Modern Feminism and the Welfare Queen Trope
I've noticed a recurring conversation on social media that blames the breakdown of the Black nuclear family on feminism. Not only is it categorically false, but it is also a harmful piece of misinformation that has unfortunately spread like a wildfire and stuck. The best counter to a lie is the truth, so let's break this down.
Where did "Welfare Queen" originate?
The term "Welfare Queen" was coined in 1974 by the Chicago Tribune to describe the Black woman on trial for welfare fraud and multiple other crimes, some heinous in nature, including but not limited to kidnapping and murder. Linda Taylor's welfare fraud scheme was executed by receiving welfare checks under four different known aliases, and she was ultimately found guilty. So how did a term given to a criminal mastermind wind up being a blanket expression for an entire demographic of women?
Welfare Queen Trope
In 1980 Ronald Reagan turned a singular nickname into a trope when he began using Taylor's story without saying her name, to describe single Black mothers receiving government assistance, in attempt to further his agenda to reform the system and win a term in the white house. Interestingly enough, prior to Linda Taylor's polarizing story, the majority of abusers of the Welfare system were overwhelming male. After her conviction however, single Black mothers using government assistance became known as welfare queens, despite the fact that their stories and the story of Linda Taylor were not even remotely close to being the same. They share only one thing in common in fact: female, because as for Taylor's race, it is still unclear. She was listed as white at one point, then again as Hawaiian. When she went on trial, she was deemed Black for some odd reason.
Despite the inconsistencies in the comparison, the trope dropped like crack in the 80s, with even a large majority of Black people buying into it, even still to this day. The head scratcher though, is that what's argued today is that single Black women intentionally had babies to collect checks because of modern feminism. I didn't think that could sound anymore ridiculous until I typed it out. Wowzers. Bottom line is, the Welfare Queen trope is a direct connection to racism. The destruction of the nuclear Black family is because of racism. Black men being stripped of their role as head of the house and placed in prisons or in the morgue which led to Black women needing the assistance, is because of racism. Black women being incentivized to keep receiving assistance by not allowing Black men to live in their homes, is because of racism. The fact that feminism is even looked at through the same lens of racism, as if women wanting to be treated equally is the same as Black people being treated inhumanely, is deeply unsettling.
Feminism vs Modern Feminism
The feminist movement launched in the late 1800s and has spanned over 200 years (another strange lie in the community is that it began in the 1950s...???) to include four, some even say five, waves of feminism, with the explicit intention to win equal rights for both sexes. The first wave was a fight for women to be able to vote, the second wave was a fight for equal employment opportunities in the workplace, and the third was about bodily autonomy and intersectionality. The current wave, the fourth, has emerged with a different definition altogether. Gone are the days where women hope to be treated the same as men. This new era ushers in a desire to have rights that are specific to the needs of each marginalized group.
In conclusion, the Welfare Queen trope is false without basis or merit and has nothing to do with modern feminism, and everything to do with racism. When we are having these discussions, it is very important that we know and understand the history, and that we allow the conversation to spring from truth, not internalized bigotry that has been passed down from generation to generation. Sometimes the generational curse isn't just in your family - sometimes, it's in your community.
