Recent Tragedies Prove that Gun Violence Isn’t Just a Black, Urban Problem – It’s Everyone’s

This wasn’t supposed to happen here. Then again, this isn’t supposed to happen anywhere.

Two days ago, a one-room schoolhouse, tucked away in the idyllic, grassy folds of Pennsylvania's Amish country, was turned into an execution chamber when a gunman yielded to old demons and shot 10 young Amish girls before killing himself. Five of the girls died.

The week before, another gunman slipped into a Colorado high school, captured six girls and killed one. The siege ended when he killed himself.

Also that week, a student in rural Wisconsin, apparently fed up with being bullied, acted out his frustration on the school principal. He shot him to death.

Predictably, people are, once again, scrambling for answers to deal with this plague of school violence -- the kind that struck terror into the hearts of suburbanites back in 1999 when two social misfits and Nazi admirers, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, massacred 12 people at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. Psychologists are getting much air time analyzing the patterns of such killers, and security firms are betting on higher stock prices.

But while I, like any other person with a pulse, empathize with those who have been personally touched by the tragedies of school shootings, I can’t offer a solution as much as I can point to a lesson.

That lesson being that isolated, middle-class white communities don’t provide an escape from the gun violence that is used to characterize -- and to stereotype -- black urban communities. And the idea that one can deal with fears of violence by simply moving away from black people is an idea that should have been shot to hell -- pardon the pun -- at least since the Columbine massacre.

It still persists, though.

mish, whose isolation and old-fashioned ways are part of their religion, many of the people who move to places such as Littleton and Bailey, Colorado are part of a new wave of white flight. For this group, fears of crime and its associated pathologies lead them to leave cities when they become too black or Hispanic. So they move to the suburbs and exurbs, where they settle in and vote for George W. Bush.

What they don’t realize, or what they don’t care to realize, is that when they flee and deplete the tax base, the problem that they claim to be escaping becomes worse. Much of the violence, especially the homicides, among young black men is spawned by turf wars over the drug trade -- the only occupation some of them believe is available to them since many of the legitimate jobs have been outsourced to the suburbs or overseas.

But here’s the thing: While black males have higher rates of homicide than white males, we know that much of that problem can be cured by putting energy into creating jobs. We know that much of that problem stems from issues of disrespect and devaluation, not psychosis. Instead of dealing with that, however, many people would rather view it as an inevitable consequence of being poor and black. And so, they move away.

And in doing so, many of them underestimate the propensity for violence in the white people around them.

Notice, for example, how Klebold and Harris, as well as Duane Morrison, the Bailey high school shooter; and Charles Carl Roberts, the Amish school shooter, killed themselves after committing murder. That should draw attention to the fact that white males commit suicide at higher rates than any other group. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, they account for 73 percent of all suicides and 80 percent of all firearm suicides.

But more than that, it should also draw more attention to the fact that suicide is no longer just a personal thing; that now, a white guy with suicidal tendencies and access to a gun might want to take a few people with him.

We’ve seen it happen.

No doubt, the school shootings are tragic. And this column is not an attempt to blame the victims, but a means to get people to see that there is no escape or safe place from gun violence. It is everyone’s problem.

One that could be dealt with if stereotypes weren’t allowed to get in the way.

A `No' vote on Proposal 2 is a vote against discrimination

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has long been a defender of the Constitution, and has been at the forefront when civil liberties have been violated or jeopardized. This is particularly true for discrimination, an undeniable wrong. A constant theme in the American narrative is that the civil liberties of the most vulnerable segments of America are traditionally the most at risk, and usually the first to go. Women, people of color and the poor have been the first victims of discrimination, whose civil liberties are categorically eliminated.

Most important, is that discrimination does not exist in a vacuum, and it was not introduced by the advocates of affirmative action and equal opportunity. Rather, those urging our state to vote ``No'' on Proposal 2, the so-called Michigan Civil Rights Initiative (MCRI), understand that discrimination now and in the past is why we still need affirmative action and equal opportunity programs. The threat against the civil liberties of women and people of color is ultimately a threat to everyone's civil liberties and to the Constitution itself. This is why the ACLU and more than 200 other organizations actively oppose Proposal 2 -- the MCRI.

