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Lifting Workers Out of Poverty |
There have always been disagreements
about the causes of poverty and about how to
assure minimally decent living standards for
those who do not or cannot work.
There is a consensus, though, that if a per
son plays by the rules and works full-time, that
person shouldn't be poor.
The legal minimum wage is set so low that
full-time workers still
income tax credit, we will make history; we will
reward the work of millions of working poor
Americans by realizing the principle that is you
work 40 hours a week and you've got a child in
the house, you will no longer be in poverty."
The Clinton proposal would expand the
credit for families with two or more children,
expand the credit for families with one child that
earn too little to escape
poverty. So the govern
ment came up with the
Earned Income Tax
Credit for working
families.
The EITC operates |
TO BE EQUAL
By JOHN E. JACOB
as an income supple-"111?1 111
mem ? low income households with children
fee a check from the government at tax time.
Unfortunately, the credit is still too low to
lift families headed by full-time minimum wage
workers out of poverty ? a family of four, even
with EITC, still winds up $5,100 below the
poverty line.
Even so, the EITC is an important aid to the
working poor. A report by the Center on Budge
and Policy Priorities indicates the extent of the
problem:
? Over 9 million workers are poor, and over
2 million of them worked full-time, year-round
? Some 20 million people ? a majority of
the poor ? lived in households where someone
worked during the year. _
? About 5.5 million people living in poor
families with children were part of a family con
taining a member who worked full-time, year
round.
While most ot the working poor are white,
African Americans are more likely to be in low
wage jobs and to be poor. More than two out of
five minority working families with children
have incomes low enough to qualify for EITC
income supplements.
So the EITC is critical to making work pay
and to alleviating the effects of poverty, a fact
recognized by President Clinton when he said, in
his State of the Union Address:
"By expanding the refundable earned
have incomes below $12,000, establish a small,
new credit for poor workers without children,
and simplify the EITC.
The Clinton plan drew wide support from
conservatives and liberals alike ? no surprise
since it is an effective, pro-family, pro- work pro
posal.
But now, that plan is in trouble, along with
the rest of the President's economic package.
Resistance to tax hikes for the affluent and for
business is leading Congress to look for bigger
spending cuts, gutting much of the economic
stimulus program. .
Expansion of the EITC should not be the
victim of such budget slashing. Congress should
be at least as concerned with the plight of the
working poor as it is with the special interests
seeking to preserve their privileges.
A higher minimum wage would raise the
incomes of the working poor ? today's mini
mum wage is about 22 percent lower, atter
adjusting for inflation, than it was in the 1970s.
A boost in the minimum wage would also result
in lower federal spending on the EITC. But Con
gressional opposition has led the President to
delay plans to raise the minimum or to index it
to the inflation rale.
That leaves the expansion of the EITC as
the last hope for low-wage workers to climb out
of poverty. Fairness and sound social policy sug
gest that Congress should pass the EITC expan
sion without diluting it
History of Sambo's eh, Denny's
1 .istcn to the conversations going on in the ?
Carolinas these days: "Denny's practices racism
and that's wrong!
"Yeah, but they have this tentative agree
ment with the NAACP, and their Fair Share pro
gram is right!"
"No, Jeny Richardson, CEO of the Spartan
burg, S.C. -based TW Services (now Flagstar
Companies Inc.) has simply put the old wine of
racism into new wineskins. His 17-story tower
just takes the old plantation model to new verti
cal heights while maintaining the age-old racial
stereotypes, discriminatory hiring and promotion
practices, and a plantation-style management
mentality. It's only a new form of colonial disre
, | ft
spect
"Even so, the people of Charlotte deserve
an NFL expansion team!"
"Yeah, but the National Rainbow Coalition
has a point! You can't put 'playing' over moral
'principle.*"
Why all this controversy? How did
Denny's, Hardee's, TW Services and Flagstar
come to be? Who is Jerry Richardson anyway?
Where did he come from? What is his history?
The answer to these historic questions may
shed some light on the current controversy. In
the early 1960s ? before the Civil Rights Act,
the Voting Rights Act or the Open Housing Act
? Jerry Richardson opened a Hardee's restau
new headquarters in Spartanburg. In return,
Richardson brought them not only a lily-white
physical structure, but a lily-white internal struc
ture as well ? continued to this day when, last
week, Flagstar elected 10 white males to their
board of directors.
