Bay Area

President Trump’s War on the Poor

Published

4 years ago

December 12, 2019

Donald Trump is famed for his head-snapping reversals. One day he’s taking troops out of the Middle East; the next he’s sending more in. One day he’s on the verge of an agreement with China on trade; the next he’s tweeting about holding off until after the election.

On one thing, however, Trump and his administration have been clear, consistent, coordinated and relentless: waging a war on the poor. Not a war on poverty but a war on the most vulnerable themselves.

Despite low unemployment, millions of Americans — the Brookings Institution estimates an astounding 44 percent of all workers in the prime working ages of 18-64 — struggle to get by on median wages of little over $10 an hour or $18,000 a year. The working poor face soaring costs of housing, health care, transportation, utilities and, of course, debt — all rising faster than their wages.

The official “poverty rate” is far lower than any accounting of the true needs of a family. The National Center for Children in Poverty estimates that the average family needs about twice as much income as the poverty level to meet basic needs.

Cruelly, the Trump response to this is to make it worse. The administration and Republicans in Congress oppose raising the minimum wage and won’t even allow a vote on it in the Senate. Now the administration proposes lowering the poverty line over time by pegging the inflation adjustments lower than the actual increase in costs. All programs that help low-wage workers would be affected.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities projects that 250,000 seniors would get less help in purchasing prescription drugs, 300,000 children would lose health care under the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). This rule combined with others that the administration has imposed will cost literally millions of low-wage workers to face cutbacks in food assistance.

Student loan debt is now $1.5 trillion, primarily loans taken out by the children of middle- or low-income families trying to better themselves through education. Bernie Sanders, running for president, has pledged to eliminate all student debt, paying for it with taxes on the wealthy, and to make all public colleges tuition free. Elizabeth Warren has joined in a plan to eliminate the debt for most students and make colleges tuition free.

Trump is reportedly worried that these plans are very popular. His administration is scrambling to respond. One proposal, as the Washington Post reported, is to cap the loans a student could get in relation to their projected income. That’s right, the Trump plan may call for reducing student debt by cutting the availability of loans to students, effectively closing the doors to college to the children of middle- and low-income families.

Add to this Trump’s most recent plan to take $2 billion out of the Pell Grant program, which supports college grants to children from families with less than $50,000 in income — to pay for sending NASA back to the moon. The maximum Pell Grant once covered nearly 80 percent of the cost of tuition, fees, room and board at public four-year college; now it covers less than 30 percent.

This is a program that needs more funding, not less.

Trump, of course, brags on his economy and the low unemployment. He argues — without evidence — that his tax cut is trickling down to workers. What he doesn’t realize is that this economy continues to generate jobs that won’t support a family. That’s why so-called poverty programs, from CHIP to food stamps to public housing to low income heating assistance to Medicaid, are so necessary. They give vital support to low-wage workers who do some of the hardest, most taxing jobs in our country.

Cuts in student aid, cuts in Pell grants, cuts in food stamps, cuts in the poverty level. Trump is putting low wage workers and their families in a box with no way out except down. Our country is paying a very high price for this meanness.

Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr.

Posts by Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr.

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Bay Area

Faces Around the Bay: Jim Brosnahan, Esq.

James J. Brosnahan, ESQ, an international trial lawyer and trial advocacy teacher, has remained unshaken in his fervent belief in the power of the law to right injustices. Brosnahan has fought to open the legal profession to those previously excluded and worked to provide lawyers to the millions who go without.

Published

5 hours ago

May 3, 2024

Oakland Post

By Barbara Fluhrer “Isn’t this what old men are supposed to do… sit on a bench in the park?”

By Barbara Fluhrer

James J. Brosnahan, ESQ, an international trial lawyer and trial advocacy teacher, has remained unshaken in his fervent belief in the power of the law to right injustices.

Brosnahan has fought to open the legal profession to those previously excluded and worked to provide lawyers to the millions who go without. He has argued for the administrators of justice to represent the whole community. He’s tried 150 cases to conclusion and is ranked among the top 30 trial lawyers in the U.S. (Legal 500 US). He’s been called “scrappy,” “a lion in the courtroom,” and “ultra- liberal.”

One of his earliest cases (1962) involved two Navajo children shot by a White man on a reservation in Arizona. “The legal system needed to work as well for Native Americans as for White people,” he said. “The defendant was found guilty of second-degree murder.”

In 1963, U.S. Attorney Cecil Poole hired him as U.S. Attorney from a list of 200 applicants.

He and Poole, as federal observers, led the Vietnam protesters as they marched. The purpose: to avoid violence.

“Poole taught me preventative law in a chaotic situation and became one of my strongest mentors,” remembers Brosnahan.

In 1964, Brosnahan served on the NAACP’s Housing Committee in S.F., when 70% of the city’s housing was not available to Blacks. They sued racial discriminators, fought for reform and opposed the displacement of minorities in the Western Addition. They won and they lost, but they became the racial conscience of San Francisco in the fight for fair housing.

In 1969, two Black community workers in Oakland were indicted for stealing federal money.

“My two clients were activists in Oakland. I believed there was an element of racism running through Washington’s decision to indict two Black men who worked every day to help the poor,” he said.

The case was eventually dismissed. In the early 70s, he responded to a subpoena and testified against Judge Rehnquists’ confirmation hearing for the Supreme Court. He had witnessed Rehnquist obstructing voting at a polling place. Amid threats on his life, he was the chief defense lawyer for the American who joined the Taliban in 2002.

Brosnahan, his wife Carol and three children moved from S.F. to Berkeley in 1964, in part, to participate in the Berkeley school integration program. She is a retired Alameda County Superior Court judge.

Brosnahan, 90, checks in to his San Francisco firm, Morrison & Foerster often. He paints, reads, walks a mile a day, journals, and lectures, while writing another book: “Cultural History of Trials over the Centuries.”

His last book “Justice at Trial,” published in 2023, details his life and battles.

He reflects, “Over my career I have come to realize that one secret for enriching your own life is trying to help others. What better way to do that than to represent them in court.”

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Activism

Obituary: Social Justice Leader, the Rev. Cecil Williams, Passes at 94

On April 22, community leader and social justice advocate Reverend Cecil Williams died at his home in San Francisco surrounded by his loved ones, according to his family. He was 94 years old.

Published

5 hours ago

May 3, 2024

Oakland Post

The Rev. Cecil Williams, civil rights activist and social justice leader was the head pastor of San Francisco’s non-denominational GLIDE Memorial United Methodist Church.

By California Black Media

On April 22, community leader and social justice advocate Reverend Cecil Williams died at his home in San Francisco surrounded by his loved ones, according to his family.

He was 94 years old.

The reverend was a civil rights leader who advocated for the equal rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people in the Bay Area.

Williams was the head pastor of the non-denominational GLIDE Memorial United Methodist Church. The church welcomed individuals from the queer community and people struggling with homelessness, housing instability and substance use disorder (SUD).

Through his work, Rev. Williams attracted national attention. Prominent political and cultural leaders such as Maya Angelou, Bono, Oprah Winfrey, and Bill Clinton all attended church services at Glide.

Congressmember Barbara Lee (D-CA-12) said she is deeply saddened about the passing of her dear friend.

“The Reverend changed the lives of millions through radical love, support, inclusivity, and a commitment to service to the most marginalized,” Lee said.

Gov. Gavin Newsom said that the reverend inspired people across California to embody the values of generosity and acceptance.

Rev. Williams was, “a visionary leader whose legendary compassion and love for his community transformed the lives of people from all walks of life,” Newsom said.

Rev. Williams served as the chief executive officer of the Glide Foundation until his retirement in 2023.