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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 8, 2004)
Page A4 /r,'r P nrtianh ©bseruer O pinion September 8. 2004 Opinion articles do not necessarily reflect or represent the views of The Portland Observer Americans Living in Poverty Continues to Rise by E lijah C i AIMING* Washington — Today. U.S. Represen tative Elijah E. Cummings (D-M d.), Chair man of the Congressional Black Caucus, issued the following statement on the U.S. Census Bureau's 2003 poverty report. Today, the U.S. Census Bureau con firmed what many of A m erica's workers already know — many of them are living in poverty. According to a report released by the U.S. Census Bureau this morning, approx imate ly 36 mill ion Americans were li\ mg below the poverty line in 2003 and 45 million Americans were without _ health insurance. These num bers represent an increase of 1.3 million Americans living in poverty and an increase of 1.4 million Americans who have no health care coverage. An even closer look at this report reveals that huge segments of our popu lation, particularly minorities and children, continue to fall deeper and deeper in pov erty and isolation. f Last year, tile poverty rate for African Americans rose by 24 percent bringing the ranks of poverty-stricken African Ameri cans to9 million. For Hispanic Americans, even more dramatic. Last year, 12.9 million children were living in conditions equal to that of a destitute third world country. As we know all too well, the conditions o f poverty and the ability to afford health insurance are inexorably linked. In 2(X)3, the number of His panic Americans without health in surance rose to 13.2 million, an in crease of 1.4 million since 2000. For the same year, 7.3 million African Americans were without health insurance, an increase o falm o st600,000 since 2000. When President Clinton left office in 2(XX), the number of uninsured Americans /.s there any good news fo r America s workers in a Bush economy? g the poverty rate climbed by 22 percent in 2003. placing 9 million Hispanic Ameri cans below the poverty line. For America’s children, the rise was Lifting Voices and Prayers for Peace by B ernice P owell Let us celebrate J ackson p ea ce in our Celebrating peace when the c h u rc h e s and world is at war, when both te m p le s and Iraqis and Americans still are mosques. Let us light dying in Iraq, when civil war candles for peace. and genocide threatens thou Let us plant peace sands in the Sudan and again poles for peace and in the Great Lakes region of gardens for peace. central Africa, may seem like an Let us preach sermons about peace. exercise in futility. Let us teach our children in faith But the truth is that it is when the schools about peace. Let us focus world is at war that we need voices our adult learning on peace. Let us and prayers for peace even more. ring church bells at noon that day. This year, then, let us celebrate Most of all, let us pray, earnestly peace on the International Day of pray for peace. Peace, Sept. 21. Let us celebrate peace in our YOU CAN SPEND THE REST OF YOUR DAYS TELLING THE SAME OLD STORIES, OR YOU CAN GO GET SOME NEW ONES. rz The camaraderie. The adventure. The seventy-two hour leave in Tokyo These are the stories you'll remember forever. If you'd line to add a lew more to the list and add some points to your retirement at the same time, the Army Reserve is the place to do it. Call 1 -800-USA-ARMY to talk with a recruiter or log on to goarmyreserve.com/ps PUT YOUR PRIOR MILITARY I SERVICE TO GOOD USE IN THE ARMY RESERVE Where 1317 Northeast Broadway Street When: Monday thru Friday 9:00 am - 6:00 pm Who: Sergeant First Class Raymon Collett ARMY RESERVE It's not your everyday job. laaBt • schools— from pre-school to high school. Let us sponsor essay con tests, poetry and art contests on peace. Let us make sure that every child in every school takes conflict resolution in school. Let us work to end bullying in every school. Let us teach our children to evaluate the music they hear, the movies they see, the video games they play to see what messages of hate and intolerance and violence they pro mote. Let us help students to iden tify how they wish tocelebrate peace and build peace in their own lives, as well as theircommunity and their world— and then let us listen to them and make their suggestions happen. Let us celebrate peace in our com munities. Let us encourage town hall meetings to talk about peace— in our neighborhoods and in our world. Let drama groups do plays about peace and poets do poetry readings about peace. Let us a sk o u r m a y o rs an d city councilpersons to hold Interna tional Day o f Peace ceremonies and honor those who are peace heroes, just as they honor those who are war heroes. had decreased for the first time in over a decade and the economy benefited from a $230 billion budget surplus. Today, after almost four years o f Presi dent B ush's ineffective trickle-down eco nomic policies, we have record deficits and millions upon millions of Americans are without work, without healthcare and increasingly, without hope. In order for America to once again have an economy that lifts more o f its citizens out of poverty, we must have leadership that p rio ritizes the p rosperity o f all Americans. Our nation deserves better and we must do better. Leaving the Poor Behind Let us celebrate peace in our homes. Let families caught up in violence turn to their clergy or physicians or school officials for help. Let every woman and every child experience one day of peace in their homes on Sept. 21— and by J udge G reg then let’s find ways to ensure that M aiths they never again have to endure In a country in which violence in the place which should the rich continue to get offer them the most safety. richer, it might not come Let us celebrate peace in our as a surprise that the gap world. Let every one of us work for between Am erica’s rich an end to war