Shortly before his passing, the late author, historian, professor, and radical Howard Zinn said that Marian Wright Edelman, a former student of his at Spelman College, should run for president.
Edelman would go on to graduate from Yale with a degree in law, become the first black woman to join The Mississippi Bar, and among other accomplishments, form The Children's Defense Fund, which she heads to this day.
Their motto, "Leave No Child Behind," rings with as much verity as it did almost 4 decades ago and still serves as an antithesis to the disastrous and perversely-named Bush-era initiative No Child Left Behind, an Act of Congress President Obama tragically supports.
Equal footing for all children regardless of their race, gender, disability, or economic status is the prize that the CDF has been chasing. Without accepting government funding, the CDF has lobbied to help safeguard the basic rights of children and to help secure a future where they will live lives free of abuse and neglect.
After personally witnessing squalor and gross inequity in the Delta during the 1960's, Edelman decided to become an advocate and champion for the poor of all ages, and considering current events, trends, and statistics, her work is far from finished. In the United States alone...
*7.6 million children are without health coverage.
*16 million children live below the poverty line. And just as many children live in homes that are deemed "food insecure," meaning that they are not eating healthy or eating regularly.
*6 million children are abused.
*Each day, over 80,000 children are caught in the clutches of our flawed and unequal criminal justice system, the final destination of what Edelman has deemed "The Cradle-To- Prison- Pipeline."
https://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/07/08-0
In the memories of both Martin Luther King Jr. and Howard Zinn, both of whom mentored Marian Edelman and inspired her to crusade on behalf of our society's most susceptible and silent, I urge all of those who care about tomorrow to donate today...
https://secure.childrensdefense.org/site/Donation2?2200.donation=form1&df_id=2200&s_src=website_helpchildrensupportcdf&s_subsrc=button
Review #1000 is dedicated to Marian Wright Edelman, The Children's Defense Fund, and to our nation's youth...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqWI0JRMYUg
They live in the streets
Outside the walls
Left out in the cold
There's nowhere to sleep
They've taken the fall
Into the hole
They grew up with violence
They learned how to hate
And learned how to fear
They searched for silence
Before it was too late
Before it was disappeared
Chorus:
Where is the future
Where is the past
The answer's unknown
But the child of tomorrow
Don't know where he is
Or where he shall go
They are the children of sorrow
They are the children of tomorrow
And all their illusions
All of their dreams
Are all gone so far
They live with confusion
Don't know what it means
Don't know who they are
So rise all you children
Come back to life
You're wasting your time
'Cause you are the future
You are not left behind read more