States bear burdens

The destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina is too massive to comprehend and too heartbreaking to endure.

As awful as the devastation is in its own right, the problems are compounded because the disaster struck in poor Southern states.

In recent years, the responsibility for basic public welfare has been transferred from the federal government to the states. When Washington cuts unemployment benefits and reduces Medicaid funding, for instance, state treasuries have to make up the shortfall or deal with the local consequences of underserved citizens.

We feel the impact disproportionately in the South, where we have smaller public treasuries, regressive tax structures, less-advanced infrastructure, and higher service costs to dispersed rural populations.

The aftermath of Katrina underscores the pain inflicted by this cruel equation. From recent reductions to the FEMA budget in the New Orleans district, to the unprecendented large-scale diversion of National Guard troops to a foreign conflict, to cuts in federal support for state and local public health and safety agencies -- the burden has been shifted on to the backs of state governments least able to carry it.

Our society is rapidly becoming one that turns its back on the least among us, preserving wealth for a privileged few and allowing the disadvantaged to drown in a rising tide of increasing and inescapable difficulty.

How to help fellow Southerners hit by Katrina

Our hearts and souls go out to people across the South who are suffering from the ravages of Hurricane Katrina. Like millions, we want to do whatever we can to help folks get through these trying times.

After having gone through the recovery of South Carolina following 1989's Hurricane Hugo, we learned quite a few things:

• In the immediate days after the storm despite widespread destruction, residents were resilient and quickly got to the task of rebuilding, in spite of all of the devastation.
  
  
• At the same time, millions of outsiders wanted to help.

Unlike 1989 when there really was no Internet, it's easier today for Southerners from all over to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Here are some options:

• Give blood or money via the American Red Cross (Note: the site may not load quickly because it appears to be getting overloaded with hits).
• Charity Navigator, a listing of a lot of ways to donate to the relief effort.
• Salvation Army.
• List of relief organizations from The New York Times.

Finally, if you have a suggestion of ways to help folks in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, please add a comment to this post.

NC Senate Passes Lottery

This afternoon, the North Carolina Senate approved the creation of a state lottery. The measure was passed by the House earlier this year and is expected to be signed quickly by Gov. Mike Easley. Easley, a Democrat, has made the creation of an education lottery his signature issue.

The lottery has divided North Carolina since the early 1980s. Proponents claim that the profits would benefit the educational system, while a coalition of progressives and conservatives has successfully opposed the measure for years. Progressives argue that the lottery is a regressive way of funding education that will supplant rather than supplement education funding, while conservatives oppose it on moral grounds.

Today's Senate vote was not without controversy. All of the Senate Republicans and five Democrats -- a majority of the chamber's members -- opposed the lottery and prevented it from coming to a floor vote last week right before the supposed end of this year's legislative session. However, the Democratic leadership unexpectedly recalled the body this week and used the absence of two Republicans, including one who is recovering from a hospital stay, to force a tie vote. Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue, a likely Democratic gubernatorial candidate in 2008, then cast the deciding vote in favor of the lottery.

If the lottery becomes law as expected, North Carolina will become the last state on the East Coast to establish a numbers game.

Click here to read The News & Observer's initial coverage of the vote.

Katrina's damage

The smart folks at Think Progress put into perspective how this week's hurricane is hitting low-income residents.

"I know they’re saying 'Get out of town,' but I don’t have any way to get out," said Hattie Johns, 74. "If you don’t have no money, you can't go."

The aftermath will be even harsher for the working poor who find themselves out of a job. Mississippi's gaming industry, worth $2.7 billion annually, employees 14,000 people.

"The loss of tax revenue to the state is going to be immense and immediate," gaming attorney Dan McDaniel tells the Clarion-Ledger.

Balancing growth and staying green

As many areas in the South expand at a mind-boggling pace, Southerners are faced with the challenge of finding ways to balance strong growth with a commitment to environmental responsibility. Southern progressives need to lead the pack when it comes to creative solutions to and strong advocacy for this vital balance.

A story in today's Tennessean points to a booming area, Murfreesboro, Tenn., and how it is working with developers to maintain green space in the rapidly-developing city:

Murfreesboro is the biggest city in Rutherford County, recently named by the U.S. Census Bureau as the 53rd fastest-growing county in the nation. All that growth was bound to cut into the area's tree population, but an ordinance requiring commercial developers to submit a landscaping plan helps to stave off the effects.

"Are we losing tree canopy? Definitely. But does the ordinance help? Definitely," Holloway said.

