The easiest way to control someone is to get them to depend on you. When your life is dependent on another, it puts you in a place where you’re afraid to rock the boat because it isn’t yours and the owners may put you off. This is one of the reasons many of our people refuse to break the cycle of dependence and poverty. The fear of being self reliant paralyzes some Blacks, keeping them from getting jobs or starting their own businesses because if they make too much money, they’ll lose their government assistance.

This was the goal of the Democratic party when they introduced welfare and public housing. We ignorantly believe the Democrats are on our side, omitting the history of the party which shows their treatment of us was worse than that of the Republicans. Many are pushing the lie that the Democratic party and the Republican party switched sides, as if one day they sat down and agreed to swap names. That rhetoric is silly and extremely detrimental when believed.

The Democrats didn’t change their ways, they simply took their racism covert. As President Lyndon B Johnson said “I’ll have those niggers voting Democrat for the next 200 years.” The intent for public housing and welfare was never to help Africans in America. It was never to be stepping stone. It was never something to help you get on your feet. The intent was solely to limit our aspirations.

This is not to say some people don’t use it as a stepping stone or that it cannot be utilized in a helpful way. This is to show our people the ill intent of the system so we can prevent and/or untangle ourselves from being victims. I’ve witnessed generations of people get welfare and live in public housing. I’ve witnessed people intentionally live beneath their potential for ten plus years so they can qualify for government assisted housing. These examples are clear cut cases of the system doing exactly what it was supposed to do: crush people’s desires to achieve more.

As Trump is close to being in office, there is much talk about him getting rid of public assistance programs but is it really a bad thing to eliminate it or seriously revamp it? I understand there are people who need it but we would be lying to ourselves if we said majority of the people we know who use it aren’t abusing it.

Public assistance has become a curse to us. It has become a mindset that many people cannot break. Instead of being a last resort, some people apply for it before even trying to do anything else. Mothers who have been on welfare all their lives are teaching their daughters how to get it and now they are learning how to cheat and live off of the system many different ways. This curse has kept people who could do great things from doing them because they’re too stuck on using their energy and intellect on finding ways to get over.

I am not writing this blog to condemn those who abuse the system (Take everything you can from this racist system) I am writing this to get the people of this beautiful race of ours to see ourselves totally free. To see ourselves free from needing their assistance, free from needing their schools, their hospitals, their science, their police and any of their benefits that come with thick strings attached.

It’s time for us as a people to rid ourselves of this dependency. We must get over the fear of standing alone and relying on ourselves. There are so many people who hate their job, hate the pay but are afraid to leave because they don’t want to lose their benefits, as if it is impossible for them to make enough on their own to pay for healthcare. This fear has been planted in us and is keeping us from being all we can be as a people.

Maybe we need to be forced into providing everything for ourselves. The last time that happened to us we built self sustaining Black communities. Most of us only know about Tulsa Oklahoma but the truth is we literally had these towns all over the country. History shows us that when we’ve been forced to be on our own that we’ve thrived. What we think is us losing our benefits, may just be what we need to break the curse of public assistance.