To build One America, Edwards will create good jobs, guarantee universal health care and reform the criminal justice system

Columbia, South Carolina – Key African-American supporters held a conference call today to discuss Senator Edwards' "Plan for Opportunity for All Americans," which includes proposals for creating good jobs, guaranteeing universal health care and reforming the criminal justice system. As someone who grew up in the segregated South, Senator Edwards feels a special responsibility on the issue of race in America and has made equality of opportunity the central tenet of his campaign.

"Too many Americans are separated from the opportunities of our country," said Texas State Representative Garnet Coleman. "Senator Edwards has dedicated his life to building One America, where every person has the same opportunities to work hard and get ahead."

"Senator Edwards has laid out detailed plans to strengthen African-American communities and all communities by expanding the middle class and ending poverty in America," said Tyrone Freeman, president of SEIU United Long Term Care Workers West. "If we work together, I have faith we'll be able to lift up families and make a real difference in people's lives."

The African-American leaders who participated in the call included: Texas State Representative Garnet F. Coleman, member of Texas House of Representatives Democratic Leadership, chair of the Legislative Study Group, immediate past chair of the Texas Legislative Black Caucus; Missouri State Representative Connie Johnson, Minority Whip; SEIU United Long Term Care Workers West president Tyrone Freeman; John Edwards for President campaign advisor and South Carolina State Representative Leon Howard, chair of the black caucus; South Carolina State Representative Bill Clyburn; City Council Member Beverly Clyburn, Aiken, South Carolina; City Council Member Linda Dogan, Spartanburg, South Carolina; and Dr. James Blassingame, Vice President, National Baptist Convention.

To build One America and make sure everyone has the same chances that America has given to him, Senator Edwards has called a "Plan for Opportunity for All Americans." This plan includes proposals for guaranteeing universal health care, ending the disgrace of two criminal justice systems, ending poverty in America, strengthening schools so every child can succeed, creating safe and affordable housing, protecting the right to vote, and enforcing civil rights laws.

For more information on Edwards' plan, please see the policy paper included below.

Building One America: A Plan for Opportunity for All Americans

"I believe that everyone in America – regardless of the family you were born into, the color of your skin or the country your family came from – should have an equal chance to build a better life." – John Edwards

There are still Two Americas—one favored and the other forgotten. While they are not defined by race, the Two Americas have a disproportionate impact on people of color and in many ways reflect the tragic history of race in this country. The hateful legacy of racism – slavery, segregation, and then discrimination – continues to be felt in every single part of American life. For example, the economic impact is apparent in the racial wealth gap: African Americans have less than a dime in assets for every dollar that white families have. Current economic policies have Americans growing apart: between 2001 and 2005, the top 1 percent of households gained $268 billion of total income and the bottom 90 percent lost $272 billion ($2,071 per household). [Demos, 2006; EPI, 2007]

As someone who grew up in the segregated South, John Edwards feels a special responsibility on the issue of race in America and has made equality of opportunity the central tenet of his campaign. To build One America and make sure everyone has the same chances that America has given to him, he supports:

Guaranteeing Health Care for Every American: Forty-seven million Americans – including one out of five African Americans – don't have health insurance. Families with insurance struggle to pay skyrocketing premiums and co-payments. Edwards is the only major candidate with a specific plan for truly universal health care that takes on the insurance and drug companies and provides better care at a lower cost. He will address shameful racial and ethnic health disparities with new research, preventive care without co-payments, pro-active treatment for chronic diseases and increased diversity among health care professionals. [Census Bureau, 2007]

Strengthening Schools So Every Child Can Succeed: More than 50 years after Brown v. Board of Education, our education system remains shockingly unequal. In some areas, African-American students have only about a 50 percent chance of graduating from high school. States spend $900 less per student in their most diverse school districts. Edwards will invest in teacher pay and training to attract teachers where we need them most; reduce class sizes; create second-chance schools and take other steps to help dropouts get back on track; expand preschool; and strengthen high school curriculum. Edwards has also proposed providing new federal resources to promote economic diversity in schools, while supporting additional steps to promote racial integration as well. He will also make college more affordable through his College for Everyone program that will pay the first year of public-college tuition, books and fees for students willing to work part-time and stay out of trouble. [Urban Institute, 2004; Weiner & Pristoop, 2006]

Ending the Disgrace of Two Criminal Justice Systems: Our prison population has increased more than tenfold in the course of a single generation, with a disproportionate impact on African-American communities. Edwards will reform sentencing rules to address the disparity in punishments for crimes involving crack and powder cocaine and limit mandatory minimum sentences for first-time, non-violent offenses. Edwards supports alternatives to incarceration – such as drug courts – for first-time, non-violent offenders as well as re-entry programs that include drug treatment, literacy education and training to help ex-offenders get back on their feet.

