Labor & Employment Law

Republican ?Pledge? Would Make Life Worse for People of Color

By James Parks

If people of color needed a reason to vote in the November election, the Republican Party gave them a handful in its ?Pledge to America.?

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka points out that the America the Republicans envision doesn?t look like the real America, with barely 2 percent of the images in the “Pledge to America” document depicting people of color. In the real America, the Census Bureau reported people of color made up 34 percent of the population last year. Says Trumka:  

I haven?t seen such a false image of who America really is since 1950s-era television, back when the Beaver seemed to live on a planet with no people of color whatsoever.

Republicans’ skewed vision of America is troubling this year because so much is at stake in this election. While America’s middle class continues to struggle, the economic situation is worse among African Americans and Hispanics, whose poverty levels nearly doubles the overall rate. While overall unemployment is 9.6 percent, the rate for African Americans and Hispanics is 16.1 percent and 12.4 percent, respectively.  

Yet the Republicans pledge that if they regain control of Congress they will extend tax cuts for the wealthiest 2 percent and cut spending to Bush-era levels. According to the Economic Policy Institute, cutting federal spending to 2008 levels and pursuing tax cuts for the top 2 percent would mean a loss of 1.1 million jobs, affecting not only people of color, but dragging the entire economy deeper into recession.

 In an analysis of the Republican?s ?Pledge,? Tony Carrk of the Center for American Progress Action Fund outlines some of the other ways the Republicans? policies will hurt people of color:

•  Going to a Bush-era budget would mean a $15 billion cut in education spending at a time when graduation rates among communities of color lag behind white students.
• The Republicans also pledged to repeal health care reform and eliminate unspent stimulus funds. Both programs help minority communities where unemployment is high and where there is a lack of quality health care.
• The Republicans do not promise a bipartisan approach to immigration reform and, instead, adopt Arizona?s approach of tougher enforcement of immigration laws.  

All in all, Carrk says:

Like so many families in America, communities of color are facing a stubborn job market, tighter budgets, and increased health care costs. The fact is that the Republican ?Pledge to America? will make their situation worse, not better. 

Read Carrk?s full analysis here.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on October 08, 2010 (boomark / email).