Closing the wage gap: It’s a matter of survival for working families

Special article written by Valerie Jarrett, senior advisor and assistant to President Obama, chair of White House Council on Women and Girls

America first put an equal-pay law on the books in 1963, when women earned 59 cents for every dollar earned by a man. While this legislation was landmark at the time, its core provisions require updating if it is to fulfill its promise.

Nearly 50 years later, the wage gap has narrowed by only 18 cents. Despite news reports that the gap narrowed in the last year, the census report released Thursday showed otherwise. Working women are still paid only 77 cents for every dollar earned by a man — and are paid less than men even when they have similar levels of experience and education. For women of color the gap is larger. During a woman’s lifetime, this disparity adds up to a substantial loss in income, retirement funds and even benefits.

In this harsh economic environment, the consequences of the pay disparity put women and their families, as well as our economy, at a significant disadvantage. We are still emerging from the deepest recession since the Great Depression. And while we have added private-sector jobs for eight straight months, we remain short of our goal of putting every American who wants a job back to work. Today, too many struggling families are still waiting to feel the benefits of economic progress.

That’s why women’s wages have perhaps never been more important. Women are the sole or co-breadwinners in two-thirds of American families. For them and their families, equal pay is not only a matter of principle; it’s a matter of survival.

It is for this reason that President Obama applauds the work of the House of Representatives and strongly supports passage of the Paycheck Fairness Act in the Senate. It is common-sense legislation that will give women the tools they need to obtain equal pay for equal work. The House passed this legislation 256 to 163 in January 2009. The bill is on the Senate calendar and should come up for a vote this month.

Pay equity is an issue of fairness not just for women but also for employers who comply with the law and pay employees what they deserve. The current system rewards businesses that embrace sex-based pay discrimination as a cost-cutting measure and encourages a race to the bottom. The Paycheck Fairness Act will right this wrong by rewarding businesses that set high standards and value their employees rather than taking advantage of them.

It will also eliminate a loophole that some employers use to avoid paying women equal wages. Under the act, while employees will still have to prove that discrimination has taken place, employers will be required to prove in court that any wage differences were based on factors other than sex — such as education, training or experience — and were consistent with business necessity. The act will provide victims of sex-based pay discrimination the same remedies under the law that victims of other forms of discrimination have.

The Paycheck Fairness Act will establish sensible protections for employees. The legislation will prohibit retribution against workers who share salary information with their co-workers or draw compensation comparisons across a company’s various regional divisions. These provisions will give women the ability to determine whether their pay is fair and will encourage employers to eliminate discriminatory policies by making them more transparent and accessible.

The Paycheck Fairness Act will also improve federal agency access to wage-related data, while protecting confidentiality. When it becomes law, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission will have access to important information from employers that, with time and analysis, will strengthen our ability to ensure compliance. The Labor Department will also be able to begin education and outreach efforts that will increase both employer and employee knowledge of their respective responsibilities and rights regarding equal pay.

For these reasons and more, the Paycheck Fairness Act merits swift passage. America cannot move forward, prosperous and faithful to its ideals, if the pay gap is allowed to persist for another 50 years. This act is not only good for women, it’s good for working families, for business and for the American economy.

The writer is senior adviser and assistant to President Obama for intergovernmental affairs and public engagement, and chair of the White House Council on Women and Girl.

President Obama Celebrates A Day to Remember!

August 6, 2010

A commemoration of civil rights…

“Today we celebrate the 45th Anniversary of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, one of the most historic and groundbreaking pieces of legislation in our nation’s history. For those who marched bravely; who worked tirelessly; who shed their blood and gave their lives in the pursuit of freedom for every American, the Act served as the culmination of decades of work to fulfill America’s promise.  And for the members of the Moses Generation – including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks, who stood alongside President Johnson when he signed the bill into law – it was an affirmation that although the arc of the moral universe may be long, it bends toward justice.” —President Barack Obama

A new justice…

“I am very pleased that the Senate has just voted to confirm Elena Kagan as our nation’s 112th Supreme Court Justice.” —President Barack Obama

Now we have two women on the courts, one white and one of color, how will it make a difference?

