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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (June 27, 2012)
Opinion The Rising Ocean is No Joke in N. Carolina “Challenging People to Shape a Better Future Now” B ERNIE F OSTER Founder/Publisher B OBBIE D ORE F OSTER Executive Editor T ED B ANKS Advertising Manager J ERRY F OSTER Account Executive L ISA L OVING News Editor H ELEN S ILVIS Multimedia Editor D AVID K IDD Graphic Designer M ONICA J. F OSTER Seattle Office Coordinator J ULIE K EEFE S USAN F RIED Photographers D id you hear the joke about how Republicans in North Carolina want to ban sci- entific discussion about the rising ocean levels? Well, I hate to break it to you, but it is no joke. A law is making its way through North Carolina legislature – advanced by the Republicans, of course – to limit all calculations on rising sea levels to those determined by the North Carolina Coastal Resources Commission. Further, the calcula- tions have to be based on historic trends. In other words, the Com- mission is only to look to the past and not factor in what is really happening. If anyone has any question as to what a Republican takeover of the national government would look like, watch our friendly North Car- olina GOP in action. They do not like the fact that the ocean is rising so, presto, let’s pretend that it is not happening. Let’s not scare vacationers who want to visit and perhaps purchase property on the Outer Banks. Let’s leave them all in blissful ignorance while the oceans rise eventually turning those beaches into seabed unless something dramatic is done soon. T RANS A FRICA Bill Fletcher Jr. But then, the Republicans do not want to do anything about the cli- mate catastrophe because, after all, they assert that the catastrophe is not happening. And how better denial would be comedic if it were not so serious. Whether the denial is based upon an absurd attempt to protect property values, or a bury- your-head-in-the- sand approach does not really matter. Let’s also leave aside some of the possible First Amendment issues contained here. The bottom line is that today’s Republican Party is, quite literally, attempting to rewrite reality. We are living through an envi- ronmental crisis, North Carolina GOP’s opposition notwithstand- ing. We are witnessing the disap- pearance of the polar caps and the The Republicans do not want to do anything about the climate catastrophe because, after all, they assert that the catastrophe is not happening to demonstrate that it is not hap- pening than to not look at the actu- al data. The North Carolina climate extinction of species. There is a dramatic crisis afflicting bats with millions dying off, and there is the equally ominous collapse of bee colonies. To pretend that this is not happening is the equivalent of a child making noises so that they do not hear things that they wish to ignore. Yet it is not just denial. There is a struggle underway, and that is precisely what makes the politics of the Republican Party so danger- ous. Environmental collapse is not inevitable since there are steps that can be taken, but they can only be taken when we take the blinders off and face reality. So, with all due respect to the people of the great state of North Carolina, it is not only time to wake up and smell the scent of the sea closing in on your lovely homes on the Outer Banks, even- tually making Raleigh a beach front…it is also time to laugh out of office the dimwits who believe that saying it ain’t so is enough to make it not happen. Bill Fletcher, Jr. is a Senior Scholar with the Institute for Poli- cy Studies, the immediate past president of TransAfrica Forum, and the co-author of Solidarity Divided. He can be reached at papaq54@hotmail.com Taking Care of Those Who Take Care of Us The Skanner Newspaper, established in October 1975, is a weekly publica- tion, published each Wednesday by IMM Publications Inc., 415 N. Killingsworth St., P.O. Box 5455, Portland, OR 97228. Telephone (503) 285-5555. E-mail: info@theskanner.com World Wide Web site: http://www.theskanner.com Fax: (503) 285-2900 The Skanner is a member of the National Newspaper Pub lishers Associ- ation and West Coast Black Pub lishers Association. All photos submitted become the property of The Skanner. We are not re - spon sible for lost or damaged photos either solicited or unsolicited. © 2012 The Skanner. ALL RIGHTS RE SERVED. REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART WITHOUT PERMISSION PROHIBITED. To see The Skanner News on your smart phone go to theskannermobile.com or scan this QR code with your app. • • • • • • • • Local news Opinions Jobs, Bids Sports Entertainment Music reviews Bulletin board RSS feeds A i-Jen Poo, a powerful and passionate advocate for the rights of domestic work- ers, leads the National Domestic Workers Alliance. Who are these folks? They are the private