Indianapolis Recorder, Indianapolis, Marion County, 22 October 2004 — Page 5

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2004

THE INDIANAPOLIS RECORDER

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THE BUCK VOH Smiley outlines new plan; NAACP urges verification of registration

Electronic Urban Report "What I’ve called for is what I call a black Come-to-Jesus meeting where we will put together ‘A Contract with Black America,”’says Tavis Smiley, the host of his own PBS talk show “Tavis Smiley” and NPR’s “The Tavis Smiley Show.” The brother has come up with a surefire way for African-American voters to hold politicians accountable for their campaign promises. “Black folk have to know' what we stand for,” says Smiley. “We need a 10 point Contract with Black America, where anybody coming to our community for our vote would have to sign this contract - (which says) ‘these are the 10 issues that are important to us, and if you want our vote, you have to sign this contract.’ Newt Gingrich and the Republicans did that brilliantly in 1984. After 50 years of being the minority party in Congress, they put together, if you recall, this Contmet with America. I called it a Contract ON America, but at least they had a plan ofwhat they wanted to do.” Regular watchers and listeners of Smiley’s various programs are aw'are that he just turned the big 40 - and Aretha Franklin sang Happy Birthday to him at the Hollywood Bowl. He also recently donated $1 million to Texas Southern U niversity for its new School of Communications, which will house a brand new multi-million dollar Tavis Smiley Center for Media Studies. The accolades and serenades have broadened his already infectious smile these days, but a deep concern with the upcoming election - particularly, the Democratic ticket - is raising an eyebrow. “This Kerry campaign is being run so badly,” he says. “It’s starting to mirror the badly run Dukakis campaign, the badly run Gore campaign. I’m stunned that out of all the ammunition that the Kerry campaign has to go after George Bush, they’re just not using it effectively. I don’t know that we can afford another four years ofGeorge W. Bush, but what do you do when you have a candidate who is on the

defensive?” The act of voting for the lesser of two evils raises another age-old debate. Folks like KRS One, who said last week, “Voting in a corrupt society adds more corruption,"would rather their vote for a candidate represent a show of unwavering support; while others believe that a vote given to someone who shines by comparison to his/her opponent can be just as lethal a weapon. “If we were not registering people to vote, we would be left up to the wishes of the pollsters, the wishes of the political consultants who run these campaigns,” says Greg Moore, the executive director of the NAACP National Voter Fund. “What the candidates are doing in their debates and in their rallies are mobilizing their own base of voters. We’re talking to people who aren’t going to those rallies, who aren’t watching the debates, who are not engaged in the process. We're talking to the most unlikely, infrequent voters, and we’re giving them an opportunity to hear from our perspective some of the things that are important. Hopefully, this is going to motivate them to vote no matter what the candidates are saying,” Moore said. Founded in 2000, the National Voter Fund is an independent, nonpartisan organization that coordinates voter registration, mobilization and voting rights work on an ongoing basis. This election year, the body has registered a total of 225,000 voters. In the battleground state of Ohio, it has registered 80,000 voters, in addition to its 25,000 in Michigan, 12,000 in Nevada, 6,000 in New Mexico and about 20,000 in Pennsylvania. “Ifyou look at those numbers, it starts to show you how African Americans, and the NAACP in particular,can haveastrongervoice and impact on the elections,” noted Moore. The NAACP is also warning first-time voters to make absolutely sure they are actually registered. “A lot of people have been registered but have not received their cards from the Board of Elections saying you are registered, here’s

whereyou go and vote,” says Moore. “Because it’ll be hard for us to have every single person reached, we can tell people to call 1-866-OUR-VOTE to make sure they are indeed registered. We’re asking people to verify and vote - not just register and vote - verify and vote,” Moore said. Convicted felons who are unsure of the voting rights in their state, can also receive guidance from the NAACP via a Web site wuw.righttovote.org. “There are 50 states that have about as many different state provisions and we’ve been trying for years to pass a federal law that would guarantee the right of exoffenders or previously incarcerated persons to have their voting rights restored,” says Moore. “I’m happy to say that we can point to successful campaigns that we’ve waged in Maryland, Texas and Alabama just recently, where we’ve been able to get the state legislature to change the laws to allow exfelons the right to vote for the first time.” With little time left until Election Day Nov. 2, the NAACP has also pointed out the ineffectiveness of the 2002 Help America Vote Act passed by Congress in the wake of the 2000 hanging-chad mess in Florida. The federal law was supposed to establish a program to provide funds to states to replace punch card voting systems and provide assistance to federal elections, among other provisions. Moore says that a number of these provisions have been neither funded, nor enforced. “This is why we think there’s going to be a series of problems on Election Day, because of the lack and failure of this administration to adequately fund that bill and for it to be adequately introduced in a way that would have allowed many of these problems we’re experiencing now not to happen,” says Moore. “When we get to the point of Nov. 2, 2004, we just want to make sure every person has the right to vote, their votes are counted and that no one should be declared president until that’s done.”

