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Every society runs on stories it mistakes for facts. In America, those stories shape who gets help, who gets blamed, and who is left out. Not My Narrative is a Next City series that debunks the pervasive myths that have been used to justify neglect, inequity, and the status quo — and elevates the people proving those myths wrong.
This week, in “Making Ends Meet vs There’s Plenty to Go Around,” we’re talking about how society has made stretching oneself thin a point of pride. Check out the podcast on Apple and Spotify.
Growing up as a military kid, I was told to get a degree or some useful training. I was told that with hard work, I would survive and thrive. That was not my experience. It felt like: I’m doing all the things I had been told to do, but nothing is working out. I’m always in survival mode. I worked hard long hours, only to find taxes ripping away my meager hard-earned money and myself struggling to pay my bills. I couldn’t make ends meet.
Since I was a child, I always heard that phrase – making ends meet. Over the many decades we as a society have fought to make sure our basics were always met in this very capitalist economy. As a nation recovering from the devastation that was World War II, we were encouraged to work hard, pull ourselves up by the bootstraps, put our nose to the grindstone, so on and so forth. We were given villains in the form of the homeless, the ‘welfare queen’, and communist unions. We were convinced of the American dream with the kids, the dog, and the picket fence. The dream was only ever available to a select few.
I was stuck, like so many. What I made barely covered electricity and rent, even when I lived with roommates. I was barely eating and had to hoard every penny just to keep myself in decent work clothes. I learned the art of struggle meals and the side hustle. I made too much to qualify for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and, where I lived, there was no such thing as state medical insurance unless you were a single parent or disabled.
Shortly before the pandemic struck, I moved from the South to New York City, which was one of the best decisions I could have made. This city is expensive, yes, and I still struggle here. I’m still on Supplemental Security Income (SSI) due to complex PTSD that makes it impossible for me to work a normal job. But this city has offered me more opportunities for side hustles and to gain training and education. It’s allowed me to get healthcare to help deal with my chronic pain and my mental health. And it has also awakened me to the truth — that the “bootstraps” mentality we were always fed was just propaganda to blame hardworking people into believing we just weren’t working hard enough.
Here in New York, I got involved with the Urban Justice Center’s Safety Net Project, an organization that provides free legal services to low- and no-income households throughout the city, helping vulnerable residents fight evictions, get apartment repairs, and receive public benefits. After their team helped set me up with accommodations during the pandemic, I became one of their Safety Net Activists, joining a group of community members who had personal experience with poverty, homelessness, and the public benefits system.
Right now, we’re trying to reach the tens of thousands of New Yorkers who lost their SNAP benefits due to strict new work requirements. People don’t realize that around three-quarters of people on SNAP all work. We’re not sitting on our butts eating bonbons and watching daytime television. We’re working, we’re hustling, we’re trying.
I always remind people that you’re only one paycheck away from being in shelter, being on the street, and having to rely on these benefits. Don’t think you’re safe because you make six figures. Anything could happen. A car accident, a medical emergency, a wave of layoffs at your company.
And unfortunately, the safety net you’re meant to be able to rely upon if that happens is about as strong as the cobwebs in the corner of a room. The safety net is being gutted before our eyes. I am on SNAP benefits, I get Medicaid, and I have SSI, but I’m hoping to be able to get off of these things because they’re so nebulous. I want to be able to work and provide for myself.
We pay thousands in taxes to cover the tax breaks and bailouts given to big corporations and the wealthy while our neighbors and small businesses struggle. We are forced into a cycle of poverty.
Since the ‘20s and 30s, Americans have risen up in waves of protest to demand for a stronger safety net, safer work environments and equality in pay. We march, protest, and rally for small wins that aren’t meant to solve the problems but just to appease us into calming down. And we get crumbs.
But we don’t want anyone to go hungry. We don’t want anyone to have to spend hours fighting through bureaucracy to be able to get the public benefits they’re eligible for. We want permanent housing for everyone. We want affordable healthcare. We don’t want handouts; we just want help.
