“WELFARE QUEENS” AND “DOWN LOW BROTHERS”
In case no one noticed, the same people who brought us the “down low” myth, also brought us the “welfare queen,” myth and the “crack baby” myth.
What’s the first image that pops into your head when you think of a “welfare queen?”
What’s the first image that pops into your head when you think of a “down low” man?
Blackness has successfully been pathologized.
Welfare Queen: A myth used to pathologize blackness, blame poverty on black women, and support stereotypes people already had about black women and the black race.
Down Low Brother: A myth used to pathologize homosexuality, blame black gay men for HIV, and support stereotypes people already had about homosexuality and black gay men.
Who needs facts and evidence, when you have useful myths to explain away issues?
Thanks to the myth of the “welfare queen,” poor and black have become synonymous.
Thanks to the myth of the “down low brother,” HIV infection among black women, and black gay men have become synonymous.
PS: Don’t look to the media to tell you it’s a myth, they profit off of your ignorance.
Posted on October 13, 2010, in Breaking It Down!. Bookmark the permalink. 2 Comments.
on another note…
the media has been bringing attention to the “over-acheiving, single black woman”…we’re blamed for black pathology via the “welfare queen”, yet are supposedly making black men effeminate by making more economic gains. I doubt that many networks will bring attention to the racist, capitalist system decreases opportunities for black men in the first place…
This is an older blog but I had to comment. It’s very true. This is why I don’t listen to statistics. Its the same thing that has us thinking there are more Black men in jail then in college. If you read the actual study the data set wasnt exactly equal so it swayed the stats. But the Collectively, it also supports another underlying myth about Black people…… We don’t research things before we repeat it or believe it.
Very good blog.