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Books by
Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Strength to Love /
The Measure of a Man /
Why We Can't Wait
A Testament of Hope /
A Knock at Midnight /
The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr., 1948-1963
Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community /
Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story
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WWMLKD
What would Martin Luther King Do?
By Mara Voukydis
Last year around this time, as throngs of
protesters chanted and booed on the streets nearby, President
Bush placed a wreath on Dr. King's grave in Atlanta. The
President had said of King earlier that day that he wanted to
“honor his life and what he stood for.”
Now, as we usher in the President for a
second term in office, it’s time to ask whether he has lived
up to Dr. King¹s legacy. On his watch working people and poor
people ‹disproportionately people of color‹ lost
ground.
“Every American deserves to be an owner of
the American dream,” said President Bush, but a great racial
divide remains. If Bush wants to make this a nation where we can
all be owners, he should be asking “WWMLKD? (What would Martin
Luther King do?)”
What does it take to be an owner of the
American dream? A house comes to mind, and a savings
account, and a retirement account, maybe a business and those
things are usually accessible only to those with well-paying
jobs, help from family and/or government subsidies. Yet for
generations people of color have been afforded fewer
opportunities to own, blocked by discriminatory practices in
housing, loans, hiring, and more.
Decades ago, King spoke of millions of
Americans “smoldering in an airtight cage of poverty in the
midst of an affluent society.” This still rings true in 2005.
In the past four years, some gains made in the nineties have
been lost. In 2000, the Black unemployment rate dipped to an
all-time low of 7%.
Now more than one out of ten Black Americans
is unemployed, as compared to roughly one out of twenty whites.
The familiar call for personal responsibility loses its momentum
when a person tries desperately and is unable to find work.
Income levels and poverty rates also worsened
since 2000. The number of families in poverty fell rapidly
during the nineties for all groups, but especially fast for
Latinos and Blacks. Much of that progress has been lost in the
past four years. As for earnings, the average Black income was
65% of white income in the year 2000, but 62% of white income in
2003. The first Bush administration blocked Congressional
efforts to increase the minimum wage.
Many measures taken by other administrations
to counter high joblessness, such as public works programs and
extra state aid, didn¹t reappear in the Bush administration.
Instead, tax cuts were supposed to be the cure-all. In fact,
they only increased the racial divide by benefiting primarily
taxpayers with very high incomes, who are overwhelmingly white.
Social Security privatization is another so-called solution that
would actually worsen economic insecurity by lowering benefits,
adding risk, and ballooning the federal debt.
Refreshingly, the President has faced up to
the racial homeownership gap, addressing certain challenges
facing non-white Americans. It is hard to ignore the fact that
while three-quarters or white families own homes, fewer than
half of Blacks and Latinos, and less than 60% of Asians and
American Indians, are homeowners. While attention to the
homeownership gap is welcome, much more should be done. Rising
home prices, falling incomes, deceptive predatory loans, and
discrimination block many renters of color from homeownership.
So WWMLKD? Of course there is no quick fix
for centuries of unequal opportunity, but there are many
positive steps the federal government could take. The next Bush
administration should maintain those few progressive taxes we do
have, such as the estate tax, which funds services and programs
for the neediest through after-death taxes on multimillionaires.
We need new policies that encourage wealth-building. Imagine a
brand-new version of the post-WWII GI Bill, one that helps
Americans build up nest eggs, get mortgages, and fund higher
education. The money could come from closing corporate loopholes
and giveaways.
Dr. King was greatly disturbed by the
complacency of many Americans towards the economic injustice
around them. He said, “Let us be dissatisfied until
those who live on the outskirts of hope are brought into the
metropolis of daily security.” We should take heed as we
inaugurate another four years of President Bush. The dream of
economic security is still out of reach for many. If the
president wants to honor Dr. King, he should do it not with
words or a wreath, but with actions that patch up our damaged
ladder of opportunity.
Mara Voukydis (mvoukydis@faireconomy.org)
is a researcher at United for a Fair Economy (www.FairEconomy.org)
and co-author of UFE¹s new report, "The State of the Dream 2005:
Disowned in the Ownership Society.
posted 15 January 2005
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Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in
America
By Melissa V.
Harris-Perry
According to the
author, this society has historically exerted
considerable pressure on black females to fit into one
of a handful of stereotypes, primarily, the Mammy, the
Matriarch or the Jezebel. The selfless
Mammy’s behavior is marked by a slavish devotion to
white folks’ domestic concerns, often at the expense of
those of her own family’s needs. By contrast, the
relatively-hedonistic Jezebel is a sexually-insatiable
temptress. And the Matriarch is generally thought of as
an emasculating figure who denigrates black men, ala the
characters Sapphire and Aunt Esther on the television
shows Amos and Andy and Sanford and Son, respectively.
Professor Perry
points out how the propagation of these harmful myths
have served the mainstream culture well. For instance,
the Mammy suggests that it is almost second nature for
black females to feel a maternal instinct towards
Caucasian babies.
As for the source
of the Jezebel, black women had no control over their
own bodies during slavery given that they were being
auctioned off and bred to maximize profits. Nonetheless,
it was in the interest of plantation owners to propagate
the lie that sisters were sluts inclined to mate
indiscriminately.
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Sex at the Margins
Migration, Labour Markets and the Rescue Industry
By Laura María Agustín
This book explodes several myths: that selling sex is completely different from any other kind of work, that migrants who sell sex are passive victims and that the multitude of people out to save them are without self-interest. Laura Agustín makes a passionate case against these stereotypes, arguing that the label 'trafficked' does not accurately describe migrants' lives and that the 'rescue industry' serves to disempower them. Based on extensive research amongst both migrants who sell sex and social helpers, Sex at the Margins provides a radically different analysis. Frequently, says Agustin, migrants make rational choices to travel and work in the sex industry, and although they are treated like a marginalised group they form part of the dynamic global economy. Both powerful and controversial, this book is essential reading for all those who want to understand the increasingly important relationship between sex markets, migration and the desire for social justice. "Sex at the Margins rips apart distinctions between migrants, service work and sexual labour and reveals the utter complexity of the contemporary sex industry. This book is set to be a trailblazer in the study of sexuality."—Lisa Adkins, University of London |
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The White Masters of the
World
From
The World and Africa, 1965
By W. E. B. Du Bois
W. E. B. Du Bois’
Arraignment and Indictment of White Civilization
(Fletcher)
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Ancient African Nations
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The Death of Emmett Till by Bob Dylan
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The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll
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Only a Pawn in Their Game
Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson Thanks America for
Slavery /
George Jackson /
Hurricane Carter
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Haitian Declaration of Independence 1804
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January 1, 1804 -- The Founding of
Haiti
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