Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of the Pan-African News Wire, at the Michigan Coalition for Human Rights Annual Dinner held at Marygrove College in Detroit. Azikiwe serves as president of MCHR. (Photo: Marge Sears), a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.
By Abayomi Azikiwe
President, MCHR
Local Detroit television news coverage of the MCHR Annual Dinner featuring keynote speaker Diane Nash, former member of SNCC and Freedom Rider. To watch this segment just click on the website below:
http://newsone.com/2364767/freedom-riders-diane-nash-detroit/
Welcome to all of you who are attending our 33nd anniversary annual dinner for the Michigan Coalition for Human Rights (MCHR). This organization has accomplished much over the more than three decades here in the metropolitan Detroit area.
However, we cannot rest on the achievements and victories of the past but build upon them to address the emerging challenges of the day. In 2013 we have monumental struggles to wage for the elimination of poverty, to ensure the dignity of the individual and community and the maintenance of democracy as well as the realization of peace and socio-economic justice.
MCHR has gone on record in opposition to the disenfranchisement and dis-empowerment of the people of Michigan through the imposition of new emergency manager and right-to-work laws. These laws are making a mockery of our proud historical achievements related to civil rights and organized labor.
In Detroit, the unemployment rate is well over 25 percent officially and if discouraged and part-time workers are included, it is at least 40 percent. The city lost 237,000 residents over the last 10-year census period and there are plans underway for the further downsizing of the public education system and the municipal workforce.
Yet there is no evidence whatsoever which suggests that the enactment of emergency management and right-to-work laws will re-build our cities, suburbs and rural areas, provide full-employment, guarantee healthcare and quality education and strengthen local control of governmental institutions.
The increased attacks on working families and the poor coincides with similar assaults on public-sector employees as a whole. Public-sector workers throughout the state are facing pay cuts and benefit reduction at best and lay-offs at worst.
People are still losing their homes at a phenomenal rate and the drastic reduction in public transportation is making it almost impossible for many workers to get to their jobs. On a national level, the Congressional sequester has impacted hundreds of thousands of federal employees and slashed programs that benefit public safety and education.
Overall in the United States the official poverty rate is now 15 percent which amounts to 44 million people or one out of seven. Other studies claim that nearly half of the population is now in poverty or near-poverty.
Wars and threats of war are continuing in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria, Iran, Palestine and Israel, Somalia, Korea, Colombia and other countries. The costs of U.S. involvement in these wars, now approaching $1 trillion annually, is continuing to negatively impact the social fabric of our cities and towns across the nation.
Consequently, MCHR will maintain its vigilance in providing a platform for people to speak out against all forms of inequality and human rights violations. Bringing together people from across the philosophical and religious spectrum is an important step in creating the just society under which we aspire to live.
Please continue to support MCHR and we urge everyone here to become of member of this important and relevant organization.
Note: This statement was published in the program book for the MCHR Annual Dinner held on April 7, 2013 at Marygrove College in Detroit.
No comments:
Post a Comment