GOP: "Change" in Race Relations?

I had a lot of time this weekend to think about the kerfuffle between newly-minted RNC chairman Michael Steele and talk show host Rush Limbargh.

If you care to hear them, these are my thoughts:

For a political party that is against affirmative action, Michael Steele was put up in his new position to be the "new face" of the GOP mainly because of his race. Let's not forgot that Steele was NOT the first choice for his position, and they probably would have voted for that Magic Negro dude had John McCain won the election. This is not to say Steele isn't qualified for the job; he is actually a very smart person, and I wish the best of luck to him in moving his party forward, although I don't think the party will move too quickly with him.

Speaking of "great white hopes" in the Republican party, it is also kind of interesting how Bobby Jindal's national political career started and ended within 24 hours. Oh boy, watching him can really put you to sleep. The Republicans should have put up Sarah Palin to do the speech; at least her stupidity is entertaining to watch.

The more things "change," the more things remain the same.

Mary Frances Berry on post-racial America

Mary Frances Berry, historian and former chairwoman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, was in Boston February 19 to discuss her latest book, as well as her career in Washington.

Highlights:

Berry on Eric Holder's "nation of cowards" speech: "It was a gutsy thing for him to do."

Berry on NY Post cartoon depicting Obama/chimpanzee : "I can agree that it's racist, but they have a right to say that."

The original conversation is about an hour long, so I cut it into 7 10-minute segments. It is well worth worth watching the whole conversation if you can.

Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7

The New American Apartheid

Yesterday the U.S. Senate passed the reauthorization of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), which will provide four million children with health insurance. It is estimated that 47 million Americans don't have health insurance; nine million of which are children.

From Washington Post:

...Lawmakers voted 66 to 32, largely along party lines, to renew the joint state-federal program and spend an additional $32.8 billion to expand coverage to 4 million more children. The expansion would be paid for by raising the cigarette tax from 39 cents a pack to $1.

The House approved similar legislation on Jan. 14, and President Obama is expected to sign a final version as early as next week...

But according to Marian Wright-Edelman, this is not enough, and more needs to be done for all of America's children.

During a speaking engagment on health disparities this morning at Morehouse College School of Medicine, the founder and president of the Children's Defense Fund said that another five million children will still not receive health coverage.

“We want every child, regardless of where they live, to be guaranteed health care, and [sic] CHIP doesn’t do that," she said.

Wright-Edelman proposed three steps to creating comprehensive health coverage for all children.

1. Coverage Must Be Affordable

2. Benefits Must Be Comprehensive

3. The System Must Be Simple and Seamless

She also said that while many believe the Obama administration has brought in a new era in U.S. race relations, Wright-Edelman isn't convinced that America is a "post-racial" society and that "disparities begins before birth."

According to the Children's Defense Fund, "relative to white children, Latino children are 28 percent less likely, and black children are 20 percent less likely, to be in excellent health. In total, fewer than half of all black and Latino children today are in excellent health."

Wright-Edelman said that the growing racial and economic disparities go beyond health care; disparities also have an effect on education, home life and the justice system, which she calls the "New American Apartheid."

Simply quoting German philosopher Dietrich Bonhoeffer:

"The test of morality in a society is based on how they treat their children," she said.

Health Disparities continue in America

I am always reading about new studies that I already knew about without having to be researcher. But seeing a study on paper can solidify your beliefs. Well, this "new" study is one of those moments for me.

From Kaiser Health Disparities Report:

People who live in poorer neighborhoods are less likely to have access to supermarkets that sell a variety of fresh produce and other healthy foods, according to the analysis. Researchers noted that supermarkets are more likely to sell a wide variety of healthy foods at lower prices, while convenience stores usually sell less healthy food at higher prices. Studies included in the analysis found that:

1. The likelihood that blacks would meet guidelines for fruit and vegetable consumption increased by 32% with every additional supermarket located near their home;

2. People who have a supermarket in their neighborhood have a reduced risk for obesity, while easy access to convenience stores increased obesity risk;

3. Predominately black neighborhoods had half as many supermarket chains as predominantly white neighborhoods, while Hispanic neighborhoods had one-third as many supermarket chains as white neighborhoods;

4. Healthy foods such as fresh produce, low fat dairy foods, high fiber breads and lean meats were more accessible and of higher quality in white neighborhoods than in non-white neighborhoods; and

5. Rural communities tend to have worse access to supermarkets.

Okay, so what else is new? I grew up in a predominately black community, and I can tell you first hand that I still see more liquor stores and fast food joints than legit supermarkets in that same community. Now that I am older, wiser and appreciative of good health and wellness, I see the lacking access to healthy foods in the community as detrimental problem. So much so that I really want to learn more about how to better report on health disparities. I just so happen to be attending a conference this week on this very issue. I plan on blogging about what is being said and done about this from the experts.

Stay tuned.

