Union, justice, common defense, general welfare, and liberty. These values were written in the US Constitution’s preamble, signed on September 17, 1787. The founding fathers of the US Constitution confirmed these were the American people’s values and their government. More clearly, the first sentence of the US Constitution admitted, “We the people of the United States” rather than “We the States.” (Beeman, 2010). This statement implies that the American people should dwell in unity and liberty regardless of their state of origin. However, it did not define black people as Americans, thereby giving more power and privileges to white people.
Legally and logically, the values written in the Constitution mean that all Americans are one family. To clarify, all Americans have the same rights and obligations under one flag and land. On the contrary, neither enslaved nor “free” black people were considered Americans when the Constitution was created. However, it would be later ratified by the US Supreme Court. Despite the US Constitution obliging both the people and federal and state governments to respect these values since being signed by the founding fathers in 1787, in practice, we have seen misinterpretation of these values by state governments.
Most significantly, the tenth amendment of the US Constitution adopted in 1791 says, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” (Beeman, 2010). The tenth amendment created a new system in the US political system: Federalism. Federalism is when states have the power to pass bills and rules which do not override the power and rights of the federal government as the US Constitution gives them.
The methodology of this paper is a case study on the child poverty issue to show the role of federalism in increasing child poverty among African Americans more than white people. Therefore, this paper discusses how the Constitution, including federalism, created numerous ways whites would maintain political and economic power at all levels of government. Also, this paper will provide clear examples from different journal articles that some state governments have a role in misusing their power through the use of the federalism system against African American communities because of the history of racism in these states.
According to Kids Count Data Center (2022), child poverty has decreased over the last ten years across the United States. However, the highest child poverty rate exists in states with more African American communities. For example, the article shows that child poverty among African Americans is at 31%, while among non-Hispanic whites, it is at 11%. The main reason is that the federal government passed a bill called “the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996”. This act allows states to design and implement a welfare program based on what a state government wants to provide to families who need jobs, finances, and health assistance (Rodgers & Payne, 2007). More importantly, as we have mentioned above, the federalism system allows state governments to make rules and regulations freely if they are not unconstitutional.
Researchers explain that some states, especially those that believe in conservative public policies, work to pass complicated welfare policies against minorities such as African Americans. This is reflected in the maltreatment of children as a result of poverty (Kim & Drake, 2020). For instance, these states put tough sanctions on people who do not meet all obligations and limit benefits. On the other hand, Rodgers and Payne (2007) confirm that other states have less child poverty rates among minorities because they use the act of 1996 effectively and responsibly. Even though there are several reasons why child poverty is high in nonwhite American communities, federalism significantly influences the results.
More evidence to support the argument of this paper comes from Kim and Drake. (2018) notes the reasons for increased negative health situations among African American children more than in white children. This article shows that the negative health issues among black children are associated with environmental poverty. Even though the Affordable Care Act plays a critical role in ensuring families have access to quality healthcare services, child poverty still prevails against it in Africa American communities causing high health risks. On the other hand, to Thomas and Fry (2020), the decrease in child poverty among nonwhite American communities leads to a decrease in impoverished children. Although, the data does not show a narrow gap between the white and black communities in America.
A report by Haider (2021) shows that black children were more likely to experience poverty by 26%, unlike 8% of white children. Moreover, Malta. et al. (2005) compare African American and White families in poverty. They find that African American communities have notable disadvantages such as lack of access to material resources and health care, poor neighborhoods, and exposure to many risks to health because of the population in poor housing areas. However, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 would help reduce environmental poverty, thus improving the living standards of children across the US (Parolin et al., 2021). Additionally, The SNAP and CARES Act would help narrow the gap due to equal treatment of all Americans regardless of race/ethnicity.
Racial discrimination in some public policies between African Americans and White people leads to issues such as child poverty. Federalism has played a role in the blind eye of public policies on some minorities based on these cases. Heard-Garris et al. (2021), who mention that there is a relationship between the body of constructional racism and child poverty, support the argument of this article. The article goes on to say that the body of constructional racism is the process that transfers the racism of values such as the Jim Crow system to processes and practices such as limiting access to social benefits, housing segregation, public services, and health care.
Most importantly, the article explains that white superiority has played a vital role in history through control by bills, public policies, and the economic system in the United States. For these reasons, constructional racism has created racial inequality between White people, African Americans, and people of other colors, such as Native and Latinx communities. In other words, racial inequality leads to the unequal racial distribution of child poverty. For example, based on the article’s statistics, Black Americans could not have their own home. Statistics show that African Americans have low homeownership rates of 47%, while the white American rate is 76% (Conley, 2020).
Furthermore, the homeownership gap is still wide in cities with larger black populations. For instance, Washington DC and L. There is a 25% gap and 50% in Minneapolis between African American and White Americans’ home ownership.
During the 1930s to 1970s, around 73% of white Americans, 57.7% of Asian or Pacific Islander Americans, 50.8% of American Indians/Alaskan Natives, 47.5% of Latinx Americans, and 42.1% of African Americans had their own home (Heard-Garris et al., 2021). Due to the housing segregation, the child poverty rate was also higher among African Americans than among other minorities and White people. Compared to the current data, the gap in homeownership between blacks and whites has only been reduced by 1.9%, implying that the poverty rate is still high in the black community than in white. As a result, child poverty is higher in the black community than in other minorities. However, the unequal racial distribution of child poverty is because of racial policies in some states, especially during the Jim Crow system. Briefly, as mentioned in the beginning, federalism gives the states a free hand to implement some laws based on what they want according to their preference or political values. Thus, constructional racism or the Jim Crow system resembles the federalism system.
