Statement of Purpose for 10-2-10, One Nation Working Together Mass Mobilization to Washington, DC
On October 2, 2010, the NAACP will be part of national coalition of civil and human rights groups, religious denominations, labor unions and many others who will lead tens of thousands of Americans to Washington to demand jobs, justice and education for all Americans.
The purpose of this march is focus the attention of the Congress and White House on the real problems affecting millions of Americans and on the unfinished agenda and issues that our fellow citizens face every day of their lives such as the frightening high unemployment numbers (see accompanying map), sub-standard education and the criminal justice system which today amounts to the most intense mass incarceration system in the history of human civilization.
It is time for corporate apologists in the U.S. Senate , who are blocking a recovery for the rest of us, to recognize what workers already know: we are in a jobs emergency that requires a bold, emergency response. And it is also time for those in the current administration to stop trying to paint a rosy picture of this jobs crisis with platitudes and come up with workable monetary policies that will begin to restore our nation's infrastructure, by taking more people out of the unemployment insurance lines and in line to cash their paychecks.
Nationwide, the "jobs deficit" is about 11 million, with five job-seekers for every job opening. What's more, every economist, regardless of party affiliation, agrees that more people have been out of work for longer periods of time than at any other time since the Great Depression.
The grim numbers for the current recession don't even begin to tell the tale of the suffering faced by millions of our fellow citizens:
- 8 million jobs lost; an overall unemployment rate above 10%
- Unemployment for blacks over 16 was 15.6% in July according to US Bureau of Labor Statistics up from 15.4% in June. the Latino unemployment rate was 12.1%
- 1.2 million families have or are losing their homes
- The right to organize unions and bargain for better wages and working conditions has been trampled upon.
- Many schools have been closed, teachers are laid off, and rising tuition is slamming the door to higher education
- The financial crisis and Gulf oil disaster are results of the roll back of regulatory oversight and accountability to the public
One Nation
For more than a century, the NAACP has worked to create One Nation, one dream and one future. The One Nation campaign is about reordering our nation's focus and priorities to invest in our most valuable resource-our people!
We believe everyone must have the opportunity to achieve the American Dream-a quality education and a chance to achieve their goals One Nation seeks to transcend our superficial differences and bring us together in a common quest for equal opportunity and justice for all.
+ Top Story
I have spent the past week with Troy's family. He wanted the world to know that he understood that this struggle goes beyond just one man. Troy was prepared to die tonight. As he said again and again, the state of Georgia only held the power to take his physical body.
Today, nearly a quarter of all Democratic voters say they are dissatisfied with the results of Obama I, according to a CNN poll broadcast last Tuesday. If this continues through the Christmas season, the chances for Obama II will hardly worth a $2 bet.
African-Americans once were clustered so heavily in urban areas that the terms "black" and "inner city" came to be used almost synonymously. According to the 2010 U.S. Census results, that time is history.
Many of you are likely to stay home Tuesday, May 17, 2011. That's because without the usual blizzard of television commercials associated with big ticket races, like the contest for mayor, few seem interested in following the debate. This is regrettable.
It's 2011 starting point of the second decade of a new century. Democracy is breaking out in parts of globe where most rational people just a year ago had no clue ordinary citizens would risk their lives to march unarmed in their streets demanding their entrenched dictators give up power.
Reforming the nation's criminal-justice system is one of the most urgent civil rights Issues of our time. One shocking fact illustrates why: More African-American men are entangled in the criminal-Justice system today than were enslaved in 1850.