The term "projects" has long been used to refer to government subsidized housing--properly called "housing projects" from the (I think) 1960's with the "Great Society" welfare state.  Usually the tenants live there free, receive some form of welfare benefits in the form of cash, medical card, food stamps, Circuit Breaker, WIC, etc.  The whole thing was rather drastically changed when the Republican Congress finally forced welfare reform down Clinton's gullet and Dick Morris told him if he didn't sign it into law (after vetoing it twice) he couldn't get reelected.  He did and did.  Now most of the former "projects" dwellers do work, while we pay a monthly "babysitting" check to a family member--often the father of the children--to take care of the children while the mother works.  There is still plenty of welfare, but it has been curtailed to some degree--hence the increased venom and vitriole from the Left for the Repubs.  It was at least a start.  

Quoted: Tribal bullshit, you wouldn't understand.

That's tattoos--different thread.  

Quoted: I was under the impression that the welfare reform limited welfare to six years? But, I have never been able to find welfare info as in how many people are on welfare.............

Contact McUZI--he'll make up all the statistics you care to digest.  

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: I was under the impression that the welfare reform limited welfare to six years? But, I have never been able to find welfare info as in how many people are on welfare............. Contact McUZI--he'll make up all the statistics you care to digest.   Don't know him.....but I would much prefer FACTS (and, I didn't enjoy his famous rant as much as most did)

Then you likely wouldn't be impressed by his made up welfare statistics either.  

Quoted: Quoted: It is public housing for welfare receipents. A lot of druggies live there. Gang ruled. The bottom of the barrel. Blocks and blocks of apartments. When I lived in NOLA, no white person went near them Quoted: The Projects: democraps, liberals, socialism, blacks, illegal aliens, local/state/federal 'gubment housing, shoddy workmanship, few jobs, smells bad, drugs, prostitutes, gangs, lack of maintanance, lousy tenants, bad management, rats, whiners, welfare, and eventually torn down so that capitalism can revitalize the neighborhood. I hate to burst your bubbles, but I am Black, have never lived in or near any project, or had any family that has. But I shoot with a guy, White, who was raised in the projects. <shrug>

Man, no kidding.  I can see I should have checked back on this thread.  Guys, my job takes me everywhere in my town and subsidized housing of all kinds is inhabited by all races--it AIN'T a "black thing."  Geez.  

Quoted: It should be no suprise that because we have more white people in the USA, more white citzens are on state aid. They may not live in projects but sec 8 pays the rent. Also, being poor is not a crime. If your not poor consider yourself lucky because you could have drawn a different card in life.

The problem isn't poor people.  For many years, the poor folks in this country (regardless of race) still had dignity and a work ethic.  Socialist welfare programs have mostly destroyed those things among the poor, to the point where anyone who makes an effort to get out of that situation via hard work is either considered totally stupid or a traitor to their race or class.

The poor in this country used to work hard, and usually improved their lot in life over time.  That has NOT been the case for the majority of those who have been on welfare for more than a few years.  Their lives have only grown more bleak, as removing the requirement to work for their survival and betterment has been taken away.

I met a woman once who INSISTED that EVERYONE received a monthly check from the government, and was at a loss as I tried to explain to her that her "government money" really came from the people who had to go to work all day and pay taxes.  I'm still not sure she believes me, as everyone she knows has been on welfare for as long as she can remember, and she doesn't even KNOW OF another way of life, much less strive for it.

-Troy

I don't remember stating a person's race anywhere.  Hell, many members of my own extended family (great uncles & their families) have lived on welfare for generations, and have these same attitudes, and they are white.  On the other side of my family are unwed welfare mothers with multiple children from different fathers who are raising children that will likely follow the same path, and these folks are hispanic.  Certainly, this is not a problem that is exclusive to blacks.

However, the cold hard truth is that blacks use and abuse the welfare system at a far higher percentage of their overall population than do other races.  It is not politically correct to say that, but it is true.

Certainly, the history of the black population in the US has had an influence on that.  A black friend of mine, who was an Army helo pilot and brought in his personal pictures of the LA Riots that he was deployed in, went to a segregated elementry school in the south, and is very anguished over the fact that he can't trace his roots back very far, due to his recent ancestors being abducted in Africa and brought over as slaves in the 1800s.  Many black folks alive today certainly were oppressed by segregation and prejudice in their lifetimes, and remember it well.

At the same time, children of my generation (I'm 35) and younger largely did NOT live with this.  But many, including a LOT of blacks, lived a "free-from-responsibility" welfare lifestyle, and that has been corrosive to our society.  And refusing to acknowledge this for PC reasons will only make this problem worse, as it has continued to do over the last couple of decades.

My business partner, who is as black as they come, would be the first person to tell you that the responsibility for the state of the lives of most poor black folks is on themselves, and their community.  He is much quicker to call fellow blacks out on it, and much more blunt than I'll ever be.  He's not racist, anymore than I am, but he can see the truth.  Again, the same problems are present among white, hispanic, and asian poor (and even middle-class), but blacks have embraced them as being their own culture in many respects, and that's hurt their communities greatly.

-Troy