TRICKLE-DOWN TRADITION

The World Health Organization defines health as "not only the absence of infirmity and disease, but also a state of physical, mental, and social well-being." I agree and would add that personal health also falls within the parameters of "promoting the general welfare," and "life,liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." The Constitution and The Declaration of Independence. Two document the majority of Americans lean on when defining their Patriotism.

The complexity of these morally and legally guiding documents is too much for one to comprehend. It's much simpler to latch on to a particular part, or parts, and apply the principles of only those parts to every experience. When, in reality, the intellectually honest approach would be to assess each experience independently and apply the pertinent sections. Not just the ones that you feel comfortable with.

Although promoted within the first words of The Constitution, "Welfare" has a stigma associated with it in 2009. It's a code word now; associated with minorities and hurts many more Whites than it does minorities. Minorities, as the victims, recognize it and are able to adjust to it. While many Whites of the same economic level refuse to acknowledge who their true enemies are. As a result, many Whites who hold the prejudice against an association with "Welfare" do not receive the benefits they qualify for. Mostly because they never apply, out of shame.

The bottom-to-middle percentage of the "Middle Class" is already heading towards poverty, if they're not already there. The income scale has shifted; this must be recognized and responded to. Priorities must be adjusted into an updated view of the world. The jobs that were sent overseas are not coming back. Many are falsely hoping the jobs will come back and things will return to "normal." Normal is not permanent. It changes, and we need to keep up.

We are no longer in an industrial age. But we still teach our children with an industrial teaching model. Manufacturing is gone; basic auto repair is gone; Tele-customer service is gone. Public schools are failing because of lack of technology; telling a child to read 20 pages from a book is like telling previous generations to read from stone tablets. Boring and "out of touch." The same assignment can be given where the child reads three pages on a website, watch the video, or listen to the podcast. For success in the future, basic computer skills are the new minimum requirement. Replacing HS Diploma.

Many Whites, mostly college graduates, will argue against any advantage their skin color and legal classification provides. This is a common defensive reflex I have experienced when discussing Race relations with Whites. The logic used to defend white privilege is to ignore the overall statistics and make it personal. When you're the majority of a population, as white males are in the US, it's easier to accept the status quo without seeing any negative effects. Averages always work in your favor. There's also an unconscious trust Whites have with the government. That trust comes from a history of government assistance; as apposed to non-White males having a general hesitation regarding government decisions.

According to the Food Research and Action Center, Lancaster County, PA's poverty statistics(by Race) were the following:

TOTAL POPULATION FOR LANCASTER COUNTY = 493,910
TOTAL POOR WHITES (100% of FPIG) = 6.7% (28,134 ppl)
TOTAL POOR BLACKS (100% of FPIG) = 30.6% (4,779 ppl)
TOTAL POOR LATINOS(100% of FPIG) = 27.9% (8,935 ppl)

* Federal Poverty Income Guidelines

100% of the FPIG for a family of four is $22,050. That's $10.60/hr, 40 hrs/wk, 52 wks/yr. Even if you're lucky enough to have a job offering 40 hours for 52 weeks, avoiding illness is still very difficult. Especially when insurance is too expensive compared to wages.

Research from Penn State University shows the living wage for Lancaster County for the same family of 4 is $28.18/hr (or $58,614/yr). That's more than double of what the government considers impoverished.

To an extent, we've allowed this to happen by our lack of participation. Though the greater extent, of which we did not allow, is powerful and invisible. To be satisfied with what you're given impedes progress in every case. Information must be analyzed and compared to your current personal beliefs. When information is indiscriminately accepted as truth, the author must be identified. Then you will know the reasons someone would repeat their thoughts instead of creating original thoughts.

American Traditions are some times more powerful than its laws. And only a short time ago, did the US recognize women and Blacks as equals. More than property. This NOW in time is critical to the future of the World. There's an incredible burden on the majority of White Americans to recognize and mobilize when it comes to Racial divisions. The progress of Americans and America is deadlocked on Racism and Slavery.