and violence in this and poor has widened. world, no matter what political T o d a y 's w re ck e d party is in power and who the economy has made this disparity president is. Let us make sure that even more pronounced. W ages every single person we know is have stagnated while real costs registered to vote in this election. (health care, housing, tuition, food Let us write letters to our elected and gas) have soared. Both presi officials about peace. dential candidates have given lip The Un i ted N at ion s named Sept. service to the income 21 as the International Day of gap. John Kerry is run Peace in 1981. This year. The ning on an "ease the World Council of Churches is in middle class squeeze" viting congregations around the platform . G eorge W. world to pray for peace and to Bush, in his own words, work for peace on this special day. serves the interest of Bernice Powell Jackson is ex the wealthy. The reality ecutive minister fo r Justice and of the divided America Witness Ministries fo r the United is that too many hard Church o f Christ. working Americans are s tru g g lin g ...a n d not making ends meet. Bush has shifted the overall tax burden from the wealthiest Ameri cans to those in the middle class. for a stadium project. This means that those who have The city should not be in the best ability to pay taxes are not v o lv ed in th e se d isc u ssio n s doing so. According to the Census until a private ow ner em erges, Bureau, the bottom twenty percent In response to the unveiling o f w illing to invest private dollars. of the population has experienced the ballpark financing plan. C om A t th is p iv o ta l m o m e n t in a mean household income increase m issioner Francesconi said, “ I P o rtla n d ’s h isto ry , the C ity of roughly $2500. The top 20 per love baseball, but I d o n ’t like this C ouncil should focus on the cent, on the other hand, have en proposal. At a tim e when so many m ost pressing issues: school joyed a staggering increase of are out of work, we cannot ask funding, jo b grow th and taking roughly _ . $61 .(XX). The wealthy . have taxpayers to bear the m ajority risk care o f basic city services.” enjoyed 24 times the gain than poor Stadium Not a Priority Commissioner says no ball Come join us for the release of the Dynamix CD “ Chillaxin’ on the MAX” Dynamix in concert w ith DJ O.C. ONE 12:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. on the Sabin CDC-TriMet Community Stage, NE Alberta & 22nd Ave. Free Dynamix CDs and autographs following each performance. 7th Annual Alberta Street Fair A m ulticultural neighborhood celebration S a tu rd a y , S e p te m b e r 1 8 th 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. NE A lb e rta St., fro m 11th Ave. to 31st Ave. Chillaxin on the MAX is sponsoied by TnMet and Sabin Community Development Corpoiation and includes a music CD as well as ladio and TV public seivice announcements. This project was designed to provide youth with an opportunity to create a safety campaign for their peers, while learning valuable media industry skills in the process Many thanks to our project partners: Dynamix, Urban Living Maps lai D’Shea I ntertainment, Portland Community Media and students, Alberta Wash House and Allied Vaughn BrQught to you by TR l © M E T and Sabin Community Development Corporation Income gap widens to engulf middle class Americans have. It does not help the wage gap that the jo b market is soft, which keeps wages down. Since Bush took office, more than 2.6 m illionjobshavedis- appeared. The mi 11 ion that have been added in theirplace typically pay less and offer fe w e r b e n e fits (namely health insur ance) than the lost jobs. The truth of the matter is that this is not truly a "middle class” epidemic. Even though the “middle class” is shouldering the bulk o f the tax bur den, the “middle class” is a quickly disappearing entity. With a quarter of the workforce earning less than The situation appears bleak. Many of corporate America’s gains are going to profits and not job - creation. $ 18,8(X)ayear, there is little wonder why the ranks o f the working poor have increased. The C ensus B u reau reports that 63 percent of w orking poor fam ilies has one or m ore w orkers in the fam ily unit. Sixty percent o f the w orking poor are w hite and about 20 percent are foreign born (m ostly from M exico). “ Business W eek” re ports that a m ajority o f the w ork ing poor have “high school di- plom as and even som e co lleg e.” Thirty years ago a high school diplom a and som e college would have been a sure shot to the m iddle class. In 2004, in a Bush- ravaged econom y, such q u alifi cations gain en trance into the ranks o f the w orking poor. The situation appears bleak. Many of corporate America’s gains are going to profits and not jo b creation. Labor unions, once a stal wart o f the m iddle class, have dwindled in size, presence and po litical power. The real minimum wage is 30 percent less today than it was in 1964. Higher education costs have exploded, severely lim iting the ability for lower income families to send their children to college. There are, however, some ways to combat these bleak reali ties. For example, lifting the mini mum wage would boost incomes; shifting the political momentum of foreign labor from low- to high- skilled would help ease the wage competition among those on the bottom. Achieving these changes is frustrated hy the fact that among the working poor, survival, not voting, is the priority. The wage gap in this country goes across all lines. The economy is a rallying point for this years’ election. To say that citizens o f all races are concerned about theirjobs is an understatement. The problem is figuring out how to get from lip service to social service. Talking about the wage gap is helpful. Fix ing it is essential. Judge Greg Mathis is Chair man o f the Rainbow PUSH-Excel Board and a National Board Mem- berof the Southern Christian le a d ership Conference.