Muncie Times, Muncie, Delaware County, 6 October 2005 — Page 8

Page 8 • The Muncie Times • October 6, 2005

continued from page 1 trickle down. The day after Hurricane Katrina hit, the U.S. Census Bureau released the latest data on American poverty, showing that in 2004, poverty increased in our rich country for the fourth year in a row. The number of American children living in poverty has grown by 12.8 percent over the last 4 years and is now over 13 million. This means 1.5 million more children were poor in 2004 than in 2000. As these numbers were being released, was our government responding by announcing a federal emergency management plan to deal with child and family poverty? Just the opposite: The Bush administration and

Congress were proposing additional tax cuts for the wealthiest and budget cuts in programs that serve low-income children and families. The persistent and growing high level of child poverty reflects conscious, misguided and unjust choices. How can the Bush administration and Congress give enormous tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans who have benefited most from the economic recovery, while seeking to undermine the guarantees and cut the budgets for Medicaid, food stamps and other programs that assist poor children who continue to be left behind? More than seven out of every 10 poor children in 2004 had at least one employed parent. Working

hard and playing by the rules is not enough to lift families out of poverty. Even if a parent with one child works full time at the federal minimum wage, which hasn’t been raised since 1997, the family still lives in poverty. Poverty affects all kinds of families and child poverty has risen significantly among all racial groups. Extreme child poverty, defined as living with an annual income below $7,610 for a family of three, increased by 20 percent between 2000 and 2004 and now affects almost 5.6 million children. Far less wealthy industrialized countries have committed to end child poverty, while the United States is sliding back-

wards. We can do better. We must demand that our leaders do better. In an address to the nation from New Orleans, 17 days after the storm hit, President George W. Bush said, “Within the Gulf region are some of the most beautiful and historic places in America. As all of us saw on television, there is also some deep, persistent poverty in this region as well. And that poverty has roots in a history of racial discrimination, which cut off generations from the opportunity of America. We have a duty to confront this poverty with bold action. So let us restore all that we have cherished from yesterday, and let us rise above the legacy of inequality.” This is the exact same “deep, persistent poverty” the president spoke about in his first inaugural address, in January 2001, when he said, “In the quiet of American conscience, we know that deep, persistent poverty is unworthy of our nation's promise. And whatever our views of its cause, we can agree that children at risk are not at fault.” As we have seen, this poverty has only grown deeper and more persistent since the president took office. But it is not too late for the administration to rise above its own current legacy of inequality. Bush is still correct to say that poverty is wrong and unworthy of America’s promise. Now is his opportunity to translate that assertion into action. Our nation would be

making a terrible mistake if we rebuilt the destroyed buildings and repaired the damaged levees caused by Hurricane Katrina, without addressing the underlying foundation of poverty that made so much of the suffering worse and unfair to those at the bottom. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. foresaw these kinds of choices when he said, “Ultimately a great nation is a compassionate nation . .. One day we will have to stand before the God of history and we will talk in terms of things we’ve done. Yes, we will be able to say we built gargantuan bridges to span the seas, we built gigantic buildings to kiss the skies... "It seems that I can hear the God of history saying, ‘That was not enough! But I was hungry, and ye fed me not. I was naked and ye clothed me not. I was devoid of a decent sanitary house to live in and ye provided no shelter for me. And consequently, you cannot enter the kingdom of greatness. If ye do it unto the least of these, my brethren, ye do it unto me.’” The God of history is watching our nation right now. How will we answer? Marian Wright Edelman is CEO and founder of the Children's Defense Fund and its Action Council whose mission is to Leave No Child Behind and to ensure every child a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start, and a Moral Start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities.

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