Newt Gingrich To Poor Black Mothers And Children: Pick Up a Broom, Lazy Asses.

Sweet baby Jesus—serial sexual harasser and unapologetic adulterer Herman Cain finally crawls back into his hole and now we gotta watch serial cheater and crook Newt Gingrich take over the airwaves, screeching about how child labor laws, especially in the ‘hood, are “truly stupid,” 9-year-olds should be able to work as school janitors, and poor black mothers are a bunch of tragically lazy effers raising a bunch of even lazier effers?

I’m not making this up. Here’s what this nutjob said in Des Moines just a few days ago: “Really poor children in really poor neighborhoods have no habits of working and have nobody around them who works. So they literally have no habit of showing up on Monday. They have no habit of staying all day. They have no habit of ‘I do this and you give me cash’ unless it’s illegal.”

*insert image of Denene making dead fish eyes*

This right here? This mess right here? It’s more lethal than any instance of Herman Cain shoving his hands up a woman’s skirt or breaking out into an acapella version of “Amazing Grace”  to explain why his 13-year jump off is making the TV rounds. Newt, the architect of the mean-spirited, early 1990s Contract With America, is waging war against our society’s most vulnerable: the working poor, the unemployed, and their children, many of whom are African American and Latino.

So that we’re all clear, Newt’s talking out the side of his whole ass. In his New York Times columm, “Newt’s War on Poor Children,” Charles M. Blow sets the facts straight: Three out of four poor working-aged adults have jobs—half of them full-time, a quarter of them part time. He adds that census data shows that most poor children live in households with at least one working parent (hello—single moms!), and even a third of children living in extreme poverty—defined as a household living at least 50 percent below the poverty level—have one working parent. That translates into what you and I already know: That the problem isn’t lazy parents—it’s being stuck with jobs that pay no money while millionaires like Newt work tirelessly to dismantle every stitch of the little bit of support poor families need to simply survive. Dap and a bro shoulder bump to Charles for adding this:

[Newt’s] statement isn’t only cruel and, broadly speaking, incorrect, it’s mind-numbingly tone-deaf at a time when poverty is rising in this country. He comes across as a callous Dickensian character in his attitude toward America’s most vulnerable — our poor children. This is the kind of statement that shines light on the soul of a man and shows how dark it is.

Don’t get it twisted: Herman Cain was a UniverSoul Circus side show. There was no way in hell he was going to be the ring master. But Newt? Dude is being lifted by a bunch of ignorant, callous Americans salivating over his chance to decimate the very programs that help brown babies eat, brown mamas live, brown families get and stay healthy and our community survive in the middle of the worst, most debilitating economic times of our generation.

Y’all better get like Dap in Spike Lee’s School Daze.

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Denene Millner

Mom. NY Times bestselling author. Pop culture ninja. Unapologetic lover of shoes, bacon and babies. Nice with the verbs. Founder of the top black parenting website, MyBrownBaby.

12 Comments

  1. On one hand, I’m hardly surprised considering the source. But what really infuriates me is that there are some who are giving him a standing ovation. Seriously, you think poor people are poor because they have no work ethic? You think everyone who is poor commits crimes? I guess no one told my parents about this. These two grew up too po’ to afford the o and the r. Yet for over 20 years they served their country in the Air Force and continued to work hard for years after their military careers ended. Never got into “the life” to make a living. Every buck they earned was honest. But I guess if you believe Newty and his ilk, they’re the exception. I truly hope America is smarter than this…

  2. wow pretty infuriating!!!! get ’em D!

  3. It’s repulsive, and what’s worse are the people I’ve seen justifying it and saying liberals just don’t want poor people to lift themselves up. Not that simple!

    I wouldn’t mind seeing improvements to something like an ROP program. If you want to teach kids job skills, let’s go for more range and let them learn about jobs they’d like to have.

  4. Wow. This kind of stuff is what shows how people really feel. Is it a surprise though? So unfortunately not! Thx for posting this to keep people aware of what’s really going on despite the garbage we have to hear from some so called important figures who don’t know what to do with their power.

  5. When I saw this article last week I literally read it three more times just to be sure of what I was reading. Well – I guess all rich politicians can’t keep it in their pants *shrug* Since we like generalizations and all

  6. shirleyarchibald

    wow.newt has a nerve not everyone can charge $60000.00for a 30 minute speech about nothing.now he wants our children to clean their schools? does that include his family too???? he needs to return the bling he got from tiffenys back sure his wife will not miss it.

  7. It is amazing how the powerful can be so damn ignorant.

  8. This is sad. First of all there were plenty of jobs for teenagers about a decade ago. These jobs are now given to older immigrant adults. I am not knocking their hustle, but this is one of the reasons teenagers are not working at McDonalds or the Grocery stores anymore. Can we perhaps get better “stay in school” and/or “summer work programs”? Also, if he knew anything about being in a poor community he would have check his references. Because being in a poor community does not mean you do not work. It means you do not have the resources to do the middle and upper middle class can do. Your resources are limited. Has Newt’s resources every been limited. I do not know, but it sure does not sound like it. Love this article!

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