NEWS STORY: Advocacy group calls for mass rally on children’s issues

c. 1996 Religion News Service WASHINGTON (RNS)-The Children’s Defense Fund, backed by 350 national, state and local groups, called Thursday (Feb. 1) for a mass demonstration in Washington on June 1 to highlight children’s issues in the coming election campaign.”The moral litmus test of our country is whether our children get a fair start in […]

c. 1996 Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS)-The Children’s Defense Fund, backed by 350 national, state and local groups, called Thursday (Feb. 1) for a mass demonstration in Washington on June 1 to highlight children’s issues in the coming election campaign.”The moral litmus test of our country is whether our children get a fair start in life,”Marian Wright Edelman, president of the Washington-based advocacy group, told a news conference announcing the”Stand for Children”rally to be held at the Lincoln Memorial.”We don’t think our national leaders-Republican and Democrat, liberal and conservative-are hearing our children’s call for help,”Edelman said.

The demonstration, she said, is intended”to send a strong message to all our political leaders at all levels that they should do no harm to children.” The CDF also released the 1996 edition of its annual”The State of America’s Children Yearbook.” The 105-page publication, bringing together statistical material on children and youth from federal, state and local governments, as well as academic research, concluded that 1995″brought mixed news about the economic outlook for families with children.” Among the bright spots, according to the report, was a slight decrease in the number of children living in poverty between 1993 and 1994; a stabilization of unwed teen-pregnancy rates; and an increase in the rate of immunization against childhood diseases.


But the report said there was a growing gap in income between rich and poor families; the number of children who are victims of violence or who commit violence continues to grow; and the number of children without health insurance of any kind has grown to 10 million children under the age of 18.

In announcing the rally, Edelman, who is usually associated with liberal public policy stands, took pains to underscore that the event”will not be partisan or political”but will be a day of”family celebration and community renewal.”She refused to predict how many people might attend but said she hoped for”a lot.””We want it to be a massive moral witness that sends a message … that no child should be left behind,”she said.

She said she hoped the march would create”a new sense of commitment (to children) so that when people go back home … (they are) ready to really work to transform their personal and community lives.” The rally has already won the endorsement of a broad array of groups, ranging from the American Academy of Pediatrics and Girl Scouts of the USA to the National Black Police Association and the Wilderness Society. Nearly two dozen religious groups also signed on as endorsers. They include the Christian anti-hunger lobby Bread for the World, the National Council of Churches, the Swedenborgian Church of Massachusetts, the Serbian Orthodox Church in the USA and Canada, and the Congress of National Black Churches.”It is clear to us who work with families that times have really changed,”said Dr. Raymond Coleman, speaking on behalf of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the 50,000-member association of pediatricians.”There are an increasing number of single-parent households; both parents working; kids in day care; and children left for long periods of time without supervision. These situations transcend all social and economic classes.”We need to do our part as individuals, to be there for our children when they need us,”Coleman added. He said the rally would be a time”to demonstrate our common goals and concerns about the well-being of our children and adolescents, both now and in the future.” The Washington office of the 144,000-member Church of the Brethren, in a statement endorsing the rally, said the denomination”believes that when millions of children are in need, individual churches, communities and governments must make positive steps to ensure that all children are loved, nurtured, and have opportunities to realize their potential.”

MJP END ANDERSON

Donate to Support Independent Journalism!

Donate Now!