April 17,2013
$îorHani> (Observer
Page 9
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Integrated Inequality in America
A tale of two
countries
by
every citizen.
One of the most encouraging
signs in the report is the progress
African Americans have made in
fulfilling Whitney Young’s vision
of preparing ourselves for real and
hoped for opportunities through
education.
Since 1963, the high school
completion gap has closed by 57
percentage points. There are more
than triple the number of blacks
enrolled in college. And for every
college graduate in 1963, there are
now five.
Anti-poverty measures have also
improved our living standard since
1963. The percentage of blacks liv­
ing in poverty has declined by 23
points. And the percentage of
blacks who own their homes has
grown by 14 points.
M arc M orial
During the Na­
tio n a l
U rban
League’s 10th an­
nual L e g isla tiv e
Policy Conference
last week in Wash­
ington, D.C., we released the 37th
edition of the State of Black America,
Redeem the Dream: Jobs Rebuild
America.
This year’s report commemorates
the racial milestones that have oc­
curred in the 50 years since the
height of the civil rights movement
and shines a sobering light on the
unfinished business of achieving
full equality and empowerment for
But these numbers don’t tell the
full story. While black America has
achieved double-digit gains in edu­
cational attainment, employment,
and wealth over the past 50 years,
we still have made only single-digit
gains against whites.
With an equality index of 71.7
percent, African Americans enjoy
less than three-fourths of the well­
being and economic status of white
Am ericans. Sim ilarly, Hispanic
Americans, with an index of 75.4
percent are experiencing only three-
quarters o f the full opportunity
America has to offer.
For example, in the past 50 years,
the black-white income gap has only
closed by 7 points (now at 60 per­
cent). The unemployment rate gap
has only closed by 6 points (now at
52 percent). And with March unem­
ployment figures showing African
American joblessness now at 13.3
percent and Hispanic unemploy­
ment at 9.2 percent, compared to an
overall rate of 7.6 percent, we still
see a tale of two Americas that con­
tinues to break down along the color
line.
But rather than bemoan these
problem s, the N ational U rban
League is using these findings to
sharpen our focus on meaningful
solutions. E arlier this year, we
launched a ground-breaking en­
deavor Jobs Rebuild America, a $70
million series of public/private in­
vestments to create pathways to
jobs and put urban America back to
work.
But W ashington m ust also be
part o f the solution. During our
visit to Capitol Hill, we reiterated
our support o f the U rban Jobs Act
and the Project Ready STEM Act,
a bill sponsored by C ongressional
Black Caucus Chairwoman M arcia
Fudge.
We also support the stated goal
in the President’s 2014 budget: to
invest in the things needed to grow
our economy and create jobs while
reducing the deficit in a way that
does not unfairly impact the most
vulnerable communities.
Again, while much progress has
been made over the past 50 years,
The Stateof Black America remains
a tale of two Americas. The National
Urban League has put some real
solutions on the table. It’s time for
Washington to put them to work.
Marc Morial is president and
chief executive officer o f the Na­
tional Urban League.
Consider the Hidden Costs of War
Payouts to Vietnam veterans . continue to rise
by D avid E lliot
April 15 isn't
just Tax Day. It's
also known as the
G lobal Day of
Action on Mili-
C
-
n
,
.
Pe”2 T
p U°
world mark the occasion by protest-
j
ing the vast resources allocated to
militaries, often at the cost of human
According to a new report issued
by the National Priorities Project, of
every tax dollar the federal govern-
ment collects, 26.5 cents goes to the
Pentagon one way or another. By
comparison, a single penny goes to
science, 1.4 cents to transportation,
2.1 cents to energy and the environ-
ment, and 3.5 cents to education.
That means of every tax dollar,
h o re fo u C
re imnoenaCi ann,
n‘°
r Z ,h
a
tP u ca,e8 °™ s-
Combined, its less than one third o f
fte o u l revenue the Pentagon ab-
n t „„„H i
.„ o
°
"T *,
g
sup so much of our federal
decades or so before they peak,
probably between 2050 and 2060.
udget is its exorbitant weapon Civil W ar are still collecting pay-
We've already paid more than $50
Sy? T ^ .
r u
m en tsto °-
68 years ago, yet it continues to cost billion since 2003.
Take the F-35 joint strike fighter.
The benefits Uncle Sam pays out taxpayers $5 billion a year. The cost
No one denies that our veterans
A decade after parts manufacturing to Vletnam veterans continue to rise, of the benefits paid to its veterans
or this boondoggle first began, it's even though that conflict ended didn't peak until 1991 the AP re- and their family members deserve it.
We put them in harm's way and they
still not deployed. -----
Experts
say that some four u decades
ago. Today we ported.
r -------------J
v i.a u v .1 a g o . t u u a y W C
D O nea.
fought
and sacrificed their limbs —
by the time ifS been operable for a pay $22 billi0" a year >° «hese vets
Remarkably the Vietnam W ar’s
few decades, the F-35 will have cost ,
______________ ______
____
7
ieIn am w ars and all too often their lives. These
benefits aren't Pentagon pork.
us somewhere in the neighborhood
n
1 LI ¿7
I/'
ttz
/
They’re a cost of war.
of $1.5 trillion to build, fix, maintain,
K e m a rK M H y , trie V ie tn a m W a r S
This Tax Day, know ing that a
quarter o f the m oney we are pay­
There are many hidden Penta- C0StS, U n lik e tUOSe f a r W o r ld W a r
ing to the federal governm ent will
gon costs as well. Did you know „ „ „
7
r-
that the government spends $40 aKe SllU ^ IS in g . 1 tie b e n e f i t s p a i d tO itS go to the Pentagon, we should be
aware o f this cost o f war — wars
billion each year caring for our vet-
J J
•
/
past, wars present, and wars still
erans and their surviving family V e te r a n s a n ti t h e i r f a m i l y m e m b e r s
to be fought.
members?
,
L *7 7 *
•
in ™
For many reasons, we should
A recent Associated Press in- ^ta n U a t
U llllO n S in c e i y / 0 .
vestigative report revealed just how ----------------- ---------------------------
_________ ______________ |R stop waging so many wars. And we
much we are paying for wars fought and their families. By comparison, costs, unlike those for World War should demand that we stop paying
generations ago - and foreshad- we pay a little more than halfof that, II. are still rising ^ e benefits
for the things we can't afford —
ow show m uchw ew lllstil1
PaV- J^billionannually.toveterensand toitsveteransandtheirfam ilym em - such as obsolete and antiquated
mg generations from now.
theirfam ilym em berswhoservedin bersstandat$270billionsince 1970 weapons systems — so that we can
Remarkably, we still pay out ben- either o f the Iraq conflicts or Af- Using World War II and Vietnam as afford the things we need. That in­
efits to family members of World ghanistan.
yards',icks. we cX, pmbab“
cludes health care and survivors
VeteranS’ In a few isOlated
17,6 Vietnam War ,and World the government-paid health care benefits for those who have sacri­
Cases’
memberS ° f veterans War
for 1,131 maller> serves as 3 costs of the wars in Afghanistan ficed.
II,
o f the Spanish-American W ar and
** Port lanii (Observer
P u blisher :
E d ito r :
Established 1970
Mark Washington
M ich a el L eig h to n
E xecutive D irector :
Rakeem Washington
C reative D irector :
just the current but the future ex-
penses tied to the Iraq and Afghani-
stan conflicts. World War II ended
P aul N e u fe ld t
O ffice M anager /C lassifieds :
A dvertising M anager :
warning when we try to assess not
USPS 959-680
and Iraq to rise for another four
David Elliot is communications
director o f USAction.
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