Rich Man, Poor Man: The Racial Divide

Public Policies

2006-04-07T20:04:00.000-07:00

The United States of America needs to live up to what they teach their people. The Preamble states, We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote general Welfare, and secure our Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." The Preamble is not a powerful document, but it states the purpose of the United States Constitution. With that said, in order to form a more "perfect Union" this nation needs to form new domestic policies. Until the new policies are implemented, low-income families will continues to work pay check to pay check to have the bare necessities in life. If there were asset-building policies it is assumed that these low-income families could do better. Assets are the knowledge, skills and experience individuals need to get a job to move upward, financial recourses such as bonds, stock, and other kinds of savings. Asset-building policies are a concept that embodies common goals of social mobility, a reduction in the economic gap and a decline in poverty rate. During the post-war, public policies helped to raise America's middle class, but it's implementation lacked equal opportunity for all American's. Almost all minorities were left out; Americans must all be given the opportunity to move into the middle class.

There should be a policy that makes college more accessible for low income families. College is becoming more and more unaffordable. Students should began to prepare for college as early as their freshman year of high school. This way they be able to work out the barriers that may keep them from continuing their education. In the African American and Latino low-income families, figuring out how to pay for tuition is always the determinate as to why these students don't go to college. According to Jennifer Wheary of "The Future Middle Class: African Americans, Latinos and Economic Opportunity," she purposed that a child’s education be an investment. Another suggestion that she made was that qualified students are guaranteed a financial aid package that helps cover a large amount of the tuition, room and board, and books. By doing this I agree that it will result in a more influx of students into the college experience.

Washington implemented a WorkFirst Program, that provides community jobs for those who don't have the skills. This program is for individuals who hold low positions in their job the opportunity to train, while working, to move into a higher position. This would lead to an increase in income.

Washington also has another program under the WorkFirst program that allows low-income parents the opportunity to work and receive college-based training to move into again higher paying jobs. They will receive tuition assistance.

In the state of Maine they have a Parents as Scholars Program. This program is to provide an income for those who are on welfare, as well as other supports and a post-secondary education so that they can acquire self-sustaining jobs.

For more information on these policies as well as others go to the website

http://www.assetinstitute.org/pdfs/promising.pdf

The Caribbean - Haitian Apartheid

2006-04-06T16:20:00.000-07:00

Who? What? Where?
Haiti was one of the many countries taken over by European imperialism. Europe was expanding vastly in the 18th and 19th century, countries were competing for territory and colonies and Haiti was a prize to be won in the Caribbean. In the mid 1700’s, France took control of Haiti, calling it St. Dominque. The island was of great value to the French, who used it to harvest such goods as sugar, rum, cotton, tobacco, and indigo. The French became thoroughly enriched from its resources, while the natives were enslaved. The money from Haiti and other colonies around the world ultimately went towards funding conquest. Britain and France had been warring for hundreds of years, and the leader of France at the time was the well-known conqueror Napoleon Bonaparte, one of the most infamous emperors of history. Truly, the people of Haiti were robbed, and then murdered slowly by their foreign invaders.

Pushing the Invaders Out
As the years passed, slave revolts occurred as a direct opposition to imperialism. Toussaint L’Ouverture, a former slave, led the way for justice. Loyal to France, L’Ouverture invaded conquered Spain’s territory of Santo Domingo, which was ceded to France in 1797. There he proclaimed a constitution, not independence. This gave Toussaint the title of “Governor-General,” which alarmed Napoleon. He then sent 20,000 troops to reinstitute slavery. The U.S., which supported the French, aided them with 40,000 and 1000 weapons. The French failed in their attempts to take control over Haiti, and the small slave-army was able to push the French out. On November 19th, 1803, the French left Haiti for good.