Creating Safe and Affordable Housing: More new jobs have been created in the suburbs, outside the inner cities where many African-Americans live and beyond the reach of mass transit. African-Americans have the lowest homeownership rate in the country. Predatory lenders have targeted African-American homeowners. Edwards will promote economically integrated neighborhoods, enforce fair housing laws, encourage more affordable housing, create more than 1 million new housing vouchers and crack down on the scourge of predatory mortgage lending.

Protecting the Right to Vote: Forty years after the Voting Rights Act, we still have more work to do to ensure a meaningful right to vote for every American regardless of their skin color. Edwards will restore the right to vote in all federal elections to ex-offenders who have served their sentences. Edwards supports secure and accessible voting ballots for all voting machines. Edwards believes we should allow voters to register on Election Day, ending the fiasco of purge lists, provisional ballots and voter registration intimidation, and he opposes voter photo identification legislation, which disproportionately disenfranchises racial and ethnic minorities.

Ending Poverty in America: Every day, 37 million Americans wake up in poverty, including one out of every four African Americans. Edwards has set a goal of eliminating poverty within a generation by strengthening families, helping workers save and get ahead, reaching overlooked rural areas, and expecting people to help themselves by working whenever they are able. To reward work, he will create 1 million stepping stone jobs, raise the minimum wage to $9.50 by 2012, expand the earned income tax credit and strengthen labor laws to make it easier for workers to join a union. He will also help working families build wealth by matching their savings through Work Bonds and Get Ahead tax credits and taking on abusive lenders. [Census Bureau, 2006]

Helping Small Businesses: Entrepreneurship has always given minority communities a toehold in the American economy. Edwards will increase federal contracting opportunities for minority-owned small business and use the power of the federal government to help small business. To help businesses offering health care, the Edwards health care plan will eliminate at least $130 billion a year in wasteful health care spending and reduce the cost of a typical family policy by $2000 to $2500 a year. And new Health Care Markets will bring down costs for small businesses through negotiating power and administrative efficiencies, making it easier for them to care for their employees.

Environmental Justice: The devastation of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita – and their disparate impact on African-American communities living in the low-lying neighborhoods of the Gulf – is perhaps the most vivid example of why environmental justice is a matter of life and death. Proximity to toxic wastes is correlated more closely with race than with any other factor. Pollution and brownfields are concentrated in low-income neighborhoods where big corporations think that the people will not fight back. To give communities the tools to defend their rights, we must maintain access to the courts and disclose the risks of plants. African-Americans have high rates of environmental-related illnesses, like asthma and lung cancer, because nearly three-quarters live in areas in violation of Clean Air Act standards. We must enforce the Clean Air Act strongly across the country. John Edwards is committed to equal justice for all Americans, and that includes environmental justice. [Mohai, 2007; Lowery et al., 2002 ]

Enforcing Civil Rights Laws: Our laws are only as good as the men and women who enforce and interpret them. In many cases, President Bush's key agency appointees and judicial nominees have had questionable commitments to equality under law. Edwards is committed to strengthening the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, choosing judges who are committed to protecting civil rights, not undermining them, and appointing officials who vigorously enforce our civil rights laws.

Closing the Digital Divide: Forty percent of African Americans don't have access to the Internet. African-American children are about 35 percent less likely to have a computer and Internet at home than white children. As president, Edwards will establish a national broadband policy with a goal of giving all U.S. homes and businesses affordable access to real high-speed internet by 2010 and prohibit telephone and cable companies from discriminating against rural or low-income communities in building their networks.

"Every American deserves the right to live without fear of physical violence -- law enforcement should have all the resources and tools it needs to protect every community in America. I have long supported strengthening our hate crimes laws to show that Americans will not tolerate or condone hateful violence of any kind.

"With 25 hate crimes committed every day by the FBI's count -- one every hour -- it is embarrassing that the White House says stronger law enforcement tools are 'unnecessary.' Nine years after the heinous murders of Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr., these tools are more necessary than ever."

