;)
his year's N.A.A.C.P. convention may be in the
president's home state of Texas, but anyone who expected a courtesy call
from George W. Bush was mistaken.
This is not a president who is interested in what one of the
convention's participants referred to as "the woes of black folks."
That may be a blessing. The Bush men, father and son, are seldom more
cynical than when they get it into their mischievous heads to rev up some
support among black people. George the First could hardly contain a
devilish smile as he gave us Clarence Thomas, a gruesome acolyte of
Antonin Scalia who has spent much of his time on the Supreme Court taking
a pickax to black interests.
George the Second, during his oxymoronic compassionately conservative
campaign for president, hijacked the copyrighted slogan of the Children's
Defense Fund, "Leave no child behind." As he campaigned from coast to
coast, hugging black children wherever they could be found, Mr. Bush went
out of his way to give the impression that while he was a hard-liner on
fiscal issues and defense, he could be a softie when it came to education
and other issues of crucial importance to children.
Well, he's not a fiscal hard-liner. (Have you looked at the red ink in
the budget?) And he's hardly an advocate for children.
The Children's Defense Fund, for which the slogan has real meaning, has
been working with Citizens for Tax Justice to spotlight the inequitable
treatment children are receiving in the Bush tax-cut environment.
Millions of American children are facing such serious issues as
substandard housing and homelessness, inadequate and crumbling schools,
and restricted access to health care, even as the money that might help
alleviate some of these ills is being squandered on tax cuts that are
scandalously huge — and growing!
An analysis of the Bush tax cut released jointly by Citizens for Tax
Justice and the Children's Defense Fund found that while the wealthiest
Americans "have already received a hefty down payment on their Bush tax
cuts — averaging just under $12,000 each this year — 80 percent of their
windfall is scheduled to come from tax changes that won't take effect
until after this year, mostly from items that phase in after 2005."
For the vast majority of Americans, three-quarters of the Bush tax cuts
— averaging about $350 this year — are already in place, the study
said.
From 2001 through 2010, "the richest Americans — the best-off 1 percent
— are slated to receive tax cuts totaling almost half a trillion dollars.
The $477 billion in tax breaks the Bush administration has targeted to
this elite group will average $342,000 each over the decade."
The clincher: "By 2010, when (and if) the Bush tax reductions are fully
in place, an astonishing 52 percent of the total tax cuts will go to the
richest 1 percent, whose average 2010 income will be $1.5 million."
Kids don't stand a chance in that environment. Marion Wright Edelman,
president of the Children's Defense Fund, put the matter well: "The Bush
administration's words say, `Leave no child behind.' The Bush
administration's deeds say, `Leave no millionaire behind.' "
The truth is that the "woes of black folks" are for the most part the
everyday struggles faced by the majority of poor and working-class
Americans, including many who are considered, statistically, to be
middle-class.
The problems linked to overburdened and underfunded school systems are
not limited to the inner cities. Inadequate housing and a lack of
affordable health care are major issues for millions of American families,
across the board. So is the difficulty of finding adequate and affordable
child care. But these are not matters that grab Mr. Bush's attention and
move him to action.
"Follow the money," said Ms. Edelman, "and you will find what we truly
care about and stand for as a nation."
When Mr. Bush is insensitive to the needs and the aspirations of black
Americans, it's a reflection of his insensitivity to the interests of all
working Americans. The N.A.A.C.P. is a far from perfect organization. But
the anger coming out of its convention in Houston shows that it's still
sharp enough to recognize the difference between compassion and cynicism,
and to see the threat inherent in a president who will leave no
millionaire behind.
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