lanuaiy 14, 2009
Page A4
O pinion
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Supporting Equal Pay
Obama will correct wrongs
by J udge
G reg M a this
O ne
of
B a ra c k
O bam a’s first presiden­
tial acts will be to sign a
bill that will overturn a
Suprem e court ruling that
m ak es it d iffic u lt for
women and other minori -
ties to challenge discrim inatory
practices at work, school and in
their com m unities.
The president-elect, along with
the Dem ocrats in Congress are
eager to step in where the Bush
adm inistration w ouldn’t and plan
to challenge the court’s som e­
times narrow views on civil rights
and justice.
desk; O bam a, by co n ­
trast, w elcom es the op­
p o rtu n ity to co rrect
this wrong.
D uring the p resi­
dential cam paign there
w as m u c h d e b a te ,
am ong w om en, many
o f w hom w ere w h ite, ab o u t
w hether or not they should cast
their votes for O bam a or Sen.
H illa ry C lin to n . M o st cam e
around and eventually supported
Obam a; they should be glad to
know that he is com m itted to
w om en’s rights and has vow ed to
close the pay gap betw een men
and women.
" In some cases, judges, after
originally ruling fo r the employee,
reversed their decisions and ruled
in favor o f the employer, saying the
Supreme Court decision left them
no choice.
*
This goes far beyond gender
In May 2007, the court ruled
equality,
however. Obama iscom-
that although Lilly Ledbetter, a
m
itted
to
creating an equal and
white woman, was subjected to
just
America
foreveryone. In both
sex based pay discrim ination by
1988
and
1991,
C ongress ex ­
her employer, but ruled in favor of
panded
civil
rights
protections
the em ployer because she had
filed her suit beyond a 180 dead­ that w ere threatened by court
decisions. W e can look for the
line.
Since the ruling, many low er new administration to do the same,
courts used the decision to argue stepping in w hen the court fails to
for dism issal o f race and gender- serve the needs o f the people.
As a form er civil rights attor­
based education and housing dis­
crim ination suits. In some cases, ney, the president-elect is familiar
judges, after originally ruling for with the laws that both support
the em ployee, reversed their de­ and get in the way o f true equal
cisions and ruled in favor o f the rights for all; this know ledge,
em ployer, saying the Supreme along w ith his desire for real
Court decision left them no choice. change, should bring about a
The proposed legislation will broad effort to level the playing
overturn that decision, increas­ for so many.
Judge Greg Mathis is vice
ing the statute of lim itations, pro­
viding victims with more tim e to president o f Rainbow PUSH and
find justice in the courts. Presi­ a board member of the Southern
dent Bush threatened to veto the Christian Leadership Confer­
bill if it ever made its way to his ence.
Ending the Cycle of Youth Violence
Public health
approach
needed
B arbara B aylor
W e could not make
out w here everyone
w as running to or why
th ey w ere ru nning.
W e assum ed a fight had broken
out in the mall and youth w ere
by
running to look at it. Then aii of
a sudden, we heard the shots!
For a delayed moment, it did
not register. Someone shouted,
“ S om ebody’s shooting, every­
body dow n!" Terrified, we b e­
gan to run. People were franti­
cally running for their lives, all
trying to take cover anyw here
we could. There was scream ing
yding
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I
and crying echoing off the walls.
I ran toward a com er in the mal 1
and crouched dow n to
shield my grandchild of
18 months. A llegedly, an
arg u m en t had eru p ted
betw een tw o teen males
over a female. P resum ­
ably, the gunm an felt that
his option for resolving
ju ry P rev en tio n and C o n tro l in
the C e n te rs for D isease C ontrol
and P rev en tio n states th at v io ­
lence is a p u b lic h ealth issue
becau se o f its trem en d o u s im ­
pact on the h ealth and w ell­
b eing o f o u r youth.
Youth violence is now a world­
wide epidemic. According toCDC,
“H om icide is the second leading
Having survived the traumatic
e
.
mall shooting, 1 began pondering IJ
/» •»
i „
we failed to teach our children the
value and sanctity o f human life.
.
i
the co n flict w as to shoot the
young woman and her male friend.
So with no apparent regard for
the m all sh o p p e rs liv e s, the
shooter fired his gun not know ­
ing where the bullets w ould end
up. Fortunately, no one w as fa­
tally wounded.
V iolence affects everyone!
The W orld Report on V iolence
and Health rem inds us that vio­
lence can also affect the health o f
com m unities by increasing health
care costs, decreasing property
values and disrupting social ser­
vices.
T he N ational C e n te r fo r In-
t
j
gan pondering if we, individuals
w ho live in the com m unity, failed
to teach our children the value
and sanctity o f hum an life.
