Young Black Men Hit Hardest in Recession

Community Service Society Report

Only one in four young black men in New York City has a job, according to a report released by the Community Service Society of New York. The report, “Unemployment in New York City During the Recession and Early Recovery: Young Black Men Hit the Hardest,” illustrates that some demographic groups experienced the brunt of the recession more than others in terms of unemployment and job loss. Data for the report comes from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics and, according to the report, in New York City the groups most affected by the recession were blacks, Latinos, youth and those with less than a high school or equivalent diploma.

Only one in four young black men in New York City has a job, according to a report released by the Community Service Society of New York. The report, “Unemployment in New York City During the Recession and Early Recovery: Young Black Men Hit the Hardest,” illustrates that some demographic groups experienced the brunt of the recession more than others in terms of unemployment and job loss. Data for the report comes from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics and, according to the report, in New York City the groups most affected by the recession were blacks, Latinos, youth and those with less than a high school or equivalent diploma. “The recession has created a landscape of the unemployed and underemployed with particular catastrophic consequences for young African-American men,” said David R. Jones, president and CEO of the Community Service Society of New York. “We have long known the struggles of the more than 200,000 youth in New York City who are out of work and out of school. Now young black men between 16 and 24 years have become the banner of hopelessness, particularly here in New York City.”

According to CSS Labor Market Analyst and the report’s author Michelle Holder, the Bureau of Labor Statistics doesn’t compile city-level demographic employment data such as contained in the report, which outlines a difficult picture for young people, people of color, and the less educated in New York City. Ms. Holder added, in addition to unemployed youth, an estimated 30 percent of the unemployed in the city who previously held a job were unemployed for more than a year and, for those 55-64 years old, it took almost nine months to find a job. The top line report findings are: The largest increase in the unemployment rate occurred among working-age black men – it jumped from 9 percent in 2006 to 17.9 percent in 2009, an increase of nearly 9 percentage points.

The highest unemployment rate in 2009 was among men 16-24 years of age—their overall unemployment rate hit 24.6 percent during the recession and early recovery period. Breaking this down by race, young black men had the highest unemployment rate in this group—33.5 percent. While only one in four black men ages 16-24 have a job in the city, that figure drops to an astounding one in ten for young black men without a high school diploma.

Men 55-64 years old had the longest average spell of unemployment (approximately 39 weeks), but black New Yorkers had the highest percentage of those unemployed for more than a year; nearly 40 percent of black men and women who held a job before were unemployed for more than 12 months during the recession and early recovery. Overall, the average length of unemployment during the recession/early recovery period for all New Yorkers was just over six months. CSS published a report in 2004 on black male unemployment that explored the jobless and unemployment figures for this demographic; that report showed that only about 50 percent of all working-age black men held jobs in New York City at that time. While that figure has not changed significantly, noted Ms. Holder, the jobholding rate for young black men in particular is about half that level, and even lower for those who lack a high school or equivalent diploma.

Ms. Holder added, “From a public policy perspective, the main findings of my report are troubling because young African-American men without a job and without an adequate education become at-risk for involvement in the criminal justice system. As it is, black people are overrepresented among the incarcerated in this country. We need to ensure that young men of color in New York City are achieving the basic educational requirements to either get a decent job or go on to college if they so choose.”

Existing research has shown that the lack of a high school diploma as well as high unemployment puts young men at greater risk for incarceration. Also, there is strong evidence that shows that having a prison record is associated with subsequent poorer employment and wage outcomes. CSS continues to strongly advocate for quality General Educational Development (G.E.D.) programs as well as transitional workforce programs that help prepare young people to make successful transitions into either college or permanent, full-time employment. “Without work, without school and without a diploma, young African-American men are vulnerable for the prison pipeline,” Jones added. “The absence of training and jobs will provide a clear and uninterrupted pathway to poverty and potential imprisonment,” Jones added. For 165 years, the Community Service Society of New York has been the leading voice on behalf of low-income New Yorkers and continues to advocate for the economic security of the working poor in the nation’s largest city.

B&G HS ‘Roos Defeat Lincoln to Repeat as City Hoop Champs

The road to New York City high school basketball glory once again runs through Bedford-Stuyvesant.