What has the United States done to Haiti?
In 1915 when the United States was entering the neo-colonial scene, the United States exploited Haiti’s political turmoil in its capital of Port-au-Prince by invading and occupying the country until 1934. US Marines brutally crushed the Haitian guerilla resistance led by Charlemagne Peralte. The United States exploited racism and changed Haiti’s foreign policy. Later on, Haiti was again in turmoil during the bloody family dictatorship of Francois “Papa Doc” Duvalier (1957-1971) and Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier (1971-1986). One policy that the United States supported was the “Anti-Communist Law,” (obviously, since it had always been Democracy/Capitalism vs. Communism) which was used to torture, jail and kill Duvalier’s opponents. Eventually, after 1986 when Duvalier was driven from Haiti and moved to France by the US, military leadership took over and continued the brutality that Haiti had seen for decades. This military leaderships, or military junta, are supported by the US.

In 1991, the United States trained Haitian generals on the CIA’s payroll overthrew President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was a populist priest with a large group of followers. As a self-proclaimed socialist, Aristide received 67.5 percent of the vote in December 1990 and was the first democratically elected leader of Haiti that the nation had seen in years. After he was overthrown, the new junta slaughtered 1,000 in Port-au-Prince. After much begged help by Aristide to the US, Aristide was put back in place as president in 1994. When an intervention deal was struck with former President Bill Clinton, Aristide signed-off on an agreement that would allow encouragement of foreign investment in assembly sweatshops and privatizing public institutions. Even though the occupation of Haiti ended in 2000, the US continues to fund reactionary forces in Haiti.

The Economy of Haiti – Now
Due to underdevelopment, Haiti is one of the most, if not the most, underdeveloped country in the Western Hemisphere. The economy is peasant based, and is facing immense problems with ecological obstacles and development. Sanitary conditions are on the far extreme poor end of the spectrum. Children and the elderly are malnourished and suffering from diseased caused by polluted water and poor conditions. The country itself is extremely poor. In 1987 the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) was approximately 1.95 billion, or about $330 per capita, which ranked Haiti as the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. The World Bank defined a low-income country as a country with a per capita GDP in 1988 below US$425. This put Haiti below some other low-income countries in Africa and Asia during the 1980s.

Global Apartheid – USA and South Africa

2006-04-06T01:37:00.000-07:00

Global Apartheid is something that has been going on for a very long time. When someone hears the word "Apartheid", he or she may instantly think of South Africa and the division of races there for decades in the 20th century. In South Africa, many laws and acts were passed in order to separate and control the blacks and coloured people; some divided movie theaters, businesses, bathrooms, and in addition, whites and blacks were to never have any sexual relations at all for fear of breaking the law. This may sound familiar because this happened in the United States of America. In the southern states of the US in the early to mid 1900s, laws were enacted to separate blacks and whites despite Constitutional amendments stating that all people shall have equal rights. The states found ways to circumvent the amendments by through a governmental loophole in States' Rights. Some of these states, including Mississippi and Alabama, utilized the Jim Crow Laws which segregated buses, bathrooms, restaurants, water fountains, movie theaters and courthouses. Blacks did not dare go into an all-white neighborhood or use a service specifically for "whites only" for fear that they could be beaten badly, even to death, by residents and the police. The same held true for a white person if he/she walked into a black neighborhood, except that the police may come into the neighborhood and restore order by retaliation. Eventually, blacks had had enough and started protesting the laws, just like in South Africa. And like in South Africa, innumeral amounts of people were killed and maimed senselessly in the process. Recently, a futuristic and fictional movie came out called "V for Vendetta", in which a man leads a revolution against a totalitarian government responsible for very restrictive laws and the genocide of at least 100,000 citizens through bioterrorist testing. This is a bright and shining example of what happened in South Africa and the United States; a leader and a myriad of followers joined together to fight for their freedom from oppression, restriction, tyranny, and terror. In America, that pronounced leader was Martin Luther King, Jr., a man who led non-violence protesting and gave inspiring speeched to millions in order to achieve the goal of total freedom from oppression. In South Africa, many groups and individuals, including Nelson Mendela, who was jailed but continued to fight injustice from his cell, led the way in gaining support from the other nations of the world and the United Nations. The United Nations, or UN, placed sanctions upon South Africa until it ended the reign of apartheid.