In addition, Spencer et al. (2021) say that, because of the body of racism and discrimination policies due to federalism, African American communities are exposed to a tremendous rate of poverty that leads to dangerous diseases such as child maltreatment compared to White families. The article explains that the new bill of the federal welfare program in 1996, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWOR), should help all families with dependent children and work to reduce poverty. The work support programs are available at the state and federal governments.
However, the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program resulted in welfare being given through federal block grants to the state. Thus, Spencer et al. (2021) confirm that this new act gives all state governments a free hand to deliver cash monies immediately to low-income families with dependent children. However, according to the article, each state has special requirements to implement this bill because of the federalism system. For this reason, some states have strict requirements to access the benefits of this welfare program, and some states have implemented flexible processes to access this program. For instance, the article mentions a decrease in the number of families entitled to receive direct monies from welfare programs from 68% to 23% between 1996 and 2013.
More surprisingly, Spencer et al. (2021) note that caseworkers have a free hand to use their racism against applicants for the welfare program. For example, the article explains that caseworkers who can make decisions freely based on this law have been expected to sanction African American families compared to White families. Most importantly, according to the statistics, African American families were less likely than White families to receive childcare from this act of 1996 due to structural racism in some states who misused the federalism system. More clearly, this article expects states with a high African American population to give less cash assistance monies and stricter requirements because of the federalism system.
Lastly, according to Kelly & Ramsey ( 1991), during the Reagan administration in the 1980s, there was “new federalism.” The new federalism at that time gave state governments more power and a free hand over welfare programs. This was because the Reagan administration had tried to alleviate the federal budget deficits. The article discusses that state governments have been able to control all welfare programs due to the federal government’s new policies. Over time, this new policy negatively affected minorities in some states, such as African Americans and immigrants.
Conclusion
The diamond words in the preamble of the US Constitution in 1787, such as union, justice, common defense, general welfare, and liberty, were only dreams of the founding fathers. They probably did not expect what would occur because of the tenth amendment in 1791. The tenth amendment, called federalism, gives state governments all power to implement and practice the laws according to their public policies and political preferences. It was and is both state and federal powers that created, sustained, and defended racial hierarchies and white supremacy. Allowing states to develop policies not overruled by the federal government, is the Constitution’s central flaw. The system worked exactly how it was designed to work: nonwhites would have no power or say over their status or even life, a position that would be backed up by force. As a result of the 10th amendment, there is a clear evidence by discussing a few journal articles that some states have misused the federalism system.
Therefore, it is appropriate to address these racist public policies through Congress and the federal government, civic movements, and other political activities to secure support for federal bills primarily related to general welfare programs such as the Social Security Act of 1932 and the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
References
Beeman, R. (2010). The Penguin guide to the United States Constitution. Penguin Books.
Connley, C. (2020, August 21). Why the homeownership gap between white and black Americans is larger today than it was over 50 years ago. CNBC. Retrieved from https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/21/why-the-homeownership-gap-between-white-and-black-americans-is-larger-today-than-it-was-over-50-years-ago.html
Haider, A. (2021, January 12). The basic facts about children in poverty. Center for American Progress. Retrieved from https://www.americanprogress.org/article/basic-facts-children-poverty/
Heard-Garris, B., R., Kan, K., Perez-Cardona, L., Heard, N. J., & Johnson, T. J. (2021). Structuring poverty: How racism shapes child poverty and child and adolescent health. Academic Pediatrics, 21(8), S108–S116.
Kelly, R. F. & Ramsey, S. H. (1991). “Poverty, Children, and Public Policies.” Journal of Family Issues, Vol. 12, 388–403.
Kids Count Data Center. (2021). Children in poverty by race and ethnicity in the United States. Kids Count Data Center. Retrieved from https://datacenter.kidscount.org/data/tables/44-children-in-poverty-by-race-and-ethnicity#detailed/1/any/false/2048,1729,37,871,870,573,869,36,868,867/10,11,9,12,1,185,13/324,323
Kim, H., & Drake, B. (2018). Child maltreatment risk as a function of poverty and race/ethnicity in the USA. International Journal of Epidemiology, 47(3), 780–787.
Malta, J., Oh, J. H., Hamilton, M. A. (2005). Poverty experience, race, and child health. Public Health Reports, 120, 442-447.
Parolin, Z., Collyer, S., Curran, M. A., & Wimer, C. (2021). The potential poverty reduction effect of the American rescue plan.
Rodgers, Jr., H., Payne, L. (2007). Child poverty in the American states: The impact of welfare reform, economics, and demographics. Policy Studies Journal, 35(1).
Spencer, Livingston, Komro, Sroczynski, Rentmeester, & Wood-Jaeger. (2021). Association between Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and child maltreatment among a cohort of fragile families. Child Abuse & Neglect, pp. 120, 1-11.
Thomas, D., & Fry, R. (2020). Prior to COVID-19, child poverty rates had reached record lows in the US.
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