Fortiani» (jpbemicr Black History Month
Page A4
O pinion
Februaiy 18. 2009
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Moved by Social
Consciousness
The inauguration of President Obama
American Church and
M. L inda J aramillo
join members of the
Stepping off the eleva
congregation as they
tor into Union Station in
watched the festivities
W ashington D.C. on the
in their fellowship hall.
M artin Luther King na
A m id st
the
tional holiday, one day be
fore the inauguration of Presi prayers for guidance, wisdom,
dent Barack Obama stirred my security, and support o f the
new adm inistration and con
consciousness.
1 knew that this year’s MLK gress w ere the dream s that
Weekend was going to be dif came true for many that day
ferent but I didn’t realize how throughout this nation.
Yes, the scenes at the center
our nation's Capitol would ac
of our nation’s Capitol were
tually feel on such a day.
by
/ intend to renew my commitment
and do my part to interrupt the sin o f
racism every day.
Thousands of people of vari
ous races, genders, and ages
filled the halls of the train sta
tion spilling out into the streets
with vigor and joy.
Driving from Union Station
toward Congressional Offices
was no easy undertaking. Even
in traffic jams, there was an air of
good manners and civility. In the
midst of what could have turned
into chaos due to sheer numbers,
people were smiling and greet
ing one another warmly.
C hildren w ere in awe o f
th eir su rroundings. Parents
and gran d p aren ts pointed at
th e s ig n s p o s te d e v e r y
w here w ith photographs of
tw o men side by side - Rev.
M artin L uther King Jr. and
Barack H ussein Obama.
It was history in the making;
a time when as a nation we
seem ed to transcend d iffer
ences and look to the future
united. I didn’t know whether
to laugh or cry, I did both.
I didn’t brave the Capitol Mall
for the inauguration the next day
like millions of courageous souls
did. I chose instead to attend a
prayer service at a local African
joyful and hopeful.
But 1 am saddened to read
the reports of blatant and vi
cious racist attacks happening
in communities throughout the
land. The Southern Poverty
Law Center reports that the
numbers of race related hate
crimes are on the rise since the
election of President Obama. It
appears that racism in America
is alive and well.
I don’t want my celebration
of joy and appreciation for ra
cial diversity to be marred by
hatred, but it would be irrespon
sible to ignore the horrible
threats and attacks on innocent
people solely based on their
skin color.
Our racial background or
country of origin matters, but
what matters more is that we are
each responsible for ending this
recent storm of racial hatred.
Individually, we must take
the initiative to interrupt racial
slurs and jokes when ever and
where ever they occur.
M. Linda Jaramillo is the
executive minister fo r Justice
Ministries in the United Church
o f Christ.
a
D o HY K y UAM A e o U T You BUT
American staffers, has many
saying the government should
let the banks fail.
After all, it is their
greed and m a n a g e
m ent decisio n s that
got us into this crisis.
The fact is, however,
by J udge G reg M athis
The U.S. government has we cannot afford to let these
already spent more than half institutions go under.
A year and a half ago, the
of the $700 million it set aside
country’s
economy, beginning
to bail out the country’s finan
cial industry. Tax payers, who
are ultimately responsible for
helping to rescue failin g
banks, are understandably
upset.
Reports of bank CEO sala
ries and bonuses of up to $10
million a year - an amount
most Americans can’t even with the collapse of the mort
im agine - com bined with gage industry, began to take a
news that these corporations, nosedive. The bad debt pur
even a fte r taking bailout chased by many banks, along
money, were seeking to hire with predatory lending prac
foreign workers at a cheaper tices used by others, crippled
rate than previously laid off the housing market.
T he fin a n c ia l industry,
which relied heavily on revenue
from home mortgages, fell to its
knees. The effects were felt far
and wide. Banks, small and
large, began to crumble.
Helping
banks is a
necessity
— Rosa Parks
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>
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Looking Beyond Fear and Anger
'Memories of our
lives, o f our works
and our deeds will
continue in others.”
C-TRAN
ú TX l b
<C>
The average American be
came unable, without a near
perfect credit score, to borrow
money to buy a new home or
pay college tuition. Small busi
nesses weren’t able to secure
credit to pay their vendors and
keep their businesses afloat.
And governm ent contractors
had difficulty getting the funds
they needed to perform their
work.
We 've got a long road ahead o f
us and repairing the financial
markets won ’t be easy or cheap.