We can vote but what are we voting for?

Progress comes with responsibility…ethical, moral, and legal!

New Breed of Black Girls

Should we believe the hype or rewrite the script?

Channel surfing has proved to be dangerous and detrimental to my healthy outlook for our emerging future.  Between Maury Povich and Jerry Springer, the breakdown of the black family is evident, ever-present, and plastered on front street.  Do I blame them for capitalizing on the dysfunction of our society?  Yes, I hold them accountable for their choice to exploit unstable situations in the name of the almighty dollar.

Black women parade themselves on television to find out who the father of their children are or who he’s cheating with while getting their 15 minutes of fame and (negative) attention.  The chanting mob mentality is bewildering and sophomoric.

I sat down and actually watched 2 hours of name calling, fighting, and disrespect.  There was a woman who wanted to confront her ex-con boyfriend, whom she had been loyally supporting, while in jail, but heard that once getting out of jail had picked up with another “whore.” She told Springer, “this bitch doesn’t know me.  I’m from the TTH, aka Thick,Thug Bitch gang.”  She goes on to say she won’t let some younger girl come in and take her man.  It’s almost like watching an underground culture of people being exploited in the name of “keeping it real.”   The two women are then encouraged to physically fight over this sorry man.  I can not believe how popular these shows have become.  For young people with nothing to do at home but watch television, these types of show have become the norm and not the exception.  It is considered “low hanging fruit.”

Television has become a breeding ground for more emotional dysfunction and psychological abuse.  Developing teens and adults look outside themselves to television, magazines, videos and movies to determine who they are and imitate how they are supposed to act within our society.  They are sipping the tasty kool-aid that will ultimately kill their chances for future stability and happiness.  These types of reality talk shows are breeding women, relationships, and families will no restraint or respect.

So what’s the answer?  Will replacing garbage, on television, with balanced healthy choices stop the madness?  Would better parenting, including time spent engaging and grooming young girls to become ladies, stop the madness?  or do we just let things unfold and unravel before our eyes?

Your choice.

A Piece of Peace: Saying Goodbye to Lena

Guest Commentary by Rochelle Soetan

Tuesday Morning Love – May 11, 2010: A Piece of Peace

“The only certainties are death and taxes”…so said Benjamin Franklin.  But there are many more certainties in life than that.  We can be certain that the sun will rise each morning and that darkness will fall each night.  We can be certain that love will touch our lives; that we will know what happiness feels like and that we will be hungry again tomorrow – no matter how much we eat today and that politicians, when they are on the hook, will try to wiggle off of it.  The one thing we cannot be certain of is when these things will happen or how long they will last.

Every year, mothers around the world are honored for their tenacity, strength, beauty and dynamism.  For centuries now mothers have bared the fruit of the earth – and have been the surefire muscle that keeps it all together; the “glue” as they say.  This Mothers’ Day, the world lost another dynamic mother – the infamous and radiant, Ms. Lena Mary Calhoun Horne.  Up until the golden age of 92, she naturally lived up to the expectation of her birth name, “Lena”, both in spirit and in Greek origin; meaning bright or most beautiful woman.

With a high interest in theatre myself, I discovered the unparalleled talent and beauty of Ms. Lena Horne when I was only 16 years old and on the stage in high school – the same age that she was when she first took step to the stage as a dancer at Harlem’s Cotton Club.  She later became a singer there and accelerated all the way to her first Broadway production, Dance with Your Gods in 1935. In 1938, she landed her first film role in The Duke is Tops; in 1940 she became the first African-American singer to tour with a white band and in 1942, she was the first black to sign a long-term movie contract with MGM Studios in Hollywood.  Needless to say, Ms. Lena Horne never allowed anything or anyone to get in the way of her attaining her dreams.  Strangely enough, my daughter Nia is sixteen years old and a thriving and aspiring actress.  Her industry icons are Cicely Tyson, Angela Bassett, Nia Long, Diahann Carroll and Lena Horne.  Nia connected with the genius of Lena Horne in the 1978 phenomena The Wiz, an adaptation of The Wizard of Oz.

