Conservative social policy advocate Star Parker came to campus Tuesday prepared to steal potential viewers from George W. Bush’s televised State of the Union address.
“When I heard the president’s speech was on the same night, I said, ‘Darn, he’s not going to have an audience,'” Parker said Tuesday in McCormick Auditorium.
About 30 people attended the event, sponsored by the College Republicans, Associated Student Government and Young America’s Foundation. Parker, founder of the Coalition on Urban Renewal and Education, spoke on the need to privatize social services such as welfare and social security.
Parker rose from a single mother on welfare to a social policy worker and media commentator. While lobbying for welfare reforms, Parker and CURE advocated limiting the time welfare recipients could stay dependent on the system.
“What we wanted to do was develop the idea within a piece of legislation that work is good,” she said. “If (welfare recipients) are already getting $400 a month, let them make $400 a month, but make them get out there and earn it.”
Parker also said minimum wage laws have done more damage to the poor than to businesses. The government needs to relax labor laws so the job market will not struggle under bureaucratic regulations such as minimum wage and insurance requirements, she said.
Herself a black leader, Parker criticized social policy advocates such as Jesse Jackson for misrepresenting the black community and exaggerating race issues.
“(Jesse Jackson) has built an industry on the perception of racism,” she said. “The picture of black America is not what they tell you on the evening news.”
Parker called the social security system “bankrupt,” advocating personal retirement accounts as the only viable solution. She recalled explaining social security to her daughter.
“That’s your rich Uncle Sam,” Parker said as she pointed out the deduction on her 21-year-old daughter’s first big paycheck.
Students generally did not challenge Parker’s views during the question and answer session. Speech sophomore Osato Dixon said he appreciated her thoughts in light of Martin Luther King Day events. But he noticed only a handful of black students in attendance.
“The most important thing I think people can take away from forums like this is a greater communication and understanding between races,” Dixon said. “But if African Americans don’t even come to these events, how can that discussion even happen on this campus?”
Despite the low turnout, College Republicans President James Strong said he was pleased that some students attended on the same night as the State of the Union address.
“The State of the Union address is sort of like Easter,” said Strong, a Weinberg senior. “You never know the exact date.”