That after Boys & Girls High School successfully defended their Public School Athletic League Class AA title in beating Coney Island’s Lincoln High School, 62-55.
The championship game, played at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, featured the two top-ranked public high school teams in the city. In the past seven years, either Lincoln or Boys & Girls have won the championship.

“The first one (last year’s championship) was more of pressure, more of getting that monkey off your back,” Boys & Girls Coach Ruth Lovelace told reporters. “This one, I was a little bit more calm. I didn’t sleep (Saturday) night, but I did feel good. I told the guys in pre game talk that I really felt good about this one.”
The Kangaroo win also avenged two losses to the Railsplitters earlier in the season.

The victory also proved Boys & Girls Coach Ruth Lovelace prophetic in saying the only reason Lincoln won the two earlier games was because the ‘Roos were not at full strength.
In the earlier contests two Boys & Girls players couldn’t play,  not because they didn’t meet school Principal Bernard Gassaway’s strict personal rule that if a student athlete fails a class, he or she can’t play.

“When we’re fully loaded and we have our best stars in the game, we’re the best team on the court. I honestly feel we were the better team all year long,” Lovelace told reporters.
Leading the way in the title game for the ‘Roos was 5-4 senior point guard Antione Slaughter, the game’s MVP. Slaughter who scored 19 points including a floater down the lane that put the game out of reach in the final minute.

“I always tell him that I don’t like that runner,” Lovelace said.
Helping out were seniors Leroy Fludd (19 points) and Rutgers-bound Mike Taylor (14 points).
Leading Lincoln in scoring was freshman phenomenon Isaiah Whitehead, who had 18 points.
The Kangaroos now move on to the state championship tournament where they will meet New York’s top parochial schools and the best from Long Island and upstate.

What State Budget Cuts Mean to the Children of New York Open Letter to Governor Cuomo

March 7, 2011

To the Governor of the State of New York The New York State Assembly The New York State Senate

