An official website of the Cuyahoga County government. Here’s how you know
FitzGerald Remarks to National Urban League Conference
Media contacts:
Rich Luchette, (216) 797-0931, rluchette@cuyahogacounty.us
CINCINNATI – Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald addressed political, business, and community leaders gathered in Cincinnati this afternoon for the 2014 National Urban League Conference. FitzGerald outlined his work as Executive of Ohio’s most populous county and articulated a clear vision for pursuing economic and political justice on behalf of all Ohioans.
FitzGerald’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, are embedded below.
3. And finally, we will never have the education reform and the economic reform that we so desperately need until we reform our electoral system. A system that is awash in corporate money is never going to reform itself. We have too many leaders in this state, and in Congress, and in the courts, who believe in giving corporations more and more political rights while taking away voting rights from the people at the same time. Corporations are not people, they never have been, and they never will be. Why are corporations getting more rights while actual human beings are getting fewer rights?
Rich Luchette, (216) 797-0931, rluchette@cuyahogacounty.us
CINCINNATI – Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald addressed political, business, and community leaders gathered in Cincinnati this afternoon for the 2014 National Urban League Conference. FitzGerald outlined his work as Executive of Ohio’s most populous county and articulated a clear vision for pursuing economic and political justice on behalf of all Ohioans.
FitzGerald’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, are embedded below.
Ed FitzGerald
National Urban League
July 24, 2014
Remarks as Prepared for Delivery
Thank you very much.
I want to thank Marc Morial for that warm introduction and for the strong leadership he has provided as the President and CEO of the National Urban League.
I am honored to be here today to welcome all of you to the Buckeye State, to celebrate the 50thanniversary of the Civil Rights Act, and to highlight the urgent challenges that remain here in Ohio and across the nation.
The 1964 Civil Rights Act was not the end of the story. The struggle for justice - economic and political - continues to the current day. Every generation must adopt that struggle as its own. And unfortunately, there are those that are not just apathetic to the challenges still facing our urban communities, there are some who are actively attempting to turn back the clock.
We must face reality. The aspirations of those who fought for civil rights in the 1960s have not been met. The evidence for that is all around us, and is visible for anyone who doesn't turn away from it.
Here in Ohio, the numbers are very troubling. 50% of the state is living paycheck to paycheck, but that number is even higher among African Americans. 10% of the state is only making a minimum wage, but that number is even higher among African Americans. Nationally, the high school dropout rate is going down, but in Ohio, it's going up, and it’s even higher among African Americans.
In Ohio, we are trailing the rest of the country in terms of recovering from the Great Recession, but it’s been even tougher on African Americans. There is an old saying that a rising tide lifts all boats, but in too many places in this country, the only boats that seem to be rising are yachts for millionaires, while most people are barely keeping their heads above water.
And it's not just economic inequality I am referring to. In the poorest neighborhoods of Cleveland, the life expectancy is 20 years less than in the wealthiest suburbs of Ohio. That is not a reality that is worthy of the 1964 Civil Rights Act or the people who fought for it.
Now, I know that this may seem grim, but the good news is, there are things that we can do, right now, to change course and build a more just society and start moving forward for everyone, young and old, black and white, urban and rural.
And we are only going to get there if everyone moves forward together.
Here are three things we can do right now:
1. Invest in education, from early childhood education to higher education. As a County Executive, I have invested more money, in quality pre-kindergarten education, because we have a gap between children who start first grade; some start with a 500-word vocabulary, and some start with a 5,000-word vocabulary, and that gap makes all the difference in the world. Quality, universal pre-kindergarten is the answer, and we need it in every single school district, across the state and the country.
We must create the expectation that a child needs more than a high school degree to make it in the economy today, and if that is not a college degree, then it should be vocational training. This year, my county became the first county in America to establish a college savings account for every single child who enters kindergarten. And that child can use that money for a two-year college, a four-year college, or for technical training. It sends children and their parents a powerful message early in their lives that we believe in their potential, and we will help them get there.
2. We must spur growth, but we must not accept a two-tiered economy. Our economic growth has been so slow in part because we aren’t investing in things like education, infrastructure, and public transportation. We won’t create a more just society if entire segments of our population are locked out of the growth which does occur. That's why, in my county, we didn't just form a diverse administration, we announced just a few weeks ago a partnership with the Small Business Administration and the Urban League and local lending institutions to make capital more available to small businesses in our urban core.
3. And finally, we will never have the education reform and the economic reform that we so desperately need until we reform our electoral system. A system that is awash in corporate money is never going to reform itself. We have too many leaders in this state, and in Congress, and in the courts, who believe in giving corporations more and more political rights while taking away voting rights from the people at the same time. Corporations are not people, they never have been, and they never will be. Why are corporations getting more rights while actual human beings are getting fewer rights?
The shameful nationwide attempt to suppress voting rights is going on right here in Ohio, supported by our Secretary of State and our Governor. That is a chapter of American history that I thought my four children would have to read about in a history book, but instead they can see it in the pages of the daily newspaper. I'm proud that my county has not once but twice joined the legal actions in Federal court in Ohio which has now repeatedly said that these voter suppression tactics are a violation of our rights.
But as shameful as those actions are, they are philosophically linked to one another. If you cut and defund public education, you are embracing one education system for the elite, and one for everyone else. If you don’t open up economic growth and business development, you are embracing one economy for the well off, and one for everyone else. And if you employ the tactics of voter suppression and place the political rights of corporations over human beings, you are creating a political system of two different sets of rules, one for insiders, and one for outsiders.
But if American history teaches us anything, it is that this battle isn't over yet. The first step is to uncover the truth, define the issues, and then mobilize to fight for what we believe in. And, ladies and gentlemen of the Urban League, for your role in doing just that, you have the gratitude of the people of Ohio. Thank you very much.
