Monday, June 8, 2009
Community leaders organize “The Poor People’s Campaign” and March Calling on President Obama to “Deliver on Change” in the Delta of Mississippi: America’s Third World
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Gathering of Hearts
Contact: Antoinette Harrell FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tel: 985.229.8001
Cell Phone: 504.858.4658
Email: afrigenah@yahoo.com
Community leaders organize "The Poor People's Campaign" and March
Calling on President Obama to "Deliver on Change"
in the
Delta of Mississippi: America's Third World
Lambert, Ms---The Gathering of Hearts Organization is calling a Public Hearing and March on the crisis of poverty in the Delta of Mississippi on Friday 19, 2009.
Delivering on Dr. King's 1968 planned "Poor People's Campaign" in Washington, D.C. to demand President Lyndon and Congress' in help addressing the need for jobs, decent homes, health care and education in rural America; Gathering of Hearts has planned a Poverty Tour, assessing the living conditions in the Delta on Friday June 19, followed by the Poor People's Public Hearing at Quitman County Elementary School in Lambert, MS.
"Someone has to help shed light on the living conditions in places like Louisiana and Mississippi. No one should have to live like this, no where in the world and especially not in America," said Antoinette Harrell, Founder of Gathering of Hearts, who has organized Poverty Tours for the last six months in both Louisiana and Mississippi.
According to the 2009 Mississippi Human Development Report, a new county-by-county assessment that examines disparities by county, race and gender, "a black male born in Mississippi can expect a shorter life span than the average American in 1960. A black woman in Mississippi earns less today than the typical American in 1960. The overall infant mortality rate for nonwhites in Mississippi is more than 18 per 1,000 births, about the same as Libya and Thailand. Overall, black Mississippian are worse off than other black Americans, ranking second to last on the health and income index (just ahead of Louisiana) but dead last in education."
The report, "A Portrait of Mississippi," produced by the American Human Development Project, draws on the internationally-recognized framework established by the United Nations Human Development Report. For almost two decades "the U.N. has used the Human Development Index to examine poorer nations in health, education, and income; but in 2008 American Human Development Project produced "The Measure of America", the first-ever study of human development in the U.S. and first time the HDI had been used to examine any of the world's eighth wealthiest nations."
"Mississippi ranks last in overall human development, said Harrell. Two years ago, President Obama, talked about Bobby Kennedy's visit to the Mississippi Delta over four decades ago, and how Kennedy, with tears in his eyes, asked a single question about poverty in America: "How can a country like this allow it?" Forty years later, President Obama answered, 'We can't.' So we are calling on President Obama and lawmakers act now to address the crisis in Mississippi. We can't wait." Said Harrell.
The Gathering of Hearts are also calling on national leaders, organizations, influencers, and the young people to join them at the public hearing on Friday, June 19, 2009.
If you'd like more information about the Poor People Campaign March and Public Hearing or to schedule an interview with Antoinette Harrell, please contact 985.229.8001 or email Antoinette Harrell at afrigenah@yahoo.com
ABOUT The Human Development Report
A Portrait of Mississippi, the first-ever human development report at the state level, was commissioned by Oxfam American and the Mississippi State Conference of the NAACP as a follow-up to the state's extremely low ranking on the national index. While many of the Gulf states have some of the country's lowest levels of educational attainment, income, and life expectancy, Mississippi ranks last in the nation on overall human development.
Among the Mississippi report's findings:
Whites in Mississippi today have a human development level comparable to that of the average American circa 1997. African Americans in the state, on average, experience the level of access to choices and opportunities of the average American in 1974--a 23-year gap between the two groups.
· When geography and race are combined, the gap nearly triples. White Mississippians living in Hinds County have a human development level roughly comparable to that of top-ranked Connecticut. African-Americans living in Pike-Adams have human development level of the average American circa 1960.
· While the range of earnings for whites in all county groups spans from $22,000 to $38,000, for African Americans, the earnings range is $13,000 to $25,000. In other words, whites who are worst off in the state in terms of income are still better off than the majority of African Americans.
· The median earnings of African American men, $20,368, are comparable to those of the typical American in 1970. African American women have median earnings of $ 14,915 - less than the earnings of the typical American in 1960.
· Although whites have higher well-being scores than African Americans in every U.S. state, Mississippi is among the four states with the largest disparities between the two groups. (The others are Louisiana, Nebraska, and Alabama.)
· Though whites are doing better than African Americans in Mississippi, they are doing less well than whites in other states. On the overall Index, whites in Mississippi rank 48th on the state list. They are 46th in education and are tied for last with West Virginia whites in terms of health. They perform somewhat better on the income index, ranking 40th on the list. A white resident of Washington D.C., which has the country's highest score for whites, lives eight years longer, earns 2.4 times more, and is five times more likely to have a college degree than a white resident of Mississippi.
