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NEWS«EJe CJatlotte #i>«2
Thursday, July 13, 2006
U.S. income gap widening
[3e in the know !
keep “tKlie ^ost'
Continued from page 1A
for Afiican-Americans, but
that has since changd
“Ev^ in the best of times, I
think the radal gaps whether
we’re looking at income,
wages, or wealth are unac
ceptably hi^, so I would
think that an economic agai-
da to improve the living stan
dards of black Americans
ou^t to be at the top of any
one’s list be they policy maker
or voter.-- The black-white
Ratio got up to 64 percent in
2000 and that was the beh
est on record (since 1947) and
that’s still a huge gap,” he
said.
'The fact that the minimUTn
wage hasn’t been increased
since 1997 hasn’t helped the
plight of blacks.
“Since African-American
workers especially women
are disproportionately paid
wages at or near the mini-
mxim, it (a minirmim wage
increase) is definitely going to
help them both in absolute
and relative toms. Meaning
in absolute terms, they’re
going to make more, and
they’re going to make more
relative to folks who earn
higher than the minimiiTn
wage who don’t necessarily
get a boost when the mini
mum goes up,” he said.
Although a proposal led by
Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-
Mass.) to increase the mini
mum wage t#$7.25 an hour
by January 2009 f^ed last
month, the debate to increase
the national minimum wage
of $5.15 an hour is far fixim
over as campaigning law
makers on Capitol Hall fi^t
to keep their congressional
seats in the fall.
Shortly after the defeat of
the bill that included the min
imum wage mcrease,
Congressional Black Caucus
member Congresswoman
Barbara Lee (D-Calif.),
expressed her disappoint-
ment-
“It is tmacceptable that the
Republican Majority in the
Hoxase will vote today to give
a tax cut to the heirs of mil
lionaires while blocking an
increase in the minimum
wage for millions of hard
working Americans,” said
Lee. “This Republican-con
trolled Congress already
approved an average tax cut
of $42,000 this year to those
making more than a million
dollars annually Instead of
rewarding the hard work of
Americans strug^ing to
make ends meet.
Republicans are hard at work
making sure the heirs of the
wealthy few get an enormous
tax break.”
House Democratic Leader
Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif) said
in a statement last week, “At
the same time as energy
prices are going up, the mini
mum wage has not been,
increased in nine years; it is
still $5.15 an hour. People can
hardly afford to fill up their
car to get to work at $5.15 an
hour. In our discussion on
this issue in the last couple of
days, Democrats are saying
to the speaker, “Mr. Speaker,
imtil there is an increase in
the minimum wage, we wiQ
not support any raise in con
gressional salaries.”’
Individual states do have
the right to increase the min
imum wage above the nation
al rate and so far 21 states
and the District of Columbia
have done so.
Of those states, Arkansas,
Hawaii, Maine, Michigan,
New Jersey, New York and
Rhode Island are set to enact
the new rates between this
fall and the start of 2008.
Another report also co
authored by Bernstein,
“Buying Power of Minimum
Wage at 51-year Low,” said
since the minimum wage was
established in 1938, the
longest period of time
Congress went without
adjusting the level was nine
years and three months fiom
January 1981 to April 1990.
If Congress doesn’t act by
December 1, they could beat
that record.
The report added, “Since
September 1997, the pur
chasing power of the mini
mum wage has deteriorated
by 20 percent. After adjusting
for inflation, the value of the
minimum wage is at its low
est level since 1955.”
Couple a steadily increas
ing cost of living with a mini
mum wage that’s been fiozen
for nine years and it just
doesn’t addup—espedallyfor
the poor, the report said.
“The fact that the minimum
wage has remained the same
for nearly nine years means
that its real value has
declined considerably over
this period. As inflation has
accelerated recently due to
higher energy costs, the real
value of the minimum wage
has fallen faster,” said the
report. .
Althoi^h the economy is
constantly shifting—stable
for a few years and unstable
the next—Bernstein says
blade Americans can’t wait
five or 10 years for the econo
my to shift more positively to
Parents, young adults say no
easy fix for hooliganism
Continued from page 1A
said that to combat pressure on childi'en to go
astray they have to make sure that thdr chil
dren aren’t out rUnnii^ the streets.
‘1 don’t let my son go places where there is
going to be a big crowd,” he said.
But Royster acknowlet^s that he can’t be
with his 15-year-old son 24 hours a day “When
he goes to someone else’s house, they may go to
an event like the fireworks downtown,” he
said.' “That’s why I ha^ to know who Ihe peo- *
pie are that he hangs out with.”
• According to the U.S; Centos for Disease
Control and Prevention in Atlanta, “to prevent
violent injury and death, we need to weaken or
break the chain of events tl^at leads to vio
lence.”
In a report published by the CDC in 1992
titled “The Prevention of Youth Violence” A
Framework for Community Action,” the oi^a-
nization stated that communities that want to
combat youth violence need to identify the tar
get group, host activities that complement each
other and tailor activities to fit the communi
ty’s unique personality
Unity needed
Youth violence isn’t new, nor is it specific to
Charlotte. In 1969, Philadelphia native Falaka
Fattah found learned one of herons was in a
gang.
‘1 was looking at this every day and didn’t
know it,” she said. *
At the time Fattah was publisher of a maga
zine called Umoja, the Swahili word for unity
Philadelphia weis having a serious problem-
with gang violence and young black men were
dying or becoming invalids, she said.
F attah said when she discovered that her son
was in a gang, parental instinct took over and
she looked for solutions at home.
“I asked my husband if I could invite my son’s
‘Tt takes more work, but it’s not impossible,”
she s^d.
Rally for
respect
Sabrina Taggart
leads a protest
Friday at a Charlotte
Police substation at
West Boulevard and
Remount Road.
Residents from
Boulevard Homes,
Little rock and
Ponderosa Pines
gathered to demand
more patrols and
community involve
ment to reduce crim
inal activity in the
area.
PHOTOCURTIS WILSON
narrow the gap for th^n. He
said acquiring more educa
tion and demanding that
even local govOTunent create
jobs are some ways to help.
Bernstein said. “Aiiican-
Amaicans should nev^ stop
being vigilant about these
racial income and wealth
gaps as long as they exist.”
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gang to live with us,” she said. ‘I found greedy
people who w^'e e?^oiting the problem for
grant money politicians who said they were
going to do something to get elected and well-
meaning people who were ineffective. I turned
inward because this was my child and Fm the
one truly responsible. And the only information
I could trust came fix)m the kids.”
Nearly 30 years later, Fattah is still reaching
out to your^ men, but she’s seen a change in
the p^ple she helps.
“The youth are not listening to anybody these
days,” she said. “There is a broken connection.”
Parental support, she added, isn’t what it
used to be Vhen she started Umoj ajlThere is a
culture of violence that is promotorThare is a
bi^er battle today than ever was.” *
But it’s not imwinnable.
Charlotte’s response to youth violence
• • Following the July 4 eruption, Charlotte
mayor Pat McCrory publicly called the partici
pants “thugs” and called for a task force to look
into the issue. Councilman Warren Turner
announced plans for some form of community
outreach.
Neither returned a call to the Charlotte Post
for further comment.
Bingo Baker, a mentor finm the 704 No Limit
Motorcycle Racing • Club, said arbitrary rules
finm government agencies like social services
has a lot do witli why children step out of line
and feel that they can get away with it.
‘You can’t spank your kids without worrying
about child abuse and then DSS comes down
on you and some people don’t want to deal with
that,” he said. ‘T blame a lot of this on the peo
ple who are in charge, telling' me what I can
and cannot do to my child.”
Charlotte.
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