5 arguments people use against raising the minimum wage, and one mom's beautiful reasons for it.
Life at minimum wage is something that I don't think folks really understand — especially in big cities.
It's hell.
If you have children to support, it's even worse.
So when Chrisanna Capshaw stepped up to the mic at a North Carolina hearing where people wanted to talk about why raising the minimum wage is no longer an option for working people, folks listened.
And they still are.
Millions of Facebook views later, a video of Capshaw's speech continues to make the rounds.
But before we get to the video, I'd like to tackle five big misconceptions folks have about minimum wage.
1. "Minimum-wage jobs are meant for high school students!"
✔ About one-third of minimum wage workers are over 30 years old, and 89% are 20 or older. Womp, womp.
Because everybody who works for starvation wages is this happy, right? Image by David Shankbone/Wikimedia Commons.
2. "Those are just part-time jobs, anyway."
✔ Actually, 35% work full time. (And besides ... what's wrong with making decent money, even as a part-timer?)
How quaintly ancient. Image by Kevin Rutherford/Wikimedia Commons.
3. "They're jobs for people who just need extra spending money."
✔ Low-wage earners make over half of their family's income, and 28% of them have children. ("Low-wage workers" are defined here as making less than $10.10/hour, which is one proposed minimum-wage increase. There are about 30 million of them in the U.S.)
"I sold my plasma the last three weeks to pay bills and ... ZZZzzzzz." Image by Mruk20/Wikimedia Commons.
4. "If they want good jobs, they need to go to school!"
✔ About 37% have at least some college under their belts. Ahem.
"Yay! My diploma says I can make $7.25 an hour and I owe $150,000! Wait ... what?!" Image by Shenandoah University Office of Marketing and Communications, Wikimedia Commons.
5. "Why can't they just figure it out and make ends meet?"
✔ In every state, working for the minimum wage leaves a full-time worker with two kids below the poverty level.
Now if these were actually made of full copper... Image by Roman Oleinik/Wikimedia Commons.
So that brings us to Chrisanna Capshaw.
She will be one of the people who will join the Fight for $15 on Tuesday, Nov. 10, all across the country.
Chrisanna's story is not unique. It is important to hear and ponder deeply. Because a little empathy might just offer a different perspective on life.
While her tale is indeed a bit harrowing, she speaks highly of joining the Fight for $15 movement. Fast food workers recently won $15 in New York City by the end of 2018, and in the entire state by 2021.
There's a reason why some people can perfectly copy accents, and others can't
Turns out, there's a neurodivergent link.
A woman in black long sleeve shirt stands in front of mirror.
Have you ever had that friend who goes on vacation for four days to London and comes back with a full-on Queen's English posh accent? "Oooh I left my brolly in the loo," they say, and you respond, "But you're from Colorado!" Well, there are reasons they (and many of us) do that, and usually it's on a pretty subconscious level.
It's called "accent mirroring," and it's actually quite common with people who are neurodivergent, particularly those with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). According Neurolaunch, the self-described "Free Mental Health Library," "Accent mirroring, also known as accent adaptation or phonetic convergence, is the tendency to unconsciously adopt the accent or speech patterns of those around us. This linguistic chameleon effect is not unique to individuals with ADHD, but it appears to be more pronounced and frequent in this population."
Essentially, when people have conversations, we're constantly "scanning" for information—not just the words we're absorbing, but the inflection and tone. "When we hear an accent, our brains automatically analyze and categorize the phonetic features, prosody, and intonation patterns," writes Neurolaunch. For most, this does result in copying the accent of the person with whom we're speaking. But those with ADHD might be more sensitive to auditory cues. This, "coupled with a reduced ability to filter out or inhibit the impulse to mimic…could potentially explain the increased tendency for accent mirroring."
While the article explains further research is needed, they distinctly state that, "Accent mirroring in individuals with ADHD often manifests as an unconscious mimicry of accents in social situations. This can range from subtle shifts in pronunciation to more noticeable changes in intonation and speech rhythm. For example, a person with ADHD might find themselves unconsciously adopting a Southern drawl when conversing with someone from Texas, even if they’ve never lived in the South themselves."
People are having their say online. On the subreddit r/ADHDWomen, a thread began: "Taking on accents is an ADHD thing?" The OP shares, "My whole life, I've picked up accents. I, myself, never noticed, but everyone around me would be like, 'Why are you talking like that??' It could be after I watched a show or movie with an accent or after I've traveled somewhere with a different accent than my 'normal.'
They continue, "Apparently, I pick it up fast, but it fades out slowly. Today... I'm scrolling Instagram, I watch a reel from a comedian couple (Darcy and Jeremy. IYKYK) about how Darcy (ADHD) picks up accents everywhere they go. It's called ADHD Mirroring??? And it's another way of masking."
(The OP is referring to Darcy Michaels and his husband Jeremy Baer, who are both touring comedians based in Canada.)
Hundreds of people on the Reddit thread alone seem to relate. One comments, "Omfg I've done this my whole life; I'll even pick up on the pauses/spaces when I'm talking to someone who is ESL—but English is my first language lol."
Sometimes, it can be a real issue for those around the chameleon. "I accidentally mimicked a waitress's weird laugh one time. As soon as she was out of earshot, my family started to reprimand me, but I was already like 'oh my god I don’t know why I did that, I feel so bad.'"
Many commenters on TikTok were shocked to find out this can be a sign of ADHD. One jokes, "Omg, yes, at a store the cashier was talking to me and she was French. She's like 'Oh are you French too? No, I'm not lol. I'm very east coast Canada."
And some people just embrace it and make it work for them. "I mirror their words or phrase! I’m 30. I realized I start calling everyone sweetie cause my manager does & I work at coffee shop."