[PAA-Discuss] A Discussion of Race Worth Having

[Ron and Kris Graham]

Please read Cynthia McKinney's (Green Party candidate for president)
statement regarding race in this country and her thoughts on Barack Obama's
speech on the racial divide in this country. Her statements, as usual, are
dead on accurate. Feel free to offer comments.

 

Kris

 

http://www.allthingscynthiamckinney.com/ADiscussionOfRaceThatMatters

 

 

Home <http://www.allthingscynthiamckinney.com/node>  > A Discussion Of Race
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Submitted by admin on Tue, 03/18/2008 - 15:26.

A Message from Cynthia McKinney
A Discussion of Race Worth Having
March 18, 2008

Much has been made around the edges of this campaign about the issue of
race. Sadly, nothing has been made of the public policy exigencies that
arise because of the urgent racial disparities that continue to exist in our
country. Just last week, the United Nations criticized the United States,
again, for its failure to address the issues arising from the rights,
particularly the right of return, of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita survivors.
Author Bill Quigley writes in "The Cleansing of New Orleans," that half of
the working poor, elderly, and disabled of New Orleans have not been able to
return. Two weeks ago, United Nations experts on housing and minority rights
called for an immediate end of public housing demolitions in New Orleans.
Now, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, ratified by
the U.S. in 1994, further observes that the U.S. must do more to protect and
support the African American community. In 2006, the United Nations Human
Rights Commission "noted its concern that while African Americans constitute
just 12% of the population, they represent 50% of homeless people, and the
government is required to take 'adequate and adequately implemented'
measures to remedy this human rights violation." In short, the United
Nations has issued reports squarely calling for the United States to do more
to eliminate racial discrimination and this discrimination is a human rights
violation.

I am deeply offended that in the middle of a Presidential campaign,
remarks--be they from a pastor or a communications mogul, or a former Vice
Presidential nominee--are the cause of a focus on race, and not the deep
racial disparities that communities are forced to endure on a daily basis in
this country.

Myriad reports and studies that have been done all come up with the same
basic conclusion: in order to resolve deep and persisting racial disparities
in this country, a public policy initiative is urgently needed. A real
discussion of race, in the context of a Presidential election, ought to
include a discussion of the various public policy initiatives offered by the
various candidates to eliminate all forms and vestiges of racial
discrimination, including the racial disparities that cloud the hopes,
dreams, and futures of millions of Americans.

For example, every year on the anniversary of the birth of Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr. United for a Fair Economy publishes a study of the true state of
people of color in America called the "State of the Dream Report." And it
was their 2004 report that noted that without public policy intervention, it
would take 1,664 years to close the racial gap in home ownership in this
country. And that on some indices, for example, infant mortality, the racial
disparities were worse at the time of the report than at the time of the
murder of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

In their 2005 report, entitled, "Disowned," United for a Fair Economy
explored the disparate impact of Bush's "Ownership Society" economic program
that saw Black and Latino lives shattered as unemployment, income, home
ownership, business ownership, and stock ownership plummeted even in the
face of Administration economists trumpeting the phenomenal "growth" of the
U.S. economy as a result of their policies.

In 2006, United for a Fair Economy focused on the devastating and
embarrassing effect of government inaction before, during, and after
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. They focused on something as simple as car
ownership and the relationship between vehicle ownership and race. In the
case of New Orleans, car ownership literally meant the difference between
losing or saving one's life.

In 2007, United for a Fair Economy explored the Black voters' attachment to
the Democratic Party, and in a piece entitled, "Voting Blue, but Staying in
the Red," they explored goals that the Democratic Party should have put at
the top of its agenda for its first 100 hours in the majority. While noting
that the Democrats didn't even mention Katrina in their agenda, United for a
Fair Economy concluded that Blacks and Latinos voted in the November 2006
elections in the blue, but due to a failure of public policy that pays
attention to their needs, they continue to live in the red.

