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**This opinion editorial is not meant to directly reflect the views of the women I work with, I

respect their perspective and am endlessly thankful to have people that challenge my thinking
and are critically engaging in conversations about important issues.

Today in the office we started talking about the idea of personal responsibility.
There were four people involved in the conversation, all women, three of them black
and myself. Two of the women felt very strongly about the notion of personal
responsibility; that yes, people are born into poverty but its not impossible to get out if
you take responsibility for yourself. Both of them were vehemently arguing that there are
a considerable amount of people that know the system is stacked against them and so
they just lay down, give up and accept the circumstances they were given. I was struck
by something my colleague said, if you work hard and try your best, the universe will
meet you halfway. I thought to myself the reaction of the people I grew up with on Selby
if somebody were to tell them that. Their faces would have fuck-you written all over it,
and rightfully so. There are so many people that work two or more jobs their whole lives,
do everything they can to improve their circumstance and never get out of poverty.
Somehow, our society has produced a narrative that suggests that too much
welfare prevents initiative and poor people have it easy because they can get
government benefits without doing anything in return. When the truth is, most poor
people are the hardest working people youll ever meet. The systems we have in place
are purposefully designed to keep poor people in poverty. People arent poor because
they lack principles, such as drive or ambition; people are poor because of structural
inequalities, the varying roles of privilege and discriminatory institutional policies.
Being poor is extremely expensive and there are many systemic barriers that
prevent poor people from coming out of poverty. Nobody wants to be on welfare; you
would be ignorant to think otherwise. SNAP or what most people call food stamps
usually equates to about $1.50 per meal. Can you imagine adequately feeding yourself
on that, let alone maintaining your health? Many people depend on welfare to survive.
Were talking basic essentials: food, water, shelter, etc. However, finding employment
can risk the crucial aid that helps you survive. Our system, that is drenched in victim
blaming customs, either wants you to be poor enough to receive less-than-generous
assistance or making enough to not be eligible for any benefits.

Nobody wants to be poor. I dont believe people just lay down and accept that
the structural inequalities and wealth disparities are their fate. Doing our best to
eradicate, or at the very least, reduce poverty is imperative. However, we cannot begin
the work to do so by believing that poverty in resources in synonymous with poverty of
principles.

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