The Children’s Defense Fund – New York (CDF-NY) is extremely concerned about the impact the Governor’s Executive Budget proposal will have on the children of New York. The Executive Budget proposal for SFY 2011-2012 closes a $10 billion budget gap primarily through reductions in spending and shifts in state support to financially strapped counties and cities. The $132.9 billion budget proposes an across-the-board reduction of 10 percent on all agencies and reduces state aid to localities by more than $3 billion, primarily through reductions in School Aid and Medicaid. These cuts are proposed while the Governor considers allowing a tax surcharge to expire at the end of the calendar year for the top earners in the state. How can the state wave good-bye to $1 billion in the 2011-2012 fiscal year, and $4 – $5 billion the following year at the same time it proposes cutting services that are critical to the healthy development of our most vulnerable children? New York has one of the most drastic income disparities in the country. Since 1980, the richest 1 percent of New Yorkers has grown from representing 10 percent of all wealth to 35 percent of all wealth in the state. Without this surcharge, New York will need to make even more crippling cuts in the next fiscal year. While encouraged by efforts to reform the juvenile justice system and some efforts to improve our education system, we are greatly concerned about the level of reductions to preventive services, youth programs and education, as well as the significant cost-shift to localities. JUVENILE JUSTICE We applaud the commitment to close underutilized youth prisons and invest in community-based alternative-to-placement programs. The legislature must support the Governor’s proposal and end the days of keeping empty facilities open while failing to provide youth with the services they need. Unfortunately, local detention funding will be capped to pay for new alternative programs. We caution you to ensure the final budget does not punish struggling counties, leading them to reduce critical preventive services in order to pay for local detention costs. A phased-in or staggered approach to the detention cap will allow counties the time to develop new programs that can safely keep youth out of detention. CHILD WELFARE AND YOUTH SERVICES CDF-NY strongly opposes the creation of the new Primary Preventive Investment Fund (PPIF). Cutting in half the already-inadequate funding previously budgeted for preventive services, making counties compete for that half-pot, and requiring them to raise a local match does not bode well for children. Cutting Advantage Afterschool means a loss of 5,000 afterschool slots for children at a time when the value and importance of afterschool and summer enrichment programs is unquestionable. CDF-NY urges you to restore the proposed $5 million cut and maintain funding for the Advantage Afterschool program at $22.2 million. Similarly, we cannot bear the loss of 25,000 Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) slots. CDF-NY urges you to restore SYEP funding to $35 million. Most troubling of the cuts made through the PPIF and reduction in TANF funding is the loss of funds for the Home Visiting Program, one of the most effective interventions to prevent child abuse and neglect and improve school readiness. Investing in children up front saves money and saves lives. We strongly urge you to ensure that Home Visiting remains fully funded and out of any block-granted program. EARLY CHILDHOOD We are glad to see the continued commitment to fund the universal prekindergarten program, but the other reductions in early childhood programs will force parents to choose between employment and leaving their children in unsafe and unreliable environments, or places where children will not be adequately prepared for school. Every dollar invested in early childhood services saves taxpayers $4 to $7, and stimulates the local economy immediately. Restore the $55 million back to the Child Care Block Grant in the final budget. EDUCATION The Governor proposes many new cost-containing measures that would pass significant costs to local counties and cities. CDF-NY is very concerned about this across-the-board approach to reducing education funding. In particular, we are alarmed that the proposed budget fails to honor the terms of the Campaign for Fiscal Equity’s lawsuit settlement, which established that all New York State’s children should be provided with an equitable and adequate education. Cumulatively, the property tax reduction, proposed GEA formula and the idea of delaying the phase-in of foundation aid would place already-at-risk children throughout New York State in further risk of not receiving the support and services they need. We must rein in costs and applaud some of the initiatives proposed to create greater efficiency in our school systems. Yet, this budget will further strain the ability of struggling school districts to provide services and supports for their students in the near future. FAMILY ASSISTANCE The changes proposed to the public assistance program are not worth the $36 million in savings that they will generate. “Full family” sanctions will punish children along with parents and further destabilize struggling families. We support compliance but believe that implementing full family sanctions will hurt children. In addition, the delay of the grant increase will continue to penalize the most vulnerable families in our state and leave families with 70 percent of the purchasing power the grant had in 1990. States across the country are allowing the financial crisis to be borne on the backs of children. While everyone has a contribution to make to our becoming “whole,” not all cuts can be equal. Some cuts leave no room for recovery and eat away at tomorrow’s promise. Children have no vote so they depend on our voices. We urge you to show the way forward by protecting New York’s future. Sincerely, (The Rev. Dr.) Emma Jordan-Simpson Executive Director Children’s Defense Fund – New York

NAACP Raises Alarm Over Growing Cases of AIDS in African-American Communities: Poverty, Lack of Health Care Causes Disproportionate Rate Amongst African-Americans

Washington- In observance of World AIDS Day, December 1st, the NAACP stands united in the global fight against HIV and AIDS.  The World Health Organization established World AIDS Day in 1988 to provide national AIDS programs, faith organizations, community organizations and individuals with an opportunity to raise awareness and focus attention on the global AIDS epidemic.
NAACP chapters and branches across the country, including California, New York, Michigan, Colorado, Georgia, Tennessee, Florida and Texas will use World AIDS Day 2010 as a day to highlight the AIDS issue in their communities and will host a number of community events including community-wide forums, education sessions and free screenings. In addition, the NAACP is working to mobilize pastors in states with the highest concentration of HIV-infected African-Americans to have open discussions about the HIV epidemic and direct parishioners to services in their communities.
HIV and AIDS has hit African-Americans the hardest, shattering families and destroying lives.  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) cite the reasons for the racial disparity as not just related to race, but rather to barriers faced by many African-Americans. These barriers include poverty, access to health care and the social stigma associated with HIV/AIDS.
“We must not forget the devastating effects HIV/AIDS has on communities of color across this country,” stated NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous. “That is why the NAACP has partnered with a number of national organizations and our local units to put a stop to the ‘forgotten epidemic’. The NAACP is committed to being a major force behind the education of communities and a strong advocate for better health services and HIV/AIDS testing. Knowledge is the first step to better health and access to services is critical if we are to overcome this crisis,” concluded Jealous.
Even though Blacks account for about 13 percent of the US population, they are almost half (49 percent) of the people living with HIV and AIDS. African-Americans represent 51 percent of the 42,655 (including children) new HIV/AIDS diagnoses and 48 percent of the 551,932 persons, including children, living with HIV. AIDS is the leading cause of death among Black women ages 25-34 and the second leading cause of death in Black men ages 35-44 years. 1 in 30 Black women and 1 in 16 Black men will be infected with HIV in their lifetime.
“It is staggering to think that a group of people that makes up only 13 percent of the country’s population includes over half of the newly diagnosed HIV-infected individuals each year,” stated Roslyn M. Brock, NAACP Chairman of the National Board of Directors. “The uneven distribution of HIV infections indicates that there are specific challenges faced by the African-American community that are resulting in an astronomical increase in the rate at which African-Americans contract the HIV virus,” concluded Brock.
The NAACP is also a partner with the Act Against AIDS Leadership Initiative (AAALI) (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Minority Health and Gilead Sciences.
Founded in 1909, the NAACP is the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights organization. Its members throughout the United States and the world are the premier advocates for civil rights in their communities, conducting voter mobilization and monitoring equal opportunity in the public and private sectors.