Online activists want US drug reform

As the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama nears, many Americans are putting together a wish list of the most pressing issues that they would like to see the Obama Administration work on first. While the war on terror continues to take up primary attention worldwide, America’s longest and most difficult war – the War on Drugs - has been given a back seat. However, with recent popular culture depictions of the drug trade and urban blight on the acclaimed show, The Wire (and Obama’s favorite TV show), some digital activists hope that with “change” in the White House, there will also be some change in how to approach this timely domestic issue.

Students for Sensible Drug Policy, a grassroots network of activists concerned about drug abuse, are running an “online rally” on their Facebook group page through the end of January, with a goal of getting 100,000 people to sign a petition, asking Obama to reform the nation’s drug policy. The petition specifically wants the next head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy to have a background in health, science, or education rather than in military, law enforcement or "tough on drugs" politics. “The next ‘Drug Czar’ should treat drug abuse as a health issue rather than a criminal issue and move away from a 'War on Drugs' paradigm,” according to the group.

Crime and Punishment in Chicago

The devastating news about the murders of Academy-award-winning actress Jennifer Hudson's mother and brother only highlight another news story that broke yesterday.

From United Press International:

CHICAGO, Oct. 24 (UPI) -- Four-hundred, twenty-six homicides have been reported in Chicago so far in 2008, more than in either New York or Los Angeles.

Chicago could be record more than 500 homicides by the end of the year, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

New York, with a population of almost 8.3 million compared to Chicago's 2.8 million, has reported 417 homicides. Los Angeles, with 3.8 million people, has had 302.

The number of homicides in Chicago peaked at around 700 in 1998 before a dramatic decline. In recent years, the number has gone up again in many major cities, and faster in Chicago than in New York.

Police Superintendent Jody Weis, testifying before the city council Friday, promised to change assignments and beats, moving police to areas where they are most needed.

"They haven't been moved around since 1978. That's three decades of people making empty promises," Weis said. "Nothing against my predecessors, but at some time, you've got to look at a problem and say, 'I know I can't make every one of the 50 aldermen happy, but we have to make sure we have the right resources in the right locations.'"

But some community leaders are not holding their breath.

From Chicago Sun-Times:

For 20 years, police superintendents have been promising to re-draw the boundaries of Chicago's 281 police beats to accommodate shifting crime patterns and population changes.

It never happened.

Instead of touching off a political war between black and Hispanic aldermen who believe their high-crime wards have been shortchanged and white aldermen who won’t tolerate a reduction in police services, Mayor Daley chose the path of least resistance. He formed a Targeted Response Unit that temporarily redeployed officers to crime “hot spots.”

That’s apparently why aldermen reacted to Weis’ promise by saying they’re tired of waiting. They argued that beat realignment is more important than ever, now that Daley is planning to hire just 200 officers during all of 2009.

Chicago's crime reductions problems are not unique. Race and class plays a large role in how politicians deal with urban problems. However, with the economy downturn and the rise in unemployment, budget reductions in community policing and other social services in urban areas such as after school programs and summer jobs will only make crime rates go up even further.

Latino Health Access and Presidential Politics

Today, I had the opportunity to participate in a “blogger conference” hosted by the National Council for La Raza (NCLR). As we reported last week, this organization is using new media to reach out to the Latino community, the fastest growing ethnic group in the United States. The conference call was about health disparities among Latinos and what the two presidential candidates are proposing to close the health access gap.

“Quality health care has always been in the hearts and minds of Latinos,” said Jen Ng’andu, associate director for the NCLR’s Health Access Project. “One in three Latinos don’t have health insurance for preventive care.”

Ng’andu said that NCLR works with hundreds of organizations and coalitions on addressing health access in the Latino community. NCLR also works with Health Care for America Now (HCAN), a national grassroots campaign working to guarantee quality health care for all Americans.

Latinos faces specific problems when accessing health care, including cultural insensitivity and language barriers. It is not uncommon to see children translating for adult family members who only speak Spanish in the hospital. Also, despite high employment rates among Latinos, they also have the lowest rates of health insurance supported by employers.

“One important issue for Latinos is access, so it’s important to look at this issue.” said Esther Garcia of HCAN. “Our organization wants to make sure all Latinos are insured.”

Representatives from both campaigns were invited to participate in the conference; however, a McCain rep didn’t participate due to “work in the field,” and will answer questions from bloggers later.

Dr Dora Hughes, Obama’s senior health policy advisor, was on the call and said that her candidate is strongly dedicated to this issue.

“Sen. Obama is the only candidate who believes that health care is a fundamental right,” she said.

Many of her talking points can be seen on Obama’s website:

Make Health Insurance Work for People and Businesses - Not Just Insurance and Drug Companies.

Require insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions so all Americans regardless of their health status or history can get comprehensive benefits at fair and stable premiums.

Create a new Small Business Health Tax Credit to help small businesses provide affordable health insurance to their employees.

Lower costs for businesses by covering a portion of the catastrophic health costs they pay in return for lower premiums for employees.