In February 1992, the local NAACP,
headed by Charles Davis, brought allegations of
racial strife and Richardson promised "immedi
ate" action. In July more allegations by the local
NAACP, more promises by Richanlson. No
"Fair Share" agreement was discussed, but in
September TW Services initiated "Project 2000"
to deal with their human-relations/human
resources (translated racial) problems. How do I
know all of this? I was the general counsel for
the Spartanburg NAACP.
Then came the California racial discrimina
tion suit; the April 1, 1993 Justice Department
consent decree, and on the same day the denial
of service to black Secret Service agents on their
way to protect President Clinton ? and the alle
gations of racial discrimination keep on coming
from cities and states around the country, north
and south, east and west
Flagstar says they have an agreement "in
principle" with the National NAACP for a "Fair
Share" agreement But what's in the agreement?
Who will benefit and how? How can the average
black business person get some business from
rant on Kennedy Street
in Spartanburg. Hudson
Barksdale Jr., the son
of the first African
American state repre
sentative from Spartan
burg County, recalls
having to "go around to.
the back door of
GUEST COLUMNIST
By JAMES A. CHEEK
Hardee's to be served." In other words, contro
versy over racial discrimination has plagued
Richardson from the beginning, at its roots.
In the 1970s, Jerry Richardson and Charlie
Bradshaw, by then co-owners of a chain of
Hardee's, began to exercise their economic mus
cle in a local political and civic life of Spartan
burg. Roy Henderson ? a former high school
principal, basketball coach, NAACP branch
president and cuirently city councilman ? com
plained (then) thai blacks could not expect to be
quarterbacks, head coaches or hold other sports
leadership positions because of the racism of the
high school Booster Club. The leaders in the
Rooster Club? Jerry Richardson and Charlie
Bradshaw! We are talking about roots.
In Uk 1980s, Denny's grew by taking over
many of the stores owned by another restaurant
chain. Sambo's ? a racially derogatory term
used by many whites in reference to blacks ?
and converted them to Denny's. Apparently the
name changed, but the game remained the same.
With the aid of valuable tax incentives and
financial breaks from the local government ?
including black tax dollars ? Jerry Richardson,
a former Baltimore Colt football player, built a
Flagstar? Or a job? The economic "moral
covenants'* that Operation PUSH signs and
signed with corporations ? Coca Cola,
Anheuser Busch, Quaker Oats, Millers, Seven
Eleven, etc. ? are public. The papers report that
the NAACP 'Tair Share" agreements are private
? i.e., just between the NAACP and Flagstar.
How does the public know it's fair? And who
gets to share?
Also, since "injustice anywhere is a threat
to justice everywhere," does the NAACP Tair
Share" agreement include non-discrimination
against Asian Americans, Hispanic Americans,
Native Americans and white women? They
experience discrimination in America loo.
Denny's did not just begin to discriminate
on April 1, 1993, when this issue surfaced in
such a public way. Denny's has a pattern and
practice of discrimination with a 30-year history.
But, as the election of an all-white male 10
member board of directors makes clear, the pat
tern of racial and gender exclusion, rather than
the spirit of racial and gender inclusion, remains
intact. In other words, the racial crisis facing
Denny's has roots.
Remembering the Dream
DETROIT ? Martin Luther King lit (center) Joins thousands of people as they marched in downtown Detroit last Saturday
to commemorate the 30th anniversary of a freedom walk led by Martin Luther King Jr . It was after the march 30 years ago
that King delivered an early version of the " I Have A Dream H speech that electrified the nation later that summer in Wash
ington, D.C.
A Real Life "To Tell the Truth"
Remember "To Tell the Truth?** Each week the television
show's celebrity panel tried to determine which of three indi
viduals was telling the truth about his/her identity. Each of the
three were believable, sincere and truly looked the part At the
end, the announcer would ask for "the real" so and so to
"please stand up." Each would appear to be ready to stand, but
the impostors remained seated and the "realH individual stood
to be recognized
The current controversy surrounding Winston's Salem's
All-American City application seems somewhat like a real-life
"To Tell the Truth" ? lots of people trying to get the "real"
Winston-Salem to please stand up.
Applying for the designation seemed like a good enough
idea ? we'd get to put neat additions on our city limit signs
that said "Ail-American City, 1993," and our economic recruit
ing material would get some sizzle.
