This morning Mr. Chris O'Connor, Financial Secretary/Treasurer of the Colonel John Fitzgerald Division of the Ancient Order of Hibernians in Arlington, Virginia sent us a link to an article by Deepti Hajela, past president of the South Asian Journalists Association, which was published by the Associated Press. As there is a link included in this posting to the article, you can read it for yourself. You might also want to use the article as a template for similar letters to other journalists, or to use to create your own, more personalized e-mail to Ms. Hajela. Beware: I have not verified that the e-mail address is correct. As of a few moments ago, when I last checked, it had not been bounced back, but that's all I can say.
Deepti Hajela
Associated Press
sajadeepti@yahoo.com
Dear Ms. Hajela:
Your article issued by the Associated Press yesterday, "MLK's dream also included economic justice," raises justifiable hope that some critical issues will be addressed in a meaningful and effective manner in the new administration. You might find it useful and informative to make contact with Dr. Norman G. Kurland, president of the Center for Economic and Social Justice ("CESJ"), www.cesj.org in Arlington, Virginia, to gain some insights on the principles of economic justice and how the new administration could implement such innovative proposals as "Capital Homesteading," "Homeowners' Equity Corporation," and the "Community Investment Corporation."
Dr. Kurland was active in the civil rights movement in the early 1960s, working in Mississippi and interacting significantly with such figures as Stokely Carmichael and Medgar Evers. He later joined with Louis Kelso and was instrumental in persuading Senator Russell Long to champion the Employee Stock Ownership Plan, or ESOP, which has been responsible for delivering a measure of economic justice through ownership of the means of production to more than 10 million American workers. Dr. Kurland was later Deputy Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Project Economic Justice under President Reagan. A short biography of Dr. Kurland can be found here.
You can reach Dr. Kurland via information that can be found on the CESJ web site. Dr. Kurland recently (January 6) had a telephone conference with Mr. David Walker, former Comptroller General of the United States who is now with the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, regarding the effect of the current financial and debt crisis on the prospects for economic justice. I am sending Dr. Kurland a cc. of this e-mail so that he will expect your call.