Prevent insurers from overcharging doctors for their malpractice insurance and invest in proven strategies to reduce preventable medical errors.

Make employer contributions more fair by requiring large employers that do not offer coverage or make a meaningful contribution to the cost of quality health coverage for their employees to contribute a percentage of payroll toward the costs of their employees health care.

Establish a National Health Insurance Exchange with a range of private insurance options as well as a new public plan based on benefits available to members of Congress that will allow individuals and small businesses to buy affordable health coverage.

Ensure everyone who needs it will receive a tax credit for their premiums.

Reduce Costs and Save a Typical American Family up to $2,500 as reforms phase in:

Lower drug costs by allowing the importation of safe medicines from other developed countries, increasing the use of generic drugs in public programs and taking on drug companies that block cheaper generic medicines from the market

Require hospitals to collect and report health care cost and quality data
Reduce the costs of catastrophic illnesses for employers and their employees.

Reform the insurance market to increase competition by taking on anticompetitive activity that drives up prices without improving quality of care.

The Obama-Biden plan will promote public health. It will require coverage of preventive services, including cancer screenings, and increase state and local preparedness for terrorist attacks and natural disasters.

A Commitment to Fiscal Responsibility: Barack Obama will pay for his $50 - $65 billion health care reform effort by rolling back the Bush tax cuts for Americans earning more than $250,000 per year and retaining the estate tax at its 2009 level.

Regarding Latino health access, Hughes said an Obama administration would require quality health access measurements and provide support to community organizations addressing health disparities. She also said that cultural competency and workforce diversity needs to be strengthened.

Hughes also said that Obama, as well as Sens. Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders introduced legislation in August to expand a successful and cost-effective community health center program, Access for All America Act.

Obama has promised that during his first year in office, he would sign legislation that would provide health care for all.

To be fair, John McCain’s health care proposal can be found here, and hopefully his rep can get back to the bloggers on his talking points.

To be continued….

P.S. – While looking at the McCain website, I was surprised to find a whole issues page on “Technology.” Considering that he once said that he doesn’t even know how to open email, I am happy someone in his organization finally told him to “smarten up” on his new media. We will take a more in depth look at his digital platform and write about it at a later date.

Education and Black Youth

Just like in the United States, there are educational disparities among black and Asian youth in Britain, and advocates are looking at ways to close the gap. Recently, it became mandatory to teach black history following a review of the national curriculum.

From The Telegraph:

All pupils aged between 11 and 14 will be taught about the slave trade and the British empire when term begins next month to help them understand modern-day issues such as immigration.

The two subjects, aimed at highlighting the influence of ethnic minorities, will join the two world wars and the Holocaust as periods that must form part of the history syllabus.

Schoolchildren will learn about the roles of William Wilberforce, the MP who campaigned for the abolition of slavery, and Olaudah Equiano, a former slave who drew attention to the horrors of the trade after buying his freedom and writing an autobiography.

They will also be taught about the origins of the empire, with one unit looking at rise and fall of the Mughals in India and the arrival of the British. Another is titled "How was it that, by 1900, Britain controlled nearly a quarter of the world?"

Kevin Brennan, the children's minister, said: "Although we may be ashamed to admit it, the slave trade is an integral part of British history. It is inextricably linked to trade, colonisation, industrialisation and the British Empire.

"It is important that children learn about this and its links to wider world history, such as the American civil rights movement - the repercussions of which are still being felt today. That is why the slave trade will join the British Empire, the two world wars and the Holocaust as compulsory parts of the secondary school history curriculum from this September."

Meanwhile, others advocate for "segregated" schools for blacks.

From The Daily Express:

Lee Jasper, who advised former London Mayor Ken Livingstone on equalities, said it was time the black community ran its own schools, with black teachers and black governors.

He said black schools and colleges could prove to be a "beacon of excellence" for the black community.

Mr Jasper said Jewish, Muslim and Hindu communities already had their own schools. And he accused the "liberal community" of dismissing the idea of black schools, while failing to address "institutional racism" within education.

The comments come after a study suggested that black Caribbean students are less likely to be entered for higher-tier science and maths exams because of low teacher expectations...

..."The US has many historically black colleges and universities. They cater for the needs of the African American and they excel. I am not arguing here for a BNP-style 'apartheid education system'. I am talking about black business, parents, schools and our magnificent churches coming together and establishing schools that are open to all and are organised around the behavioural, pastoral, psychological and cultural requirements of black young people growing up in a economic environment that excludes black people."

First, the only thing here is that HBCUs were created at a time when African Americans weren't allowed to attend other schools. Secondly, I am not sure about this argument to racially segregate schools. In the United States, there has been much debate about having schools just for black and Latino boys.

But I am wondering what you think about the state of education for black youth, both in the United States and the UK. Do you think we need to revert to racially segregated schools, and is there a need to have a more culturally relevant curricula?

Katrina: 3 years on...

...and the song remains the same.

There hasn't been much progress in New Orleans.

