4A
EDITORIAL AND OPINION/Cf^arlotte $o0t
Thursday, August 10, 2006
Cljarlotte
The Voice of the Black Community
1531 Camden Road Charlotte. N.C. 28203
Gerald O. Johnson ceo/publisher
Roberf L Johnson co-publisher/general manager
Herbert L White editor in chief
OPINION
Who’ll be
accountable for
what happens to
community?
Looking out for ourselves requires
African Americans to hold elected
officials responsible to demands
When it comes to our communities, why is it that we contin
ue to allow corporate and public entities to choose our leader
ship? I recently commented to an elected official, ‘We need to
have “real” black people on these committees and task forces.”
She questioned, ‘What does that mean...”real” black people?”
It means that we need real black people who know, under
stand, and actively demonstrate concern about making a ^-
ference in our communities. The others are only interested in
what goes in their paychecks or comes from under the table
monies.
Although there are some strong advocates who fight to try to
make a difference for our causes, their fight
would not be nearly as hard if our elected offi-
— cials.those whom we voted into offices, did their
I
. . ■ sfcji ^ example of this poor leadership was the
recent situation with House Bill 1827. HB 1827
would allow General Contractors hired by the
N.C. Department of Transportation to waive the
requirement of MWBE and DBE inclusion. This
bill, if passed would start a snowball effect and
eventually allow every state and local depart
ment to exclude and disregard the needs of
minority, small, disadvantaged businesses.
The state legislature stated last week that they were just
waiting on the Black Political Caucus to vote “No” on this issue.
Our one advocate in Raleigh requested a no vote, but not ONE
of our elected officials voted no on this issue.
I was told that we need more lobbyists in Raleigh walking the
floors and advocating for our issues and concerns. Let me first
explain that the purpose of a lobbyist is to fight and push for
the causes of the people or organization that has hired them.
We in the black community do not have lobbyists in our gov
ernment at any level because we are not paying any lobbyists’
salaries. Unfortunately, most of us are only just making it,
because the folks elected do not keep our real issues as priori
ties.
It was said at a meeting in Charlotte, ‘We as citizens need to
become our own lobbyist.” We need to call, communicate and
hold accountable the people we put in office. We vote and allow
the same people to hold these offices for years and years with
no expectations. Folk already think and know that we tend to
be complacent. Those that we vote into office have got to think
much less of us, or why would they take us for granted the way
that they do.
They come to us during campaign season and ask for our vote
and tell us that they wiU represent our needs. Or do they real
ly tell us anything and we still just keep sending them back.
One thing shows, they don’t really care to truly fight for our
needs. Secondly, they don’t even respect us enough to come
back to us or make a phone call to discuss with us any issues
and concerns to obtain opinions and desires. That again is on
us because we don’t hold them accoimtable. Running up in a
meeting, once a month, every now and then with a “report”
does not count.
How can they represent us when they have no idea of our
needs? None of them has asked anyone I know. I checked.
How can they represent us when they refuse to come to us and
ask our needs, wants, and opinions? None of them asked any
one I know. I checked. How can they represent us when they
will not even listen and respect our advocate(s)?
They continue over and over to vote against us. We voted
them into office with the hope that we could win sometime(s).
But we never seem to come out on top of anything. With those
we have put in office that look like us, it is so apparent that our
agenda is not their agenda. Was our vote not compensation
enough? Is^ their compensation coming from other means?
Therefore, we have our jobs to do. We must really consider
whom we put in office at election time. Maybe the next time we
should not vote those folks back in, just because they look like
us.
We must really consider elections and whom we are putting
into offices, locally and on the state level. We should not re
send those back just because they have warmed seats years
and years. We are looking for new life that would be interested
in representing the needs of those who vote for them.
In some counties, we have two years to search for new people
interested in holding those positions. During that time we all
need to become lobbyists and get involved in the process. We
need more grassroots folk to put on their lobbyist caps and
know the real story about what is going on in these elected
offices.
We need grassroots folk and organizations collaborating
throughout our cities and forming collaborations throughout
the state to make a difference. This is starting to happen and
we are signing on to each other’s issues and concerns. We are
forming collaborations for elections, advocating and lobbying.
If our elected officials refuse to represent us, we should refuse
to send them back to Raleigh or any of our local offices just to
warm seats and take us for granted.