But this seemingly good (and harmless) idea
has become a controversy that centers on whether
the City of Winston-Salem is "telling the truth." The
application for the award ? and the passing over of
Winston-Salem as an All-American City ? has led
to reactions of anger, frustration and disappoint
ment, as well as name-calling by many of the citi
zens of our community. "It's your fault!" "If only m iBM
I had the opportunity to serve on the application committee
for the All-American designation ? an award that recognizes
cities for community progress and improvement through citi
zen action, effective organization and community collabora
tion. The criteria for receiving this designation are demon
strated by collaborative approaches to solving problems;
successful community action involving the public, private and
non-profit sectors; and pro-active citizen involvement.
The application required a description of three community
building projects that exemplify the All-American criteria.
After a lot of discussion on which projects would best meet the
criteria for the award, we highlighted Common Vision, the
CIAA Basketball Tournament and the Winston-Salem/Forsyth
County Coalition on Alcohol and Drugs Community Action
group.
Common Vision was a real achievement for Winston
Salem. Some would ask, though, "What has changed since the
report was published?" Winning the bid for the CIAA Basket
ball Tournament was a result of the community ? black and
white ? working together to bring a major black event to the
city. But is this event more about economics than overcoming
cultural diversity? Will the "real" Winston-Salem please stand
up?
In addition to demonstrating the impact of the projects in
the community, the application committee completed a com
munity self-evaluation based on a 10-category civic index. The
p
components of the index serve as a description of the types of
(skills and processes that must be present for a community to
effectively deal with its specific and unique concerns.
After a five-month process of discussing the projects we
chose to highlight and our completion of the self-evaluation, ?
the application was ready to be submitted. Our community
building projects met the test for collaborative approaches to
solving problems ? and could indeed qualify Winston-Salem ~~
for All-American City status. We knew that receiving the des
ignation would not indicate that the city is without a blemish,
but rather it would show we have identified our challenges,
evaluated our civic infrastructure and are working together to
improve the quality of life. So it was off to Florida to "tell the
truth" and bring back the gold. .
Then the unthinkable! The "letter" that has stirred emo
tions to the boiling point ? the defining moment that some say
GUEST COLUMNIST
By NIGEL D. ALSTON
derailed our chances. Finger-pointing. Name-calling. Numer
ous letters to the editor. The audacity of a city-elected official
to mar our good reputation like that!
The "letter" continues to be the focus of attention and
much discussion, but it's really not the issue. Our opportunity
to be designated an All-American City is over for now. Does it
mean we are not deserving of the award? No. Does it mean we
are not making progress? No. Does it mean we still have deep
rooted issues to resolve? Definitely!
There is a feeling among a segment of the community that
the city is not worthy of the designation at this time due to the
key incidents and problems in the community that outweigh the
good. Others in the community assume living peacefully means
we have good relationships with each other and, if certain peo
ple remain quiet, everything will be all right Who is telling the
truth?
The word "Crisis" in Chinese is represented by two charac
ters that mean "dangerous opportunity." The opposing view
points appear to be a crisis, but actually present a challenge to
overcome the seeds of mistrust ? the emptiness of not winning1
the designation. So let's not shoot the messenger; instead of
pointing fingers, let's reach down deep inside and demonstrate
the character of an All-American City.
The moment of truth is now and everyone is watching. It's
a dangerous opportunity. All-American City? You be the
judge.
Will the real Winston-Salem please stand up!
VOICES FROM THE COMMUNITY
In 1776, the 13 American colonies declared their independence from England. Americans decided to honor the rev
olution on July 4th. Blacks, however, were still enslaved during this period. The Chronicle asked local residents whether
African Americans should celebrate Independence Day. Here are their responses:
Belinda McCullough, 32
E.G. Forrest
""We should celebrate
the Fourth of July because it
is a day of independence.
We are free now and we are
now able to do our own
thing. We aren't doing what
whites want us to do, and
we are able to enjoy oppor
tunities.**
Jay Moore, 19
Hardee's
"Although it is an inde
pendence day for whites, it's
not going to stop. It doesn't
matter to me because it has
always been a time to get
together."
r ISUVHIM
Reginald Lamp kins, 37
Freelancer
"Independence Day is
for all nationalities.
Remember "liberty and jus
tice for all** During slavery
we could not celebrate
because we were in
bondage. Now we can cele
brate all the victories."
Janice Heath, 37
Wilson and Cook Medical
"Independence should
be celebrated all year long.
If you don't recognize your
freedom before the Fourth,
you never had it. The only
freedom I know is Jesus. If
you don't have Jesus, you
don't have independence."