One of the most important notes in the article focuses on the need to underscore to residents that environmental issues are not just about appearances:

But the benefits of great landscaping will go beyond pretty, said Jennifer Smith, executive director of the Tennessee Urban Forestry Council.

"Not to downplay the beautification, of course, but we have to think of trees beyond beautification now," Smith said. "To get the government to spend the money on these programs, we have to reinforce the benefits to air quality, water quality and storm-water management."

This is an area where environmentally-minded Southern progressives can make an impact. We need to find ways to explain these issues, especially in areas where growth is booming. To so many of us who grew up in the South, we were blessed with natural resources so abundant that we take them for granted. Periods of growth are truly make-or-break for these communities.

Update: NC Minimum Wage Hike Likely on Hold

It appears increasingly unlikely that the North Carolina Senate will debate the House's proposed $0.85 increase in the minimum wage before adjourning for the year. The measure, however, is eligible for consideration during the 2006 "short" session.

Chris Fitzsimon of NC Policy Watch says that the House's approval of a wage hike was "a historic vote to help the working poor and if the bill passes the Senate, more than 100,000 workers would benefit."

In fact, the Senate Finance Committee actually passed an $0.85 increase in the minimum wage earlier in the year, but that increase was part of a larger proposal to cut taxes on wealthy individuals and corporations, while making permanent a temporary sales tax increase. This move prompted Sen. Martin Nesbitt from Asheville to tell his colleagues that they were "absolutely mashing the working people of the state."

Hopefully, Senators will think about Nesbitt's words and return next spring ready to, as Fitzsimon of Policy Watch recommends, "forget about tax relief for the rich -- they seem to be making out ok -- and instead pass the House minimum wage bill to help workers instead of mashing them."

Underfunding No Child

A post from our Nathan D. Wilson that didn't make it online for some oddball computer reason:

The Bush Administration's Education Secretary, Margaret Spellings, thinks states ought to quit whining about not receiving the funding they were promised to implement the No Child Left Behind Act. According to Spellings, such states just fear seeing their own test results and so are trying to divert attention.

Her remarks came in a speech Wednesday to the Atlanta Press Club when she was asked about a lawsuit filed by Connecticut on Monday claiming that the federal government has not provided enough money to pay for the testing and programs associated with the 2001 law.

My state of Kentucky did not get $123 million in public school funding last year promised by Congress and the President, including $81 million for extra academic support for low-income students, $10 million for critical after-school programs, and $5 million to raise teacher quality.

That seems like real money to me. And real money is needed to enforce real changes in teaching and testing. But maybe I'm just whining.

The full AP story is here.

Juvenile-Justice Reform in Louisiana

The September issue of The American Prospect spotlights Louisiana's efforts to remake its juvenile-justice system as part of a special report on child delinquency. Louisiana's recent reforms demonstrate how collaborations among political, philanthropic, social service and legal actors can turn a Southern state into a laboratory for innovative, progressive public policy.

For many years, Louisiana's youth detention facilities -- most notoriously the Tallulah Correction Center or "Little Angola" -- were seen as dangerous places that bred offenders rather than reformed them. The conditions sparked the formation of the Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana, a nonprofit legal organizations that sued the state over the conditions around the same time that the U.S. Department of Justice also sued Louisiana over juvenile facilities.

The lawsuits began a reform movement that gained momentum following the 2003 election of Kathleen Blanco, Louisiana's first-term Democratic governor. Blanco harbored a deep interest in juvenile justice. With guidance from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Blanco moved to emphasize small facilities that stress rehabilitation rather than large correctional facilities modeled after adult prisons. Today, the Bridge City Center for Youth, located near New Orleans, showcases Louisiana's new approach.

Nevertheless, problems remain in Louisiana's juvenile-justice system, and Gov. Blanco has encountered difficulties in spreading her reforms to other state institutions. Yet the efforts of dedicated advocates and Gov. Blanco have attracted national interest in Louisiana's efforts.

Good news for the Mississippi coast

Back in June, we told you about a dumb Bush Administration plan for a pilot oil and gas drilling program in protected areas of the Mississippi Coast along the Gulf islands (Going where they shouldn't go, 6/1).

Good news today for the 3,000 people who protested drilling on Sunday when Republican U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi said he would file a bill to stop any drilling until the full environmental impact was studied. According to the Associated Press:

Cochran, R-Miss., said he's responding to thousands of south Mississippians who've expressed concerns about how drilling would affect natural resources and tourism.

"Before we get too far down the road on this issue, we should understand what the probable consequences will be for the environment,'' Cochran said. ...

Cochran unveiled his plan Wednesday in a breakfast speech to coast business leaders. He said he has asked his staff do research so he can file a bill.