The contributions of this Legendary American Jazz singer, dancer, actress, civil rights activist and comrade to many, will live on forever and she will be deeply missed.  Lena Horne’s accolades in radio, television and film have made her one of the worlds’ most distinguished and respectable individuals.  In a later interview, Horne said, “The best time in my life is now because I’m quiet and I’m logical and I accept without flying off the handle – sometimes I do”.

Through the loss of a husband, son and father all in one surreal year and after surviving countless years in show business, in her later years, Horne said that she finally found peace.  I certainly hope that this past Mother’s Day you took an opportunity to tell the people you love just how very much you love and appreciate them.  Mothers are here today and gone tomorrow. After all, nothing is certain but the stars (like Lena) that God places in the beautiful celestial sky.

Rochelle Soetan is the Executive Director and founder of Pearls of Poise LLC, Washington DC’s premier youth etiquette and civility program and an emerging author.

Suspicion of Racial Origin

 Guest Commentary by Dr. Julianne Malveaux

Arizona Senate Bill 1070 gives law enforcement officers the right to stop, question, arrest and detain any person they suspect is in the United States illegally.  What gives rise to such suspicion?  Give the climate and the content in which the law has been passed, it might well be called the “detain suspected Mexicans” legislation.  Few of us should get comfortable, though, thinking the legislation targets Mexican Americans and not others.  Giving law enforcement the right to stop based on suspicion is a license to harass folks who are “other”, and that may include African Americans and other brown people.

It isn’t likely that white folks are likely to be stopped, though perhaps they ought to be.  Whites who come to or stay in the United States illegally usually get a pass.  They can be white South Africans, Europeans, or even Canadians who come here for one purpose and stay for another.  Because they look just like that which is perceived to be “normal” they don’t ignite suspicion.  And yet a third or fourth generation Mexican American, born here, just might.

The Arizona legislation is wrong, and it is a result of that state’s frustration from absorbing so many undocumented people and paying money to provide them with services.  It is the xenophobic outcome of racial fears combined with a recession that has shaken some families’ economic basis to its core.  There are millions who wonder “what about me” when they see undocumented people working, “what about me” when they see them in hospital waiting rooms.  It is this “what about me” mentality that fueled the phobias that passed California’s Proposition 187.  It is this same “what about me” phobia that has pushed immigration reform legislation to the right in the United States Senate.

The law now under consideration would make us the equivalent of South African with a passbook.  We would all be required, as workers, to have a new Social Security card that is connected to our fingerprints.  They don’t go so far as to say we should wear it on a chain around our neck, but this new card, with all of our identity metrics attached to it, would be necessary to secure our citizenship rights, and important to denying the rights of others.

President Obama promised immigration reform when he ran for office in 2008.  His plate has certainly been full since his election, with health care reform, economic meltdown, and financial services reform.  He is letting a key constituency down, though, by not weighing in on immigration reform.  He is, clearly, a conciliator, but as we learned with health care reform, the right legislation will not be passed until and unless he gets his hands dirty by entering the fray, sharing opinions and twisting arms.

I am not sure what immigration reform should look like, and I am aware that current sentiment precludes a blanket amnesty for those Mexican illegal immigrants who are already here.  I am aware, too, of heartbreaking facts – that parents are deported while their children, legal citizens, remain here, with families utterly disrupted because of the law; that brilliant students can’t get a speck of federal financial aid to attend college even though they have graduated from US high schools if they are undocumented; that we might all die from scurvy or some other such vegetable-deficient disease if Mexican immigrants did not work in agriculture in the United States; that these folks who cross borders are our brothers and sisters who might rather stay home but for the harsh features of our global economy; that those folks who cross borders come here, often, to be exploited and have their immigration status held against them in the workplace.

