Poverty, PTSD, that’s why.
This isn’t centered around bashing Black families because I am a part of the community, I’ve seen firsthand the lack of financial security and literacy in our communities so I’m just a kid for the liberation of black people, and with that comes knowledge, so let me educate.
Well at least from what I know.
For those who do not know what poverty PTSD is, do not be ashamed because I have recently come across the concept on social media. Twitter handle @LeArielleSimone, aka the Holistic Mamaí, created a video on March 16 about our relationship with money. The green that makes the world go round. The root of all evil or is it the evil of the uneducated?
Poverty PTSD has two sides of notion to it – spend it or save it. The first one is when you are presented with a large amount of money your brain automatically gives into flight mode with your money; “I have to save, I have to save” It only does that because it’s nervous about going broke again. Instead of spending it, you save having that fear and guilt feeling of spending in the back of your head reminding you of the feelings of being poor.
The second notion to this is spending it. When people are granted money that they have never touched in their life, they splurge. The same constant fear of being broke – they do what the majority of what others do, spend the money on clothes, materialistic items and other invaluable things to feel a void within themselves.
To create an imaginable but yet relatable scenario, picture a family whose mother is on disability and received social security from the government, a monthly check, to help with the bills of the household, and then food stamps/EBT, another government assistance programs to help low-income families afford food. I chose this lifestyle because I know this lifestyle. Witnessing firsthand how the government gave a surplus amount of food stamps to families and the impulsiveness to run to the grocery stores and shopping malls because of the fear that “they might take it back” was saddening. The overflow of benefits which yes, we are grateful for, but the line between wants and needs vanished quickly.
If there was not a lack of financial literacy in lower-income families, the amount of comfortability we would have to relax and use our money when needed and not when scared.
In the words of Holistic Mami, “our relationship with money is a reflection of our relationship with yourself.”