From Kaiser Family Foundation:

A comprehensive new Kaiser Family Foundation survey of the experiences of New Orleans residents – the second since Hurricane Katrina – reveals a still-struggling population that gives very mixed reviews in key areas of the recovery efforts. Most residents feel forgotten by the nation and its leaders, yet are still optimistic about their city’s future.

In two critical areas, housing (72 percent) and crime (71 percent), the vast majority of city residents see little or no progress. In other key areas – medical facilities, public schools, jobs, and rebuilding neighborhoods – reviews are more mixed, but with majorities seeing little or no progress. Only in one area, levee repair, does a majority (60 percent) see progress.

“Residents are not satisfied with the pace of the recovery effort, but they do see it moving in the right direction,” Foundation President and CEO Drew Altman said.

The survey also finds that an increasing number of residents say they face mental health challenges as the recovery drags on. In addition, the results show some easing of racial tensions, though many residents still see a city divided between haves and have-nots.

No Stringer Bell Left Behind

Did anyone see this?

From Mother Jones:

Risk assessment? Personnel management? Distribution logistics? Those skills are as key to a successful drug corner as they are to a corner office. That's the theory behind the Prison Entrepreneurship Program (PEP), a recently launched nonprofit that teaches would-be Stringer Bells to apply their talents in the legit marketplace.

Based (appropriately) in a privately run prison in Cleveland, Texas, the program has put 370 inmates through a four-month crash course in which volunteer execs and Ivy League MBA students help them craft business plans. The vetting is intense: Prisoners must be within a year of release, renounce gang affiliations, complete a long questionnaire, memorize financial jargon, and submit to multiple tests and interviews. Only about one in five is accepted, and many get kicked out along the way for infractions from cheating to maintaining gang ties.

The selectivity seems to pay off—since PEP launched in 2004, virtually all of its graduates have found jobs, says spokeswoman Kami Recla, and more than 40 have launched businesses ranging from landscaping to leatherwork. More important, fewer than 5 percent are back behind bars so far, impressive in a state with a recidivism rate hovering around 30 percent. It remains to be seen, however, whether this success story is recession-proof.

Programs like this do have much success; however, it would be nicer if these volunteers would use their time more effectively, by putting their efforts into inner-city public schools to attempt to save these young men before they go into prison.

But that's just my humble opinion...

No Emmy Love for 'The Wire'

No surprises out of Hollywood this morning...

From CNN:

...HBO's "The Wire" -- which concluded its fifth and final season this year -- once again came up empty in the best drama nominations. It did receive one nod, for writing.

The series, though much praised and dissected by a hard-core group of fans, has received little recognition from the Emmys, with just one nomination -- also for writing -- in 2005.

Of course, the writing nomination doesn't really mean anything. This is another example of one America denying that another America exists. Read my article on why 'Wire' creater David Simon thinks the show never got the high ratings of other HBO programs received.

Cocaine is a hellava drug

The United Nations put the latest report on the international drug trade last week:

From 2008 World Drug Report:

The drug problem is being contained but there are warning signs that the stabilization which has occurred over the last few years could be in danger. Notable amongst these is the increase in both opium poppy and coca cultivation in 2007, some growth in consumption in developing countries and some development of new trafficking patterns. There have also been encouraging contractions in some of the main consumer markets. This year, almost one hundred years since the Shanghai Opium Commission in 1909, the Report presents an historical review of the development of the international drug control system.

While Richard Nixon coined the term in 1971, in the United States the War on Drugs really started in 1880 after agreement with China to stop importation of opium. Today the United States spends an estimated $12 billion on "drug control" and another $30 billion on incarcerating drug offenders.

But as we all know, drug offences disproportionately affect the poor and people of color in this country.

From the Sentencing Project:

The enormous racial disparity in who goes to prison also surrounds the crack cocaine sentencing debate. Over 80 percent of the men and women serving time for federal crack cocaine offenses are African American, despite the fact that two-thirds of crack users are white or Hispanic. The strategy of the war on drugs has largely targeted black and minority communities, so Congress’s mandatory penalties have a disproportionate impact on people of color. The Sentencing Commission’s own findings conclude that reducing the mandatory sentences for crack cocaine would lessen racial disparity in federal prisons and improve public perceptions of fairness within the criminal justice system.

Momentum has emerged over the last year to address the hastily passed law. At the end of last year, a U.S. Supreme Court decision acknowledged the legitimacy of the crack cocaine sentencing controversy and the Sentencing Commission amended the sentencing guidelines governing crack cocaine offenses. As a result of the commission’s action, 7,000 prisoners have received sentence reductions since March.

No Black or Poor Child Left Behind

Every year on July 4th Americans celebrate its achievements as a country since breaking away from the Brits way back in the day.

Public education was "suppose" to be one of the hallmarks of this great nation, however, it has been in deterioration for the last 40 years, due to the shifts and racial and class structures in America's inner cities.

But something went horribly wrong in 2002 when President Bush signed into law the No Child Left Behind Act, which has only made the deterioration happen quicker.