SYLVIA L. GRIER , is first vice president of the Millions More
Movement - Charlotte. Inc. and president, Carolinas Association of
Black Women Entrepreneurs, Inc.
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sevoNuie feAPf),,,
Stem cell debate becomes personal
On the day I was supposed
to depart for Abuja, Nigeria
last month with the Leon
Sullivan Foundation, my
cousin Audrey Livingston
died in Johnson City, 'Itenn.
She was 47 years old and
had been living with sclero
derma, a chronic connective
tissue disease, for eight years.
Of course, I cancelled my trip
to Africa to be with my family
in Tbrinessee.
For several years, I had
watched as my
cousin’s
extremities
were removed
one by one.
I First, a finger,.
I then another
finger, then one
toe and another
toe and still
more fingers
and still more toes. In the
end, she could hardly grip a
fork, but she never lost her
grip on life. As much as my
cousin went through, she was
always cheering us up, not
the other way around. I’ve
never seen anyone go
through so much without
ever complaining. But that
was Audrey, that was my
cousin.
And she didn’t let her Al
ness prevent her from being
places she felt she had to be. '
Over the past year alone, she
and I have lost three uncles
on the same side of the fami
ly. Audrey attended every
funeral because, above all
else, she was a person with a
deep love for her family.
It took a long time for doc
tors to diagnose Audrey’s ill
ness as scleroderma or sys
tematic sclerosis. It is a rare
disease for which there is no
cure. According to informa
tion distributed by the
Scleroderma Foundation and
the Mayo Clinic, it is a pro
gressive disease that leads to
the hardening and tightening
of the skin and connective tis
sues, the fibers that provide
the bodys framework and
support.
“In addition to thickening
and hardening of your skin,
scleroderma can cause your
skin to lose its elasticity and
become shiny as it stretches
across underlying bone,” the
Mayo research states.
Essentially, ■ the bod/s
immune system turns
against itself by overproduc
ing coUagen, a fibrous type of
protein that makes up the
body’s connective tissue.
Unfortunately, there is no
treatment to stop the over
production ofcoUagen.
But if a cure is to be found,
it could well come from stem
cell research. And that’s why
President Bush’s decision to
veto stem ceA research legis
lation is personal with me.
After doctors in Johnson,
City, Tfenn. failed to accurate
ly identify Audrey’s disease,
they sent her to the DiAce
University Medical Center in
Durham, where she was
finally diagnosed as having
scleroderma.
Not surprisingly, DiAce is
now leading a national study
to test whether stem cell
transplants can reconstruct
defective immune systems. If
successful, the study could
reverse the disease rather
than merely alleviating the,
symptoms. It is funded by a
$20 miUion grant from the
National Institute of Allergy
and Infectious Diseases. Dr.
Joseph Shanahan, a Duke
University rheumatologist,
told reporters that investiga
tors wanted to determine
whether the immime system
can be suppressed for a year
in order to take control of the
disease or whether it’s neces
sary to repopulate the
immune system with purified
stem cells.
As part of this fascinating
study, patients are given
drugs that stimulate the
release of stem cells into their
bloodstream. Stem ceAs are '
then extracted from the
blood, processed and stored
for later use. Chemotherapy
and radiation are used to
destroy the immune system,
which is then repopulated or
replaced by the patient’s
stored blood stems.
Tb be fair, President Bush
does not oppose all stem
research and it appears that
he might not object to the
research being done at DiAce,
the kind that would have
directly benefited Audrey.
However, he vetoed a bill
passed by both the House and
Senate - his first and only
veto after more than five
years in office - authorizing
certain types of stem cell
research.
Although the proposed leg
islation would have prohibit
ed federal funding for the cre
ation of embryos solely for
research, it would have
allowed research using
embryos stored at federal fer-
tAity clinics and donated by
couples who no longer need
them.
Research posted on the site
of the National Institutes of
Health reflects the excite
ment medical experts have
about this new research.
“Stem cells have the
remarkable potential to
develop into many different
ceA types in the body,” basic
information on the site
observes. “Serving as a sort of
repair system for the body,
they can theoretically divide
without limit to replenish
other ceAs as along as the
person or animal is stiA ahve.
When a ' stem cell divides,
each new ceA has the poten
tial to either remain a stem
cell or become another type of
cell with a more speciaAzed
function, such as a muscle
ceA or a red blood ceA, or a
brain cell.”
