Earlier this week, Pulitzer-prize Prize-winning journalist and host of The Karen Hunter Show, Karen Hunter, was joined by Seena Ghaznavi and Deante Kyle to discuss the suspension of SNAP benefits.
Set to expire on Nov 1, about 1 in 8 Americans are set to be impacted as the agency is expected to run out of money for the program.
Here are five points from their discussion as the government continues its shutdown and the Trump administration threatens to affect the Library of Congress.
As people face the threat of food insecurity, they are banding together to raise money.
According to Kyle, he expects many to enter a survival state and that crime may increase, but he has seen instances of people working together to help each other get food with funds. Federal Food Assistance is being planned as New York has declared $65 million for assistance to food banks. Organizations, such as Feeding America, Food Bank for NYC and Food Recovery Network, are offering increased access to anyone who needs food, as others are setting up online food pantries. Kyle himself is collaborating with Jasmine’s Garden to host a Halloween party dedicated to raising money for those who will be affected by the changes to SNAP.
Quote: “It’s going to increase the situation. People are hungry, so you can expect crime to go up. There has been a lot of positive interaction between people online setting up food pantries, doing mutual aid,” said Kyle. “Me personally, I’m involved in a mutual aid drive right now and a coat drive.”
There is a chance something positive could come out of this.
In the interview, Hunter highlighted how the belief that the government should take care of citizens can be viewed as “a trick bag” or a double-edged sword. As she reaffirmed that the government should provide services to make sure citizens are not left unhoused or unfed, the journalist and host emphasized that this could be an opportunity for people to do better, pointing to countries such as Cuba, where people are not left without food despite living under a dictatorial regime. Kyle added, highlighting that the incentive for some programs, including low-wage, hard-labor jobs, is to keep people in the working class. As everyone turns to each other to depend on each other, the government has the ability to reinstate everything and “chop people’s legs out from underneath them,” according to Kyle.
Quote: “Welfare was supposed to be as a way to get on your feet,” said Hunter. “Not a multigenerational way to live, and I think it has harmed us as a community, and we’re not the most people on welfare.”
The real question is “how long” people who voted for the administration now affected by the SNAP cutbacks are going to deny the pain, according to Kyle.
In response to Ghaznavi’s question about whether or not those who voted for Trump should be allowed to feel the pain or if a light should be shone on their actions, Kyle highlighted how they might deny the extent of the effect the cutback will have on them in favor of not having to admit that they are wrong. It also depends on an individual basis, whether progressive individuals would be willing to accept them once they do.
Quote: “I think it draws a crazy line in the sand too because it’s like – how can you embrace somebody like that because they voted for somebody who they thought was going to be so beneficial to them, regardless of who it harmed,” said Kyle. “The consequences of your actions are serious.”
They are using a playbook.
Kyle emphasized that Black people voted overwhelmingly for former Vice President Kamala Harris because they know what “oppressors look like.” He pointed out that the administration is using the same playbook, highlighting that “Make America Great Again” is a dog whistle that existed long before 2016. The slogan was initially used by Ronald Reagan during his 1980 presidential campaign against Jimmy Carter.
Quote: “They are using a playbook and they are recycling these things,” said Kyle. “This Make America Great Again thing is not a new term that he coined. It’s actually a dog whistle for those who know, and for everybody with information at their fingertips who is willing to look it up, you can see what it stems from.”
Erasing the Library of Congress erases all of history.
Hunter emphasized that everyone needs to have open conversations about where they are from, including both the good and the bad aspects of different cultures’ histories. On Monday, the Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to uphold its removal of Shira Perlmutter from the Register of Copyrights. Her termination would be without cause. An earlier decision found that only the Librarian of Congress could remove Permutter from her seat. In the interview, Hunter pointed out that, if the administration is given permission to remove her from her position, they would have control of the Library of Congress and could influence the writing of history.
Quote: “The Library of Congress is where we keep all of our records. It’s where we keep our history. It’s where we keep the copyrights,” said Hunter. “Now, somebody who has control over that, they can erase it all and tell a different story, and we’ll never have what we need moving forward, which is the truth.”
