fru
(PM I)
HistoriclaJy, pinu. the •
to vote for of . . of
th· . bees a real strug-
I gIe. The rich and powaful.
America have almost always
sought to restrict the w to
those in their or to those
om they felt they could in­
. flueace to vote for an pro ec:t the
interest of the wealthy and the
powerful In the beginning only
hite males with a specified
amount of property could YO e.
It not until 1828, or forty­
one years after the rati cation
o the constitution that all white
men could vote in America.
Women were not eligible to par-
ticipa te in America's
democracy. .
, '. African-Americans, as
laves, were considered 3/5 of
human beings and the so called
"free" Blacks were not free
enough to cast a ballot. The b t­
tie to open up Americ 's
g/
derDOaaCy to the partici
� AIL of' citizeus has been.
llmental strugIe; a trugIe
icb oaIy yielded �
beca � work-
� the poor, African-
. d other minorities
been determined not to be
dcaied.
In tbe case of African­
right to vote was
gruted' 1810 with the ratifica­
. of the Fdthteenth Amend­
meat to the . bon. -Radi­
car Iicaas pressed for a
. of civil-rights measures
.. clad.' 12 the en&andlisement
ofB in part as.a st¥tegy to
relaiD political powef\ in the
So th, and to maintain their
old on the Whitehouse. In
l816, however, the Republicans
aba doned their African­
. in the infamou
H yes- Tilde a Compromise.
This compromise effectively
ithdrew federal protection
&omthe new African-American
citizens, and I ft their fate to the
Democratic Party power elite in
th South. Hereafter the politi­
cal destiny of African­
Americans would bedictated by
the doctrine of states rights.
Initially, the southern' states
did little to disenfranchise
The House of Representa-
tives voted last to r ore
measure of fairne to
America's rki poor by ap­
proving a boost in the federal
minimum e. The bill . cb
passed represented com­
promi e with some Hou e
Republican on the minimum
e i ue. The minimum wage
would be raised from the au­
rent $3.35 an our to S3.8S ill
October 1, 1989; S4.2S in Oc- .
tober 1, 1990; and S4.5S. Oc­
tober 1, 1991.
In ddi' to the e hikes,
iell are essentially the
those' the 0 • . ' biD, a .
compromise was ked out on
the so-called "tr aining c-.
Foroe Iybired kerswith
no previous employment ex­
perience the compromise uld .
establish sub-minimum e I
of S3.35 for 60 days. The ub- !
minimum wage uld also be I
djusted each year the mini- I
mum wage' raised. This com- ·1
. promise is dramatically dif- i
ferent than the -Bush sub-miDi­
mum "training wage- hich·
ould have lasted six months, �
for 11 newly hired r er , I
despite their previous employ- !
meet record While I uld I
prefer no sub- iaim
feature all, it an ccom-
moda . . ch accepted to
get a bill through Coasr
UDder current S1DaU
to
• Ameriams. But Black Gradually, spearheaded by
� made the 'mistake· of. the N.A.A.C.P., African­
loiDi.ng forces ith hite American . legal strategist
farmers and orkers in the began to abolish the various
Populi t Movement in the legal barriers which had been
UB)s. The powerful coalition of· erected by the southern states
poor and rking class Blacks through favorable judicial
and . es came daDgero Iy decisions, T e Civil-Rights
close to overturning the rule of . revolution in the sties
the '!jwbitepianters, mer- a� a srzies of IegislatiYe
chants and financiers. In the victories odminatmg with the
final analysis, however, raw historic Vo . Righ Act of vantaged. It i a maze of out­
was evoked a tool of divide 1965. Fm3Dy the federal govern- modecl dmiaistratiYe barriers
and conquer, and the Populist ment back OD th� side of and proccdur. like the iDacces­
M<Wement defeated African-Americans ho h siblity of registratio ites;
The white power structure been forbidden and di - registr tio deadlines to
decided that tho coalition of couraged by Ia and custom ixty days befo e aD election; .
-Black and white unite and from votUrg fo nearly sevelity- and the removal fnames from
fight- had come to close for flVC years. The resuhs ha� the voting lists for -10
comfort They determined that dram tic. Millions of�lack 0 other ern demoa cy
it ould never happen gain. people across the south re uses outmoded, and UllCC%SSaI}'
Jim Crow Ia were enacted as registered through major a . istr tiYe procedures d
pbycbologjcal reward to poor registration drives mounted by lers to discour ge pa.ople
whites, and a series of la were civil-rights organizati and a om registering to vote.
passed to trip virtually all number of civic associatio . As VOTI G IS A GIlT OT
African-Americans in the a direct con e quence, A PRIVILEG In America,
south, and some poor whites of thousands of African- ·twenty-flVe affter the
the right to vote. Hence the Americans have been elected to e of the V· Rights Act,
emergence of the grandfather public office across the nation. we must now mount the final as­
clause, poll taxes, and literacy, But despite these apparent sault on power d previleg by
tests as devices to k African- successes in recent years, much insisting on .registratioe reform.
Americans from the allo box. remains to be done. There are WE NEED A VOTE BILL 0
And of course there the ul- still 8 million African- RIGHTS!
timate weapon of terror, in- Americans unregistered in
timidation and lynching when America including some
all else failed. 438,<XX> in Florida; S09,<XX> in
Georgia; 426,000 in North Ron Daniels served as 1M
Carolina; and more than, D ctor of 1M NatiotuU Rain-
1,<XX>,OOO in e York! Millio bo Coalition and as the Dep"ty
of Hispanics also remain out- Co paign Manager for the
side of the electoral political Re rend Iesse lac'bon's .
arena. Indeed of the millions of Presi entia} Campaign '88. H.e
unregistered voters in America . has s d as PruidenJ1Jfthe M -
2/3 are minoritie and poor tio" Bl«k,Assembly tIIId
people; people who are des- Chair. non of the Natio,?tU .
tined to remain destitute and' Black ndependent Political
disregarded unless can g�t Pany.: rrently, he serves as
ballots into their bands. President 0/ th« Institute for
The wealthy and the power- Community Organization tI1Ul
Iul have one I remaining bas- Development in Youngstown,
Lion which protects them froni Ohio. He may be cOllUJct«l tlt
the onslaught of the dis ad- . (216) 746-5747.
ea
business exception is in place
whereby firms with annual sales
less than $362,SOO and fUlDS .
most other industri . th Ies
less than $250,00 are exempt
from minimum wage require­
ments. The new bill raises the
threshold to SSOO,<XXl for most
firms.
The American peop both
Democrats ad Republicans,
overwhelmingly favor -a mini­
mum wage increase. I urge
. PresideDt B to recon ider
the hard line he seems to have
adopted in pledging a veto of
this bill The working poor have
waited more than eight years for
a .eost of living increase and
should Dot be locked into a life
of poverty because of political
differences.
Since 1938 there h been DO
evidence that minimum wage in­
creases have triggered in­
creased unemployment or any
of the other dire ceo . c COD­
sequences the opponent's have
consistently stated. e in­
crease would probably boo.u:.e.
eoonomy because it would put
more money into the hands of
the wOrking poor, 0 usually
spend m of their disposable
income on goods and services.
The bill which p d last
week is a balanced ure that
address the conce ns of the
busine communi and a 0
provides economic ju lice to
minimum wage earners. The
raise long overdue we have
cleared one major hurdle. On
to the Senate! ,
