1991_11 The Daily Collegian November 1991

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inion
The Daily Collegian • November 5,1991
V
The Daily Collegian
Editor in Chief
Jam BaUinger
Managing Editor
Shannon Wentworth
News Editor
Krista Lemos
Copy Editor
Debbie Richards
Graphics Editor
Claire Anselmo
Sports Editor
Lori Ash
Staff Writers
Lourie Armstrong, Heidi
Burkhardt, Stacey Dennehy,
Manny Fernandez, Aimee
Fisher, Tricia Geringer, Yu
Ting Huang, Michelle Martin,
Rente Ruelas, J. Scott Walker,
Kimberly Wright, Syed Zaheer
Sports Writers
Chris Cocoles, Dave Donnelly,
Dan Evans, Richard James
Staff Photographer
Angel de Jesus, Kyndra Gean
News Aide
Renee Ruelas
Columnists
Frank Aviles, Bruce Brenna,
Michael S. Handorf
Contributors
CatherineJiguet-Jiglaire, Hu
Sin, Erin Yasuda
ArtSpeak Editor
Jason Terada
Business Manager
Khalid Rashid
Advertising Manager
Brenda Marie Whitla
\  Advertising Production
Manager
Lance Jackson
Published since 1922
by
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Unsigned editorials are the
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'rank Pancho Aviles
Again I looked and saw all the
oppression
that was taking place under the
sun:
I saw the tears of the oppressed
and they have no comforter;
powerwason the side of the
oppressor
and they have no comforter.
And I declared that the dead,
who had already died,
are happier than the living,
who are still alive.
But better than both
is he who has not yet been,
who has not seen the evil
that is done under the sun.
Ecdesiastes 4:1-3
Well, I would like to welcome
the middle class to the world of
the poor. All these years
middle-class Americans thought
that minorities and poor whites
were screaming bloody murder
for nothing. I bet some of you
were even under the impression
that the 40 hour five day a week
work week, benefits, lunch and
brunch breaks, etc... were things
the system given you out of the
goodness of their hearts. I don't
think so.
Ifs been happening to us
forever and now ifs happening
to you:
Getting paid $8 an hour to
work 12-hour graveyard shifts
two days a week stretching
dough in a factory in Tulare,
$4.75 an hour in Selma as a part
time secretary (a position which
involves cleaning bathrooms,
mopping the floor, and cleaning
the windows), less than $5 an
hour to rake walnuts in Visalia
from 6 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday
through Saturday, $4.2£ an hour
flipping burgers at McDonalds
in Lindsay, less man $5 dollars
an hour to enter numbers in a
computer all day at the IRS in
Fresno, and $425 an hour to be
on our feet all day waiting tables
at a restaurant in Farmersville
while our children stay home
alone after school.
We work these kinds of
cheap paying jobs to survive
even though these agencies don't
provide us or our families with
health or dental insurance, or
daycare or paid vacations. We
work these jobs even though our
income makes it impossible for    ,
us to afford decent housing and
cars or car insurance. Wc work
these jobs even though it means
we have to eat potatoes and rice
instead of steak.
And now, since the middle
class, most of whom are white,
have to endure these injustices
our country is starting to address
this issue.
According to the Oct. 27 issue
of The Fresno Bee in an article
entitled, "Middle Class is
Squeezed as Rich get Richer and
Poor Poorer," middle class
Americans are being forced to
move from jobs that once paid
$15 an hour into jobs that now
pay $7 an hour. They are also
victims of mass layoffs, produc¬
tion halts, and bankrupt facto¬
ries. Meanwhile, "life for the
working class is deteriorating  .
and those at the bottom are
trapped." Despite these trage¬
dies the rich continue to get
richer.
In fact, according to The
Fresno Bee ,between 1980 and
1989 there was a 2,184 percent
(two thousand one hundred and
eighty four percent) increase in
salaries of people earning more
man $1 million while almost half
of those Americans "who did
file" income tax returns in 1989
showed earnings less than
20,000. ^
And why should you be
concerned? Because the US.
government is lying to you and
you're lapping it up. Although
you, the "middle class," have
evolved into the working class
(the poor), you're still being
called middle class. As long as
you believe4hat you're not at
the bottom of the economic
barrel, you will continue to buy
into the American Dream. You
will continue to believe that
you or yovr future family can
go to college, get a degree and
make it The American Dream
has and always will be an
illusion. Ifs time to stop
following with blind faith and
to start looking at the facts. The
US. government only cares
about the rich
For example, within the past
few years our government
policies have allowed many
large businesses and corpora¬
tions to take out huge loans.
And while these corporations
were incurring large debt from
the loans, our government
failed to make any effective tax
law revisions that would
directly affect the rich (the
people that own and operate
huge corporations).
Yet, within the past five
years America the Beautiful did
manage to create a tax system
that emptied the pockets of
middle class and the poor while
it gave millionaires a 53 percent
tax cut
Many of these companies
and corporations accrued so
much debt that they are now
filing bankruptcy, henceforth,
eliminating millions of middle-
income jobs.
Some companies are also
moving out of the country to
cheaper resources. For example,
Magne Tek Inc. moved part of
its manufacturing operation to
Mexico, where the wages were
set less than $130 an hour
without benefits.
Unfortunately, despite these
facts, ex-middle class Ameri¬
cans continue to believe in the
American Dream blind to the im¬
possibility of their ever being able
to live at a higher standard than
that of their parents and continu¬
ing to believe that things can be
changed through voting.
Minorities and low-income
whites have constantly been told
by the middle class to "vote" if
they want change. We've been
voting for many years and our
conditions haven't changed. The
only time things change is when
we're on the front steps of the
Capital waiving signs and
screaming for justice. Anyway,
you're a fool if you think voting
will change class ism.
Well, now that you all and
your parents are joining the ranks
of the working class (and we're
joining the ranks of the homeless),
maybe you need to reassess how
you feel about "change."
Maybe, you all aren't going to
be too happy working full or part-
time jobs for slave wages with
little or no benefits all your life or
using food stamps to pay for your
rice and potatoes or waiting in
long degrading lines to beg for
simple everyday necessities.
Maybe, like Chicanos, Native
Americans, and African Ameri¬
cans, you all need to start
organizing because those millions
of middle-income jobs that were
eliminated aren't coming back.
Maybe you all need to exalt
the poor.
You all need to remove the
powerful from their thrones.
Mr. Aviles is a columnist for The
Daify Collegian.
Correction
A letter to the editor by Zane
Griggs in Friday's edition of
The Daily Collegian mis¬
quoted the last sentence of
his original statement
Griggs' letter should have
read "WHITEY IS HOMEr
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