By on 0 U.s.
�me Cburtml by the inaction
otheU.S. �-
soon to be tho nds - of
�I� win fled tim rounDy in
o political pe . n
the<Mrthrowo the dermaatica1-
ly elected pre ident, Jean
Ber1rmJ-Aris· oow being
sentbeck.
There are repo the retur-
nees are � pmtogr8phcd aOO
finFprinrd by "security forces"
-a eupmnism for the right wing
fanatics respo ible for the anti
Aristide roup.
WHILE INSISTING that
they are woddng behiOO thcscera
k> JeSk>re dermaacy in Haiti, the
·Bum administration allowed
the coup-ma1ce k> rule with vir-
1Ual iJq>wity.
The Demoaatic Party-COD-
1rollcd Cbngas 1m fBiled to pro
vide any IeadeJShip or produce any
legislative initiati� k> proect the
lives of these political refup or
k> force Bum's hand aOO have
Amtide JeSk>Itd. t
On my t trip to Haiti, in
February «1987 -one yearaftel'
the overthrow of Jean aa�
("Baby Docj Duvalier - I was
privileged to be a guest at the
fouOOing oonf=rx:e of the COO
� of Dermaatic MoYemtn
KONAKOM. Thousands of
Haitiam traveled k> Port..au-Prince
to lAy the groUlXfwork for the
mocratic movement that ul
timately brought �r Aristide k>
power with 70% of the popular
VOle.
Together with pro-derooaacy
actiwts in the United Sma, aOO
tem of tmuwm of members of
p� organizatiom -
iocJuding the Rainbow Lobby aOO
• the New AlliaIre Party-I uOOer
mk that 1aSk. � the buildup for
election; in Haiti progressed, we
were actively involved in lobbying
� ml raising lOOney t)
support the Haitian people'sstrug
gIc k> mid fair elcdiom.
IN 11IE SUMMER of 1900,
when the ootoriom DuvaliC'list
Roger Lafonaant returned k> Haiti
ml anooUlrcd his plam to nul fur
the presidency, KONAKOM
asked that immediate steps be
taken to prevent his planned
remobiliZation of the dreaded
secret police, the Tontons
Maooulr:s.
Together with the Rainbow
Lobby, I � an Clmrgeocy
conference in Washington, at
wftlch some 40 Cbngn'ssional of
fices recdwd a detailed briefing
on the de1Mora� political situa
tion imide Haiti, which iIrludcd a
report by tdepmne hook-q> from
Port-au-�.
In the meantime,
KONAKOM was recruiting
Haitian dtizem to nul for local
office. They appealed k> me thc
funds to pay the caOOidate registra
tion fees. In two weeks I·raised
ers of tOO\UlO of dollars k> en
sure that pro-democracy can
didates would be on the ballot
��Haiti.
These candidates ultimately
ran on the ticlcct laded up by
� Aristide. Tbe popular vic
t>ry WM a resowxting triumph fur
thepeoplc ..
As a presidential auxlida� I
I1lve tard for myself the aiminaI
silcn:e eX the so-alk:d "big five"
Detmcra5 on virtually every . �
c:l roB:eID k> our peq>le aI¥l k>
0Cherpeq>1e of color ber m1 imer
lIltionally.
- Clim>1\ Keney, m1 cmq.ny
imemitive k> the deIllard of
ordinaIyy pcq>le - m1 psr
dcuIarty . people of roO' - tir
dc200aaL)' 8IX1 iJdllioo.
Dr. LenoraFuloni is the chair
pmaa cf the New Alliat« POfty
atda procticing � tht!rtJHst in
Horlem. Contoct her (# the New
AlliancePany, 2032 FifthA�
New YorA; NY 10035 and (#
(212'fJ964700.
I
People re pond to hard tim in
different ways. Some hold on more
tight} y than ever to their acquisi tions,
fearing that they might be taken
away. Others, eeing that their
neighbors have even greater needs,
share what little they have out of .
comp ion.
In W hington during this reces-
ion, self-intere t has become more
prevalent than compassion. While
unemployment, hunger and home
less increase, special interest group
are attempting to consolidate their
past gains with desperate resolve.
There is simply no other way to ex
plain the incomprehensible
decisions being made by Congress
and the Pre ident on how to pend
the $1.6 trillion entrusted to them by
taxpayers.
How else doe one explain that
the amount the United State is
pending to defend Europe from a
non-existent Soviet aony-rougbly
$130 billion-is six times greater
than what it spends to protect our
own children from the very real
ravages of hunger and malnutrition?
What other reason exists for spend
ing $100 billion to bail out failed
avings and loans while not
safeguard ing the investment we have
in the health of our children?
How is it possible that $61 billion
could be marshalled to protect oil
prices and the national sovereignty
of 2.2 million Kuwaitis, while vir
tually no new money is said to be
available to help feed the 5.5 million
infants and children who are hungry
in American?
SO FAR, compassionate initia
tives in Washington have not fared
well against other special interests.
The interests of those who have
benefi ted from the Cold War
military buildup, and the concerns of
investors and bankers are being
heard above the cries of our children.
