í,|e^Jortlanb (©bseruer
Page A 4
O pinion
December 3. 2008
Opinion articles do not necessarily represent the views o f the Portland Observer. We welcome
reader essays, photos and story ideas. Submit to news@portlandobserver.com.
Struggling Workers in Difficult Times
exam ple - are struggling in this
econom y and jo b opportunities
are scarce.
Add to this the fact that many
recent college graduates are now
Recession hits poor, young most
may be forced to take a
pay cut.
D esp ite w hat som e
M o st lo w - s k ille d
w ould have us believe,
w o rk e rs an d y o u n g
A m erica is not headed
people, how ever, are not
toward a recession: it is in
so lucky and are having
the throes o f one.
the hardest tim e finding
Most, o f us have, at
even entry-level jobs.
som e le v el, been im ­
They are hardest hit by
pacted by this econom ic
dow nturn. M any live in fear this recession and the U.S. gov­
dow nsizing as businesses look ernm ent needs to step in and offer
forced to take any job, even those
them som e relief.
for ways to save money.
R ecent statistics show that, in that d o n ’t require adegree, ju st to
H undreds o f thousands have
already lost their jobs. If they’re the last year, the num ber o f w ork­ earn a paycheck, and you have a
lucky, they have the jo b skills ing 16- to 19-year-olds fell by 8 situation where young unskilled
needed to secure new em ploy­ percent. T hat’s the largest drop w orkers are com peting against
ment; but even then the w ait for a in any age group. T he industries degreed applicants for low -wage
new jo b may be long and they that usually hire them - retail, for jobs. Blackmales in theirlate teens
B y J udge G reg M a i his
or early tw enties are the hardest
hit of all the struggling young jo b
seekers.
Labor w orkers are also having
a hard tim e in the jo b market.
The American government must
throw a life line to those at risk o f
going under.
Construction workers, especially,
are finding it hard to secure em ­
ploym ent. T he industry has a
nearly 11 percent unem ploym ent
rate, com pared with 6.1 percent
ju st a year ago.
The national unem ploym ent
rate for al I w orkers is 6.5 percent.
Entry level laborers have a d iffi­
cult tim e getting their foot in the
door in these industries as more
experienced workers, mirroring the
ex p erien ces o f recent college
graduates, are snapping up low er
paying jo b s in an effort to stay
em ployed.
It’s a given that a recession
will impact some sections of soci­
ety more than others. W ithout
the necessary assets to cushion
y o u r fa ll d u rin g a v o la tile
econom y or the skills to maintain
em ploym ent, an individual is sure
to fillth eeffectso fth isd o w n w ard
econom ic spiral.
But som e groups are m ore
vulnerable than others. And the
American government must throw
a life line to those at risk o f going
under.
W hile C ongress and the finan­
cial industry considers strategies
for bailing out m ortgage ow ners
in the midst o f the U.S. housing
crisis, they should also think
through w ays to provide a safety
net to our low -w age, unskilled
and young workers.
There are a few things that can
be done: extending unem ploy­
m ent benefits is one o f them. In­
creasing food stam p benefits to
poor fam ilies is another. W ith
som e thought and effort, the U.S.
can deliver a plan that truly sup­
ports our struggling w orkers d u r­
ing this difficult time.
■■ ■■■■
1st Time Homebuyers
Now is a great time to buy! Why rent when you can own??
The US Government is ottering a $7,500 tax credit to
1st
Time home buyers..
Fired Up and Ready to Go
Goals to end
poverty are
achievable
by C harles S heketoff
This won't be available forever so, act quickly to take
advantage.
INVEST IN YOUR FUTURE.
( all Today 5(13.890.1181
John R. Pjris
Broker/Realtor
9200 SE Sunnyhtook 3k 4 Suite #400 C.3ck3H35. OR 97015
Office 503-336-6421-Fax 5OM36-6621
If
f n p m , i. prstnth listi J n t h tifth tr U n i et. ¡hi, / *>/ t s & ì M mh n f the i 'l i t f t r jttf other buiH tf.
□
Portland Me
KELIJER WILLIAMS
Cell 503.890.1181
jparis/fl/kw.com
M IS
Aswtutirf of Realtor*
yding
122 N. Killingsworth St.
Portland, OR 97217
(503) 281-0255
www.cascadecycling.com
Caring hands in your time of need
503-281-4891 /A\
Z /4
Complete: Traditional Burial Package W/ Casket & Cemetery Gravespace
* Creamations Available*
Pastor J.W. Friday
(
Pre-need is alw ays better than at need. Like M am a said, “ It is
alw ays better to have and not need than to need and not have.”
Death is certain; just like we plan for retirem ent, we should plan for
our hom e going.
Re: Cox & Cox Funeral Chapel
I have seen Cox & Cox work with families that have had nothing
and create som ething special. T hey have heen a com m unity staple
for all 56 years o f my life and they are still here.
Schawna Tanner and Jerome Cox-Tanner
■Tam t/u ('tr u e r / ri ( /in a /e t /f t O
Advertise with diversity
yean!
in ït,rÏ J o r t la u b
2736 NE Rodney.
Portland, Oregon 97212
(O b & c ritrv
('a ll 5()3-2XN-(X)33 ads(®portlandob server com
pressing, but the Shriver Center's
plan got me fired up and ready to
go. Here's the 12-point plan and
the steps O regon can take to
tackle them:
Strengthen the Legal Founda­
tion for Civil Rights and Racial
Justice. Im proving access to law-
by K athyrn
GI FT CERTIFICATES AN D LAYAWAY PLANS AVAILABLE
Re: Pre-Planning
I f assembled in one place,
Oregon's poor would comprise ti
state's second largest city, bigge
than Eugene and Salem combine
A new direction for
the Supreme Court
NEW SINGLE SPEEDS FROM $299.00
è va
yers for our poor w ould help
strengthen the legal foundation
for civil rights and racial justice.
