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July 22-28, 2015
Page B-4
Obama lets his Blackness shine When President Obama spoke before the NAACP in Philadelphia last week, he spoke out more forcefully and directly about the racial inequities inherent in the criminal justice system than perhaps he ever has before.
Will South Carolina become a leader of the new South?
This could be because he is in the home stretch to the end of his second term and he knows he does not have to worry about re-election and can speak more freely. Then again, maybe it’s because the #BlackLivesMatter campaign, which began last summer after the murder-by-cop of Michael Brown in Ferguson Missouri.
By Jesse Jackson
The Confederate battle flag came down on the South Carolina Statehouse grounds. This symbolic, long overdue gesture has significant meaning. The flag celebrated the sedition, slavery and secession of the Civil War.
Or maybe it’s just because the President knows it’s time. President Obama has taken a fair amount of heat, even from some of his supporters, for not speaking out more forcefully on issues of race, and at times those criticisms have been justified. But it would be rather difficult to find a credible critic in that regard after the President’s Wednesday night speech.
“A growing body of research shows that people of color are more likely to be stopped, frisked, questioned, charged, detained. African Americans are more likely to be arrested.” He began with the overall problems facing the justice system when he said, “But here’s the thing: Over the last few decades, we’ve also locked up more and more nonviolent drug offenders than ever before, for longer than ever before. And that is the real reason our prison population is so high. In far too many cases, the punishment simply does not fit the crime. “If you’re a low-level drug dealer, or you violate your parole, you owe some debt to society. You have to be held accountable and make amends. But you don’t owe 20 years. You don’t owe a life sentence. That’s disproportionate to the price that should be paid.” But then he focused in much more specifical terms on the problems of race — and racism — and how those prob-
President Obama lems play themselves out in our criminal justice system. “A growing body of research shows that people of color are more likely to be stopped, frisked, questioned, charged, detained. African Americans are more likely to be arrested. They are more likely to be sentenced to more time for the same crime. And one of the consequences of this is, around one million fathers are behind bars. Around one in nine African American kids has a parent in prison. “What is that doing to our communities? What’s that doing to those children? Our nation is being robbed of men and women who could be workers and taxpayers, could be more actively involved in their children’s lives, could be role models, could be community leaders, and right now they’re locked up for a nonviolent offense.” “About one in every 35 African American men, one in every 88 Latino men is serving time right now,” the President said. “Among White men, that number is one in 214.” In a city where African Americans represent more than 85 percent of the population, it hardly need be said how this affects Detroit.
Don’t reverse progress toward healthier school lunches By Tom Vilsack As parents, you trust your family pediatrician to help you make informed choices about your children’s health — not politicians or special interests. That’s why when developing the first meaningful improvements to school meals in 30 years, we turned to the people who care the most for kids, including pediatricians and other respected health, nutrition and school meal professionals. For the past three years, kids have eaten healthier breakfasts, lunches and snacks at school Tom Vilsack thanks to the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, which improved the nutrition of foods and beverages served in cafeterias and sold in vending machines. Our kids are getting healthier as a result. Parents and pediatricians approve. But some politicians in Congress aren’t happy. Now that the act is up for reauthorization in Congress, opponents are straining to roll back the progress we’ve made, putting your children’s potential in the hands of Washington interests. This, despite the fact that our national obesity crisis costs the country $190.2 billion per year. Healthier school meals were developed based on recommendations by doctors and nutrition, health and school meal experts. They gave us the same nutrition advice they give you—kids should eat more fruits, vegetables, whole grains and other healthy foods. Opponents would have us believe that kids won’t eat the healthier meals, that they’re too burdensome on schools. But we’ve talked to the dedicated school meal professionals working in school cafeterias, as well as the students, and the negative rhetoric does not match reality. We have listened carefully to schools and provided time, flexibility, guidance and hundreds of millions of dollars in financial support. As a result, more than 95 percent of schools across the country are now meeting the standards. These changes haven’t happened
overnight. USDA continues to work with schools that are having difficulty preparing healthier meals. We recently launched a program called Team Up for School Nutrition Success that allows the schools still working to meet the standards to pair up and learn best practices from schools that are already successfully serving healthier meals. The program has provided training for 3,029 individuals and has been enthusiastically received by schools and school officials. The fact is, most schools support the new standards. A recent survey by the Kids’ Safe and Healthful Foods Project found that 70 percent of food service staff and school administrators at the elementary and middle school levels say that kids like the healthier meals. Another study from the University of California, Berkeley’s School of Public Health, found that nearly 90 percent of surveyed students liked at least some school meal options. A recent Harvard study shows the standards are working, as evidenced by the fact that kids are now eating 16 percent more vegetables and 23 percent more fruit at lunch — astounding progress in three years. Some predicted kids would reject healthy food and throw more food away, but the same study showed the critics were wrong. There was bipartisan support for healthier school meals when the act passed in 2010, and that remains true today. A recent survey found that 87 percent of Democrats, 70 percent of independents and more than half of registered voters with kids in public schools surveyed were supportive of the new meals. This is not only a question of what’s right or wrong for kids. It’s also a national security and an economic issue. Today, we are on a path to change that thanks to parents, teachers, doctors and kids who cared enough to fight for higher standards. Because of the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act, our children have more energy to learn and grow, greater opportunity to thrive, and better overall health. What Congress is really considering now is whether kids deserve a healthier future. The answer is yes, and the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act ensures it. Tom Vilsack is U.S. secretary of agriculture.
