On Bridging Our Racial Divide

Second Quarter 2001

Editor's Watch

by James W. Skillen

Although you might not know it, based on the press coverage, there are hundreds of African-American leaders who strongly support President Bush's plans for faith-based and community initiatives. It is also true that many of these leaders speak frankly in support of programs that the president and Congress may be less inclined to promote. Among the African-American leaders who fit this description is the Rev. Eugene Rivers, general secretary of the Pan African Charismatic Evangelical Congress (PACEC) and activist leader with the Ten-Point Coalition in Boston. Consider the following excerpts from a pastoral letter sent to President Bush by Rivers and other African-American pastors.

"First, [Mr. President], we strongly encourage you to follow through on your previously stated commitment in your meeting with religious leaders on December 20, 2000 to make Africa 'a high priority.' Specifically, we call upon your Administration to work with Congress to immediately and unilaterally cancel the debts of the nations of sub-Saharan Africa, [requiring that such savings be used] for fighting the HIV/AIDS epidemic.... We believe that African leaders must also be held accountable for their failures to respond compassionately to the suffering of their people....

"Turning to domestic issues, we ask that the Administration provide resources for, and develop a plan to implement universal medical care coverage, including a radical expansion of Medicaid child health care funding, so as to ensure [that] every child in America, regardless of race, receives health care.

"Second, we want the Administration to explicitly promise that the reauthorization of the 1996 welfare regime in 2002 will include a funded Presidential plan to radically expand child care and other auxiliary services to ease the transition to work by those on the welfare rolls.

"Third, we want the Administration, and particularly the Department of Justice, to take a position against the proliferation of prisons. The Administration should create and fund a plan for achieving zero prison growth in the U.S. by the year 2005 or sooner, along with a plan to radically expand public and private help for prisoner's children.

"Fourth, since prevention is such a vital part of reducing crime, we also call on the Bush Administration to focus on the needs of youth, particularly urban youth. We recommend two major initiatives: a) providing funding for academic and recreational after-school programming in major urban centers, and b) developing a well-funded plan to assist urban and rural school systems to improve the quality of their teachers and administrators through increased salaries and higher standards for entry into the profession....

"Despite all, black Americans are prepared to know Republicans by their works."

[For more information about the PACEC, write to contact@PACEC.org or to 411 Washington St., Boston, MA 02124.] —The Editor