"Half a century ago, the Little Rock Nine walked passed angry mobs and inspired the nation with their grace and strength. This anniversary reminds us both of their heroism and of the staggering amount of work we still have to do in this country. We still have two school systems – no longer legally but economically and racially. While our nation has made great progress, the quality of our children's education still depends far too much on the parents to which they are born. We cannot go on this way if we hope to build One America where everyone has an equal chance to succeed. It is our obligation to put an end to this inequality.

"We must also recognize that one of the barriers to truly integrated schools is a lack of income diversity. As president, I'll give bonuses to schools in affluent areas that enroll more low-income students and I'll create more magnet schools in low-income areas. Finally, I'll offer 1 million more housing vouchers for low-income families over the next five years, so families can choose to live in neighborhoods with good schools.

"We must never forget what the achievements of all of our Civil Rights pioneers contributed to America. We would best honor their courage today by recommitting ourselves to giving every single child the opportunity to go as far as their dreams and God-given potential will take them."

"As someone who grew up in the segregated South, I feel a special responsibility to speak out on racial intolerance. To measure our progress in the fight against racism, today our nation looks to Jena, Louisiana. Americans of all races are traveling to Jena because they believe that how we respond to the racial tensions in Jena says everything about who we are as a nation.

"When a 'white tree' stands outside a public school, marking a place where white students sit but black students are not welcome, there is something so wrong that the right words are hard to find. When children have learned to intimidate each other with age-old, hateful symbols of racial terror, we are reminded that we cannot take progress for granted. And we must turn to the larger truth: that we still have two criminal justice systems in this country – largely defined by race and class.

"Fortunately, we also still have in this country the desire for racial justice, understanding and tolerance. I am hopeful that justice will be served, these young Americans can look to the future, and the community of Jena will find peace."

CAPTIONS:

"I am so grateful to have the support of these friends and colleagues who share my commitment to addressing the critical issues facing our communities," said Edwards. "Working together, we can lift up families and make a real difference in people's lives—strengthening our schools, guaranteeing quality, affordable health care and making sure workers are paid fairly."

Today, too many Americans are separated from the opportunities of our country. Edwards has dedicated his life to building One America, where every person—regardless of race, gender or income—has the same opportunities to work hard and get ahead. He has laid out detailed plans to strengthen African American communities and all communities by expanding the middle class and ending poverty in America, protecting workers' rights, providing universal health care, and making college available and affordable for more young people.

In addition to laying out bold plans to bridge the gap between the Two Americas that exist today, Edwards has called on the American people to take action to transform our communities. In the past few years, Edwards has worked to raise the minimum wage in six states, walked picket lines to support workers' right to organize and led service projects to help rebuild the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina.

"I have known John for years and have not hesitated to support him," said Julius Chambers, the campaign's Treasurer, Director of the University of North Carolina Center for Civil Rights and former Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. "His commitment to helping those in need, whether they are Hurricane Katrina survivors or standing with workers fighting for a union in a North Carolina meat processing plant."

The list of supporters includes:

Congressional Supporters

• U.S. Representative Mel Watt (NC), Former Congressional Black Caucus Chair
• U.S. Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson (TX), Former Congressional Black Caucus Chair
• U.S. Representative G.K. Butterfield (NC), Chief Deputy Whip
• Former U.S. Representative Eva Clayton (NC)

