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Page A4
lune 13, 2007
O pinion
Opinion articles do not
necessarily reflect or represent the
views o f The Portland Observer
Indictment a Blow to Katrina Recovery
William Jefferson’s
fall from grace
by J udge
G reg M athis
U.S. Rep. William Jefferson,
who represents areas o f New
O rleans hardest hit by H urri­
cane Katrina, has been indicted
on 16 counts, including fraud,
m o n e y -lau n d erin g and a c ­
cepting some $500,(XX) in bribes. If
found g u ilty , the 6 0 -y e a r old
Jefferson could possibly spend the
rest o f his life in prison.
W hile Jefferson, literally, fights
for his life, the district he was trusted
to represent must deal with the fall
out from his very public fall from
grace.
Jefferson’s indictment will surely
hinder the city 'sal ready slow -m ov­
ing rebuilding efforts. Politicians
already reluctant to finance the re­
developm ent in the city ’s poorest
areas will use Jefferson’s indict­
ment as yet another excuse to w ith­
hold much needed funds.
Jefferson’s indictm ent is really
no surprise. In A ugust 2005, FBI
agents raided his hom e and found
$90,000, separated into $10,000
stacks, w rapped in foil and stored
in containers, hiding in his freezer.
F ederal p rosecutors say this
money was part o f the $ 1 (X),(XX) in
cash an FBI inform ant had given
Jefferson ju st a few days earlier.
T h e FB I h ad b een w a tc h in g
Jefferson for some tim e, suspect­
ing fraudulent activi­
ties w eren’t local to
his Louisiana district,
but to dirty dealings
in Ghana and Nigeria.
Jefferson was so be­
loved in his district
that, despite the scan­
dals, he won reelec­
tion by a w ide margin last N ovem ­
ber.
The people o f New O rleans are
now going to pay for their faith in
and other hard it areas. These in­
dictm ents give them that excuse.
It would far too easy for them to
deny redevelopm ent proposals,
citing 'u n stab le' or ‘corrupt’ lead­
ership as a reason not to rebuild.
A ugust m arks the second anni­
versary of Hurricane Katrina. Some
parts o f the city look exactly as
they did the day the Hood waters
receded. The city o f New O rleans
and its people have been through
so much. The people o f New Or- [
leans must m ake sure Jefferson’s
indictm ent d o esn ’t slow the re- I
If Jefferson is guilty...he has
betrayed the trust o f residents o f a city
that have already endured too m uch.^
Jefferson. The city of New Orleans, covery efforts. A letter writing
e s p e c ia lly th e p o o r d is tr ic ts cam paign to the local media and
Jefferson represented, deserve a la w m a k e rs
th a t
dem ands
politician who is com m itted to re­ Jefferson’s district not suffer as a
building the region, not fattening result o f his pending trial is one
his pockets.
way the city ’s residents- and the
If Jefferson is guilty - and this is rest o f the country - can m ake sure
up to the courts to decide - he has this do esn ’t happen. W e all have
betrayed the trust of residents o f a an obligation to make sure the
city that have already endured too people o f New O rleans aren ’t vic­
much. Even if he is innocent, the tim ized yet again.
city still loses. Business leaders
Judge Greg Mathis is national
and politicians who want to gentrify vice president o f Rainbow PUSH
New O rleans on a large scale are and a national board member o f
looking for any excuse to stall the Southern Christian Leader­
progress in the city’s Ninth Ward ship Conference.
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Greater Diversity Needed in Media
TV newsroom s
far from realistic
J by M arc H. M oriai .
T he co n tro v ersy
J overracially and sexu­
ally in sen sitiv e re ­
marks made by radio
shockjock Don Imus
to w a rd
R u tg e rs
University's women's
b a s k e tb a ll sq u a d
made all too clear the lack o f sensi­
tivity accorded people o f color over
the nation's airw aves and the lack
o f diversity am ong the broadcast
media's ranks.
In a nation, w here 33 percent o f
the population is o f color, w here
the civil rights m ovem ent opened
doors for m inorities in corporate
America, government and the haiis
o f academ ia, the picture reflected
on the public airw aves is far from
realistic.
"Cable news rem ains an over­
w helm ingly w hite and male pre­
serve,” concludes a recent report
by the W ashington, D .C .-based
m ed ia w atch d o g g ro u p M edia
M atters.
The group, w hich m onitored
cable news network shows in April,
found that even during the w eek of
the Imus controversy, w hites - es­
pecially men - tended to dom inate.
They accounted for from 54 per­
cent o f the guests booked on CNN
to 72 percent o f the guests on Fox
News Channel.
A fter the Im us co n tro v ersy ,
[NEW S E A S O N S
M A R K E T
back o f sorts to a range o f 74 per­
cent on CN N to 82 percent on
MSNBC.
It's not any better on the Sunday
m orning talk show s. M edia
M atters found in its "If It's
Sunday, It's Still C onserva­
tive" report. T he study fol­
lowed up on the National U r­
ban L eague’s 2(X)5 Sunday
M orning A p arth eid report,
w hich found that only 8 per­
cent o f guests were black over
an 18-month period in 2004 and
2005.
