Œ 1,1 ^Jort lattò (©bscrucr
Page A4
lune 8. 2005
Opinion articles do not
necessarily reflect or represent the
views o f The Portland Observ er
O pinion
A Real Crisis: Our Children are Dying
by
B ernice P owell J ackson
It’s a quiet kind of crisis, not
much press, but it is no less real.
Children and teens shot, many in
gang warfare. In Los Angeles,
nearly 80children were shot in 2005,
including a young man riding his
bicycle in the alley by his house. In
Cleveland, two young teens were
shot within weeks of each other
outside the same community cen­
ter. But not only in our nation’s
cities, now the violence is moving
to the suburbs and even to rural
areas.
School gun violence hit the head­
lines once again with the shootings
in Red Lake, Minn., the worst
school-related shooting incident
since the 1999 Columbine rampage.
But five years ago after the Colum-
bine shootings,
there were ef­
forts to curb gun
sales and distri­
bution. In con­
trast, there was
little such na­
tio n a l d e b a te
this year.
In a report earlier this year, the
Children's Defense Fund pointed
out that since 1979, nearly 96,(MX)
children and teens have died at the
hands of guns. O f that number,
about 36 percent of the victims were
African American. A startling 10
times more black children have died
by gunfire than were African Ameri­
cans lynched. The death rate for
African American men ages 15-19
is four times that of their white
A startling 10 times more
black children have died by
gunfire than were African
Americans lynched.
counterparts. Indeed, as CDF indi­
cates, the number of children and
teens killed since 1979 would fill
3,830 public school elementary
classrooms. And four or five times
that number have been wounded
by guns.
Much of this violence is gang-
related. A recent article in the Los
Angeles times cited more than a
thousand gangs, with some 85,000
members in Los Angeles County
alone, although some criminolo­
gists question this number. What
we do know is that not only are
gangs responsible for murder, kid­
napping, robbery, rape and witness
intimidation, but they are also be­
coming involved in so-called white
collar crime, such as credit card
fraud. What we do know is that
many of these gangs have formi­
dable arsenals.
While the Congress’s response
has been to pass a bill, which would
expand the federal death penalty to
gang-related murder and which
lengthens sentences and creates
new federal statutes governing
gang-related murders, many of
these organizations working with
inner city youth have decried such
legislation, pointing out that it takes
away the power of judges to make
decisions on cases. Meanwhile, the
same Congress let expire the fed­
eral assault weapons ban, despite
pleas from law enforcement and
many local elected officials.
W hile we have drastically in­
creased federal dollars going to
defense and to tax cuts for the
wealthiest Americans, many of the
dollars needed by community or­
ganizations, school systems and
local governments for recreation
and alternative programs for at-risk
children have been cut. Huge bud­
get deficits have even forced some
school systems to cut sports pro­
grams, as well as after-school and
evening programs, which might
provide gang alternatives.
There is a real crisis in America.
O ur children are dying. And we are
silent about it.
Bernice Powell Jackson is the
executive minister o f the Justice
and Witness ministries o f the
United Church o f Christ.
Workers Fall Behind with Persistently Low Wages
by
r—
J udge G reg M athis
The federal m inim um wage,
which currently stands at $5.15
per hour, h asn’t been changed
since 1997. T he latest proposal
to increase it was shot dow n by
the Senate earlier this year. Since
the federal governm ent has made
it clear that it isn 't overly co n ­
cerned with the w orking poor,
m any state legislators have gone
out on their ow n and set higher
w age m inim um s. C urrently, 17
states and the D istrict o f C olum ­
bia have set w ages above the
federal m inim um , ranging from
$6.00 to $7.35 per hour.
A jo b should be an opportunity
to not only make a living but to
also com fortably provide for your
fam ily. T his is, unfortunately,
■
i
, i .
-L
J1
A job should be an opportunity
to not only make a living but to
also comfortably provide fo r
not the case for m inim um wage
earners. A w orker earning the
federal m inim um brings home
about $ 10,7(X) a year - well be­
low the federal poverty line for a
family o f three. So, despite put­
ting in m any hours o f work each
week, m ost low -w age workers
are struggling and d o n 't have the
m oney available to pay for health
insurance and decent housing for
their fam ilies, let alone the ba­
sics.
