Indianapolis Recorder, Indianapolis, Marion County, 7 February 2004 — Page 7

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2004

THE INDIANAPOLIS RECORDER

PAGE A7

1

READERS RESPOND

The real lessons of Black History February is Black History Month. Last year it was celebrated by Jesse Jackson shaking down Nissan for an advertising campaign in which “history" was crossed out in “Black history” and “future” written in above. Now, Al Sharpton, benefiting from a clueless Democratic part}’, carries on with wit and charm, Jesse’s politics of diversion and blame. Isn’t it time to start getting real? Fortunately, the winds of change breeze through the Black electorate. A Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies poll showed 63 percent of Blacks identifying themselves as Democrats in 2002, down from 74 percent in 2000. An agenda focusing on issues like school choice, ownership and wealth creation is being championed by new Black leaders like D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams and Representative Harold Ford. These developments are not accidental. Blacks are beginning to understand that they need to look to themselves rather than the government to solve their problems. Certainly, if growth in government and political power translated into well being, Blacks would be in great shape today. Non-defense related federal government spending, as a percentage of GDP, is now twice what it was in 1964. Today there are 39 Black members of Congress, eight times as many as in 1964. More than half of our States, including the District of Columbia, now has cities with Black mayors. Yet, these considerable gains in political power have not translated commensurately into better lives for African Americans. Certainly, a new Black middle class has emerged. Blade households earning more than $100,000 per year has increased tenfold since the 60’s. However, these amount tojust 6 percent of all Black households, and a third of the percentage of white households in this income bracket. Although there have been impressive quantitative gains in Black educational achievement - the number of Blacks with high

school diplomas and college degrees has tripled - the qualitative picture is more sobering. Abigail and Stephan Thernstrom report in their new book “No Excuses” that the average Black student “at the end of high school has academic skills that are about at the eight-grade level.” In important ways, the quality of African American life is not just lagging behind that of whites, but dramatically deteriorating against where we were 40 years ago. Seventy percent of Black families were intact then, with fathers and mothers at home. Today, two out of every three Black children grow up in fatherless homes. Seven out of ten Black babies are now born to unwed mothers, triple the rate in the 1960’s. Around 50 percent of inner city young Black males are both unemployed and not in school. Fifty percent of new' AIDS cases are in the Black community. Hand wringing liberals and ambitious Black politicians joined hands and began educating Blacks then that they couldn’t handle being free. They laid the foundation of a new political plantation that displaced the pillars of values, faith, family, and personal responsibility with the catechism of victimization and dependency. The result is what we see today. The success of welfare reform in 1996 hints at what we can expect if we allow Blacks the dignity of freedom and choice. Despite predictions by liberals of impending doom if w’e started to dismantle the welfare bureaucracy, today there are 37 percent fewer mothers with custody living in poverty and 47 percent fewer children reported by the Agriculture Department as being hungry, compared to before welfare reform. The Black history lesson of 2004 should be to remember that Martin Luther King’s fight and dream was for freedom, and he made his case through an appeal to values and tradition. King’s achievements reflected his courage and character and he succeeded despite racism, with little physical or political power. Blacks today, particularly Black youth, want real freedom and must remember that, as with Dr. King, the answer lies within us.

Morally, we must reconstruct the framework of values within our community. Politically, we need school choice, lower taxes, and personal retirement accounts to replace the regressive payroll tax. By embracing freedom, morally and politically, Blacks can achieve both Dr. King’s dreams and their

own.