Global Apartheid – Israel

2006-04-06T01:34:00.000-07:00

Kieran McNaney

When people hear the word “Apartheid”, the first thing that comes to mind most likely would be South Africa. In schools across America, students are taught about the plight of apartheid in South Africa and civil rights movements that occurred around the world during the 20th Century. One place that many people may never believe apartheid exists in is Israel; however, it does. The archaic battle between Israelis and Palestinians is well-known by most citizens around the world. What people might not know is that the Israelis have been continuing steps towards institutionalizing apartheid for the past six decades. The following information will prove that apartheid and discrimination are not monochromatic, but in fact unprejudiced in their contents and repercussions.
Since the early 1950s, the Israeli government has been passing laws to limit and discriminate against Palestinians in such a manner that it has been compared to Nazi Germany, South Africa, and America in the 1800s. According to the article, “Israeli Apartheid: The South African Comparison” on GlobalExchange.org, “The South Africans' experience with apartheid makes them sensitive to the Palestinian plight. They recognize the same patterns in the South African and Palestinian experience: limited or no citizenship rights, segregation, arbitrary detentions, collective punishment, and other injustices based on race, nationality, ethnicity, or religion.” In the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, Israel recognizes any Palestinian authority; however, Israeli police infest these areas at will and enforce their own power upon residents. The article continues to state, “The occupied territories are under Israel's economic and military stranglehold; Palestinians can't work, go to school, or even leave their home without Israeli permission. At the same time, they are confined to shrinking pieces of land as Israel seizes the most desirable locations and Jewish settlements surround Palestinian cities and towns. Although the idea of a truly independent state was likely never any more realistic than an independent Bantustan in South Africa, it is now a near impossibility.”
The following are laws passed by the Israeli Government to segregate and discriminate against the Palestinians in the nation:

• Absentee Property Law (1950) – Placed property of Palestinians that fled or leave their land in the hands of the Israeli government
• Nationality/Citizenship Law (1952) – Those who are Jewish or have converted to Judaism are automatically citizens of Israel; however, non-Jewish Palestinians are considered to not be citizens. To become a citizen of Israel, one must prove residency and pass several tests. Citizenship is granted by the Minister of the Interior at his own discretion.
• Validity of Acts and Compensation Law (1953) – Confiscation of more than 400 Palestinian villages and utilization as Jewish settlements and military installations justified by this act.
• Section 7A(1) of the Basic Law: The Knesset (1958) [passed 1985] – Forbids political parties and candidates from elections if they represent anything that denies the State of Israel as a nation for the Jewish people.

In 1988, a Jewish settler murdered a Palestinian child in cold blood and was sentenced to community service and a suspended six month term in jail. The judge who made the sentence stated that the decision he made was based on the fact that different nationalities need different punishments for their crimes. With this being said, apartheid in Israel is an ongoing problem that does not seem to have an end.

Bibliography

http://www.globalpolicy.org/nations/sovereign/sover/emerg/2003/0630law.htm

http://www.globalexchange.org/countries/mideast/palestine/apartheid.html

http://www.onepalestine.org/resources/Israeli_Apartheid_Laws.html

Reparations

2006-04-03T16:05:00.000-07:00

Reparations are a matter of social justice for not only African Americans; but are a global issue requiring a unified, international mobilization. After the civil war and freedom was granted to slaves, they were also guaranteed 40 acres of land and a mule. The newly freed slaves were never given this small gift for the hundreds of years of oppression. Instantly, this put African Americans in a spot that placed them on the bottom rung of the economy because they are coming out of slavery with nothing, thus finding jobs that pay close to nothing. This sets the tone for present day African Americans still struggling to get by in society.
Many different forms of reparations are being called for even still to resolve this problem. Some groups such as Reverend Amos Brown, are calling for reparations in a form of a tax break and automatic tuition for African Americans that qualify for higher education. A more radical view on the issue comes from the Nation of Islam who are calling for reparations to be paid out by providing land that is fertile to become its own nation and for the United States to maintain and support the needs of the territory for 20-25 years, until the nation can provide for itself. Another group called the Republic of New Africa called for the same type of reparations as the Nation of Islam. The RNA was founded with the purpose of establishing an independent Black Republic in five southern states that were predominantly black (South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana). They also asked for $300 Billion in reparations from the US government to help establish these new communities. The main advocates for reparations however are merely asking for money to be paid ranging in amounts of $500 million to $300 billion.
Many people worry that these large amounts of money that are being requested are just absurd and that they will just throw our economy into complete economic turmoil; however, $500 billion poses no threat to the well-being of the national economy. $500 billion is around $62,500 for each of the 8 million black families in America. This is enough money to buy a decent house, put the children through school, and build a retirement plan for the parents. This allows for the house and money to be passed on to the children after the parents pass away and thus continues the cycle of building up the African American community as well as the American economy and community as a whole.
The call for reparations isn’t something that the black community is pulling out of a hat. There is a long list of precedents that make the request for reparations a modest one. For example, in 1952, Germans began to pay reparations to survivors of the holocaust around $58 billion. In 1980, four Native American tribes were given over $1 million and over 1 million acres of land. Another major example that follows the lines of the black call for reparations is in 1988 when then Civil Liberties Act provided Japanese Americans interred during WWII a formal apology and $20,000 each totaling over $1.5 billion. This is a small list of examples of precedents that the black community is using to justify their ability to receive reparations.

