Indianapolis Recorder, Indianapolis, Marion County, 2 April 1994 — Page 2

THE INDIANAPOLIS RECORDER

SATURDAY, APRIL 2,1994

Crime bill is not what Americans think

EDITORIALS

Taxi cab monopoly means poor service You know something is wrong with the taxi business when you can take a flight to New York and get a taxi into Manhattan before the t<uci your Indianapolis neighbor called, arrives to take him to work. The final insult is that the New York taxi is cheaper. On Thursday March, 31,1994 the city-county will consider Proposal 72, which is an attempt to address the inadequacies of local taxicab operations. For years visitors from other cities have marveled at how hard it is to get a cab in Indianapolis and for many years the AfricanAmerican community has complained about cab service. In the not too distant past white owned cabs would not service our community. And even now service is hardly available in some neighborhoods. It’s time to restore the competiveness to the cab business. Unfair regulations have created a monopolistic and unresponsive enterprise that provides marginal service for exhorbitant prices . Perhaps the word enterprise is a bit strong to describe current practices. , We hope that the City-County Council will take the recomendations put forward by the Regulatory Study Commission formed by Mayor Stephen Goldsmith. We expect the proposed action will have immediate and far reaching impact on our community. William Eimicke the director of the program on Politics and Public Policy at Columbia university, has studied the issue of public transportation extensively, he writes about the proposed changes.” I have done extensive interviews with the unemployed,those on welfare ...and government officials in Indianapolis ...virtually everyone I spoke with...identified the lack of adequate public ground transpotation as one of the top three obstacles to employment and economic growth in Indianapolis.... In summary, deregulation of public ground transportation is a win-win proposition that if not done will ultimately inhibit the economic growth of Indianapolis....” Many poeople in the African American community have seen jobs and opportunities move to the suburbs and have found no way to get to these jobs. This proposed regulation change will make it easier and cheaper to get around in Indianapolis. >It will also open the door to opportunity for new cab companies and new oprators and perhaps we’ll once again see African American cab owners along with others who are willing to provide good service at reasonable prices so that every can get to work. We are in full support of Proposal 72. The sooner it passes the better for us all. A Editors note: We will reprint a number of editorials from the past as we begin the countdown to our one hundred year birthday celebration, which will occur in 1995. 'Negro City Councilmen January 14,1933 . i ’ v \ , / Wanted: for the City of Indianapolis two Negro councilmanic candidates. Such is the popular demand of citizens of this municipality. Such is the legitimate cry of a large majority of our group who in see the future nothing but disappointment, discouragement and no hope for their political aspirations without a measure of greater representation in the administrative affairs of their city. Like those of other progressive cities of the North and the South, members of our group in Indianapolis are clamoring for a highe( status in the management of their city. jTo acquire this they must have direct representation in the city council. There must be one or two Negroes elected to the governing body. Two good, reliable, intelligent, trustworthy and capable colored citizens incapable of being tampered with by evil influences. They are wanted to step forward, and go before the people as candidates for the city council in the upcoming campaign. It is needless to state that none other but the solicited aspirants possessed of the qualities mentioned need throw their hats in the ring. The warning is timely because it is intended to discourage any venture on the part of incompetents to seek to further clog, with worthless service, the wheels of our city government. The people want, and will support to the limit, any two race men capable of measuring up fully to expectation as members of the city council. These are not days for grand stand play or assertions of empty self-styled race leaders, and do nothing if elected to the city council. Again, the call is issued for two Negro citizens with the required qualifications to step forward. Make a constitutional bid at the polls as candidates for the City council.

