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EDITORIAL AND OPINION/Ittt C)aiUiRt $ot
Thursday, December 8, 2005
Wt)e Cljarlotte
The Voice of the Black Community
1531 Camden Road Charlotte. N.C. 2R203
Gerald O. Johnson ceo/publisher
Robert L Johnson CO-PUBLISHER/GENERAL MANAGER
Herbert /- White EorrOR in chief
MATTTERS OF OPINION
House’s
spotty AIDS
recoid
Shifting burden of funding
onto American families isn’t
the way to handle epidemic
By Phill Wilson
NATtONAI. Nty/SCAPER PUBUSHERS ASSOCIATION
President Bush marked World AIDS Day with a moving and
remarkable speech. “At the start of this century,” the president
offered, “AIDS causes suffering from remote villages of Africa to
the heart of America’s big cities. This danger is multiplied by
indifference and coniplacency This danger will be overcome by
compassion, honesty, and decisive action.”
Unfortunately, those words articulate a clarity of vision emd
purpose that we are sorely lacking in Washington, D.C., today
In the speech, President Bush ticked off his administi ation’s
domestic achievements in frghting AIDS. He described “funding
H that brings life-saving drugs and treatment to
hundreds of thousands of low-income Americans”
and has t\imed AIDS into “a long-term illness like
heart disease or diabetes.”
Yet, Congress is right now frnahzing a budget —
shoved through by this White House — that will •
transfer the costs of our state-nm public health
insurance programs onto the desperately poor
families those programs were intended to help.
The Medicaid budget recently passed by the
House would cut tens of millions of dollars out of the program by
removing federal regulations that limit how much states may
force beneficiaries to put up in co-pays and premiums, among
otlier “savings” taken out of consumers’ pockets. Worse, analysts
prc?dict that the savings will come not from the actual co- pays
but by discouraging people in the program from actually seeking
care
Medicaid is the nation’s largest payer for AIDS treatment.
Meanwhile, the AIDS Drug Assistance Program, which funds
tuiti-HIV drugs for uninsured people with HIV/AIDS, continues
to teeter on the brink of coUapse ~ the victim of malign ne^ect
on behalf of federal purse-holders. As of September 2005, 2,187
Americans were on waiting fists to get medication thioug^
ADAP, A little more than 1,300 of those people were getting med
ication throu^ an emeigency flmding program that will expire
in March. Why? Because year after year Congress and the
Wliite House have w6rked together to drastically underfund the
ADAP program.
Meanwhile, our community is being disproportionately killed
by AIDS — much like we are by the president’s examples of
heart disease and diabetes. Afiican- Americans — who rely far
more heavily on public insurance programs for AIDS care —
remain seven times more likely to die from an HIV infection
once they get it than Whites.
The president also ri^tly reminded us all that HTV/AIDS is “a
special concern in the gay community, which has effectively
fought this disease for decades through education and preven-
ticHi.” He added that AIDS is “increasin^y found among women
and minorities.” That’s one reason why it is unfortunate that,
luider this administration, funding for abstinence-only sex edu
cation in our schools has more than doubled. Abstinence-only
education teaches that the only way to protect yourself from HIV
and other STDs is to not have sex outside erf heterosexual mar
riage. Such “educaticaial” programs typically bar instructors
from (fisaissing how to use condoms at all.
The Black AIDS Institute applauds President Bush’s moving
words on Worid AIDS Day - for an administration in which the
vice president acknowledged just over a year ago that he hadn’t
realized the intensity of the epidemic among African-American
wonien - that is certainly progress. We now urge the adminis
tration and Congress to start putting action behind their words
on the other 364 days of the year.
THII2. WIISON is founder ami Executive Director of the Black AIDS
Institute in 1ms Ani^eles. He has participated in numerous international
(vnfererk'es on AIDS and was selected by the Ford Foundation in 2(X)1 as
one of “Twenty Ijeaders for a Changing }M)rld. “ W/vo/i has been Ining
with HIV for more than 25years and with AIDS for 15 years. He can be
readied at PhiltwCdBUk h^DSorg.
Abstinence-only education
teaches that the only way
to protect yourself from
HIV and other STDs Is to
not have sex outside of
hetorosexual marriage.
Taking Christ out of Christmas
George E.
Curry
This is the season to be jolly,
but you’d never know it, con
sidering all the attacks on
Christmas. In a well-intend
ed but misguided effort to be
more inclu
sive of other
religions,
some govern
ment units,
businesses
and civic
groups are
luging every
one to stop
_______ saying,
“Merry
Christmas” and replace it
with a bland, and presum
ably more acceptable, “Happy
Holidays.”
