The Believer Magazine
If They’d Told Me We Were Poor
A 2023 Column Contest Winner
Though her family sometimes received food stamps and occasionally had their utilities cut off, Marcie Alvis Walker’s parents led her to believe that they were an average middle-class Black family. They encouraged her to pursue her dreams and told her that if she worked hard enough, she’d achieve them. The small catch was that Walker’s dream was an elusive one for any cash-strapped and undereducated Black woman: being a New York Times bestselling author. Now, as a published non-bestselling author, she wishes she’d had a backup plan.
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September 16, 2024If They’d Told Me We Were Poor, I Wouldn’t Have Changed a Thing
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August 23, 2024If They Told Me We Were Poor, I Would’ve Pretended to Be Color-Blind
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July 26, 2024If They’d Told Me We Were Poor, I Wouldn’t Have Tolerated the Cynics
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July 8, 2024If They’d Told Me We Were Poor, I Would’ve Been Like James Baldwin and Worked a “Black Job”
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June 20, 2024If They’d Told Me We Were Poor, I Would’ve Tried Being Funny
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May 29, 2024If They’d Told Me We Were Poor, I Would’ve Gathered More Rosebuds
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May 8, 2024If They’d Told Me We Were Poor, I Would’ve Embraced the Word “Poor”
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April 22, 2024If They’d Told Me We Were Poor, I Would’ve Given This Commencement Speech to Other Poor College Graduates
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April 5, 2024If They’d Told Me We Were Poor, I Would’ve Ignored the White Gaze
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March 20, 2024If They’d Told Me We Were Poor, Would I Have Been More Christian and Less Black?
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March 4, 2024If They Told Me We Were Poor, I Would’ve Taken Out More Student Loans
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February 15, 2024If They’d Told Me We Were Poor, I Would’ve Prayed Less and Written More
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