On Saturday May 1, all over the country, people turned out to rallies to protest not only the Arizona legislation but also the way that immigrant workers are treated.  I was in St. Louis on Saturday, with a group of United Methodist Women, who thronged to a rally, led by Harriet Olsen, a woman of great grace and spirit.  In an insightful talk to the Methodist women, she used Christian principles as the context for dealing with immigration issues.  Instead of bringing her talk to a rousing close, she closed by asking women to group in dialogue to address what they might do about this issue of injustice, and others.

Senator John McCain from Arizona had been an advocate of immigration reform until he realized that he might face a tight election with a Tea Party-type opponent from his own party.  I’m not surprised that he has placed self-interest over justice.  Perhaps men and women of spirit and conscience, folks like Harriet Olsen, should be brought to the table to help shape immigration reform legislation.  Until then, we had all (except white folks) better watch out because it is clear that suspicion of racial identity is enough to get one stopped, questioned, arrested, or detained in the name of law.

Dr. Julianne Malveaux is an economist, author and commentator, and the Founder & Thought Leader of Last Word Productions, Inc., a multimedia production company.

Published with permission from Last Word Productions.

Who Am I? by Delrisha White, Bennett College

Dr. Dorothy Height received an honorary degree from Bennett College and remained a staunch supporter of its students and its current President, Dr. Julianne Malveaux.  On March 30, I had the pleasure of speaking at Bennett College during their distinguished ACES Program.  My keynote centered around the theme of image and identity, in which I asked the students to answer the question, “Who Am I?”  As a tribute to Dr. Height, I’d like to introduce you to Delrisha White…in her own words…

I am, Delrisha Patrice White. The oldest of the youngest children of Bridget Ebony Johnson and first to last of  Peter Delray White, of whom I got my name. I am, a hardworking, dedicated, consistent young lady with the soul of a grown woman because of all I had to endure.

I am, a natural born leader, whose purpose is to serve and advocate for those who haven’t yet found their voice, or passion. I am, one who has overcome the face of adversity, humbled, resilient, and tenacious; one who is called to help others and share my story to empower women who have their own.

I am, a Bennett Belle from California, not called to be ordinary but brought to North Carolina by grace to be nothing short of Extraordinary. I am, a  child of God who guides and protects me, wears the glasses so that I may trust him and walk  by faith, who lives in me, all around me and through me; who has my front, and my back.

I am, the strength of my ancestors and the spirit of my baby brother and sister who may come after me. I am, destined to build a stronger nation for the African American to thrive and be all of what the world has challenged us not to be and oppressed us so that we couldn’t become.

I will not be conquered for I am the master of my faith and the captain of my soul.

How do we fit into Dr. Dorothy Height’s legacy?

When I heard the news on Wednesday, April 20, I was stunned, saddened, and speechless, yet I knew, in my heart, that at 98 years old, she had finished her business and now the rest was up to us.

Dr. Dorothy Height, activist, educator, negotiator, mentor, leader, and servant to our sisterhood. She wore her titles and accomplishments graciously, like her grand hats and wardrobe, while beneath them was a woman, sister, and friend with a humble heart and a fierce dedication to our empowerment without compromise.  She groomed greatness with an urgency that was persuasive and purposeful.

In 2008, I went to Dr. Height and the National Council of Negro Women, with the desire to share an amazing documentary, The Souls of Black Girls by Daphne Valerius.  She not only supported it, she hosted its screening and later said it was “the answer to a prayer.” 

Shortly thereafter, I came knocking again.  This time with a vision to create a national dialogue with black women that would keep our concerns and issues at the forefront of our consciousness and active engagement.  That vision was the National Black Women’s Town Hall Meeting.  Dr. Height agreed to partner with me in this sisterly effort and the rest is history. 