Star Parker is president of CURE, the Coalition on Urban Renewal and Education and author of the new book, “Uncle Saw s Plantation.” She can Be contacted at wHw.urbancure.org Indiana must clearly define marriage

with it and are just now taking action. I’m going to get just as active about this issue as I am about Daylight Savings Time in Indiana. Kenneth Tooke II Indianapolis Tired of being

ignored

and family

I recently read a brief article in a major local newspaper that documented the response from your governor, regarding his take on the issue of not needing a constitutional amendment to define what makes a family, as well as other candidate responses on the same subject. I was stunned by the President’s stand on the subject. His comments on the subject could not have been more right on the pulse of the way the majority of Hoosiers feel. Of course, you can always expect to have a very few vocal people regarding the other side of this issue. I know the people of Indiana because it is my job to work with them. When I sit down with these people, I can tell that they really want this amendment. We are all getting tired of the major liberal media speaking for the values of middle America, and they could not be farther from the truth. They don’t come right out and say they are in favor of it, but look at the television today. American people do not want openly gay television shows. I simply refuse to watch mess like that. My son is almost 4 and he is a social sponge at that age. He copies everything he sees (i.e. Barney, Dora the Explorer, Scooby Doo, etc.) Does any parent want their child to copy the gay/lesbian lifestyle that is being crammed down our throat? I would submit to you that we are getting fed up

Republicans refuse full-day kindergarten funding

Staff Report Gov. Joe Kernan’s proposal to expand full-day kindergarten and other early learning opportunities for Hoosier children passed out of the I ndiana House of Representatives last week with bipartisan support. The House’s 56-40 vote on House Bill 1234 in which eight republican representatives along with all democrats said yea to the resolution assured the proposal a chance to move to the Senate for consideration. “This vote shows bipartisan commitment to continuing this

discussion on providing Hoosier kids with the best opportunities for success,” said Kernan. In a strange reversal, however, House Joint Resolution 5, which would make the state’s Common School Fund available to pay for the full-day kindergarten plan received no clear majority with' 46 democrats voting for and 49 republicans against the bill. Under House rules, the resolution was considered again Wednesday and seemed to pass with a 51-48 vote; the exact number the bill needed to move on. Rep. Tom Kromkowski (D-South Bend), recovering from surgery

Indiana Gov. Joe Kernan greeted Vanessa Billie, a kindergarten student at Glen Acres Elementary School In Lafayette, Ind. Kernan called for full day kindergarten during his visit to the school. Glen Acres has two full day kindergarten programs Including "Kindergarten for Early Language Learning," or KELL. Designed for students with limited English language skills, the KELL program at Glen Acres has been a tremendous success. (AP Photo/Journal and Courier, J. Terhune)

in a South Bend hospital, received permission from the Speaker of the House, who felt there was precedence, to vote via teleconferencing equipment. The victory was short lived, however, as the republicans challenged the validity of Kromkowski’svote. Kromkowski petitioned to vote and did vote by teleconferencing. Republicans argued he had to be present in the chamber for the vote to count and refused to go forward on any more bills until the issue was resolved. The Speaker then decided to strike Kromkowski’s vote, resulting in a 50-48 vote. This failure to get a constitutional majority resulted in the bill failing, and it will not go past the House to be voted on in the Senate. There have been polls done throughout Indiana showing the state’s support of full-day kindergarten. According to an Indianapolis Star poll, of 704 eligible Hoosier voters ages 18 and older, 56 percent favor full-day kindergarten, 36 oppose it and 8 percent are not sure Republicans seem intent on branding the issue as partisan, but many democratic representatives disagree. “This should not be a partisan issue,” said Rep. Greg Porter (DIndianapolis) chairman of the education committee. “It’s about education and about our children. It’s about long-term economic development. Our future in Indiana is bright. Passing full-day kindergarten is a key component to solidifying our future.” Republicans are insistent that the money is not available for this program. “The republicans say we can’t afford to, but we say we can’t afford not to. For every dollar we invest in early education, we save seven dollars through welfare, the penal system and for future earnings,” insisted Porter.

On January 30, in New Hampshire, Bush declared that, “people are finding jobs.” My daughter, a medical professional, told me that she wanted to hire a receptionist at $8.50 an hour -1 told her that w'as ridiculous, that she wouldn’t find anyone in Los Angeles who would be willing to work for so little money. I ate my words. My daughter tells me that her ad started running today, and she has been inundated with calls from qualified and over-qualified job seekers, all eager to make $17,500 a year! There seems to be many more desperate unemployed people out there than Bush will admit to. In the meantime, Bush has submitted a $2.4 trillion budget increasing military spending by 7 percent and slashing almost every social program imaginable. How much longer will the Bush supporters look the other way; pretending that he is not destroying our country and everything that we have worked for? Perhaps they have no need for Social Security, medical care, schools and colleges, jobs, national parks, clean air and water, or anything else that Bush has on the hopping block. All they need are little plas-

tic flags.

