O c to b e r 25, 2000
Page A 4
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Can We Turn Rhetoric Into Reality?
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USPS 959-680
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C harles H. W ashington
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Larry J. Jackson, Sr.
B
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M
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Gary Ann Taylor
A sst . P ublisher
M ichael Leighton
C
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Jov Ramos
C
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D
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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
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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
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