opinion
China: Purchasing goodwill in Europe
C
hina has more than $3 tril-
lion in currency reserves,
more than any other coun-
try in the world. They’ve decided
to use some of their reserves to
invest in the euro, the currency of
the European Union. In putting
money behind the euro, China
says that despite the challenges
posed by financial problems in
Greece, despite worries that the
euro is weakening, in the words of
Premier Wen Jiabo, it has “confi-
dence in the economies of Europe
and the euro-zone”.
This isn’t the first time that
China has played rescuer in
Europe. In April, it bought bonds
and some debt in Spain. We
should be clear that China bought
more than bonds and debt,
though. China is in the process of
purchasing goodwill in Europe,
goodwill that they can’t buy in the
United States. They are also
diversifying their holdings, and
tilting away from the dollar and
toward the euro, which many see
as the alternative global currency.
Is the dollar too big to fail or to
undermine? Not with a stable
euro!
We have already seen the oil-
NNPa
c olumNISt
Julianne
Malveaux
producing nations tilt toward the
euro, partly in response to their
perception that the United States
has been biased against Arab
nations. We have seen the dollar
weakened, and we have seen our
nation’s mounting debt. Consider
the contrast. While the United
States struggles to raise our debt
ceiling, China has money to burn,
and they are burning it by bailing
out the euro and displaying their
confidence in the ways Europe
will help build the world econo-
my.
With votes on several interna-
tional finance positions coming
up, could China’s support of
Europe buy them a bigger role in
the World Bank or the
International Monetary Fund, or
could it open up the possibility
that some in Europe might be
more open to having leadership
from countries other than the
United States and Europe in those
roles?
There are so many signs that
China is in its ascendency, while
the United States is in a downward
spiral. While China is investing in
higher education, the United
States is divesting in education.
While the number of engineering
graduates in the United States is
stabilizing or dropping, the num-
the world economic game to the
best of its ability, even as it invests
internally to provide the best edu-
cation they can for their citizens.
But the United States should be
doing the same thing. Instead, we
have basked in the glow of being
world leader for so long that we
don’t realize that the rules of the
game are changing and that China
is nipping at our heels and our
influence is waning. While other
countries are shoring up educa-
There are so many signs that China is
in its ascendency, while the United
States is in a downward spiral
ber in India and China is rising, if
not soaring. China’s increased
investment in Europe, when cou-
pled with its growing investment
on the African continent, signals
its commitment to be a player in
world economic policy, and its
willingness to use its investment
strategy to find allies. This does
not bode well for the United
States.
To be sure, China should play
tion, we have a growing achieve-
ment gap. African American
youngsters enter the educational
system disadvantaged too often,
and the gap rises as these young
people attend underfunded inner
city schools. While much of the
attention around the achievement
gap focuses on boys, Black girls,
too, have an achievement gap, but
it has been less frequently
researched than that gap for boys.
Some of the gap has to do with
public policy, but some has to do
with personal habits. While only
40 percent of African American
households have at least 100
books in the home, about 80 per-
cent of white households have at
least 100 books. White parents are
more likely to read to their chil-
dren than African American par-
ents are. And the average African
American youngster watches
about 8 hours of television a day.
We don’t need to pass a law to turn
the television off. There is a poli-
cy gap, but also a personal gap,
that contributes to the waning of
U.S. influence in the world.
The United States global posi-
tion will continue to erode unless
we choose to invest in people, in
education, in jobs.
African
Americans, too often at the
periphery, will also see our status
erode unless we are creative and,
indeed, combative, against trends
that weaken our community.
China is doing what it needs to do
to secure its world position. What
are we doing to secure ours?
Julianne Malveaux is President
of Bennett College for women in
greensboro, nC
New Black Mayors Bolster War on unemployment
T
he recent elections of Alvin
Brown as Jacksonville,
Florida’s first African
American mayor and Michael
Hancock as Denver’s second
Black mayor, provide much need-
ed new hope and leadership in the
war on unemployment. Both
Brown and Hancock have strong
Urban League roots and both have
made job creation in their cities
job number one.
On May 19th, Alvin Brown, a
former president of the Greater
Washington Urban League Guild,
shook up the political establish-
ment of Florida’s largest city when
he won election as Jacksonville’s
t o B E
E qual
Marc Morial
Community
Empowerment
Board, he managed a $4 billion
initiative to create jobs in urban
America. Upon winning the elec-
tion, Brown said, “My first priori-
ty is jobs. We must invest in the
inner city and create public-pri-
vate partnerships.”
Denver Mayor-elect, Michael
Hancock, credits his
background as the for-
mer President of the
Denver Urban League
and his two-terms as
President of the Denver
City Council with inspir-
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. ing his run for City Hall.
He won a run-off elec-
tion on June 6 and
becomes the second
first African American mayor. African American mayor in the
Mayor-elect Brown’s long arc to history of the Mile High City.
City Hall began in the working Wellington Webb was the first,
class
neighborhoods
of serving from 1991-2003.
Jacksonville, where he was raised
Hancock had a tough childhood.
by a devoted mother and grand- Growing up, he and his nine sib-
mother who worked two jobs to lings experienced periods of
raise him and his siblings. He homelessness. A brother died of
worked as a meat cutter at the AIDS. A sister was killed by an
local Winn Dixie while attending estranged boyfriend. Through it
Jacksonville State University. all, Hancock has always been a
Hard times almost derailed his leader, both in his family and in
college aspirations until a the Denver community.
He
Jacksonville pastor co-signed for a attended college in Nebraska,
loan to keep him in school.
returning home every summer to
Brown earned his B.S. and work in Mayor Frederico Pena’s
M.B.A. from Jacksonville State office. After graduation he earned
and completed post graduate study his Master’s in public administra-
at Harvard’s Kennedy School of tion from The University of
Government. He served as a sen- Colorado-Denver.
ior urban affairs advisor for both
Hancock started his career in the
President Bill Clinton and Vice 1990’s, holding down two jobs at
President Al Gore. As executive the Denver Housing Authority
director of the White House and the National Civic League.
‘The arc of the moral
universe is long, but it
bends towards justice’
He joined Metro Denver’s Urban
League affiliate in 1995 and in
1999, at the age of 29, became the
youngest Urban League president
in America.
When asked about his priorities
as Mayor, Hancock answered,
“Growing jobs, without question.
Everything we do will be about
the sustainability of jobs in this
city. Nothing’s more impor-
tant…”
Alvin Brown and Michael
Hancock know what it means to
beat the odds. They are also both
committed to creating good jobs
so that more Americans like them
have the chance to realize their
dreams. We congratulate them on
their victories and wish them all
the best.
Marc h. Morial is the President
and Ceo national urban league.
Week on the Web
R&B diva Patti
LaBelle has filed a
countersuit in a
case where her
body guards beat
up a West Point
cadet at an airport.
Both sides have
differing accounts
of what happened
… in “Music
Reviews”
In a rebuke to the
GOP, Obama says taxes should be
raised on the wealthiest Americans…
in “Breaking News”
Portland rapper Yung Mil, age
17, has won the Def Jam
Rapstar contest ... in “Music
Reviews”A former New
Orleans police officer is
defending himself against
charges that he murdered
innocent people after
Hurrican Katrina and then he,
and other officers, worked to
cover up their crimes … in
“National News”
Portland American Friends
Service Committee is sponsoring a
Freedom School for Youth … in
“Northwest News”
www.
The Skanner.com has the latest news from Portland and beyond, on your mobile or your desk-
top, it’s your go-to place for the news you won’t see in mainstream publications.
It’s your community. It’s The Skanner.
June 29, 2011 The Portland Skanner Page 5