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FEBRUARY 25, 199% AUVUGUSTA PUCUS
8A
CHILDWATCH By Marian Wright Edelman
Battling child
abuse on all fronts
very year in this country,
there are about 4,600 child
abductions by non-family
members. Noonewhohasn’t
lived through thistragedy caneven
imagine what it must belike tolose
a child in this way. So many times
the children are found dead, or
never found at all, You’ve seen the
posters and the reports on the
nightly news. And perhaps this’
year when you were doing your
Christmas, Hanukkah, or
Kwanzaa shopping, you turned
around in a store and didn’t see
your child where he or she was just
a second ago. Most likely you
found him or her down at the end
oftheaislelookingat the latest toy
on the shelves, and vou breathed
again. But what if your child
hadn’t been fust a few steps away?
What would you have done?
Happily, there are people doing
something to keep our children
safe. Perhaps you've heard of the
National Center for Missing and
Exploited Children, a private, non
profit organization established by
Congressional mandate in 1984 to
locate and recover missing chil
dren and raise public awareness
about ways to prevent child abduc
tion, molestation and sexual ex
ploitation. The Center works in
conjunction with the U.S. Depart
ment of Justice’s Office of Juvenile
Justice and Delinquency Preven
tionin their effortstofind children
missing nationwide. Last month,
the Center released information
about a program begun by Wal-
Mart stores to help in this battle.
This program, “Code Adam,” was
created and promoted by Wal-Mart
and has spread to other stores
inclading Shop Rite, a major retail
market chain, andshopping malls,
including 26 in Louisville, Ken
tucky. And last November, New
Jersey’s state legislature passed a
%solution making it the “first
Code Adam’ state,” encouraging
all stores in the state to institute
the program.
It all started with a Wal-Mart
employee, Bill Burns, who created
and named the program as a trib
ute to six-year-old Adam Walsh
whose 1981 abduction from a
¥iorida shopping mall and subse
quent murder brought the horror
of child abduction to national at
tention. When a store customer
reports a missing child to an em
ployee, Burns’ program calls for a
Since 1981
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“Code Adam” alert tobe announced
over the public address system. A
brief description of the child is
obtained and provided to all em
ployees, whoimmediately stop their
normal work to search for the
child, including monitoring all ex
its to ensure the child does not
leave the store alone or accompa
nied by someone. Parking lots are
also checked, as well as restrooms,
stairwells, offices, and other non
public spaces. If the child is not
found immediately, or ifthe childis
seen accompanied by someoneother
than a parent or guardian, store
personnel notify the local police
department for assistance.
Since the program was initiated
in 1994, six child abductions have
been stopped .while they were in
progress at Wal-Mart stores and
two have been thwarted in Shop
Rite stores.
In partnership with Wal-Mart,
the National Center for Missing
and Exploited Children has been
taking “Code Adam” nationwide
through their Project Alert. Project
Alert is the Center’s innovative
idea of establishinganational corps
of retired law enforcement officers
who volunteer to make presenta
tions and train store owners, man
agers, and personnel on “Code
Adam” procedures, and otherwise
offer assistance to state and local
child safety officials. “These dedi
cated privatecitizensact to ensure
the reduction of crimes against
children and especially abductions
of children,” says Ann Scofield, the
Center’s director of Project Alert.
What can you do? Talk to the
store managers in your commu
nity and encourage them to insti
tute “Code Adam” procedures in
their establishments. You canfind
out more about “Code Adam” and
Project Alert by calling the Na
tional Center’s 24-hour hotline at
1-800-THE-LOST. Andremember
that number. It’salsothe number
to use for assistance when a child
is missing anywhere in the coun
try.
Marian Wright Edelman ispresi
dent of the Children’s Defense
Fund and a working committee
member of the Black Community
Crusade for Children (BCCC). In
1998, CDF celebrated 25 years of
advocacy, service, and leadership
to build a movement to Leave No
Child Behind.
Charles W. Walker
: Publisher
Frederick Benjamin
Managing Editor
Dot T. Ealy
Marketing Director
Lillian Wan
Copy Editor
Samuel Daniels
Production Assistant
Joshua Gura
Production Assistant
Vonda Butler
Account Representative
Tonya Evans
Office Manager
Opinion
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TO BE EQUAL By Hugh B. Price
Social Security: What the debate is about
he proposals President
Clinton’s outlined in his
State of the Union address
to save Social Security have
catapulted the vigorousdebate over
the future of the six-decade-old pro
gram to the top of the nation’s
policy agenda.
