(Ebe Page A 4 |Jorthuxb (Ißbserue O pinion Opinion articles do not necessarily reflect or represent the views o f The Portland Observer Provide Health Care to Children m J u x ; e G k k . M vihis D em onstrating that he is more interested in pro tecting the interests o f big business and funding his o w n p ersonal cru sa d e. President Bush recently struck dow n a bill, sup ported by both Dem ocrats and Republicans, that would have expanded health insurance benefits available to poor children. It is estim ated that 9 m illion chil d ren are u n in su red nationw ide, an d that n u m b e r c o n tin u e s to clim b as em ployers slim dow n the co v e rag e they o ffe r to em p lo y ees. T he p re s id e n t's recent a c tio n s show that he is not only out o f touch w ith the needs o f one o f A m eric a’s m ost vulnerable p opu latio n s, they also show that he O cto b er 17. 2 0 0 7 ers ‘p riv a te ’ m atters; he thought sim ply d o e s n 't care. C o n g ress w anted to the program w as too exp en siv e, expand th e S ta te e v e n th o u g h C o n g r e s s s u g C h ild re n ’s H ealth In su r gested raising the federal cig a ance P rogram (SC H IP), rette tax to fund the program . It’s in terestin g that the p resi w hich helps fam ilies that earn too m uch to qualify for M edicaid, but c a n 't afford private co verage, ob tain health insurance fo r their children. T he b ip artisan group proposed a bigg er budget for the program , increasin g spending by $35 b illio n ov er five y ears so an a d d itio n a l 4 m illio n c h ild re n w ould be covered by the p ro d en t th ought the program was gram ; S C H IP cu rren tly serves 6 to o e x p e n siv e . N ot p ro v id in g p o o r ch ild ren w ith health in su r m illion children. , P resid en t Bush says he cares ance actu ally co sts society in the about poor child ren , but w ants to long run. R outine visits to the lim it g o vernm en t spen d in g and d o cto r and d en tist w ill ensure a intervention in w hat he co n sid ch ild stays h ealthy. W hen nag ging p ro b lem s are ignored b e cau se the fam ily c a n ’t affo rd the care they need, they grow se ri ous an d can becom e co stly . H ad the fam ily o f 12-year old D eam onte D river had access to Not providing poor children with health insurance actually costs society in the long run. h e a lth in s u ra n c e , p e rh a p s he w o u ld n ’t have died o f a to o th ache. In F ebruary 2007, an in fec tio n in a to o th s p r e a d to D ea m o n te’s brain, k illin g him . A sim ple, tooth ex tra ctio n - less than $ IO O -c o u ld have saved his Bush veto hurts poor, working class you n g life. W ith his veto, P resi en o u g h R ep u b lican su p p o rt to dent Bush p u ts p o o r and w orking o v errid e it. It’s tim e to put pen to paper: class ch ild ren and th eir fam ilies w rite y o u r federal leg islato rs - at risk. Fiscal resp o n sib ility has not R epublican and D em ocrat - and been the p re s id e n t’s stro n g est share y o u r stories. T ell them sto trait, at least w hen it co m es to ries o f c h ild ren w ho w ere sick er th in g s h e ’s p a s s io n a te ab o u t. than they needed to be sim ply A bout $600 billion o f tax p ay ers' becau se they d id n 't have access m oney have been spent on the to h e a lth c a re . A n d sto rie s o f w ar in Iraq; the p resid en t is e x hard w o rk in g fam ilies w ho had to p ected to req u est an o th er $200 ch o o se betw een paying a bill and billion for 2008. Som e experts say taking th eir ch ild to the doctor. P erhaps the voices o f those w ar sp en d in g co u ld surpass $1 trillio n in the n ear future. T h a t’s affected w ill be the push they a lot o f m oney to spend on an need to find the co u rag e to stand in itiativ e that has no clea r goal or up to the p resident. purp o se and is co stin g us A m eri Judf^e Greg Mathis is national can lives in d istu rb in g num bers. vice president o f Rainbow PUSH D em ocrats in C o n g ress are e x and a national board member o f p ected to fight the veto, but m any the Southern Christian Leader ex p e rts d o n 't th in k they have ship Conference. MMMMMMMMMI ■ M M Standing ,or Equality The following is an open letter to Mayor Tom Potter regarding his recent decision to end neighborhood exclusion zones for people arrested for drugs or prostitution. Dear Mayor Potter: On behalf o f the Com m unity Cam paign to End Police Racial Profiling, I want to thank you for your courageous decision to allow Portland's drug-free zones to expire. This act is a trium ph for com passion and justice. Inform ation from a report released on Sept. 26 supported the concern that exclusion zones targeted A frican-A m ericans for arrests for drug crim es in Portland's three drug-free zones at significantly higher rates than w hites or Latinos. Yet we know drug crim es are com m itted by all segm ents o f the population. W e see your stand as an im portant statem ent against police bias and a step tow ard elim inating all racial profiling which is defined as the inappropriate reliance on race as a factor in deciding to stop and/or search an individual. O ur C om m unity Cam paign to End Police Racial Profiling also seeks an end to other police enforcem ent tools, such as pretext stops, warrantless searches and discrim inatory curfew s targeting specific neighborhoods. W e believe these tools encourage and reinforce racial profiling and are destructive to com m unity. These policies, like the exclusion zones, allow the police to be the prosecutor, judge and jury, and increase the degradation, hum iliation and unfair punishm ent that Hows from racial profiling. W e applaud your com m itm ent to equality under the law and look forw ard to w orking with you to com pletely end racial profiling. Pastor Lynne Smouse Ixipez, chair Community Campaign to End Police Racial Profiling Oregon Land Use and Racism Annual Wellness Village ft Health Disparities Conference Taking the state back to yesteryear African American Hooftb CoolWon. Inc. A Healthy Com munity Starts With You! I Friday Oct. 19th, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Saturday Oct. 20th, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. 