November 29, 2017
Page 13
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O PINION
Outstanding Mentors and Role Models
No success
without a
successor
“You are where
you are today be-
cause you stand on
somebody’s shoul-
ders. And wherever
you are heading,
you cannot get there by your-
self. If you stand on the shoul-
ders of others, you have a re-
ciprocal responsibility to live
your life so that others may
stand on your shoulders. It’s
the quid pro quo of life. We ex-
ist temporarily through what
we take, but we live forever
through what we give.” – Ver-
non E. Jordan, Jr.
m arC h. m oriaL
When I began my career in
public service 25 years ago,
I was fortunate to have out-
standing mentors and role
models, most notably my
own parents.
Ernest “Dutch” Morial
and Sybil Morial were –
and my mother continues
to be – tireless activists
and advocates for civ-
il rights and social justice. I
grew up in the movement, and
was inspired by heroes such
as Whitney M. Young, Roy
Wilkins, Martin Luther King,
Jr., and Dorothy Height.
I first sought elected office
in the era of Douglas Wild-
er, the first black governor of
Virginia, and Carol Mosely
Braun, the first black wom-
by
an elected to the U.S. Senate.
The management guru Pe-
ter Drucker said “there is no
success without a successor,”
and while I humbly pray that
I may represent the success of
my mentors and role models, I
recognize that all of us are part
of a continuum.
We launched Urban League
25 to recognize and encourage
the best and brightest leaders
under 40 – the next generation
of Dr. Mae Jemisons and Colin
Powells and Barack Obamas.
When I was appointed pres-
ident of the National Urban
League, I remember well that
one of my concerns when I
joined was whether we would
be able to replace the giants of
the movement, the disciples of
Whitney M. Young, with peo-
ple who are not only qualified
and committed, but who also
recognized the needs and the
potential of a rapidly-chang-
ing political, technological
and social landscape.
We have succeeded beyond
my wildest dreams. Young
people are joining the move-
ment at an unprecedented
rate, and several of our affili-
ate CEOs have risen from the
ranks of our Young Profes-
sionals.
It is these young men and
women, and their counterparts
in business, science, gov-
ernment and the arts that we
will to recognize with Urban
League 25.
From corporate to gov-
ernment to media and tech-
nology, Urban League 25
honorees are those who are
unwilling to accept the status
quo. They are change agents
who have reinvented business
models for a new era. They
believe unreachable summits
do not exist. Their objective
is simple yet ambitious: To
redefine and power the digital
revolution.
In the coming weeks, we
will begin soliciting nomi-
nations for our first Urban
League 25 honorees. It’s a
project that is close to my
heart, and I look forward to
celebrating the excellence that
fuels not only our movement
but our national institutions
and culture.
Marc H. Morial is president
and chief executive officer of
the National Urban League.
Tax Cuts at the Expense of Vulnerable Children
Speak up
loudly and
stop this unjust
proposal
m arian w right
e deLman
I hope you will
speak up loudly and
do whatever else is
necessary to stop Congress’
hugely unjust Tax Cuts and
Jobs Act that rewards billion-
aires at the expense of poor
babies and corporations at the
expense of vulnerable children.
Millions of America’s children
today are suffering from hun-
ger, homelessness and hope-
lessness. Nearly 13.2 million
children are poor – almost one
in five. About 70 percent of
them are children of color who
will be a majority of our chil-
dren by 2020. More than 1.2
million are homeless. About
14.8 million children struggle
against hunger in food insecure
households.
Millions of young children
need quality early childhood
programs during their critical
years of early brain develop-
ment but only 5 percent of el-
igible infants and toddlers are
by
enrolled in Early Head Start
and Head Start serves only
46 percent of eligible 3- and
4-year-olds.
The majority of all our public
school fourth and eighth grad-
ers cannot read at grade
level; over 70 percent of
Latino and 80 percent
of black children cannot
read at grade level in
fourth or eighth grades.
Every 47 seconds a
child is abused or neglected
and the number of children in
foster care is increasing rapid-
ly in some parts of our country
from out-of-control opioid use.
And what are our callous
and morally blind and money
greedy political leaders doing
to address grim child survival
needs in our wealthy nation?
Making it worse by seeking to
enact tax cuts for billionaires
and millionaires and powerful
corporations, hugely increasing
the national deficit, and impos-
ing emasculating and deep cuts
in essential lifegiving invest-
ments for children and families.
Both the House and Senate
are working hard to move mil-
lions and millions of low- and
middle-income children and
families backwards and to line
the pockets and fill the coffers
of powerful special interests.
Congressional Republican
claims that these massive tax
cuts will help the middle class
are lies. The Joint Congres-
sional Committee on Taxation
says more than two thirds of
the nearly $1.5 trillion cost of
the House bill would go to the
wealthiest families and busi-
nesses. Families with annual
incomes under $75,000 would
(on average) see a tax increase
in 10 years, while families
making more than $1 million
would see a tax cut.
And more than three million
low-income children, many
U.S. citizens, in hard-working
immigrant families currently
benefitting from the Child Tax
Credit will lose it entirely with
the new requirement that all
families file their income taxes
with a Social Security Num-
ber rather than the Individual
Taxpayer Identification Num-
ber many taxpaying immigrant
families now use.
The House-approved bill
also would eliminate a number
of existing credits that current-
ly help children and families at
the bottom and in the middle
of the income range. It ends
tax credits or deductions for
employers offering child care
to working parents; high cost
medical treatment for children
and adults with severe medi-
cal needs; reimbursement for
public school teachers who
purchase supplies for their
classrooms out of their own
pockets; student loan interest
and other higher education as-
sistance; and help to find jobs.
Charitable contributions that
help service programs for vul-
nerable children and families
will likely decrease as the per-
centage of taxpayers who item-
ize deductions is expected to
decline because of changes in
the House bill to eligibility for
the standard deduction.
It gets worse. Senate Repub-
licans use their tax bill to con-
tinue their cruel efforts to de-
stroy the Affordable Care Act’s
individual mandate requiring
most Americans to purchase
health care or pay a penalty as
they file their tax returns. This
will “save” $338 billion for
the rich and leave millions of
children and families without
health insurance beginning in
2019 and 13 million children
and adults without health in-
surance over the next 10 years
while raising premiums for
millions more.
The $1.5 trillion ten-year
deficit both House and Senate
bills will allow will undermine
the health and well-being of
millions of children and is just
Part I of theft from the minds
and bodies and spirits and
hopes of children. In Part II we
will see additional huge cuts in
Medicaid, Supplemental Nu-
trition Assistance, child care
and Head Start, education, Pell
grants, and other crucial child
investments.
Although polls reflect public
skepticism about these unjust
tax cuts for the very non-needy
rich, Congressional Repub-
licans and the President are
recklessly zooming full speed
ahead. Every American who
believes in fairness must stand
up and stop their indefensible
massive giveaways to the least
needy and richest among us at
the expense of the most needy
and vulnerable young and old.
In his last Sunday sermon at
Washington National Cathe-
dral, Dr. Martin Luther King,
Jr. warned that “America is go-
ing to hell if we don’t use her
vast resources to end poverty
and make it possible for all of
God’s children to have the ba-
sic necessities of life.”
If this horrifically unjust tax
bill passes we will be well on
our way there!
Marian Wright Edelman is
president of the Children’s De-
fense Fund.