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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 25, 2000)
O c to b e r 25, 2000 Page A 4 (Tlje Jlortlanh ©bseruer Articles do not necessarily reflect or represent the views of ® Opinion (Ebe P o r t l a n d (J^bBcruer Can We Turn Rhetoric Into Reality? Wbe |Llortlanì» (Obscruer USPS 959-680 Established 1 9 7 0 STA FF E d it o r P C in h ie f , u b l is h e r C harles H. W ashington E d o i t Larry J. Jackson, Sr. B u s in e s s M anager Gary Ann Taylor A sst . P ublisher M ichael Leighton C opy E d it o r Jov Ramos C r e a t iv e D ir e c t o r R obert Parker 4 7 4 7 NE M a rtin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. Portland, OR 9 7 2 1 1 5 0 3 -2 8 8 -0 0 3 3 Fax 5 0 3 -2 8 8 -0 0 1 5 e-mail likely to be stopped, questioned, ar rested, jailed, sent to court, convicted, and given harsh sentences. T h e m u c h -n o te d e d u c a tio n a l “ achievem ent gap ” betw een Black and W hite students show s Black chil dren receiving low er standard test sc o re s fro m e le m e n ta ry sc h o o l through to the SA T tests often re quired for college adm ission. The grow ing “digital d iv id e” is serious concern for o u r children w here the m ajority o f students are m inorities are less likely to have strong com puter facilities, and W hites are m ore likely to have Internet access from their hom es than B lacks and H ispan ics are from any location. School seg regation still exists: recent statistics show over tw o-thirds o f Black stu dents attend schools w here the m a jo rity o f students are m inorities. These disparities should rem ind all o f us how m uch w ork w e still need to do to m ake our country one w here no child is left behind and w here children o f all colors truly succeed and thrive equally. W hat can w e do? W e can begin by continuing to teach our children they can succeed d e spite any odds still stacked against them. This is the lesson our parents an d g r a n d p a re n ts h a v e a lw a y s passed on, and our children still need to hear. A s we listen to cam paign speeches and prom ises this year, w e can m ake sure we vote and tell elected officials that leaving no child behind w ill re quire m ore than rhetoric. It w ill re quire acknow ledging the inequalities and com m itting to specific actions to solve them. A nd le t’s hold them ac countable after they are elected. Letters to the Editor ------------------------- N o w i t ’s e le c tio n tim e a g a in , an d w e look at o u r ch o ice s. D e m o c ra t o r R e p u b lic a n ? E x p e rie n c e o r “ g o o d o l’ b o y ” ? F acts o r rh e to ric ? W e ’ll V o te G o re! C harles & Julie Pruitt Gaston, OR. only generate 2. 1 percentofthe Health P lan’s projected budget. These num bers are hardly enough to stabilize the H ealth Plan, let alone extend cov erage to m ore uninsured O regonians. Voting “No on Measure 4 & 49 will send the tobacco settlem ent issue back to the draw ing board, where we can ensure the settlem ent is properly allocated according to its original intent and in a w ay that will benefit the m ajority o f O regonians. Health Care Advocates Oppose 4 & 89 r creasing rates o f early prenatal care and reducing infant m ortality, Black mothers and infants are less likely than W hite mothers and infants to get the prenatal care so crucial for healthy developm ent. Black infants die at over twice the rate o f W hite infants. A lthough birth rates for all teen mothers have declined sharply, the rate for Black teenagers is still m uch too high, and a B lack baby is b om to a teen m other every four minutes. B lackchildrenare more likely to be placed in foster care than W hite chil dren, and are likely to stay in foster care longer. Black children are dis proportionately likely to be victims o f child abuse and neglect and o f vio lent crime. A nd Black youths are overrpresented at every stage o f the juvenile justice system: they are more lem o f the color line. As we look to the tw en ty -first century and beyond, m any A m ericans want to be lieve that problem has been solved, and that A m erica has become a society where all children finally are judged by the content o f their character and not the color o f their skin. Sadly, the facts sh o w th a t d e s p ite s ig n if ic a n t progress, Black children still face far greater obstacles than W hite chil dren. Poverty rates for