As black women, especially, we have a debt to repay to Dr. Height.  How? In actions and efforts.  I was one of the lucky ones who had the privilege of working with one of my sheroes, who also happened to be related to me through our African Mende ancestry.  But most importantly, I had the opportunity to say “thank you” while she was living and in my presence.

How do we fit into her legacy? We each do that by walking in our own shoes, but being mindful of who bought those shoes.  Dr. Height loved her hats, so I’m sure her shoes are matching her crown of glory! 

I will forever be grateful for her willingness to support my dream, to share my burden, and make space for me to spread my wings.

Confederate History is Supremacy History

 Guest Commentary by Dr. Julianne Malveaux

          Last week, Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell proclaimed April Confederate History Month in his state.  In fact he proclaimed the date on April 7, which is the same day in 1865 that Confederate general Robert E. Lee began to negotiate the terms of surrender with United States General Ulysses S. Grant.  In some states, this day is considered Confederate Memorial Day, and Virginia is not alone in celebrating “Confederate History Month”.  Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana have celebrated this month for quite some time.  In the last decade or so Texas (since 1999), Florida (since 2007), and Georgia (since 2009) have also instituted celebrations of Confederate History Month.  Virginia celebrated from 1994-2002 before the commemoration was revoked. 

          Southerners say there is no racism in their celebration of the confederacy.  They claim they just want to celebrate their ancestors who valiantly fought for that which they believed in.  What exactly did these folks believe in, though?  In his famous Cornerstone speech, delivered in Savannah Georgia on March 21, 1861, Confederate Vice-President Alexander Stephens stated “Our . . .foundation are laid, its cornerstone rests, upon the great truth is that the negro (this is how Negro was spelled historically) is not equal to the white man; that slavery – subordination to the superior race – is his natural and normal condition.”

            Anyone who believes in freedom, justice, and equality and reads these words has to cringe, not only at the sentiment, but also at the notion that this sentiment has been resurrected, nearly 150 years later, by contemporary governor of a state that is at least 12 percent African American.  To celebrate the so-called confederacy is to celebrate the words that Stephens despicably uttered, and that ought to be an anathema to any thinking American.

            Governor McDonnell seems to think that he cleaned up his contemptible proclamation by adding language that speaks to the abomination of slavery.  He is talking out of two sides of his mouth.  How can you describe slavery as “evil, vicious and inhumane” without acknowledging, as Stephens said, that slavery is the “cornerstone” of the Confederacy that he wants to celebrate?

            This matter has been so digested in the public space that it seems almost redundant to address it again.  At the same time, it seems that not enough can be written or said about our historical myopia and its consequences.  For all of our so-called post-racialism, race really does still matter, and this pro-Confederacy nonsense shows exactly how much.  For some southerners, the civil war is still really not over, and there are those who truly believe that “subordination to the superior race” is the “natural and normal condition” of Black Americans.  Imagine the chagrin these folks feel when they realize that despite their deeply held beliefs, the elected leader of our nation is a man of African descent.  As Black Americans close social, economic, and political gaps, the Tea Party posse and the Confederacy celebrants seem to clamor for more and more attention.

            I realize that I write this with some risk.  The Tea Party folks are so extreme that they run around threatening people, like Tennessee Congressman Steve Cohen (D) who raised questions about their motives.  Yet history is written by those who hold the pen, and we are all remiss if we do not remind those who are thinking about our nation’s history that the Confederacy was a rebellion against the United States of America.  Why should this rebellion be commemorated and celebrated?

            History belongs to those who hold the pen, and it seems to me that many penholders have a profound ambivalence about the Civil War and its aftermath.  To be sure, cousins fought cousins, friends fought friends, and West Point classmates fought each other.  To clean it up, after the fact, the conflict is said to be about states’ rights, an enduring conflict that continues to plague our nation, instead of slavery, which Stephens declared (and no one disagreed on record) as the cornerstone of the confederacy.  If the Confederacy had ever been written out of history as an aberrant loser we might not still be struggling whether domestic terrorists should be celebrated.  Instead, our nation’s ambivalence about race and equal rights has empowered governors and others to celebrate supremacy.

