Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Message
January 15th, 2007
A Community Development Message
Celebrating the Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr.
by Bernie Mazyck, President & CEO
South Carolina Association of Community Development Corporations
January 15, 2007
As we pause for a moment on this Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day to celebrate, commemorate, and meditate on the life, impact, and sacrifice of America’s Profit, I ask that we re-dedicate ourselves to the cause of reducing poverty through empowerment.
We are almost 39 years after an assassin’s bullet took the life of Dr. King, while he was in the midst of supporting the garbage workers of Memphis, Tennessee. His visit to Memphis took place while he was planning a major march on Washington to address the poverty that existed in America. His march was not only for poor African Americans, but also poor Whites, poor Puerto Ricans, the poor Irish, etc. This march, and the subsequent civil actions that would follow, was to be known as the “Poor Peoples Campaign”, which Dr. King extolled as the harbinger of a new Jerusalem. Dr. King compared the Poor Peoples Campaign to David’s fighting the Goliath of injustice. Dr. King was determined to make America the truly great nation it was called to be…and we do too.
Almost 20 years ago, another great prophet of our time, the late Pope John Paul, II addressed citizens of New Orleans with a message of economic justice for all. Pope John Paul, II said, Even in this wealthy nation, committed by its founding fathers to the dignity and equality of all persons, the Black community suffers a disproportionate share of economic deprivation. Far too many of our young people receive less than an equal opportunity for a quality education and for gainful employment.
In 2007, South Carolina’s economy continues to lag behind the nation. This fact impacts individuals and families in every community in South Carolina. A recent article in the Post and Courier newspaper (Charleston) highlighted the continuing gap between the income of whites and blacks in the greater Charleston area. White households in the Charleston area had a median income of $52,513, while the median income for Black households was $30,015. The poverty rate for Blacks is 24.3 percent, while the poverty rate for Whites is 8.8 percent. This fact has resulted in an increase in traffic of emergency food banks and cloths closets. And while homeownership, as a strategy for building wealth, has increased in the state and nationally, Blacks and Hispanic homebuyers in the area pay more for mortgages than do Whites, according to a Federal Reserve report.
These are only 2 indicators that remind us that Dr. King’s dream of the Beloved Community is still unfulfilled. The South Carolina Association of Community Development Corporation (SCACDC) is placing our self in the heart of the economic justice struggle by creating solutions to reduce poverty through empowerment. Though we have seen tremendous progress in the past few years, including over 400 units of affordable housing developed, over 100 jobs created, over $40 million added to the tax base of local communities, and the appropriation of the first $1 million by the S.C. General Assembly to fund the S.C. Community Economic Development Act of 2000, we still have a long way to go. So SCACDC has put forward an aggressive agenda for the next 5 years to Build Wealth…One Community at a Time, and we ask you to join us in this effort.
We will kick off our effort on February 1, 2007 with our CED Day at the Dome, where we will urge the members of the S.C. General Assembly to:
• Continue funding the S.C. Community Economic Development Act by appropriating $5 million for grants and loans for fiscal year 2007-2008.
• Creating a state Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) equal to 20% of the federal EITC that rewards work and reduces poverty.
• Enact legislation that curbs the proliferation of rapid access lenders (RALs) that pray on the working poor and vulnerable in the state.
• Amend Title 34 of the state statute to limit the actions of payday lenders.
• And much, much more.
Join us and help us make Dr. King’s Dream a Reality.