State Representatives, Civil Rights Leaders, Community Activists

• South Carolina State Representative Bill Clyburn
• Actor and Human Rights Activist Danny Glover
• Former Indiana State Democratic Chair and former DNC Robin Winston
• NAACP National Board Member and former North Carolina NAACP State President Melvin "Skip" Alston
• Louisiana Civil Rights Activist Kwame Asante
• Mississippi Civil Rights Activist Derrick Johnson
• Former Virginia NAACP State President Emmitt Carlton
• Former North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Henry Frye
• North Carolina Community Activist Shirley P. Frye
• Missouri Minority Whip State Representative Connie Johnson
• Georgia State Representative Wade Starr
• University of North Carolina Board of Governors Member Steve Bowden
• Oregon State Senate President Pro Tem Margaret Carter
• North Carolina Fair Housing Center Executive Director Stella Adams
• Georgia Senate Democratic Leader Robert Brown
• South Carolina State Representative Lonnie Hosey
• Civil Rights Leader Julius Chambers (NC), John Edwards for President campaign Treasurer, Director of the UNC Center for Civil Rights and former Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund
• South Carolina State Representative Chris Hart
• Georgia State Senator Valencia Seay
• Former North Carolina DNC Member Ed Smith
• Des Moines Iowa Union Activist John Campbell
• Texas Community Activist June Deadrick
• Arizona Legislative Black Caucus Chair State Senator Leah Landrum-Taylor
• North Carolina State Representative Earl Jones
• L.A. City Councilman/ Former California Assembly Speaker Herb Wesson
• Chair of Maryland Assembly Ways and Means Subcommittee State Delegate Frank Turner
• Former Ohio Senate Democratic Leader C.J. Prentiss
• Chair of the Texas Legislative Study Group and former Chair of the Texas Legislative Black Caucus State Representative Garnet Coleman
• Lathrup Village Council Member Kyrian Nwagwu (MI)
• Warterloo Iowa Community Activists Russ and Joy Lowe
• Former Chair of Michigan Legislative Black Caucus State Representative
Reverend Dr. Michael C. Murphy
• Co-chair of the Oklahoma Senate Education Committee State Senator Judy Eason McIntyre
• League of Young Voters Board Member Malia Lazu (NY)
• Chair of Minneapolis, Minnesota Democratic Farm Labor Party Keesha Gaskins (for identification purposes only)
• Michigan Community Activist Gerry Garrett

"There are people who wake up every day in America living in poverty," Edwards said "In the richest, most affluent, most prosperous nation on the face of the planet, this is not complicated it's wrong."??In recent months, Edwards has traveled the country as a vocal anti-poverty advocate while contemplating a possible 2008 presidential bid.??He wouldn't say Saturday whether he had made a decision about a possible candidacy, but he has said that he is "seriously thinking about it."??Edwards said one thing that would keep him from running would be the health of his wife, Elizabeth, who was diagnosed with breast cancer the day after the 2004 general election.

Born in South Carolina, Edwards served in the U.S. Senate from North Carolina before he was picked as John Kerry's running mate in 2004.??Though they make up about 30 percent of the state's population, blacks make up a disproportionate number of the poor in South Carolina, said Lonnie Randolph, state president of the NAACP.??"African-Americans are disproportionately in a low rank of everything in South Carolina simply because of the adjective _ they are African-American," Randolph said.??Saturday's event was held at the Bible Way Church of Atlas Road.

Proceeds from the Freedom Fund Campaign will help sustain efforts in areas the civil rights organization thinks are important like health, economic advocacy, criminal justice, education and civic engagement, organizers said.

The group raised about $300,000 last year and hoped to raise $500,000 this year, said Dwight James, executive director of the state chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

The group has not yet calculated funds raised this year through the fundraiser, he said Saturday.?Some of the money will be used to address the "unequal facilities and inequitable resources" in public education, Randolph said.

"Education plays a role in poverty. Rarely will you see an educated people impoverished," Randolph said.

Edwards said government programs, like the Earned Income Tax Credit, should be expanded for poor working people. He also supports $1,000 annual homeownership down payment grants and $500 housing vouchers for low-income working families, which he said could be used to help poor working people move into better communities.

While he has spent most of his time speaking on anti-poverty issues, Edwards has still weighed in on politics.

More recently, Edwards expressed concerns over reports that the National Security Agency has been collecting customer phone records around the country as a means of fighting terrorism. He also has been critical of the recent vote to extend the Bush Administration's tax cuts _ cuts he says overwhelmingly benefit the wealthy.

Edwards said his interest in helping the poor was rooted in his humble upbringing and his work with a group called Urban Ministries before his election to the U.S. Senate.

The former trial lawyer now leads the Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity at the University of North Carolina law school and has been campaigning around the country for fellow Democrats.

In elections, Democrats can and should try to win in the South, Edwards said.??"We ought to be competing with everything we've got in the South," Edwards said. "We ought to be fighting to win Southern states in presidential elections. And we ought to be doing the work to build our party in the South."??U.S. Rep. John Spratt, a Democrat up for re-election this year, attended the event.

He says Democrats have a chance to win.

"I've got a tough campaign," Spratt said. "But we've been working hard and so far so good. Now, that doesn't mean it's in the bag by any means. What it means is that my opponent has to make himself known. He has money. The Republican National party will be pumping money into it. So, I've got a tough race on my hands, but I'm in to win it."