Op-Ed

Tear Down the Walls of Economic Inequality

Published

9 years ago

July 13, 2015

By Julianne Malveaux
NNPA Columnist

After a spirited debate, the South Carolina House and Senate voted overwhelmingly to remove the Confederate battle flag from Statehouse grounds at the urging of Gov. Nikki Haley, who quickly signed the measure into law. The flag was lowered for the final time on Capitol grounds Friday morning. Many South Carolinians hailed its ceremonious removal as a “new day” for their state as well as a fitting tribute to State Senator Clementa Pinckney, one of the nine massacred at Emanuel A.M.E. Church, where he was the pastor.

Revulsion from the Bible study slaughter sparked conversations all over the country about the Confederate flag. An Iowan who sold ice to Walmart with a confederate logo (go figure) was told he had to change his logo or sell his ice elsewhere. The U.S. House of Representatives has banned display of the Confederate flag on sites maintained by the National Park Service. Mississippi Senators Thad Cochran and Roger Wicker say the Mississippi flag should be redesigned to remove the Confederate symbol.

At the same time, support for the Confederate flag is unwavering. A poll conducted for CNN found that 66 percent of Whites consider the Confederate flag more of a symbol of Southern pride than racism, a view shared by only 17 percent of Blacks. While 72 percent of Blacks consider the flag a symbol of racism, only 25 percent of Whites agree, with the remainder of them saying the flag represent each point of view equally, were undecided or expressed no opinion.

Removing the flag from public places and putting it in museums is a victory for those who reject this symbol of racial subjugation. Still, every economic statistic screams racial subjugation. President Obama had it right (if belatedly) when he said that employers are more willing to employ Johnny than Jamal. Last month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that Black unemployment rate was 9.5 percent, more than twice the 4.6 percent rate than Whites experienced. Some economists will say that African Americans are less educated than Whites, explaining part of the unemployment rate gap. Others will cite other factors, such as occupation and location. Race still plays a role in unemployment rate differentials.

White men and White high school dropouts have about the same unemployment rate as Black high school graduates, and highly educated Blacks always have higher unemployment rates than less well educated Whites. While education pays off for Blacks, as those with better educations are paid more than those with less education, Whites get a greater return on education than Blacks.

If we want to remove vestiges of racial subjugation, we ought to pay attention to unemployment rate differentials and work as hard to eradicate them as we did to take down that Confederate flag in South Carolina. How? President Obama could sign an executive order directing the Department of Labor and other federal departments to target money and programs to the inner city or, more specifically, to African Americans. In these closing months of his presidency, he has used executive orders for other purposes. Why not use one to ensure that Jamal gets treated the same way as Johnny?

In addition to Jamal and Johnny, how about Tamika and Theresa? Though the unemployment rate gap is smaller between Black and White women, there are gaps in pay and working conditions. Because more than 40 percent of Black families are female-headed, low pay for Black women translate to different living conditions for Black families.

Similar differences are measured in the poverty rate, where more than a quarter of Black families live in poverty, compared to fewer than 10 percent of White families. Average pay for an African American family is about $31,000, compared to about $52,000 for White families. Congress has been hostile to any poverty-prevention programs, fighting to reduce food stamps programs and pushing back on Obama-backed legislation to increase the minimum wage. In the midst of legislative hostility, could President Obama do anything to lower poverty and especially the gap in the poverty rate? Certainly appointing a Presidential Commission to propose legislation on poverty prevention would be a first, if only symbolic.

The wealth gap is staggering. African Americans have a scant 2.5 percent of our nation’s wealth. The median wealth for White families is $120,000, compared to $7,000 for Black families. The wealth gap is partly a function of the inability for African Americans to attain wealth, certainly during slavery and the Black Codes era, and beyond. There were exceptions, of course, but the gaping wealth gap affects the quality of life for African Americans. What to do? The president might consider the Institute of the Black World’s proposal for a John Hope Franklin Commission for Reparatory Justice to explore the possibility of, among other things, reparations.

Taking down the Confederate flag without tearing down the walls of racial economic inequality is a partial victory. While I am elated that South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley has expressed her opposition to the Confederate flag as a symbol of hate and White supremacy, I wonder if she will fight to end the institutional racism that results in higher unemployment rates, lower incomes, and less wealth for African Americans.

Julianne Malveaux is an author and economist. She can be reached at www.juliannemalveaux.com.

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Commentary

COMMENTARY: President Biden, The Constitution and Race

The Democratic Party needs to pause and reflect on the real issue, which is race and not an aging President. Once again, we see the Kool-Aid of division being swallowed, not by the MAGA Right, but by Democrats who know better and openly profess a love for democracy and the Constitution of the United States. So, the question is how can one love the Constitution and at the same time only obey those sections that agree with our way of thinking?

