Thread by @xicaniita, Growing up hella poor, I didn’t know I was hella poor until [...]

Growing up hella poor, I didn’t know I was hella poor until my parents brought me to the U.S. Maybe because I was a child and unaware of the difficulties my parents endured to feed us, but in our small town, everyone had similar style of living.

It’s only a town of about 600 ppl and we all didn’t have the things we see as bare-minimum here. We had no flooring, just dirt. Our toys were plastic cars and rag dolls. We played baseball and soccer w old ass equipment. We all just had one tv per household.

The way we were able to identify someone had more than others is if they had more land or cows or a female horse.
I remember if you owned a female horse, you had it made lol

When I moved here we had nothing for a while and I remember going to the neighbor’s and they had ice-dispensing refrigerators and desktop computers. To us, going to Starbucks or McDonalds was literally choosing over eating dinner later that day, and but they did it all the time.

We wore Payless shoes and sketchers. We got made fun of for our different ways of dressing lol
Our best treat was going to the dodger stadium on Sundays. Tickets were cheaper and we still got nosebleeds hahaha I remember them being $6 and we all shared one bag of popcorn.

I have several points to make about growing up dirt-poor in an “underdeveloped” part of Mexico, but the main one is, 1) poverty has different looks. 2) romanticizing the “they have so little but are so happy” narrative ain’t it. 3) as a mother, it’s hard to not spoil your kids.

1) When you think of poverty, perhaps your mind projects a montage of malnourished children in third world countries digging through piles of trash as flies adorn their
rawboned faces in their own search for their next meal.

While these images provoke feelings of sympathy, they also distort the image of modern poverty in industrialized countries and the overwhelming feeling of shame for those who experience it.

People who are poor in “rich” countries still suffer day-to-day as they’re exploited by capitalism. Chasing the American dream solely focused around the idea that if you work hard enough you’ll make it, complete dismissing the systemic oppression that puts BIPOC at a disadvantage

So that’s my first point.
Yes, people in other countries definitely have it worse, but just because they aren’t aware of anything better, doesn’t mean we should tolerate that they have to endure extreme poverty to begin with.

Would I rather be in my hometown working the fields sunrise to sunset for barely any food in the table?
I don’t know. It’s complicated. Because even though I work a lot here and have the system against my specific identity, at least over there I’d feel at home.

I was ripped apart from my hometown, no consent to have to master a new tongue with even more odds against me than before.
The narrative that migrants should be automatically grateful for the U.S. just because there’s more commodities here ain’t it.

Poor people in third world countries exist, we must help them.
Poor people in rich capitalist countries exist and they deserve help too.
No one should be denied basic needs, FOOD AND SHELTER, because a few ppl in the world want to hog resources and wealth. How is this a thing

The rich have conditioned us to believe that it’s okay for them to be rich because they push the narrative that wealth is a reward for those to work hard. Those who are poor simply don’t work hard enough. This is the most privileged mentality to have.

Shaming people for collecting unemployment during A PANDEMIC further entertains the stigma that anyone who receives government help is “lazy.” Outrage continues with little discussion of how that money usually goes to bail out multi-million dollar corporations. Open your eyes.

Be outraged that the resources to help everyone have a livable wage have always been there but YOU aren’t the priority. Capital is.
The rich have the choice to end world poverty if they wanted to, and they just don’t. We shouldn’t be so comfortable with that.

Now going into my personal experience, being a mother makes me want to give my kids everything I didn’t have. However, I feel conflicted because I want them to realize their experience isn’t that of most kids their age in our communities.

I think I’ve made my point very well, especially since we do take trips to my hometown and they’re able to see the tremendous difference in living conditions.
I want them to be kind and aware of their privilege. I want them to want ALL kids to have nice things.

I see it in me as well. It’s almost as if I want to get myself all those things I learned to associate to wealth when I arrived in this country.
I want an ice-dispensing fridge. I want an iMac. I want a dishwasher.

But I can’t afford it.
I’m really good managing my money because as a single mom, I have no choice but to work hard and safely spend my money. I’d be homeless if I didn’t. But not everyone can be, and they shouldn’t be shamed for it.

I know it may appear like my kids have a lot or I have more than “most single moms” and I cannot tell y’all enough how much I hate being told I’m so “exceptional” for trying to tear down stereotypes about most of my identities. Of not settling.

I don’t want to hear about how “amazing” I must be to be able to provide for my kids and try to “make it” in this fucking system because it ain’t easy. Because I’m actually tired of it. Because I’m fucking losing the battle.

We shouldn’t glorify those who fight hard to have things they enjoy or minimum commodities.
They should be a basic human right.

Less glorifying the poor trying to make it out, more demanding resources for them to not choose between things they enjoy and survival.

Lastly, most of the shit I get is OfferUp. My kids have an iPad from offer up. My vanity is from OfferUp. Most of my friends donated furniture for my apartment. I’m still in the poverty line. I’m still struggling. Poverty doesn’t look a certain way.

But I implore you to do better. Start in your own communities. Get involved. Donate food, donate clothes, donate what you can. It starts in our own communities. Educate yourselves about how poverty isn’t a choice and there’s systems against BIPOC meant to keep us there.

I have a digital library on these topics and would love to share them if needed. Ask & I’ll give you the login. I’m also working on a lot of content rn that I want to put out as a series. Nothing fancy, just accesible ways to understand topics through the lense of the oppressed.

This was long and all over the place, but what sparked it was basically that im excited to get my iMac on OfferUp to have my own work station lol

I feel like that little brown girl who’d be impressed by the cool stuff in other ppl’s households would think I’m cool now.

But I needa humble myself because I’m only getting this because I paid off my last student loan and I got my complete deposit back from my last apartment. And even then, I feel guilty about it because god knows when I’ll be returning to normal work.

I’m sorry for the random rambling. Have a good day, y’all :)

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