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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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.