M edia M atters, which monitored
guest appearances on new s talk
- until after Imus.
NBC News, w hich carried Imus
on M SNBC, took three bold steps
tow ard diversifying its ranks in the
weeks follow ing the controversy.
The news organization hired former
N ewsweek editor Mark W hitaker
to be second in com m and, ap ­
pointed w eekendT oday Show host
Lester Holt to serve as w eekend
anchor o f NBC Nightly News, and
prom oted weekend Today Show
executive producer Lyne Pitts to be
vice president o f NBC N ew s and
the division’s point person on d i­
versity issues.
I m ust give NBC N ew s som e
We're not just advocating media
diversity fo r the sake o f diversity but
„
.
.
• j »
/ »
«
i f
jot the substantial benefits it delivers
.
.t
t f
. i
.
to the public at large.
X
show s in 2005 and 2006, found that
w hites tended to outnum ber m i­
norities by 7 to 1, and that tw o out
o f every three guests were w hite
men.
The picture at A m erica's daily
new spapers is a little bit brighter in
term s o f new sroom em ploym ent o f
m inorities but less than stellar.
Nearly 7,800 m inority journalists -
or 13.6 percent o f all full-tim e jo u r­
nalists - w orked in the nation’s
new sroom s in 2006, down slightly
from 13.8 percent in 2005, accord­
ing to an annual census from the
A m erican Society o f N ew spaper
Editors.
When the National Urban League
re le a se d o u r S u n d ay M o rn in g
A partheid report, we encouraged
cable and netw ork outlets to take
positive and productive steps to
provide their view ers a broader
p ersp ectiv eo f public policy issues.
Since then, not a lot has been done
props here but it shouldn't take an
unfortunate controversy such as
the one surrounding Imus' insensi-
ti ve rem arks for news executi ves to
understand the im portance o f d i­
versity to the journalism process
for the constituents it serves.
At the N ational Urban League,
w e're not ju st advocating m edia
diversity for the sake o f diversity
but for the substantial benefits it
delivers to the public at large.
Broadening the pool o f guests
and an ch o rs and rep o rters im ­
proves the tenor and quality o f the
debate, offers a richer and more
varied array o f inform ation to view ­
ers and helps fulfill the responsibil­
ity o f news outlets to educate the
A m erican public to m ake them bet­
ter equipped to m ake inform ed po­
litical and policy choices.
Marc H. Moriai is president and
chief executive officer o f the Na­
tional Urban League.
N O W D E L IV E R IN G
Y o u r f a v o r it e n e i g h b o r h o o d g r o c e r y s t o r e n o w d e l iv e r s
g r o c e r i e s r i g h t t o y o u r h o m e o r o f f ic e .
w w w .n e w s e a s o n s m a r k e t.c o m
you click, we deliver, (or pull up for pick up)
We Must Stem Gun Violence
M arian W rigiit E delman
We m ust face the hard truth
that firearm s are so easy to
a c q u ir e th a t le th a l m ass
shootings are m athem atically
inevitable.
The most recent figures from
the C enters for D isease C on­
trol and Prevention reveal that 2,825
children and teens died from gun­
shots in 2004. Every four days,
another 32 children die. About as
many children and teens died by
firearm s in A m erica in 2(X)4 as the
total num ber o f A m erican service
men and w omen w ho died in co m ­
bat in Iraq and A fghanistan since
those wars began.
Fifty-eight preschoolers were
shot that year, as com pared to 57
law enforcem ent officers. Shooting
deaths occur all around us, day in
and day out. But we don't act to
control gun proliferation.
O ur nation's leaders m ust enact
and enforce com m on sense gun
safety laws that check the flow of
firearm s into our com m unities. We
need legislation that requires thor­
ough background checks for every
gun sale. The Bureau o f Alcohol,
Tobacco and Firearms must receive
sufficient funds to pursue corrupt
by
gun dealers and black
marketers. Stiffer anti­
trafficking laws must
be ad o p ted n a tio n ­
wide. And the A ssault
W eapons Ban must be
im m e d ia te ly r e in ­
stated.
Parents and com m unity leaders
have a responsibility as well. They
should rem ove guns from their
hom es; organize nonviolent co n ­
flict resolution support groups in
their congregations and com m uni­
ties; and refuse to buy video gam es
and other products for their ch il­
dren and teens that glam orize or
make violence acceptable or fun.
We have the pow er to act now to
reduce gun proliferation and vio­
lence. It's the responsibility o f all of
us.
For more inform ation on the cost
o f gun violence in A m erica today,
the Children's Defense Fund’s “Pro­
tect C hildren, Not G uns,” is avail­
able on lineatchildrensdefense.org/
gunreport.
Marian VV right Edelman is presi­
dent o f the Children's Defense Fund
and a working committee member
o f the Black Community Crusade
fo r Children.