“When public access to voting is impaired or when public confidence in voting is diluted, democracy suffers and our freedom is less secure.” –DeForest Soaries Clingman on the Significance of Struggle See Page 22 •
C e l e b r a t i n g 4 7 Ye a r s o f S e r v i c e
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Serving More Than 50,000 African American Readers Throughout The Metropolitan Area / Vol. 47, No. 49 Sept. 20 - Sept. 26, 2012
Princeton Professor Cornel West and Tavis Smiley, a well-known radio personality, listen to compelling stories from audience members during The Poverty Tour 2.0 stop at T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, Va., on Thursday, September 13. /Photo by Khalid Naji-Allah See Story on Page 14
Religious Leaders Chastise Politicians Call Lack of Attention to Poverty a Moral Outrage By Barrington M. Salmon WI Staff Writer No more free passes, no more excuses. That’s the message that a group of spiritual leaders had for political leaders who they say have ignored the crushing poverty that is decimating more than 46 million Americans.
The faith leaders, at a September 12 press conference, promised to hold candidates accountable before, during and after the November 6 election. Now, they said, is the time to stop ignoring the issue of poverty. “This is a scandal, a moral outrage and we have to respond vigorously to this problem,”
said Bishop Stephen E. Blaire, Bishop of the Diocese of Stockton, Calif., and chairman of the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. “It’s affecting children, the elderly, [and] veterans. We must renew our commitment to protect human life and dignity.”
Blaire was one of a cadre of spiritual leaders, representing tens of millions of congregants, who attended the press conference which was timed to coincide with the release by the U.S. Census Bureau of the latest poverty numbers. According to the Bureau, 46.2 million people are mired in poverty, with 16 million
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of those being children. For more than a year, 65 leaders of various Christian denominations, relief and advocacy agencies and other Christian organizations met and advocated for a “Circle of Protection” around funding programs that
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