[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 11]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 14867]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




  THE CHILDREN OF WORKING AND WELFARE FAMILIES ARE ON THE FRONT LINES

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. MAJOR R. OWENS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 12, 2003

  Mr. OWENS. Mr. Speaker, yesterday, on a suspension vote we 
reauthorized the current Temporary Assistance For Needy Families (TANF) 
legislation leaving in place a very hard hearted and contemptuous piece 
of the so-called safety net. Farm subsidies may go as high as 200,000 
dollars per recipient with few qualifying provisions attached; however, 
welfare recipients with a family of four receive between 4,000 and 
6,000 dollars per year. On the day before the reauthorization there was 
yet another nasty Republican slur at the poor and at families on 
welfare: ``These people want a welfare check, not a child care tax 
credit.'' This demonization of the poor has escalated among Republicans 
despite the fact that it has clearly been established that on the front 
lines in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Baltic states and elsewhere more than 
ninety per cent of our troops are from poor and working class families. 
Because most of them were draftees it is probable that more than two-
thirds of the heroes whose names are carved on the Viet Nam Memorial 
Wall came from families eligible for welfare and other social services. 
Washington decision-makers should try to imagine the emotions of 
welfare mothers who search for the names of their sons at the Viet Nam 
Memorial Wall. To prime the imagination of those who will soon be 
deciding how many more American sons and daughters are going to be sent 
to Iraq I offer the following RAP meditation:

                   Welfare Mother at the VietNam Wall

     O so long I saved
     For the Greyhound bus fare
     To travel to this great wall
     Just to sit and stare.
     From across the park
     They all look the same
     But take it slow
     I find each separate name.
     Girls names you can play with--
     Towana Shoshana Sojourner;
     But all my boys I gave
     Names from the holy bible--
     Joshua, Joseph and Paul
     Now they decorate this great American Wall.
     Officers respected my boys
     And found them strong,
     They used to get rough
     But they did no wrong.
     Angry snakes inside me
     Keep coiling,
     Maybe I shouldn't be bitter
     But nobody asked
     When they drafted my litter.
     O God!
     Stop my streaming blood
     From boiling,
     All my days
     Are filled with toiling;
     Never owned a dress of silk
     But my breasts
     Filled up rich with milk.
     Nobody ever said thanks
     When my babies
     Climbed into their tanks;
     Never had accounts in banks
     Only crumbs for welfare ranks,
     Butt of jokes and office pranks,
     Pride they always made me smother--
     Despised begging welfare mother.
     Welfare clerks take up
     So many hours of my time
     Shuffling me round from line to line.
     Clerk questions and forms
     Nearly choked me to death,
     Governors and Mayors held me down
     Till I almost ran out of breath.
     Worked in many stores
     Scrubbed a whole lot of floors,
     Once was tempted to hang out
     With a ring of cheap whores;
     At home always heavy chores,
     Too tired to keep a job,
     Then my welfare clerk attacked
     With poison arrow eyes;
     In front of her something in me dies,
     Acts like its her money
     Used to ask if I had a honey,
     Charges me with lies,
     Envies what was once
     Between my thighs.
     Be nice if I still had a man,
     I miss hugging and stuff
     But men are like babies
     And six kids was enough.
     They all had the same daddy
     But my husband died too soon,
     Strangled by escaping gas
     With no mask
     In the factory back room.
     All my kids
     I found some way to feed--
     They grown now
     And your molasses pity
     Don't none of them need.
     I let my daughters-in-law
     Keep all the war insurance money;
     They take good care of their kids
     As far as I can see;
     Don't want my grandsons
     Still standing
     In the soup kitchen line with me.
     Its me alone now--
     My social security
     Covers most of the rent
     But then its all spent;
     For food each month
     I survive on
     Whatever crumbs God has sent.
     My struggle goes on
     With MedicAid Madams
     Demanding my birth certificate
     Again and again
     They keep on trying to break me in.
     Let them shove their questions and forms--
     Don't push on me no more
     I done come through too many storms.
     Why go back to the welfare folks?
     Maybe I'll just die
     Right here and my boys
     Will bear my body home.
     Soldiers hear your mama call!
     Break from the ranks
     And leave the wall!
     From each of your flags
     A little bit of cloth
     To quilt me a coffin cover;
     Maybe somebody will blow a horn
     To let the world know I'm your mother.
     No, God forgive me!
     I am a mighty American mother!
     It wouldn't be right
     To die here and spoil this place,
     I got a duty to uphold our dignity,
     We are a proud and loyal race.
     My bus return ticket is here,
     I'll face that MedicAid Madam
     And swallow my fear;
     My heroes would be ashamed
     If I ever shed another tear.
     O God!
     Stop my steaming blood from boiling;
     Angry snakes inside me keep coiling.
     I'll tell the snob
     To take her fancy form and shove it,
     Her trashy mind can't spoil me
     I'll fly high way up above it.
     Witch look down on me no more
     I'm ready to settle the score;
     Tell me face to face
     Before I crawl--
     How many of your sons
     Have their names
     Carved up on the Vietnam Memorial Wall?

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