Letter to the Editor: Guaranteed rights
BY Mary Kay Salchert, Tulsa
Sunday, September 30, 2012
9/30/12 at 4:43 AM
Councilor G.T. Bynum and the Tulsa City Council ought to consider a commitment to fairness, demographics and the law: Executive Order 12898, Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations, 1994. It provides that "Each federal agency shall make achieving environmental justice part of its mission by identifying and addressing, as appropriate, disproportionately high and adverse human health or environmental effects of its programs, policies and activities on minority populations and low-income populations."
This prevents the denial of, reduction in, or significant delay in the receipt of benefits by minority and low-income populations, which extend beyond mid-town Tulsa. (Bynum's district).
Unlike Bynum's destructive proposal to cut service coverage, other cities, by law:
- Avoid or reduce harmful human health (medical access) and environmental effects on minority and low-income populations.
- Ensure full and fair participation by all communities, including low-income and minority populations in the transportation decision-making process.
These rights are guaranteed to all under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which says in part:
"No person in the United States shall, on the grounds of race, color, or national origin, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance."(42 U.S.C. Sec200d)."
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