M arch 6, 2013 a'1'*' ^ o rtla n b (©Hserver Page 17 Opinion articles do not necessarily represent the views o f the Portland Observer. We welcome reader essays, photos and story ideas. Submit to news@portlandobserver.com. No Immunity to Gun Violence Threat Acting together to stop the plague by M arian W right E delman L ast w eek m arked one y e a r sin c e 1 7 -y e a r-o ld Trayvon M artin was killed by a gun wielded by self- a p p o in te d n e ig h b o rh o o d w atchm an George Z im m erm an after he saw T rayvon w alking hom e from a 7-Eleven with a bag o f Skittles and bottle o f A rizona iced tea. B lack children, youths, and fam ilies know first-hand that the killing o f black children by gun violence is not new but a relent lessly unreported and under-re ported plague that has been dis proportionately snuffing out black child lives for a very long time. Fifteen percent o f children and teens are black but 45 percent o f all children and youths killed by guns in 2010 were black. Black m ales 15 to 19 years old were 28 times more likely than white males the sam e age to be killed in a gun hom i cide. S h o rtly a fte r P r e s id e n t K ennedy’s assassi nation, Dr. M artin Luther King Jr. wrote that it was time for our nation to do some so u l-search in g , and w hile the question “W ho killed President K ennedy?” was im portant, an sw ering the question “W hat killed President K ennedy?” was even m ore critical. Dr. King believed the answ er was that “our late President was assassinated by a m orally inclem ent clim ate.” “It is a clim ate filled with heavy torrents o f false accusation, jo s tling winds o f hatred, and raging storm s o f violence,” King said. “It is a clim ate where m en cannot disagree w ithout being disagree able, and where they express dis sent through violence and m ur der. It is the same clim ate that m urdered M edgar Evers in M is sissippi and six innocent Negro children in Birmingham, Alabama.” Dr. King further noted that the undercurrents o f hatred and vio lence that m ade up this m orally inclem ent clim ate were fueled by our cultural em brace o f guns. “By our readiness to allow arms to be purchased at will and fired at whim, by allowing our m ovie and television screens to teach our children that the hero is one who m asters the art o f shooting and the technique o f killing, by allow ing all these developm ents, we have created an atm osphere in which violence and hatred have becom e popular pastim es,” he said. T he sam e w inds o f hatred, storms o f violence, and easy ac cess to and glorification o f guns that Dr. King believed killed Presi dent Kennedy would soon also kill Dr. King. Fifty years after Dr. King de scribed our m orally inclem ent cli m ate, the outw ard signs o f racial intolerance and hatred have un doubtedly dim inished but there are still far too m any rem inders o f the dangers lurking everywhere th at d e v a sta te us all — lik e T ray v o n ’s senseless death for walking hom e while black. B etw een 1963, w hen P re si dent John F. K ennedy w as a s sa ssin a te d , and 2 0 1 0 , n e arly 6 0 ,0 0 0 b lack ch ild ren and teens w ere k illed by guns, o v er 1,200 ev ery y ear fo r 48 years. T h is is 17 tim es the nu m b er o f rep o rted ly n ch in g s o f b lack A m ericans o f all ages since 1882 b u t we have not had an eq u iv alen t black com m unity anti-lynching m ove m ent to save o u r ch ild ren from gun violence. W hile there are troubling un dertones o f racial suspicion and fear in Trayvon M artin’s killing which m ust be addressed as ju s tice is sought, the fact is that m ost black young people m urdered by guns are killed by black shooters — ju st as m ost white children and teens m urdered by guns are killed by white shooters. Sadly the tragedies o f Tucson, Aurora, N ew tow n and elsew here m ade clear that none o f us are safe anyw here or im m une to the pervasive threat o f gun violence. W e are all in the same boat and m ust act to g eth er to stop the plague o f violence. G un safety laws that only apply in one city or state can ’t fully stop our national epidem ic o f gun proliferation and violence any better than we can stop a flu epidem ic by vaccinat ing one family. W e m ust struggle together to stop gun violence and to change the m orally inclem ent clim ate that Dr. King warned about if we are going to protect all o f our nation’s children everywhere. Marian