Two things happened in one day that
tell much about the abysmal failure of the Bush administration
to get a handle on poverty in America. The first was the tragic
and disgraceful shots of hordes of New Orleans residents scurrying
down the city's Hurricane ravaged streets with their arms
loaded with food, clothes, appliances, and in some cases guns,
that they looted from stores and shops.
That same day,
the Census Bureau released a report that found that the number
of poor Americans has leaped even higher since Bush took office
in 2000. While criminal gangs who always take advantage of
chaos and misery to snatch and grab whatever they can, did
much of the looting, many desperately poor, mostly black residents,
saw a chance to grab items that they can't afford. They also
did their share of the looting. That makes it no less reprehensible,
but it's no surprise.
New Orleans has one of the highest poverty rates of any of
America's big cities. According to a report by Total Community
Action, a New Orleans public advocacy group, nearly one out
of three New Orleans residents live below the poverty level,
the majority of who are black. A spokesperson for the United
Negro College Fund noted that the city's poor live in some
of the most dilapidated, and deteriorated housing in the nation.
But
New Orleans is not an aberration. Nationally, according
to Census figures, blacks remain at the bottom of the
economic totem pole. They have the lowest media income
of any group. Bush's war and economic policies don't
help matters. His tax cuts redistributed billions to
the rich and corporations. The Iraq war has drained
billions from cash starved job training, health and
education programs. Increased American dependence on
Saudi Oil has driven gas and oil prices skyward. Corporate
downsizing, outsourcing, and industrial flight have
further fueled America's poverty crisis. All of this
happened on Bush's watch.
The 2 million new jobs in 2004 Bush touts as proof that
his economic policies work have been mostly smoke and
mirrors number counting. The bulk of these jobs are
low pay jobs, with minimum benefits, and little job
security in retail and service industries. A big portion
of the nearly 40 million Americans that live below the
official poverty line fill these jobs. They're the lucky
ones. They have jobs. Many young blacks, such as those
that ransacked stores in New Orleans, don't.
The poverty crisis has slammed them the hardest of all.
Even during the Clinton era economic boom, the unemployment
rate for young black males was double, and in some parts
of the country, triple that of white males. During the
past couple of years, state and federal cutbacks in
job training and skills programs, the brutal competition
for low and semi skilled service and retail jobs from
immigrants, and the refusal of many employers to hire
those with criminal records have further hammered black
communities and added to the Great Depression era high
unemployment numbers among young blacks.
The tale of poverty is more evident in the nearly one
million blacks behind bars, the HIV/AIDS rampage in
black communities, the sea of black homeless persons,
and the raging drug and gang violence that rips apart
many black communities.
Then there are the children. One third of America's
poor are children. Worse, the Children's Defense Fund
found that nearly 1 million black children live not
in poverty, but in extreme poverty. That's the greatest
number of black children trapped in dire poverty in
nearly a quarter century.
Bush officials claim the poverty numbers do not surprise
them. They contend that past trends show that poverty
peaks and then declines a year after the jump in new
job growth. But the poverty numbers have steadily risen
for not one, but all five years of his administration.
There has been no sign of a turnaround. For that to
happen, Bush would have to reverse his tax and war spending
policies, and commit massive funds to job, training
and education programs, and provide tax incentives for
businesses to train and hire the poor. That would take
an active national lobbying effort by Congressional
Democrats, civil rights, and anti-poverty groups. That's
not likely either. The poor are too nameless, faceless,
and vast in numbers to target with a sustained lobbying
campaign.
While the NAACP hammers Bush on the war, and his domestic
policies, poverty has not been their top priority. The
fight for affirmative action, economic parity, professional
advancement and busing replaced battling poverty, reducing
unemployment, securing quality education, promoting
self-help and gaining greater political empowerment
as the goals of all African-Americans.
That effectively left the one out of four blacks that
wallow below the official poverty level out in the cold.
The looting in New Orleans, though deplorable, put an
ugly public face on a crisis that Bush administration
policies have made worse. The millions in America that
grow poorer, more desperate, and greater in number,
are bitter testament to that.
Earl
Ofari Hutchinson is a columnist for BlackNews.com,
an author and political analyst.
For
media interviews, contact:
Mr. Hutchinson at 323-296-6331 or hutchinsonreport@aol.com
Email
This Article To A Friend
