THE LIE THAT FED A NATION — AND STARVED THE TRUTH

 

THE WELFARE QUEEN MYTH — BUILT IN THE 1970s

The modern lie took shape during Ronald Reagan’s 1976 presidential campaign, when he began telling stories of a mythical “welfare queen” in Chicago—Black, fraudulent, lavish.

The problem? THE LIE THAT FED A NATION — AND STARVED THE TRUTH

“If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pockets. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you.”

— Lyndon B. Johnson, 1960s (recounted by Bill Moyers)

That sentence is not a metaphor. It is a manual.

And America has followed it faithfully for more than four centuries.

1619–1865: THE ORIGINAL ECONOMIC SCAM

In August 1619, the first enslaved Africans were sold in English-controlled Virginia. For the next 246 years, Black labor was unpaid, uncompensated, and foundational. Cotton alone accounted for over 50% of U.S. exports by 1860. No wages. No land. No inheritance.

When slavery ended in 1865, freedom came without resources. Promised land—40 acres and a mule—was revoked by President Andrew Johnson in 1865, returning land to former Confederates instead.

That decision created a racial wealth gap that has never closed.

RECONSTRUCTION TO JIM CROW: CRIMINALIZING SURVIVAL

From 1865–1877, Black Americans briefly entered political life during Reconstruction. That window slammed shut with:

• The Compromise of 1877

• The withdrawal of federal troops

• The rise of Black Codes, convict leasing, and Jim Crow

Black survival was rebranded as criminality.

White poverty? Explained away.

Black poverty? Weaponized.

THE MEDIA WARNING WE IGNORED

By the early 1960s, Malcolm X called it out plainly:

“The media’s the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and the guilty innocent… and make you love the oppressor and hate the oppressed.”

That wasn’t rhetoric. It was prophecy.

THE WELFARE QUEEN MYTH — BUILT IN THE 1970s

The modern lie took shape during Ronald Reagan’s 1976 presidential campaign, when he began telling stories of a mythical “welfare queen” in Chicago—Black, fraudulent, lavish.

The problem?

• The woman he referenced was not representative

• Fraud rates were statistically tiny

• The imagery stuck anyway

By the time Reagan became president in January 1981, the damage was done.

WHAT THE DATA ACTUALLY SHOWS

Using USDA and Census data (FY 2023):

SNAP Participation by Race

• White (non-Hispanic): 35.4%

• Black (non-Hispanic): 25.7%

• Hispanic/Latino (any race): 15.6%

• Others combined: under 10%

In raw numbers:

• ~15 million White Americans

• ~10 million Black Americans

Yes, per capita, Black Americans are overrepresented—but that’s tied directly to:

• Lower median wealth (10:1 gap)

• Hiring discrimination

• Housing segregation

• Generational asset denial

SNAP benefits are capped.

No one is getting $4,000 a month. The maximum SNAP allotment in 2024 for a family of four is under $1,000, before deductions. Most households receive far less.

WHO REALLY DESIGNED THE SYSTEM

SNAP (originally food stamps) was created in 1939—primarily to stabilize white rural farmers during the Great Depression.

Social Security (1935)?

• Excluded domestic and agricultural workers → most Black workers at the time

The GI Bill (1944)?

• Administered locally → Black veterans denied mortgages and education

Student loans exploded after Reagan-era cuts to public education funding in the 1980s, shifting costs onto individuals—disproportionately harming Black families with no intergenerational wealth cushion.

THE TRUMP YEARS: MASKS OFF

During 2017–2021, SNAP work requirements were tightened, benefits delayed, and rhetoric escalated—until COVID hit.

Then something happened.

When benefits were paused or delayed in 2020, complaints flooded online—from white households who had never been publicly associated with assistance. When benefits resumed, the visibility changed.

The myth cracked.

Assistance had always been multiracial.

It had just been hidden behind credit cards, online ordering, and silence.

THE BIGGER CON: WHO LIVES ON PUBLIC MONEY

Let’s be clear:

• The White House is publicly funded housing

• Congressional salaries, healthcare, security, and meals are taxpayer funded

• Corporate welfare and subsidies dwarf SNAP spending

Yet the anger is aimed downward, not up.

That is the Johnson quote in motion.

PRICES, POWER, AND PUNISHMENT

Grocery inflation post-COVID wasn’t accidental.

• Consolidation

• Price-setting

• Record profits for food conglomerates (2021–2023)

Raising prices on the very people who created the demand is not economics—it’s extraction.

Government competition—public groceries, permanent public housing—would lower prices. That’s why it’s resisted.

PROJECT 2025 AND THE ENDGAME

What’s being proposed now isn’t reform—it’s removal.

• SNAP cuts

• Housing rollbacks

• Deregulation favoring monopolies

If benefits disappear, it won’t be accidental.

It will be by design.

And history shows: when systems collapse, the poorest suffer first—but not alone.

THE FINAL TRUTH

Black Americans did not create this system.

They survived it.

They were blamed for it.

They were studied, policed, mocked, and mythologized inside it.

And still—taught their children.

Still—fed communities.

Still—built culture the world consumes daily.

This isn’t about envy.

It’s about exposure.

The lie worked for generations.

It’s working less now.

And that’s why the backlash is so loud.

Truthful facts matter.

History matters.

And lies don’t survive timelines.

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