In the US, 17.9% are food insecure, representing 6.5 million households, with 8.9% of those households containing food-insecure children. During the 2025 shutdown of the US government, the status of November’s SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits hung in limbo, leaving many food-insecure people wondering if they would be getting the critical assistance they needed to feed their families. This shutdown highlighted the continuing issue within the US: a disdain for the lower class. This disdain can be seen in everything from the cutting of social safety nets to the architecture of our cities that tries to force the most vulnerable from our societies.
The Shameful Trend of Villainizing the Poor
As the government debated sending out November’s SNAP benefits, the racist and classist rhetoric around food stamp recipients grew. Americans are split on whether or not the lower class has it easy and how much governmental support should be available. For some, social safety nets are seen as a drain on taxpayer dollars. False narratives that SNAP recipients buy junk food or “steak and lobster” with their benefits have been spread alongside AI-generated videos of Black women looting stores or berating workers because their benefits were denied.
These AI women were derided as “welfare queens,” a derogatory term popularized by President Reagan that used Black women as the symbol for welfare fraud, implying that recipients are lazy and relying on welfare only so that they do not have to work.
You Never Know Who Needs Assistance
While a majority of people in the lower class are Black or Indigenous, this doesn’t accurately reflect who is on food stamps and receiving benefits. In fact, the majority of Americans on food stamps are older white people. This discrepancy could be due to lower-income people of color fearing that “welfare queen” moniker and similar discriminatory rhetoric towards those on benefits.
Some people who are eligible for assistance do not even apply and go without because they fear facing this stigma. Men in particular are three times more likely to experience judgment for seeking assistance, likely due to the common cultural value of men as “breadwinners,” making them feel like failures if they can’t manage everything on their own.
SNAP receipient by race
Credit: What the data says about food stamps in the U.S., Pew Research Center, Washington, D.C. (November 14, 2025)
Money Spent in the Community is Money Invested in the Community
Rather than perpetuating tired and inaccurate stereotypes about those on welfare, the focus should instead be shifted to informing people about the benefits of welfare and the consequences of not having these systems in place. For example, for every dollar that is federally funded for SNAP, children and families are fed and 1.79 dollars of economic benefits are generated for the local community.
Although we should aim to support one another simply because it is the right thing to do, ultimately, taking care of the most vulnerable members of our communities has far-reaching benefits. We should be securing or even expanding funding for social safety nets to ensure that all people who need them can access them. Even if someone uses government benefits to eat food that we consider “junk,” we should be satisfied to know that at least they are not going hungry. We need to see these welfare systems as something that helps us to build a better future for everyone, not just the wealthy.
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