JULIANNE MALVEAUX (NNPA)—Steven and Laurie, a White married couple that lives near Richmond, Va., work at a big box store. She is a cashier; he works in the storeroom. Each earns about $9 an hour but neither works 40 hours a week. Indeed, they are lucky to pull 40 hours a week combined. Sometimes weeks they are fortunate enough to pull 45 hours a week between them. Some weeks their combined hours are just 30. I met Steven and Laurie (not their real names) on a telephone press conference in April. They said they had three children and also mentioned that they were White because “everybody thinks only Black people get these benefits.”
