Perspective One last look at some tales of 2000
By ARTHUR JONES
All crafts have their quirks and
limitations, and journalism is no exception. One limitation is that the story
really isnt over until ones heard from the readers, and a quirk is
there are always more good stories than any one writer or publication can get
to.
With both thoughts in mind Id like to return to a trio of
tales I told last year and pick three letters from the couple of dozen I
received. The stories were the scandal of the U.S. Congress cruel
mandates governing immigrants and asylum seekers, published last Sept. 29, and
religious orders working in the Mississippi Delta (Sept. 22) and nuclear
reactor relicensing (May 26).
On immigrants, Noreen Sullivan provided a capsule report on the
work being done by the American Friends Service Committees U.S./Mexico
Border Program in San Diego.
Volunteer Sullivan writes that after the 1996 Immigration
Acts teeth began to sink in, a local support group (Citizens and
Immigrants for Equal Justice) was formed for and by the families of legal
permanent residents and those detained or deported.
The families themselves run the program. Its prime focus is to
overturn the 1996 law. For those equally incensed about this terrible
legislation Sullivan reports theres a video available for colleges,
libraries, church groups and others. Contact Sullivan directly at
borderwitness2@juno.com.
Anne Brooks, a Sister of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary, is in
her 18th year as a country doctor to the 1,400 mostly African-American
residents of Tutwiler, Miss. There are four other women religious in Tutwiler,
and three doctors for the entire county. Brooks wanted to reinforce the
accounts of the deprivation that exists in off-the-beaten-track America.
She wrote after reading our Mississippi Delta cover story, in
effect saying theres plenty of stories down here. Some of my
patients go all the way to Tunica to work [in the casinos], six hours of bus
travel in addition to the eight-hour shift. Her worries include: Who
cares for the kids when their mothers are gone so long? She answers, In
some cases my elderly patients come in dragging two and three toddlers with
them, totally worn out from trying to keep up with them, all too often just
letting them watch TV and yelling at them -- so much for infant stimulation and
brain development.
Local day-care programs did open with great hope, she
writes, but slowly died as the aides quit because they werent
getting paid. Why, you wonder.
Insurance, Medicaid, Medicare and self-pay provide only
one-quarter of Brooks medical facilitys $1.2 million annual budget.
We rely on donations, $800,000 in donations annually to stay open and
provide medicines and services.
She closes with a cameo of life in the Other America that is an
editorial in itself, and the reason NCR goes to such places.
Sr. Maureen Delaney (a fellow Sister of the Holy Names who is
president of the local Habitat chapter, which can only afford to put up one
house a year) runs the Tutwiler Community Education Center, housed in a
refurbished car dealership.
When the sisters and volunteers were putting the finishing touches
to the center, writes Brooks, I noticed an elderly lady just sittin
and sittin in the hall. After about an hour and a half I got concerned
and went over and said, Are you OK?
Oh, yes, maam, the woman replied. I just
never been allowed to sit in a place this beautiful before.
To those many NCR readers whose strong social justice
beliefs match their ability to do regular Elderhostel or Summer Listings
jaunts, Brooks adds another possible venue for a less structured
experience.
Yall come down and visit, she suggests. Sr. Anne
can be reached at: sabrooks@gmi.net.
On nuclear reactors, letter writer James T. Dette spent much of
his professional life supervising site safety for proposed nuclear reactor
sites. He took issue with elements of my story (about aging nuclear reactors
having their licenses extended for 20 more years without the public even being
aware of it).
Dettes critiques were on some underlying assertions. His
most valid certainly was when he wrote that the ambitious plans for
nuclear power were not scuttled by the Three Mile Island accident in 1979 but
by the oil embargo in 1973 which spawned the great energy efficiency movement,
reducing the anticipated growth for energy from 7 percent a year to 1 percent
per year.
His most ironic remark was, It might have been more
revelatory if you had looked into how and why the French, who wont let
genetically altered food into their country, have lived with nuclear plants
providing 77 percent of their power. Do they know something we
dont?
My view is that the French -- who are also in denial about the
effect of depleted uranium on their Bosnian troops -- are simply delaying the
undeniable where nuclear decommissioning in is concerned.
Arthur Jones is NCR editor at large. His e-mail address
is ajones96@aol.com
National Catholic Reporter, January 26,
2001
|