In his op-ed of Sept. 17, Bruce Stein, although a fine civil libertarian, is dead wrong on this issue. He falsely claims that affirmative action is discrimination, and makes simplistic and ultimately incorrect comparisons between real discrimination, on the basis of race and gender, and affirmative action, one of the best cures for discrimination. Contrary to Bruce's argument, a ``No'' vote in November on Proposal 2 is the quickest way to equality and a color-blind society.

Bruce's argument that affirmative action constitutes discrimination is based on the premise that this country's greatness is founded on meritocracy: a system of advancement based on ability or achievement. However, meritocracy is a myth. It has never existed in this country. There has always been an elite group starting the race for opportunity 50 yards ahead of women, the poor and people of color, who, in turn, have been held back from the starting line by everything from Jim Crow, to the lack of educational equity and parity, and by glass-ceiling sexism.

So clear is the recognition that racism is alive, well and institutionalized here in this community, that its leadership was continuing the fight against it at the Third Annual Summit on Racism held Sept. 22. The notion that we live in a color-blind society, where merit is the only consideration, is not only disingenuous, it is flatly incorrect. For instance, unless women are allowed the ability to compete equally with men, which is what affirmative action provides, they will continue to earn 67 cents for every male dollar, as is the case today in Michigan.

Affirmative action lets women and people of color start the race for opportunity from the same starting line as white males. But from that point on, they are on their own. Whether they finish ahead or behind is where the real measure of merit should be. The students admitted to the University of Michigan; Latino workers employed by Kalamazoo County; women and minorities participating in public contracting as minority owned businesses still must rely on their own achievement and ability to successfully perform.

According to Bruce, and the proponents of Proposal 2, the very programs that try to diversify business, the trades, industry and higher education, where the presence of women and people of color is lacking, qualify as discriminatory. But leading Fortune 500 CEOs and Chambers of Commerce across the state consider affirmative action a business prerequisite, articulating that a diverse and representative workforce is an essential component of any smart business strategy. Our state, currently spiraling economically downward, can ill afford to subscribe to the reactionary lead of a wealthy Californian and his fringe following, and must safeguard affirmative action to attract more jobs into Michigan. Jennifer Granholm and Dick DeVos know this, and both stand against Proposal 2.

The disparity between white America and people of color in Michigan is an undeniable reality and an impediment for real competition in a meritocracy. By condemning people of color for their alleged failure to measure up to a white male is the product of institutional racism that penetrates all walks of life in the country, and whose elimination is the ultimate goal of affirmative action. Americans have never been similarly situated, and laws have long been used as an instrument to perpetuate this inequality. Those Michigan women who earn 67 cents to every dollar earned by men in the same line of work still have to pay the same price for gas, bread and milk. This year's incoming student body class at the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA), where affirmative action has been abolished since 1996, will only have 96 African-American students (2 percent), the majority of whom are athletes. Yet, African-Americans in California pay the very taxes that fund this great public university.

The ACLU is deeply committed to defeating discrimination, particularly the misleading MCRI banner which seeks to turn the clock back on civil liberties and civil rights in Michigan. Our unbending commitment to equal protection and the Constitution urges us to stand against the MCRI, and urge Michigan voters to vote ``No'' on Proposal 2 in November.

Web donations help cash-strapped schools

INDIANAPOLIS - Kindergarten teacher Carolyn Freeman gets $170 from her school for classroom supplies each year — a budget quickly drained by basic items like pencils and crayons for her students, more than 80 percent of whom come from low-income families. So when she wanted $300 for phonics materials, Freeman turned to the Internet, where a philanthropic Web site — DonorsChoose.org — is making teachers' wish lists a reality.

The DonorsChoose program has raised more than $8.2 million for school projects since 2000, when it was pioneered by teachers at a public high school in the Bronx borough of New York City. The program has expanded to seven states and four major cities. DonorsChoose officials hope to eventually offer the service to teachers in all states.

Linda Erlinger, executive director of DonorsChoose Chicago and DonorsChoose Indiana, said the program provides a creative outlet for donors who support education causes.

"People want to help schools, but they don't know how," she said. "They're not going to walk over to the neighborhood school and drop off a $100 check. DonorsChoose is a way they can do it at their desk at work or at home with their kids, picking out projects together."

The wish list is long and varied: a karate program in North Carolina, an incubation kit so students can watch chickens hatch in Los Angeles, a classroom Jeopardy game for students in Mississippi, film-making equipment for a Texas school and phonics materials and ballet barres in Indiana.

