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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 14, 2011)
Œlje December 14, 2011 ^Jortbmî» ©hscruer f Page 7 Victims of Violence Not Congress dithers on providing help by M artha B urk While members of Congress waste time naming post offices and devis ing ways to get se niors to pay for bil lionaires'tax breaks th ro u g h cu ts in Medicare and Social Security, other important business is slip ping through the cracks. S p e c ific a lly , if C o n g ress doesn't reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act, signed by President Clinton in 1994 after a four-year battle, by the end of the year many valuable programs will end. It is a fact that women are the most frequent victims of domes tic violence, rape, and murder by spouses. Despite its name, how ever, this act has never been just about women. The Penn State scandal has chillingly reminded us that kids, both boys and girls, are very much at risk. Most people don't know that according to the Justice Department, children un der 18 comprise 67 per cent of all sexual assault victims reported to law enforcement, and that only counts those reported. If the act isn't renewed, many services and prevention programs that help these young victims will go away. The Violence Against Women Act began with discretionary grant programs to stem domes tic violence and child abuse by funding battered women's shel ters, rape prevention, and edu cation, and by strengthening pen alties for repeat sex offenders. When Congress renewed the act in 2005, new programs were created to prevent sexual as saults on campuses and to pro vide resources for young victims of sexual assault. According to Justice Depart- ment statistics, in a typical three- month period the various pro- gram s serve alm ost 140,000 people, more than 10 percent of Obama supports the A ct’s pro grams, and the stimulus package he signed into law in early 2009 contained $225 million in in creased funding for the Violence Against Women office at the Department of Justice. We know It is a fact that women are the most frequent victims o f domestic violence, rape, and murder by spouses. them children. Virtually every one who asks for services, in cluding men and boys, gets them, ranging from temporary shelter to rape crisis counseling and vic tim advocacy. Given this track record and ongoing scandals like the one at Penn State, renewing the law ought to be a no-brainer. But it ain't necessarily so with the present state of Washington's gridlock. First of all, President Barack I how that plays with Republi cans, whose first priority, ac cording to Senate M inority Leader Mitch McConnell, is to defeat O bam a in 2012, the country's needs be damned. Second, conservatives have always attacked the program as a handout for "national feminist groups." They ignore the fact that almost all of the money goes to local resources and also sup port the National Domestic Vio lence Hotline. Some want to do away with the law altogether. And even though most of the statistics come from the federal government, conservative advo cacy groups actively try to debunk the numbers. As a result, funding for the legislature is under inces sant attack, and women's advo cates must constantly defend the law and the national statistics on violence that are its underpinnings. Those on the front lines, crisis line workers, rape counselors, social workers serving abused boys and girls, and shelter per sonnel, know how important this legislation is. Congress has until Dec. 31 to show that it can do something besides dither while a frighten ing number of women and chil dren are raped, beaten, and abused. Martha Burk is a political psychologist, women's issues expert, and director o f the Corporate A ccountability Project fo r the National Coun cil o f Women's Organizations. A Moral Outrage and Wake Child poverty in America by M arc H. M orial The Census Bureau d e liv e re d d istu rb in g news this month about how the Great Reces sion and its aftermath are affecting the most v u ln e ra b le am o n g us - A m erica’s school children. Out of a total of 3,142 coun ties in the United States, 653 saw significant increases in pov erty among school-aged children from 2007-2010, an increase of 20 percent. Nationally, 19.8 per cent of school children are now living in poverty. This poverty increase has hit large, urban school systems the hardest with 96 of the 100 big gest school districts reporting increases in the number of poor children. In Detroit, 47 percent of school children are poor. In New York, the pov erty rate rose to 29 percent, up from 26.6 percent in 2007. This is a moral outrage. W hile the debate drags on in W ashington, D.C. about the right balance of spending cuts and taxes, a real and prevent able tragedy is unfolding be fore our eyes. T hrough no fault of their own, m illions more children, w hose parents have school lunches, are going w ith out health care and, as d e picted in a recent “60 M in utes” segm ent, are hom eless and even living in cars. The new Census Bureau re port comes on the heels of news in September that the number of poor people in America has risen to 46.2 million. T hat’s 15 per cent of all citizens and the larg est number in 52-years. M any p re v io u sly m iddle class families are finding them selves standing in line at food banks and hom eless shelters. A ccording to the C hildren’s D efense Fund, one in three A frican A m erican and H is panic children are living in poverty. This should be a loud and urgent wake-up call to Con gress and policym akers. By the end of this year, if Congress fails to act, already struggling families face the end of the payroll tax cut. This would add about $1,000 to a family’s tax bill. The extension of unem ployment benefits is also in jeop ardy. According to the non-parti san Center for Budget Policy and Priorities, unemployment benefits together with supports like the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit are keeping seven million people out of poverty. Beth Davalos, who runs Fami lies in Transition in Seminole County, Fla., was interviewed for the “60 Minutes” segment on children living in cars. She ex plained in stark terms the impact poverty is having on a kindergar ten child she was trying to help: "That little 5-year-old was so troubled over where she would be sleeping, she was not thinking about 2 + 2.” The fact is, we should not even be talking about child pov erty in the richest nation on earth. We have the m eans. We sim ply need to summon the will to end it. If we can find the money to bail out Wall Street and give tax breaks to the w ealthy, surely we can find the resources to provide food, shelter, health care and a good education for our children. Marc H. Morial is president and chief executive officer o f the National Urban League. The Portland Observer welcomes freelance submissions. 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