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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