Racism in American History

11/29/18, 11(29 PMHow racism has shaped welfare policy in America since 1935

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Alma Carten Associate Professor of Social Work; McSilver Faculty Fellow, New York University

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How racism has shaped welfare policy in America since 1935 August 21, 2016 8.21pm EDT

A recent UNICEF report found that the U.S. ranked 34th on the list of 35 developed

countries surveyed on the well-being of children. According to the Pew Institute,

children under the age of 18 are the most impoverished age population of Americans,

and African-American children are almost four times as likely as white children to be in

poverty.

These findings are alarming, not least because they come on the 20th anniversary of

President Clinton’s promise to “end welfare as we know it” with his signing into law, on

Aug. 23, 1996, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act

(P.L. 104-193).

It is true that the data show the number of families receiving cash assistance fell from 12.3 million in

1996 to current levels of 4.1 million as reported by The New York Times. But it is also true that child

poverty rates for black children remain stubbornly high in the U.S.

My research indicates that this didn’t happen by chance. In a recent book, I examine social welfare

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A Halloween gathering in Los Angeles for children who live on the street, in shelters or in cars. Lucy Nicholson/Reuters

August 21, 2016 8.21pm EDT

How racism has shaped welfare policy in America since 1935

11/29/18, 11(29 PMHow racism has shaped welfare policy in America since 1935

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policy developments in the U.S. over a 50-year period from the New Deal to the 1996 reforms. Findings

reveal that U.S. welfare policies have, from their very inception, been discriminatory.

Blemished by a history of discrimination

It was the 1935 Social Security Act, introduced by the Franklin Roosevelt administration, that first

committed the U.S. to the safety net philosophy.

From the beginning, the policy had two tiers that intended to protect families from loss of income.

On one level were the contributory social insurance programs that provided income support to the

surviving dependents of workers in the event of their death or incapacitation and Social Security for

retired older Americans.

The second tier was made up of means-tested public

assistance programs that included what was originally called

the “Aid to Dependent Children” program and was

subsequently renamed the Aid to Families with Dependent

Children in the 1962 Public Welfare Amendments to the SSA

under the Kennedy administration.

The optimistic vision of the architects of the ADC program was

that it would die “a natural death” with the rising quality of life

in the country as a whole, resulting in more families becoming

eligible for the work-related social insurance programs.

But this scenario was problematic for black Americans because

of pervasive racial discrimination in employment in the

decades of the 1930s and 1940s. During these decades, blacks typically worked in menial jobs. Not tied

to the formal workforce, they were paid in cash and “off the books,” making them ineligible for social

insurance programs that called for contributions through payroll taxes from both employers and

employees.

Nor did blacks fare much better under ADC during these years.

The ADC was an extension of the state-operated mothers’ pension programs, where white widows were

the primary beneficiaries. The criteria for eligibility and need were state-determined, so blacks

continued to be barred from full participation because the country operated under the “separate but

equal” doctrine adopted by the Supreme Court in 1896.

Franklin D. Roosevelt Library.

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Jim Crow Laws and the separate but equal doctrine resulted in the creation of a two-track service

delivery system in both law and custom, one for whites and one for blacks that were anything but equal.

Developments in the 1950s and ‘60’s further disadvantaged black families.

This happened when states stepped up efforts to reduce ADC enrollment and costs. As I examined in my

book, residency requirements were proposed so as to bar blacks migrating from the South to qualify for

the program. New York City’s “man in the house rule” required welfare workers to make unannounced

visits to determine if fathers were living in the home – if evidence of a male presence was found, cases

were closed and welfare checks discontinued.

Always an unpopular program

Because of the strong American work ethic, and preference for a “hand up” versus a “hand-out,” the

means-tested, cash assistance programs for poor families – and especially ADC renamed AFDC – have

never been popular among Americans. As FDR himself said in his 1935 State of the Union address to

Congress, “the government must and shall quit this business of relief.”

As the quality of life did indeed improve for whites, the number of white widows and their children on

A ‘colored’ drinking fountain – segregation applied to welfare benefits too. Russell Lee/Library of Congress

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the AFDC rolls declined. At the same time, the easing of racial discrimination widened eligibility to more

blacks, increasing the number of never-married women of color and their children who were born out of

wedlock.