On Sunday, an estimated 3,000 people rallied against proposals to drill for natural gas within sight of Mississippi's coastal islands and beaches, saying the process could harm natural vistas and put a dent in tourism.

Adds one of our friends from the Mississippi coast:

Here is what thrills me about this event. In one of the Reddest States in the Nation, with Haley Barbour, a former energy lobbyist as Governor, in the midst of record energy prices, and after passage of the most pro-hydrocarbon energy bill in recent memory, local people got this thing turned around in the right direction.

Each of the most powerful Republicans in the state backed off their stance: Barbour by suspending activity until an environmental and economic analysis was completed, [Sen. Trent] Lott by doing behind the scenes work to see what limits could be imposed, and Cochran by leaping over the shoulders of the other two and seeking a moratorium and buyout.

A fresh idea

An article in today's New York Times discusses the rising national interest in replacing standard school cafeteria fare with fresh foods supplied by local farms:

At a time when many school cafeterias are still serving traditional, mass-produced food, Middlebury has replaced "mystery meat," canned vegetables and other institutional menu staples - the butt of freshman-year jokes for generations - with locally raised chicken and lamb, and heirloom tomatoes, emerald green broccoli and plump ripe strawberries grown within a few miles of the campus.

Middlebury is not alone in serving food that did not come from far away and out of Costco-size cans. From the University of Montana to public schools in Tallahassee, Fla., officials at more than 200 universities and 400 school districts are supporting a farm-to-cafeteria movement to build their menus around fresh local ingredients. And students are cheering instead of complaining.

But it's not just about taste. Fresh produce and meats are healthier than mass-produced foods, and that can help improve children's health and alleviate childhood obesity:

"Children's obesity issues have highlighted the farm to school program," said Marion Kalb, director of the national farm to school program for the Community Food Security Coalition. "It appeals to taste as well as nutrition and how to get kids to change their eating habits."

Plus, the article notes that rising oil prices make this a good time to consider transitioning to local farm-to-cafeteria programs, because long-range food distribution may become economically unsustainable.

In the South, we have a lot of farms. We also lead the nation in childhood obesity rates and other children's health problems. We should consider adopting farm-to cafeteria programs throughout the region, and urge the Department of Agriculture and state agencies to increase funding for such initiatives.

Leaving a school district behind

What happens when voters - or at least a slim majority of voters - decide to leave their schools behind? Well, it's what the school system in Jacksonville, Ala., is in the process of discovering.
A little background: Jacksonville is a college town in Northeast Alabama. The public school system has excelled far beyond the meager local funding it receives. Per-pupil spending - $5,600 - is rated poor by the state, which provides two-thirds of those dollars. Local funds account for about one-fifth of the budget.
When the school put a request to raise property taxes by 9 mills before voters in January, the answer was disappointing. "Say No to Liberal Taxes And Spending," anti-tax yard signs began to sprout up and on Election Day voters turned down the request.
And now as the financially squeezed district is cutting out programs – drivers ed, German, choir – and making do with outdated computers, the public is starting to complain. The city is talking about annexing more property in order to raise more tax revenue. In short, the school’s spending needs, as The Anniston Star noted, weren’t so "liberal" after all.
OK, you say, this just one small Southern town. But isn’t this a piece of a larger puzzle, especially throughout the South? If a college town with an outsized portion of the population that knows the value of quality education rejects what would amount to an extra $90 a year on a $100,000 home, what does that say?
Have citizens heard the cries of anti-tax crowd so long that they’ve come to believe them no matter the evidence? Are these the children of Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, who made tax-cutting a centerpiece of their administrations? Are buzzwords - “liberal taxes and spending” - all it takes?
Cracking this code is the chief task for progressives interested in educating students for a globalized economy?

Tennessee Congressmen move to depoliticize redistricting process

An editorial in today's Tennessean throws support behind an effort by three Tennessee Congressmen to reform the redistricting. The bill, proposed by Reps. Jim Cooper and John Tanner (D) and Zach Wamp (R), is called the Fairness and Independence in Redistricting Act. Here's a brief summary of what is proposed:

The plan would have each state establish a commission of at least five members to draw the maps every 10 years. The commissioners would elect an additional commissioner to be chairman. The commissioners could not have been recently active in politics and would be ineligible to run for a U.S. House seat in the state for 10 years. The commission report would have to be approved by the governor and the legislature without amendments.