When Robert E. Lee surrendered, that flag was furled. It was raised over the statehouse in 1961 to celebrate segregation, suppression and states’ rights. Previous efforts Jesse Jackson to remove it failed. Former Gov. David Beasley called for it to come down, and probably lost his re-election as a result. Even after the triumph of the Civil Rights Movement, South Carolina burnished this symbol of racial division. This symbolic victory came in the wake of bloodshed: the murders of the Emanuel Nine, brutally slain while in church at a prayer meeting. It came because of the amazing grace of the relatives of the slain, offering forgiveness to the hateful killer. It came because of the leadership and courage of the governor, Nikki Haley, who stood up and spoke out in the wake of the horror, calling on the legislature to take the flag down. It came because of the pressure of the Chamber of Commerce and business leaders — from Boeing, Volkswagen and others — making it clear that they would find it difficult to invest in a South Carolina still intent on honoring this symbol of racial division. The question now is whether South Carolina can discard not just the symbol of the flag but also the substance of the flag’s agenda. Can the governor now grasp this moment to lead in resurrecting the South? Bringing down the flag has opened the way. The NCAA lifted its ban on post-season championship events in South Carolina, a decision that could produce millions in tourist revenue. New investments are likely to go forward now that the flag is down. Last month, Gov. Haley signed into law a bill requiring police to wear body cameras, putting the state in the national leadership on that issue. But much more
needs to be done. South Carolina is one of the states that chose to reject the expansion of Medicaid offered by Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, even though the federal government would pick up virtually all of the expense. It turned its back on $12 billion over the next five years, money that its hospitals and health system desperately needs. It deprived over 160,000 of its working people, more Whites than Blacks, from getting health insurance. Surely this is the time to reverse that decision. South Carolina has joined other Southern states in erecting voter ID laws designed to make voting more difficult, with disproportionate impact on the elderly, people of color and the poor. This too was discriminatory in effect and in intent. The more extreme North Carolina law is now being challenged in the Supreme Court. South Carolina could lead the South in reforming its laws to ease registration and voting rather than restricting it. The state’s Republican representatives in Congress tend to support their party’s assault on public investment. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has just announced that it plans to go forward with a project to deepen the port at Charleston. South Carolina will benefit greatly if the ports at Charleston and Jasper are able to handle the larger modern container ships. As the state benefits from federal investment in its ports, surely it is time for its representatives to push for greater public investment in infrastructure, and not continue to starve it. Gov. Haley could be the determining force. She has focused on jobs, driving an agenda designed to make South Carolina attractive to business. She has demonstrated leadership in regard to the flag. She has earned the good will of the vast majority of South Carolina citizens and businesses. Now she can turn that authority to making South Carolina a leader of the new South. Jesse Jackson is founder and president of Rainbow/PUSH.
Hailing a cab while Black still a problem
By Ben Jealous
If you had to guess the single strongest factor in determining who escapes poverty, what do you think it would be? Perhaps surprisingly, the answer is transportation. We may not think about it every day, but access to buses, trains and metros is a crucial link to opportunity and economic mobility. In fact, a recent Harvard study found the single strongest factor in determining economic mobility was commuting time. A lack of transportation options can keep a struggling community treading water. Ben Jealous It is bad enough when a neighborhood lacks access to fresh produce; it is even worse when the closest grocery is only accessible by a bus that only shows up occasionally, or not at all. If there is a personal equivalent to this public policy problem, it would have to be the struggle of catching a cab as a person of color, especially as a Black man. Nearly every person of color I know has a first- or second-hand story about a time that a taxi refused to pick them up or even drive to their neighborhood. Even President Obama has recalled experiencing discrimination when he was a young man. A new research study provides some statistical meat to those anecdotal stories, and hints that the solution to this age-old problem may lie in new technology. A study, conducted by Brilliant Corners and sponsored by Uber, surveyed more than 800 Black and White residents of Chicago. It found the following: • The number of respondents who report personally experiencing being ignored by taxi drivers when hailing taxis on the street is significantly higher for Black respondents than for Whites (Blacks 48
percent to Whites 23 percent). • 55 percent of Blacks who have called for a cab at some point have experienced a refusal by the service to send a cab to their community. • A solid majority of Blacks and nearly half of Whites agree that taxi drivers deliberately discriminate against Black passengers. Fifty years after the Civil Rights Act, one of the most basic activities in daily life is still tarred by racism and discrimination. This new data proves the concerns that many people of color hold about finding a ride when it matters most: when the destination is a job interview, a doctor’s visit or just a lunch with an old friend. The vexing experience of trying to hail a taxi is a powerful incentive for many people of color to seek alternative methods of transportation. The most exciting alternative is ridesharing. Ridesharing companies, like Uber and Lyft, manage to be both more efficient than traditional taxi services and also more colorblind. When a driver selects a customer for pickup, he or she is completely blind to what that customer looks like, or where that customer is going. The added bonus of ridesharing services is that they serve as a form of economic empowerment themselves. As these services ramp up across the country, they are providing tens of thousands of flexible and easily accessible jobs. Ridesharing companies serve new people and communities that traditional taxis have for years passed over. When these drivers come from the communities they serve, it essentially creates a new market for transportation services. Everybody wins, from the passengers to the drivers to the local economy. We often think about how technology and smartphones make our lives more convenient and easier; it’s important to remember that technology has the power make our society more fair as well. Ben Jealous is former president and CEO of the NAACP.