Comment : Jeremiad of an Angry White Guy : Not all pale males are ticked off at the same things.

I am an angry white man. In fact, I am furious, but not in correlation with the latest polls and not according to the new taxonomy of division.

I have been lied to, manipulated, stereotyped; but most of all I have been divided, divided from my fellow men and women, against my interest and theirs.

I am angry at Pete Wilson, who wants to blame African-Americans and immigrants for lack of opportunity and jobs in California, opportunities he has foreclosed by forcing tuition hikes at state colleges and universities and jobs he has helped squander by supporting business tax giveaways with no strings attached. His ill-fated, blundering campaign for President serves as just comeuppance for his continual deceptions--beginning with his immigrant-bashing and reaching a crescendo with his recent disingenuous (and unjustified) attacks on affirmative action.

The average African-American worker still makes less than 80 cents for every dollar made by his or her white counterpart with the same qualifications. The University of California student body remains only 4% Black despite years of affirmative action. The poverty rate for all African-Americans stands at 30.6% and, for black children, at a horrific 44.8%. The poverty rate for Latino children reached 41.5% in 1994. For comparison, the poverty rate for whites clocks in at just 11.7%.

I am angry at the CEOs of corporate America for forgetting that their obligations as children of God and citizens of this country should outweigh even the bottom lines, especially when measured in so shortsighted a way as the quarterly report.

Each decade since the 1950s has seen the average unemployment rate rise by a percentage point, while real family wages have declined nearly 19% since 1973, earnings are up sharply for the rich. The real value of the minimum wage has fallen precipitously since its high in 1965; it would need to be $6.52 now to equal its high-water mark. Even the iron-fisted Henry Ford wanted his workers to make a decent wage, if only to buy his cars. Too many of today’s corporate leaders cut the wages of half their workers and ship the other half of the work offshore, while wondering why their products’ sales sag and the trade deficit soars.

I am angry at those who would divide my interests from those of women, women who want equal treatment and basic human rights, females that include my wife and three daughters.

The poverty rate for households with children headed by women under thirty rose from 67.9% in 1973 to 76.8% in 1990.

I am angry at politicians who want to play on my fears in order to incarcerate more and more of our citizenry (mostly people of color) at a cost higher than sending someone to Stanford, politicians who find it convenient to forget the truth of the cliche that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

I am angry at the gutless quality of our so-called leaders who fear to utter the obvious truth that only by paying more taxes--proportionately, according to our wealth and income--are we ever going to be able to regain the quality schools, top-notch roads, and superior public service system that once made us all so proud.

In order for all of us to get ahead, we must all stand together--men and women, African Americans and Anglos, Latinos and Asians, Native Americans and immigrants. Any one who would divide us does not stand for our best interest--collectively or separately. Shortsightedness is clearly the currency of the present debate.