While there will surely be plenty of details to workout, this is an effort progressive thinkers, especially Southern ones, can get behind. From a partisan perspective, this helps restrict some of the shenanigans seen in Texas and Georgia by the Republican parties who orchestrated redistricting outside of census years. A fairer, more competitive election process benefits all people, however, and gives progressives with a fresh voice a chance to be heard and win election.

Race and class matter

A recent survey that pigeon-holed American cities of 100,000 or more into "liberal" or "conservative" really showed something else, according to The Anniston Star - - that race and class matter in politics. From a recent editorial:

Most of the most liberal cities listed had large African-American populations, many of whom are poor and unemployed. And until you get to Birmingham, all of them were in the North, Northeast or California. Conservative cities were all over the map, but like the liberal metro areas, they were characterized by race and class — only they were overwhelmingly white and solidly in the middle....

Two things can be gained from this. First, despite all the talk about race no longer being a factor in American politics, it is — and a very big factor at that. When it comes to government, blacks and whites want very different things. These wants determine which political party they support. Liberal cities are overwhelmingly Democratic. Conservative cities vote Republican....

At the same time, class also matters. Being poor and jobless shapes one’s political outlook and that in turn helps one decide how to cast a ballot. Being comfortable in job and home does the same thing. And since African-Americans fall so often in the former category and white Americans are more often found in the latter, it should come as no surprise that each supports the party that claims to care most for its needs and circumstances.

Minimum Wage Proposal Advances in NC

Last week, after months of complicated maneuvering, the North Carolina House of Representatives voted to raise the state's minimum wage by $0.85/hour, from $5.15/hour, to $6.00/hour.

Approximately 100,000 Tar Heel workers would benefit directly from the proposed hike, according to an analysis of census data. Half of the affected workers are age 25 or older, and one-third work full time. In terms of employment, affected workers are disproportionately represented in the retail trade/hospitality industry and in sales/service occupations.

The measure, which passed by an essentially party line vote of 62-57, resulted from the efforts of the House's Black Legislative Caucus and a diverse group of legislators from across the state with the help of various faith-based, grassroots and progressive advocacy groups.

The measure now goes to the state Senate, which passed a different version of the increase, for concurrence. Because the legislature is poised to adjourn for the year, further action is unlikely until the legislature reconvenes in May.

If the increase takes effect, North Carolina will become only the second southern state with a minimum wage higher than the federal one. A ballot initiative to raise Florida's minimum wage by $1.00/hour passed by large margins last November. All other southern states either set their minimums at the federal level or have no specific state law.

Medicaid tinkering threatens those with least

NPR reported today that South Carolina, Georgia and Florida are tinkering with proposals to save money on Medicaid by changing how money is delivered. Instead of the current structure of providing service for fees, proposals would essentially give users a stash of cash to get private health care.

In effect, these market-driven proposals seek to set up Medicaid as a system of private accounts. From NPR:

Backers say making patients more responsible will lower overuse of services. But patient advocates say the sickest people will quickly run out of money and be left even worse off than before.

The Center for a Better South's Andy Brack wrote about the dangers of Medicaid privatization in his weekly SC newspaper column on Sunday:

More than 700,000 South Carolinians may be used as guinea pigs to see if the marketplace can lower costs in providing health care. Gov. Mark Sanford and the folks at the state Department of Health and Human Services requested a waiver from the federal government in June....

Critics say the Sanford salvation is still half-baked. One of the biggest reasons is, "The proposal rests on untested assumptions, such as the belief that a system of managed care plans and provider networks will rapidly emerge in the state to serve Medicaid beneficiaries," according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

In a scathing report, the Center described the Sanford plan as a radical way that seeks to privatize Medicaid. "For beneficiaries - - the vast majority of whom have incomes below the poverty line - - the result would be much less health coverage at considerably greater cost. Private plans would not be required to provide the range of benefits now offered under Medicaid. All beneficiaries, including pregnant women and children, would face a significant increase in out-of-pocket costs for health care."

A mama's pain. Our pain.