Survey fakes Pulse of Africa and finds if loud and proud

Special ta The Recorder Western perceptions of a grief stricken Africa, torn apart by fighting, famine and disease, are challenged by a BBC World Service (WS) survey which shows Africans have largely positive attitudes to their lives, countries they live in and are proud of their continent. Commissioned by BBC WS to better understand its 65 million listeners across the continent, the Pulse of Africa is believed to be the largest lifestyle and attitude survey ever carried on the continent. Alan Booth, controller of BBC WS Marketing, Communications and Audiences explained: ‘‘We have huge audiences in Africa, listening in a range of languages including Hausa, Swahili and English. Just

like other audiences across the world, their lives have changed enormously in recent years. We need to understand that change so we can serve their listening needs." Jerry Timmins, head of BBC WS Africa and Middle East Region added: “The world is bombarded with images of war and want from Africa. As broadcasters working with Africa every day, we know there are other important trends and issues that are not widely reported outside the continent and the confidence and creativity of so many people on the continent does not always come across. I think it does in this survey. This research expands our vision and informs the way we reach our African audiences." The BBC's international news online site, bbcnews.com carries the survey details in full but high-

lights include the following: • Most Africans believe that their people are perceived as peaceful, polite, kind and hardworking while their countries are seen as rich in natural resources and places that can be looked up to • Africans are generally positive about their lives, and 9 in 10 say they are proud to be African. • Africans are proud of producing people that are world figures such as Nelson Mandela and Kofi Annan • Africans’ pride in being African does not always extend to confidence in their own country's government; the Rwandans, Tanzanians and Ghanaians surveyed demonstrated the highest confidence in their governments whereas those in Zambia, Nigeria and Cameroon had particularly low levels of confidence in their governments.

WASHINGTON (AP) - The enormous wealth gap between white families and Blacks and Hispanics grew larger after the most recent recession, a private analysis of government data finds. White households had a median net worth of greater than $88,000 in 2002,11 times more than Hispanics and more than 14 times that of Blacks, the Pew Hispanic Center said in a study released this week. Blacks were slowest to emerge from the economic downturn that started in 2000 and ended in late 2001, the report found. Net worth accounts for the values of items such as a home and car, checking and savings accounts, and stocks, minus debts such as mortgage, car loans and credit card bills. Greater wealth means a greater ability to weather a job loss, emergency home repairs, illness and other unexpected costs, as well as being able to save for retire-

ment or a child’s college tuition. According to the group’s analysis of Census Bureau data, nearly one-third of Black families and 26 percent of Hispanic families were in debt or had no net assets, compared with 11 percent of white families. “Wealth is a measure of cumulative advantage or disadvantage,” said Roderick Harrison, a researcher at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a Washington think tank that focuses on Black issues. “The fact that Black and Hispanic wealth is a fraction of white wealth also reflects a history of discrimination.” After accounting for inflation, net worth for white households increased 1? percent between 1996 and 2002 and rose for Hispanic homes by 14 percent to about $7,900. It decreased for Blacks by 16 percent, to roughly $6,000. Regardless of race and ethnicity, the median net worth for all U.S. households was

$59,700 in 2002, a 12 percent gain from 1996. Only white homes recouped all their losses between 2001 and 2002. Both Hispanics and Blacks lost nearly 27 percent of net worth between 1999 and 2001; the next year Latinos had gained almost all back (26 percent) though Blacks were up only about 5 percent. Blacks were hit hard by job losses in the manufacturing industry and in professional fields, where they were victims of “last hired, first fired” policies, he said. Only relatively recently were large numbers of blacks and Hispanics able to make investments and accumulate wealth. They were slower to enter the stock market during the 1990s rush and then had less of a cushion when the market began its decline in 2000. Another factor affecting disparities is that whites are far more likely to own their homes; homeownership is among the most common ways to build wealth.

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