· African Americans in Mississippi, on average, are worse off than African Americans in most other states. Of the 39 states with an African American population sufficiently large to be included in this analysis, Mississippi ranks second-to-last on the overall state index as well as on the health index and income index (Louisiana is last) and last on the education index. Compared to an African American from Mississippi, an African American living in Maryland lives four years longer, earns twice as much, and is twice as likely to have a college degree.
· The average cost per year of keeping an inmate in prison in Mississippi in 2006 was $15,000; the average expenditure per pupil for elementary and junior high school in the state that same year was just over $7,000. Thus the state is spending twice as much per prisoner as it is on education per schoolchild.
· An African-American baby boy born today in Mississippi can expect to have a lifespan shorter than that of the average American in 1960.
The report recommends calls on lawmakers to push for policy to help the poor -- earned income tax credits, state minimum wages, affordable housing, affordable health care and subsidized child care. The study also calls for improving education (about half the Mississippi males do not graduate on time, and a third of black males over 25 do not have a high school diploma). Better education opportunities for black youth could help curb the high levels of incarceration rates facing black males in the state.
Supporters:
South Haven Muhammad Study Group
Tonja Styles of The Political Swagger Foundation and Political Swagger.com " Where Hip Hop Meeting Politics"
Southern Christian Leadership Conference, New Orleans, LA Chapter
Union Grove Pantry Food Ministry
Poor People's Campaign Inc,
The Poor People's Campaign, Trenton, NJ
Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign
Dewayne Rudd-Former NFL Player-Cleveland Brown and the Minnesota Vikings
Dr. Ava Muhammad-National Spokeswoman of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan
The Nation of Islam
Union Grove Ministry Food Pantry
The Honorable Mayor Reginald Griffin, The Town Lambert
The Honorable Mayor Johnny Thomas, Glendora, Ms
The Honorable Mayor Arthur Marble, Indianola, Ms
The Honorable Senator Robert Jackson
Rev. Dr. Al Sampson
Al Sharpton-National Action Network
African American Male and Female Institute, Inc.
The Greater Tangipahoa Parish Branch NAACP
Temple of Divine Light B.C-Rev. Dr. Leon Tilton Jr. Pastor
John Perkins Foundation
The Women Lunch Place
Action Communication and Education Reform, Inc.
Contact: Antoinette Harrell FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tel: 985.229.8001
Cell Phone: 504.858.4658
Email: afrigenah@yahoo.com
Community leaders organize "The Poor People's Campaign" and March
Calling on President Obama to "Deliver on Change"
in the
Delta of Mississippi: America's Third World
Lambert, Ms---The Gathering of Hearts Organization is calling a Public Hearing and March on the crisis of poverty in the Delta of Mississippi on Friday 19, 2009.
Delivering on Dr. King's 1968 planned "Poor People's Campaign" in Washington, D.C. to demand President Lyndon and Congress' in help addressing the need for jobs, decent homes, health care and education in rural America; Gathering of Hearts has planned a Poverty Tour, assessing the living conditions in the Delta on Friday June 19, followed by the Poor People's Public Hearing at Quitman County Elementary School in Lambert, MS.
"Someone has to help shed light on the living conditions in places like Louisiana and Mississippi. No one should have to live like this, no where in the world and especially not in America," said Antoinette Harrell, Founder of Gathering of Hearts, who has organized Poverty Tours for the last six months in both Louisiana and Mississippi.
According to the 2009 Mississippi Human Development Report, a new county-by-county assessment that examines disparities by county, race and gender, "a black male born in Mississippi can expect a shorter life span than the average American in 1960. A black woman in Mississippi earns less today than the typical American in 1960. The overall infant mortality rate for nonwhites in Mississippi is more than 18 per 1,000 births, about the same as Libya and Thailand. Overall, black Mississippian are worse off than other black Americans, ranking second to last on the health and income index (just ahead of Louisiana) but dead last in education."
The report, "A Portrait of Mississippi," produced by the American Human Development Project, draws on the internationally-recognized framework established by the United Nations Human Development Report. For almost two decades "the U.N. has used the Human Development Index to examine poorer nations in health, education, and income; but in 2008 American Human Development Project produced "The Measure of America", the first-ever study of human development in the U.S. and first time the HDI had been used to examine any of the world's eighth wealthiest nations."
