Posted on 04/21/2005 7:43:32 AM PDT by The Great Yazoo
I can still remember the separate water fountains and segregated buses as a young boy growing up in Atlanta in the 1950’s. Even as a seven-year-old kid I felt insulted and humiliated by the insinuation that we were not good enough to drink from the same water fountains as Whites, or ride in the front of the bus. Thanks to the leadership of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., U.S. House and Senate Republicans, and the sacrifices of many others, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was enacted to end this discrimination and begin to restore the full rights of citizenship for all Americans.
It is now evident that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 did not apply to the Social Security system. Due to the rising retirement age, differences in life expectancy between Blacks and Whites, and mandatory payroll tax deductions, the system by its very nature discriminates against black men and women.
This built-in discrimination has been present since 1935 when Social Security was established. The original retirement age to begin receiving Social Security benefits was set at 65 years. Black women in 1935 lived to an average age of 55, and black men to the age of 51. Our white brothers did not fare much better, since they were expected to live just 61 years.
This disparity in life expectancy still exists, but unfortunately so does the discriminatory nature of Social Security. Black males today have an average life expectancy of 68 years, yet Congress continues to raise the retirement age. The current structure simply cannot afford to send monthly checks to all citizens over the age of 65. That is a mathematical fact, and a dirty little secret Congressional Democrats do not want you to know.
To compound the discrimination, your mandatory payroll tax deductions do not go to your heirs when you die, but to people you do not even know. Under the current Social Security structure, deceased black men essentially fund a large percentage of the retirement income of elderly white women, since they live the longest to nearly 80 years on average.
Blacks are disadvantaged further by Social Security because most have few dollars to invest in their own 401(k) or IRA plans. Once payroll taxes are deducted and the necessities of food, clothing, shelter, and transportation are met, there is often little money left to fund a retirement plan. Not surprisingly, 38 percent of black retirees rely solely on Social Security for their income.
Under President Bush’s plan to restructure Social Security, all of the nation’s younger workers, regardless of race or sex, would have the option to divert a portion of their 12.4 percent mandatory payroll tax deduction to a personal retirement account they control and own.
All current and near retirees would receive their guaranteed Social Security benefit, as would those receiving disability or survivor benefits. Senator John Sununu (R-NH) and Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE) have each introduced legislation that meets or exceeds the President’s proposal.
Given that we have a President willing to finally address the disparities and discrimination inherent in Social Security, why are Democratic leaders so vehemently opposed to the President’s plan? Nearly all congressional Democrats are opposed to even discussing restructuring Social Security unless the personal retirement accounts option is taken off the negotiation table.
The answer is that congressional Democrats do not want all Americans to drink from the same retirement fountains. They insinuate that we are not smart enough to ride in the front of the retirement bus with them. Members of Congress and all federal workers have personal retirement accounts in what is called the Thrift Savings Plan. They contribute to one of five carefully managed accounts, and when they retire the money is theirs to keep.
The Sununu and Hagel bills both provide for accounts based on the Thrift Savings Plan. Yet, their Democratic colleagues want to deny us the same access to retirement security they enjoy and let the entire Social Security structure go bankrupt.
Perhaps most unconscionable is the opposition to personal retirement accounts by the NAACP, the Congressional Black Caucus, and many of our nation’s so-called black leaders. Personal retirement accounts would provide future generations of Blacks the retirement security their parents and grandparents never had.
Instead, black Democratic leaders are willing to see the next generation of Blacks remain in economic slavery on the Democratic plantation, so long as they can deny any Republican a perceived political victory.
At least with separate water fountains Blacks and Whites each had water to drink. If we start now, we can end the discrimination in Social Security by demanding that Congress enact an optional system of personal retirement accounts. If we do not act now, there will be only one retirement water fountain for our grandchildren. It will not be marked “White” or “Colored”. It will be marked “Out of Order” for all of them.
Mr. Cain is chief executive of The New Voice, Inc. and New Voters Alliance, and host of the nationally syndicated radio talk show "The Bottom Line with Herman Cain." He is past chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, and past chairman and chief executive of Godfather's Pizza, Inc.
©2005 Herman Cain
This is not meant as a defense of segregation, but the point of segregation was not about sending a message or "insinuating" that non White people were not "good enough" to use the same facilities as White people. Segregation was simply the result of a misguided political belief system concerning the then purported "incompatibility" of the races to smoothly interact under a common civil umbrella which btw was initially imposed onto the South from the North by way of the new Northern based regimes running the defeated Confederate States during Reconstruction.
What I have never been able to understand is: if one feels that they are being slighted or discriminated by a given civil collectivity / society or regime, instead of using or depending on the same apparatus of the State which is oppressing one, why not simply create one's own civil collectivity / society or representatives. In other words: do not forget the historically relevant option of political or cultural secession.
ah even I have to agree with the author above, part and parcel of segregation was the majority whites think they are superior, correct me if I am wrong but the KKKers and other racists have used an actual passage in the Bible that implies blacks are inferior to justify treating as such....and certainly blacks had every reason to believe that they were considered inferior by the way they were treated, segregation is not a pretty thing in history, I don't think Canada ever had it in a systematic fashion...
however I don't much buy the argument about Social Security,
if black males stopped killing each other, they would have a greater life expectancy and if you get your income illegally and you aren't making contributions to SS, well hey not my problem you didn't bank some of your ill gotten gains if you are lucky enough to live that long or not end up in prison, getting SS in an indirect fashion........
as Charles Barkley said last night on some cable news show,
we (blacks) have become our own worst enemies and we have to turn this situation around ourselves
Well you couldn't do it from within the country because you'd be prosecuted/imprisoned for tax evasion to begin with. See that's what the "Separate Water Fountain" issue was really all about. Minorities were taxed the same as the whites but received inferior services or no services at all for their tax contribution. It was like the American revolution redux. Taxation without representation. So the only way to opt out of the system would be to leave the country. Secession will never happen in this country again.
herman cain ping
For the same reason Dems oppose vouchers for public schools. They only want the Black vote, they don't care for the welfare or wellbeing of African-Americans.
bump!
On the way out, a guy was leaving the outside stall and I asked him what it was all about; the grizzled, old black gentleman said, "Son, you'll learn soon enough..."
What Bible verse implies any such thing?
The verses you note specifically deal with slavery, not race. Again, what verse in the Bible implies that the black race is inferior to any other race and as such should be treated as inferiors? Not what verses have been used to justify slavery, but what verse or verses imply that black people are members of an inferior race.
Kudos for Mr. Cain. I was proud to vote for him in our primaries.
If the AJC had a shred of legitimacy left this great article by an Atlantan would be on the front page of its politics section. It's good to hear from Herman again.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.