In their 2008 report, United for a Fair Economy explores the sub-prime
mortgage crisis and note that the largest loss of wealth in U.S. history is
being experienced by the Black and Latino communities with an estimated $92
billion being lost by Blacks and an estimated $98 billion being lost by
Latinos. And while families are losing their life savings and the only major
investment that they own, policy makers are asking them to tighten their
belts. But the predator banks' CEOs are walking away with record
remuneration. And our policy makers are notable for their inaction: first on
the predatory lending that disproportionately affects Blacks and Latinos,
and then on offering relief so that homeowners remain homeowners, including
in the midst of this crisis.

Sadly, United for a Fair Economy isn't the only research organization to
find glaring and intolerable disparities in our society by race and no
appropriate public policies enacted to address them. Hull House did a study
that found that it would take 200 years to close the gap in the quality of
life experienced by black Chicagoans and white Chicagoans. There has been no
public policy initiative taken up by the mayor or the governor of Illinois
to begin closing that gap.

Several years ago, the New York Times published a finding that nearly half
the men between the ages of 16 and 64 in New York City were unemployed.
There was no initiative by the mayor or the governor of New York to begin
addressing such pain.

Every year, the National Urban League publishes a study, "The State of Black
America," in which the ills and disparities that persist in this country are
catalogued. Every year, the story is basically the same. The United States
has a way to go that only public policy can address. However, when Harvard
University/The Kaiser Family Foundation did a study on White attitudes about
race several years ago, it found that Whites have little appreciation for
the reality of Black life in America, from police harassment and
intimidation, to imprisonment, to family income, unemployment, housing, and
health care. But without an appreciation of the reality faced by many of our
fellow Americans, the necessary public policy initiatives to change those
realities will find difficulty gaining acceptance in the public discourse.

Additionally, compounding the problem, there is little public discourse
because the corporate press refuse to cover the deep implications of the
results of all these studies. I am convinced that if the American people
knew the truth of the conditions, change would surely follow. I believe that
to be the case because of the impact of the images of "Bloody Sunday" on the
passage of the Voting Rights Act. I believe that to be the case because of
the impact of the images of the Vietnam War on the turn of the tide of
public opinion against that War.

This moment sheds light on a much-needed discussion: on race and the
legacies of race and slavery and the continuing problems associated with our
failure to treat racism as a curable American disease.

I am glad that candidate Obama mentioned the existing racial disparities in
education, income, wealth, jobs, government services, imprisonment, and
opportunity. Now it is time to address the public policies necessary to
resolve these disparities. Now it is time to have the discussion on how we
are going to come together and put policies in effect that will provide real
hope and real opportunity to all in this country.

To narrow the gap between the ideals of our founding fathers and the
realities faced by too many in our country today: That must be the role of
public policy at this critical moment in our country today.

I welcome a real discussion of race in this country and a resolve to end the
long-standing disparities that continue to spoil the greatness of our
country. I welcome a real discussion of all the issues that face our country
today and the real public policy options that exist to resolve them. That
must be the measure of this campaign season. For many voters, this important
discussion has been too vague or completely non-existent. Now is the time to
talk about the concrete measures that will move our country forward: on
race, war, climate change, the economy, health care, and education. Our
votes and our political engagement must be about ensuring that fairness
truly for all is embodied in "liberty and justice for all."

--

"And advanced forms of biological warfare that can 'target'
specific genotypes may transform biological warfare from the
realm of terror to a politically useful tool."
PNAC, Rebuilding America's Defenses, p. 60:

"The less you know, the more you believe." Bono

"Certain material weaknesses in financial reporting and
other limitations on the scope of our work resulted in
conditions that, for the 10th consecutive year, prevented
us from expressing an opinion on the federal government's
consolidated financial statements."
David Walker, Comptroller General of the United States,
December 15, 2006

Paid for by the
Power to the People Committee,
Cynthia McKinney for President
http://www.runcynthiarun.org/

 

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