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A Momentous Month 4 Children | June 2015
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Hate then Love
The unbearable hate murders of nine people at the historic Emmanuel AME Church in downtown Charleston, South Carolina on June 17 ripped a hole in our hearts. The events that followed, beginning with the amazing grace of the families left behind who expressed forgiveness to the shooter just two days later, showed all of us that love, not hate is the path forward to truly make the United States of America a more perfect union. If you have not seen President Obama’s eulogy for the Reverend Clementa Pinckney on Friday, June 26, we urge you to do so now.
Here
are excerpts from letters Reverend Pinckney’s daughters wrote for the funeral
program:
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To My Daddy:
When someone loves you they care
Even if they are not there
They motivate you two prosper and believe
In any of your dreams
They watch over you day and night …
I will always remember and love you.
- Eliana, age 11
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Dear Daddy:
I know you were shot at the Church
And you went to heaven.
I love you so much!
And I know you love me …
You will be in my heart. I love you!
Love, your baby girl and grasshopper.
- Malana, age 6
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Momentous Decisions for Children
“Congress passed the Affordable Care Act to improve health insurance
markets, not to destroy them.”
- Chief Justice John G. Roberts
Jr. wrote for the majority in King v.
Burwell
The month of June was
full of momentous decisions for children and families. Recent U.S. Supreme
Court decisions have made a huge difference for millions of children and
families in our nation; by affirming that Congress intended Affordable Care Act
tax subsidies to be available for all regardless of where they live; by finding
“disparate impact” a form of racial discrimination in enforcing the Fair
Housing Act; and finally by affirming marriage equality when we know children
thrive in loving families and in a country that values all lives equally.
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Marian Wright Edelman Response
“Today the U.S. Supreme Court
affirmed what we already knew to be true, Congress clearly intended to make tax
credits in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) available to everyone no matter where
they lived. Their decision is a huge relief to the millions of low-income and
middle-income Americans, including hundreds of thousands of children, who would
have lost health coverage secured under the Affordable Care Act if the Supreme
Court had ruled otherwise in King v. Burwell. Let’s now put aside politics and
work together to ensure the ACA truly works for all. Progress already has been
made, with the lowest level of uninsured adults and children on record. Let’s
continue until every child has a healthy start with access to quality,
affordable health care.”
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Marriage Equality
Justice Anthony Kennedy’s majority opinion on
marriage equality cited the special impact on children. He wrote, “Without the
recognition, stability and predictability marriage offers, their children
suffer the stigma of knowing their families are somehow lesser. They also
suffer the significant material costs of being raised by unmarried parents,
relegated through no fault of their own to a more difficult and uncertain
family life. The marriage laws at issue here thus harm and humiliate the
children of same-sex couples.”
We found Justice Anthony Kennedy’s final words about marriage and equality beautiful and deeply
moving. If you have not had a chance to read them, click here.
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California Expands Health Coverage
California’s
legislators and Governor Jerry Brown took the monumental step of expanding
health coverage to all low-income children regardless of immigration
status. As a result, all of California’s children will soon have access to
the health coverage they need to survive and thrive, including170,000
undocumented immigrant children in California next May. This will
improve their access to preventive care, boost school performance and set them
on a healthy path to reach their potential. CDF-California has been
advocating relentlessly for coverage for all children for more than a decade,
and we are thrilled that California now joins Massachusetts, New York,
Illinois, Washington, and the District of Columbia in providing health coverage
to undocumented children, bringing us one step closer to our goal of quality,
affordable health coverage for all children in America.
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Seeking Justice in Cleveland
Days before what
would have been Tamir Rice’s 13th birthday, Cleveland Municipal
Judge Ronald Adrine found probable cause to charge Officer Timothy Loehmann
with murder, reckless homicide and dereliction of duty, and Officer Frank
Garmback with negligent homicide and dereliction of duty in last year’s fatal
shooting of the 12-year-old. His decision was in response to a petition filed
under an obscure Ohio law by community leaders, activists, and Tamir Rice’s
teenage sister. One of the petitioners was CDF-Ohio’s Joe Worthy, National
Coordinator of Youth Leadership Development, who lives in Cleveland. He has
worked relentlessly with others for justice for Tamir and to build awareness of
the systemic discrimination against Black men and boys by Cleveland’s police
department. To date, a grand jury has been convened ... but the prosecutor has
still not filed charges against the officers.
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Calling the Faith Community
“How
long will prejudice blind the visions of men?” I come to say to you this
afternoon however difficult the moment, however frustrating the hour, it will
not be long, because truth pressed to earth will rise again. How long? Not
long, because no lie can live forever. ….How long? Not long. Because the arc of the moral
universe is long but it bends toward justice. – Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr. fifty years ago at the end of the march from Selma to
Montgomery
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If you have never attended the Children’s Defense Fund’s
Samuel DeWitt Proctor Institute for Child Advocacy Ministry, there is no more
urgent time to come than this year. In
the wake of the massacre at Mother Emmanuel A.M.E. Church, and the anguish of
Ferguson, Cleveland, New York and Baltimore we’ve heard the collective question, “How long will racial prejudice
blind our vision, how long until we affirm and act like precious Black lives
matter?” Fifty years after President Johnson’s War on Poverty, some of us are
asking “How long will it take?" How long
will it take until we end the child poverty that traps one in five children — one
in two Black babies and one in three Latino babies?
Now is the time to help
bend the arc toward God’s vision of justice for children, and that is the theme
at the Proctor Institute this year. Come to CDF Haley Farm July 20 – 24 to join
the Beloved Community, to hear great preaching and teaching, to sharpen your
skills in interactive workshops, to learn how we can end child poverty in this
rich nation and what your faith community can do. Register now.
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Major Milestone for CDF Freedom Schools® Program
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As this momentous month began, 2,000 servant leaders joined
us for CDF Freedom Schools national training at CDF Haley Farm to learn how to
deliver the integrated reading curriculum. This summer they are serving thousands of
children in more than 100 cities in more than half the states in our nation. An
extraordinary group of speakers came to inspire them and affirm the powerful,
important work of the CDF Freedom Schools
program. Speakers included legendary Civil Rights leaders C.T. Vivian and Bryan
Stevenson; La June Montgomery Tabron, president of the Kellogg Foundation; the
Obama Administration’s point person on Black male educational achievement,
David Johns; thought leaders and university professors Terrell Strayhorn, Sean
Joe, and Hassan Jeffries; and the creator of Moral Mondays, the Rev. William
Barber II. We celebrated our 20th anniversary at the opening night
plenary session by highlighting four former Ella Baker Trainers, dedicated
Servant Leader Interns selected to train those who follow in their
footsteps. Watch and be inspired by their stories and the CDF Freedom Schools movement that has
served more than 135,000 students in grades K-12 and trained more than 15,000
college students to teach and mentor them. Please support our work.
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College Choices
Thanks to your
support, the Children’s Defense Fund has offered Beat the Odds® college scholarships
and support for 25 years and helped change the outcomes for more than 800 outstanding
high school students who have overcome tremendous adversity, demonstrated
academic excellence and given back to their communities. Now that our most
recent awardees have made their final college decisions, we’re excited to share
their news with you! Congratulations to
them all.
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