reflections

Poverty and Political Power

Hurricane Katrina made this country look at New Orleans through a new lens. It focused our attention on the poverty, especially apparent when so many had not way to evacuate the city and were left stranded for days on rooftops, at the Superdome or convention center or just sitting on I-10.

Out of this have come calls for everything from quick fix solutions (Mayor Nagin's call to open New Orleans for gambling) to the largely ignored common sense of Malik Rahim.

As disaster after disaster (Pakistan's earthquake and Hurricane Wilma) push New Orleans off the front pages and into the dark recesses of media oblivion, we are left wondering what will become of New Orleans and Louisiana. One thing is abundantly clear, it will bring political change.

Louisiana has been considered a swing state in national elections. The City of New Orleans, predominantly non-white and poor, has been Democratic and the suburban and rural regions have been predominantly Republican. As many of the residents of New Orleans' hardest hit and poorest section have left and are not coming back, it could signal a shift in the political spectrum that will make Louisiana a solidly "red" state for a long time to come. At least this is what one television network is suggesting.

But that is not why I am writing this. While we are all focused on New Orleans and advocating for change, we ignore the fact that there is poverty on the level of New Orleans right here in California. The Fresno Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSAO is one of the two most impoverished areas in the country and we don't talk about it.

It is clear that the root causes of poverty in New Orleans are racial, where being Black is good if you play jazz or participate in Mardi Gras and is not good at other times. It is just as clear that the root causes of poverty in Fresno are racial and ethnic, where it is good to be Latino on Cinco de Mayo.

In fact, when looking at Bureau of Census Statistics for the decade 1990-2000 four of the areas with the highest increases in poverty were in the Central Valley of California: Stockton-Lodi, Fresno, Bakersfield and Sacramento-Yolo.

My question really arises out of a growing awareness that Green Party activist Kalmran Alavi has been correct in his recent posts to a Green Party Issues list. Those who have no money don't have a seat at the table. They have no voice and they have no power.

However I have no doubt that people who have no political representation, will never get any fair shake, leave alone fair wages. - Kalmran

I find it absolutely unforgivable that the Green Party has no real visble presence in these areas other than Sacramento. Even in Sacramento, the Green Party's most visible personalities, such as Pat Driscoll, have taken on issues (Iraq War, Fair Wage Initiative) that, while universally relevant and important, are nevertheless not local.

If you accept that, as Tip O'Neil was fond of saying, that "all politics is local," this is not a winning strategy. If you act strongly on local issues, as New York Green Gloria Mattera is doing in her race for Brooklyn Borough President, you begin to make waves. By actively opposing a local corrupt and crumbling Democratic machine in Brooklyn, Gloria is getting more attention than she did by having Cindy Sheehan come to speak. Maybe Tip O'Neil was correct.

The efforts by Green Party activists in support of the California Fair Wage Initiative are only a small piece of what needs to be done. It is a long way from San Francisco to Fresno, or Los Angeles to Bakersfield. It is measured in perceptions as much as it is in miles. I hope that we will not need a disaster on the order to Hurrican Katrina to gain the focus that we desparately need.