[Marxism] Cynthia McKinney: A Discussion of Race Worth Having

[Walter Lippmann <walterlx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

(McKinney shows how one can take up the points which
Obama raises and advance the political discussion of
these issues. Denouncing Obama isn't the way to do
this, though of course pointing out all of the ways
his positions are either internally contradictory
or downright wrong is entirely appropriate, such as
those on the Middle East and "radical Islam".)
=======================================================

Cynthia McKinney
A Discussion of Race Worth Having
March 18, 2008

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 discriminationâand 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."



=========================================
     WALTER LIPPMANN
     Los Angeles, California
     Editor-in-Chief, CubaNews
     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/
     "Cuba - Un ParaÃso bajo el bloqueo"
=========================================

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