Sharpton focuses locally and internationally

 At National Action Network's last Saturday Morning Action Rally held at the Metropolitan Community United Methodist Church, presidential candidate Al Sharpton addressed issues of national concern but showed he's still keenly aware of local issues as well.

He began by speaking about George Bush's announcement that he's going to provide universal health care to children in Iraq. Rev. Sharpton made it clear that he supports Iraqi children receiving universal health care, but his question is, "What about the children of Chicago and Los Angeles?"

He went on to make this important point: "The contradiction is that if you call for universal health care in this country, they say you're talking socialism. But if Bush calls for universal health care in Iraq, he's talking patriotism and democracy. It is just as patriotic," he added, "to give universal health care to folks in this country as it is to take their money and give health care abroad."

Sharpton also commented on the multi-billion dollar contracts to reconstruct Iraq that this government is handing out to major corporations aligned with the administration.

Now, the usual process for awarding government contracts is an open bidding process in which anyone can bid. The winning bid is the one based on competitive pricing as well as the quality and reliability of the company. But this was not the method used in bidding for this, the largest "nation building" effort since the Marshall Plan that followed World War II. In this case only a handful of companies, Halliburton, Bechtel, the Fluor, Parsons and the Washington Group, were solicited to place bids. And - you guessed it - what they all have in common is that they are politically well connected and/or have given huge contributions to the Republican Party. Halliburton, for instance, was formerly headed by Vice President Dick Cheney, and Bechtel's board of directors includes former secretary of state George Schulz and Caspar Weinberger.

Rev. Sharpton told of speaking in Houston, Texas at the National Conference of Black Mayors where he said that if any one of them had given someone associated with them or their administration limited-bid contracts like these they would have been indicted and put in jail. "There's no way that any mayor could have gotten away with the bidding process that the Bush administration just got away with on the occupation and redevelopment monies geared toward Iraq," he declared. "The method is ridiculous, unethical and possibly illegal, and it needs to be challenged at every level of government."

Sharpton then turned his attention to some matters that hit very close to home, including issues facing the mostly Black and brown students attending the City University of New York (CUNY). He spoke of the ongoing court action against Miguel Malo, Student Senate president at Hostos Community College in the Bronx, who was arrested in August of 2001 for the "crime" of holding up a sign at a protest against cuts in Spanish and bilingual programs. While charges were dropped against all others arrested that day, CUNY has continued to press charges against Malo, clearly trying to send a message of intimidation to students, having them know they'd better toe the mark or else.

"I think this is a case that speaks directly to the increasing curbing of civil liberties and freedom of speech for Americans," Sharpton commented. "It may start at Hostos but if they get away with this, it will continue on to every community group, movement and church. We can't sit by and allow a legal precedent to be set that will come to haunt all of us."

Rev. Sharpton also spoke about the efforts throughout the CUNY system to keep students from protesting the tuition hikes, even though these increases are the kiss of death to the educational aspirations of many youth of color. He stated, "We preach to these students about doing the right thing, but here they are, trying to better themselves through education and you raise the cost of tuition above their ability to pay. If these students were in the street doing wrong they would be told to go get an education. But when they try to get an education, they're criminalized for expressing their constitutional rights."