H O N O R I N G D R . M A RT I N L U T H E R K I N G , J R .
How To Petition the President
at “We The People…”
T
he First Amendment gives all Americans the right to “petition the Government
for a redress of grievances.”
So in the age of the Internet, the Obama White House has created a petition web-
site to make it easy to exercise that right. The “We the People…” website:
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/
offers a place to post petitions and sign
them if you agree. Any petition that gets
enough support, currently 100,000 signa-
tures, will automatically receive a an offi-
cial response. Petitions must be short to
meet the website guidelines.
The Skanner News decided to post the
following petition:
“A Marshall Plan for Black America”
African Americans as a group remain
enormously disadvantaged in the United
States of America.
The 2010 census showed that the medi-
an wealth owned by White families was
$110,000, yet an average Black family
owns less than $5,000.
Black unemployment is generally twice
that of Whites. In fact, racial disparities,
rooted in America’s shameful history of
slavery and discrimination, affect every
major economic indicator, as well as
health and education outcomes.
America has failed to live up to its prom-
ise of equal opportunities for all. This
wrong must be put right.
After WWII, the Marshall Plan rebuilt
Europe. We call on President Obama to
create “A Marshall Plan for Black
America.”
We ask the president to fund a grass-
roots economic development plan that
will create true equality for all.
The Portland and Seattle Skanner Martin Luther King Special Edition January 16, 2013 Page 23