The fact is, every fifth child faces
hunger in the United States. That is
nearly 13.4 million children under
the age of 18 who live below the
poverty line. Each month, 20 mil
lion Americans rely on a food bank
or soup kitchen for food; three out of
four of these hungry people are either
children or their parents.
It is time that the suffering of
these children be recognized as a na
tional crisis: a crisis more important
than oil, savings and loans, and
NATO.
TO BEGIN ADDRESSING this
crisis, Bread for the World,a Chris
tian citizens' movement against
hunger, is urging Congress to in
crease funding for three programs
that have been proven effective for
helping hungry children. .
Withjust a fraction of the savings
from our military budget, we can
fully fund cost-effective childhood
nutrition and education programs
such the Special Supplemental
Food Program for Women, Infants
and Children (W1C) and Head Start.
We can also expand job skills train
ing and education for disadvantaged'
and unemployed youth through Job
Corp. •
If we want more romp ionate
leadership in our nation, citizens
must speak up and insist that babies
are more important than bombs or
bankers.
Dome.tl, hunger ',ct,
- One in five children under 18
in the United States is poor. The
VIEWS/OPINIONS
of peech
clute, in virtually every context?
I ould argue th t all freedoms
only m aningful in the context of
individual and group right and
re po ibiliti , P rving the dig
.iity of 11 members of ociety.
Freedom to y literally anything
on wan regardles of all ocial
consequences, and- without concern
for tho e ho are viol ted, i no
freedom at all.
o
v
o
"right" to demean or humiliate tu
den on the b . of nder, race;
exual orientation, or other ctors of
difference, beca e this creates
tile environment in which learn-
ingbeco Imost! ible.
1b , the i ue of free peech d
its limi howd be seen not j t from
the pe pective of the First Amende
ment, but the Fourteenth Amend-
ou
co
10
Dr. annUIg Marable is Profi -
sor of Polilical Science and History
and the University of Colorado,
BoultJer.
I
•
e pon eto
atio
5150 billion
51 00 billion
550 billion
o
ur : Br d f r th
1992 Bud t
•
Gulf War
561 billion
S&L Bailout
51 05 billion
1989 to present
NATO
5130 billion
Cost of defending
Western Europe
from o1to(k; FY 92
poverty line for a family of four in
1991 was $13,400. (Bread for the
World)
- Every 35 seconds an infant is
born into poverty in the United
States. (Children's Defense Fund)
- Each month, 20 million
Americans rely on a food bank or
soup kitchen for food. Three out of
. four persons requesting emergency
food assistance are either children or
their parents. Over 28 percent of all
poor people received no federal as
sistance in 1990. (Select Committee
on Hunger)
- Children are the poorest age
group, twice as likely to be poor as
elderly people. (Select Committee
on Hunger)
- Children, who account for 15
percent of all homeless people, are
the fastest growing segment of the
homeless population. (Select Com
mittee on Hunger)
- Only one in 10 poor children
•
a
c
e
Child oocI Hun r
520 billion
u.s. food progrom
for children; FY 92
rp rati n, Center for 0 fen e Information, _
is African American and living with
a single parent on welfare in a central
city. More than half of U.S. citizens
on welfare are white. (Bread for the
World)
- Every 14 minutes an infant
dies in the first year of life.
(Children's Defense Fund)
- The United States ranks below
21 developed countries in infant
mortality, with 40,000 infants dying
before their first birthday. (Bread for
the World)
- Prenatal care can cost as little
as $400 compared to $400,000
sometimes necessary to keep alive a
low-birthweight baby in a neonatal
intensive care unit. Every averted
low birthweight birth would save the
U.S. health care system between
$14,000 and $30,000. (Bread for the
World)
- A low-birthweight baby
(below 5.5 pounds) is 40 times more
likely to die in the first month than a
normal weight baby, and is more
likely to have developmental delays,
learning disabilities or behavioral
problems. Undernutrition in preg-
nancies is a major cause of low
birthweight. (BFW)
- Children in programs such as
Head Start are twice as likely to
graduate from high school and be
employed than those in similar cir
cumstances who do not participate.
(Children's Defense Fund) .
- Nearly seven out of 10 Job
Corps graduates are placed in jobs.
(Job Corps)
- Families in the richest fifth of
the population have 44.6 percent of
the total U.S. income, the highest
percentage on record, while the
poorest fIftilhave the lowest percent
age of U.S. income ever, 4.6 percent.
(Center on Budget and Policy
Prioritie
. - During the six weeks the
United States was fighting in the Per-
sian Gulf, 1,250 U.S. infanta and
children died from poverty, 4,000
died due to low birthweight and
1,825 were killed or injwed by guns.
(National Association of Religious
Women)
- Federal spending for
children's programs .grew at only
one-fourth the rate of overall federal
spending during the 198Qs. (Bread
for the World)
- In 1991, the American tax
payer contributed $154.72 to the B-2
Stealth Bomber, $17736 to the SctL
bailout and $3.47 to the Job Corps
program. (Job Corps)
- $4.21 is returned to the .
economy for every dollar invested in
the prenatal aspect of WIC, $4.7S for
each dollar pent on Head Start and
$1.46 for every dollar invested in Job
Corp. (Mathematica Policy Re
search, Inc., Children's Defense .
Fund and Bread for the World)