Statistics Slap Gingrich in the Face Over Labeling Blacks as Food Stamp Users

Newt Gingrich appeared in Laconia, New Hampshire and generalized African-Americans as a community needing lecturing about the importance of having a job rather than using food stamps.

(Before we get to the race angle, we should point out to Newt that seeking the two are not mutually exclusive. Wages are so low for millions of employed Americans that they must use food stamps to keep up their food intake. We would like Newt and other politicians, Republican and Democratic, to seek living wage legislation across the nation.)

Multiple times last year former House of Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich labeled Barack Obama as the "food stamps president". But truthfully, since we are speaking about the races and food stamps, we should note that it was Obama's white mother that briefly was impoverished to the point that she used food stamps.

From Daily Kos, here is Gingrich's stereotype-laden quote:

“I will go to the NAACP convention, and explain to the African-American community why they should demand paychecks instead of food stamps."

But as Joy-Ann Reid in the blog, the Grio today (January 5, 2012) reported in "Newt Gingrich: 'I will tell black people to demand paychecks instead of food stamps'",

A 2009 study found that 1 in 8 Americans, and 1 in 4 children -- of all races -- received food assistance, in the wake of the 2007 recession. The study found that 28 percent of blacks, 15 percent of Hispanics, and 8 percent of whites, received food assistance that year.

When it comes to total welfare receipts, Whites receive 34 percent of federal food assistance benefits, African-Americans 22 percent, and Hispanics 17 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.