Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 19, 2011)
O c to b e r 19, 2011 ®’* ^ortlanh ODberrucr Page 21 Housing for the Poor Under Attack Hope VI not perfect, but it has its benefits by J udge G reg M athis T he U .S. g o v ern m en t has p lay ed som e p art in ho u sin g the p o o r since the 19th cen tu ry . It w as d u rin g W o rld W ar II, how ev er, th at the p ro gram grew , w hen hu n d red s o f p u b lic h o u sin g u n its w ere b u ilt aro u n d the co u n try to house both retu rn in g v e te r ans and th e ir fam ilies and the poor. Public housing then was usu ally filled with mostly working- class and middle-class whites, not the stereotypical 'welfare mother' the program's opponents like to conjure. Decades later, most public housing units be came overrun with gang and drug violence. Generations of families lived there, exposed to few, if any, positive role models. These com plexes w ere v ie w e d as 'project cities', com plete with a school and grocery store within the com plex. There was little reason for residents to venture outside the confines o f public housing, and so they didn't. As a result, fami lies that lived there rarely im proved their situation, and the cycle of poverty continued. In 1992, then President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, signed into law the Hope VI project, a pro gram that sought to demolish public housing and replace it with mixed income communities. The thinking was that poor residents would be able to mix, and possibly be inspired by, their w orking and m iddle class neighbors, an opportunity they didn't alw ays have under the old model. As the program got under way, notorious housing com plexes in m ajor cities like C hi cago and N ew Y ork were torn dow n and replaced with new to w n h o u se s and a p a rtm e n t buildings. Though Hope VI had its ow n critics, research shows that the program did w ork to decrease crim e and helped in still a sense o f pride in low- has had its benefits. We owe it to incom e residents. the nation's poor, and society as It would be interesting to a whole, to end the vicious cycle see what further benefits this of urban poverty. project w ould bring, but we W rite y o u r C on g ress men may not have that opportunity. and w om en; tell them to c o n Congress, led by a Republican tinue to fund p u b lic housing. faction determ ined to cut so- F eel free to su g g e st o th er called entitlem ent program s in w ays they can balance the an effort to balance the fed fed eral budget, p erhaps by eral budget, have elim inated e lim in a tin g ex cessiv e tax re Hope VI funding from the 2012 funds for m u lti-b illio n d o lla r budget proposal. co rp o ratio n s. Indeed, balancing the federal Visit the Internet site usa.gov budget is important...but at what if you need help locating your cost? We must consider what elected official's contact infor will happen to low-income fami mation. lies, families that are certainly Judge Mathis is a longtime not doing any better financially, advocate fo r equal justice. His given the current recession, if life story o f a street youth who the program is not funded. rose from ja il to judge has Hope VI is not perfect, but it provided hope to millions. A Legacy to Honor; A Dream to Achieve Dr. King’s faith in the next generation by R oslyn M . B rock As our nation dedi cated the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. on Sunday, we cannot help but reflect on the legacy he left behind, the faith he had in the next generation and the dream that we must still strive to achieve. Without question, few shaped our culture and our nation in the 20th century m ore than Dr. King. His legacy of social justice and activism has played an inte gral role in so much of what we take for granted today. Without his advocacy for vot ing rights, people of color might still be unable to cast a ballot unfettered. If not for his work defending the poor, economic disparity in America would be far worse than it is to day. And without Dr. King ’ s call for non-vio lence, the civil rights m ovem ent m ight be rem em bered for the bloodshed and not for its message of justice and equality. At the NAACP, Dr. King’s legacy is prominent in our con stant struggle to advance civil and human rights. With our Fi nancial Freedom Campaign, we are building on Dr. King’s mes sage that true freedom is inextri cably tied to economic justice. With that in mind, we are provid ing underserved com munities across the country with the tools they need to attain and maintain financial stability. In our health campaigns, we have embodied Dr. King’s re mark that, “O f all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhu century attempts to roll back m an e.” W orking under that rights for people of color. motto, we are organizing cam Dr. King succeeded in secur paigns to bring additional atten ing full voting rights for people of tion and resources to the fight all color, but this election season against HIV/AIDS and child we see a somewhat coordinated hood obesity. push to implement laws that When we fight for equality in would disenfranchise poor and education, we rem em ber Dr. minority voters. He strove for King’s belief that education func equality between all races, but tions “to teach one to think inten our nation is stuck in a “tough on sively and to think critically,” crim e” mentality that imprisons something that all students de African Americans for drug of serve. fenses at 10 times the rate of With all that Dr. King gave to their white counterparts. the world, his most enduring gift Dr. King brought his attention may be the faith he had in others. to poverty, but these days the Dr. King had an unwavering gap between rich and poor is faith that future generations wider than ever before, and the would continue his fight to en war on poverty has been nar sure that the arc of the universe rowed to a series of bromides bends towards justice. He trusted and unrealized initiatives. that if he provided the vehicle It is up to this generation, and and destination, we would be the generations that follow to able to forge our own path to live up to Dr. King’s faith and wards equality. stand on the frontlines in this W e m u st re m e m b e r Dr. new battle for civil rights. King’s faith as we fight 21st I grew up in this organization as a member of the NAACP Youth and College Division. In spired by the work of Dr. King and those who followed him, I joined the association as a fresh man at Virginia Union Univer sity and later served as a youth board member. I am proud to say that in its 75th year, our youth and college division is25,000members strong, making it one of the largest orga nized groups of young people of any secular organization in the country. These youth are the future of the organization, and we must have faith in them as Dr. King had faith in us. After all, there is still so much to do before we achieve Dr. King’s dream of full equality. The future is calling, and with your help, the NAACP will an swer. Roslyn M. Brock is the chair man o f the National Board of Directors fo r the NAACP. The Portland Observer welcomes freelance submissions. Manuscripts and photographs should be clearly labeled and will be returned if accompanied by a self addressed envelope All created des.gn display ads become the sole property o f the newspaper and cannot be used in other publications or personal usage without the written consent o f the general manager, unless the client has purchased the composmon o f such ad O 2008 THE PORTLAND OBSERVER. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, REPRODUCTION IN WHOI E OR 47 47 NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., Portland, OR 97211 IN PART WITHOUT PERMISSION IS PROHIBITED The Portland Observer-Oregon s Oldest Multicultural Publication-is a member o f the National Newspaper Assoc.ation- -Founded in 1885. and The National Advertising Representative Amalgamated Publishers. Inc. New York. NY, and The West Coast Black Publishers Association Charles H. Washington EDiTOR.Michael L eig h to n D istr ibu tio n M anager : M ark W ashington C reative D irector : P aul N e u fe ld t E ditor - in -C h ief , P ublisher : CALL 503-288-0033 a£ .ws^portlandobserver,com FAX 503-288-0015 Qds@porilQndvbserver,wm subscription @portlandobserver. com P ostmaster : Send address changes to Portland Observer, P0 Box 3137, Portland, 0R97208
