Baltimore Kiana
 | |
| Era | The Nineties |
|---|---|
| Age | 22-32 |
| Home | West Baltimore, MD |
| Demographic | urban Black, single mother, public housing |
| Lean | Lean Democrat |
| Race | black |
| Successor | Greensboro Jasmine |
Kiana is a young Black mother who lives in public housing in West Baltimore and works low-wage care jobs. The 1996 welfare law is taking her benefits away, and she is a Democratic-leaning voter.
Who they stand for
Kiana stands for the young Black single mothers of American inner cities who were the subject of the 1990s welfare debate more than they were included in it. Clinton promised in 1992 to end welfare as it then existed. The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996 abolished Aid to Families with Dependent Children and replaced it with a five-year lifetime limit and work requirements. Within five years, the number of families receiving benefits fell by more than half, as the economy absorbed many leavers into low-wage jobs. At the same time, the federal HOPE VI programme pulled down high-rise housing projects in Baltimore and other cities and moved tenants onto housing vouchers.
Kiana votes Democratic because she judges the Republican alternative worse for her, not because the party has served her well. The 1994 crime bill and the zero-tolerance policing that followed affect her brother and her children's father directly. Greensboro Jasmine, who succeeds Kiana, reaches college and becomes angry about these issues, but Kiana has little time for anger. Atlanta Andre, a teacher later in the same line of personas, holds views like Kiana's but has the income of a stable job.
Playing to them
Kiana responds to policies that change what her household can afford each month. She notices the earned income tax credit, Medicaid coverage for her children, places in Head Start, a higher minimum wage, and free school meals. A president who talks about these programmes in concrete terms, without using the word dependency, wins her support. She judges crime policy by who ends up arrested on her block. More police officers on patrol reads to her as a threat rather than a promise, and a president who pairs a crime bill with mandatory minimum sentences loses her support, even while that same policy keeps the support of North Philly Arlene, who wants more patrols.
Kiana's support is easy to win and easy to lose. Time limits on benefits, mandatory work programmes, and lectures about absent fathers all push her away from a candidate. Winning her support costs the support of Bayou Earl, who believes welfare programmes damaged his own community, and of Anaheim Darlene and Bergen Vinny, who see any transfer payment as a tax increase. It also costs the support of Plano Kimberly, who blames unmarried mothers for their situation rather than seeing them as affected by it.
Where they live
The five states where Baltimore Kiana makes up the largest share of the electorate in the nineties:
- Maryland
- Mississippi
- Louisiana
- Georgia
- South Carolina
Lineage
Baltimore Kiana → Greensboro Jasmine → Atlanta Andre
The Black Democrat whose family moves from welfare to the middle class in one generation. Kiana is the welfare mother the 1996 reform was aimed at. Jasmine is her daughter at college, angry at the government over Katrina and quick to call things racist. Andre is Jasmine in her thirties: a teacher, voting Democrat every time, frustrated that the party talks about culture wars instead of schools and health care. The party loyalty does not change. The anger becomes pragmatism as the family becomes middle class. The line is defined by race and class, not by sex.