Independent Presidential nominee Ralph Nader (yes, he is still in the race) got into some hot water last week when he called out Barack Obama for not being black enough.

From The Rocky Mountain News:

"I mean, first of all, the number one thing that a black American politician aspiring to the presidency should be is to candidly describe the plight of the poor, especially in the inner cities and the rural areas, and have a very detailed platform about how the poor is going to be defended by the law, is going to be protected by the law, and is going to be liberated by the law," Nader said. "Haven't heard a thing."

While I think it was a bit of a stretch to play the race card with Obama, Nader does bring up a larger problem with the Obama campaign and politicians in general - if you are a racial minority and/or poor in America, you have to fend for yourself, especially when it comes to education. Lets face it; no one is working on your behalf.

I finally got to see this great HBO documentary the other day, Hard Times at Douglas High: A No Child Left Behind Report Card. The directors spent a year documenting students, staff and teacher at the beleaguered Baltimore high school, giving a vivid overview of what's wrong with NCLB. The film is reminicent of the forth season of the dearly departed drama, The Wire. Even one of the students featured in the film seems to resemble popular character Snoop.

After watching the doc, you have to wonder if public education in this country was better, we could have less Stringer Bells and Avon Barksdales in the world.

From the HBO film synopsis:

...Douglass principal Isabelle Grant oversees a staff of teachers that is two-thirds non-certified, while many are substitutes unqualified to teach their subject areas. Threatened with sanctions, or even closing, unless student scores improve in annual standardized tests, the faculty tries to find workable solutions to chronic problems of attendance, lateness and apathy among students, many of whom come from poor backgrounds and broken homes, and lack the most basic reading and math skills.

Due to an achievement gap of four to five years below grade level, ninth grade students present the greatest challenge, requiring intensive intervention by the already overwhelmed teaching staff. By the end of the school year, 50% will drop out. Grant and her staff struggle to raise state assessment scores as a Maryland State monitor continually watches over Douglass with the threat of a state takeover...

Eventually, Douglass fails to make the adequate yearly progress required by the No Child Left Behind Act and the city and state wrestle for control of the school. This is typical of inner-city schools that cannot meet the demands of the federal law. By 2007 one in four of the nation's public schools failed to show improvement under the No Child Left Behind Act and was threatened with sanctions...

God bless America!

What about neglected diseases?

We all know that ailments like HIV/AIDS, diabetes and heart disease disproportionately affect people of color and low income communities in America. But what about Dengue, Cysticercosis and Trichomoniasis?

From USA Today:

Tropical diseases that ravage Africa, Asia and Latin America commonly occur among the poor in the USA, leaving thousands of people shattered by debilitating complications including mental retardation, heart disease and epilepsy, an analysis showed Monday.

The diseases, caused by chronic viral, bacterial and parasitic infections, disproportionately strike women and children and are largely overlooked by doctors, says author Peter Hotez of the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases, part of Sabin Vaccine Institute.

Hotez says the diseases go untreated in hundreds of thousands of poor people who live mainly in inner cities, the Mississippi Delta, Appalachia and the Mexican borderlands.

In many cases, he says, the infections cause disabilities that trap sufferers in lasting poverty. His analysis, called "Neglected Infections of Poverty in the United States," appears in the journal he edits, PloS Neglected Tropical Diseases.

As widespread as the diseases are, few people in middle America have heard of them, and many doctors never think to check for them, says Carlos Franco-Paredes of Emory University Rollins School of Public Health, who was not involved in the analysis.
Franco-Paredes says the effect can be devastating: "If you have these infections as a kid, if you're anemic, your ability to learn when you go to school is affected. If you have these infections on a chronic basis, they can affect your ability to become a productive adult and support your family."

I actually met Peter Hotez in Januay at the Families USA Health Action Conference. What this guy has to say is quite fascinating, and you should check out his report at the Global Network.

Technology and the Presidency

Presumptive Republican Presidential nominee John McCain said in a recent interview with Politico.com that he isn't computer literate.

"I am a illiterate that has to rely on my wife for all the assistance I can get," McCain said in this video.

At the age of 71, McCain is not unlike others of his generation. My own mother, who is near McCain's age, is afraid to go near a computer and has no idea what an email is. According a recent study, McCain and my mother are not the only ones in America living offline, mainly due to economic and racial disparities.

From the July 2007 Pew Internet & American Life report:

- 47% of Americans have a broadband connection at home," an increase of 5% since a year before.

- Home broadband adoption in rural areas, now 31%, continues to lag high speed
adoption in urban centers and suburbs.

- 40% of African Americans now have a broadband connection at home, a nine
percentage point increase from early 2006.

While there are many Americans who could sympathize with McCain's lack of tecnological savvy, it is different when one is running for President. Is it really politically wise for McCain to make a public statement like this and bring attention to his age again, just when voters were finally starting to look at the differences between him and Barack Obama on issues?