Cindy Sheehan's cause is easy to understand. The mother whose son was killed in Iraq is camped outside George W. Bush's Texas ranch in hopes that she can meet with the president. Of all people, Southerners can relate to this story, which boils down to a grieving mother seeking answers for her GI son's death.
Viewed in this light, it's not all that different from the vigil of the mother of Natalee Holloway, the Birmingham girl who has been missing in Aruba for the past few months. None but the most cruel would belittle a mother's love and dedication. And yet plenty on the right side of the pundit world are doing just that to Cindy Sheehan. See here and here.
What would these pundits have done in a different era? What would they have done to Mrs. Goodman? Mrs. Chaney? Mrs. Schwerner? Of course, it's a waste of time to speculate on how low the right-wing media will sink.
However, the president is a different matter. His administration, by its own proclamation, is staffed with the "grownups." You'd think he might take the time to do the grownup thing -- spend an hour with Mrs. Sheehan. Have her up to the ranchhouse for iced tea and a talk on the porch. It's the Southern way.
But, no.
On Friday, the president's motorcade whizzed past Mrs. Sheehan on the way to delivering Bush to a fundraiser.
It's a powerful symbol, one that extends beyond Mrs. Sheehan.
Just like that black SUV leaving Cindy Sheehan in the dust, this president's policies have done the same for working families in the South and elsewhere. His tax policies that favor the ultra-rich, his energy policies that seek more drilling, his foreign policies that thoughtlessly put troops in harm's way will leave the country with a nasty hangover.
We know that the South helped put George W. Bush in the White House. It remains to be seen how long before the average Southern voter realizes their needs for security, economic and otherwise, are being ignored. That, just like Mrs. Sheehan, we are being ignored along the side of the road.

"Justice Sunday" Event in Nashville presents challenges, opportunities

Yesterday's "Justice Sunday II" event, held in Nashville, surely lays down a gauntlet of challenges for Southern progressives in the coming years. Coverage from today's Tennessean highlights some of the event's more notable moments; here are James Dobson's comments:

Via video, James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, said, "America's court system is tearing at the very fabric of this nation." He said an "unelected, unaccountable, and often arrogant" judiciary, is imposing "judicial tyranny" as judges legislate from the bench, being guided by Western Europe "that most liberal place on the planet." Dobson urged viewers to defend President Bush's Supreme Court nominee, John Roberts, from the likes of Sens. Edward Kennedy, Patrick Leahy, and "all the other minions on the left."

What does an event like this mean to Southern progressives, especially those of faith? First, it presents a daunting challenge to those of us who do not see religion as a purely political medium - they don't call it the "bully pulpit" for nothing. Second, it further reveals a political environment that is filled with vitriol for those who disagree with the conservative message espoused by those who plan these events. Another example from the event, this one from the vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention:

Sutton, first vice president of the Nashville-based Southern Baptist Convention, the nation's largest Protestant body, closed with five sentences: "It's a new day. Liberalism is dead. The majority of Americans are conservative. You can count on us for showing up and speaking out. And ... let the church rise."

In spite of the obvious challenges, though, there are also important opportunities here for Southern progressives. We must work to partner with those members of faith communities who see the need to improve the quality of education in our region, to reduce poverty and be better stewards of our natural resources. Events such as this provide an opening for Southern progressives to be the positive, alternative voice in the conservative cacophony afflicting our region today.

Faith once again an issue in Southern towns

A recent article in the Macon Telegraph details a new lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union regarding prayer invocations at the openings of Cobb County (Ga.) commission meetings. The suit was made on the basis that the commission's meetings exclusively invoke a Christian God.

"You're gonna find the same thing here, I'm afraid," said Monroe County Commission Chairman Harold Carlisle, who said his county meetings have opened with a prayer for at least the past 10 years - as long as he's been involved with the government. "I wouldn't dream of starting the meeting without it."

Some are led by elected officials or government administrators and others are offered by guest members of the clergy. One complaint in the ACLU suit is that members of the clergy are brought in to lead the prayer, and that an "overwhelming majority" of them are Christian.

In Bibb County, a different pastor delivers the prayer at each commission meeting, said Chairman Charles Bishop, a practice he said he has no problems with. A majority of past prayers have addressed "the Father" he said, but he wasn't sure how often they have referred specifically to Christianity.

Faith has always been a hallmark of the Southern community, and the region’s progressives would do well to keep an eye on such developments in the future. There is a very delicate relationship between faith and government, especially in the South, and the Center for a Better South promises to be a voice on constructing new links between faith and a stronger South.

DEBUT: FIVE QUESTIONS with Gov. William Winter

The Center for a Better South's FIVE QUESTIONS series starts with an interview with former Mississippi Gov. William F. Winter of Jackson, Miss. A highlight:

"WINTER: There are certain issues on which just about everybody agrees. For example, everyone wants an adequate education for their children; they want a fair chance at a sustaining job; they want to live in a decent house on a safe street; they want access to affordable health care; and above all else they want to be accorded dignity and respect by their fellow citizens. Why can't we direct more of our energy toward the attainment of those reasonable aspirations instead of on appeals based on greed and bigotry?"

• Read the whole interview

The Center for a Better South's new FIVE QUESTIONS project is an online interview series in which Center staff pose challenging questions to Southern leaders for their views on how to deal with public policy issues.

