March II. 2009
Page A4
O pinion
Opinion articles do not necessarily represent the views o f the Portland
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New Orleans
Still Struggling
Hold government leaders accountable
by
J udge G reg M athis
Most people, locals,
tourists and the media
alike, see the city of New
Orleans in two distinct
and separate lights: pre-
Katrina and post-Katrina.
Indeed, the city that
stood before the flood waters
rushed in, killing thousands
and causing billions of dollars
in damage is decidedly differ
ent. And many doubt it will
ever be the same.
To see New Orleans now, if
you knew it before, is like see
ing it for the first time.
Pre-Katrina, New Orleans
had black folk and it had white
folk - mostly black folk - with
a small Vietnamese popula
tion. Now, nearly four years
later, there is a growing Latino
population, made up of mostly
day workers and their families
who traveled to the city to find
work right after the storm.
Many black men in the city
feel they are losing out on re
pair jobs, not to mention low-
paying jobs in restaurants and
hotels, as the city’s new resi
dents can be hired at a lower
pay rate.
Even before the storm. New
Orleans wasn’t a captain of in
dustry. Most people worked
for the government, at one of
the hospitals or universities or
were employed by small busi
ness owners. Since many small
companies chose not to reopen
after Katrina, this left many
residents out of work, with few
prospects for employment.
The housing situation is no
better. Large developers are
working to rebuild the city, but
only in more upscale neighbor
hoods, like Lakeview.
While upper middle class
residents are getting help sort
ing out their insurance claims
and securing fi
nancing for big
ger and fancier
hom es,
other
residents - black
and not all of
them poor - won
der why no one
has come into their neighbor
hoods to help them.
Why then, with all the
problems still plaguing the
Big Easy are government
funds promised to the city
being held up?
How is it that thousands of
volunteers, and actor Brad
Pitt, have been able to repair
and build more homes in
poor areas of the city than the
government that promised to
‘uplift the poor’? Why are
charter schools now doing
more to educate the city’s
children than the local pub
lic school system?
Over the last few years,
many politicians used New
Orleans as a springboard for
their campaigns and pet is
sues. Now that the votes have
been cast, very few have re
turned to the city to deliver
on their promises. Perhaps
we should write them and ask
when they plan to make good
on those verbal checks.
The government continues
to fail New Orleans, as it fails
most urban areas.
We showed the world in
N ovem ber that we as a
people were looking fo r a
new type o f leader. We can
use that power once again to
move our elected officials
into action. It is never too late
fo r them to do the right thing.
Judge Greg Mathis is vice
president o f Rainbow PUSH
and a board member o f the
Southern Christian Leader
ship Conference.
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Murdock Apology Falls Short
Policies and hiring
practices must change
by
News Corp, owner
Rupert Murdoch’s state
ment that his New York
Post will endeavor to be
more sensitive to
the communities it
serves is w el
come, but unfortunately his apol
ogy fails to answer how the Post
will do so.
Mr. Murdoch could resolve
this unfortunate situation in 15
minutes by meeting to develop
substantive measures to ensure
that this type of incendiary incident does
not happen again.
His apology comes only after almost a
week of tens of thousands of expressions
of outrage and disgust from people across
the country. The offenders are still on staff
and there are no measures being taken to
increase diversity in its newsroom. Mr.
Murdoch must take the steps needed to
assure that the New York Post can prac
tice more responsible journalism and truly
be sensitive to its community, in the fu
ture.
Murdock’s New York Post and Fox
News have a history of racially insensi
tive reporting. With the support of the
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threats against the candidate were at an
all time high for any presidential candi
date.
The New York Post stands alone from
most daily newspapers in refusing to re
port its diversity numbers to the Ameri
can Society of Newspaper Editors. One
has to wonder how many Hispanic or Af
rican American reporters and editors are
working at the New York Post?
Clearly, with more diversity in its news
rooms, it’s likely the paper would have
been able to understand the deeply offen
sive nature of the cartoon. Our guess is
that the numbers are abysmally low for a
newspaper serving a city with a popula
Better to Stimulate Peace than War
We have just finished eight
job, my savings, and will I have
health care and a roof over my years of massive overspending
on the military. During this pe
head by this time next year?
