Boston Fund Our Future Speakout Draws Enthusiastic Crowd
Over 200 people attended a Boston community speakout tonight to talk about the impact of a third year of state budget cutbacks on education, health care, elder services, teen jobs and other programs.
Over 20 community leaders addressed the crowd, explaining why their programs are important and why the community depends on them. They included Floyd Hardwick of Mass. Senior Action; Brandon Abbs of People of Boston for a Better Library; Roxanne Reddington-Wilde of Boston ABCD; Carmen Torres of the Boston Arts Academy; Tina Searcy of 1999 SEIU; Carmelle Bonhometre of the Association of Haitian Women of Boston; Maude Hurd, president of New England United for Justice; Shauna Manning of the Classified Staff Union-MTA at UMass Boston, and several others. Cheryl Crawford of MassVote was the emcee.
Yawu Miller of ONE Massachusetts introduced the event with a presentation of the facts behind the state budget crisis. He made the point that affluent taxpayers pay a smaller share of their income in Massachusetts state and local taxes than do the poor and middle income.
The event promoted "An Act to Invest in Our Communities", sponsored by State Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz, which would raise $1.2 billion to plug the state's budget gap by taxing those who can best afford to pay -- those making $100,000 a year and over. In her remarks, Chang-Diaz urged the participating organizations to keep working together. If each constituency advocates only for its own programs, the Legislature plays them against each other.
State Rep. Liz Malia, City Councilors Charles Yancey, and Councilor-elect Tito Jackson were among the elected officials who addressed the meeting.
In a grand finale, members of Boston Coalition to Fund Our Communities - Cut Military Spending 25% unfurled a room-sized bar graph showing that most of the Federal government's discretionary income is spent on the military. In the photo, the yellow and purple banner represents the amount spent on health and education, while the black (which extended much farther than shown in the photo, beyond the end of the room) represent the dollars spent on the military.
Daryl Wright of the Boston Coalition stated that just half the cost of one of the F-35 fighter planes now flying over Libya would cover the entire Boston school department budget gap for this year. Just one hour of the Afghanistan war would fully fund the Boston youth jobs program for one summer.
The event was sponsored by New England United for Justice, ONE Massachusetts, the Boston Coalition, and Dorchester People for Peace.
This article was simultaneously published at the United for Justice with Peace website athttp://justicewithpeace.org/node/2520/. Check it out for photos and links to participating organizations.
Cole Harrison is a member of United for Justice with Peace.
