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ClRCl'I \TIOV
Giving Thanks
in the Midst of |
Struggle
Marc
Moria]
Guest
Columnist
1 '"Make a joyful noise
unto the Lord, all ye lands .
fLnter into his gates with
thanksgiving, and into his
courts With praise ..." - from
Psalm 100
Many of you may be
reading this column between
the last bites of left over
turkey. If so, that is reason
enough for continued thanks.
My job as president of
the National Urban League
is to be a constant advocate
for change that will better
the lives of millions of our
brothers and sisters who are
struggling for a seat at the
table in this land of plenty.
But this is the season for
joining together and reflect
ing with thanks for all that
we have and all that we have
achieved together this past
year.
I am not suggesting that
we ignore the news about
our flailing economy and
record job losses. I simply
ask that we pause to remem
ber that a 6.5 percent unem
ployment rate means that
93.5 percent of us are still
working.
Let us remember that just
a few months ago, many of
us were wondering how we
were going to fill up the gas
tank to get to grandmother's
house this year. Today, gas
prices in some places have
fallen to under $2.
And when this year
began, hardly anyone
expected that a young
African American Senator
named Barack Obama would
become the 44th President of
the United States. Record
turnout on November 4th
was symptomatic of a resur
gence of optimism and
empowerment among "We
the People" all across this
country.
The National Urban
League and its affiliates also
have much to be thankful for
today. Our programs, poli
cies and publications are
touching the lives of more
than 80 million men, women
and children. The work we
have done just this year has
helped more than 1.3 million i
people find jobs, save their
homes from foreclosure,
expand businesses or begin
college. As an organization,
we are structurally and
financially strong and poised
to be an even greater force
for good in the coming year.
finally, as we nave
enjoyed the long
Thanksgiving holiday week
end and now look forward to
the entire holiday season, I
ask you to consider the
words of our 16th president,
Abraham Lincoln, who in
the midst of the Civil War
and in the same year of his
Emancipation Proclamation,
decreed a national
Thanksgiving Day to be cel
ebrated on the final
Thursday of November,
1863:
"The year that is drawing
towards its close, has been
filled with the blessings of
fruitful fields and healthful
skies. To these boun
ties... others have been
added, which are of so
extraordinary a nature, that
they cannot fail to penetrate
and soften even the heart
which is habitually insensi
ble to the ever watchful
providence of Almighty
God. ..No human counsel
hath devised nor hath any
mortal hand worked out
these great things. They are
the gracious gifts of the
Most High God...
It has seemed to me fit
and proper that they should
be gratefully acknowledged
as with one heart and voice
by the whole American peo
ple. I do therefore invite my
fellow citizens. ..to set apart
and observe the last
Thursday of November next,
as a day of Thanksgiving and
Praise to our beneficent
Father who dwelleth in the
Heavens."
Let us adopt this procla
mation for all year through.
Marc H. Morial is presi
dent and CEO of the
National Urban League.
Shopping Your Blessing
Julianne
Malveaux
Guest
Columnist
When my Thanksgiving
Day paper came, it was as
thick as a Sunday paper. There
were just four sections - a
scant 65 pages or so - of news
and features combined into
sections described as News,
Local, Life and Sports. These
sections, excellently rendered,
by the way, were dwarfed by
the hundreds of pages of
advertising from every depart
ment store in the universe and
in the immediate vicinity. The
message was buy, buy, buy.
To be sure, there were
sales, stuff that had been
reduced by%s much as 75 per
cent in price. There were
opportunities, but there was
also a sense of being over
whelmed by the ways that one
could save. Is this genuflection
to consumerism really a sav
ings !
Here's the deal. We know
that people in these United
States are stressed up and
tapped out. That people can't
pay their rent or their mort
gages. That people are getting
laid off and disconnected from
the labor market. That the
sluggish economy is faltering
because people aren't spend
ing. But what are they to
spend?
It is profoundly irresponsi
ble for retailers to suggest that
economic success hinges on
the ability "of broke people
continue their indebtedness.
Yet it seems that retailers, in
their own self-interest, are bar
raging people with the mes
sage that buying is flying, that
spending is mending our frac
tured economy. Give me a
break.
Instead of engaging people
in the fine art of spending
money, we ought to be
engaged in the act of encour
aging fiscal responsibility.
Instead of burying people
with circulars that suggest that
40 50 or 60 percent off is a
good deal, there ought to be a
responsible retail community
that says that the best deal is
responsible spending.
Instead, there has been a
scary connection between the
Thanksgiving holiday and the
call to spend. It is almost as if
people are being asked to shop
their blessings, to connect the
act of giving thanks with the
act of spending money. This is
not a good thing.