History has shown that understanding the power of technology can make or break a presidential career.

Slackers:

-George H. W. Bush lost the 1992 election because he had no understanding of supermarket scanners.

-Richard Nixon lost to John F. Kennedy because JFK had a better understanding of how to use the new technology of TV during their infamous 1959 Presidential debate.

Innovators:

- John F. Kennedy's commitment to the space race continues to resonate in today's technology

- Bill Clinton, not "Internet Inventor" Al Gore, helped pave the way for the dot com boom that created today's tech giants like Yahoo and Google. I

Much of Barack Obama's success has come from his use of social networks like Facebook to fundraise millions of dollars. While former Presidential candidate Howard Dean was the first major politician to use the Internet for a campaign in 2004, Obama has taken this to a whole new level, by also engaging young people and communities of color, populations that generally lack political engagement, to take an interest in politics.

Furthermore, the next President can not afford to lack computer literacy. With India and China becoming tech giants in the global economy, the future of America is dependent on staying on ahead of the digital curve.

I hope Mrs. McCain will read this post to her husband.

What is bad tourism?

The PBS documentary series P.O.V. recently gave its "Film Your Issue" award to Brandon Odum, the director of "New Orleans For Sale."

From P.O.V.

Odums is a 22-year old New Orleans college student who is part of a young filmmaking collective called 2-cent that makes projects to inspire change within young people. When they noticed the gawking tourists who had come to see the devastated 9th Ward after Hurricane Katrina, they decided to make a video about the locals' reactions.

In addition to winning the P.O.V. award, New Orleans for Sale also garnered an FYI Jury Award 2008, the NAACP Award and the AFI SILVERDOCS Award.

As you all know, I went to New Orleans last March for the NTEN conference. While I was there, some of my colleagues wanted to go on a bus tour of the Lower Ninth Ward. I couldn't in good conscience go on such a tour, where people are taking pictures and pointing fingers at a space that has become so sacred to many who have either lost their lives and/or livelihoods.

I realize that my colleagues and others like them only had the best intentions when they went on this tour. Hurricane Katrina really opened hearts and minds to the realities of poverty in America. Many "poverty tourists" believe that by going down to the devastated areas, they would have a better understanding of the issues the people there are facing.

However, I also believe that this crosses the thin line into voyeurism. If these people really wanted to understand the problems Katrina survivors were going through, then when going down to the Lower Ninth, go there with open hands instead, asking what you can do to help rebuild the city, which in the three years since the storm, rebuilding has been slow to stalemate.

(For the record, NTEN organized a "day of service" for attendees to share their tech expertise with New Orleans nonprofits devastated by Hurrican Katrina. The bus tours were organized separately by conference attendees.)

Like I have blogged about before, poverty tourism seems to be worldwide phenomenon right now. But my question is when do we start treating other people like human beings, rather than animals in a zoo?

John McCain: John Edwards Redux?

In case you haven’t been paying attention because you were to busy trying to figure out who the Democratic presidential nominee is going to be, the presumptive Republican nominee is on a mission, apparently, to reach out to America’s poor and disenfranchised. Yes, you heard me right; John McCain is on a “poverty tour” that will be stopping in a town near you this week, trying to convince Americans that he can play the part of John Edwards too.

He began the tour in Selma, Alabama, the home of many historic moments from the Civil Rights Movement, trying to convince his mostly white audience (Selma is 70 percent black) that the party of Lincoln does care about black people – really.

From MSNBC:

"There must be no forgotten places in America, whether they have been ignored for long years by the sins of indifference and injustice, or have been left behind as the world grew smaller and more economically interdependent," McCain said outside the St. James Hotel, several hundred yards away from the historic bridge. [He is referring to Emdund Pettus Bridge, where the “Bloody Sunday” attacks occurred in 1965]

"In America, we have always believed that if the day was a disappointment, we would win tomorrow. That's what John Lewis believed when he marched across this bridge," McCain said.

While it sounds noble to "care" about people of color and low income communites and their current plights in American society, if McCain really wants to reach out to black folks, why doesn’t he put out an extensive urban policy? I went to his website today, and I don’t see anything about what he will do to alleviate the root causes of problems minorities and low income communities face in the inner city, such as crime and the war on drugs. The only thing that comes close is his position on “poverty” is on public education. But even here, he doesn’t come out explicitly against “No Child Left Behind,” which has had an opposite effect on minority students by most accounts.

Also, what is he going to do to provide more summer jobs for inner city youth? Giving kids jobs in the summer time has always been a good way to get them off the street and do something productive with their time, instead of hanging out on a street corner doing God knows what. With the high rate of gang violence so far this year, especially in cities like Philadelphia and Chicago, street violence will only get worse without more summer jobs.

From The Wall Street Journal:

After sinking to a new low in 2007, teen summer employment is expected to fall again, to the lowest rate in the 60-year history of government jobs data. Working teens ages 16 to 19 will slide to 34% of the population, from 34.5% last year, predicts Andrew Sum of the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University. That's down from 45% in 2000 and a high of 48.5% in 1989.

