Sharon Jasper reports on substandard public housing

Received by email, 3/6/2009 - Snopes.com categorizes this satirical story as "Multiple," meaning that it is partly true. Snopes' refutations, however, are directed at an earlier and much longer version of the story that contained manufactured information which is not presented below. Snopes does explain the Housing Choice Voucher Program (section 8), which is helpful.

Welfare just ain't what it used to be

Sharon Jasper has been victimized. Sharon Jasper has been rabidly wronged. She has become a Section 8 care case -- the victim of ever changing public housing policies. Sharon Jasper has spent 57 of her 58 years dedicated to one cause and one cause only, and has nothing to show for her dedicated servitude. She has lived in Section 8 housing all but 1 of her 58 years. It was a legacy passed down from her parents who moved into Section 8 housing in 1949 when she was six months old. She has passed the legacy down to her children, but fears they may have to get jobs to pay for the utilities and deposits. She laments about her one year hiatus from the comfort of her Section 8 nirvana, "I tried it for a year -- you know, working and all. It's not anything I would want to go through again, or wish on anyone in my family, but I am damn proud of that year."





Sharon was moved out of her St. Bernard housing project after hurricane Katrina and into a new, yet albeit, substandard quarterage. As can be noted from the above photo of her new Section 8 home, it is repugnant and not suitable for someone of Sharon's seniority status in the system. "Don't be fooled by them hardwood floors," says Sharon. They told me they were putting in scraped wood floors cause it was more expensive and elegant, but I am not a fool -- that was just a way to make me take scratched up wood because I am black. The 60 inch HD TV? It may look nice but it is not a plasma. It's not a plasma because I'm black . Now they want me to pay a deposit and utilities on this dump. Do you know why?"

She has held her tongue in silence through the years of abuse by the system, but it came to a head at the New Orleans ' city council meeting where discussions were under way about the tearing down of the St. Bernard projects. When a near riotous exchange between groups opposing the tearing down of St. Bernard and groups wanting the dilapidated buildings torn down and newer ones built, Sharon unleashed verbal hell with her once silenced tongue. The object of her oratory prowess was an acquiescent poor white boy in attendance. The context of her scathing rebuke was, "Just because you pay for my house, my car, my big screen and my food, I will not be treated like a slave!" and "Back up and Shut up! Shut up, white boy! Shut up, white boy!"

Recapping from the mental log of the city council minutes in her head, Sharon repines, "Our families have been displaced all over the United States. They are being forced to commit crimes in cities they are unfamiliar with. It is a very uncomfortable situation for them. Bring them back, then let's talk about redevelopment."

Sharon directs the reporter's attention across the street to Duncan Plaza where homeless people are living in tents and states that, "I might do better out there with one of these tents." She further lamented her sentiments about her situation, "I might be poor, but I don't have to live poor." (H/t: Hawthorne)

(Photo below the fold)