Published

1 week ago

July 19, 2024

Oakland Post

Dr. John E. Warren contends that it is the race of Biden’s successor, Kamal Harris, that is the real issue underneath the fearmongering about the president’s age. Courtesy photo.

By Dr. John E. Warren, Publisher
The San Diego Voice & Viewpoint Newspaper

The Democratic Party needs to pause and reflect on the real issue, which is race and not an aging President.

Once again, we see the Kool-Aid of division being swallowed, not by the MAGA Right, but by Democrats who know better and openly profess a love for democracy and the Constitution of the United States. So, the question is how can one love the Constitution and at the same time only obey those sections that agree with our way of thinking?

When President Biden wins re-election, his age or any other issue will only become a problem when there are signs he is unable to fulfill the duties of the Office. The 25th Amendment to the Constitution handles the succession process setting out how the Vice President assumes the Office of the Presidency and how the Office of the Vice Presidency is to be filled. The elephant in the room is Vice President Kamala Harris, who happens to not only be a woman, but also Black.

This is the same Black woman who was Attorney General of the largest state in the Union. She was an elected U.S. Senator from that same state which had given us the U.S. Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren and President Ronald Reagan.

She has been elected by the Democratic Party’s primary process which made Joe Biden the presidential candidate, and Harris the vice-presidential candidate.

So, is the real issue the age of a man who, in the last four years, rescued this nation from the brink of destruction?

Is it the Democrats opposing the President staying in the race who may have Alzheimer’s and memory loss, rather than the President who remembers what he has done and how he rescued a struggling nation?

Is it the Democrats complaining about the President and know that Trump has a better chance at winning against a last-minute replacement than running against a President who has already beaten him before? In knowing all these facts, especially the presence of the 25th Amendment, the only card left in the deck is race.

It appears that some White Liberal Democrats just don’t want a Black woman in the orbit of really becoming President and they would rather disgrace and destroy a good man because of a bad debate than take a chance on a Black woman running the White House.

Let’s not get it twisted. It was a Black Congressman from South Carolina, James Clyburn, who motivated Black America to vote for Joe Biden when it appeared that he was out of the race for the presidency.

It is the Black Vote that put him in office and it is the Black Vote of the Congressional Black Caucus who, in this race for the White House, is standing in unity with the Democratic leadership of the House of Representatives in a Republican-controlled Congress against whimpering calls from a few democrats for the President to “step aside.”

Once again, the clarion call is to stand with the Constitution and not be like the Supreme Court who is now stomping upon all that it stands for in an effort to protect and insulate the convicted felon that we, the people, would keep out of the White House.

A move to oust President Biden would surely guarantee an election victory for Trump.

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Bay Area

Opinion: A Strange Tale of Two Political Fights: Sheng Thao and Donald Trump

Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao must be wondering how can a convicted felon with 34 guilty verdicts be riding high, while she, an uncharged elected official, fights for her political life? That’s how strange politics is in America today.

Published

2 weeks ago

July 12, 2024

Oakland Post

Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao and Presidential Candidate Donald Trump.

By Emil Guillermo

Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao must be wondering how can a convicted felon with 34 guilty verdicts be riding high, while she, an uncharged elected official, fights for her political life?

That’s how strange politics is in America today.

On the national stage, President Joe Biden made an historic ask of Americans this week. It’s summer, and everyone is a “low information” voter now. But for the sake of the country, and the future of democracy, it’s time to pay attention. Get nerdy now.

Biden is essentially tied with Trump, a newly convicted felon, which tells you how cockeyed political values are in America.

Instead of policy, Trump is all bluster talking about a pre-debate drug test because he’s sure Biden is going to be “jacked up” on some kind of performance enhancing drug.

That kind of thing gets attention. Not whether you’re going to things to improve people’s lives.

But rest assured, if Donald Trump is elected for a second time, the blueprint is already out. The Heritage Foundation’s plan calls for a “Department of Life,” and a theocratic-based world view where abortion is illegal, and minorities of all stripes are disempowered.

A vote for Trump represents a radical reformatting of democracy.

POLITICS IN OAKLAND

In the meantime, local Oakland politics is slightly different, but no less confounding.

Sheng Thao, 18 months into her tenure as the first Hmong American to be mayor of a major U.S. city, is recovering from the worst week in her life.