Demography and Affordability Collide

The South's two-year and four-year institutions of higher learning enrolled 5.5 million students in 2003 -- the highest level ever. Growing numbers of the South's Hispanic, African-American and female residents today are pursuing post-secondary education.

At first glance, these trends -- detailed in a new report by the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) -- seem promising for a region that historically has had low college enrollment rates and that must improve the educational levels of its African-American and Hispanic residents in order to remain economically vibrant.

Yet upon closer inspection, these trends are offset by the soaring cost of college education. In-state tuition and mandatory fees at the South's public four-year colleges jumped by 62 percent (adjusting for inflation) between 1994 and 2004. At two-year colleges, tuition and fees rose by 56 percent over the same period. These increases have become especially burdensome for middle- and lower-income students -- groups who could realize significant gains from higher education.

SREB estimates that a student from a median income family in the South who enrolls in a four-year institution faces an "affordability gap" of $3,350, after subtracting an expected family contribution, a federal Pell Grant and education tax credit from the cost of attendance. At a two-year college, the gap equals $1,350. The affordability gap is even greater for students from families with incomes below the federal poverty level. In response to these gaps, students turn to borrowing, which increases the cost of college, or, in some cases, forsake higher education all together.

These trends point to a "coming collision between demographic trends and the affordability gap." As SREB observes,

"Faster-growing portions of the population mean that middle- and lower-income students will be more and more the norm among college students in coming decades ... Efforts to ensure that affordable college opportunities are available to all students will be an increasingly important and difficult challenge."

Minorities become majority in more states

Four states now have majority minority populations, according to a new story on Stateline.org. Texas now joins New Mexico, California and Hawaii as states where minorities make up the majority of the population.

Five states – Arizona, Georgia, Maryland, Mississippi and New York - are next in line with minority populations of about 40 percent. Minorities comprise 77 percent of Hawaii's population, 57 percent in New Mexico, 56 percent in California, and 50.2 percent in Texas, the Census report said based on 2004 population estimates. (See the Census data.)

In years ahead as the Latino population rises in the South, more Southern states will face the prospect of a majority of their population being minorities, which will provide some great challenges for the region and fantastic opportunities for progressives. That's why, for example, the Center for a Better South plans to work on increasing minority participation in the political process across the region in the months ahead.

Border control, or out of control?

A recent federal immigration raid in Arkadelphia, Arkansas resulted in the immediate deportation of 107 undocumented workers at a poultry plant, leaving around 30 young children -- most American citizens by birth -- without their parents.

State officials, including Gov. Mike Huckabee, have condemned this action as unnecessarily extreme and insensitive. Arkansas News Bureau columnist John Brummett offers some common sense in his analysis of the incident:

So, the feds convicted a woman for selling stolen identities to illegal immigrants who'd come from Mexico to handle poultry entrails for little more than the minimum wage at an Arkadelphia plant. It's better than no job at all, which is what these Mexicans had at home.

The woman stole people's identities. She reaped illicit profit. I say throw the book at her.

Just don't round up all the 119 gainfully employed illegal immigrants in Arkadelphia trying to make a better life for themselves and relying on the woman's fraudulent documentation.

It's a simple principle with established precedent: Prosecute the dealer; spare and rehabilitate the individual user.

[. . .]

If we want to enforce the immigration law, the place to do it is the border, not the poultry plant. If we want to make the country safer, we'll have to separate mass murderers from their caves, not hard workers from their jobs and children from their parents.

Early school starts and global warming

The backlash against schools starting earlier and earlier is beginning. Standing alongside frustrated parents is the tourist industry, especially folks whose living depends on people spending their summer vacations at the beach. That's especially true in the South, both along the Atlantic coast and the Gulf coast. If little Johnny and Susie start school the first or second week of August, then that is doing serious damage to the beach economy, which has typically lasted from early May until September.
And we're not just thinking about a bunch of swells lounging in the sand.
In Alabama, for instance, beach visitors account for one-third of the state's $7.3 billion tourism industry. We're talking serious money, right?
But beach tourism is not only taking it in the, umm, shorts from schools that are inching up their calendars. Global warming may soon be rearranging when people go to the beach. Since we've been naming and tracking storms, there has never been a July like the one we just endured. Four named Atlantic storms this early is a record.
Scientists now believe that global warming may be the culprit for the increased number of storms.

"The large upswing in the last decade is unprecedented and probably reflects the effect of global warming," scientist Kerry Emanuel wrote in a study that will appear in the Thursday edition of the journal Nature.