The time is right to address the
concerns — some of which are
misplaced — that the huge pro
gram will go broke in 30 or 40
years. -The government is flush
with a huge budget surplus (of S7O
billion last year) and the prospect
of more annual surpluses for the
foreseeable future.
Asaresult, both the White House
and the Congress are promising to
change in some fashion the six
decade-old program established
amidst the Great Depression to
guarantee the nation’selderly and
others in need of a decent income.
African Americans must make
their voices heard on this issue.
They must recognize that the deci
sions made about the program’s
future, of great concern to the
entire country, will affect Black
Americatoan even greater degree.
The reason stems from the fact
that the continued effects of dis
crimination have produced among
African Americansadisproportion
ate number of low-wage workers.
Thus, blacks are disproportion
ately dependent upon Social Secu
Who really killed Amadou Diallo?
hemurderof AmadouDialloby
four New York City police offic
ers who fired 41 shots into the
unarmed Guinean was an out
rage and a tragedy. The question we
must ask is why it happened and why
it keeps happening. Many are now
saying: Thisisthelasttimewe’ll allow
this to happen — for the 25th time.
I've been in the streets at the
marches and the protests for the last
15yearsinresponsetopolicebrutality
and racial violence. People say the
issue is racism. The issue is not
racism; it's what we'’re going to do
aboutracism. Theissueisnot whether
there is racism in the police depart
ment. Of course, there is. There’s
racism in the police department.
There’s racism in city government.
There’s racism in the country.
But it doesn’t help to keep saying
that unless you're also going to do
something about it. And the fact is
that the Black leadership has misled
the Black community about what to
do. The Black leadership has said to
the Black community, Here’s how to
deal with racial violence. Stick with
the liberal coalition. Stick with the
Democratic Party and our white lib
eral friends and we’ll be okay.
But while the liberal Democratic
Party coalitionsucceededin installing
some important structural changes
during the civil rights era, the liberal
rity for old-age benefits, for disabil
ity benefits, and for survivors’ ben
efits.
Indeed, as the debate heats up,
we’d do well to remember that the
Social Security program’s formal
nameis the Old Age, Survivorsand
Disability Insurance product, with
disability and an annuity fully in
dexed to inflation.
President Clinton proposed de
voting some $2.7 trillion in pro
jected budget surpluses over the.
next 15 years to Social Security,
and allowing the program toinvest
a portion of its money for the first
time in the stock market.
He also pledged a new program
that would spend billions to create
individual accounts intended to
spur Americans to invest more for
their retirement.
It’s important to stress that the
President’s proposals were largely
only the outline of a program. He
left a lot of empty spaces.
But hisideasareagood first step
in ruling out privatizing the annu
ity part of the retirement fund,
which would not be productive.
The discussion must focus on sav
ing the whole program, and
privatization is not the answer.
In broad terms, the discussion
about Social Security splits into
two opposing camps.
On one side are those who want
to privatize the system by getting
coalition has since fallen apart. It’s
failed. That’swhyaright wing Repub
lican like Rudy Giuliani is mayor in
the first place. Because the liberal
coalition didn’t hold together.
The white liberals moved right in
order to keep the Democratic Party
competitive. They abandoned the
Black community. Why then would
we suppose that sticking with the
liberal coalition would deal with police
brutality? It won’t. We need a new
political coalition. And that’sgoingto
mean goingoutsideofthe Democratic
party and outside of our traditional
political alliances.
What's happened with the Diallo
case in New York has become a stan
dard formula. A Black man, often a
young Black man, iskilled or attacked
by policeoraracist mob. Thecommu
nityisoutraged. The Blackleadership
takes to the streets to protest and
hundreds, sometimes thousands, go
with them. Then what happens?
The Black leadership uses the pro
test to say to the Democratic Party: I
am the spokesperson for Black out
rage. You must listen to me. And so,
the Democratic party says: Okay. You
can be the official Black leader. We'll
include you. Just make sure Black
folks keep voting for us. You can even
go out into the street and yell all you
want. Just don’t rock the boat politi
cally. Stay in our coalition, even if it
workers totake complete charge of
their future security by investing
their Social Security funds in the
stock market.
