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South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com
Food stamps: a canary in the coal mine?
Trend of youngsters receiving help is cause for concern
Douglas C. Lyons
Senior Editorial Writer
November 7, 2009
It's
an eye-popping statistic, no matter how you cut it: 90 percent of all
black youngsters in the United States will be on food stamps at some
point of their childhood.
The statistic comes from a Washington University in St. Louis study and
published in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. Its
author, Mark Rank, was quoted as saying the study " … shows that the
period of childhood, rather than a period of safety and security, is
really a time, for a lot of kids, of economic turmoil and risk."
When I first saw the stat, I groaned. Black youth have to deal with
enough stereotypical misconceptions. Now our kids have to bear the
brunt of the USDA Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Truth is nearly 9 million African Americans receive food stamps every
month, and more than a third of food stamp benefits – more than $10
billion a year – are issued to African Americans, according to a 2007
"Fact Sheet" published by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in
Washington, D.C.
Thanks to our latest "recession," an increasing number of
Americans are turning to government programs for help. In Florida,
roughly 12 percent, about 2.3 million individuals, are on food stamps,
and those numbers are growing. And while I'm a bit freaked about the 90
percent figure, there's no way I can paint this as a "African
American-only" problem.
The last time I checked, whites still outnumber blacks as food
stamp recipients, not to mention that the Rank study found nearly half
of all children in the United States will receive food stamps at some
point before they turn 20. If that nearly-half stat doesn't suggest
that this world "superpower" isn't flirting with third-rate status, I
don't know what will.
It's time for our elected idealogues to get serious about coming up
with an innovative way to create new jobs, whether it's going "green,"
reforming health care, or strengthening the grid. Too many Americans
are either a couple of paychecks or a serious illness away from
poverty. Take your pick.
Food stamps were designed to be a pit stop on the path out of poverty, not a destination.
Senior Editorial Writer Douglas C. Lyons can be reached at dlyons@sunsentinel.com, or 954-356-4638