I find that things that don't make sense in American history and politics suddenly become perfectly rational when you consider racism.

And if you look at conservative attacks on social welfare policy, it is often and most effectively done simply be associating welfare with "undeserving" black people. Reagan's cadillac "welfare queen" was racially coded, as was the "young bucks" eating steaks with food stamps (steak is a food, go figure).

This is the Southern Strategy, how the Republican Party flipped confederate slave states from D to R after the passage of civil rights.

If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you. ― Lyndon B. Johnson