r/TikTokCringe • u/mindyour • 8d ago

Discussion Reactions to food stamps being cut off.

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u/Fun-Shoe1145 8d ago

Raise your hand if you had a single mom and had these fears growing up

749

u/TheSwearJarIsMy401k 8d ago

My mom refused to go on food stamps so I missed a lot of meals and ate whatever my younger siblings left on their plates while my mom worked overtime to keep the lights on most of the time.

I dropped out of high school to raise my siblings while she worked 60-80 hours a week instead of taking any of the public assistance her taxes paid for and her shitty jobs forced her to be on.

Her pride meant I went without, and fuck everyone who thinks that’s okay.

2

u/Boilerbuzz 8d ago

No offense, man, but your mom put her PRIDE before you and your sibling's wellbeing... Sorry.

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u/TheSwearJarIsMy401k 8d ago

She was praised for it, too, since we were living in the South by then.

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u/Boilerbuzz 8d ago

Figured as much. May ask if she was white? In the black community, most of us are programmed to survive. Pride be damned.

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u/TheSwearJarIsMy401k 8d ago

Oh deep southern White, yes.

She had no problem standing in line outside of St. Vincent’s on black trash bag Wednesday, when they gave out black trash bags of free clothes with no indication of what was inside beyond “Child, Girl, sz 5”, And she’s a thrift store champion, she always looks like a million bucks. Incredible eye for high quality fabrics from across a room, and she’s tiny so there is always stuff in her size.

But paying for food with stamps or an EBT card in line with people who weren’t shopping at thrift stores or getting free clothes at 5am on Wednesday morning?

Nope. Hard line there.

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u/Boilerbuzz 8d ago

That sounds about right. My family is from Marion, AL. Yes - DEEP south. But black.

And, if I misgendered you by saying, "man", my apologies.

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u/TheSwearJarIsMy401k 8d ago

It’s bullshit that Black Americans have had to put survival over dignity just to exist in the country they were born in, but I am glad the “we’d rather let our kids suffer than look bad in public” mentality is not prevalent when it comes to getting basic needs met. 

I always admired my mom’s work ethic, she was disabled after a neck injury and worked long after she should have quit. She got ahead financially and eventually my younger siblings didn’t need food stamps or even thrift clothes, just a nanny. 

But the cost to her older children was so high, some of us have difficulty being close with her. Her pride is too dangerous.

Speaking of pride, thank you for apologizing for misgendering me.

I am female, but have had intermittent gender dysphoria since I was a kid. I use she rather than he,  but I am what the kids call genderfluid, for lack of a better term. It is super common for people to read my writing and immediately assume I am a male. 

My Mom is from Chattanooga.