It cannot be accepted as progress when our country is "harshly criticized" by The UN's Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in March 2008. After ignoring the World's request to stop rampant racism in the justice system, in March 2009 we boycott the UN Racism Conference to be held in April 2009.

There are many self-proclaimed experts in many different disciplines who haven't a clue of how to fix what's broken. Fortunately for them, they have the security of education, wealth, and health. They also have a support structure in those of similar economic levels. Color has less of a factor when education levels are comparable. Problems can be solved by cooperation and communication. The lower income/education-level folks are divided first by differences, even in parallel circumstances.

Imagine the 28,134 White poor folks working in unison with the 4,779 Black folks and 8,935 Hispanic folks to address the issues that are affecting all of them equally. It requires critical thought and honest acceptance of facts. Whereas today we seem to be satisfied with blaming one another based on something irrelevant and involuntary. Racism is American History. The truth about Racism needs to be addressed before we can ever hope to live in "Post-racial America."

Instead of a united group of poor people, we have divided groups of Races. This group labeled poor, and "under-privileged" by media and politicians, is the majority. And the majority of this majority are White folks. To unite this group will take a member of the majority. The minorities seem to have been waiting since the Civil Rights Movement for unity.

Dr. King had an approval rating similar to George W Bush in his last years. He was speaking out against poverty, and was organizing the Poor People's Campaign. He had poor folks from the south living in "Resurrection City" on the Washington Mall. Bringing the poor people's struggle to the nation's eye and the government's.

Then he was assassinated. We have yet to recover.

INSPIRATION FROM IGNORANCE

From the "Human Rights Record of the United States in 2008."

"The proportion of U.S. prisoners to its population has hit a new high. The Washington Post reported on July 11, 2008 that the United States has 2.3 million criminals behind bars, more than any other nation in the world. A report issued by the U.S. Department of Justice on December 11, 2008 said that over 7.3 million people were on probation, in jail or on parole at the end of 2007, equivalent to 3.2 percent of all U.S. adult residents or one in every 31 adults. (The United Press International, December 11, 2008). For black men aged between 20-34, one in nine was in jail. (The Guardian, March 1, 2008). The rate of prisoners, higher than any period in the U.S. history, was almost six times the world average (125 in every 100,000 people). According to statistics, the recidivism rate stayed high in the United States. Half the people of previous convictions were sentenced to prison again within three years."


I had an interesting discussion at work yesterday. I walked into a conversation where a few people were talking about the way people dress. Specifically targeting minorities and the Hip Hop culture in general. None of the people talking had much knowledge or understanding of the culture or psychological effects of being a minority in this country. I tried(really, I did) to be silent, in hope it would pass.

Then one man, who is basically on the waiting list for a police officer position, describes an incident during a ride-along he had with an officer. The officer stopped and confronted a man because of the way he was wearing his hat. Adding that the officer asked "Where can I get one of those hats?" Because of the joking manner in which the story was told, I broke my silence.

ME: "Why don't you think that's harassment?"

HIM: "He just asked him a question? No harm done."

ME: "That's profiling."

HIM: "If it would've been a White person, they would be treated the same way."

ME: "That's not true. Don't you think minorities are disproportionately incarcerated?"

HIM: "I read 200 studies that say they're equal."

ME: "I have a hard time believing you read 200 studies and would come to that conclusion. Who did the studies?"

END OF RECESS

This is not the first conversation I've had with this individual, and he's generally a good guy. But I challenge him EVERY time he displays discriminatory dissonance. He will be a police officer in the future. I take it upon myself to plant the seed in him. He's obviously never heard the view of police by those he targets and mocks. He should and will.

As of July 2007, the rate of incarceration by race was as follows(per 100,000):

NATIONAL
WHITE: 412 (.4%)
BLACK: 2290 (2.3%)
HISPANIC: 742 (.7%)

PENNSYLVANIA
WHITE: 305 (.3%)
BLACK: 2792 (2.7%)
HISPANIC: 1714 (1.7%)

That's far from equal in my view.

"DIFFERENCE IS DIFFERENCES"

Certain circumstances
Calculate your chances.
Lifelong romances
Or searching for second chances.