This is where I part compa
ny with many of my liberal
frien4s. The purpose of
Christmas — the commercial
ization issue not withstand
ing - is to celebrate the birth
of Jesus Christ, which is
recounted in the first chapter
of Matthew, beginning with
verse 18.
As a Christian, I make no
apolc^es for celebrating my
faith. There is no getting
around it: Christmas is about
the birth of Christ. Period. It
would be the ultimate insult
to relegate Jesus to the back
ground in an effort not to
offend non-Christians. We
can celebrate the birth of our
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
while wishing our Jewish
friends, for example, a Happy
Hanukkah. The two are not
mutually exclusive.
Like it or not, the reality is
tliat this nation was founded
by Christians and estab
lished, at least in principle,
on Judeo-Christi^ values.
TTie Founding Fathers, most
of whom owned slaves, did
not always exhibit the
Christian spirit but they at
least held it up as an ideal. So
much so that our currency
still reads, “In God we Thist.”
At Christmas, the last people
that should be offended are
Christians. But that is exact
ly what’s been happening in
recent years.
A controversy erupted in
Boston recently over what to
call their city’s 48-foot spruce
tree in a December 1 ceremo
ny The city’s Web site called
it a “holiday tree” instead of a
Christmas tree and that
touched off an angry back
lash, especially among
Christian conservatives.
Evangelist Jerry Falwell told
Fox television, “There has
been a concerted effort to
steal Christmas.”
City official finally relented.
Boston Mayor Thomas
Menino told reporters that he
would keep calling the spruce
a “Christmas tree.” He
explained, “I grew up with a
Christmas tree. I’m going to
stay with a Christmas tree,”
Some of the back-and-forth
over what to call the trees,
has taken place with less fan
fare.
Until the late 1990s, the
lighted, decorated tree on the
West Lawn of the U S.
Capitol was called a
Christmas tree. Someone
came up with, shall we say
the bri^t idea of referring to
it as the Holiday TVee. Now,
House Speaker Dennis
Haster (R-Ill.) has instructed
federal officials to return to
the old name — the Capitol
Christmas TVee.
Last year, California Gov
Arnold Schwarzenegger
reversed a decision by his
predecessor, former Gov.
Gray Davis, and began refer
ring to the state’s Christmas
tree, not a Holiday TVee.
It’s astounding how far
some have gone in recent
years to be politically correct
— or incorrect, depending on
your point of view.
Last year, the Plano, Tfexas
Independent School District'
banned students from wear
ing red and green at their
winter break parties because
they were considered
Christmas colors. Students
were forbidden from
exchanging giits with reli
gious messages on them,
apparently fearing “Merry
Christmas” and reindeers
mi^t offend others.
While that was happening
in Tfexas, the Maplewood and
South Orange, N.J. combined
school system was banning
Christmas carols, even those
about Santa Claus.
Christmas without “Silent
Ni^t” and “Hark the Herald
Angels Sing?” I can’t even
imagine it and I have a pret
ty ludd imagination. I sup
pose that would be tanta
mount to trying to have an
Easter egg hunt without
eggs. Ooops, I guess if we’re
not suppose to make refer
ences to the birth of Christ,
then celebrating his resurrec
tion is really off-limits. My
bad.
Speaking of bad, things got
so bad that a public school in
Wisconsin told students to
change religious words in
Christmas carols for an
upcoming concert. In Jackson
County, Ga., they reportedly
banned certain jewelry,
which would presumably
include pins that read, “Jesus
is the Reason for the Season.”
Finally, let me address the
political aspects of this con
troversy Make no mistake
about it; the driving force
behind reclaiming Christmas
is conservatives, through
such organizations as the
Alliance Defense Fund and
Liberty Counsel, both affiliat
ed with Jerry Falwell. The
televangelist and others at
the forefix)nt of this move
ment also actively oppose
affirmative action and otiier
social programs that I sup
port
But as a fi^ thinker, I don’t
take positions only if ri^t-
wingers don’t take them.
They are not part of my
thought process. We should
take positions because they
are right and not oppose a
view simply because it is sup
ported by the Right. And if we
get confused, we can always
fall back on: What Would
Jesus Do?
Merry Christmas!
GEORGE E. CURRY is editor-
in-chief ofthe NNPA News Service
and BlackPressUSA.com. He
appears on National Public Radio
three limes a week as part of
"News and Notes with Ed
Gordon.” His web site is:
w'ww.georgecurrycom.