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s as. — «as—-a-a—is Vivian waooM

Wouldn’t it be nice to return to the days when families put a milk bottle on the porch with money in it, certain that only the milkman would take it? Or to the days when you could go to bed on a hot night with the windows open, protected only by a little latch on the screen door? Well, we won’t see those days again, or the times when most children were reared by two parents. The problem is that when we put our money in the milk bottle, America didn’t have millions of youngsters who were largely bereft of parental supervision. Children’s “churches” were not street gangs. Their most trusted companion was not a revolver. And our streets didn’t bristle with 211 million handguns. Fear and hysteria are being fanned by politicians who are

The

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Rowan

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Report

By CARL ROWAN

among the most protected people in America. We have a craven war happening over which politicians can best exploit fears of crime. Republicans shout that Democrats are “soft on crime,” and President Clinton endorses crazy, counterproductive proposals in order to prove hev, isn’t coddling murderers and rapists. Rep. Newt Gingrich, R.-Ga., blames America’s high crime rate on “the welfare state,”

referring to the social programs enacted by Franklin D. Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnson. Gingrich wants to go on “a wartime footing” and build “stockades” in which to jail lawbreakers. Thus, Mr. Clinton apparently felt pressured into endorsing a crime bill that would authorize billions of dollars for more prisons, “boot camps” and more juvenile detention centers. These “boot camps,” “reform schools” and “stockades” would only increase the number of young people who are so fiercely alienated against society that they commit crimes. So why not expand the Job Corps program instead of pumping millions into “boot camps” and juvenile detention centers? Why not more friendly intervention into the lives of

children who need it, with counseling, tutoring, job training and scholarship help? The main reason is that some politicians want only to appear “tough on crime.” They want to seem responsive to the wild cries of, “Lock ‘em up!” and “Fry ‘em!” I salute former Deputy Attorney General Philip Heymann, who dared to resign so he could tell the American people that the crime bill before Congress is mostly political posturing, and that Congress is about to spend about S22 billion on emotional nostrums that will not end violence in America. Is it possible that enough congressmen can break free of the political posturing to a point* where they too will tell Americans the truth?

Solutions not in sight for global jobs crisis

The leading industrial powers of the world met in Detroit todiscuss the global jobscrisis, exchange ideas and perhaps even come up with some solutions. They discussed jobs and exchanged ideas, but no solutions are in sight. The Europeans suffer from very high unemployment rates, which economists say is caused by such generous social benefits that employers want tolimit hiring and laid-offworkers don’t want to trade their high unemployment benrf's for work. Americans have lower unemployment, at least as officially complied. But our wages are low compared with the Europeans and our social safety net is in shreds. So each side looks to the other for ideas. The Europeans say they have to look at the American way, that they can no longer afford to pay high wages and high social benefits and still remain competitive. And the Americans say they can’t afford the deep social fissures caused by inadequate benefits and a widening gap between the haves and the have-nots. So we’re (America) interested in some aspects of the European system that work • universal health cait that’s not tied to the job, better education and training and apprenticeship programs that ease the transition from school to work. At the end of the conference, there seemed to be general agreement that both sides should prepare their population for the lifetime learning and flexible skills, which enable people to hold good jobs in a time of fast-paced technological

change.

The Qinton Administration has been consistent in trying to push for expanded trade, betterschools, skills, training and reforms in the health care, welfare and unemployment systems. It deservescredit for integrating these concerns, into various legislative packages and for recognizing the global dimensions of the problem. But no solutions are in sight and a lot of important issues went undiscussed. The “low” U.S. unemployment rate, for example, is nothing to brag about. Joblessness is close to seven percent of the work force and would be a lot higher if temporary and part-time workers who want full-time jobs were counted as unemployed. And the racial dimension of unemployment was ignored. African-American unemployment has consistently been two to two-and-a- half times the white rate for as long as anyone can

remember.

That suggests the effects of a chain of discrimination that begins in elementary school and continues through layoffs of professional and skilled workers. I also wonder about the popular solution that excellent education and training is the sole answer to the job deficit. After all, a lot of skilled people are walking the streets without jobs. Without sufficient demand to increase sales of goods and services, jobs for even highly skilled people won’t be there. And no one wants to talk about the reality facing many of the unskilled. Many are unprepared to hold skilled jobs and some are not likely to

acquire the necessary skills. No society in history ever had a work force composed solely of professionals and \ skilled technicians. There will f always be a need for jobs for J people who can’t or don’t master higher skill levels. And even if we are headed toward a super-skilled society, that’s still far in the future. What about the people who today want to work and can’t get unskilled jobs that pay enough to allow them to raise families and live decently? We won’t get solutions until the people who attend those international conferencesknow more about what the people in the street are going

through.

nijopez.