And so on this day that is
called "Black Friday," people
are standing outside stores at 5
a.m. attempting to get their
blessing. They are looking for
the good deals, waiting for the
breaks, when their best break
might be to stay at home and
save their money. We will get
past this "Black Friday" (not
racial, just an indication that
companies finish the year in
the black because of post
Thanksgiving spending), peo
ple will be encouraged to
spend, both for their own
enhancement and because the
economy . needs it. What if we
all stay home?
There is a special message
for the African American com
munity, a community of over
spenders. We can't spend our
way into self-esteem, spend
our way into equality. We can't
spend to make up for pain and
hurt. Our spending in the pres
ent hurts us in the future. We
have to be clear about the con
sequences of shopping or
spending our way into_
ing:
But there is a messa;
all of the spenders wh
hostage to the circulars,
messages that say spe:
make it better. There i
enough spending to fu
economy. We are standin
foundation of shifting si
foundation of broken pi
es, crippled dreams, and
tured ideals. We really
spend our way out o:
mess. So we need to be
about the mixed messagt
come from our thought
ers, who preach frugali
one hand and ask us to
fools of ourselves on am
The best gift we m
able to give young peo
the gift of frugal thit
There is no blessing w
shop for, only a blessii
can live. We can't sho
way into giving thanks, a
can't save our econon
being crazy with our spei
When the newspaper,
with ads, hits our doorste
have to understand ths
cannot shop ourselves
freedom, only into a s)
known as debt. We can'i
up a blessing, just the i
that consumer goods ai
measure of our person.
Integrity demands tb
reject shopping as ecoi
freedom.
Economist Jul
Malveaux is Preside i
Bennett College for W
She can be reached at pn
nett@bennett .edu .
World AIDS Day and Obama
Phill
Wilson
Guest
Columnist
Dec. 1 was World AIDS
day, and I'm thinking about
President-elect Barack
Obama.
As a 52-year-old Black
gay man with HIV, I have
many reasons to welcome
the inauguration of Barack
Obama. A big one is that an
Obama administration has
enormous potential to rein
vigorate a struggle that has
been allowed to flag over the
last eight years: our national
fight against HIV/AIDS.
With our countrv facine
so many national challenges
- two wars, a financial melt
down, and the growing threat
of environmental devastation
- it may be tempting to rele
gate the AIDS epidemic to
the lower rung of ^'national
priorities.
Yet, that would be a
grave mistake. Every year,
more than 56,000 people in
this country contract HIV.
The devastation is worst
among Black Americans,
who represent nearly half of
all new HIV infections,
including two-thirds of the
new cases among women
and 70 percent of the new
cases among adolescents.
AIDS clearly has affected
Black folks more than oth
ers. But as Senator Obama
said in 2006: "We are all sick
because of AIDS - and we
are all tested by this crisis. It
is a test not only of our will
ingness to respond, but of
our ability to look past the
artificial divisions and
debates that have often
shaped that response."
AIDS, in short, is a sick
ness at the very heart of the
American family. Like any
family, America must
respond to the sickness in its
midst by displaying both sol
idarity for those who are liv
ing with HIV and a determi
nation to make sure no one
else gets infected.
We cannot relegate the
AIDS fight to the govern
ment alone, not even with
President Obama at the
helm. So, here are several
high-priority actions that
Americans and our new gov
ernment, together, should
immediately take to reinvig
orate our fight against
HIV/AIDS:
? Support ^-efforts to
develop a NatWnal AIDS
Strategy.
The U.S. government
requires all foreign countries
that receive assistance from
the President's Emergency
Plan for AIDS Relief (PEP
FAR) to have a national
strategy to respond to
HIV/AIDS. Shockingly,
America has no national
strategy for its own epidem
ic.
? Partner with the Obama
administration to strengthen
HIV prevention.
HIV prevention acc
for a paltry 4 percent 01
spending by the federal
ernment on don
HIV/AIDS programs. '
an outrage.
? Make knowledj
HIV status a universal
munity norm.
The CDC estimate)
more than one in five p
living with HIV don't
they are infected. Sucb
pie are often diagnos?
in the course of dii
which significantly re
life expectancy.
? Deliver treatmer
those who need them.
We need to insist
Congressional appropr
deliver the funding tl
urgently needed to at
this national priority.
? Build comm
capacity on AIDS
Throughout much <
HIV/AIDS epidemic,
stream Black organize
stayed on the sidelines.
The new administ
offers enormous promi:
a new day in our na
long struggle af
HIV/AIDS. How
President Obama am
team won't be able to
vigorate the national
response on their own.
roll up our sleeves and
work.
Yes, we can!
Phill Wilson is exei
director and CEO o
Black AIDS Institute.