Lena Horne Passes Late Sunday Night

 
Singer, dancer and actress Lena Horne died at New York-Presbyterian Hospital on Sunday night, a hospital spokeswoman said. Horne was 92.

She was one of the first African-Americans to sign a long-term movie contract with a major Hollywood studio when she joined MGM in 1942.
Horne’s expressive voice made her a singing star after Hollywood failed to give her roles that might have made her a big screen starlet.
Horne complained she was used as “window dressing” in white films, mostly limited to singing performances that could be easily edited out for play in southern theaters.

The light-complected Horne refused to go along with studio plans to promote her as a Latin American.
She later said she did not want to be “an imitation of a white woman.”
Her childhood was nomadic as she traveled with her actress mother, but much of her time growing up was spent in Brooklyn, New York, where she was born in 1917.

Horne was 16 when she began her show business career as a dancer at Harlem’s Cotton Club. She later became a singer there, playing to packed houses of white patrons, with band leaders Cab Calloway and Duke Ellington.

She toured as a featured singer with a white band in 1940, a first for an African-American, according to her official biography.
Her first film role came in 1938 in “The Duke is Tops,” but her next movie didn’t come along for another four years.

She was given a screen test by MGM and signed to a movie contract after a studio scout saw her performing in a New York club.
“I think the black boy that cleaned the shoes and me were the only two black people except the maids who were there working for the stars,” Horne said in a CNN interview. “And it was very lonely, and I wasn’t very happy.”

Still, Horne said she was grateful that her World War II-era films — including “Cabin in the Sky” and “Stormy Weather” — were seen by black and white soldiers.
“But after I realized I would only go so far, I went on the stage,” Horne said.
With only subservient roles available for a black actress in Hollywood in the 1940s, Horne turned to recording top-selling songs.
Horne said performing for live audiences was what she loved most.
“I’m always happy when I’m surrounded by people to react and feel and touch,” she said.

She has a son and daughter from a first marriage that ended in 1944.
Horne married again in 1947 to Lennie Hayton, who was then MGM’s music director.

She was an active supporter of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s civil rights movement. Horne was there when King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech on the Lincoln Memorial steps in 1963.

(From: NOLA.Tv – New Orleans innovative web based News, Entertainment and Local television broadcasting.)

LENA HORNE, SINGER, ACTRESS AND CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST, DIES AT 92
 
HORNE WAS AWARDED NAACP’S SPINGARN MEDAL FOR AFRICAN AMERICAN ACHIEVEMENT IN 1983, NAACP IMAGE AWARD IN 1999
 
WASHINGTON DC – The NAACP is saddened by the loss of singer, actress and civil rights activist Lena Horne.  Horne died on May 9 at the age of 92.
 
“We mourn the passing of Lena Horne, an outstanding, groundbreaking entertainer and a staunch civil rights activist who stood on the side of justice and equality,” said NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous. “Lena Horne won the hearts of millions of Americans of all backgrounds as a glamorous and graceful actress and singer. She courageously broke many color barriers and fought valiantly to bring down the institutionalized racism that plagues our society and prevents all Americans from an equal opportunity to pursue the American dream.”
 