            Instead of a celebration of Confederacy, we really need a repudiation of its principles by all of those rogue states that were once Confederate.  Instead, Mississippi Governor Haley Barbor calls the celebration of Confederacy “no big deal”.  Too bad Mississippi voters – 38 percent Black American — can’t make this man accountable for his supremacist views.

Dr. Julianne Malveaux is an economist, author and commentator, and the Founder & Thought Leader of Last Word Productions, Inc., a multimedia production company.

African-American Women for Reproductive Freedom, 1989 – 2010

The statement below was written in the summer of 1989 by Marcia Gillespie, who was then editor of Ms. Magazine. One of the signers, Loretta Ross, explains its history:

“This statement … originated with a conference call organized by Donna Brazile, then executive director of the National Political Congress of Black Women, because we were strategizing on how to respond to the Webster Supreme Court decision [the 1989 ruling that allowed individual states to restrict access to abortion]. On that conference call, we decided that what was most urgently needed was a statement giving African American women permission to talk about abortion (the original suggestion was made by Byllye Avery). We then published the statement, distributed about 1/4 million copies of it, and the rest is history.”

Choice is the essence of freedom. It’s what we African Americans have struggled for all these years. The right to choose where we would sit on a bus. The right to vote. The right for each of us to select our own paths, to dream and reach for our dreams. The right to choose how we would or would not live our lives.

This freedom–to choose and to exercise our choices–is what we’ve fought and died for. Brought here in chains, worked like mules, bred like beasts, whipped one day, sold the next–244 years we were held in bondage. Somebody said that we were less than human and not fit for freedom. Somebody said we were like children and could not be trusted to think for ourselves. Somebody owned our flesh and decided if and when and with whom and how our bodies were to be used. Somebody said that black women could be raped, held in concubinage, forced to bear children year in and year out, but often not raise them. Oh, yes, we have known how painful it is to be without choice in this land.

Those of us who remember the bad old days when Jim Crow rules and segregation were the way of things know the hardships and indignities we faced. We were free, but few or none were our choices. Somebody said where we could live and couldn’t, where we could work, what schools we could go to, where we could eat, how we could travel. Somebody prevented us from voting. Somebody said we could be paid less than other workers. Somebody burned crosses, harassed and terrorized us in order to keep us down.

Now once again, somebody is trying to say that we can’t handle the freedom of choice. Only this time they’re saying African-American women can’t think for themselves and, therefore, can’t be allowed to make serious decisions. Somebody’s saying that we should not have the freedom to take charge of our personal lives and protect our health, that we only have limited rights over our bodies. Somebody’s once again forcing women to acts of desperation, because somebody’s saying that if women have unintended pregnancies, it’s too bad, but they must pay the price.

Somebody’s saying that we must have babies whether we choose to or not. Doesn’t matter what we say, doesn’t matter how we feel. Some say that abortion under any circumstance is wrong, others say that rape and incest and danger to the life of the woman are the only exceptions. Doesn’t matter that nobody’s saying who decides if it was rape or incest, if a woman’s word is good enough, if she must go into court and prove it. Doesn’t matter that she may not be able to take care of a baby, that the problem also affects girls barely out of adolescence, that our children are having children. Doesn’t matter if you’re poor and pregnant–go on welfare or walk away.

What does matter is that we know abortions will still be done, legal or not. We know the consequences when women are forced to make choices without protection–the coat hangers and knitting needles that punctured the wombs of women forced to seek back-alley abortions on kitchen tables at the hands of butchers. The women who died screaming in agony, awash in their own blood. The women who were made sterile. All the women who endured the pain of makeshift surgery with no anesthetics and risked fatal infection.

