To Joe Biden , the next president of the United States of America
I witnessed police brutality while a student at UC Berkeley during the late 60’s and was also a victim, illegally shot by the police. Standing next to me, one of my friends was also hit, and spent 12 days in the hospital with a collapsed lung. When people asked me what the gunshot felt like, I would tell them to imagine being hit in the shoulder by a cattle prod attached to a sledge hammer. This is my unique perspective of the current protests.
Once elected, I urge you to take advantage of this heightened awareness to put into place a plan that will not just solve the apparent ‘policing’ problem, but get to the root causes of systemic poverty that breeds racial tensions. I originally wrote the attached “End Poverty in America” while Obama was running for president. Since then, I have continued to do research, and came to understand why nothing is being done—no political will because the poor had no political power, and, significantly, most folks do not really want change. Perhaps now they will.
What you need is this great goal: I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of providing a path for all Americans who are physically or cognitively able to earn their way out of poverty, and, once out of poverty, for all Americans to be able to stay out of poverty by their own individual effort.
With the current economic crisis, many more will understand that they did not choose to be suddenly poor. The way we get out of these crises is with work—work for our people and workers who can and want to do that work. The glue that holds those two together is education—educating all of our people, starting with pre-school through continuing adult education for displaced workers. Please, no more band-aid cures that become permanent, like Affirmative Action. Start at pre-school and prepare folks for future jobs, not just college.
Yes, ending poverty in America will be a very difficult set of tasks. Many have told me it is impossible, often invoking Jesus Christ: “the poor will always be with us”. Landing a man on the moon and then returning him safely to the Earth was also considered impossible not so long ago.
Will this be easy? No it will not. As Grant began his presidency, Southern whites were murdering the newly freed slaves without fear of retribution. From “Grant” by Ron Chernow: ‘As Walt Whitman noted, Grant had signed on for “a task of peace, more difficult than the war itself.”.’ Unfortunately, subsequent presidents did not share Grant’s zeal to protect, educate, and make contributing citizens of the Black population, resulting in many of the problems of today.
You and Barack Obama made good progress toward universal healthcare, also needed for ending poverty. Get elected, then get started on ending poverty in America—you will make history.
Sincerely yours,
<signed>
Donald E. Simpson
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