Supporters say the program is a boon to cash-strapped schools, especially those with high numbers of poor students.

The program also eases the burden on teachers, who often pay for classroom supplies themselves. A 2003 National Education Association survey found that teachers spent an average of $443 of their own money annually.

At Brookside Elementary School in Indianapolis, 95 percent of the students come from lower-income families. Fourth-grade teacher Lisa Wescott received balances and weights through DonorsChoose.

"I wouldn't be doing this science project without it," Wescott said. "The students get excited about the new stuff we get."

Many donors search for projects based on their areas of interest. Sports fans might shell out money to start an after-school running club, while history buffs can support trips to a local museum. Others, like Joe Power, look for projects at their former schools.

Power, who teaches special needs children in Crown Point, donated money for a video camera at his former high school in a poor area of Alabama.

"It made me feel good to be able to give back and know that it went directly to the school," said Power, who contributed less than $1,000.

Even small donations can help, said Suellen Reed, Indiana's superintendent for public instruction.

"There are a lot of people who can't give $500, but they might be able to give $25," Reed said. "Those add up to getting projects done."

In Indiana, 36 projects have been funded so far and a total of $44,000 has been donated.

Officials acknowledge the program isn't a cure-all.

"DonorsChoose doesn't pretend to fix the challenges facing schools," Erlinger said. "But I think it's underestimated how powerful a new set of calculators or a field trip to the children's museum is for children who haven't had that."

Instead of Reducing Spending on Crime Prevention, We Should Be Increasing It

Federal funding for a program designed to help American schools pay for and implement strategies to prevent school violence has declined significantly over the last five years. President Bush wants to eliminate the program altogether. According to his spokespeople, schools are basically safe. A research study published last year tells a different story.

In 2002, the year the study was conducted, there were 17 murders and five suicides among school-age children at school. In 2003, about 5 percent of students reported they skipped school because they were afraid. These numbers may not seem dramatic -- not at first. But 22 children dying at school in one year is 22 children too many. And no child should have to choose between feeling safe and going to school. With crime going up around the country, it’s safe to assume that some of that violent behavior will spill over onto school grounds. Without funding to run violence prevention programs, how can America keep its children safe?

In 2001, school violence prevention programs received more than $430 million; in 2007, the same program will receive much less; federal budget recommendations indicate only $310 million will be spent. Bush’s people have often said the program was ineffective. It stands to reason that the lack of funds make it difficult to develop effective programs and measure their impact. Under the current funding system, more than half of the country’s school districts receive $10,000 or less per year. That’s much too little to make a difference. While school shootings are a rare occurrence, they do happen. Effective on-campus anger management and conflict resolution programs could reduce those numbers even more, saving precious young lives.

Hate crimes and gangs are a part of everyday life in many American schools. Close to 12 percent of students reported that someone used hate-related words against them at school, and 21 percent of public and private students said street gangs had a presence at their schools. With proper prevention tactics and counseling programs, both perpetrators and victims will be able to move beyond these offenses and focus on their education. Students aren’t the only ones subject to violence on school grounds. Research shoes that there are close to 65,000 violent offenses committed against teachers at school. Our nation’s educators should be able to focus their energy on preparing our kids to succeed in a competitive society, not worrying about their personal safety.

According to the FBI, there were more than 1 million violent crimes reported in 2005, an increase from the previous year. America has the largest prison population in the industrialized world; it makes sense this country would want to prevent crime among young people. Doing so would reduce the prison population, increase the college attendance rates and, ultimately, save the nation billions of dollars. Instead, we continue to spend money on new prisons, and we continue to squander resources on a war that does not appear to have an end in sight.

Congress has managed to keep the program going, despite the president’s push to bury it. By maintaining the program and increasing funding, Congress can show the president that America’s priorities should focus in on its future.

Most Low-Income Parents are Employed, 2006

Despite low levels of unemployment,[1] average household income has declined substantially since 2000.[2] The number of children living in low-income families has continued to rise. Programs that provide supports for low-income, working parents can increase income and child well-being.

Most children in low-income families have parents who are employed full-time and year-round.[3]

• 55% of children in low-income[4] families—15.6 million—have at least one parent who works full-time and year-round.
• 26% of children in low-income families—7.3 million—have at least one parent who works part-time or full-time, part-year.
• 19% of children in low-income families—5.5 million—do not have an employed parent.