H ave we failed to train them
how to love and forgive? Have we
m oved aw ay from “com m unity
parenting” w here neighbors took
resp o n sib ility for discip lin in g
youth in their com m unities. Has
the glam orization o f violence in
the m edia attracted our youth to
unreal lifestyles?
W e m ust do som ething about
the proliferation o f guns in our
com m unities and illegal guns in
the hands o f our youth.
P r e s id e n t- E le c t
O bam a
pledges to en d the dangerous
cycle o f youth violence by finan­
cially supporting innovative lo­
cal program s that im plem ent a
com prehensive public health ap­
proach that include com m unity-
based strategies to prevent youth
violence.
Now is the tim e to write Presi­
dent E lect O bam a with our cre­
ative ideas for ending youth vio­
lence in our com m unities.
Vi sit change .gov to share your
ideas. O ur children are depend­
ing on us.
cause o f death for persons 10 to
24 years o f age in the U. S.”
F or this age group, it is the
leading cause o f death for A fri­
can A m ericans. M oreover, it is
the second leading cause o f death
for L atino A m ericans and Asian
A m ericans/Pacific Islanders; and
the third leading cause o f death
for N ative A m ericans and A las­
kan Natives.
As a H ealth Care advocate and
teacher, I heartily believe that posi­
tive parenting is a prim ary deter­
Barbara Baylor is Minister
rent to interpersonal violence
am ong youth. H aving survived fo r Health Care Justice at the
the traum atic mall shooting. I be- United Church o f Christ.
■■■■■M W M M
Democracy from the Bottom
Socialism seems to be working in Venezuela
P eter P hillips
DenKKracy from the bottom is
evolving as a 10-year social revo­
lution in Venezuela.
L e d by P re s id e n t H u g o
Chavez, the United Socialist Party
o f V enezuela gained over 1.5 m il­
lion voters in the Nov. 23 elec­
tions.
“ It was a w onderful victory,”
said Professor C arm en Carrero
with the Com m unications Stud­
ies D epartm ent o f the Bolivarian
U niversity in C aracas. “W e won
81 percent o f the city m ayor posi­
tions and 17 o f 23 o f the state
g o v ern o rs.”
The university is housed in
the form er oil m inistry building
and now serves 8,(XX) students
throughout V enezuela. The col­
lege is symbolic o f the dem ocratic
s o c ia lis t c h a n g e s o c c u r rin g
throughout the country.
Before the election o f Chavez
in 1998, college attendance in
V enezuela was prim arily for the
rich. Today 1.8 m illion students
attend col lege in the country, three
tim es the rate 10 years ago.
Bottom up dem ocracy in V en­
ezuela starts with the 25,(XX)com-
m unity councils elected in every
n eig h b o rh o o d in the country.
T here are 34 locally controlled
co m m unity television stations
and 4(X) radio stations in the bar-
by
I
rios throughout Venezuela.
C om m u n ity radio, TV and
new spapers are the voice o f the
people, where they describe the
view ers/listeners as the “users"
o f m edia instead o f the passive
audiences.
Dem ocratic socialism means
health care, jobs, food, and secu­
rity, in neighborhoods where in
m any cases nothing but absolute
poverty existed lOyears ago. With
unem ploym ent dow n to a U.S.
In V enezuela the corporate
m edia are still ow ned by the elites.
The five m ajor TV netw orks, and
9 o f the 10 m ajor new spapers
m aintain a continuing m edia e f­
fort to underm ine C havez. But
despite the corporate m edia and
continuing US taxpayer financial
support to anti-C havez opposi­
tion institutions from U SA ID and
National Endow m ent for D em oc­
racy ($20 m illion annually), two-
thirds o f the people in V enezuela
* The democracies o f South
America are realizing that the neo­
liberal formulas fo r capitalism are
not working.
X
level, sharing the wealth has taken
real m eaning in V enezuela.
Despite a 50 percent increases
in the prices o f food last year,
local store offer governm ent sub­
sidized cooking oil, com meal,
meat, pow ered milk at 30-50 per­
cent o ff market.
A dditionally, there are now
3,500 local com m unal banks with
a $1.6 billion budget offering
n eig h b o rh o o d -b ased m icro -fi­
nancing loans for hom e im prove­
m ents, small businesses, and per­
sonal em ergencies.
continue to support him and the
United Socialist Party.
T h e d em o cracies o f South
America are real izing that the neo-
liberal form ulas for capitalism are
not w orking for the people and
that new fo rm so f resource alloca­
tion are necessary for hum an bet­
terment.
It is a learning process for all
involved and certainly a dem o­
cratic effort from the bottom up.
Peter Phillips is a professor o f
sociology at Sonoma State Uni­
versity in California.