Black children are nearly tw ice the W hite child pov erty rate. O ne in three lives in poverty and nearly h alf ofB lack poor children live in extrem e poverty. Black chil dren are alm ost tw ice as likely to lack health insurance as W hite children, and are m ore likely to be in poor overall health than W hite children. D espite steady progress in in- B \ M ari an W right E delman As the cam paign gets into lull sw ing, a lot o f politicians are spend ing a lot o f tune talking about leaving no child behind. G overnor Bush, the Republican National Committee. Vice President G ore, and the D em ocratic National Committee have hijacked the C hildren’s D efense Fund and the B la c k C o m m u n ity C ru s a d e fo r C hildren’s tradem arked language: Leave No C hild behind. But under neath the election-year rhetoric about children is the reality that in this tim e o f unprecedented prosperity, there are still millions o f Am erican children being left behind every day. Far too often the children being left behind are Black and Brown. In 1903 Dr. W .E.B. D uB ois fa m ously predicted the problem o f the tw entieth century w ould be the prob- T he A m erican C an cer Society, A m erican H eart A ssociation, and /American Lung A ssociation urge you to vote N o on M easures 4 & 89. The purpose o f the settlem ent with the tobacco industry w as to recover som e o f the costs incurred by the state from tobacco-related health care and, m ore im portantly, to reduce fu ture costs. W e believe the best way to achieve this goal is to com m it a substantial portion to tobacco pre vention especially for our kids. D aily, you read about how thou sands o f O regonians are uninsured, how thousands o f children d o n ’t have coverage, and how som e p a tients are denied life-saving treat m ents because the H ealth Plan c a n ’t afford them. To m ake m atters w orse, the O ffice o f E conom ic A nalysis projects the H ealth Plan will suffer a $3 8 m illion budget shortfall next year because o f declining cigarette tax revenue. T he O regon H ealth Plan is in financial crisis right now. Y et a recent study o f M easure 4 done b y an independent econom ist show that it w ould barely generate enough m oney to cover the projected shortfall, even w hen you take into consideration federal matching funds. And, next biennium , Measure 4 wou Id Yes on 97 1 urge a yes vote on M easure 97. In 19971 found a trap submerged in a pond, no warning signs, only a quarter o f am ile from where children live and resi dents ofourcommunity walk their dogs. Out o f concern for neighborhood chil dren and pets, 1 pulled it out o f the water and it snapped on my hand. I have never experienced anything that hurt so badly. I was finally able to drive to the hom e o f a friend w ho rem oved the trap, but had sustained severe nerve dam age in m y w rist that w ould take nine m onths to heal, w ith no m edica tion available to alleviate the pain o f nerve dam age. I knew that I would get that trap off, but an animal doesn’t. Iknow how an animal must feel when caught in such a trap; terrified, in shock, excruciating pain and agony beyond description, desperate enough tochew off its limb to get free. Let my voice speak for those cannot speak for themselves. Jennifer K irkpatrick Scappoose Democrats better for Our Economy We rem em ber the Reagan years o f ‘80-88. W e were staunch Republi cans, and Reagan seemed like a breath o f fresh air. T hen cam e the G eorge Bush (SR) years, and w e w atched things go rapidly downhill: the biggest reces sion in 30 years w hile the president chose not to deal with the issue; the ballooning ofour national deficit from $ 155 billion to $290 billion - an 87% increase; and the lose o fo u r personal saving after layoffs as we struggled to keep heads above water. T h e C lin to n A d m in is tra tio n brought a period o f recovery. Today, the econom y is at its best in the last 30 years, unem ploym ent is at a 32- year low, and we have a budget sur plus instead o f a budget deficit. «F GAMES! t^ u N te o tx x is e "C A R N IV A L H A P P E N IN G S " A Safe, Positive Option fo r Halloween! October 31, 2000 A t the Center fo r Self Enhancement 3920 N. Kerby Ave. 5 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. Come join the fun as the Center fo r Self Enhancement turns into a good old fashioned carnival! 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