[Marxism] An Urgent Crisis: Confronting America's Racial Disparities by Cynthia McKinney

[Steffie Brooks]

http://www.counterpunch.org/mckinney03192008.html

An Urgent Crisis:
Confronting America's Racial Disparities
By CYNTHIA McKINNEY

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."

Cynthia McKinney is seeking the Green Party's nonimation for president.