Global Apartheid – Closing the Gap

2006-03-06T20:56:00.000-08:00

By Devin Prevost

The issue of global apartheid is complex and can be argued that it traces back many of centuries, until when the world was being settled by European conquers after 1492. But what exactly is global apartheid? Simple. It is the division of wealth between people. I say “people” because a huge range of groups fall under that. Countries, ethnic backgrounds, gender, etc. all fall under that term. Wealth can be defined as how much value in goods one owns or possesses. Now you may be wondering, how did these gaps grow? What caused it? What are happening to these gaps now? What can be done to close the gaps? All of these questions can, and will be addressed, individually and in depth. For now we’ll start with the basics.

Ok, so how and who caused this global apartheid? Many historians argue that this split was caused by the imperialistic nations of Europe after 1492. The creation of colonies all over the world caused massive underdevelopment that is still observable today, more so in Africa, Southeast Asia, South America and Central America. Europeans, for centuries, robbed these places of their natural resources, and exploited their people through slave labor. Sucking as much wealth as they could from these areas, the colonies became poor, filthy and disease ridden, while the mother country experienced incredible amounts of wealth. Genocide of entire groups occurred. Ancient Indian tribes such as the Aztecs, Incas, and Mayans were virtually wiped away by Spaniards and smallpox, purposely inflicted upon the natives through infested blankets.

In North America, African slaves were being imported by the tens of thousands through the Triangle Slave Trade, and being put to work in cotton and tobacco fields for large white plantation owners. This capitalist system enriched the whites and enchained the blacks. This is the foundation in which America was built on. Whites in America retained their European descendant’s beliefs of superiority and combined it with the capitalist system. This combination, effectively, has lead up to our modern day problems, and our own spreading apartheid.

Global Apartheid is one issue. It is seen all over the world but has one similar root. Globally, areas will be examined and focus on what caused the split between the rich and the poor. Going further, we will see what is happening within these gaps in different countries. Finally, solutions will be given. Solutions that can cause immediate change and others that will come in effect over long periods of time. The United States will be examined in many aspects such as education, taxes, racial wealth, etc. Accordingly, solutions will be given that work to create wealth in the community and individual wealth on a global scale, not just in the United States.

