annarino writes

Playing with Austerity? By Louise Annarino, 3-3-2013

In 1964 the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) was created by Sargent Shriver and William Mullins to implement President Johnson’s War on Poverty  and lay the basis for his Great Society. Many of the programs initiated under the OEO continue underfunded and under constant attack within HHS.

In March,1968, Martin Luther King,Jr. was assassinated and African-Americans living in  segregated enclaves within large urban areas erupted in grief and anger. But not in Indianapolis where then-presidential candidate Senator Robert F. Kennedy spoke to the crowd gathered to hear a campaign speech. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCrx_u3825g

Senator Kennedy announced the assassination and then identified with the pain,grief and vengeful feelings likely to be felt, having experienced  the assassination of his own brother. He called for love,wisdom,compassion and justice for those who still suffer in our country. He acknowledged that most people Black and white “want to live together and improve the quality of life,and provide justice for all human beings who abide in our land.”

Shortly after the assassination, the OEO created a pilot project to establish summer recreation programs for children in poor urban neighborhoods.  The Salvation Army agreed to pay the $40 per week salary of recreation leaders for each of four anticipated programs in my small town. We four were 18 year old freshmen at OSU Newark. I was assigned to the near East-End African-American community, where the Reverend Charles Noble,Sr., pastor of the Shiloh Baptist Church had agreed to allow us to use a vacant lot across the street from the church. After weeks of meeting to figure out what we do and how we would do it with no firm plans in place I had had enough. It was already May and children would soon be out of school but we had nothing to show for all of our meetings but serious frustration. I announced I would not be attending the next meeting.Instead I could be found in my assigned neighborhood should I be needed.

I first introduced myself to Rev. Noble who could not have been more displeased to see a naive young white woman coming into the community with nothing to offer. I was equally dismayed at the lot I was to use. It was huge and covered with rocks,not gravel, interspersed with rusty cans,broken bottles, and gross detritus best unnamed. Next,I walked door-to-door introducing myself to the parents and aunties,asking what they wanted to see happen on the lot,and what type of program would be most helpful. The answer: a playground for the younger kids, a basketball court for the older boys and young men,horse shoe pits and picnic tables for the community-at-large. I had no budget.

I did have S&H green stamps earned at the local A&P. I called the number on the back of the folder where Mom pasted stamps to ask how many stamps would be needed to earn swings, a merry-go-round, teeter-totters,and monkey bars. They laughed but after a few minutes of discussion decided they could help and would provide those items if I delivered several thousand coupon books to the local A&P for redemption. When I asked my uncle how to make a horse shoe pit,sand boxes, and picnic tables he said “leave it to me. The guys at the missile plant can build them for you.” And they did. But, I needed sand. So, I called a Newark sand and gravel company agreed to supply the sand for the sand boxes and horse shoe pits if I could find a truck to pick it up. A Newark truck company agreed to do so. A Newark fence company agreed to install a chain link fence around the entire perimeter. The Newark asphalt company agreed to pour a basketball court and the Newark High School basketball coaches agreed to paint  the lines and install the hoops at regulation height.

The community collected every green stamp they could find and within a few days our playground equipment was on-order. Within three weeks,we had a fully functioning playground. Needing playground equipment:basketball,footballs,bats and balls,hula hoops,jump ropes etc. I played a game with two local stores. Sears agreed to match J.C. Penney’s donation of toys and raise the amount; Penneys agreed to match Sears and raise it. The Farm Store donated the shed to store all our equipment. Soon more than 200 children were regulars. Older sisters and brothers bringing little ones,even infants in strollers while their mothers worked. After the factories let out, the young men came by to shoot hoops.  When I invited the A&P manager to see what they had helped accomplishment I asked if he could help with a hunger issue I had noted. A&P provided cereal,milk and fruit each morning for every child,with hot dogs and chips on friday afternoons. My girl friends’ mothers rotated baking and delivery of cookies each afternoon.

The local gang provided security. We never had a theft,graffiti art,nor vandalism on our playground. The gang leader became our martial arts trainer, and at my insistence, learned the Queensberry rules to ref boxing matches we held using my dad’s old boxing gloves. Rev. Noble visited,his eyes narrowed, taking it all in, making a brief nod my direction before returning to the church. I let out my breath!

The Army,Navy,and Airforce recruiters provided drivers and buses for field trips.

A month after the playground was completed I was fired for failing to attend meetings and immediately reinstated once the OEO regional organizer finally paid the visit I had asked for weeks earlier. Mine was the only recreation program to be implemented in our town that summer.

Why am I writing about this today? Because the republican view of private enterprise, and the democratic view of government investments as engines for productive growth are both correct. There is a place for each. Without the OEO and its efforts there would have been no playground. Without the private donations there would have been no playground. Without the Salvation Army paying my salary,and Rev. Noble’s donation of land there would have been no playground. Without the volunteer efforts and donations from so many local businesses, there would have been no playground. It took all of us working together. It took INVESTMENT of time and money, public tax dollars and private funds. A balance of government and private investment built that playground.

What is NOT acceptable is an economic development viewpoint that austerity can build a new America. It can’t build a playground,nor a country! When President Obama talks about balance,calls for increased revenue and sensible cuts to programs which don’t work, he is absolutely right. to do so. Like me, he was once a community organizer.He knows how to get things done,how to get this country moving. He is doing so despite great odds. His Organizing For Action group is the embodiment of community organization. You can get involved by clicking https://my.barackobama.com/page/s/organizing-for-action.

Cutting taxes for the wealthy does not create growth. It merely creates more wealth for the already wealthy. Working men and women, built our playground. There were no wealthy donors standing in line to build a playground for poor kids. We need tax revenue to build a nation,a nation made up of local communities and neighborhoods like the east-end of Newark. We need government involvement to stimulate people and small businesses in those communities to help rebuild the infrastructure and programs which will “improve the quality of life,and provide justice for all human beings who abide in our land,” a goal that both Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King,Jr. sought to achieve. Austerity is the function of dying. If you have watched a love one die,you know exactly what I mean. I want America to live and grow.