house- hold workers (maids) who propped up inept women in the movie, The Help. They are the home health aides who take care of our elders when they are ill or disabled, bringing them meals, bathing them, and accompanying them to medical appointments. They are the nannies that care for children when parents are work- ing. In some ways, they are a backbone of our economy, and yet they often have neither voice nor money. I was struck by the situation of domestic workers when I heard Ai-Jen at the National Council for Research on Women’s annual con- ference. While some of us focus mostly on race, she is more likely to focus on class and the many ways that public policy is made from an extremely privileged per- spective. The women who stitch together a living by working two and three domestic jobs certainly don’t have the time to put their sit- uation in context with public poli- cy. And those who make public policy have only limited exposure to those who have to live it. Ai- Jen and the National Domestic Workers Alliance bridge that gap. The organization started in 2007, and now has representation in more than 20 states. In New York, NDWA was instrumental in the passage of the Domestic Work- ers Bill of Rights that went into effect in November 2010. It requires that people who work in other people’s homes for 40 hours a week or more (except for rela- tives and casual employees such as babysitters) must be paid the min- imum wage, must receive over- time pay, vacation time, workers’ Page 4 The Portland Skanner June 27, 2012 B ENNETT C OLLEGE Julianne Malveaux compensation and disability bene- fits. One might assume that some of these benefits are already writ- ten into law, and in some ways they are. But domestic workers are more likely to be treated as casual workers than as profession- then, the law had so many loop- holes that few adhered to it. At the same time, failure to abide by the law has tanked many a nom- inee for a federal appointment. Judge Kimball Wood comes to mind as a capable jurist who was snagged by her failure to take Social Security taxes out of the wages of her full-time house- keeper. Ai-Jen’s presentation reminded me how little has changed for pri- vate household workers. There are employers who deduct from low wages if there is breakage in their homes. There are others that may deduct for meals. Without Those who make public policy have only limited exposure to those who have to live it als, and if they are working full- time, they must be treated as professionals. Listening to Ai-Jen Poo was like a blast from the past for me. My intervention, the majority of 2.5 million workers take care of our most precious assets, our children and our parents, without being paid fairly. They cook our food, Those who oppose the bill talk about their free market rights, but have blinders on when it comes to the rights of others early academic work focused on private household workers. Although the Minimum Wage Act was passed during the Depression, private household workers and farm workers were excluded from the legislation until 1974. Even and who wants someone who feels that they are being paid unfairly to cook their food? After all, even the private household workers in the pre-civil rights South weren’t always benign. In California, a piece of legisla- tion that is similar to the New York bill is being considered. Indeed, Assembly Bill 889 passed the lower house of the California State legislature, but the California State Senate is dragging its heels. Indeed, some have so distorted the bill that they describe it as “the babysitter law,” even though those who do not work full time are specifically excluded from the leg- islation. Those who oppose the bill talk about their free market rights, but have blinders on when it comes to the rights of others. Unfortunately, while women are the majority of private household workers, it is also women who are the majority of those who hire, and often exploit, them. It is amazing how stuck the fem- inist movement has become around issues of women on the bottom. Twenty years ago there were passionate debates about housework pass along and the many ways that the women’s movement could be mutually sup- portive along class lines. Now, though a passionate woman is fighting for domestic workers, she is not often joined by those who have greater voice, more power, and the ability to make a differ- ence. While domestic workers today are less likely to be African Amer- ican than Latino, we in the African American community need to remember that the workplace has long been oppressive to those at the bottom. In speaking up for domestic workers, we speak up for our mothers and grandmothers, but also for ourselves, no matter what our economic status. Julianne Malveaux is a Wash- ington, D.C.-based economist and writer. She is President Emerita of Bennett College for Women in Greensboro, N.C.
