President Reagan attacked welfare spending, characterizing it as tax dollars being spent on “welfare queens” feasting on T-bone steak while hardworking Americans “were standing in the checkout line with [their] package of hamburgers.” In railing against welfare, Reagan used the example of a particular black female fraudster who had snatched unearned privileges by exploiting the welfare system at the expense of honest taxpayers. This was an inaccurate picture of welfare, as whites received the large majority of welfare benefits and welfare fraud was rare. However, the depiction of the black
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