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Statement
from
Reverend
Jackson
June
8,
2004
Appalachia’s
Hard Truths
By
Reverend Jesse
L. Jackson,
Sr.
06-08-04 © Tribune
Media Service
The hills
of Appalachia
have a hard
truth about
them. This
is God’s
country – stark,
untamed yet,
rich in coal,
scarred by
man. In Appalachia,
reality hits
you in the
face like
a hard fist,
and exposes
the rhetoric
of Washington
for what
it is.
In Washington,
George Bush
hails the
economy as
strong. “My
plan is working,” he
says. In
McClellentown,
Pennsylvania,
people know
better. Good
jobs are
going abroad;
unemployment
is up. Pennsylvania
has lost
about 159,000
manufacturing
jobs since
Bush took
office. They
are not replaced
by the part-time,
short-term
service jobs
that are
being created.
Nearly 70,000
workers in
Pennsylvania
have exhausted
their unemployment
benefits
while looking
for a job
that could
pay the rent
or the mortgage.
George Bush
celebrates
his education
reforms,
and pushes
to put public
money in
private school
vouchers.
In Appalachia,
kids travel
2 hours on
the bus one-way
to get to
school. Those
schools need
resources
to attract
good teachers,
upgrade dated
textbooks
and technology.
Bush’s
broken promise
on funding
poor schools
costs the
children
of Beckley,
West Virginia
big time.
Soaring college
costs make
it harder
for the children
of Appalachia
to get the
college educations
that they
have earned
and that
they need.
The people
of Appalachia
understand
it. They
know that
the children
raised in
the affluent
suburbs have
a separate
and unequal
opportunity
to succeed.
Those children
get the good
teachers,
the modern
schools,
and the advanced
courses.
Their children
are left
behind not
for lack
of intelligence
or hard work
but for lack
of opportunity.
But when
this nation
goes to war,
the young
men and women
of Appalachia
are among
the first
to respond.
These are
proud people
who volunteer
to defend
their country.
They send
their children
off to the
military,
confident
their leaders
will not
abuse their
trust. When
their children
are photographed
humiliating
and torturing
Iraqi prisoners,
they are
stunned.
They support
their commander
in chief.
But they
aren’t
about to
believe that
their kids
did this
on their
own without
pressure
or orders
from above.
And they
are right
about that.
Black lung
disease still
kills in
Appalachia.
Life is shorter;
many are
crippled
from the
mines that
still dot
these hills.
But fewer
people have
health care,
and ever
more are
underinsured,
a serious
illness away
from bankruptcy.
Companies
are cutting
health care
benefits
for retirees
and hiking
prices on
workers.
And Washington
responds
by passing
a prescription
drug bill
that prohibits
Medicare
from negotiating
with the
drug companies
for a lower
price. Those
betrayals
don’t
make much
sense in
Athens, Ohio.
This week,
I am joining
with union
leaders – Cecil
Roberts of
the United
Mine Workers,
Gerald McEntee
of the American
Federation
of State,
County and
Municipal
Workers,
Leo Gerard
of the United
Steelworkers – on
a bus trip
through the
hills and
valleys of
southeastern
Ohio, West
Virginia
and western
Pennsylvania.
Our purpose
is to expose
the reality
of poverty
in America.
Most poor
people are
not on welfare;
they work
everyday.
They are
not African
American.
They tend
to be white,
young female
and single.
They take
the work
they can
get. They
do the hard
jobs.
They make
up beds in
fancy resorts.
They clean
the rooms.
They bathe
the bodies
of the sick
in hospitals.
But when
they get
sick, they
cannot lie
down in the
beds that
they make
up every
day.
Washington
calls on
them to defend
the nation.
It sends
them to the
deserts of
Iraq. They
pay the price
in blood
for the hubris
and miscalculations
of our leaders.
Yet when
they come
home, Washington
turns its
back. The
Bush White
House insists
that we cut
taxes on
the wealthy
rather than
invest in
the poor.
Build schools
in Iraq but
not in Parkersburg,
West Virginia.
Ship jobs
abroad, outsource
hope in these
hills, and
call it prosperity.
It is time
to change
course. We
need a plan
to reinvest
in America.
Make Appalachia
the center
of investment
in renewable
energy. Build
schools and
make college
affordable
for all who
earn it.
Repeal the
perverse
tax breaks
and incentives
that reward
companies
for moving
jobs abroad.
Appalachia
holds a mirror
to America.
What kind
of country
are we? When
we call on
the sons
and daughters
of Appalachia
to fight,
what commitment
do we make
to them in
return? Surely
it cannot
be that we
will spend
$200 billion
on defeating
and rebuilding
Iraq, even
as we starve
investment
in schools
and good
jobs in southern
Ohio. Appalachia
is too often
ignored,
but it tells
a stark truth.
It is time
for America
to listen.
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