For those who claim to be
pro-life, this is an opportimity
to prove it. It won’t bring back
my cousin Audrey, but it
might spare some families
needless pain.
GEORGE E. CURRY is editor-
in-chief of the National
Newspaper Publishers
Association News Service and
BlackPressUSA.com.
Helping America’s uninsured children
As children get ready to
head back to school, parents
everywhere are checking off
their lists of the things
they’re going to need: back
packs, notebooks, pencils.
But this season, many adults
are helping to cover some
much bigger basics for chil
dren.
The Robert Wood Johnson
■ j Foundation
I Covering Kids
and Families
Initiative has
been sponsor
ing a Back to
School cam
paign in eight
cities aimed at
Wright enrolling more
Edelman children in the
Children’s
Health Insurance Program
(CHIP). The Children’s
Defense Fund’s Tbxas office is
one of the organizers of this
campaign in Houston.
Houston’s campaign
includes advertisements in
local media, outreach events
throughout August, and a
kick-off press conference and
enroAment event with speak
ers including Grammy-win-
ning gospel singer Yolanda
Adams, all designed to let
uninsured children and fami-
Aes know that they may be
eligible for help.
CHIP and Children’s
Medicaid provide low-cost or
fi^e health coverage to unin
sured children in working
famiAes that cannot afford
private health coverage. CDF
has already developed a chil
dren’s health insurance out
reach and training initiative
with the Houston
Independent School District. .
The district asked about stu
dents’ health insurance sta
tus on its 2005-2006 enroA
ment form to learn more
about the need.
They discovered that 22.4
percent of students in
Houston are uninsured. CDF
is now working with school
nurses and parent support
specialists at each school to
follow up with uninsured
chAdren and link them with
coverage by training school
staff to help parents apply for
CHIP and Medicaid. Starting
this month, a new partner
ship is going to allow CDF to
expand this program to aA 20
Harris County school dis
tricts, reaching more than
700,000 students.
CDF is also reaching out to
find uninsured chAdren and
families in places besides
schools. In August, CDF is
holding its 15th city-wide out
reach drive at 20 Houston
supermarkets. Ibgether, the
14 previous drives have
helped over 18,000 children
apply for CHIP and
Medicaid. A week later CDF
wiA hold another city-wide
enrollment event at 15
McDonald’s restaurants, and
McDonald’s wAl also be dis
tributing “CHIP TraylinerS”
at 260 Houston-area loca
tions this month.
Clear Channel has donated
100 billboards promoting
CHIP enroAment, and the
Houston Dynamo, Houston’s
major league soccer team, are
placing CHIP announce
ments on their tickets and
banners being displayed at
their games. CDF is coordi
nating simAar outreach activ
ities and enroAment events in
other cities and towns in
Tbxas, and these innovative
marketing methods are going
to reach thousands of Tbxas
famiAes whose chAdren need
health insurance.
The needs in Tbxas provide
a quick snapshot of the needs
of chAdren in the rest of the
country. Tbxas has the high
est rate of uninsmed chAdren
in the nation. More than one
in five of Tbxas’s children—
1.4 miAion lack coverage.
Nearly 90 percent of unin
sured children have at least
one working parent, but
health coverage is ofteil too
expensive for families to
afford, averaging $933 a
month for family coverage
according to the Texas
Department of Insurance.
But for many of these chA
dren and families, there
shoiAd be an alternative; Of
the 1.4 million uninsured
children in Tbxas, more than
700,000 are eAgible for, but
not enroAed in, CHIP and
ChAdren’s Medicaid. That’s
where efforts like the Back to
School campaign come in.
I am so grateful for all
CDF’s Tbxas office is accom
plishing. CDF-Texas’s
Executive Director Barbara
Best, was recently profiled as
one of 15 outstanding inter
national health care advo
cates, and the only American,
by the World Health
Organization as part of the
Voices from the Frontline web
series for her work in
enrolling Houston children in
health coverage. The Back to
School Campaign is just one
more step in CDF’s efforts to
make sure every child in
Texas and America gets a
Healthy Start, and a model
for the* kinds -of successfiA
outreach and enrollment
efforts that coiAd make a dif
ference for uninsured chil
dren in cities and states
across the country.
MARIAN WRIGHT EDELMAN
is president and founder of the
Children's Defense Fund and its
Action Council.