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4A EDITORIAL AND OPINION/CQarloRe $o«t Thursday, May 4, 2006 Cljarlotte The Voice of the Black Community 1531 Camden Road Charlotte. N.C. 28203 Gerald O. Johnson ceo/publisher Robert L Johnson co-publisher/general manager Herbert L White editor in chief MATTERS OF OPINION Rxto help black elders’ manage cestef THe /inAcepoNiA PreSCriPlIenS Another ‘Day of Absence’ in U.S. Black seniors can take advantage of Medicare’s Part D benefit By Marie Smith SPECIAL TO THE POST • For years, AARP pushed for prescription drug covers to be added to Medicare. The new Part D drug benefit represents Medicare’s most significant change in its 40-year history Millions of older Americans and individuals with disabilities are realizing substantial savir^ throu^ Part D, while being pro tected fix)m unseen costs in the future. This is a vital opportunity for older African Americans to get help paying for their medications. But Afiican American enroll ment in Part D has been low, to date. Dr. Sandra L. Gadson, President of the National Medical Association (the largest Afiican American professional health organization), recently issued a call to action to Afiican American community leaders to push for greater participation. AAEP is adding its voice to Dr. Gadson’s. Medicare beneficiaries need to know about this new benefit and that they must enrol] before the May 15 deadline. Beneficiaries with limited incomes may qualify for extra help, which means they do not have to pay deductibles or monthly premiiuns, and their co-pays for medications are very low - in some cases, nearly all prescription costs are covered AAEP is working hard to help Afiican Americans with limited incomes imderstand the new coverage and to be aware of the extra help that qualified individuals can receive. Six to seven million beneficiaries nationwide may be eligible for extra help, yet ^ far only 1.5 million have been qualified. For North Carolina individuals with income less than $14,700 per year or couples with annual income less than $19,800, a simple, toll-free call to SHUP - The North Carolina Seniors’ Health Insurance Information Program is the best way to find out about extra help (1-800- 443-9354). Someone at that number will refer individuals to a trained counselor in their own community AAEP volimteers across the country are educating communi ties about Medicare’s new prescription drug benefit. Information on AAEP’s website - AAEP. org - and in our fi:ee booklets explains the new benefit and the extra help in laymen’s terms. Booklets can be downloaded fiom the website or ordered by calling AAEP, 888-687-2277. Selecting a prescription drug plan in Medicare Part D involves time and effort, but it’s worth it. Some beneficiaries haven’t enrolled because they already have “creditable” prescription drug coverage through an employer or other source, meaning their cover^e is considered to be at least as good as a Part D plan. For these beneficiaries, there is no penalty if they don’t enroll- AH others who don’t enroll by May 15 wfil pay increas ingly higher premiums the longer they wait and will not be able to get coverage until January 2007. For Medicare beneficiaries who have strolled to afford costly prescriptions, help is finally here. EnroU now for immediate sav ings and long-term peace of mind. You’ll be glad you did. MARIE SMITH is president of the American Association of Retired Persons, a national advocacy group for mature adults and seniors. It’s no secret that oppressed groups in the United States and abroad — including women, the physically chal lenged, gays Smith cause. And most groups are quick to acknowledge that debt to Black America. But Monday’s “Day of Absence” by Latinos took it to a new level. “Day of Absence” was the title of a 1965 play by Douglas Turner Ward, founder and artistic director of the Negro Ensemble Company The play, set in a small community in the South, explores what would happened if aU of the town’s Black disappeared for a day So when I heard Hispanics discussing “a day of absence,” I realized that they had not only studied the Civil Rights Movement, they had paid attention to every detail. Evidently they know about a play that many African- Americans are unfamiliar with. I ain’t mad at ‘em, as we like to say but I am impressed that they had real ly done their homework. Initially Monday was to be a day that Hispanics boy cotted work, stayed out of school and refused to go shop ping in order to show the importance of Hispanics to the American economy However, that was modified because of dissention over whether undocumented workers would risk losing their jobs and keeping stu dents out of school woiild send the wrong message. The League of United Latin Americans, one of the key organizers, helped revamp the effort. ‘We are asking individuals to keep from spending a penny that day” LULAC National President Hector M. flores said in a statement. ‘We are also asking students to stay in school on that day and not make any purchases. We do not want children out of school or people missing work without permission fix)m their employers. We ask that people be disciplined and responsible and to show our respect yet make a clear statement.” Monday was also International Workers Day, a holiday that began in the 1880s. Flores said it is cele brated in every country except the U.S., Canada and South Africa. In making the case for a sensitive immigration pohcy Latino leaders point to a UCLA study by Raul Hinojosa that shows the com bined value of undocumented immigrants labor, stimulus to the economy and taxes acceeds $890 billion a year. According to the study those immigrant.