Posted:
01/04/2013 2:57 pm
Marian
Wright EdelmanPresident, Children's Defense Fund
http://www.huffingtonpost.com
As New
Year’s Eve countdowns wound down, many people turned to the familiar ritual of
taking stock of where they are now to make resolutions for what they can do
better in the new year. We all measure our accomplishments and shortcomings in
different ways. Some people count numbers on a scale or in a savings account.
But what if we decided to take stock as a nation by measuring how we treat our
children?
If we did
that kind of countdown, we’d learn:
Every
second and a half during the school year a public school student receives an
out-of-school suspension.
Every 8
seconds during the school year a public high school student drops out.
Every 32
seconds a child is born into poverty in America
Every 47
seconds a child is abused or neglected.
Every 72
seconds a baby is born without health insurance.
Every 5 and
a half hours a child is killed by abuse or neglect.
A majority of
all American fourth and eighth grade public school students can’t read or do
math at grade level, including 76 percent or more of Black and Latino students.
Millions of
American children start school not ready to learn and millions more lack safe,
affordable, quality child care and early childhood education.
If we were
counting we’d see that millions of poor children are hungry, at risk of hunger,
living in worst case housing or are homeless in America
And we
would find a child or teen is killed by a firearm about every three hours and
15 minutes -- over seven every single day. The devastation at Sandy Hook put
the media spotlight on a tragedy that strikes families in communities across America
What do
these numbers tell us about who we are and who we hope to be? Why do we choose
to let children be the poorest age group in our rich nation and to let millions
of children suffer preventable sickness, neglect, abuse, miseducation, and
violence? Why do we continue to mock God’s call for justice for children and
the poor and our professed ideals of freedom and justice for all?
It’s time
for new resolutions backed by urgent and persistent action. In 2013 the United States celebrates the 150th anniversary
of the Emancipation Proclamation and the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington and of the Birmingham
Dr. King
said:
The
Declaration of Independence proclaimed to a world, organized politically and
spiritually around the concept of the inequality of man, that the dignity of
human personality was inherent in man as a living being. The Emancipation
Proclamation was the offspring of the Declaration of Independence America
He
concluded:
There is
but one way to commemorate the Emancipation Proclamation. That is to make its
declarations of freedom real; to reach back to the origins of our nation when
our message of equality electrified an unfree world, and reaffirm democracy by
deeds as bold and daring as the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation.
Let’s match
the history of this 2013 moment with bold and daring steps to close the gap
between what every child needs to grow to productive adulthood, what we know
works, and what we do to ensure their healthy development. It must begin with
safety from guns. If the child is safe all of us are safe.
Please sign
CDF's letter to the President and members of Congress demanding they
#ProtectChildrenNotGuns.
Follow
Marian Wright Edelman on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ChildDefender
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marian-wright-edelman/new-year-resolutions_b_2411265.html
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