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I get where Mallory is coming from on this one. I live in Georgia and there is a stereotypical view of poor white people here. Over the years I've had a number of CC co-workers make derogatory remarks about this type of lifestyle. Unfortunately it is a recognized lifestyle here. There is a certain term used to describe it and I'm not going to use it because I consider it akin to the N-word.
I hear it on a regular basis from from my CC co-workers and one of my leads uses it to describe his DIL who came from a poor background. He is determined to keep her from passing on some of her values on to the grandkids.
There is a social hierarchy down here and people from that background rarely make it out because of the prejudice against them. There are stereotypes regarding their work ethnic, moral values and such which is similar to the negative views of AA people.
One of my CC co-workers is very secretive about her background at work. She has told me a lot about her background and she's has been afraid if it got out it could hinder her upward mobility in the company. Her father was murdered and she came from a home where her mother had numerous marriages (more than socially acceptable) and she lived in one of those houses where tons and I mean tons of scrap metal and appliances were in the yard. She has always been embarassed by her family because family connections are a calling card down here. If you come from one of those undesirable areas or families it could hurt your career. She left her hometown because she would have more opportunities here. People always want to know who are your parents and where you go to church.
That's another one of those funny quirks in the south. Middle class AA's do out rank poor whites. I can't believe the number of CC co-workers who have "invited" me to move into their neighborhood.
As far as the kool-aid thing...The hospitals usually tell new mom's about WIC and food stamps. Soda in a bottle...I've seen it. In most cases it has nothing to do with poverty. My foster son is on WIC and everytime I go to pick up the WIC vouchers from the health department I get asked all these crazy questions by the nurse. She has to constantly remind people to not put soft drinks in the baby's bottle. I know one time I asked her if they were trick questions. One visit she asked me what was the formula to water ratio. Even the hospital went over the instructions to mix formula and wouldn't let me do it alone until they saw me do it a couple of times. Believe me you get more than enough milk and formula on WIC. We have never run out because we use it only for the kids. Infants get about 8 cans of formula a month and older kids get cereal, milk, juice, eggs, peanut butter, cheese and beans.
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