#1
Posted: 5/10/06 at 10:51am
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060425/OPINION01/604250309/1008
Social Katrinas threaten to overwhelm society's under-funded levees
Paula Allen-Meares
General Motors Chief Executive Rick Wagoner is telling Detroit not to panic. No emergencies here. Sounds familiar doesn't it? There was no emergency in the evacuation of people from New Orleans' Ninth Ward either. Until suddenly, emergency turned into tragedy.
As we look across our country, how many more levees are straining to hold back disaster? How many social Katrinas threaten to overwhelm our neglected collective infrastructure?
One of our most neglected levees is the lack of economic diversity needed to sustain economic development beyond the Big Three automakers.
Another levee strained at its seams is public education. Have we really left no child behind?
When I think about the program that was to have helped poor children keep up, the image that comes to mind is a levee that appears solid enough, but has soft foundations and imperceptible cracks because someone decided to save money and didn't increase federal education spending as much as promised.
In both cases, scrimping on infrastructure is the opposite of social thriftiness.
Doesn't anyone in Washington remember her mother's saying "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure?" We all saw the misery that results when a levee gives way. Who will be the next victims of a problem ignored?
The faculty, staff and students at the University of Michigan School of Social Work act in collaboration with communities such as Detroit and Flint, cities with seriously neglected economic and institutional supports and disproportionate numbers of low-income people. Every day we see those who, although they have strengths and ambition, have been left behind and ignored.
It is with these community members we partner to identify and quantify the problems they face, and with whom we join in advocating for more efficient ways to repair breaches in their community levees.
We don't see or hear enough about these people, and yet you know they are there.
In the next disaster, I can tell you with certainty that the ignored, the invisible will be the highlight of that evening's CNN programming and you will be paying a cost of relief that will be much higher than an ounce of prevention. A natural catastrophe or a rampant epidemic will hit impoverished populations first, and much harder than it will hit others.
Any epidemiologist will tell you that the most serious threat to general public health is a virulent infection raging within the general population. In this case, the most dangerous infection is apathy.
So where's the panic? If we can't see the problems or acknowledge the problems, how can we worry?
The question should be: How can we relax when everything is not OK?
Ultimately, citizens must take action to promote equity and become a voice against neglect -- whether through grass roots activities, vocal support or opposition, or getting out to vote.
Now is the time for us to remember mother's maxim about an ounce of prevention. Better listen to our mothers than the mother of all disasters, like Hurricane Katrina.
Rick Wagoner is right about one thing: Now is not the time not to panic. Now is the time to act.
Paula Allen-Meares is dean and Norma Radin collegiate professor of social work at the University of Michigan School of Social Work and professor at the university's School of Education. Fax letters (313) 222-6417 or e-mail them to letters@detnews.com.
Social Katrinas threaten to overwhelm society's under-funded levees
Paula Allen-Meares
General Motors Chief Executive Rick Wagoner is telling Detroit not to panic. No emergencies here. Sounds familiar doesn't it? There was no emergency in the evacuation of people from New Orleans' Ninth Ward either. Until suddenly, emergency turned into tragedy.
As we look across our country, how many more levees are straining to hold back disaster? How many social Katrinas threaten to overwhelm our neglected collective infrastructure?
One of our most neglected levees is the lack of economic diversity needed to sustain economic development beyond the Big Three automakers.
Another levee strained at its seams is public education. Have we really left no child behind?
When I think about the program that was to have helped poor children keep up, the image that comes to mind is a levee that appears solid enough, but has soft foundations and imperceptible cracks because someone decided to save money and didn't increase federal education spending as much as promised.
In both cases, scrimping on infrastructure is the opposite of social thriftiness.
Doesn't anyone in Washington remember her mother's saying "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure?" We all saw the misery that results when a levee gives way. Who will be the next victims of a problem ignored?
The faculty, staff and students at the University of Michigan School of Social Work act in collaboration with communities such as Detroit and Flint, cities with seriously neglected economic and institutional supports and disproportionate numbers of low-income people. Every day we see those who, although they have strengths and ambition, have been left behind and ignored.
It is with these community members we partner to identify and quantify the problems they face, and with whom we join in advocating for more efficient ways to repair breaches in their community levees.
We don't see or hear enough about these people, and yet you know they are there.
In the next disaster, I can tell you with certainty that the ignored, the invisible will be the highlight of that evening's CNN programming and you will be paying a cost of relief that will be much higher than an ounce of prevention. A natural catastrophe or a rampant epidemic will hit impoverished populations first, and much harder than it will hit others.
Any epidemiologist will tell you that the most serious threat to general public health is a virulent infection raging within the general population. In this case, the most dangerous infection is apathy.
So where's the panic? If we can't see the problems or acknowledge the problems, how can we worry?
The question should be: How can we relax when everything is not OK?
Ultimately, citizens must take action to promote equity and become a voice against neglect -- whether through grass roots activities, vocal support or opposition, or getting out to vote.
Now is the time for us to remember mother's maxim about an ounce of prevention. Better listen to our mothers than the mother of all disasters, like Hurricane Katrina.
Rick Wagoner is right about one thing: Now is not the time not to panic. Now is the time to act.
Paula Allen-Meares is dean and Norma Radin collegiate professor of social work at the University of Michigan School of Social Work and professor at the university's School of Education. Fax letters (313) 222-6417 or e-mail them to letters@detnews.com.