^ lise Only $43 bil lion in pubhc services annual ly, most of it in education and emergency care. “Undocumented'' immi grants contribute about $850 bOlion more per year than they cost - a huge net gain for the United States,” said Brent TOlkes, national execu tive director of LULAC. ‘It’s about time that we provide a legal avenue for them to come here in recognition of their tremendous contributions to our coimtry” While Monday’s modified “Day of Absence” was met with mixed results, there is no doubt that Latino street demonstrations in more than 75 cities on April 10 showed that old dvil ri^ts tactics can still be effective. I empha size the word can. Sadly on the same day at least 500,000 were marching in Los Angeles, less than 10,000 - possibly less than 5,000 - African-Americans were marching in New Orleans to protect the voting rights of displaced residents. Even with Jesse Jackson, A1 Sharpton and the heads of die NAACP and the National Urban League present, the turnout was a disappoiiil- ment. If we can’t do any bet ter than that, it’s time for Act n. I don’t have aU of the answers and don’t know what should constitute Act IT. That should be a community deci sion. But I do know what it should not be; it should not be an over reliance on press con ferences and street demon strations. We shouldn’t rule demonstrations out, but we should use them more spar ingly It’s time to develop some different approaches. Let’s face it: There is an eagerness on the part of many to focus on the growing Hispanic population and ignore the long-standii^ needs that Blacks are enti tled to. It is our job, however, to stand up and be counted. This is not about being die flavor of the month, but, as Dr. Martin Luther King put it, coUecting on the bounced ' check, marked insufficient funds, that our nation has given its black citizens. As we attempt to collect on this overdue check, I guess Act n means not waiting on another Martin Luther Kir^ Jr., Malcolm X, Whitney Young, Roy Wilkins, Huey P. Newton or Stokely Carmichael. Act II can begin by doing what we can do as individuals and groups to uphft the people who need it most. Sometimes that mi^t be through organized civil rights groups and at other times it may mean an indi vidual act. Whatever we do, we can’t afford to be absent fix)m the struggle. GEORGE E. CURRY is editor- in-chief of the NNPA News Service and BlackPressUSAeom.- Liar, Liar, beware of spreading political fire in Washington Someone said, “Get all the fools on your side and you can be elected to anything.” More and more, as I watch and listen to the “Resident,” I am convinced that there must be a lot of fools who vote. Don’t miss rmder- stand; a fool is not necessari ly someone who is unin formed or uneducated. Remember om grandpar ents calling people, ‘Educated fools?” The evidence abounds that this country has an abxm- dance of fools, many of whom are well educated, wealthy and refined, that continue to support the Resident ^d the ridiculous things he says and does. First of all, let’s call it like it is. The Resident is a har; Rumsfeld is a har; Cheney is a har; and Condoleezza Rice is a har. No need to recount all the hes they have told; if you have paid just a httle attention to them you know they are ah. hars. And let’s not use euphemisms like “misspoken words,” “misin- • terpretations,” “taken out of context.” No, they are plain and sim ple hes, and the folks runnii^ this country are plain and simple hars. It would require reams of paper to dte ah of the prob lems caused by these hars and the hes they have told - and continue to tell. Remarkably, most of us know they are lying, but we refuse to cah them on it. Consequently we find om- selves in a quagmire in Iraq, preparing for an unprece dented long-term presence in that country by building a $1 biUion Embassy, the largest in the world. Osama Bin Laden? The Resident says, ‘T don’t know where he is; I really don’t spend a lot of time on [lookir^ for him]. Say what? Our secretaries of Defense and State fly around the world, at our expense, arro gantly threatening other countries, and lying throi^h their teeth about how weh things are going in Iraq. Our “Mce” Resident is one who knows where, doing who knows what, raking in money (What was it? A $1.8 million tax refund?) fiom a company with which he said he has no financial interests: Halliburton. We have a new pr^s secre tary, one who now has to defend the policies of a guy he has trashed in the past. Talk about waffling; it is amaring what some people will do for 'politics. We have a laclduster, do nothing, imaccountable Congress that hardly ever works and sits idly by while the Resident lies, defies, and plays them like a bunch of idiots. Anyone who votes for a Coi^ressperson, a senator, or a governor who supports the current resident of 1600 Pennsjdvania Avenue should be given at least 30 days in jail. But fike I said, get all the fools, and I would add, all the liars, on your side and you can be elected to any office. Iraq is draining our trea sury and running up our debt, and the Resident wants even more money thrown into this bottomless pit, despite the suffering that continues in New Orleans where he rolls up his sleeves, dons a tool apron, drives a nail or two, and expects us to be impressed by his “compas sion.” Nearly a half-trillion dol lars spent in Iraq, record oil prices, gas pump shock and awe, indictments of high- level officials and CEOs, record profits by oil thieves, and the Resident’s answers: It’s hard work.” “We are addicted to oU.” “We’re ^ht- ing a war on terror.” Tb put us in a state of euphoria, the resident wants to save a few barrels of oil by not adding to the reserves, and his crew wants to give us a measly $100.00 to “ease the biuden” of high gas prices; while fhe head of Exxon gets $400 mil lion. What compassion! Some 2394 young people have been kUled in Iraq, and The Resident has the nerve to say they did not die in vain. How can that be true when they died for a lie? And to justify those deaths, our Resid^t says we must stay in Iraq and allow more sol diers to be killed. The Resident and his crew must be planning to have vacation homes in Iraq, and that’s why they are spending so much money there. Oh yes, and they don’t hke thdr future ndghbor, Iran; so let the gen- trification begin Using the same argument that got us into Iraq, they are now making every effort to justify going into Iran. The Resident doesn’t want Iranians to have “nuculer” capability nor even “nuculer” know-how. It’s aU right for India, Pakistan, North Korea, and Israel to have them, however. Maybe this country shoiild be the ones banned from having these weapons. • We are the only one to have ever used them, and are now threatening to use them on Iran. Liars, Liars, aU of them. They have taken this world to a new low and have presided over five and a half years of chaos, confusion, charades, and political comedy, that is, if you have the stomach to laugh at the Great Decider’s ignorant and childlike attempts at explaining him self to the American people. We have been bushwhacked for five years, and now we wfil subjected to a “Snow job” each time there is a White House press conference. What Ues (pardon the pm) ahead for us? God only knows, but in the meantime let’s do something. Gas prices? Select two or three local companies and do not support them, especially Exxon. JAMES E. CUNGMAN, a pro fessor at the University of Cincinnati, is former editor of the Cincinnati Herald newspaper.
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
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May 4, 2006, edition 1
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