The events after Hurricane Katrina awakened Americans to the dramatic differences between rich and
poor --
but the need to finish the fight for equality was lost on our
national leaders.
Just days after the disaster...
-
President Bush suspended
prevailing wage laws, and allowed federal
contractors to pay employees
unlivable wages in an area already stricken
with
poverty.
- Congress passed a $50 billion dollar
assistance bill, but failed to provide
any oversight against unlawful housing discrimination, and
unequal
distribution of relief funds.
- The
Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs has exempted
federal contractors from affirmative action requirements.
- And
the Secretary of Education sought to waive segregation laws,
denying homeless children equal opportunity to public schooling.
This is a country where people pull together in the face of disaster.
It's our
heritage to help one another, and our tradition to fight
for fairness.
Remind our national leaders that all Americans
deserve no less than the full
protection of their civil rights,
and that we must not stop the unfinished fight
for racial and
economic equality.
I urge our national leaders to help the survivors of Hurricane Katrina and to rebuild the devastated Gulf region. Further, I am greatly concerned that some of the responses to the disaster could undermine key programs that protect the civil and human rights of
all Americans.
The hurricane and its aftermath exposed the shocking extend to which poverty, income disparities, and racial discrimination exist in our country. But cutting wages for those who labor to rebuild their communities; passing an emergency appropriations bill that does not require civil rights oversight and monitoring; allowing the segregation of displaced schoolchildren; denying affirmative action employment opportunities; and stalling a Medicaid-extension proposal will only add to the legacy of inequality.
I urge you to take immediate action to ensure that federal efforts related to Hurricane Katrina relief and reconstruction serve only to protect - not undermine - the civil and human rights of those affected.
Sincerely,
/your signature/
/your address/
