Proud Progressive

I hope that Joe Sestak, in his run for a Senate seat from Pennsylvania, won’t be pushed into a corner by Right Wing Toomey and act defensive. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, July 16, 2010, “Sestak had a 'hypersensitive reaction' to valid criticism, Republican opponent Pat Toomey said Thursday.” Sestak needn’t apologize or minimize support for a liberal, progressive, populist voting record. He needs to point out strongly, as he is very capable of doing, that the right wing has successfully deceived much of the middle class into thinking that right wing politics favor the average American. The right wing media has cast a spell over a lot of people and created the very false impression that right wing politics are populist and liberal politics aren’t. I think Joe can campaign to expose that fallacy.

Exposing the agenda of political groups favoring large corporations would be a good way to start. The US Chamber of Congress is one such group. Here are their talking points published this week:

• Privatize Social Security
• Cut taxes for the rich
• Log the national forests
• Expand offshore gas and oil drilling
• Privatize highways and waterways

The above list is as anti-average-person as possible. All progressive folks, Democrat, Independent and Republican alike need to blast such policies.

When Joe dickers over 94% vote with Nancy Pelosi vs. 100% he is defensive. When he is defensive, he is not attacking the anti-average-guy right wing. He seems as though he is trying to be “Republican Lite.” Instead, he needs to be aggressive and show the right wing leaders for what they are: self-serving defenders of the wealthy corporations, who have become the 21^st Century King George ruling and dominating the American people.

A Breath of Fresh Air

A breath of fresh air swept through my church on Valentine’s Day as educator Salome Thomas-El inspired the true believers at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Delaware County (UUCDC) that we could indeed make a difference in the life of a child. Thomas-El, who grew up in North Philadelphia, is next to the youngest child of a single mom. She implored his elementary teachers to help Salome be the first of her children to get to college. The teachers made their mark, and Thomas-El went on to become a teacher, principal and author. Now he inspires others to influence youth to aspire and achieve.

At a time when folks in this country are hunkering down into corners and screaming at one another, it is refreshing to participate with a group of people who want to create positive change. People who see a bright future in helping children, largely minority, largely inner city, people who want to ensure that these children do have a chance to get their fair share of the American Pie. Speaker and audience alike looked for ways to help rather than hinder the upward mobility of some of this country’s most challenged children.

The presentation was made possible through monies from the Homer Jack Fund at UUCDC.Homer Jack was an activist UU minister who spent his final years as a congregant of our church.

Here are links to some organizations striving to help young people succeed. Rather than argue, blame, divide, and scream, how about if we all pick an organization and provide support to our young people?

After School Activities Partnership

Created in 2002 in response to a civic outcry for help with activities for the city’s youth during the critical unsupervised hours after school, ASAP/After School Activities Partnerships has provided after school recreational and enrichment activities to Philadelphia kids in some of the poorest and most dangerous areas of the city.

http://www.phillyasap.org/Home.aspx

The Achievement Project

TAP is a nonprofit organization that helps young people in Chester, Pennsylvania to succeed in high school; to apply to and be admitted to college; and to arrive at college having acquired the capacity to succeed there.

420 East 9th Street
Chester, PA 19013-5941
(484) 995-0828

www.tapofchester.org

Chester Eastside Ministries
Provides afterschool programs and summer day camps to children of Chester’s East Side
9th & Potter Sts.

Chester, PA 19016

610-872-4812

RevBerniceWarren@chestereastside.org

The Be Proud Foundation

The overall mission of the Be Proud Foundation is to provide experiential learning opportunities for youth targeted at exposing their thinking errors, misconceptions and gaps in knowledge thereby increasing their chances for a successful life.

(610)891-8808
Fax (610)891-8919
email: beproud@comcast.net

Peace in the Streets/Peach on Earth

Teaches conflict resolution techniques, primarily for Chester, PA youth.Contact Wanda Moore

Pspe2002@yahoo.com

Big Brothers/Big Sisters

The Big Brothers Big Sisters Mission is to help children reach their potential through professionally supported, one-to-one relationships with mentors that have a measurable impact on youth.

1341 N. Delaware Ave
Philadelphia, PA 19125

(215) 701-8100
Bigs@bbbssepa.org
http://www.bbbssepa.org

Fresh Air Fund

Since 1877, The FreshAir Fund, a not-for-profit agency, has provided free summer experiences in the country to more than 1.7 million New York City children from disadvantaged communities. Each year, thousands of children visit volunteer host families in 13 states andCanada through the Friendly Town Program or attend Fresh Air Fund camps.

http://www.freshair.org/top-links/about-us.aspx

NAACP Scholarship Fund

The NAACP is a leading advocate of equal access to quality education. In an effort to promote and ensure higher education opportunities for minority youth, the NAACP offers the following national scholarships: Earl G. Graves Scholarship, Agnes Jones Scholarship, Historically Black College & Universities Scholarship Fund, Lillian and Samuel Sutton Scholarship, Roy Wilkins scholarship, and the Hubertus W.V. Willems Scholarship. These awards help eliminate financial difficulties that may hinder students’ higher education goals. Scholarship award amounts range from $1,000 - $5,000 and are disbursed in two installments throughout a specified school year. Each scholarship contains its own set of requirements and students are encouraged to apply for each award that aligns with their eligibility.

Contact your local NAACP

http://www.naacp.org/advocacy/education/

Stop Texas from Rewriting History

As a retired Philadelphia Public School teacher and member of a family blessed with European/Latina/African/Navajo/Chinese ethnicity, I find omitting historical facts related to any human being of any ancestry totally unacceptable. Therefore, I am outraged that the Texas State Board of Education is even considering taking a vote on January 13 that would, for all intents and purposes, erase Cesar Chavez and all Latino historical figures from the state’s public school textbooks.

Since most public school students in Texas will soon be Latino, this is a particularly egregious omission. We are not educating children if we are indoctrinating them with a very biased set of partial facts. It was Hitler who did that in Europe, and the beauty of American democracy is that we try not to do that with our children. It is important that our children learn about all historical figures, European, Latino, Native American, Asian, African and more.

My grandfather migrated from Austria-Hungary in a region now part of Poland. He joined the union of John Lewis and worked in the coal mines as well as maintaining his own business as a huckster of fruits and vegetables. He supported a family of six children, all of whom rose to upper middle class American society through hard work and education. I would not like to see John Lewis removed from text books. Neither would I like to see Cesar Chavez removed. It is totally false for ignorant, racist extremists to say that he "lacks the stature...and contributions of so many others" and should not be "held up to our children as someone worthy of emulation," as claimed by one of the "experts" advising the Texas Board of Education.

Texas should not let its status as a powerful state in this great United States be diminished by a few radicals who want to rewrite history.

For more information, see:http://newsjunkiepost.com/2010/01/10/texas-conservatives-closer-to-banning-cesar-chavez-from-school-textbooks/

http://action.ufw.org/page/speakout/cectxjan10