What's more, there is reason to believe that along with greater hurricane frequency, global warming is making the storms more destructive.
If that's the case, a Memorial Day to Labor Day beach tourism season may be a thing of the past, with or without an early school start.

Simpkins: Remembering the Voting Rights Act

The Center for a Better South's John Simpkins offered this report from a weekend conference in Selma that celebrated the 40th anniversary of the passage of the Voting Rights Act:

As I sped along the road from Selma to Montgomery Saturday, with the Edmund Pettus Bridge in my rearview mirror, I couldn’t help but reflect on how much the South has changed. The days of state-sponsored violence towards voters are gone, although some of the perpetrators of that violence have yet to see the error of their ways. For example, listen to this segment on former Dallas County Sheriff Jim Clark from the August 5 edition of All Things Considered.

Despite these decidedly retrograde impulses, the newest edition of the New South is likely to be marked by a sharp increase in population and, hopefully, accompanying economic growth. The Census Bureau projects that the population of the South will increase by 41 million people in the next 25 years. That translates into an additional 17 electoral votes. Those who would argue for forgetting the South in presidential politics would do well to consider how a candidate could win office while conceding 190 electoral votes before the race even begins.

Instead, it is up to progressives to make the South competitive again. Central to this redoubled effort are the protections of Section 5 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which requires certain areas, mostly in the South, to clear changes to electoral arrangements with the Attorney General or the District Court for the District of Columbia. As the Solid South becomes browner and more populated, the preclearance mechanism of Section 5 will be critical to assuring fairness and transparency in voting. The South has come a long way from the heyday of the Jim Clark’s of the world. But it still can do better.

Another view from ThinkSouth's Bob Davis of The Anniston Star.

Voting Rights Act of 1965 Still Just As Important

In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson bulldozed the historic Voting Rights Act through the United States Congress and permanently altered the face of American politics. This piece of legislation effectively ended election disenfranchisement for blacks and other American minorities. But unless Congress again comes together and votes to assure minority voters of their constitutionally guaranteed electoral rights, key sections of the act will expire.

These important provisions include:

• Section 5, which requires districts with a history of voter discrimination to obtain approval before making changes to electoral procedures.
• Section 203, which entails that areas with high concentrations of non-English speakers to provide ballot access and information in other languages.

A recent article by Stuart Comstock-Gay highlights the need to reauthorize the portions of the act set to expire next August. In the article, Comstock-Gay writes:

It is difficult to imagine a law more important to American democracy and civil rights than the Voting Rights Act of 1965. To find another law that more fundamentally altered the way American democracy works, you have to go back to the Civil War era 14th and 15th Amendments. The Voting Rights Act is that important.

Given the continued incidents of modern voter disenfranchisement like Tom DeLay's notorious 2003 racial gerrymandering abuses (which will be taken up by the U.S. Supreme Court next term), the cancellation of a 2001 municipal election in Mississippi coinciding with the rising prominence of black candidates and voters, and reported abuses in Ohio during last year's presidential election, it is clear that the American democratic system has not quite shed the ugly specter of voter disenfranchisement.

And don't expect the White House to come out in full support, either. During a recent event at the Lyndon Johnson presidential library, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and President Bush refused to say whether or not they would support a full renewal of the expiring provisions. Gonzales would only say that the administration "looks forward to working with Congress" on the act. Both houses of Congress must take the lead on this issue and acknowledge its importance.

Southern progressives (unfortunately a rare commodity in Congress) should take a stand and prove that they are committed to preserving the electoral rights and protections guaranteed by the 1965 Voting Rights Act. All American citizens, regardless of their native language or ethnicity, deserve the right to cast their votes and stake a claim in the future of our country.

A Workforce for the New South?

Deficiencies in basic educational and literacy skills on the part of the workforce endanger the economic vitality of the 16-county (12 in NC, 4 in SC) Charlotte region. This was the finding of a recent strategic assessment sponsored by Advantage Carolina, the area's economic development partnership.

"A high level of illiteracy and lagging educational performance," said a Charlotte Observer report on the study, "threaten to leave large segments of the workforce unprepared for the demands of a 21st-century economy."

Sadly, this situation is not unique to Charlotte. All southern metros and states have too many working adults ill-prepared to succeed in a "knowledge economy." In fact, the 2003 American Community Survey showed that roughly half of all prime-age workers (ages 25-54) in each southern state had no post-secondary education. The proportion of workers lacking any higher education ranged from 37.3% in Virginia to 52% in Arkansas.