M ost at or near m inim um wage
w orkers m ust rely on public as­
sistance to supplem ent their in­
co m es. M e d ic a id , su b sid iz e d
housing and free school lunch
program s help fill in the gaps
low -w age jo b s cause. W ith an
increase in the m inim um wage,
em ployers would shoulder more
o f the responsibility for their
em ployee’s basic needs, thereby
low ering costs for the state and,
ultim ately, the taxpayer.
C ritic s o f a m inim um w age
hike say raising the m inim um
w age w ill co st jo b s. B ut a study
by the E conom ic P olicy In sti­
tute found th at n e ith e r the 1996
n o r the 1997 federal m inim um
w a g e in c r e a s e s c a u s e d jo b
losses. T he fact is th ese w age
in c r e a s e s d o n ’t h a rm b u s i­
n esse s b e c a u se the c o sts are
o ffse t by the b e n e fits o f in ­
creased w o rk er m orale, higher
p ro d u c tiv ity and lo w e r tu rn ­
o v er.
A ccording to the C enter for
Policy A lternatives, if the m ini­
m um w age had kept pace with
inflation since 1979, w hen the
rate was $2.90 per hour, it would
now be over $7.80 per hour or
about $16,000 per year. That
sam e fam ily o f three w ould now
be ju st above the federal poverty
line. W orking w om en, A frican
A m erican and Hispanic w orkers
w ould directly benefit from a
m inim um w age increase.
A s the President and Congress
continue to ignore the need for a
m inim um w age increase, w ork­
ers fall further behind and state
budgets are pushed to capacity
as local governm ents attem pt to
provide safety nets to w orkers
fighting to keep their fam ilies
afloat. K udos to the states for
taking the initiative and setting
their ow n m inim um s; let’s hope
m ore states follow suit. M aybe
this will send the federal govern­
m ent the w ake up call it needs.
Judge Greg Mathis is chair­
man o f the Rainbow PUSH-Ex-
cel Board and a national board
member o f the Southern Chris­
tian Leadership Conference.
\ilvertise z/z c J J p r tk in b (O b s c ttw r 50k-288-(X)33
Why the Till Case Still Matters
Labels Don’t Help
Children Learn
By
Reg Weaver,
The season of hi^i-stakes standardized tests is moving into the season of unfair
lahds slapped on our public sehixils. The L’.S. Department of Education is lead­
ing the way by telling parents ae ross the country' that their children and sehixils
have failed to meet the demands in the so-call ed No Child Left Behind law.
President,
National
Education
Association
Already' on the failing schools list are about 11,(XX) public schools that are los­
ing federal funding and local control because of these labels. It’s estimated this
list will grow by the thousands before the next school year begins. All this will
be happening while the federal government is actually cutting education fund­
ing for most schools, lust at the time when, according to these labels, schools
need more help, the federal government will be giving them even less.
To put the absurdity of the situation in perspective, here are some facts about
the federal labels put on public sch ools by the so-call ed No Child Left Behind
law:
The federal
governm ent is
labeling schools
and taking
resources from
the nation's
classrooms.
nea
NATIONAL
EDUCATION
ASSOCIATION
nca.org
Great Public Schools
ftn Every Child
NEA's 2 7 million
members are the
nation's leading
advocates for
children and public
education
Labels are arbitrary and don’t mean anything.
lust a few weeks ago, L’.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings granted
Florida’s request for “flexibility” in how the state labels schools as either failing
or making progress T his decision was made after only 23 percent of Florida’s
schools met the standard set in the federal education law.
The Tallahassee paper referred to the secretary’s action as “the wave of a hand”
that suddenly changed the labels of about 4(X) Florida schools. It wasn’t that
the tests or test scores changed. But rather, the Secretary of Education was
granting a favor to the state. This doesn’t help any parent learn about their
child’s achievement level, and only causes confusion as to why these labels are
put on schools in the first place.
Labels are damaging to schools and children.
We know that in the federal law, there are 37 different ways for any school to
get slapped with a “needs improvement” label. We also know that in many
communities that translates to failure.
Despite a wide variety of ways for schools to be labeled “failing," there arc only
a few narrow methods the law allows for fixing schools' problems. This just
doesn't make sense. Federal funding becomes more restricted when the labels
arc put on sehixils, making it even harder for schools to hire reading teachers,
for example.
Labels don’t help students achieve success in school or in life.
The lack of clarity that surrounds these labels only manages to confuse par­
ents and demoralize teachers, principals and school employees. Furthermore,
it takes away precious school funding from classes and projects that actually
help students learn.