An accomplished singer and actress, Horne became the first black performer to sign a long-term contract with a major Hollywood studio, signing with MGM in 1943, but became disenchanted with Hollywood by the mid-1950s. She increased her focus on her singing career, solidifying herself as a premiere nightclub performer and starring in several musicals. Horne later returned to acting, appearing on several television shows such as Kraft Music Hall, The Ed Sullivan Show, The Dean Martin Show and The Bell Telephone Hour. She later co-starred with prominent actors Harry Belafonte and Tony Bennett in Harry and Lena and Tony and Lena, and starred in the classic African American musical The Wiz. The singer also performed on dozens of albums featuring the likes of Belafonte, Sammy Davis, Jr., Joe Williams, and Gábor Szabó, and received an NAACP Image Award in 1999 for Outstanding Jazz Artist.
 
In addition to her legacy as an entertainer, Horne was also known for her advocacy and contributions to social justice. At an early age, Horne displayed a passion for civil rights, and she first became a member of the NAACP as a student at Atlanta’s Washington High School. Later, while singing for troops during World War II, she refused to perform “for segregated audiences or for groups in which German POWs were seated in front of African American servicemen.” She was in attendance at an NAACP rally with Field Secretary Medgar Evers in Jackson, Mississippi on the weekend before Evers was assassinated, and spoke and performed at the March on Washington on behalf of the NAACP, SNCC and the National Council of Negro Women.
 
“Lena Horne’s spirit and willingness to stand for what is just transcended her accomplishments in the arts, and we are extremely grateful for her commitment to civil rights and the mission of the NAACP,” said NAACP Chairman Roslyn M. Brock. “Her long-standing relationship with the NAACP dates back to high school, while her service to the Association as a member and public advocate was invaluable. Lena Horne was an excellent example of someone who used her platform as an entertainer to advocate for equal rights for African Americans and give a voice to the voiceless, and she will be missed” added Brock.
 
Founded in 1909, the NAACP is the nation’s oldest and largest civil

View From Here: Why William Thompson for Mayor

Bill Thompson grew up on Putnam Avenue between Stuyvesant and Malcolm X Blvd.   The journey from those streets to being elected City Comptroller in 2001, managing a staff of more than 700 with a budget of $68 million and being overwhelmingly reelected in 2005,  is a long one with middle-class struggles, and successes achieved by hard work.  It is a journey that has attuned Comptroller Thompson to the problems that the middle class and middle class aspirants feel every day.  It has also given him the confidence to use the strategy necessary for this mayoral battle.  “The only way to compete with the richest man in New York City is to build from the ground up.  If you’re going to get into a dollar battle, you’re going to lose very quickly.” 

Thompson was speaking at a fund-raiser in the UN Plaza home of Edward Bergman and his family, high above the East River and about as far from Putnam Avenue as you can get. Here, Bill Thompson was speaking about education  and the need to go in a different direction.  “Our young people are being taught to take standardized tests,” he said.  “Our children are not taught critical thinking.  They’re not taught comprehension.  Not taught the skills they will need in the future.  We’re being given a false sense of accomplishment and all it is leading to is that our children are not being taught to compete.” 

Bill Thompson has an empathy with ordinary people that Mayor Bloomberg feels can be achieved by riding the subway four or five times a week.  But the Brooklyn Papers reported that in their interview with the Mayor, they asked about community benefit agreements, such as that signed by Bruce Ratner for the Atlantic Yards Project.  “I’m violently opposed to community benefits agreements,” the mayor replied.   “A small group of people, to feather their own nests, extort money from the developer? That’s just not good government.”    This statement alone disqualifies him as a choice for Mayor of New York City.  Here he is the richest man in New York, oblivious to the irony of his being “violently opposed” to small groups of unemployed Black men, many living pressed in by the explosion of construction in downtown Brooklyn, feathering their public housing nests, by demanding the opportunity to do hard work. 

