselves to a higher status and higher equality. This is not to say I do not judge or assess people. I believe it is inherent to judge based on actions of those people, and not their status in the world.
This ties back into a conversation I had once upon a time ago with an animal rights/ethics professor who was very radical in his teachings. He asked me (in context of a conversation) if I believed that Hitler had the same standing on being a human being as Gandhi. I hesitated for a moment, contemplating the ultimate silly ethics question, and replied "Yes, I do believe on the core level of their being that Hitler and Gandhi are respectable human beings who are fundamentally the same." This question relates to the fact that on the core level of humanity, I believe that all humans are the same, and their actions determine their judgement & rights on my level. Regardless of class, race, gender, sex, identity, or ethnicity.
But I don't want to focus too much on the deeper levels of that. It was simply to reference my beliefs on the standing of others. Its their actions, not their labels.
So get your heads out of the sand society. Who says its okay to degrade rich/middle class/poor people because they have more or less than you? Who says its okay to degrade them at all? Try to think about that next time you are angry at a person who has EBT but uses a smart phone. For all you know they have the phone through their parents plan, and the EBT card helps them to try to get off of their parents plan and form a life for themselves.
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