Celebrating Diversity
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Everybody should get coverage
by E rvin M ilton
Bridge Repairs Can Create Jobs
A works
program to uplift
disadvantaged
by J udge
G reg M athis
It has been a year since the I-
35W Bridge in Minneapolis col­
lapsed, killing 13 and injuring a
hundred m ore. That accident
prompted a formal review of the
nation’s bridges. The resulting report is
troubling: 152,000 of the nation’s 600,000
bridges are in need of a ma­
jor overhaul.
Experts estimate it will
cost over $ 140 billion to re­
pair or upgrade the bridges.
While the cost of repairs is
incomprehensible to most,
the impact of a federally man­
aged repair program would
have could potentially up­
lift and empower some of the
country's most maligned
citizens: the African American male.
• The staggering rate at which our men
stumble and fall and fail to get up, is
due, in part, to denial to equal access
and em ploym ent opportunities. When
others appear to rise, black men seem to
descend.
Consider that the welfare reform act of
the 1990s gave black women access to job
placement and training services that not
only boosted their incomes but also their
self-esteem. As a result, black
female unemployment rates
declined.
Black male unemployment,
however, has been nearly
double that of white males for
the last 10 years. The picture
is bleaker for young black
males: nearly 40 percent of
them are unemployed.
The federal government must institute
focuses on the repair and overhaul of our
nation's bridges could be such a program. It
could be utilized as an effort to assist black
men, teaching them skilled trades while also
addressing a very important national infra­
structure and public safety issue.
In the 1930s, the government insti­
tuted the Works Progress Administra­
tion, a program created to employ the
nation's poor during the Great Depres­
sion. Anyone who needed a job was eli­
gible to participate.
Though the jobs offered were diverse,
most workers repaired or built public build­
ings, highways and roads. The works
program had a strong emphasis on family,
training individuals so they
could support their loved
ones.
A similar program, one
that focuses on the nation's
bridges, would create tens
of thousands of jobs and
assist the largest segment
of the c o u n try 's unem ­
ployed: our men. Like our
nation’s bridges, black men
can no longer afford to be
neglected. If something is not done to
support them, they will collapse.
Judge Greg Mathis is a national vice
president o f Rainbow PUSH and a na­
tional board member o f the Southern
Christian Leadership Conference.
The staggering rate at which
our men stumble and fall and
fail to get up, is due, in part, to
denial to equal access and
employment opportunities.
a plan, much like the welfare reform act
that uplifted so many of our women, that
offers viable skill and job training so our
men can go out and get jobs that pay a
sustainable wage.
A government-based jobs program that
Not long ago, I got
sick and ended up in
the Emergency Room
of a local hospital.
When 1 arrived, I was
asked the usual ques­
tions: name, address,
insurance inform a­
tion and responsible person. I
was then taken back for an ini­
tial exam.
As I was taken to the room, I
passed several persons who ap­
peared to be as sick as 1, either
sitting or laying in the hallway.
I received excellent treatment
and I was set up for follow-up.
Today, I am back in good health.
I later found myself reflect­
ing on how I was treated in the
ER and the way that a friend
who I had taken to the emer­
gency room a while back was
treated. He had no insurance. 1
remember him being treated as
one of those that I had passed
in the hallway. I remember the
sign in the hospital that says
that they will treat everyone
that enters the doors. I have
found that to be true.
The difference comes in the
level of the treatment. I saw a
clear difference in both the level
of treatment and dignity offered
to the patients with health in­
surance and those without. In
the parts of the country that
have public hospitals, some
form of treatment is usually of­
fered to all. What is at stake is
that so many persons in the
U.S. do not have insurance cov-
by
J une P otter A costa
How many of us realize that
we are racially and ethnically
mixed?
T here’s agreement among
scientists - those ‘pro-evolu­
tion’ scientists - that about
65,000 years ago, a band of
hunter/gatherers, a few hundred
strong, exited East Africa. Some
of them traveled down into In­
dia; and some beyond,
into Australia, when
th ere was a land
bridge.
Then, over the cen­
turies, new genera­
tions traveled back to
Africa - all on foot,
mind you- and north into what
became known as the Middle
East and later into the British
Isles and Europe as that portion
of the planet emerged from the
Ice Age.
From that one band, came
the entire population of our
planet!
More recently, racially mixed
people - some, our most loved
and resp ected icons- have
achieved prominence.
John/James Audubon - the
bird man, remember? - was the
son of a Haitian woman and a
French naval officer who had
fought in the American Revolu­
tion. In 1789, Audubon’s father
took him to France, where he
was educated, and found his
true calling in the study of birds
in America.
How about the Dumas father
and son duo, the creators of
those epic novels. The Three
M usketeers, The C ount of
Monte Crisco, The Man in the
Iron Mask and o th ers.
J
kococo
s
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Doors Open @ 8:30pm
13510 NW Cornell Rd. Portland, OR 97229
Dubbie OO
Da Champ
erage. This means that
the poor, who are of­
ten employed, but do
not have insurance,
are treated unjustly
and not given the same
medical care as others
who have the privilege
of medical coverage.
The N ational C enter for
Health Statistics found in a 2007
survey that there were 43 mil­
lion uninsured Americans un­
der the age of 65. With the cost
of healthcare as well as other
basic necessities of life con­
stantly rising, more and more
people are bound to find that
health insurance simply won=t
fit into their budget, and they
will add to the numbers of
people who are using emer­
gency rooms.
Many people go to the local
emergency room to get basic care
that many of us get from our local
medical doctor=s office. If we
took seriously the concept that
access to adequate medical care
is a right that should be given to
all, then every American would
benefit from the same excellent
medical care that the financially
advantaged have.
If you, like me, are “privi­
leged” to have medical cover­
age, then thank God. 1 would
then urge you to join the fight
to get adequate health cover­
age for everyone.
Ervin Milton is a team leader
and director in justice minis­
tries fo r the United Church o f
Christ.
Blended Races, Ethnicities
I
C lu b
August 13. 2008
Alexandre Dumas, the father
was biracial. He was the grand­
son'hf a white French military
man and an Afro-Caribbean
woman and former slave.
France has always provided
a refuge and a creative environ­
ment for American blacks to be
fully accepted socially, and fully
respected.
Josephine Baker, the singer/
entertainer, found it
necessary to flee to
France. As did Rich­
ard Wright, the nov­
elist. More recently,
James Baldwin, too.
For shame, America!
Many others, from
other nations, have mixed an­
cestry.
Queen Charlotte, the wife of
George III (from whose author­
ity, we rebelled), very obviously
was biracial. She came from a
branch of the Portuguese Royal
family that was racially mixed.
Most painters of the time de­
picted Queen Charlotte as white.
But one painter saw her as she
truly was and painted her that
way. Charlotte, by the way, was
a good wife to King George who
was mentally unsound.
The R ussian n o v elist
Pushkin proudly proclaimed his
Ethiopian grandfather. As did
British actor Peter Ustinov.
More recently, Broadway en­
te rta in e r C arole C hanning
spoke about her father who was
biracial.
How many of us, if we did a
search, might discover other
races in our ancestry?
June Potter Acosta is a regu­
lar contributor to the Portland
Observer.
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