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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 12, 2016)
Page 2 The Skanner October 12, 2016 ® Challenging People to Shape a Better Future Now Bernie Foster Founder/Publisher Bobbie Dore Foster Executive Editor Jerry Foster Advertising Manager Christen McCurdy News Editor Patricia Irvin Graphic Designer Arashi Young Reporter Monica J. Foster Seattle Oice Coordinator Susan Fried Photographer 2016 MERIT AWARD WINNER The Skanner Newspaper, es- tablished in October 1975, is a weekly publication, published every Wednesday by IMM Publi- cations Inc. 415 N. Killingsworth St. P.O. Box 5455 Portland, OR 97228 Telephone (503) 285-5555 Fax: (503) 285-2900 info@theskanner.com Opinion White Acceptance Won’t Lead to Black Wealth B lack folks in America have been so success- fully programmed that many of us are still psy- chologically enslaved to the point that we truly believe we have “made it” when we have reached a certain inan- cial plateau or when we have attained a certain position or title. Far too many of us, as a consequence of our psycho- logical enslavement, have turned our backs on our own people, especially many alu- ent Blacks who have gained the status of being “accepted” by White society. Remember O.J. Simpson? Our new “Talented Tenth” has turned out not unlike its predecessor of 1903, which W.E.B. DuBois lived to regret, as he stated in his speech to The Boule in 1948. Forty-ive years of watching the selish- ness of his brothers and sis- ters was enough for DuBois to admit that he had made a mistake. “I assumed that with knowledge, sacriice would automatically follow. In my youth and idealism, I did not realize that selishness is even more natural than sacriice,” DuBois lamented. “There were especially sharp young persons [at Fisk Uni- versity] with the distinct and single-minded idea of seeing what they could get out of it James Clingman NNPA Columnist for themselves, and nobody else.” DuBois let this country, a sad and disheartened man, never wanting to return again, and we have seen his words and his assessment of our people magniied. Black people spend an estimated “ We are not using our tre- mendous resources — or tal- ents — to do good “and” to do well. We are not using our talents to help the least of our brethren. We are not multi- plying our resources. Instead, we are virtually burying them in the ground by succumbing to every advertisement and marketing campaign laid be- fore us by corporate America. We have taken on the title of “Conspicuous Consumption Champions of the World.” Second, we have placed too much emphasis on creature comforts and have allowed of us. That is so far from the truth it is not even funny. Besides, anyone or anything that has the power to give you all you need also has the pow- er to take away everything you have. With $1 trillion, coupled with trillions in intellectual capital, Black people in this country can do anything we set our minds to. I think we have gotten very lazy and complacent, because it makes absolutely no sense for us to be in the situation we ind ourselves today. It simply means we have not been tak- ing care of our business, while everyone else has. We must get back to the way it was before inte- gration and before Black people in this country were dis-integrated. For almost 50 years we have mimicked the Children of Is- rael, wandering in this des- ert called America, whining, murmuring, and complaining about our situation since we let Egypt in 1964 when Pha- raoh (President Lyndon John- son) signed the Civil Rights Act. Some of us even want to return to Egypt. We must use our $1 trillion to possess the land. Black people spend an estimated $1 trillion every year, much of which is wasted everyday on anything and ev- erything other people make and sell $1 trillion every year, much of which is wasted everyday on anything and everything other people make and sell. We buy it all, but we are dead last in every other economic category. We also have the worst housing, the highest unemployment, the poorest healthcare, the highest infant mortality, the poorest educa- tion, and our life expectancy is not even long enough to collect our hard-earned social security payments. ourselves to be deined by what we do on someone else’s job, rather than what we can do to create our own jobs. We have devalued business ownership and business edu- cation, and we have lost sight of self-suiciency, self-reli- ance, and collective econom- ic empowerment. We have been lulled into the trap of thinking “the man” will take care of us or the government will take care of us, or our lo- cal politicians will take care Read the rest of this commentary at TheSkanner.com www.TheSkanner.com The Skanner is a member of the National Newspaper Pub lishers Association and West Coast Black Pub lishers Association. All photos submitted become the property of The Skanner. We are not re spon sible for lost or damaged photos either solicited or unsolicited. ©2016 The Skanner. All rights re served. