A Proposed Black Agenda for Democrats
November 2, 2006
BlackCommentator.com has a great list of items that the Democrats should focus on should they take control of the House of Representatives. These items, in their view, would be the most beneficial things that they could do for Black people in this country.
Here are the plan’s 10 proposals:
1. Introduce and pass comprehensive Katrina legislation that includes a victim’s compensation fund akin to that awarded the 911 families
2. Introduce and pass legislation to fix and expand the Unemployment Insurance (UI) system
3. Equalize education funding in the states by introducing and passing legislation authorizing a federal education incentive fund that induces states to eradicate unequal school financing schemes
4. Improve the quality and effectiveness of primary and secondary schools by introducing and passing legislation that encourages comprehensive school reform in the states
5. Authorize and appropriate resource support for African Union peacekeeping forces in the Darfur region of Sudan
6. Combat the spread of HIV/AIDS in African American communities by introducing and passing comprehensive HIV/AIDS legislation
7. Spur economic development by passing legislation implementing federally funded business training programs in high schools, community colleges, HBCU’s and other minority-serving education institutions
8. Introduce and pass legislation to guarantee universal access to health insurance
9. Introduce and pass federal legislation standardizing state voting requirements and mandating paper verification voting systems
10. Respect the traditional seniority system in the House of Representatives that would allow ranking African American committee members to ascend to their rightful place as chairs of powerful House committees
The most interesting points on this list in my mind are numbers 3 & 9.
#3 is interesting because if we do real work to equalize funding, then maybe we can actually have a real merit-based process for evaluating school performance instead of the sham that is No Child Left Behind. Having school funding being tied almost solely to property taxes leads to a vicious cycle in the presence of urban sprawl, brain drain, and other migration phenomena. Perhaps we can come up with a better system that works in spite of these sorts of things.
#9 is important because voting is important. Because voting is so important, anything that can be done to protect the system for counting votes is equally as important. If people were completely confident in said system, I wouldn’t have to beg so hard.
Would you add more to this list?
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Black Issues
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Democrat
Cuts in funding for Sudan
November 14, 2005
The Republican-led Congress is crazy. They voted to trim the $50 million that lawmakers had approved earlier in the year for the African Union force. Let’s take a step back and get a big picture view for a second. Most Americans think that we spend too much on foreign aid when in fact, we spend as a country less than one half of one percent on foreign aid. One half of one percent!! And now the Republicans who all of a sudden want to try and manage this out of control deficit by cutting spending. What’s worse is that we promised this money to the African Union last year and because politicians play on the citizen’s apathy and ignorance, they often times get away with tomfoolery of the grandest scale. Now I know $50 million might not sound like a lot in terms of the trillion dollar budget we wrangle over. But this money will help bring stability to a nation that has been ravaged by poverty, corruption, and the blind eye of rich nations that can’t seem to see understand why they are so despised in the world. Many people say 9/11 changed everything. It changed nothing as we continue to give more reasons for people to kill themselves as they try to break the oppressive will of the United States and its allies.