Low-income children, by parents’ work status, 2005

Many low-income parents who work part-year or part-time are unable to find full-time, year-round employment.* The majority (57%) of low-income parents only working full-time for part of the year reported they could not find full-year work. 33% of low-income parents working part-time reported they did so because they could not find full-time work.[5] Most low-income parents who did not work at all last year were either disabled or taking care of their families.** Almost half (44%) of low-income parents with no employment reported they were not working because they were taking care of their families. An additional 31% of low-income parents with no employment reported they were not working because they had an illness or disability that kept them from working. Low-income parents who work are more likely to be employed in service occupations. Workers in service occupations are not only likely to have lower earnings and fewer opportunities for full-time employment, but they are also less likely to receive benefits such as health insurance, paid vacation, or holidays.[6]Working parents employed in service occupations, by income level, 2005

Policy ImplicationsPolicy Implications

Public policy can support low-income working parents—and therefore their children—by providing relief from work-related expense (such as child care and transportation), increasing income, and strengthening the safety net for temporary unemployment spells.

Policy strategies include:[7]

• Increase wages. Almost one in three employed, low-income parents works in the service industry—jobs that often pay the minimum wage. Two parents working full-time, year-round for the federal minimum wage of $5.15 an hour earn less than the poverty level for a family of four.[8] The federal minimum wage has not been increased for 9 years. Twenty-two states plus the District of Columbia have a state minimum wage that is higher than the federal one.[9] In the absence of higher wages, the federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) increases the value of low-wage work and lifts millions of people out of poverty every year.
• Help low-income working parents with child care costs. Despite the expansion of child care subsidies in the 1990s, coverage rates remain low, especially for families with incomes above the poverty level. To maintain employment, working parents need affordable, stable arrangements for their children.
• Maintain support for Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI). Providing insurance for families who experience the disability or death of a primary breadwinner can provide a safety net for low-income parents and their children. In the Social Security program alone, over 5 million children benefit as dependents of individuals who have died or become disabled, or as members in households that rely on Social Security.[10] For those who do not qualify for Social Security, SSI provides means-tested assistance for disabled adults and children.

Atlanta Football Classic, Empowering the Community through the Youth

Bringing two storied teams, two world class marching bands, and two extraordinary institutions of higher learning together for a winner take all game is more than enough. Or is it?

There’s more to college football classics than tailgating, rekindling old friendships, and cheering on the old alma mater. Eighteen years ago, a two-year old group of determined Atlanta businessmen started on a path to take one of these annual events and create a resource for empowering the community.

The Bank of America Atlanta Football Classic was founded by the 100 Black Men of Atlanta in 1988 to fund their Project Success program. Project Success is a five pronged program designed to identify, encourage, mentor and educate the youth of metro-Atlanta.

Through the program, the 100 Black Men hope to equip the participants with the tools to become valued contributors to their community. And while the program brochures are draped in glamorous descriptions, it is by no means a small undertaking. The members of the organization not only mentor and provide educational resources but they also commit to paying the college tuition of its graduates.

John T. Grant, Chief Executive Officer of the 100 Black Men of Atlanta, estimates the cost for current participants to complete the full program to be about $16 million.

Even with so much on the table not all students fulfill their commitment to the program. “Not many of us took it serious because it was a new program and then too we were too young to realize its value,” explained program graduate Freddie Boss. Boss, an engineer and entrepreneur, was in the first class to complete the first phase of Project Success.

Increased Police Shootings in Atlanta Area Prompt Review of the Department

STONE MOUNTAIN, Ga. - A day after he turned 21, Lorenzo Matthews was killed under murky circumstances by suburban Atlanta's DeKalb County police in the department's ninth fatal shooting this year -- more than even New York City has recorded.

The toll has led to an independent review of police training and use-of-force procedures and brought lawsuits and protests in the county, which has both pockets of poverty and some of the most affluent black neighborhoods in America.

"It's imperative that we have a first-rate police department that is adequately funded, adequately trained and made up of experienced officers," said state Sen. David Adelman, who lives in the sliver of Atlanta that is part of DeKalb County.

Already this year, DeKalb County police have killed three times as many people as they did in all of 2005, bucking a national trend of fewer justifiable homicides by officers.

The fatal police shootings in DeKalb County, with a population of 700,000, are more than the six so far this year in New York City and equal to Los Angeles' death toll, even though the nation's largest and second-largest cities have millions more people and thousands more officers.