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission prohibited. Local News Paciic NW News World News Opinions Jobs, Bids Entertainment Community Calendar RSS feeds BE A PART OF THE CONVERSATION #SkNews Republicans Are Willing to Dance with the Devil to Win S peaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) is antici- pating a Trump win in November. Or, at least, he is preparing for it. He says that if Republicans hold sway in the White House, the House and the Senate, he plans to use budget reconciliation to repeal the Patient Protection and Afordable Care Act (also known as Obamacare) and give tax cuts to the wealthy. Ryan says he will not even at- tempt any bipartisanship, as he shoves his regressive agen- da down the throats of our people. Instead, he says that he can make it work, especial- ly if he has a Trump White House. This is, perhaps, why Re- publicans who appear to have at least a little bit of good sense are going for Trump’s nonsense. They know that Mr. Trump, with his head in the cloud and his rhetoric in the gutter, will let them get away with anything they want. He will agree to their tax cuts, be- cause they coincide with his agenda to reward the wealthy. Trump will go along with cuts to Obamacare, because he wasn’t loving it in the irst place. He will let conservative Republicans hold sway, espe- cially if they reward him with their votes in November. Paul Ryan calls his plan a “Better Way” policy agenda. It Julianne Malveaux NNPA Columnist is an aggressive move that as- sumes that Republicans will control both the House and the Senate. They might not – if people vote, and vote down ballot, there is a real chance “ single payer care, but it pro- vides opportunity and takes the irst step in expanding the social contract since the Roo- sevelt years. The Afordable Care Act (ACA) can be used as a foundation to expand health insurance coverage and, in my mind, get us closer to the ultimate goal of a single-pay- er system. But legislators re- jected the single-payer plan that Senator Edward Kenne- dy (D-Ma) proposed for de- cades. The Afordable Care Lawmakers need to move forward in improving the Afordable Care Act, not backward in repealing it that Democrats can control the Senate. The House is a much bigger challenge, and it is likely that Republicans will continue to hold sway in the house. But there are too many folks who say they won’t vote, and their votes could make a real diference. In Ohio, Wis- consin, Michigan and Florida (among other states), those who choose to refrain from voting are really voting for a Trump-Ryan agenda. The attack on Obamacare is especially problematic. While the President’s Af- fordable Care Act is clearly lawed, it expanded health in- surance for more than 20 mil- lion people. It isn’t the desired Act is a compromise. We need to move forward in improv- ing the ACA, not backward in repealing it. According to Politico, Paul Ryan thinks that a divided government contributes to gridlock. He’d be happy if the presidency, the House of Rep- resentatives, and the United States Senate were all con- trolled by Republicans. What about the rest of us? Does he see our voice in this? Not ac- cording to Ryan. He seems to ignore the fact that there are legitimate diferences among legislators and that these diferences need to be worked out. He is uninterest- ed in compromise. Paul Ryan has explicitly called Donald Trump a racist. He has es- chewed many of his policies. Other Republicans have been openly repulsed by their bel- licose standard bearer and disturbed by his racist blus- ter and his wacky rhetoric, but they have thrown their discernment to the wind, em- bracing the man they have described as a rabid racist, because they prefer him to an embrace of integrity. As we count down to the election, people are coming forward to say they are ei- ther undecided, conlicted, or would rather vote for a third party candidate, because they can’t tolerate Clinton Trump. The bottom line is that either Clinton or Trump will win the Presidency. Really. Those Republicans who support Trump are openly support- ing evil. They will dance with the devil to their detriment. African Americans, espe- cially, need to look at what Trump has promised. He has promised discrimination. He has described our lives as hell. He has been a bully and a documented discriminator. He has been too much. He should be enough to repel us. Paul Ryan has called Trump a racist, but he is willing to dance with the devil because it serves his purposes. What about you?