Freedom, believe it or not, is not free
Ron
Walters
During the Thanksgiving
holidays I listened to an
interview of Bruce Gordon,
the new head of the NAACP
with Brian Lamb on C-
SPAN’s “Questions and
Answers” programs. It was
interesting and mostly about
Gordon’s fife
and his per
spective on
the work of
the NAACP.
One thing
struck me:
the budget of
the oi^aniza-
tion is now
$24 million a
year. So, one of Gordon’s
objectives is to raise enou^
mcHiey to endow parts of the
organization. Tb me, that
should be an easy task, but I
want to call attention here to
the contradiction betweai the
vastness of our expectations
of such organizations and the
lack our measuring i^) to the
funding necessary to meet
them
Why do I say that? Well
let’s see: Forward Lattrell
Sprewell was mad at the
Knicks because he didn’t
make the average salary of
$5 million per year^ wide
receiver Tbrrell Owens (fissed
the Iffiiladelphia Eagles
because his $46 millicm 10-
year contract wasn’t enough;
Halle Berry and Denzel
Washington now are aMe to
demand $7 to $10 million per
movie; we have scores of
Black miifionaires in signifi
cant corporate jobs beginning
with the CEO of Time
Warner Coip.; the budget of
Howard University, a black
organization, is now more
than $500 million per year,
and Oprah Wuffiey and Bob
Johnson (and his ex-wife,
Sheila) are black billionaires.
In fact, I could put k^ther
100 black people with dispos
able incomes of $1 million per
year, an amoimt that would
triple the NAACP budget, but
just one of the billionaires
could endow the entire orga
nization.
My point is that there is
something wrong with our
commitment to achieving
social justice that affects our
integrity when our fighbug
organizations have among
the lowest budgets in the
black community. Why
shouldn’t the NAAC!P nation
al budget be at least $50 to
$100 million per year? Our
pe(^le have benefited fixan
the l^al genius that fou^t
to provide for integrated edu-
caticai in both K-12 and white
colleges and universities, so
that the black middle class
could go throu^ and take
advantage of the opportuni
ties that now yield them
untold riches.
The coiirage of many over
came barriers to home owner
ship. business ownership,
access to pofitical power, and
leveraged these assets to
become players in the corpo
rate world, managing billions
of other peoples money but
very often deciding not to give
back to blacks.
In a substantial way, we
have become comfortable
with that decision and settled
for the chump change that is
doled out by black surrogates
of m^or corporations who
give just enou^ to get our
organizations through a
given annual conference with
the sponsorship of receptions,
the purchase of booth spaces
and modest contributions to
the overall causes.
The pain is that this kind of
funding is not consistent witii
our clout within the
Democratic Party or with our
dout in the consumer market
for autos, CDs, DVDs, sneak-
movies or other things.
In short, we forgo the millions
upon millions of dollars that
our causes deserve and
accept that which settles
everybody’s conscience and
avoids confix)ntation. It’s a
cozy relationship, but ulti
mately lacking in integrity,
htmesty and substance
So, let me ask agaiiL Why
are our fighting organiza
tions the leeist well off?
Politically it could be because
their mandate is to speak
truth to power. But the
nature of the truth is gentile
enou^ to keep the chump
change coming. This is not a
white proWern, because the
leadership of American corpo
rations have followed the
path of least resistance with
black leaders for along time.
It is a problem that exists
with our leadership not dri
ving a hard enou^ fine with
neither whites nor blacks, in
revealing the scope of
resources such as; staff,
research, press, facilities,
publication, mobilization,
and etc. necessary to be effec
tive in an era dominated by
conservatism, and by the lack
of black sodal movement.
Here, they could learn from
the brash yputh who run part
of the hip-hop universe who
have the gut8,. tp demand
money their art and to
throw down if they don’t get
it.
I don’t mean to elevate the
hip-hc^jpers too h^h howev
er, because they are, in some
ways, worse than the black
middle class, raising billions
of serious cash and not know
ing or caring how to positive
ly impact the quality of fife
for most black people. Tb see
the massive economic
resources wasted in the rap
per’s world of mindless mate
rialism £tnd the lack of a
strat^c direction for mass
development, is to see the
missing element in the
resources for our grassroots
sodal and pofitical strug^e
and the seeds of new black
controlled corporate empirpa
RON WALTERS is a professor
of politics at the University of
Maryland College Park.