Rep. Danny K. Davis
While the wind chill factor dropped into the negative double digits, hundreds attended the 34th PUSH for Excellence annual Dr. King Scholarship Breakfast at the Apostolic Church of God. Representative Danny Davis (D-7th) and other officials gathered to honor and fulfill Dr. King’s dream by turning his unfinished agenda into social justice actions.
One of those unfilled actions was the proposed pending Child Tax Credit that Davis said is at the top of his agenda for 2024. This bill, he said, reduces childhood poverty by 50 percent. The bill provides the largest Child Tax Credit and relief to most working families.
Parents receive monthly payments of $250 or $300 per child without having to take any action. The American Rescue Plan increased the Child Tax Credit from $2,000 per child to $3,000 per child for children over the age of six and from $2,000 to $3,600 for children under the age of six and raised the age limit from 16 to 17.
According to the White House, all working families will get the full credit if they earn up to $150,000 for a couple or $112,500 for a family with a single parent.
Davis and other leaders made their comments during a press conference at Apostolic Church of God, 6320 S. Dorchester, and later with the Chicago Crusader.
“We came today to save the lives of children,” Davis said, referring to the PUSH for Excellence program, the educational arm of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition headed by Dr. Frederick D. Haynes. Davis said the Child Tax Credit program saves lives of children, which was the theme of the program.
“We loved this bill because it can reduce childhood poverty by 50 percent. It would have a serious impact on childhood poverty,” Davis later told the Chicago Crusader. “If we’re able to do that and make this a five-year authorization, it would have a tremendous impact, and if we could make it permanent, that would be outstanding.
“That is what I am working on. It’s what I am hoping for, and it is something that I think can happen should Democrats maintain control of the Senate and the presidency and take back the House. That is my most fervent wish for 2024.”
Mayor Brandon Johnson also talked about saving the children in terms of providing funds to hire more youth. He said our ancestors would be proud of our accomplishments. However, he made it very clear that nothing much has changed since Dr. King was alive.
“War, poverty and racism are still our greatest threat to humanity,” Johnson said.
“It was a West Side teacher who invited Dr. King years ago, and decades later, there is a former teacher on the Fifth Floor of City Hall.” The work is far from over Johnson told hundreds of people attending the MLK breakfast.
Davis also made it clear that their work is not over. He said there are other tax credits that are equally needed, including the New Market Tax Credits and the Earned Income Tax Credits.
On the Ways and Means Committee, he said tax credits are used as a way of financing whatever the government needs. “That is the challenge of being on the Ways and Means Committee. I am delighted to be on this Committee.
“We love and respect Dr. King,” said Davis. Quoting Rudyard Kipling, Davis added, “If you can dream and not make dreams your master, if you can think and not make thoughts your aim, if you can meet with Triumph and Disaster and treat those two impostors just the same….”
“The pain continues to resonate and fortunately there are those who think the dream was enough in and of itself, but in order for dreams to be realized, you have to keep your shoulder to the wheel and keep working. There are those among us, and we’ve made progress, but we can’t get to the basement and start acting like we’re in the penthouse,” said Davis.
“While progress has been made, there is still work to be done, and like Dr. King said, ‘I may not get there with you, but if you continue to work, we as a people will get to the Promised Land.’ We have to work until our days are done.
“We are here to fulfill the unfulfilled dream of Dr. Martin Luther King,” Davis said. “We have come to make sure that Reverend Jesse Jackson’s” goal is fulfilled, “to keep hope alive.”
“We are here to keep hope alive and save the children.” Davis said one of those goals is the passage of the Child Tax Credit bill, pending before the U.S. House of Representatives.
Tyrone Stoudemire, senior vice president of Global Diversity & Inclusion for Hyatt, a Board Member of PUSH, and a deacon at Apostolic Church of God, said saving the children is on the front burner of their social justice agendas.
“It is imperative for us to focus on giving them equality to equity, meeting our kids where they are and giving them the tools and resources they need to succeed,” said Stoudemire.