One point, however, to note here is that there has always been a public misconception about race and

welfare. It is true that over the years blacks became disproportionately represented. But given that

whites constitute a majority of the population, numerically they have always been the largest users of the

AFDC program.

Holes in the safety net

The retreat from the safety net philosophy can be dated to the presidencies of Richard Nixon and Ronald

Reagan.

On the one hand, politicians wanted to reduce the cost of welfare. Under Reagan policies of New

Federalism, social welfare expenditures were capped and responsibility for programs for poor families

given back to states.

On the other hand, the demographic shift in the welfare rolls exacerbated the politics around welfare

and racialized the debate.

Ronald Reagan’s “Welfare Queen” narrative only reinforced existing white stereotypes about blacks:

“There’s a woman in Chicago. She has 80 names, 30 addressees, 12 Social Security cards and is

collecting veterans’ benefits on four nonexistent deceased husbands. She’s got Medicaid, is

getting food stamps and welfare under each of her names. Her tax-free cash income alone is

over $150,000.”

Homeless by Choice

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Reagan’s assertions that the homeless were living on the streets by choice played to conventional

wisdom about the causes of poverty, blamed poor people for their own misfortune and helped disparage

government programs to help the poor.

The 1990s gear change

By the late 1990s efforts of reforms targeting the AFDC program shifted to more nuanced forms of

racism with claims that the program encouraged out-of-wedlock births, irresponsible fatherhood and

intergenerational dependency.

The political context for the 1996 reforms, then, was fueled by racist undertones that played into public

angst about rising taxes and the national debt that were attributed to the high payout of welfare checks

to people who were not carrying their own weight.

This emotionally charged environment distorted the poverty debate, and paved the way for a reform bill

that many saw as excessively punitive in its harsh treatment of poor families.

Although credited to the Clinton administration, the blueprint for the 1996 welfare reform bill was

crafted by a caucus of conservative Republicans led by Newt Gingrich as part of the Contract with

America during the 1994 congressional election campaign.

Twice President Clinton vetoed the welfare reform bill sent to him by the GOP-dominated Congress. The

third time he signed, creating much controversy, including the resignation of his own adviser on welfare

reform, the leading scholar on poverty David Ellwood.

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The new bill replaced the AFDC program with Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF). Stricter

work requirements required single mothers to find work within two years of receiving benefits. A five-

year lifetime limit was imposed for receiving benefits. To reinforce traditional family values, a core

principle of the Republican Party, teenage mothers were to be prohibited benefits, and fathers who were

delinquent in child support payments were threatened with imprisonment. States were banned from

using federally funded TANF for certain groups of immigrants and restrictions were placed on their

eligibility to Medicaid, food stamps and Supplementary Social Security Income (SSI).

The impact

Despite many bleak predictions, favorable outcomes were reported on the 10th anniversary of the bill’s

signing. Welfare rolls had declined. Mothers had moved from welfare to work and children had

benefited psychologically from having an employed parent.

However, the volume of research generated at the 10-year benchmark has not been matched, in my

observation, by that produced in years leading up to the 20-year anniversary.

More research in particular is needed to understand what is happening with families who have left

welfare rolls because of passing the five-year lifetime limit for receiving benefits but have not sustained a

foothold in an ever-increasing specialized workforce.

Disentangling intertwined effects of racism and poverty

U.S. welfare policy is, arguably, as much a reflection of its economic policies as it is of the nation’s

troublesome history of racism.

In the words of President Obama, racism is a part of America’s DNA and history. Similarly, the notion

that anyone who is willing to work hard can be rich is just as much a part of that DNA. Both have played

an equal role in constraining adequate policy development for poor families and have been especially

harmful to poor black families.

President Clinton announces the new welfare bill.

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Welfare Poverty African American Social security Newt Gingrich Bill Clinton Ronald Reagan New Deal

UNICEF Welfare reform Richard Nixon child poverty Segregation Jim Crow Franklin Delano Roosevelt

African American children Pew

Racism has left an indelible mark on American institutions. In particular, it influences how we

understand the causes of poverty and how we develop solutions for ending it.

Indeed, with the continual unraveling of the safety net, the 20th anniversary of welfare reforms can be

an impetus for taking a closer look at how racism has shaped welfare policy in the U.S. and to what

extent it accounts for the persistently high poverty rates for black children.

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