Welfare and the Problem of Black Citizenship

Abstract

Racial politics has so dominated welfare reform efforts that it is commonplace to observe that "welfare" has become a code word for race.When Americans discuss welfare, many have in mind the mythical Black "welfare queen" or profligate teenager who becomes pregnant at taxpayers' expense to fatten her welfare check.'Although most welfare recipients are not Black, Black single mothers do rely on a disproportionate share of Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC).'It is likely, then, that the current campaign to slash funding for welfare programs, couched in a rhetoric that condemns welfare's social harms and recipients' irresponsibility, reflects a worsening racial crisis in America.At the same time, the exclusion from the

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