First, a group of Oakland citizens qualified enough signatures to hold a recall election of Thao. Then, on Wednesday, 15 people were shot at an unauthorized Juneteenth celebration in the city’s Lake Merritt area. The topper came Thursday, when the FBI executed a pre-dawn raid of a number of houses including Thao’s, all connected to a case reportedly involving improper campaign donations from Andy Duong, a Vietnamese American businessman whose company, CalWaste, won the contract to run the city’s recycling program. No arrests were made, just boxes and computers hauled from the various homes. Not a good look.

THAO: “I AM INNOCENT”

For five days, Thao was silent, but on Monday, she came out firing her best shot.

“I have done nothing wrong,” Thao said at a news conference. “I can tell you with confidence that this investigation is not about me. I have not been charged with a crime and I am confident that I will not be charged because I am innocent.”

Thao said she was seeking answers from the U.S. attorney as to why she wasn’t “offered the opportunity to cooperate voluntarily.”

Good question. Unless they thought she was hiding something.

Thao addressed the shootings last week first with care, then said she won’t be distracted from the real issues of Oakland. Like safety or the selling of the Oakland Coliseum to a Black-owned group.

But she went back to questioning the timing of last week.

“I want to know more about the handful of billionaires from San Francisco and Piedmont who are hell bent on running me out of office,” she said, questioning how the recall announcement and the raid seemed orchestrated with the media “to fan the flames and bend the facts to shape a narrative.”

Trump, the convicted felon, overcomes reality and is propelled by “friends” who see him as a winner. Thao was voted in through RCV, rank-choice-voting. She was the most people’s No. 2, not No. 1.

Maybe that’s why few allies are standing up behind her now. The Oakland NAACP, and even one Asian group is calling for her to resign.

For Thao, this will be the test if her story can overcome it all, again.

About the Author

Emil Guillermo is a journalist and commentator. See him at www.amok.com

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Opinion: What about Joe? Follow Kamala’s Lead

Big Dem donors and media are keeping alive a troubling narrative about last week’s debate: that Joe Biden isn’t fit to be president and should step aside. Biden may have had a lousy debate night, but for our democracy and for all people of color, he’s still the best possible choice.

Published

3 weeks ago

July 8, 2024

Oakland Post

Vice President of the United States Kamala Harris

By Emil Guillermo

Big Dem donors and media are keeping alive a troubling narrative about last week’s debate: that Joe Biden isn’t fit to be president and should step aside.

Biden may have had a lousy debate night, but for our democracy and for all people of color, he’s still the best possible choice.

But now newspaper editorial boards, like the New York Times, have warned: For Dems to win, Joe must go.

What do they know? They aren’t doctors.

More irksome is that few are willing to say what should be obvious. If you replace Biden this late in the game, there should be no other person but his No. 2.

Oakland’s Kamala Harris.

They will mention Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan and Calif. Gov. Gavin Newsom while too often overlooking Harris who was the best thing going for the Biden-Harris ticket on debate night.

When Biden was down, Harris had his back.

“What we saw tonight is the President making a very clear contrast with Donald Trump on all the issues that matter to the American people,” Harris said on CNN. “Yes, there was a slow start, but it was a strong finish. And what became very clear through the course of the night is that Joe Biden is fighting on behalf of the American people on substance, on policy, on performance. Joe Biden is extraordinarily strong.”

Harris also looked strong. She was filled with an appealing youthful political vigor.

It was everything Joe Biden wasn’t on debate night.

She acknowledged the rough parts, which included a moment where Biden seemed to lose his thoughts. Was he talking about Covid? Medicare?

Still compare that one senior moment with Trump, who showed off his strength as a functioning pathological liar.

No. 45 sounded louder with a clearer voice than No.46, but that doesn’t mean with all his lies and 34 guilty verdicts he deserves to be No. 47.

Undaunted, Biden said last Friday in North Carolina, he intends to stay in the race, pointing out he knows how to do the job and that unlike Trump, he knows how to tell the truth.

But the media continues to question whether Biden can do the job. A CBS poll found that only 27% of voters believe he has the mental health to be president.

If more negative polling data comes in, Biden may be forced to decide whether this is the time to bow out and retire from public life.

I’m keeping my eyes on Harris. Think Biden must go? Remember, Harris is on the ticket that’s raised millions of dollars to fight Trump.

With reproductive rights of women one of the strongest issues the Democrats have, leaning in on the first female African American/Asian American vice president, may be the Democrats’ best, if not only, answer.

About the Author

Emil Guillermo is a journalist and commentator. He’s covered politics from Hawaii, California, to Washington, DC when he hosted NPR’s “All Things Considered.” See him on www.amok.com