Education

2006-03-01T20:50:00.000-08:00

Education plays a vital role in the construction of a more socially adapt society and aids greatly in the abolishment of the global apartheid we are facing today. Unfortunately, schools these days are still almost as segregated as they ever were with the white kids being out in the adequately funded suburban schools and the African-American children are secluded to the inner-city school with little funding to help keep them on the same education level as their peers.
Employment in America is one of the biggest parts of the “American Dream,” in which there is a wage and steady job for anyone willing to look for it, but the new education standards for employment has proven otherwise for many black families. One proof of this is that in the last 30 years, racial segregation to the inner-city has not increased, merely stayed the same or dropped in some instances. However, the joblessness of many of these inner-cities has skyrocketed. This happens because although segregation hasn’t increased, it hasn’t gotten much better. These segregated low-income black children are being sent to under funded, ill-taught, and ill-equipped schools and expecting these children to then be able to fully understand the networks of social growth. To not allow these children who have grown up impoverished to interact with middle to upper class children is a social injustice and taking away from their ability to grow in society.
In order to understand the reasons behind the downward slump of joblessness and education problems there must first be an understanding that American industry has played a major role. There is a constant attempt to keep inflation at bay through the use of the job force. As the threat of inflation increases, the use of unemployment growth keeps this inflation down. Unfortunately, this leaves the undereducated black work force at the spearhead of this unemployment epidemic. This is the result of the deindustrialization of America. As factories are less and less run by hundreds of men and more on a few supervisors and the growing robotics, the bottom part of the work force, and blue-collar workers, are left out in the street because they don’t have the education to help them move up to the next level. This continues through their family to the next generation because they aren’t able to afford to move to a nicer neighborhood and go to a better school, so they are forced to send their children to the under funded schools that their parents went to; affording them less opportunity to move up in society because there is less of a chance of furthering their education and getting out of the lower ranks of the workforce.

Family issues

2006-02-21T15:02:00.000-08:00

The United States has always taught its people that hard work will bring great rewards. For many Americans, mainly minorities, this is not true. There are many issues that affect the black family, which causes a racial inequality divide in wealth distribution. In 2001 the typical white family had more than six times more wealth then the typical black family. In numbers the white family would own $120, 900, as compared to the black family who would own $19,000. The wealth gap, between the rich and the poor still continues to widen today. So, what are the factors that contribute in creating such a large gap in family wealth distribution? The building blocks to this racial divide in wealth are education, debt, expensive cost of living, low wages, unemployment and health.

There are many different types of debt, which is the route cause to many of the reasons why African American families do not hold wealth equality with the average White family. Some debt types are bank, personal and student loans, major, department, and gas credit cards, medical and hospital bills, and IRS-delinquent. In the 1990’s credit card debt peaked drastically amongst different races and age groups. According to Javier Sila and Rebecca Epstein, writers of the article, Costly Credit: African Americans and Latinos in Debt, The average credit card debt for African Americans increased 22 percent between the years of 1992 and 2001. While, the number of African American families were gaining access to credit cards, throughout the 1990’s they were more likely to carry a high balance. The driving force to this trend for the increase in credit card debt was the rise in prices and fees, and economic disparity, due largely impart by the many years of discrimination. Research shows that unemployment can lead to higher debt levels. African American families experience higher unemployment rates, they are more likely to rely on credit cards and loans to solve their problem of lack of an income do to unemployment. By this influx of credit card abuse, African Americans became credit card slaves. As a result, they are one of the main ethnic groups who have no momentary safety net. Thus, with low wages, little savings, and no safety net, African Americans have to result to credit card usage in times of emergency. The outcome of their abuse to credit card usage helps contribute to the wealth divide.

Poor living conditions can cause many problems to those who live below or boarder the poverty line. Those who live in poor housing, which lacks heat in the time of cold, clean running water, ect. can have many health problems. Odds are if an individual is living in these conditions then their economic income is poor. Lack of health care can be steamed from lack of benefits. Many African American families work jobs where they receive no benefits. As a result, they lack health insurance to help pay for their medical and hospital bills. With poor health it is almost impossible to go to work. People in these living conditions get paid by the hour. Hours missed is money unmade. So how are these bills going to get paid if they are sick and unable to go to work? How will they get better if they can’t pay for medical assistance or antibiotics to help nurse them back to health recovery? Since 1992, African American families with no healh insurance have declined, but there are still more African American families who lack health insurance then whites. In the Census Bureau, Historical Health Insurance table, studies shows that in 1992 20.2 percent of African American families lacked health insurance and by 2003 it decreased to 19.4 percent. In the White family house hold in 1992, 11.5 percent lacked health insurance and by 2003 11.1. Today a large percent of African Americans still remain uninsured. A recent Harvard study, found that medical debt was contributing factor to nearly a third of bankruptcy. The same study found that some of these bankruptcies were a result of illnesses and injuries (Warren, E. et al. (2004). Illness and Injury as a Contributor to Bankruptcy p. 12, 19). Still filing bankruptcy for medical reasons, African Americans still found it difficult to pay for basic necessities, such as food, clothes, etc.