No matter what your plan is,
Planted dead-ends by The Man is
Not to be denied. It enhances
Social structure, at the same time deprives self-pride.

It's hard to breathe underwater
When the author says you squandered
Opportunity away.
Excluding how he led you astray.

From this day forward,
Lean towards the one in the mirror.
Mom couldn'ta been much clearer.
While you pretended not to hear her.

IT DOESN'T ADD UP

There's a lot of people with a little money right now. A lot of workers who don't have jobs. A lot of "outside-people" are staying inside. Homeowners are losing their homes. Senior citizens are seeing their long-term investments disappear. The fat are getting skinny because they have no food. We've definitely entered an era of change.

While many of us are drafting and implementing our own personal recovery plans, it's also important to understand how we fit into the larger plan for the economy. We are capital. If you are alive, you fall within one of the 17 definitions of the word. To not understand capital when living within Capitalism, is somewhat suicidal. In many cases people do take their lives. The majority, though, continue breathing at their economic peril.

W.E.B. DuBois said even before the The Federal Reserve's institution that “To be a poor man is hard, but to be a poor race in a land of dollars is the very bottom of hardships.” There's much to be learned from from the African Diaspora and more importantly the aftermath and progress that followed. Many believe that The Atlantic Slave Trade is ancient history. Many others forget when we put Japanese-Americans in concentration camps in 1942. The African struggle in particular has many teachers, but they seem to be systematically silenced and demonized. The same people that have historically oppressed the Blacks are still in power now. You can't have American history without African-American History.

At the top of the power structure are rich white men. That can't be denied. $250,000 is the marker the president is using for the upper class. As of August 2008, the real median income was $50,233 per year. 1 in 50(or 20% of earners) make $250K+. To give this some perspective, here are some key statistics for Lancaster, PA:

Based on 2 Adults, 2 children

LIVING WAGE = $28.18/hr
POVERTY WAGE = $9.83/hr
MINIMUM WAGE = $7.25/hr

Find your city here

The median income of Lancaster for 2008 was $44,600. This includes the likes of Armstrong CEO making $10M, while cutting jobs at or below the living wage.

The title of the Census' press release was "Household Income Rises, Poverty Rate Unchanged, Number's of Uninsured Down." Seems like a sandwich. Positive, Negative, Positive. The negative heart of this socio-sandwich seems to be ignored. I'm no economist(yet), but it should raise some sort of red flag when income rises and poverty doesn't change. It reflects the widening wealth gap. Higher salaries at the top distort averages and medians. Median is the numerical halfway point, e.g., 100 million earners, the median is @ 50 regardless of income. The average is adding all income and dividing by the number of earners.

The media, who are owned by the top 1% of earners, tell us that the rich pay the majority of taxes. That is true, numerically. What cannot be ignored when analyzing who pays taxes, is the huge gap between the actual incomes. In order to make the list of the 400 richest Americans, you would've had to make $1.3 BILLION last year. In 2007, the CEO's of bailed out financial institutions Merryll Lynch and Goldman Sachs earned $83M and $54M respectively. I'm all for rewarding achievement, but these banks failed.

We've arrived at this point by not being "in the know" and dismissing Politics as irrelevant. As a result, we have many laws and systems in place that are in direct conflict with our personal well-being and the common good. It's time to realize we can, and have to, make a difference. The middle class has disappeared, and many do not want to come to terms with this fact.

Any energy spent on arguing about differences amongst those who have so much in common is counter-productive and counter-REproductive. Race, Religion, Sex, Political Party, are just some of the divisive categories in which we're placed. Compartmentalization is a useful tool for those in power.

As Aesop tried to teach us in The Four Oxen and the Lions,

A LION used to prowl about a field in which Four Oxen used to dwell. Many a time he tried to attack them; but whenever he came near they turned their tails to one another, so that whichever way he approached them he was met by the horns of one of them. At last, however, they fell a-quarrelling among themselves, and each went off to pasture alone in a separate corner of the field. Then the Lion attacked them one by one and soon made an end of all four.
“UNITED WE STAND, DIVIDED WE FALL.”