is especially disturbing to me.
The "racial profiling" of welfare is what has been used to dismantle the social safety net in this country. This exploitation of white prejudice relies on that prejudice being present in the first place. Incidents like this expose the continuing influence of that prejudice on our civic life. Ironically, the destruction of the social safety net disproportionately affects poor white people - and who wants to bet their suffering makes them rage against some "other" who must be getting "all the welfare money" even more?
Also, as income inequality widens, society splits into two bands: those who can still pay for food and shelter via their salaries and those who require assistance. Currently housing prices and rising debt loads (education, childcare, eldercare, etc.) mean that even people who are working on the lower end of the scale require assistance. Despite all the high-handed rhetoric, there is no longer a bright line between those who "work" and those who are on "welfare". As these social categories have started to blur, anxieties are heightening and literal street fights are breaking out.
One thing that does not help is the astroturf minions of the real estate industry who spam all communications channels with justifications for wealthy investors to seize whatever property they want - while giving marching orders to the poor to go someplace else "within their means". Keeping the housing market liquid in this way is devastating from a human perspective: real people need stable housing. But real estate speculators want to pump up the conflict so they can maximize financial value of a place rather than granting it meaning for particular persons that may have already been living there.
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