OPINION
CHRON 1C LE
Ernest H. Pitt
Elaine Pitt
Michael A. Pitt
T. Kevi? Walker
Publisher/Co- Founder
Business Manager
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Managing Editor
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Press AssocoUon
MCT Photo
A Haitian man searches for food.
Help Haiti !
Kendrick
Meek
Guest"
Columnist
In light of the recent
worldwide food price increas
es, Haiti is facing an acute
economic crisis. Haiti is the
poorest nation in the Western
Hemisphere and is just 700
miles off the coast of my home
state of Florida. As
Americans, and especially as
African-Americans, we must
come to the aid of the Haitian
people.
In Haiti, where the typical
Haitian makes $2 a day, the
increase in food prices is
unsustainable for the typical
Haitian. In addition to the
food price crisis, Haiti suffers
from a high percentage of job
lessness, which results in per
sistent poverty. During my 1 1
trips to Haiti since my election
to Congress in 2002, I have
observed firsthand the obsta
cles Haiti must overcome to
revitalize their economy. For
me, and my South Florida
constituents, this is an issue
which concerns ys deeply.
During my most recent trip
to Haiti on April 20 and 21, 1
met with Haitian President
Rene Preval, U.S. Ambassador
to Haiti Janet Sanderson and
representatives from the inter
national community. President
Pr6val and I discussed ways to
provide humanitarian assis
tance to the Haitian people.
The President has determined
that over the next six months,
Haiti requires: 30,000 metric
tons of rice (4 percent broken
quality) per month; 15,000
metric tons of wheat 'per
month; and 7,000 tons of
cooking oil per month.
Upon my return from Haiti
on April 22, 2008 I wrote a let
ter to U.S. President George
W. Bush urging him to allo
cate to Haiti at least $15 mil
lion in direct monetary assis
tance from the Bill Emerson
Humanitarian Trust, which
helps nations facing surging
food prices. In addition, letters
were written to U.S. Secretary
of State Condoleezza Rice and
U.S. Agency for International
Development Director
Henrietta H. Fore explaining
the importance of the U.S.
involvement in providing
humanitarian support for the
country.
Haiti has many strong sup
porters in the U.S. Congress,
especially within the
Congressional Black Caucus
(CBC). Members of the C&C
traveled to Haiti in mid-May
on a fact finding mission and
have returned with an
increased sense of commit
ment to assist Haiti. Already
we as a Caucus are taking the
lead in urging the internation
al community to provide
immediate debt relief to the
Haitian government. This
year, Haiti will send $48.7
million in debt payments to
multilateral financial institu
tions. That money can be bet
ter spent to assist the Haitian
PC?And. the CBC has also
renewed its support for granti
ng Haitians residing in the
United States Temporary
Protected Status (TPS), a tem
porary immigration status.
TPS may be granted when any
of the following conditions are
met: there is ongoing armed
conflict posing a serious threat
to personal safety; it is
requested by a foreign state
that temporarily cannot handle
the return of nationals due to
environmental disaster, or
when extraordinary and tem
porary conditions in a foreign
state exist which prevent
aliens from returning.
On May 15, the U.S.
House of Representatives
passed the Haitian
Hemispheric Opportunity
through fartiicrship
Encourage Act of ZUU8
(HOPE II). HOPE II is vital
legislation which expands
trade preferences to Haiti.
Humanitarian assistance for
Haiti in the short run is criti
cal, but creating jobs by revi
talizing the Haitian economy
in the long run is essential.
The international commu
nity is playing a vital role in
stabilizing Haiti, but ultimate
ly it is Haitians who need to
rebuild their economy by
developing homegrown indus
tries. and HOPE II gives
Haitians that opportunity.
The Congressional Black
Caucus is actively working
and advocating on behalf of
Haiti in the U.S. Congress. We
have remained engaged on this
subject long before the current
situation in Haiti began gar
nering worldwide attention,
and we will remain engaged
for the indefinite future.
