This video is currently making the rounds on the internet, with reactions ranging from amusement to anger:

The girl in the video is an artist whose song on the subject of government cheese is satire, e.g., “All you gotta do is uh-uh and 9 months later you’re getting the big bucks.” Predictably, it’s pissed off a lot of black Americans, as evidenced by this oped from radio station Power 107.5:

So is this what we’ve come to as black women?? ‘It’s free swipe yo EBT’, apparently that’s all you have to do for the rest of your life as a black women, is reproduce as many babies as you can and let the government support them financially. And yes the satire didn’t miss me, I get that this video is making fun of poor black women who chose to rely solely on government assistant even to the extent of breeding more children to make ‘big bucks’. The problem is that no one is laughing but white Americans who think this stuff is true! There just sitting back feeling completely validated in their misconceived notions about the black women and the black family. Why do we as black people always have to make fun of ourselves about serious issues that plague our lives everyday. There are real black mothers out there that struggle to make ends meet for their children and keep their family unit together. Instead of focusing on their hardships, you have people who slap them with the ‘welfare’ tag and subsequently mock their growing pains with videos like these only validating people who think low of the average single black mother. 

The song isn’t all that artistic but, as a white taxpayer, I love the lyrics in the song, titled “It’s Free Swipe Yo EBT“. In part:

It’s free! Swipe your EBT!
State of California
I need to warn ya.
Free welfare, free ??, free food.
Mama say she can’t take me to school.
Why am I hungry and we get free food?
Free housing, free daycare, free clothes;
This is where the taxpayer money goes.
Ooh, a booger in my nose.
We all share ?? and socks
Then mama’s check comes in the mailbox.
All you gotta do is uh-uh
And 9 months later you’re getting the big bucks.
All you gotta do is ooohh
And 9 months later you’re getting the big bucks.
All you gotta do is uh-uh
And 9 months later you’re getting the big bucks.
All you gotta do is ooohh.
It’s free! Swipe your EBT! It’s free!
…
California wake up.
If they don’t get their money they’re going to kick your butt.

But let’s take a look at the numbers to see if the criticism made in the oped above is really true.

According to Chapter (the artist) in the interview (first video), “… you get $221 for GR and about $179 for food — that’s for each person.” That’s $400 a month. A single mother with 4 kids would then be making $2K a month from government handouts, or $24K a year. Personally, I would not want to raise a family on that. But when you add in free housing (that’s the “Section 8″ referred to in the video), scamming the free day-care angle (splitting with friends as Chapter says in the interview), and other ways to work the system, I’m betting quite a few single moms in California do indeed lead very comfortable lives with absolutely no effort whatsoever.

And that’s a shame.