Fixing this situation will require sustained public investment in state workforce development systems. Southern leaders looking for a roadmap for addressing the workforce deficiencies currently troubling the region would be wise to turn to "The Mercedes and the Magnolia," a 2002 report by Southern Growth Policies Board. The document details how existing workforce programs could better serve individual workers and the region's long-term economic prosperity.

If you offer it, they will take it

Despite opposition from rural school districts, the Arkansas legislature in 2004 passed legislation to require Advanced Placement courses in four core areas in all Arkansas high schools by 2008-09. Schools already have been working to meet the standard and there is good news as a result: more kids are taking the tougher AP courses that meet college credit requirements.

The College Board says the number of students taking AP exams in Arkansas in 2005 was up 108 percent from 2004, the biggest increase by any state in a single year since the AP program started 50 years ago.

Some 235 high schools offered at least one AP course last school year. In 2005, 13,883 students took 23,014 exams, up from 6,674 students taking 11,112 AP tests in 2004. Almost half, 6,524 scored at the "qualified" level or higher on the test.

Return to Selma

In the 1960s, Sheriff Jim Clark made life hell for civil rights workers in Selma. His role in Bloody Sunday exposed to a national audience the type of rough treatment faced daily by advocates trying to secure the right to vote for African-Americans.
Much has changed in the past 40 years. This week, Selma marks the anniversary of the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The Democracy Project is planning a full week of activities. (The Center for a Better South's John L. Simpkins makes an appearance on Saturday.)
Plenty of work remains to be done in Selma, Alabama, the South and the rest of the nation, but progress has been made. It's harder to find those ignorant souls willing to match their racist utterances with violent acts.
The Anniston Star's John Fleming recently interviewed former Sheriff Clark, who now spends his days in a dark corner of a nursing home in South Alabama. What Fleming found is rather pathetic. He writes:

So there sits Jim Clark in his Laz-Z-Boy and there sits his way of things. His thinking went and still goes something like: If the outsiders would have just left us alone we would have been fine, because people in Dallas County understood each other, understood their place, everyone was happy. As long as no one got out of the box, as long as no one unsettled the norm, all was fine.
These are disgusting, frustratingly stubborn notions he clings to, designed perhaps to maintain some elaborate fantasy world he has constructed for himself in order to live with himself.

Here in the real world we have plenty of work left to do. But what's next? What should be our priorities? I'm curious. Please contribute your thoughts either in the comments section or by e-mail to bdavis@annistonstar.com.

Alabama prisons

To fully understand what is at the root of the horrific Alabama prison conditions -- overcrowding, lack of basic health care -- described in today's New York Times, it helps to witness how state government operates. The Times writes of one north Alabama prison:

An emaciated 39-year-old wasted away after begging a doctor for sandwiches. A 29-year-old with pneumonia was short of breath when he arrived at the unit, but waited two days to see a doctor and get a prescription; he never received the medication, and on the fourth day, he suffocated. A 41-year-old, also struggling to breathe, was sent off to a hospital two hours away in a prison van with no medical help, even after a guard urged that he be rushed in an ambulance. "He'll be fine," a nurse said, but the man had a heart attack on the way and died.

Operating under a "we'll be fine" mindset, the state Legislature recently completed a special session to write its fiscal year 2006 budget. The budget, which includes a hefty raise for state employees, relies on $250 million in one-time funds, meaning when lawmakers write the '07 budget next year they'll have to either cut the budget by that much or raise more revenue. (Good luck on that second one during an election year.)
As colleague Hardy Jackson put it recently, this sort of governance is like the the sharecropper mentality that always makes compromises this year in hopes that next year's crop will bring in riches.
Given this, no one should be surprised by the prisons-on-the-cheap form of budgeting that generally ignores the well-being of prisoners, who if they survive their time in jail will someday return to our streets.

Texas faces debate over religion in schools

An article in today's New York Times highlights a brewing conflict in Odessa, Texas over a new "nonsectarian" Bible curriculum that a North Carolina-based organization is pushing to schools nationwide.

"But in Odessa, where the school board has not decided on a curriculum, a parent said he found the course's syllabus unacceptably sectarian. He has been waging his own campaign for additional information on where it is being taught.

"Someone is being disingenuous; I'd like to know who," said the parent, David Newman, an associate professor of English at Odessa College who has made a page-by-page analysis of the 270-page syllabus and sent e-mail messages to nearly all 1,034 school districts in Texas."

With all of the issues facing education and our children's health, Southern progressives need to work with members of the faith community to help improve the standard of life and education for our children in spite of those who seek to use public schools as the platform for a "disingenuous" conservative political agenda.