Surviving Oppression under the Rock: The Intersection of New York's Drug, Welfare, and Educational Polices in the Lived Experiences of Low-Income African Americans

Abstract

Drawing on standpoint and intersectionality theories, this study explores the degree to which interactions among New York State's Rockefeller Drug Laws and educational and welfare policies have contributed to the maintenance of a culture of surveillance in which the lives of impoverished African Americans are overseen and influenced by oppressive policies and governmental institutions. Qualitative secondary analysis of longitudinal ethnographic data was conducted. Findings demonstrate multiple disadvantages that impoverished African American families struggling with substance use or sale experience. These disadvantages accumulated intergenerationally, in a snowball effect, making it difficult for participants to maintain stable lives. Findings explored the tension between participants' lived experiences and the multiple ways they either assimilated or resisted their oppression. New sensitive policies informed by standpoint, intersectionality, and Afrocentric perspectives must be developed to increase the availability of meaningful employment and strengthening impoverished African American communities.

KEYWORDS:

• drug use policy
• poverty
• welfare
• African Americans
• oppression

Acknowledgments

Research for this paper was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) (R01 DA09056; R01 DA021827). Points of view in this article do not necessarily represent the official position of the U.S. Government, National Institute on Drug Abuse, nor National Development and Research Institutes.

The authors thank Dr. Bruce Johnson, Dr. Ellen Benoit, Dr. Laura Lein, and the ethno-graphers Deborah Murray and Doris Randolph for their contributions to this paper. The authors also thank the research participants for sharing their stories with us.

Notes

ACS = Administration for Children's Services; GED = general educational development.