Bushes In The Hood: W Fights Gangs With Budget Cuts And Photo Ops

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Wed, 06 Apr 2005 11:32:59 -0700

Bushes In The Hood: W Fights Gangs With Budget Cuts And Photo

Ops 4-6-05

 

 

" Arianna Huffington " <arianna

 

BUSHES IN THE HOOD: W FIGHTS GANGS WITH BUDGET CUTS AND PHOTO OPS

 

By Arianna Huffington

 

Over the next week or so, House and Senate negotiators will try to

hammer out the differences in their competing budgets. Among the major

bones of contention: disagreements over how deeply to cut Medicaid;

whether to make President Bush's expiring first-term tax cuts

permanent; and whether to go along with the president's proposal to

slash funding for a wide range of programs related to homeland security.

 

No, President Bush is not gutting the Department of Homeland Security.

The problem is Bush's definition of homeland security. Apparently, it

doesn't include things like the safety of our streets. Especially the

streets of our inner cities, which have become war zones.

 

After plummeting during the 1990s, gang violence is making a bloody

comeback all across America, with gang-related homicides up 50 percent

since 1999. According to Justice Department estimates, there are about

21,500 gangs nationwide with over 730,000 members. And these gangs are

no longer confined to Los Angeles and New York. Cities like Denver,

Portland, Salt Lake City and Tulsa have all seen dramatic surges in

gang-related criminal activity.

 

And how has our tough-on-security president responded? By proposing to

cut close to a billion dollars from programs designed to help

anti-gang efforts. His 2006 budget would cut more than $412 million

from education, after-school and family-support programs that help

keep at-risk kids away from gangs. It would eliminate Juvenile

Accountability Block Grants ($54 million worth) designed to help

prosecutors deal with gang issues. It would also reduce funding for

the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program by 95 percent,

which could result in as many as 88,000 fewer police officers

patrolling America's mean streets. And these proposed cuts come on top

of a 44 percent reduction in delinquency-fighting and anti-gang

funding since 2002.

 

" The federal budget is more than mere numbers, it is an accounting of

our country's priorities, " says Seattle Chief of Police Gil

Kerlikowske, chairman of Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, a bipartisan

anti-crime organization of over 2,000 police chiefs, sheriffs,

prosecutors and crime victims. " The president's budget just doesn't

add up for children and instead makes the wrong choices on crime

prevention. "

 

But wait, could this possibly be the same president who during his

State of the Union address so preeningly patted himself on the back

for his commitment to dealing with gang violence?

 

Of course. It's the kind of political sleight of hand his presidency

is built on. First, Bush earned PR points for earmarking $50 million a

year for the next three years to a new, still-to-be-defined anti-gang

initiative, then turned around and submitted a budget that cuts nearly

20 times that much from programs already proven effective in keeping

young people out of gangs. Not exactly a fair tradeoff for America's

at-risk kids.

 

Oh, and here's the kicker: The new initiative is to be overseen by

First Lady Laura Bush. I don't know about you, but the idea of Laura

the Librarian bringing the Crips, the Bloods and MS-13 to their knees

doesn't exactly make me feel any safer.

 

The First Lady's new role as gang czar seems like another Mission to

Mars in the making--a highly touted project long on potential photo

ops and woefully short on specifics. Here's what we do know about Mrs.

Bush's feel-good initiative: The program won't be administered through

the law enforcement professionals at the Justice Department. Instead,

the limited dollars will be funneled through the president's

compassion fund and doled out to his favored faith-based groups. Who

knows, maybe they'll serve up the gang prevention entree with a side

order of moral values. I can hear the ad campaign now: " Just Say No .

.. . To Drive-Bys and Turf Wars. And Premarital Sex, While You're At It. "

 

President Bush and his Republican buddies are quick to talk tough on

issues of law and order and just as quick to cut the kinds of proven

programs that help alleviate the social disorder that so often leads

to criminal activity. There seems to be plenty of money for new cops

to patrol the streets of Baghdad, but very little for those protecting

America's inner cities. Indeed, the $150 million Bush has pledged to

spend on his national anti-violence proposal over the next three years

is about what we're spending in Iraq--every single day.

 

What is it going to take before the president gets serious about

protecting America's inner cities? Maybe community leaders can hire

Ahmed Chalabi to tell the CIA that the Crips and the Bloods are

looking to get their hands on some WMDs. What's a little faulty intel

among homies? Hey, Porter Goss, I smell a Medal of Freedom.

 

© 2005 ARIANNA HUFFINGTON.

DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.