With support for his Social Security privatization program lagging,
President Bush has decided to focus his hard sell on African-Americans.
Last month, in his pitch, he said: "African American males die sooner
(http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050111/dctu050_1.html) than other males
do, which means the system is inherently unfair to a certain group. This
needs to be fixed." President Bush has his priorities backwards. The
issue that needs to "be fixed" isn't Social Security, it's the troubling
statistic that African-American males have a shorter life expectancy
than any other ethnic or racial group in America. If President Bush is
serious about reaching out to the African-American community, his time
would be more wisely spent addressing countless inequalities faced by
African-Americans in the U.S. today, like unequal access to health care,
a higher incidence of unemployment, a disproportionate poverty rate and
a higher rate of deadly youth violence
(http://www.blackamericatoday.com/art...?ArticleID=745) . Instead,
he has systematically cut programs designed to help combat these very
issues.



THE SOCIAL SECURITY MYTH: African-Americans depend heavily on Social
Security (http://research.aarp.org/econ/fs94_ss.html) benefits, which
would be cut under President Bush's plan. The AARP found
African-Americans rely on Social Security benefits for about 44 percent
of their income in retirement. That number is even higher for
African-American women, who are likely to rely on Social Security for
56.8 percent of their income in retirement. On top of that,
African-Americans are less likely to have income from private assets;
thus "Social Security is the only source of income for one in three
African Americans over age 65." According to Hillary Shelton of the
NAACP, "African-American children are almost four times
(http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2005/02/04/security/) as likely to
be lifted out of poverty by Social Security benefits than our white
counterparts."



INADEQUATE HEALTH CA African-Americans are more likely to suffer
from many life threatening diseases
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...-2005Feb5.html)
like cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Also, "African American men
and women have higher incidence of colon, rectal and lung cancer than
any other group." And "black women are more likely to die from breast
cancer even though white women have a higher incidence of the disease."
Much of this problem is due to the inferior access many blacks have to
basic health care. Based on the latest Census data, since Bush took
office, the number of African Americans without health insurance has
jumped by 400,000
(http://www.kff.org/uninsured/loader....m&PageID=46827)
.. More than one in five African Americans is now uninsured. A full " 22
percent of Black Americans
(http://www.americansforhealthcare.or...minorities.cfm) "
today rely on Medicaid for their health care. President Bush's new
budget would slash Medicaid by $45 billion
(http://www.columbiatribune.com/2005/...209News030.asp) over the
next decade, cutting crucial services and benefits.



PERILOUS POVERTY: Lower-income Americans today are disproportionately
black and Hispanic. It's a situation that's gotten worse under
President Bush
(http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansas...s/10668377.htm) .
According to the Census, 300,000 black Americans fell into poverty in
2002, making the poverty level among blacks today a whopping 24.3
percent. While the median income of African-American households was 65
percent of whites' in 2000, it slipped to 62 percent by 2003. And
according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, "unemployment among blacks
hit a historic low of 7.1 percent in 2000, but has grown to 9.9 percent
or higher since January 2002." One of the best ways to combat poverty is
employment; President Bush, however, eliminated the Youth Opportunity
Grants (http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0131-02.htm) program, a
program that gives job training to young people.



UNHEALTHY COMMUNITIES: Many people of color find attaining the American
Dream tough to do when tethered to crumbling communities. President
Bush, however, has eliminated important programs designed to build up
communities. For example, two federal banking agencies headed by Bush
appointees are trying to change laws that would cripple the Community
Reinvestment Act
(http://www.boston.com/business/artic...s_draw_f ire/)
(CRA), a civil rights law prohibiting discrimination by banks against
people who live in low- and moderate-income neighborhoods. Bush also has
proposed a 40 percent cut in federal juvenile crime prevention funds
(http://www.fightcrime.org/) ,