My point here is that if McCain is really serious about reaching out to people of color, he needs to look at issues that affect them today, and recognize that there are still issues that weren’t resolved during the Civil Rights Movement. Not only would he have an advantage over the two candidates who seem to spend their time these days fighting over petty comments and American flag lapel pins, but maybe, just maybe, the Republicans can look like they are doing the right thing for once.

The Hero Within

Sometimes it takes the most egregiously painful events in our lives to trigger us to rise to the occasion to get things done.

The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the worst natural disaster in US history, tested Americans’ willpower to deal with a terrible situation and become heroes.

Alice Craft Kerney is one of those heroes.

After being evacuated with her family to New Mexico in the immediate aftermath of the storm, Kerney came back to New Orleans to start life all over.

In the process of rebuilding the city, it became very apparent that many resources that existed before the storm no longer existed, most notably healthcare. Before the storm, Charity Hospital was the only healthcare space in the city that provided medical and mental health services for low-income residents. Louisiana State University, which operated the hospital, did not reopen it after the levees failed and the hospital’s basement flooded. Due to the closure, Kerney, who worked for Charity for 20 years, was one of many to lose their jobs.

With the hospital gone, the health needs of Kerney’s neighbors in the Lower 9th Ward were going unaddressed, especially the mental health needs of Katrina survivors suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.

A friend came up with the novel idea of Kerney starting up a clinic in the community to address these needs. At first she was hesitant to do it because she had no administrative experience, but after realizing that no one else was going to deal with the growing health crisis in the community, she changed her mind.

So, her friend, who owned a mansion in the neighborhood, allowed Kerney to turn it into a community health center. After major refurbishing and construction, the Lower 9th Ward Health Clinic opened its doors to the community in February 2007.

“We do our part to provide quality, culturally sensitive healthcare to our patients,” Kerney said at a recent panel discussion in Boston. “Everyone who comes through the clinic treats each other with respect.”

While the clinic doesn’t have all the modern tools and conveniences that would be found in a typical American hospital, it does provide a space for those who otherwise wouldn’t have anywhere else to go. Many of the clinic's small staff are people entired paid with private funds and there is a larger number of volunteers from around the country. Kerney said that unlike big hospitals that only treat patients when they get sick, her clinic attempts to deal with patients’ overall wellness even when they have no ailment. Since the clinic opened Kerney says that mental and dental healthcare are the most chronic problems.

Many patients also come into the clinic that are disgruntled about the rebuilding process, such as price gouging at nearby retailers and contractors stealing money – all issues the mainstream media hasn’t discussed too much since the storm occurred.
While the media and the federal and local governments have all but forgotten about the victims of Katrina, Kerney wants others to keep telling the story of her community.

“You can tell people that there is still a lot of work to do,” she continued. “It is a tale of two cities in New Orleans – one for the haves and the other for the have-nots. So we ask that you keep the discussion going."

Read more about the clinic's work here.

America is a Failed State

I get emails from people all the time asking why I tag my posts about this U.S.elections as “American’s Dereliction ’08” or America’s Abandonment/Failure. If you saw last night’s debate, you will now know why.

My thoughts on last night’s Democratic debate between Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama:

I can honestly admit that Obama didn’t have a good night at the debate. Furthermore, I think he should have been better prepared to answer the questions about Rev Wright and the “bitter” comments.

With that said, I also don’t think so much time should have been spent on these “semantics games” by over examining every little thing that either the candidates or affliates have said.

There is a mortgage foreclosure crisis, crude oil is now over $110 a barrel, people are rioting worldwide over soaring food prices, America’s on the verge of a recession with unemployment especially among people of color at an all time high, people are worried about paying for health care, college tuitions, retirement…

…and all the candidates and the moderators could talk about was who isn’t wearing an American flag lapel pin!

Hell, you would have thought that someone would have wanted to talk about the high murder rate in the city (Philadelphia) were the debate was being held. (That reminds me that no candidate has yet to present an urban policy that would make sense.)

And people wonder why no one cares about politics anymore. Politics don’t care about people!

FYI, if you were as disappointed with the debate as I was, please let ABC know by sending them an email or giving them a call:

The following were obtained from the Huffington Post.

Natalie.J.Raabe@abc.com, aberke@constitutioncenter.org, feedback@abcnews.go.com, newsradio@abc.com, cristi.d.landes@abc.com, wayne.fisk@abc.com, jeffrey.t.fitzgerald@abc.com, heidi.b.oringer@abc.com, jonathan.m.newman@abc.com, joyce.a.alcantara@abc.com, james.f.kane@abc.com, andrew.l.kalb@abc.com, robert.garcia@abc.com, peter.salinger@abc.com, steve.jones@abc.com

OR CALL ABC NOW: dial 212-456-7777 or 818-460-7477 press 2 then 6 then 639

Wal-Mart raises funds, questions in black Hub

By Talia Whyte
Originally Published in The Bay State Banner


Retail giant Wal-Mart is the world’s largest private employer, with estimated net revenues of $378.8 billion for 2008. It is also one of the world’s most generous companies. Last year, its philanthropic arm, the Wal-Mart Foundation, donated $296 million to charities around the world — including many organizations geared towards African Americans.

