January 20. 2010
iri'c P ortlan d (Dbseruer
Page
New Prices
Effective
May 1,2008
Martin
Cleaning
Service
Carpet &
Upholstery Cleaning
Residential &
Commercial Services
Minimum Service CHG
$45.00
Carpet Cleaning
2 Cleaning Areas or
more $30.00 Each Area
Pre-Spray Traffic Areas
(Includes: I sm all H allw ay)
1 Cleaning Area (only)
$40.00
(Includes Pre-Spray Traffic
Area • Hallway Extra)
Stairs (12-16 stairs)
$25.00 (With Other
Services)
Heavily Soiled Area:
Additional $10.00
Words still speak to Social Conditions
The state of
King's dream
by D edrick M uhammad
Over 40 years after Dr. Mar­
tin Luther King Jr.'s assassi­
nation, his words still speak to
the social conditions that so many
Americans face.
Our unemployment rate is hover­
ing at 10 percent, and the wealthiest
10 percent of us control over 70 per­
cent of the nation's wealth. Economic
inequality remains a barrier to greater
racial equality.
The national commemoration of
King's birthday, therefore, is more for
reflection than celebration.
During one of the worst economic
crises seen in this country, black/
white economic inequality is still a
vast and greatly under-recognized
challenge for this country. Two gen­
erations past the 1960s civil rights
movement, African Americans make
less than 60 cents on every dollar of
income for whites. Their unemploy­
ment rate stands at 150 percent of the
national average.
As King fought to end this
country's racial divisions, he recog­
nized that economic inequality was
as great a barrier to his vision of a
more racially inclusive America as
Jim Crow segregation
laws.
Many forget that the
March on Washington,
where King delivered his
famed "I Have a Dream"
speech, was actually
called the "March on
Washington for Freedom and Jobs."
When one of the last great sym­
bols of political hope, President John
F. Kennedy, was in the White House,
man who came into office riding a
wave of hope, Americans can honor
King's legacy by advancing a con­
temporary agenda of jobs, wealth
building, and peace.
King and other civil rights leaders
advocated progressive economic
reforms with such proposals as the
Bill of Rights for the Disadvantaged
and the Freedom Budget of 1966.
A new report from United for a Fair
Economy that I co-authored builds
Martin Luther King, Jr. didn't
believe in the trickle-down philosophy
that has run our economy fo r the past
three decades.
King called hundreds of thousands
to come to the nation's capital to fight
for an America that would reflect its
best values rather than its greatest
fears.
"We called our demonstration a
campaign for jobs and income be­
cause we felt that the economic ques­
tion was the most crucial that black
people, and poor people generally,
were confronting," he told Look
Magazine in 1968.
In 2010, after the first challenging
year of the presidency of another
on that work by advocating bold and
progressive economic reforms to meet
today's challenges. Reforms pro­
posed in this report, titled "State of
the Dream 2010: Drained, " include a
major jobs creation program, strong
investment in job training, an equity
assessment of federal spending, and
returning the tax system to one where
those with the most concentrated
wealth provide greater investment in
the public good.
A rededication to King's vision
can redirect the United States back to
the path of greater equality, and a
stronger economy for the middle and
working classes.
Martin Luther King, Jr. didn't be­
lieve in the trickle-down philosophy
that has run our economy for the past
three decades. Instead, his "libera­
tion theology" analysis called for
siding with and addressing specifi­
cally the challenges of the most dis­
enfranchised to advance society as a
whole.
History witnessed this strategy's
success with the results of the civil
rights movement of the 1960s. All
Americans - women, immigrants, the
disabled, the elderly, the young and
the poor ~ benefited from the vast
social programs and protections that
resulted from that struggle.
As the nation continues to heal
from an economic and financial crisis
caused by unregulated greed, we'll
find racial inequality unchanged and
overall economic inequality at un­
precedented heights.
It's time to finally make a unified
thrust to bridge racial and economic
inequality.
Dedrick Muhammad is a senior
organizer and research associate at
the Institute fo r Policy Studies, a
progressive think tank that trans­
form s ideas into action fo r peace,
justice and the environment.
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