3rd Annual Health Disparities Conference: We Can Make a Difference Ambridge Event Center (formerly Portland Convention Center) 300 NE Multnomah Street 12th Annual Wellness Village at The Blazers Boys & Girls Club 5250 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Free health services and activities at the Wellness Village include: For community members, health care providers, and policy makers to generate Health Screenings & Services solutions to health disparities in Oregon. • • • • • • • • Keynote address by Dr. Marilyn Gaston and Dr. Gayle Porter: "Let’s Talk Family Secrets: the Impact o f M ental Health on Health." • 11:30 a.m , - 12 p.m . Registration ($200 for lunch) • 12p.m. - 12:20 p.m . Introduction Flu shots , Dental Vision Hearing Diabetes Massage therapy HIV & STD screenings And more Activities & Exhibits • Afncan drumming by Chatta Addy • Cooking demo & tastings • Gospel choir • 12:20 p.m. -1 :3 0 p.m. Keynote Address bv Dr. Gaston & Dr. Porter and Lunch • C h ild ren s activities • Raffle prizes It • rari«* •»•>•»>»• «•* *’ A t i f ò KAIWR KO TM M Nn sinon o (ASCADIA <r Komen ~-cure AstraZeneca 0 For more information contact the AAHC at 503-413-1850 or visit www.aahc-portlantf.org 1 bv S ean C ruz A m ong th e m any a rg u m e n ts s w ir lin g a ro u n d M easu re 37, the softening o f land use laws for long time property ow n ers that was passed by voters two years ago, is a gaping hole that would be apparent to any who ob served the many legislative hear ings on the consequences o f the law. You pretty much w ere w hite to have a M easure 37 claim. Those hearing room s were al ways filled with white people. In fact, if the lobby area outside o f a hearing room was packed with an gry m iddle-aged white people, then the chan ces w ere it w as about M easure 37. The drafters o f the law w anted to take O regon hack to yesteryear, those h alcy o n d ay s w hen the state’s m inority com m unities were effectively barred from owning real estate and obtaining the keys to wealth building that hom e ow ner ship offers. In those days, ju st a few decades ago. redlining was the norm. Financial institutions w ouldn’t have lent an A frican-American citi zen the m oney to buy property outside o f certain areas in Portland, much less prime real estate in the W illamette Valley. O reg o n 's citizens o f Japanese descent were locked away into in term ent cam ps during W orld W ar II, their properties becom ing un reim bursed losses. Many others sold their property under extrem e duress, a direct windfall to the white citizens who scooped them up. O reg o n 's Latino and Chinese com m unities were also effectively barred from the wealth-building op portunities that real property ow n ership affords. Native A m ericans were continuing to suffer from overt racism and actual genocide. Much o f the Indian land was parceled out for free, exclusively to whites. The fact is that Measure 37 claim ants have already benefited from the institutional racism em bedded in Oregon laws and the Oregon Constitution. They have benefited residing in the state and purchas ing real estate for more than 100 years. The state’s founding fathers sure knew how to put a selective dam per on imm igration. An overw helm ing m ajority o f voters finally rem oved the last of that racist, exclusionary language from the O regon Constitution ju st seven years ago. But 300,000 O r egon citizens voted to keep the racist language in the Constitution; again only seven years ago. It is difficult to argue persua sively with people who are unfamil iar with history, who take the present for granted. \ The drafters o f the law wanted to take Oregon back to yesteryear, those halcyon days when the state's minority communities were effectively barred from owning real estate and obtaining the keys to wealth building that home ownership offers. from the fact that they bought their properties at a time when O regon's racial and ethnic m inorities were excluded from the marketplace and com petition was stifled, keeping prices lower than they would have been had the market been truly free and fair. The further one goes back into O reg o n 's history, tracing property ow nership, the closer one gets to the days when the land taken from the Indians at the point o f a gun was redistributed for free— exclusively to w hite settlers. This is not an argum ent, but a reading o f the actual history o f the state, and not so long ago. The Oregon Constitution itself barred racial and ethnic m inorities from O ne would think from watching the M easure 37 hearings that the desire to build a few homes for retirem ent or to pass on to family mem bers is a whites-only phenom enon, em bedded in the genetic code. Fairness was the argument of proponents o f Measure 37. Fair ness, indeed. I’m supporting Measure 49, the N ovem ber General Election ballot that clarifies what lands can be de veloped in Oregon. I’m also sup porting M easure 50, the children's health-insurance initiative. Sean Cruz is active in Oregon state and local politics. He serves as Sen. Avel Gordly’s legislative aide and chief o f staff. I