Republicans are all upset that I’m connecting the dots between poverty and crime.

I know most of them haven’t experienced or seen these issues first hand, but I have.

This may be hard for them to admit, but poverty and crime are highly linked, both violent & nonviolent alike. https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1282502759388819457

Let me give you a real life example that I’ve encountered often (wording vaguely to protect people).

Growing up I was friends w/ a boy who was the son of a single mom. They struggled to pay rent.

As we know, hourly work doesn’t pay a living wage - especially then. /2

It’s virtually impossible to pay rent on $8/hr.

And when you are teenage boy in a fatherless home (his dad passed away), there is a drive to be “the man of the house.” To help your mom.

And what makes money fast when a full time job doesn’t pay enough to live? Selling weed. /3

For Black & Brown communities, especially in the era of criminalization, the choice to sell weed of course is a risky one - not just w/ police, but with those you get tied up with.

Yet when a teenage boy believes the other option is homelessness, they may take the chance. /4

Mind you, there are entire TV series glamorizing, humanizing, and sympathizing White Americans in this exact situation of selling drugs to live - Weeds, Breaking Bad, etc.

But fact is, Black & Brown communities have been in this predicament forever & get called “animals.” /5

I take this issue seriously. Unlike many of GOP pundits theorizing from suburban homes, I’ve had multiple family members shot, shot at, stabbed, etc.

Crime + community violence isn’t some thought experiment to project your thoughts & theories abt communities you’ve never met. /6

It’s our real life.

While it takes months, sometimes years to study crime data, I personally can tell you that fed & state relief is NOT reaching people.

We aren’t getting stimulus checks (mixed status fams), millions can’t pay rent, & summer youth employment has been cut. /7