U.S. Rep. Kendrick B
Meek represents the 17 th
Congressional District of
Florida which includes parts
of Miami-Dade and Broward
Counties. He serves on the
House Committee on Armed
Services and is the lone
Floridian sitting on the House
Committee on Ways and
Means.
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Letter to the Editor
Great Coverage
To the Editor:
Pleaseoaccept my sincere
thanks for covering our story at
Mineral Springs Middle School
("A Cut Above," March 29). The
Chronicle exemplifies communi
ty mindedness and I look for
ward to reading it each week!
The article, "Africa on the
Back of my Head" is one of
many that tell of good things
happening in our schools.
Surpassing my $100 chal
lenge, our students and faculty
raised $1,000.36 for the
Samaritan Ministries and Sudan.
Plus we delivered 172 cans of
food to Crisis Control. This is an *
amazing end to the story written
by Layla Farmer!
Mineral Springs is a very spe
cial place and I thank you for
recognizing us and so many!
Sincerely,
Janie B. Livengood,
7th Grade Social Studies
Teacher
Rk Photo
Teacher Janie Livengood with one of her seventh-graders.
A more perfect union
Phill
Wilson
Guest
Columnist
By striking down
California's law that limited
marriage to opposite sex cou
ples, the California Supreme
Court took a major step
toward the formation of that
"more peff&ict Union" that our
forefathers dreamt about.
The ruling is a blow
against marginalization, and
stigmatization, therefore, a
blow against HIV/AIDS.
Black America should
applaud the Court's decision.
It is by now clear that
shame and stigma surround
ing sexuality ? whether gay,
straight or bisexual? is dead
ly. When our public policies
reinforce a social order in
which some relationships are
valued more than others, we
push people to the margins.
When we refuse to affirm
open, healthy relationships,
we encourage hidden, self
damaging ones. And that's
something Black America
cannot afford. Many of our
leaders are calling on a mass
Black Mobilization to end the
AIDS epidemic in our com
munities.
Central to that effort is a
frontal assault on pervasive
and a corrosive blame and
shame paradigm that under
mines AIDS education, pre
vention and treatment efforts.
As a community, we can
no longer accept the plague
ravaging members of our fam
ilies. Study after study has
shown HIV infection rates
among Black gay and bisexu
al men to exceed those in
KRT Phrto
The late Coretta Scott King was a well known proponent of
equal rights for homosexuals.
some of the hardest hit cor
ners of the globe. A seven-city
U.S. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention study
found 46 percent of Black gay
and bi-men to already be HIV
positive. And the t^H is partic
ularly high among young
men: A New York City health
department study last fall
found that a stunning nine out
af 10 HIV infections among
gay and bisexual men under
age 20 were among Blacks
and Latinos? most of whom
don't know they are infected.
Many different factors
come together to drive these
trends, ranging from the
social to the biological. And
1
far too many questions remain
unanswered. One villain,
however, is clear: Sexual
shame and fear. And public
policies that devalue loving,
supportive relationships help
spread these emotional vec
tors of disease. .
Mortover, our nation's
sexual caste system is not
only unhealthy, it's immoral.
"Homophobia is as moral
ly wrong and as unacceptable
as racism," the late Coretta
Scott King reminded us. "We
ought to extend to gay and
lesbian people the same
respect and dignity we claim
for ourselves. Every person is
a child of God, and every
human being is entitled to full
human rights."
From child custody to
health benefits, our govern
ment denies those rights daily
through intrusions into the
family decisions of same-gen
der couples. They are denied
access to more than 1,000
legal rights and responsibili
ties that marriage brings. It's
an injustice carried out.
against a broad swath of soci
ety. The 2000 Census found
same-sex households in 99.3
percent of U.S counties. And
not just white people: 10.5
percent of those households
were Black and 11.9 percent
were Latino. And not just the
couples themselves: 34 per
cent of the female couples and
22 percent of the male couples
were raising at least one child
in their home.
1 welcome the day when
every state follows the lead of
California in working towards
true equality for all of our
families.
Phill Wilson is a longtime
AIDS activist and the founder
and Executive Director of the
Black AIDS Institute.