Charles Prendergast Los Angeles A Plea for help The Fraternal Order of Police recently gave the City government a proposal that mirrors the contract of the Marion County Sheriffs Department. This proposal represents another step taken by active and retired officers of the Indianapolis Police Department to settle these negotiations which started on June 18,

2002. This proposal takes into consideration all the concerns the City has referenced their ability to pay. The proposal calls for an average of a little over 4 percent a year increase in salaries, a minimal 5 percent increase in insurance benefits for active officers and an increase in retired officer’s insurance benefits. The proposal also gives officers the ability to bid for vacant positions so that citizens of Indianapolis can be served by the most qualified officer. It also gives all officers that serve Indianapolis 20 years, the benefit of a fifth week's vacation. This compromise sought by active and retired officers is the right thing to do for the men and women who sen e the City of Indianapolis 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Officers of the Indianapolis Police Department desen e the same rights and privileges of deputies sening Marion County. Please contact Mayor Bart Peterson and members of the City Council and ask them to accept this proposal so that the City of Indianapolis may retain and attract the most qualified people to keep our city safe. Vince Huber President Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 86 (Indianapolis) Disappointed with Senate's approval We are extremely disappointed the Senate approved a massive omnibus spending bill without including provisions to stop the Bush Administration from implementing a massive overtime pay cut for millions of America’s workers. The Senate prematurely ended debate on a critical issue that could impact the financial security or working families across the country. We will continue to wage a national mobilization to block the Bush overtime pay cuts and we will consider every possible vehicle to block them. The Bush Administration has ignored a groundswell of opposition, including tens of thousands of public comments from econo-

YOUR VOICE

mists as well as working Americans. hundreds of thousands of faxes and e-mails from individual workers and bipartisan votes by both houses of Congress. The recent vote will galvanize workers who are appalled by the Administration’s attempts to deprive them of fair compensation for extra hours on the job. Such hostility to the needs of working families cannot be tolerated. John Sweeney President AFL-CIO (American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations) Let's take a stand I’m not trying to be pessimistic, but I must remind my people how easily we forgot that a Black man was senselessly killed just less than two months ago. Furthermore, hardly anything has been done about it, or similar beatings that continue to take place. I believe that there is one God and that he created one race: The human race. In all his infinite wisdom he gave us all different hues and shades and didn’t make one race superior to the other. However, this is not the world we live in. In the world in which we live, the white man has made himself God. He uses economics, politics and brute force to control us domestically and all people of color globally. What happened in Cincinnati is not a unique experience for Blacks in America. We came here in chains; we were bought and sold like livestock, forced to work as slaves, abused, and denied basic human rights. We’ve been lynched and Jim Crowed and our women have been raped. We were stripped of our culture, history, language and religion. So the killing of Black men in Cincinnati is just another episode in our life here in white America. Ellis Hutchinson Dayton, Ohio

Do you Think African Americans celebrate their heritage enough through the year?

Antuan McDade No. The only time you see celebrations in the city is during February and throughout the rest of the year it’s like our history never existed. I would like to see more events and celebrations during the year because it would give the kids something to do and teach them as well. -Antuan McDade

Edward Lemons No. I haven’t seen anything celebrating our history during other months except for the I ndiana Black Expo. I would like to see politicians in our schools and in the community talking to the young people and encourage them to vote while teaching them about the struggle our ancestors endured so we could vote. -Edward Lemons

Rodney Johnson I don’t think we celebrate Black History enough through the year because our young people don’t know enough about it. It would be nice to see more positive people in the schools and the community centers educate them about our history because there are a lot of Blacks who are doing good things.

-Rodney Johnson

AND THINGS OMIY GoT WORc>E..,

»«. $Q&$’rajKX!?