He accuses them of extortion for insisting that developers of the gilded city rising only blocks away, put aside a portion of contracts and work for local people and companies.  He has $16 billion dollars, but helping someone bring home a paycheck for rent, food and clothing is “not good government.”  His concept of good government would have met with a vigorous nod of approval from Marie Antoinette, the Queen of France who, the apocryphal story goes, when told the starving masses had no bread, thought she’d be cute and said, “Let them eat cake.”  True or not, it was 1793 during the French Revolution and the people objected to the haughty attitude and the lady lost her head.  

The mayor’s team seems to have lost their collective heads as well or they must have read something in the polls saying it won’t be a double-digit win, to risk bringing in Rudy Giuliani, the biggest loser in the Republican presidential primaries, and someone anathema to the African-American community, to campaign with the mayor. Giuliani knows as much now as when he snickered at the Republican Convention at the thought of a “community organizer” becoming president.

Rudy’s connecting an election of William Thompson with a probable rise in crime and Bloomberg, frankly dishearteningly, going further, saying that New York can go the way of Detroit if Thompson were elected, was certainly the most offensive local politicking we’ve seen in some time.  Why does a billionaire have to resort to running a morally bankrupt campaign? Maybe it is as former mayor David Dinkins said at the Manhattan fundraiser, they have forgotten the great Negro Baseball League player Satchel Paige’s admonition, “Don’t look back, they may be gaining on you.” 

I don’t know what the calculus is here, perhaps the old tactic of tricking poor whites that they and the plantation owners share a bond, but it is certainly dismissive of the Black vote and those who would rather have the men of the neighborhood going to and from work rather than standing around chronically unemployed.   The mayor’s office has to become centered on the problems of regular working people and those who want to be working, and the city budget has to be used to not only deliver services but to circulate in the communities that need them most, lifting the quality of life for all New Yorkers.  It’s time for the Bloomberg era to come to a close.   Polls open 6am, November 3rd.  Every vote counts.

THE BEST MAN

William Thompson

Bill Thompson was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of hard-working parents, an educator and a judge.

He’s lived almost all of his life in Central Brooklyn.

He grew up in Bedford Stuyvesant on Putnam Avenue between Stuyvesant and Marcus Garvey Blvd. (then Reid Avenue) in the house his grandparents William and Louise Thompson succeeded in purchasing 70 years ago.  They were the second Black family on the block.  They later took pride in their grandson being an acolyte at St. Phillips Episcopal Church on Decatur Street.

Mr. Thompson’s mother, Elaine Thompson, who taught at various public schools, including P.S. 262, was a member of a team of compassionate educators — Almira Coursey, Elaine DeGrasse Perkins, Virginia Pope, June Fleary and others — who privately pushed young strivers to reach their potential.  And they never took public credit for it.

Over the years, Mr. Thompson has lived in Park Slope, Brooklyn Heights, Prospect Heights and other areas, before finally returning to his boyhood home where he resided until last year; he now lives in Harlem.

And while the years have been good to him, he has not forgotten where he came from or where most hard working New Yorkers are coming from.

“My parents taught me to work as hard as you can, do the best job you can, and know that no one is going to give you anything; you have to go out and earn it.”

And Mr. Thompson has earned it.

In fact, the best man for the job of Mayor of New York City — it’s being decided by admirers from the tony penthouse apartments on the Upper East Side to the brownstones of the Comptroller’s old neighborhood — is Mr. Thompson.  Plus, they say, he is asking for your vote based on his ability to lead and to talk eye to eye.  He’s not paying for it. 

In 2001, Mr. Bloomberg spent $74 million to run in the mayoral race. He said then that his spending was “obscene” and that he would not spend that much on a campaign ever again.

In 2005, he spent $85 million for his re-election bid in 2005.

This year, his spending is estimated upwards from 100 million dollars, pointing out not so much how powerful he is as much as how fearful he may be of Thompson’s power.

In some respects Mr. Bloomberg’s wealth is not the central issue; after all, it is his money.  “No matter how much money is spent, our votes can’t be bought, that’s the message,” Thompson has said, and adds in a reference to Mr. Bloomberg’s successful push in reversing term-limits rulings. “Eight is enough.”

This Tuesday, November 3^rd Central Brooklyn will have an opportunity to vote for new leadership. If this does not happen, apathy will win the election, not Mr. Bloomberg.