We understand why African-American women risked their lives then and why they seek safe, legal abortion now. It’s been a matter of survival. Hunger and homelessness. Inadequate housing and income to properly provide for themselves and their children. Family instability. Rape. Incest. Abuse. Too young, too old, too sick, too tired. Emotional, physical, mental, economic, social–the reasons for not carrying a pregnancy to term are endless and varied, personal, urgent and private. And for all these pressing reasons, African-American women once again will be among the first forced to risk their lives if abortion is made illegal.

There have always been those who have stood in the way of our exercising our rights, who tried to restrict our choices. There probably always will be. But we who have been oppressed should not be swayed in our opposition to tyranny of any kind, especially attempts to take away our reproductive freedom. You may believe abortion is wrong. We respect your belief and we will do all in our power to protect that choice for you. You may decide that abortion is not an option you would choose. Reproductive freedom guarantees your right not to. All that we ask is that no one deny another human being the right to make her own choice. That no one condemn her to exercising her choices in ways that endanger her health, her life. And that no one prevent others from creating safe, affordable, legal conditions to accommodate women, whatever the choices they make. Reproductive freedom gives each of us the right to make our own choices and guarantees us a safe, legal, affordable support system. It’s the right to choose.

We are still an embattled people beset with life-and-death issues. Black America is under siege. Drugs, the scourge of our community, are wiping out one, two, three generations. We are killing ourselves and each other. Rape and other unspeakable acts of violence are becoming sickeningly commonplace. Babies linger on death’s door, at risk at birth: born addicted to crack and cocaine, born underweight and undernourished, born AIDS infected. An ever-growing number of our children are being abandoned, being mentally, physically, spiritually abused. Homelessness, hunger, unemployment run rife. Poverty grows. Our people cry out in desperation, anger, and need.

Meanwhile, those somebodies who claim they’re “pro-life” aren’t moved to help the living. They’re not out there fighting to break the stranglehold of drugs and violence in our communities, trying to save our children or moving to provide infant and maternal nutrition and health programs. Eradicating poverty isn’t on their agenda. No–somebody’s too busy picketing, vandalizing, and sometimes bombing family-planning clinics, harassing women and denying funds to poor women seeking abortions.

So when somebody denouncing abortion claims that they’re “pro-life,” remind them of an old saying that our grandmothers often used: “It’s not important what people say, it’s what they do.” And remember who we are, remember our history, our continuing struggle for freedom. Remember to tell them that we remember!

Original Signers: Byllye Avery (National Black Women’s Health Project) Rev. Willie Barrow (Operation Push) Donna Brazile (Housing Now) Shirley Chisholm (National Political Congress of Black Women) Representative Cardiss Collins (U.S. Congress) Romona Edelin (National Urban Coalition) Jacqui Gates (National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women’s Clubs, Inc.) Marcia Ann Gillespie (Ms. Magazine) Dorothy Height (National Council of Negro Women) Jewel Jackson McCabe (National Coalition of 100 Black Women) Julianne Malveaux (San Francisco Black Leadership Forum) Eleanor Holmes Norton (Georgetown University Law School) C. Delores Tucker (DNC Black Caucus) Patricia Tyson (Religious Coalition for Abortion Rights) Maxine Waters (Black Women’s Forum) Faye Wattleton (Planned Parenthood Federation of America)

Additional Signers in 1994: Tony M. Bond Sen. Carol Moseley-Braun (D-IL) Rep. Corrine Brown (D-FL) Rep. Eva Clayton (D-NC) Rep. Barbara-Rose Collins (D-MI) Rev. Alma Crawford Evelyn S. Field Rev. Catherine Godbolte Rev. Dr. Claudia Highbaugh Beverly Hunter Rev. Elenora Giddings Ivory Bernice Powell Jackson Terri James Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) Bisola Marignay The Rev. Dr. Joan Martin Cassandra McConnell Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA) Rep. Carrie P. Meek (D-FL) Mary F. Morten Cynthia Newbille Mary Jane Patterson Loretta Ross Jerald Lillian Scott Beverly W. Stripling Elizabeth Terry Mable Thomas Winnette P. Willis Kim Youngblood