Now let’s not forget about Bush. Bush help in the contribute to the increasing family wealth gap divide. There are about 37 million Americans living below the poverty line. That figure has increased by five million since President George W. Bush came to power. Almost a quarter of all African Americans live below or bordering the poverty line; for whites the percentage is 8.6.

In the many years that followed after 1492, there was an enormous influx of changes to the North American continent. These are the years when the Europeans stumbled upon North America and its inhabitants, Native Americans or what the Europeans called Indians. The Europeans claimed North America as their discovery and transformed its world. Through the Europeans venture of North America they brought the Africans over through the trans-Atlantic slave trade. As a result of this slave trade, in today’s society, it has lead to a major social and economic problem. It has led to the fact that based on the color of ones skin it will determine if he or she would get the education needed to obtain an adequate standard of living. It has led to job deprivations, racist violence, an increasing rate of African American incarceration rate, and many other major issues. All in all these issues lead to an economic disequilibrium. Over a hundred years ago, forty acres and two mules was promised to African American slaves for their many years of free labor, the mass murdering of their family, and their capturing from their homeland. African Americans never received such payments. Times have changed from over a hundred years ago and African Americans no longer need forty acres and a mule. What they need is reparations in monetary value to help then over come this economic struggle. Reparations are past due.

Government support in global apartheid

2006-02-15T22:15:00.000-08:00

There are many root causes for global apartheid, and one critical cause is the government of any nation, supporting it with its policies. According to a July, 2001 article in "The Nation":

"Article 25 of the Universal Declaration states that "Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services."'

But the problem is that there is uncetainty as to whether or not a nation is obliged to follow this declaration and do what is necessary for their people to live an adequate life.
This is also a mjor problem when it comes to diseases since under-developed countries have high amounts of low-wage communities who become more prone to deadly diseases such as AIDS. The article continues...

"The proximate cause of the spread of AIDS is HIV, but vulnerability to infection is linked not only to behavior but especially to unequal power relations between women and men, and to poverty and living conditions [see Eileen Stillwaggon, 'AIDS and Poverty in Africa,' May 21]. Poverty, in turn, is linked to race and to the structural position of communities within countries and of countries within the world economy."

Because of countless fees that add on to the cost of vital medication for treatment, many people are left to die as their govenrments watch and the pharmaecutical industry gets richer. Simply, most of this problem lays soley on the G8 Nations

who control the fates of the impovershed nations, in terms of supplying critical funds to the underdeveloped nations. As George W. Bush continues to slash taxes, the government chest becomes more empty, meaning less money to use not only to pay off its debts, but to provide for other nations. The US has no problem functioning under a huge deficit since it is on good terms with loaners from all over the world but that is not the case for African nations who struggle for necessary loans because of their reputation and history of inability to compete with the western world.

Global apartheid can best be summed in this one paragraph in the article...

"Today's inequalities build on a foundation of the old inequalities of slavery and colonialism, plus the destructive aftermath of cold war crusades. Like apartheid in South Africa, global apartheid entrenches great disparities in wealth, living conditions, life expectancy and access to government institutions with effective power. It relies on the assumption that it is "natural" for different population groups to have different expectations of life. In apartheid South Africa, that was the rationale for differentiating everything according to race, from materials for housing to standards of education and healthcare. Globally it is now the rationalization used to defend the differential between Europe and Africa in funding for everything from peacekeeping to humanitarian assistance ($1.23 a day for European refugees, 11 cents a day for African refugees). As one relief worker said, 'You must give European refugees used to cappuccino and CNN a higher standard of living to maintain the refugees' sense of dignity and stability.'"

An Introduction

2006-01-27T07:14:00.000-08:00

The United States is said to be the wealthiest nation in the world. If this is true then why is it that America continues to have such a high amount of impovershed families? How come the poor continue to become poorer and the rich get richer? In this blog we will uncover the various racial issues that hold back blacks and hispanics from achieving a higher financial status as a whole while white america continues to increase its wealth at a much higher rate. We will discuss solutions to create and distribute wealth for these groups with ideas involving government policies and commuinty actions.