Over the past few months, the foundation has turned its charitable gaze toward the Boston area. In February, the Museum of African American History received $250,000 from the Wal-Mart Foundation to help restore the African Meeting House. While the donation was made during Black History Month, a press release accompanying its announcement noted that “Wal-Mart has a long tradition of supporting diverse communities throughout the year.”

A few weeks later, the foundation made another donation, this one to the Grove Hall Youth Outreach Connection (GHYOC), a program of the faith-based Boston Ten Point Coalition that helps local at-risk youth through one-on-one mentoring, exploratory trips, peer leadership counsels, court advocacy and social activities held at the Roxbury YMCA. According to the coalition, the donation will be used specifically to purchase bicycles for GHYOC youth workers, allowing them to be more accessible and visible to those in community who need their help.

“I think this is a wonderful donation,” said GHYOC Director Emmanuel Tikili, who is also director of programs for the Boston Urban Youth Foundation. “We are trying to figure out how to better serve the youth in our community, and the donation put us in a better position to deal with youth violence.”

But for all the good Wal-Mart’s money appears to be doing in Boston, and all the good will it seems to engender, there are those in the black community who feel that the corporation is being deceitful, arguing that the company’s claims of charity ring hollow as it treats its own employees poorly.

Wal-Mart has for years faced criticism about its business practices. Some argue that the scores of massive retail outlet stores it has built around the country put “Mom and Pop” stores out of business.

Others decry company practices that they claim provide irresponsibly low wages and poor benefits to Wal-Mart’s U.S. employees, many of whom are low-income people and people of color, at the same time as it exploits sweatshop workers for their cheap labor in the developing world. It has been previously reported that some American Wal-Mart employees receive such low pay that they qualify for government assistance programs like food stamps.

When contacted by the Banner for this article, Wal-Mart spokesperson Christi Gallagher said that she was “not aware of any criticisms.” She said that Wal-Mart has listened to the opinions of its employees, and has made changes to its health care plan options to better serve their needs.

“Associates now have more than 50 ways of customizing their health care coverage options, which will allow them to select among various deductibles, health care credits, and premiums, depending on their needs,” Gallagher said in a recent e-mail. “The plans also give them access to more than 2,000 generic prescriptions for $4, and have no lifetime maximums. Our goal is to be their employer of choice, offering competitive wages and benefit packages for all associates.”

Nonetheless, black community leaders have organized against the corporate giant in recent years, specifically in opposition to Wal-Mart’s attempts to build stores in Chicago and Los Angeles and what they claim is a continuing adversarial stance toward workers’ rights.

Black leadership and Wal-Mart briefly became strange bedfellows in 2006, when Civil rights leader and former U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young was roundly criticized for agreeing to become chairman of Working Families for Wal-Mart, a group The New York Times said was “created and financed by the company to trumpet its accomplishments” and “improve [the corporation’s] public image.”

Young abruptly resigned that position, after just six months on the job, following the publication of an interview in the weekly Los Angeles Sentinel newspaper in which he offered a controversial response to a question about whether it was good that Wal-Mart may drive small businesses out of the market.

“Well, I think they should,” Young told the Sentinel. “Those are the people who have been overcharging us, selling us stale bread and bad meat and wilted vegetables. And they sold out and moved to Florida. I think they’ve ripped our communities off enough. First it was the Jews, then it was the Koreans and now it’s the Arabs. Very few black people own these stores.”

In Boston, community leaders are also speaking out about Wal-Mart’s practices.

“Wal-Mart provides slave wage jobs,” said City Councilor Chuck Turner. “They exploit people. Wal-Mart comes into communities and takes away livelihoods, and turns around and gives back the money in donations.”

Tufts University professor and urban policy analyst James Jennings wonders if the Wal-Mart donations are a result of vacuum that is not being filled through other vehicles.

“This development in large donations by corporations like Wal-Mart could be a result of the government pulling back funds to the black community,” Jennings said. “The smaller the nonprofit is, the more attractive Wal-Mart’s money looks. If Wal-Mart is doing this as a purely altruistic effort, that’s fine. But if there is something else going on, that’s another issue. If Wal-Mart really cared about the community, it would provide better health care and wages to its employees.”

The discussion over Wal-Mart’s place in the black community does not appear to be one that will end any time soon. While Tikili, of the Grove Hall Youth Outreach Connection, said he is very aware of the controversy, he also said he hopes that the Wal-Mart Foundation’s donation to the GHYOC will provide an opportunity for community stakeholders to have a discussion with Wal-Mart over many of these issues.

“We need to look at the quality of life in our community,” he said. “We need to figure out what is in the best interest of the black community.”