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WASHINGTON - In his speech last night President Bush stated that the disproportionate number of African Americans among the poorest victims of Hurricane Katrina was due to years of discrimination and denial of opportunity. I commend the President for acknowledging this fact and for recognizing in his plan the need for specific assistance to this disadvantaged community. But the harsh reality is that poverty in America afflicts people of all races and colors.
The President's proposal for recovery of the Gulf region is an opportunity to address the issue of poverty for all Americans. Addressing the problems of urban blight, unemployment, poor education and lack of job training are an imperative priority for America.
Recovery is not just about rebuilding levees, it is about restoring people. It is not just about reopening Bourbon Street, it is about bringing opportunity to all those hidden urban and rural communities where poverty has festered and only now is on view on the tragic streets of New Orleans.
The President's plan for economic recovery should be focused on all people, particularly those who have been left behind. To succeed by making a real difference in people's lives, the focus must be on education, jobs and training to prepare workers for those jobs.
If at the end of this, the only beneficiaries are contractors and developers, then an opportunity would have been lost. But if America's poor are lifted up in spirit and in reality, with education, jobs and good housing, then we would have really made a difference.
The lack of education has created millions of hopeless 18-to-26-year-olds who are part of the legions of unemployed young people. The price tag for that failure is hundreds millions of dollars in lost productivity and costs related to poverty, including crime and violence, prisons, drug abuse, unwanted children, health care. In New Orleans, the cycle of poverty translated into the inability of thousands of poor people to escape the ravages of the hurricane due to the lack of necessities, such as cars, which many of us take for granted.
Ignoring education has taken a terrible toll on the country by increasing the deficit and contributing to the ascent of competitors such as China and India, who invest heavily in education.
When we look at the deficit we've created, due to trillion dollar tax cuts and a costly war, we must add the additional losses caused by a poorly educated and untrained workforce.
After WWII the GI Bill provided an historic infusion of investment in education. The result was a massive surge of growth, jobs and opportunity that benefited the entire nation. This is the sort of challenge that we are faced with today and which President Bush last night seemed prepared to meet.
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