"Mississippi ranks last in overall human development, said Harrell. Two years ago, President Obama, talked about Bobby Kennedy's visit to the Mississippi Delta over four decades ago, and how Kennedy, with tears in his eyes, asked a single question about poverty in America: "How can a country like this allow it?" Forty years later, President Obama answered, 'We can't.' So we are calling on President Obama and lawmakers act now to address the crisis in Mississippi. We can't wait." Said Harrell.
The Gathering of Hearts are also calling on national leaders, organizations, influencers, and the young people to join them at the public hearing on Friday, June 19, 2009.
If you'd like more information about the Poor People Campaign March and Public Hearing or to schedule an interview with Antoinette Harrell, please contact 985.229.8001 or email Antoinette Harrell at afrigenah@yahoo.com
ABOUT The Human Development Report
A Portrait of Mississippi, the first-ever human development report at the state level, was commissioned by Oxfam American and the Mississippi State Conference of the NAACP as a follow-up to the state's extremely low ranking on the national index. While many of the Gulf states have some of the country's lowest levels of educational attainment, income, and life expectancy, Mississippi ranks last in the nation on overall human development.
Among the Mississippi report's findings:
Whites in Mississippi today have a human development level comparable to that of the average American circa 1997. African Americans in the state, on average, experience the level of access to choices and opportunities of the average American in 1974--a 23-year gap between the two groups.
· When geography and race are combined, the gap nearly triples. White Mississippians living in Hinds County have a human development level roughly comparable to that of top-ranked Connecticut. African-Americans living in Pike-Adams have human development level of the average American circa 1960.
· While the range of earnings for whites in all county groups spans from $22,000 to $38,000, for African Americans, the earnings range is $13,000 to $25,000. In other words, whites who are worst off in the state in terms of income are still better off than the majority of African Americans.
· The median earnings of African American men, $20,368, are comparable to those of the typical American in 1970. African American women have median earnings of $ 14,915 - less than the earnings of the typical American in 1960.
· Although whites have higher well-being scores than African Americans in every U.S. state, Mississippi is among the four states with the largest disparities between the two groups. (The others are Louisiana, Nebraska, and Alabama.)
· Though whites are doing better than African Americans in Mississippi, they are doing less well than whites in other states. On the overall Index, whites in Mississippi rank 48th on the state list. They are 46th in education and are tied for last with West Virginia whites in terms of health. They perform somewhat better on the income index, ranking 40th on the list. A white resident of Washington D.C., which has the country's highest score for whites, lives eight years longer, earns 2.4 times more, and is five times more likely to have a college degree than a white resident of Mississippi.
· African Americans in Mississippi, on average, are worse off than African Americans in most other states. Of the 39 states with an African American population sufficiently large to be included in this analysis, Mississippi ranks second-to-last on the overall state index as well as on the health index and income index (Louisiana is last) and last on the education index. Compared to an African American from Mississippi, an African American living in Maryland lives four years longer, earns twice as much, and is twice as likely to have a college degree.
· The average cost per year of keeping an inmate in prison in Mississippi in 2006 was $15,000; the average expenditure per pupil for elementary and junior high school in the state that same year was just over $7,000. Thus the state is spending twice as much per prisoner as it is on education per schoolchild.
· An African-American baby boy born today in Mississippi can expect to have a lifespan shorter than that of the average American in 1960.
The report recommends calls on lawmakers to push for policy to help the poor -- earned income tax credits, state minimum wages, affordable housing, affordable health care and subsidized child care. The study also calls for improving education (about half the Mississippi males do not graduate on time, and a third of black males over 25 do not have a high school diploma). Better education opportunities for black youth could help curb the high levels of incarceration rates facing black males in the state.
Supporters:
South Haven Muhammad Study Group
Tonja Styles of The Political Swagger Foundation and Political Swagger.com " Where Hip Hop Meeting Politics"
Southern Christian Leadership Conference, New Orleans, LA Chapter
Union Grove Pantry Food Ministry
Poor People's Campaign Inc,
The Poor People's Campaign, Trenton, NJ
Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign
Dewayne Rudd-Former NFL Player-Cleveland Brown and the Minnesota Vikings
Dr. Ava Muhammad-National Spokeswoman of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan
The Nation of Islam
Union Grove Ministry Food Pantry
The Honorable Mayor Reginald Griffin, The Town Lambert
The Honorable Mayor Johnny Thomas, Glendora, Ms
The Honorable Mayor Arthur Marble, Indianola, Ms
The Honorable Senator Robert Jackson
Rev. Dr. Al Sampson
Al Sharpton-National Action Network
African American Male and Female Institute, Inc.
The Greater Tangipahoa Parish Branch NAACP
Temple of Divine Light B.C-Rev. Dr. Leon Tilton Jr. Pastor
John Perkins Foundation
The Women Lunch Place
Action Communication and Education Reform, Inc.
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