Representive Rangel Targets Poverty
The carnage wrought by Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans revealed the problem poverty has become in the United States, Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., told a mostly full Salomon 101 Monday. Rangel was the 10th speaker in the annual Noah Krieger '93 memorial lecture series.
"Poverty is too expensive for this nation," Rangel said - the $200 billion to $300 billion cost of rebuilding of New Orleans would not have been as high had residents not been living paycheck-to-paycheck, unable to easily evacuate and maintain buildings, he said.
Rangel talked about attending a symposium earlier Monday at Teachers College in Manhattan inaugurating its Campaign for Educational Equity. Rangel said education will ultimately "eradicate poverty."
The mission of Teachers College's campaign is "to help close the gap in opportunities and achievement between advantaged and disadvantaged students," according to the college's Web site.
"They are going to be getting together a lobbying campaign the likes of which I have never seen," Rangel said.
"What a difference it can make when people can have hope," Rangel said. It can "build a bridge from poverty to the United States House of Representatives."
This article, written by Jonathan Herman, appeared in the Brown University Daily Herald on October 24th, 2005.
Published Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2005