It’s estimated that it cost the state of Connecticut $8 million a year to develop
and administer the federa lly-required testrig and schixil-labeling system. These
are taxpayer dolars that could be invested in things that work like smaller class
sizes, hijrfiqualityteaehersand up-to-dateclassrixim materials. Investments in
proven reforms and not labeling wi 11 make a difference in the way students learn
1
One of many racial murders that scream for redress
by
E ari . O fari H utchinson
power to prosecute
public officials and
law enforcem ent
officers who com­
mitted or conspired
with others to com ­
mit acts o f racial
violence. Congress
enacted the latter
statutes im m edi­
ately after the Civil
W ar and they were aimed at specifi-
cally p u n ishing racial attacks
against blacks. In many of the racial
killings local sheriffs and police
officers directly participated in the
attacks, or aided and abetted the
killers.
Till was abducted at gunpoint.
That made it a kidnapping case.
The mood was som ber
when FBI officials recently
dug up the body of Emmett
Till. The mood should have
been downright grim. If ever
there was a racial lynching
case that screamed for fed­
eral action it was the Till case.
While on a visit to M issis­
sippi in 1955, the 14 year-old
Ti 11 was kidnapped from his home at
gunpoint, savagely beaten, shot
and dumped in a river.
The instant the story broke na­
tionally, black leaders demanded
that the Justice Department and the
FBI take action. This was the right
demand to make given the absolute
refusal o f white Southern sheriffs
to arrest whites suspected of racial
murders. In the rare cases they were
arrested, all-white juries refused to
convict them.
The Till case was not an excep­
tion. In a farce of a trial, the two
white men that killed Till were
quickly acquitted. But that was not
the end o f it. The murder continued
to send political shock w aves
across the nation. Black leaders,
labor organizations, and numerous
public officials implored the Justice
department to take action. Even
then there was strong suspicion This automatically gave federal
that others were either directly in­ authorities jurisdiction over the
volved in the murder, or had knowl­ case. T hey could have easily
brought civil rights charges against
edge o f the killing.
Yet Justice Department officials the two principal defendants and
still refused to do anything. They any others who were suspected of
claimed that state officials were complicity in his murder.
Till, though, was not solely a
solely responsible for prosecuting
racially motivated crimes, and if they victim of a racist, and hostile white
refused or conducted a farce of a jury. He was also the victim of a
prosecution as was the case with racially indifferent federal govern­
the Till murder, there was little they ment. In the pre-civil rights era,
could do about it. This, however, presidents and their attorneys gen­
was blatant legal evasion. Federal eral generally ignored or sparingly
statutes gave the Justice Depart­ used the federal statutes to pros­
ment the power to prosecute indi­ ecute criminal civil rights cases
viduals on civil rights charges when abuses. This had less to do with the
state prosecutors either failed to personalities, individual prefer­
bri ng charges, or conducted a weak, ences, or even racial bigotry of the
ineffectual prosecution that re­ men in the White House and the
sulted in acquittals. Federal law also Justice Department than with po­
gave the Justice Department the litical expediency. They were deter­
mined not to offend the politically
powerful South. While the Till case
sparked anger and garnered lots of
press attention, in that era of Jim
Crow segregation, it was still not
enough to move federal officials to
act. A half-century later federal of­
ficials were still reluctant to get
involved. It took a resolution by
Illinoiscongressman, Bobby Rush,
and demands by civil rights leaders
to get the Justice Department to
agree to poke and probe into the
m urder to see if any new charges
could be brought.
Now that federal officials have
taken action in the Till case, they
should not stop there. There are
stil 1 more racial murders that scream
for redress. Mack Charles Parker,
Till, though, was not solely a
victim of a racist, and hostile
white jury. He was also the
victim of a racially indifferent
federal government.
Herbert Lee. and Jimmy Lee Jack-
son, to name three o f the more bla­
tant cases, were victims of racially
motivated violence. No state or fed­
eral charges were ever brought
against their murderers. Some of
their suspected killers may still be
alive.
Also, according to FBI reports,
the W hite Knights of the Ku Klux
Kian, a para-military terror squad in
M ississippi, com m itted several
murders between 1960 and 1965. In
nearly all cases, FBI agentsquickly
learned the identities of the sus­
pected killers through Kian infor­
mants, or the m en's own boasts of
the killings. There was only a token
effort made to bring them to justice.
Earl Ofari Hutchinson is a col­
umnist fo r BlackNews.com, an au­
thor and political analyst.