Wright Edelman is president o f the Children's De fense Fund. Defending Oregon’s Working Families Preserving the credit workers have earned C huck S heketoff They've earned it. W o rk in g f a m ilie s with low incom es have earned the Earned In com e Tax Credit, and the Oregon Legislature should act quickly to m ake sure they keep it. M any O regonians toil in jobs that pay too little, so they struggle to m ake ends meet. T hat's not right. O regonians believe that fam ilies who work and play by the rules should be able to provide for their children and get out o f poverty. That's why the Oregon Earned Incom e Tax C redit exists. The O regon Earned Incom e Tax Credit com plem ents the fed eral Earned Incom e Tax Credit. The federal credit is the single m ost effective anti-poverty pro gram for working fam ilies with children. In 2010, the federal Earned Incom e Tax C redit lifted about 6.3 m illion people across the country out o f poverty, in cluding about 3.3 m illion chil by dren. The Oregon credit works with the federal credit to open the door to econom ic opportunity for fam i lies who w ork and have m odest incom es. W ho are these fam i lies? Picture a fam ily o f a returning veteran, a single m o th er su p p o rtin g tw o children or tw o young par ents w orking part-tim e while they go to college. The fam ilies helped by the Oregon Earned Incom e Tax Credit are as varied as our com m unities. In all, the Oregon credit helps about a quarter-m illion working fam ilies — about one out o f every seven fam ilies in the state - m ake ends meet. Oregon's Earned Incom e Tax Credit is currently scheduled to expire at the end o f 2013. If law m akers do not renew it, those quarter-million low-income work ing fam ilies will have less net income. A tw o-parent fam ily of four earning poverty wages, for exam ple, w ould see its net in com e fall by about $300 due to the additional taxes. M any o f O regon's w orking fam ilies saw their wages or hours cut back or lost a wage earner during the recession. M any are by corporate and wealthy inter that can m ake a large difference still struggling. To ensure that ests, will vie for funding. The in the lives o f working families. working fam ilies who've earned longer the Legislature waits to These fam ilies have earned the the Earned Incom e Tax Credit renew and strengthen the credit, credit through work. Lawm akers receive it, law m akers should, at a the greater the risk that working should renew and strengthen the m inim um , extend the expiration families will come up short and credit now, not later. date o f the current credit. lose out on what they've earned. Chuck Sheketoff is executive But lawmakers should go be The Oregon Earned Incom e director o f the Oregon Center fo r yond just renewing the Earned In Tax credit is a small investm ent Public come Tax Credit; they should heed Gov. Kitzhaber's call to increase it. The governor's proposed modest Established 1970 increase would enhance the ability USPS 959-680 ________________________________ o f Oregon's Earned Income Tax 4 7 4 7 NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., Portland, OR 97211 Credit to reduce poverty for work P ublisher : Mark Washington ing families and their children. Over E d ito r : M ich a el L eighton 700,000 Oregonians would imme diately benefit from more net in E xecutive D irector : Rakeem Washington come from the work their families C reative D irector : P aul N e u fe ld t do. O ffice M anacer /C lassifieds : Lucinda Baldwin L aw m akers can and should make renewal and im provem ent a A ssistant P ubusher : Leonard Latin priority and move swiftly to pro S taff W rtter /P hotographer : Cari Hachmann tect the working fam ilies who rely on the credit. There's w ide P ostmaster : Send address changes to Portland Observer, spread support for renewing and PO Box3 1 3 7 , Portland, OR9 7 2 0 8 strengthening the credit, and no CALL 503-288-0033 FAX 503-288-0015 organization has publicly voiced news(gportlandobserYer,com ads @portlandobserver, com opposition. suhscription@portlandobserver.com Delay only risks putting low- The Portland Observer welcomes freelance submissions. Manuscripts and photographs should be clearly labeled and w ill he returned if accompanied by a self addressed envelope. A ll created design display ads incom e fam ilies in harm 's way. 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