T he fin a n c ia l in d u stry ,
knowing it couldn't save itself
on its own, turned to the gov
ernment.
A m ericans are justifiably
angry. O ur liv e lih o o d s are
threatened. People are scared
of losing their homes and their
jobs.
As hard as it may be, we need
to look beyond our fears and
anger and realize that, if we
don’t secure and help rejuve
nate the ailing financial market,
the economy can't improve.
Does the financial industry
deserve to be regulated? Yes.
Should com panies accepting
bailout money be held to cer
tain standards and be made ac
countable for their decisions?
O f course.
Measures should be put into
place to ensure that we don’t
end up here again. The indus
try needs to be stabilized so
th at banks can w ork w ith
homeowners, stopping foreclo
sures and renegotiating mort
gages into terms that both sides
feel comfortable with.
Once the market has evened
out, large and small companies
alike will have access to capital
that will enable them to rebuild
their businesses and create new
jobs. Over time, the economy
will begin to improve and we’ll
all be doing better financially.
We’ve got a long road ahead
of us and repairing the financial
markets won’t be easy or cheap.
But it is a necessity. If we don’t
respond with a sense of urgency,
the industry could further dete
riorate, affecting us all.
No Fair Pay for Women Yet
Shine more
light on pay
practices
by
M ariha B urk
President Barack L ’
Obama just signed
his first piece o f
legislation - the Lilly Ledbetter
Fair Pay Act. You may remem
ber L e d b e tte r's c ase. She
worked for the Goodyear Tire
& Rubber Company for most of
her career, and found out after
many years that she had been
paid less than the men doing
out about it to file suit, and that
each new sh o rt p ay ch eck
started the countdown clock
over again.
In passing the new bill. Con
gress and President Obama
have restored the law to the
way it has been interpreted for
the last four decades. But if
you think that's the answer to
women's pay inequity prayers,
you're dead wrong.
Women still make only 77
cents to the dollar a man makes
for full time year round work.
We need more - much more. The
main reason Lilly Ledbetter got
shafted was that she didn't
Citizens footing the bills have a
right to expect that any company ,
getting government business pays
its workers fairly.
the same job all along.
To add insult to injury, she
had trained a couple of those
guys.
The George W. Bush/Rob-
erts/Alito Supreme Court ruled
in 2007 that though Ledbetter
had indeed experienced dis
crim ination. she was no, en
titled to damages because she
hadn't filed her lawsuit within
180 days of that first short pay-
check - never mind that she
didn't discover the discrimina
tion for more than a decade.
The ruling overturned 40+
years of precedent. Up until
Ledbetter v. Goodyear, courts
had always ruled that a victim
of wage discrimination had 180
days from the day she found
know her situation as compared
to the men.
Employers are under no obli
gation to report pay statistics,
and in most companies you can
get fired for talking pay with co
workers. Though federal legisla
tion to fix these two problems is
in the pipeline, it's been in the
pipeline for over a decade.
The governor of one state -
New Mexico - is no, waiting. Bill
Richardson has just signed an
executive order in his state that
is groundbreaking.
Not only will the state as an
employer have to study and re
port its own pay practices when
it comes to gender and race, so
will private sector companies
that w ant state contracts.
Richardson has declared over
coming pay inequity and job
segregation a priority, and estab
lished a high-powered task force
to im plem ent the needed
changes.
Employers are likely to wail
and gnash their teeth. Won't this
cost money? Well maybe, but
probably not that much. They
already know who works for
them, the gender and race of
their employees, and how much
they're paid by job category.
So gathering the data ought
to be relatively simple. Besides,
all employers won't have to do it
- just those that want state con
tracts, paid with dollars from tax
payers.
In this day of bailouts and
boondoggles at taxpayer ex
pense, citizens footing the bills
have a right to expect that any
company getting government
business pays its workers fairly.
And there will be technical as
sistance and reasonable excep
tions for small business.
By doing internal pay equity
analyses, companies that have a
problem and don't know it will
be able to find out and fix it be
fore they ge, hauled into court
for discrimination. And if they're
not doing anything wrong, they
ought to be proud of it and will
ing to tell the world. Sure would
cu, down on all those “frivolous
lawsuits" if employees could see
the statistics up front and know
they weren't being shorted in the
pay envelope.
Martha Burk is the author
o f "Cult o f Power: Sex Dis
crim ination in Corporate
America and What Can Be
Done About It."