INDIANAPOLIS CECOCDEG.' 4/2/94

Environmental racism knows no barriers

PHONE (317)924-5143

In many places an address tells a lot about a person. For example, having a Beverly Hills address or a Scarsdale address has been seen by some as a way of showing status and income. Well, in East St. Louis, Illinois, a Trendley Avenue address might mean something quite different. It might mean you are facing an early death from cancer. Trendley Avenue is directly behind the Lanson Chemical Plant, where 6,000gallons of toxic wastes were dumped into the ground following a fire at the plant. In the past few years at least 25 residents of Trendley Avenue have died from cancer, and others are living with the disease. Indeed, very few homes on Trendley Avenue have not been touched by cancer. The residents, some of whom have lived in their well-maintained homes since the late 1950s are understandably very frightened and angry. The most disturbing fact is that Trendley Avenue is only one of 23 toxic waste sites already identified in East St. Louis, a city of about 40,000 residents, 99 percent of whom are African-American. “We have reason to believe there are at least another 18 sites and possibly 23 toxic sites not yet identified by the Environmental Protection Agency,” said Rev. Buck Jones, executive director of Project

HOPE, which has worked in East St. Louis for 23 years. East St. Louis in many ways is symbolic environmental racism at its worse. Located across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, this African-American city has many problems to overcome. The city itself has been nearly bankrupt for many years. Fifty-two percent of the population is unemployed. The only revenue bases which the city has are property taxes and income from the new casino gambling boats which are docked there. There are an estimated 3,000 abandoned buildings in East St. Louis. Raw sewage often backs up into one of the large public housing developments. Even last month, the high school had to close when sewage backed up into the cafeteria’s kitchen once again. And then there are the environmental problems. The giant chemical plants of

Monsanto, Big Riber Zinc and other chemical and waste incineration plants loom menacingly only a few feet beyond the borders of East St. Louis. There have been so many emissions from some of the plants through the years that the city has had to install a public warning system to inform nearby residents when such accidents occur. Meanwhile, an enormous metal shredding company shreds not only cars, causing explosions when the

many problems of East St. Louis

there is hope.

Project HOPE, which has already built eight Habitat for Humanity homes there, is building eight new ones. Sponsored by the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, which has raised funds from several corporations along with their member’s donations, these homes will be located on one street and serve as tangible proof that the people of East St. Louis have not been totally abandoned by the rest

unremoved gasoline tanks rupture, of the world,

but also scrap metal and refrigerated East St. Louis’ mayor, Gordon box cars, probably releasing toxic Bush, feels the federal government wastes in the air. In another part of is also showing signs that it has not town, 40 shipments of hazardous abandoned the city either. “We are

materials travel by rail everyday, including missile fuel for Trident submarines. The rail yard is only a few blocks from homes and children playing in the street. Yes, there are children in East St. Louis. The children on the

receiving real dollar grants for new police officers and to a reduction in the amount which the city owes to the Internal Revenue Service for back payroll taxes,” he said. Across the Mississippi River, only a few hundred yards away, the

playground of the Miles Davis Gateway Arch and the skyline of Elementary school are probably St. Louis rise like the fabled city of unaware of the lead poisoning Oz. But there are no emeraldwhich many of them may have, colored glasses for the people of sometimes causing permanent East St. Louis. To visit East St.

brain damage and other disorders. The children are the real victims of the neglect, the greed and the racism which are the causes of the problems of East St. Louis. But even in the midst of the

Louis is to feel our abandonment of the cities. To visit East St. Louis is to see our country’s contemporary form of racism. This country can do better. We must.