Opinion
The Rising Ocean is No Joke in N. Carolina
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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
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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.