At the same time, records obtained by The Associated Press through an open records request show that some of the department's required in-service training in the use of deadly force has been reduced, along with instruction in the use of batons.

Interim DeKalb Police Chief Nick Marinelli blamed the killings in part on loose gun laws in the South and more aggressive criminals. One DeKalb officer has been killed this year, shot to death along with a suspect June 29.

"If I really believe you're going to do serious bodily harm to me or that citizen, I'm going to act with a greater force than you are, hopefully, and I win, you lose," Marinelli said.

He suggested that the increase in killings from the year before was part of a cyclical pattern and that the trend will reverse itself.

An AP investigation found that since 2001, the 966-officer DeKalb County Police Department has logged 64 officer-involved shootings, nearly half of which -- 31 -- resulted in a death to a civilian. Of those shootings, all but six were deemed justified by internal investigators, though most this year are still under review.

Nationwide, justifiable killings by officers while on duty declined from 378 in 2001 to 341 last year, according to the FBI, which does not catalog fatal police shootings that are accidents or not justified.

Among the DeKalb killings: On Aug. 24, an officer with three years on the force shot a man who she says charged her in an apartment and tried to take her gun. On May 17, an officer with 11 years of experience shot a man inside a vehicle; the man's girlfriend said he had a gun and was suicidal.

As for Matthews, he was killed Sept. 12 after officers went into an apartment building in search of a man wanted for questioning in an earlier shooting. There is no indication in the police report that Matthews was armed; the police chief has refused to discuss details.

One of the two officers who confronted Matthews was a 17-year department veteran who also had a role in a fatal shooting June 5. That shooting remained under review, but department policy did not prohibit the officer from returning to duty.

Matthews' stepfather, Andre Hatten, said Matthews didn't have a gun.

"He was getting into a little trouble, but never got into any trouble hurting no one," said Hatten, adding that Matthews was excited about the birth of his son weeks earlier.

DeKalb County police reported 75 homicides last year, the most of any county law enforcement agency in Georgia, down from 79 the year before. Rapes, too, were down, though robberies and aggravated assaults have increased, FBI statistics show.

Nearly half the officers involved in the DeKalb shootings had five years or less of experience at the department, agency records show.

DeKalb officers are required to undergo at least 20 hours of continuing training each year. The department's requirements list zero hours this year under "command in service use of force update/firearms" training; four hours were required each of the past five years. One hour of training in use of force with a baton was required for all officers this year, down from two hours last year and three the year before.

DeKalb County Chief Executive Vernon Jones recently asked a consulting firm headed by Lee Brown, a former Houston mayor and drug czar for President Clinton, to conduct a top-to-bottom review of the police training and procedures for the use of deadly force.

"We want to make sure our policies reflect our core values," Jones said.

Jack Levin, a criminologist at Boston's Northeastern University, said improved training and oversight can help reduce police shootings, but they can accomplish only so much.

"Let's face it, sometimes the police are justified in shooting back and sometimes they're not," he said. Also, "no matter how well you train a police force ... you can't rule out the influence of reflex, the influence of instinct."

Education Dept. Improperly Paid $278 Million in Subsidies

The Education Department improperly paid lender Nelnet Inc. more than $278 million in student-loan subsidies from early 2003 through mid-2005 and should demand repayment of the money, the department's inspector general said in a report released yesterday.

The department erred in awarding payments that gave Nelnet a much higher return than lenders are ordinarily entitled to receive on federally subsidized student loans, the report said.

The type of subsidy Nelnet claimed has long been criticized as a windfall for lenders, and Congress has sought to curtail it because it guaranteed lenders a minimum interest rate on certain loans even when prevailing rates were much lower. If the department does not stop making the improper payments, Nelnet could receive an additional $882 million, the report said.

Nelnet said in a news release that it followed the rules. The company, based in Lincoln, Neb., told investigators that the department paid its bills without objection, according to the report. Nelnet moved loans through a series of transactions to continue claiming they qualified for the subsidy, and it increased the amount of loans for which it sought government payments from about $551 million in early 2003 to about $3.7 billion in mid-2004, the report said.

Education Secretary Margaret Spellings "wants a thorough and comprehensive review of the inspector general's report . . . after which the department will make known how it will proceed," department spokeswoman Katherine McLane said.