George Bush’s last day as President of the United States

 

That banner headline is the reminder that follows a horrible and wrenching story in the July/August 2007 issue of The Crisis. George Bush and the Republicans have blood on their hands, and it’s the blood from the Slaughter of the Innocents. God save us all.

 

The story is about Deamonte Driver, a 12-year-old, who died on February 25, 2007, not in a drive-by shooting, or in a school-yard fight, or in some other spectacular headline-grabbing violence. Deamonte, a citizen of the most powerful, richest country the world has ever seen, died from a tooth infection that spread to his brain. I mourn his passing.

 

Deamonte Driver’s mother, Ms. Alyce Driver, is a hard worker. She worked as a baker, a home health care aide, and a construction worker. But there never was insurance for dental care for her five young children.

 

The pain from Deamonte’s abscessed tooth became so severe that he landed in the emergency room. The tooth was pulled, but Deamonte had already developed meningitis, an infection of the brain, which led to his death.

 

How can this be? In a developing country, where there is no transportation to a clinic and no dentist to serve the people, I could understand this, even though I would still mourn the passing of the child. But in Washington, DC, the seat of such great power and wealth?

 

Georgia’s health care program for children, PeachCare, has been in financial turmoil since January of this year, but our Republican leadership has turned their backs on the poor. Governor Perdue will not provide state funding from taxes on cigarettes. Chambliss and Isakson, our US Senators, have repeatedly voted against federal funding measures. And George Bush is too busy killing children in Afghanistan and Iraq to care about children like Deamonte Driver.

 

I eagerly await January 21, 2009. I hope for a truly compassionate president, and loving and caring representatives in the Congress. Perhaps then we can have a health care plan, named in honor of Deamonte Driver, which provides for every bit of health care needs for every child in the United States.