Surviving In America

The people who need student loan forgiveness are not lazy. You actually can’t be lazy and survive in this country. Trust me I was scarily poor. You can only be lazy if you’re rich. That’s a rich people privilege.

— Dani Fernandez (@msdanifernandez) August 24, 2022

“They don’t wanna work!” I mean I don’t know if we were put on this planet to work BUT REGARDLESS whether folks want to or not, they HAVE to. Lower and middle class is a constant fight to not lose access to basic needs. One hospital visit can ruin your financial life.

— Dani Fernandez (@msdanifernandez) August 24, 2022

Poor people are the farthest things from lazy. It’s very telling that the hardest workers (service workers, janitorial workers keeping our buildings and cities livable, teachers etc etc) are the lowest paid jobs. Unlivable wages. Which is why they need multiple jobs

— Dani Fernandez (@msdanifernandez) August 24, 2022

Now there’s folks born into privilege and those who worked up to being wealthy (although this we could debate forever and also racially who has an easier time moving up out of poverty as they don’t face racial discriminatory obstacles in the financial world). BUT 👇🏽

— Dani Fernandez (@msdanifernandez) August 24, 2022

Those in the second group who say “I didn’t have anything handed to me!” Which again, debatable if you are more likely to have white alumni/resources/banks/employers willing to take a chance on you BUT, well the thing about the second group, which I find myself moving into, is 👇🏽

— Dani Fernandez (@msdanifernandez) August 24, 2022

You should remember how disgustingly difficult it was to survive when you were poor. How scarily hard it was to pull yourself out of a pit you thought you’d likely die in. I know what it feels like to need a miracle. I would never wish the fear and trauma I suffered, on anyone

— Dani Fernandez (@msdanifernandez) August 24, 2022

Because clearly it still needs to be said: Student loan forgiveness is not about irresponsible people taking out education loans and then not paying. These are compounding interest loans: borrowers are struggling because they pay many times OVER what they borrowed and still owe!

— Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) August 25, 2022

Before I finally paid my student loans off TWO YWARS AGO at the age of 44, I had repaid my balance again and again. But the interest meant most of my payments didn't go to the loan debt but the interest and that interest kept accruing daily over 25 years.

— Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) August 25, 2022

Also, government literally exists to further the common good and to help its citizens. Non-homeowners subsidize homeowners, non-business owners subsidize business owners, people w/o schoolchildren subsidize schools. Why is it politically expedient to think so little of each other

— Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) August 25, 2022

Privilege

by @Lib_Librarian – Cross posted on The People’s View

https://twitter.com/NerdyWonka/status/342257564253315072

I did not grow up in an atmosphere of privilege. My dad owned his own barbershop, and my mom was a seamstress in New York’s garment district. I wanted for nothing, but I knew we were solidly working class. If I and my brothers wanted to go to university—and with our parents, it was expected—we would have to work for it. There were no college funds, and no rich uncle was going to swoop in and save us. All we had were each other, our willingness to work, and our native intelligences.

Not coming from a place of privilege, I know instinctively that most things in this life for most people come at a price, the price usually being hard struggle. The world gives up very little for free. Short cuts, when they do exist, are far and few between. As I said in my post yesterday, at first that made me a practiced cynic. Fortunately I grew out of it, and embraced the rewards that come with struggle; the struggle makes the reward all that much sweeter.

But just as cynicism infects our modern politics, so does a culture of privilege.