Reprinted from Our Bodies, Ourselves Website: http://www.ourbodiesourselves.org/book/companion.asp?id=20&compID=41

On Harry Reid: WEB DU BOIS WAS RIGHT

Guest Commentary by Dr. Julianne Malveaux

        The problem of the twentieth century, wrote scholar-activist WEB DuBois in 1903, is the problem of the color line, the relation of the darker to the lighter races in Asia and Africa, in America and the islands of the sea.”  WEB DuBois was right, and he was wrong.  Certainly race matters were critically important in the United States and in the world (think decolonization) in the latter part of the twentieth century, but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-NV) foolish comments about President Barack Obama suggest that we are dragging twentieth century problems into the twenty-first century.

        In 2008, Reid said that President Obama could win the Presidency because he was “light skinned” with “no Negro dialect unless he wanted to have one”.  The comments, somewhat demeaning and disappointing, were revealed in Game Change, the book by Mark Halperin and John Heilmann that was released last week.  Senator Reid has since apologized directly to President Obama, who has accepted the apology.  Senator Dianne Feinstein says this should be the end of it.  With heath care legislation on the line, Democrats are wishing this matter would go away, and republicans are working it for all they can.  At least three prominent Republicans, including RNC Chairman Michael Steele, who happens to be African American, are calling for Reid’s resignation.  Steele cites the Trent Lott brouhaha, when Lott said the country would have been better had Strom Thurmond, the Dixiecrat segregationist, been elected President, as evidence of double standards.  But Lott actually said he wished that segregation had prevailed, and he said this in 2002!  There’s a big difference between factually, if awkwardly, describing someone as light-skinned, and wishing for segregation.

        In some ways, this comment is not a big deal.  Except beneath the description of the President as light-skinned and well spoken is a comparative disregard for those who might be darker skinned and more ebonic.  Truth be told, though, could a darker skinned African American candidate have been able to capture the hearts, minds, and votes of so many Americans?  I think not.  “The problem of the 20th century is the problem of the color line.”

        Harry Reid’s comment, and the reaction to it, puts to rest any notion that our nation is “post-racial”.  We remain racial, and we are not above using race for political gain.  Thus the Republicans, who could likely care less about this comment, but more about weakening Democrats, are looking for blood.  The party whose renegade Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin was blatantly racial during her campaign, but never reigned in, is suddenly offended by Reid’s comments, which are mild by their standards.  Michael Steele, who has implored his party to reach out to people of color, to no avail, is mired in hypocrisy when he calls for Reid’s resignation.  Post-racial?  We aren’t there yet.

        There is plenty to say about race and Democrats, as well.  For all the supposed liberalism of the President’s party, many were disparaging of President Obama’s candidacy.  President Bill Clinton was furious, derisive, and turned South Carolina away from Senator Hilary Clinton with his ill-advised comments about President Obama.  According to the same authors who outed Harry Reid, he told Senator Ted Kennedy, “A few years ago, this guy would have been getting us coffee.”

Vice President Joe Biden, just three years ago, made comments not too different from Reid’s, “I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy.”  How condescending!  And yet how real and how reflective of the way many whites feel about African American people.  I don’t know how often an accomplished African American is described as “articulate” as if it is possible to be inarticulate and also a television commentator, a corporate leader, or an educator.  This is subtle racism, but those African Americans who get along manage, like President Obama, not to appear too outraged at these comments.  Biden, Clinton, and Reid have gotten away with their comments because Obama is magnanimous and others are magnanimous in his stead.  We say we know their intent, and it is not ill.  Still, the words are inappropriate and they sting.

We know what is in their hearts, but we also know what came out of their mouths.  Their words suggest that WEB DuBois was painfully right.  We are still stuck on the color line in these United States.