- Bernice Elizabeth Green

HEALTH CARE REFORM:America’s Pre-Existing Condition or …

 … How Do You Mend a Broken System,

Broken Promises, Broken Hearts?

(Part 5 of Five Parts)

Kimberlee Currans-Leto

UPSTATE ROUNDTABLE

 (Troy, New York) There’s something rotten in America.  While other countries provide for their citizens, ours continue to struggle at every turn. 

In today’s economy, families are faced with impossible pressures and decisions that carry great impact upon their futures.  Many do not have savings and do not have retirement because they chose to provide for their children.

President Obama is taking a great gamble that policymakers will finally see the light.  The numbers do not lie.  This year over 47,000 people in America will die due to lack of health insurance coverage.  This reality many experts attribute to lack of affordable options for families who do not have coverage through their employment or do not qualify for state-funded programs. Today in America over 46,000,000 people lack health insurance coverage. Many of these people agree if there were an affordable option, they would be insured.

Who pays for this lack of coverage for the uninsured should they fall ill or become hurt in an accident?  One answer: we all do. 

It does not matter which side of the reform one stands for, this issue hurts us all with the rising costs of premiums, co-pays, prescription allotments and limitations on existing coverage. As a result, many struggle to keep coverage.  Insurance companies continue to make money off of everyone while limiting those who can participate by including the pre-existing condition clause. 

In many states the insurance company excludes pre-existing conditions up to one year.  This concept, creatively designed by the industry as a loophole of exclusion, symbolizes what is rotten at the core of the industry and it makes health care reform all the more complicated.  How do you remedy a broken system with not just broken promises but a sick way of determining who gets coverage?  The ironic twist is that many families would give up their life savings, the deed to their homes, if it meant they could have affordable, adequate health care coverage for pre-existing conditions like diabetes and asthma.

Many families have some form of pre-existing condition that’s not covered.  Many are excluded altogether and have been given no choice but to alter their lifestyles drastically in order to qualify for state-funded programs.  How is this right or moral – to make hardworking people quit their jobs, divorce their spouses so that they can have health insurance?  This shows just how broken the current system has become, representing the blatant manipulation of insurance companies who not only profit but benefit because so many laws allow them to get away with such actions. 

The uninsured argument: Many things contribute to Americans taking the risk of living without health insurance and this happens more than people think about.  While many Americans fall into this category without harm to themselves or their families, I believe many do not even fathom the risk they are taking with their lives.  Many people create a gap without knowing otherwise when they discontinue coverage before starting a new policy.  Just that brief period of time can create an inconceivable nightmare, one that can follow a family for years and jeopardize every aspect of their well-being. 

For young children like Sheldon Wagner and others like him who fall through the cracks of broken public systems, an overall system defined by hierarchy and wealth; there must be a better way to provide health care for every American equally and fairly.  Part of the issue many conservatives cannot empathize with is the notion of covering pre-existing conditions; they believe it overburdens quality health care by allowing those who are sicker to receive treatments at the same price as those not sick at all.  Furthermore, it is felt from the conservative side that some should suffer as a consequence of their actions.  It seems unfair the only crime is being poor while others have no choice but to lower their standard of living in order to save their families.  It just brings to light how divided this country remains when instead, all Americans should be working together to solve this issue. 

What many do not or cannot see is how much this reform will impact other reforms and set into action the foundation needed for America’s rebirth. What the conservatives do not understand from an economic standpoint, someone will be paying for the uninsured and those labelled by pre-existing illness. This may explain the outrageousness of some hospital bills or why a ten-minute consultation costs $250.  Why aren’t people outraged, disgusted at the state of health care in this country?  Why hasn’t a mob scene incurred on Capitol Hill?

What we know in our hearts: President Obama is on the path to doing what’s right.  While so many seem trapped by the status quo of thinking: “There is nothing that can be done” to change something so rotten and immoral, he has this country participating in change, in finding our voices.

We no longer can ignore that everyday people are suffering while so many of us just blend into the background unable or unwilling to take a stand, not knowing how far our voices will carry an impact.  I will take that stand for people who have not been heard.