Establish A ffordable Quality
Health Care for All. The legisla­
ture should breathe life back into
the O regon Health Plan so that it
can get closer to its goal o f co v ­
erage for all w orking poor adults.
Add to that expanding coverage
to all O regon children and we
would at least be making progress
tow ard affordable health cover­
age for all.
Guarantee Economic Safety for
People with Em ploym ent C hal­
lenges. O regon's unem ploym ent
insurance system needs to be
continued
on page A9
Justice, Equality and Opportunity
I f f ' off last
T year’s models
^èvadf
The morning after the election,
I watcheda videoofBarackObam a
telling how, on a rainy m orning
last June, Edith Childs o f G reen­
wood, South C arolina, energized
a room full o f people w ith her
chant, "Fired up! Ready to go!"
The chant becam e a signature o f
the O bam a campaign.
W ith the chant still echoing in
my head, I turned to a blog post
by an advocate I've adm ired for
years, John Boum an, president of
the Sargent Shriver National C en­
ter on Poverty Law.
Noting that "the State o f Pov­
erty is Am erica's m ost populated
state — 37 million people," the
Shriver C enter recom m ended a
12-point plan to confront pov­
erty.
In reading over the plan, I real­
ized how relevant it is not ju st to
the new O bam a adm inistration
but also to the new Oregon L eg­
islature.
A bout one in eight O regonians
today lives below the federal pov­
erty line, the sam e share as 40
years ago. If assem bled in one
place, O regon’s poor would co m ­
prise the state’s second largest
city, bigger than Eugene and Sa­
lem com bined.
T hose num bers may seem de-
K oi . bert
N ow that election season is
finally over, Am ericans are left
to exam ine the results and ask:
W hat does it all m ean? Among
other things, it m eans a new di­
rection for our Suprem e Court.
And that’s a very big deal.
It's incontrovertible that on Nov. 4, voters
delivered a sw eeping m andate for Barack O bam a
to appoint federal judges who are com m itted to
core constitutional values: justice, equality, and
opportunity for all.
T he public rejected the efforts o f the right wing
to stack the federal courts with ideological jurists
like Justices Anton Scalia and Samuel A lito - often
called “strict constructionists.”
Rather, the public selected now President-elect
O bam a after his repeated commitment to support
com passionate judges who are faithful to the C on­
stitution, its values, its principles and its history.
For his part. Sen. O bam a spoke about the court
during the cam paign with more energy than any
D em ocratic candidate in recent memory. Lilly
Ledbetter, the victim of a particularly egregious
decision authored by Justice Alito, had a prim e­
tim e speaking slot at the D em ocratic N ational C o n ­
vention in D enver and w as also featured in a
cam paign ad in heavy rotation. In the vice presiden­
tial debate, Joe Biden, unprom pted, pointed to his
opposition to Robert Bork as an important m ile­
stone in his career.
L atein th ecam p aig n .G o v . Sarah Palin and other
conservative activists attem pted to discredit S ena­
tor O bam a over com m ents he made on the W arren
Court, pointing out how lim ited the court's d eci­
sions really were. But the allegations never caught
fire, and the I ine o f attack was com pletely discarded.
A m ericans m ade clear that they are com fortable
with Sen. O bam a's vision for the judiciary, even
when it was caricatured as extrem e or outside the
m ainstream At the same tim e, voters w ere unin­
spired by Sen. M cCain's frequent repetition of
right-w ing code w ords like "judicial restraint and
“strict constructionist.”
In fact, the difference betw een the candidates’
stances on the future o f the Su-
prem eC ourt was an im portantdis-
tinction in several key endorse­
ments. In his endorsem ent o f Sen.
O bam a on M eet the Press, Colin
Powell pointed to the court, stat­
ing, “ I w ould have difficulty with
tw o more conservative appoint­
m ents to the Suprem e Court, but
that's what we'd be looking at in a
A
M cCain adm inistration.”
■ The public rejected the efforts
o f the right wing to stack the
federal courts with ideological
jurists like Justices Anton
Scalia and Samuel Alito.
In past years, w e've seen Republican candi­
dates m otivate their base with pledges to appoint
judges to the bench who bring a conservative
political ideology to their decisions. T his year, it
was progressives who were m ost able to rally
support on judicial issues.
Exit polling m ade clear that the Suprem e Court
was a w inning issue for Obam a. V oters w ho said
the Suprem e Court was a factor in their votes broke
for O bam a 53 to 45. V oters who said that the
Suprem e Court was the most im portant factor
provided O bam a an even more lopsided victory -
57 to 4,1.
T hroughout the prim ary election and into the
general. Sen. John M cCain repeatedly focused
attention on his support o f G eorge W. Bush’s
nom inees to the Suprem e Court, and prom ised to
appoint sim ilar jurists should he be elected.
Sim ilarly, at the D em ocratic
National Convention both Al G ore and Hillary
Clinton discussed the Suprem e C ourt as a critical
reason to support Sen. O bam a's candidacy.
M eanw hile, dozens o f new spaper and m agazine
editorial boards pointed to judicial appoi ntm ents as
a crucial issue in their endorsem ents o f Barack
Obama.
In the next four years, there might be three or
more vacancies on the Suprem e Court, along with
num erous vacancies on the low er federal courts.
G iven the results o f the election, we should
expect President-elect O bam a and the United States
Senate to nom inate and confirm judges who will
defend our personal freedom s and ensure that
every person has equal access to justice. The
Am erican people have asked them to do ju st that.
Kathry n Kolhert is president o f People fo r the
American Wnv.