On the other side are groups like
the National Urban League who
are committed to protecting the
progressive and universal nature
of Social Security benefits.
Weoppose privatization because
we fear it would make the Social
Security system unfair in several
impertant ways. _ .
" Our stand is based on the origi
nal principles of the Social Secu
rity system.
That is, we believe that every
worker’s benefits should be guar
anteed by dint of their past work
and contributions to the system;
that Social Security should con
tinue providing a safety net to
workersliving their retirementsin
poverty; and that it continue to
include cost-of-living increases.
We also believe that Social Secu
rity must continue to allow low
income earnerstoreceive the high
est percentage of their earnings;
that it continue to be based on
taxing current workers to provide
the benefits for retirees; and that
workers whoearnthe sameamount
will receive the same benefits dur
ing their retirement.
To promote these views, the
National Urban League hasjoined
isn’t really liberal anymore. And the
Black leadership goesalong. They get
morepowerbutthe Blackcommunity
doesn’t. As long as this pattern con
tinues, there willbeanother Amadou
Diallo, or Abner Louima, or Yusef
Hawkins.
Peopleoftensaytome, “Dr. Fulani,
it’sveryinterestingthatyouarenota
Democrat, that you’re an indepen
dent. You're building the Indepen
dent Party in New York and the
Reform Party nationally but that re
ally doesn’t have any connection to
racial violence.” On the contrary, it
has everything to do with racial vio
lencebecausebuildinganindependent
party means Black people have some
where to go other than the dead-end
liberal Democratic coalition. And
that’s why so many Black people,
particularly younger Black people
between the ages of 18 and 29, are
turningtheirbackson the Democrats
and becoming independents. They
want toexplore anew coalition. They
want to do something serious to stop
racial violence.
The police, of course, need retrain
ing. But the Black community needs
retraining, too. We need to retrain
ourselves to think and act differently
when it comes to the issue of political
power. The awful irony of this situa
tion is that the Black leaders who
manipulate the Black community for
with other organizations — in
cluding the NAACP, Rainbow/
PUSH Coalition, the National
Council of Negro Women, the Na
tional Council of La Raza, the
Children’s Defense Fund, and the
National Organization for Women
—inthe New Century Alliance for
Social Security.
We’ve also pointed out that one
way toeliminate the fear that there
may not be enough workers left to
pay for Social Security as thede
mographically-huge Baby Boom
generation begins to retire in
greater numbersistotap the great
pool of un-skilled and under-skilled
among America’s youth.
The “investments” we also need
to be focusing on are, as this col
umn recently suggested, preparing
as many youth as possible for
America’s future work force. If we
can enable those youth to acquire
the inspiration and the skills to
become productive members of so
ciety, we’ll need have no fear of a
devastating imbalance in the ratio
of workers toretireesin the future.
In other words, enhancing the
future of America’s youth is an
integral a part of enhancing the
future of America’s elderly.
That, too, is what the Social
Security debate is about.
Hugh B. Priceis president of the
National Urban League.
their own Democratic Party agendas
love having Rudy Giuliani as mayor.
He’s perfect for them because he al
lows them to get the community riled
up, and then to use that outrage for
their own political careers.
A lot of people have been saying
where are the white folks? Where is
the white outrage? When I was at
Brother Diallo’s funeral, people said:
“Whyaretherenowhitepeoplehere?”
That’s a good question. It’s really
asking what happened to the white
liberals who used to be a part of our
coalition? They’re, by and large, gone
because the liberal coalition has col
lapsed. The Democratic party has
moved to the right in New York and
nationallyand thewhiteliberalswent
with them.
Moreover, whitepeoplearebetterat
seeing through the Black leadership
than Black folks are. For obvious
reasons. They’renot the target of the
manipulation. Black peopleare. Ifwe
putastoptothat manipulation, which
we can only do if we have somewliere
else to go politically, we have ashot at
putting a stop to the violence.
Lenora B. Fulani twice ran for
President of the U.S. as an indepen
dent, making historyin 1988 when she
became the first woman and African
American to get on the ballot in all 50
states. Fr. Fulani can be reached at
800-288-3201 or at htip:/|
www.Fulani.org.