In the swirl of this economic riod, more defense dollars
Military
spending is a
jobs loser
T om H H astings
Our state, like
all states, is suf-
fering from the
e c o n o m ic
‘downturn’ and
many of us fear
for our livelihoods. With each
new day comes more bad news.
Will this reach our home, my
S
It s time to make our
economy run on sweat and
the bright light o f good ideas.
terrorism, which is a far greater
threat to far more of us than
Osama bin Laden, let’s try to
think our way to a bit of an over
view.
START SAVING NOW
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tion as diverse as New York.
It is hard not to interpret the cartoon,
which was juxtaposed to a photo of Presi
dent Obama, as an encouraging sign to
those who would assassinate our 44th
president because of the color of his skin.
The depiction of two police officers
shooting down the primate is deeply trou
bling to communities who struggle daily
with suspicious police killings. The
National Organization of Black
Law Enforcement Executives has
also condemned the cartoon call
ing it "despicable, insensitive and
easily interpreted as racist."
Good police officers all around
the country should be dismayed by
this slur on their character. Afri
can Americans have historically
been compared to primates as a way to
dehumanize the entire group.
We were called monkeys while we were
being brutally lynched and denied equal
civil and human rights. In fact, a 2008
study published by the American Psycho
logical Association found that an associa
tion between primates and African Ameri
cans still exists among many white Ameri
cans.
We hope that Mr. Murdoch will make
good on his apology and agree to make
the needed changes in the newsroom and
its policies.
Benjamin Todd Jealous is president and
chief executive officer o f the NAACP.
The offenders are still on
staff and there are no measures
being taken to increase
diversity in its newsroom.
by
New Prices Effective May 1,2007
B enjamin Tom» J ealous
editor in chief, the cartoonist Sean Delonas
has published numerous vile cartoons
tinged with racism.
Fox News was widely criticized during
the elections for calling Michelle Obama
“Obama’s baby mama’’ and terming the
affectionate and common fist bump be
tween then-candidate Obama and his wife,
a “terrorist fist jab” at a time when death
net
w o
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shifted from paying personnel
to paying corporate contractors
than any other period in U.S.
history.
While some jobs are created
in this way, it turns out that far
fewer of them are created than
when investments are made in
other sectors of the economy
like health care, education,
mass transit and infrastruc
ture—thus a net loss of jobs.
So we spend on the military
and it loses jobs, produces
many U.S. casualties, causes
massive numbers of dead Iraqi
and Afghan civilians, and
wrecks infrastructures.
Is it any wonder that our
economy is drained flat?
George “the decider" Bush,
a man who inherited the largest
surplus ever left us where we
sit today. He didn’t even have
the guts to include all his wars
in his budget, since it would
have looked even more lop
sided than it did.
Instead, he came to Congress
once or twice each year with a
ransom note for hundreds of
billions of your dollars. All
wasted. All gone. All the worst
investment possible.
And now, as we sit bloody on
the pavement after the crash of
the economy, the Pentagon and
its contractors have the unimag
inable gall to tell us how much
we need to keep spending on
Cold War relics, on overseas
bases, and on contractors so no
one in the armed forces has to
peel a potato.
They claim it creates jobs.
They think we are unutterably
stupid. With ‘protectors’ like
these, who needs foreign en
emies? Oh, that’s right: they do.
As someone who works in a
field that creates healthy,
knowledgeable minds—educa
tion—and in a field that gener
ates about twice as many jobs
per billion dollars invested as
does our war machine, I’d say
it's time to crunch the numbers
and be the deciders to invest in
our nation’s future.
Put our money in mass tran
sit, education, infrastructure
and conservation. Support a
civil society that can produce
good food, efficient transport,
excellent health care for all and
a new generation of talent to
compete in the global market
place for our goods of life, not
our tools of death.
It's time to make our
economy run on sweat and the
bright light of good ideas.
Enough blood has been spilled.
We can do so much better for
ourselves and everyone else.
Tom H. Hastings is professor
o f conflict resolution at Port
land State University, director
o f Peace Voice, and a founder
ofWhitefeather Peace Commu
nity in Portland.