The "Unhealthy, EBT-wielding Welfare Queen" trope must die. A thread.
I've been a state-certified social worker since October 2001, and I have personally helped 1,000s of clients obtain SNAP, TANF, and WIC to assist their attempts to fight and climb their way out of poverty. Spoiler alert: the system is designed to fail each and every one of them.
Before anything else, let's review key terms. "Welfare" is a blanket term used for government assistance that has been weaponized primarily against single Black mothers when in fact, it is a sprawling network of billions in federal aid used by your favorite for-profit companies.