Page 2 The Skanner June 28, 2017
Challenging People to Shape
a Better Future Now
Bernie Foster
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2017
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Opinion
FROM THE PUBLISHER:
Political Opponents Lack Respect
I
t took just over a week for
Rep Steve Scalise to be re-
leased from intensive care
after being shot in the hip
while practicing for a Con-
gressional baseball game.
How ironic that the game is
one of the few events that now
brings Republicans and Dem-
ocrats together in friendship.
In Washington they used to
call it comity: courtesy and
consideration toward others.
The idea is that political
leaders should be people of
goodwill, who can be political
opponents but also friends.
Today you don’t hear that
word much at all. And comity
itself is in short supply. Our
politics tree bears bitter fruit.
You can argue about the
reason for the steep decline
in cross-party respect.
Hate speech — from what-
ever source — is part of the
problem, especially on tele-
vision where whoever shouts
the loudest gets the ratings.
We saw this during the
Trump campaign, as our
president spoke in the most
extreme and violent terms
Bernie Foster
Publisher, The Skanner
about his opponents—and his
base loved it.
We saw the results then
— fights, aggression and vi-
olence. You could argue that
in the shooting and the recent
MAX attack we are still see-
ing those results now.
Hate speech of every sort
“
to heal our divisions we can
only expect more violence,
more mistrust and more hate.
At the same time, courtesy
and consideration must come
from both sides. Friendly
speech must be backed by
friendly action.
So let’s have some honesty:
• Years of ‘gerrymandering’
have redrawn congressio-
nal districts to favor one
party or the other. And the
so-called ‘swing states’ have
The idea is that political leaders
should be people of goodwill, who
can be political opponents but
also friends
fuels extreme behavior offer-
ing a political excuse for vio-
lence.
Right now our country and
our Congress is deeply di-
vided. Our Divided States of
America is a nation where
hate speech has become ac-
ceptable.
And unless we take steps
been redrawn in the Repub-
licans favor to prevent any
‘swings’
• Stricter gun laws have no
chance of succeeding, even
when they are favored by
the majority of Americans
• Our political system is
rigged in favor of the
wealthy
• The Koch brothers — who’d
like to abolish government
support for healthcare alto-
gether, among other plans
— plan to spend $300-$400
million to advance their
agenda in the coming year
This week we are seeing
backroom deals that take aim
to take healthcare away from
millions of the poorest and
most vulnerable Americans.
We see our hard-won prog-
ress snatched from us —with-
out any consultation with
Democrats, never mind com-
promise.
This is not respectful and
it’s not the way to heal our
country.
Which brings us back to
Rep. Steve Scalise. The Louisi-
ana Republican had a narrow
escape from death and he still
has a long way to go. From the
bottom of our hearts we wish
him a full recovery.
We also hope that he grows
into a champion of comity in
word and action, and inspire
his colleagues to do the same.
What do you think?
Global Response Needed for South Sudan Famine
International Response Needed to End Famine Now in South Sudan
O
n February 20, the Unit-
ed Nations declared a
state of famine in South
Sudan. Man-made crisis
and conflict had left 4.9 mil-
lion in need of urgent food
assistance and at least 100,000
in immediate danger of death
by starvation.
Since then, our country has
made progress in aiding those
in need, not only in South Su-
dan, but in Yemen, Nigeria
and Somalia. At the end of
April, the House of Represen-
tatives passed a resolution I
authored urging the Trump
Administration to release
supplemental funding and
call for a ceasefire between
the parties engaged in South
Sudan’s civil conflict.
In addition, the United States
responded to the UN’s call for
“
Rep. Karen
Bass
Senator
(D-Calif.)
nouncing they would match
Canadian donations to famine
relief efforts.
But as I return from a six-
day congressional delega-
tion trip to South Sudan and
Uganda, the mission is clear:
Although all of this is a good
start, there’s still more work
to be done.
In South Sudan, famine still
continues despite relief ef-
forts having had a notable im-
pact. In a meeting with South
Sudanese President Salva Kiir
In South Sudan, famine still con-
tinues despite relief efforts hav-
ing had a notable impact
$4 billion in relief by pledg-
ing more than $1.2 billion in
famine aid, the majority of
the funds coming from a $990
million allocation authored
by Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.)
and Rep. Tom Rooney (R-Fla.).
International aid efforts have
also popped up throughout
the world, with Germany dou-
bling its aid to fight impend-
ing famine in Somalia and
the Canadian government an-
Mayardit during the delega-
tion visit, we emphasized that
the conflict in the young coun-
try must cease. The civil war
there has raged since late 2013
and has claimed hundreds
of thousands of lives while
stranding millions and leav-
ing the nation in the state of
hunger it is in today.
And as South Sudan is devas-
tated by famine, its neighbor
Uganda struggles to provide
relief for those that have fled.
As of May, there were nearly
1 million refugees from South
Sudan living in Uganda. Our
delegation toured Bidi Bidi, a
Ugandan refugee camp with
a population around the same
as San Francisco. In April, the
camp was declared the largest
“
swift, stern and resolute. Hun-
dreds of thousands and possi-
bly millions of people, some
of whom I met in South Sudan
and Uganda, depend on us
guaranteeing that the region’s
political landscape is not in
the same exact place one year
from now. A long-term com-
It’s hard to describe their faces.
They had walked for weeks, los-
ing family in front of their eyes,
leaving their own lives behind,
possibly for good
in the world. While we toured
the camp, we met some of
those that had arrived at the
camp that day. It’s hard to de-
scribe their faces. They had
walked for weeks, losing fam-
ily in front of their eyes, leav-
ing their own lives behind,
possibly for good.
Unfortunately, the over-
whelming, though expected,
lesson we learned was that
more aid is still needed. The
men and women of the camp
were only given half a month’s
food to sustain them for an en-
tire month. We saw the need
for relief on the faces of the
men, women and children of
the camp. It was on the lips of
the humanitarian workers.
This is a global crisis that
will require a global response.
The U.S. cannot risk flimsy
leadership and we must be
mitment is needed to address
the existing civil conflict – the
root cause of this famine. The
world must continue to press
the leaders of South Sudan on
this point.
The international communi-
ty has a choice — either work
together to end famine or con-
tinue to observe death due to
avoidable causes. It is in our
control to end this famine now
as well as find ways to avoid
them in the future.
Congresswoman
Kar-
en Bass represents California’s
37th Congressional District.
She is the 2nd Vice Chair of the
Congressional Black Caucus
(CBC) and she co-chairs the
CBC’s Africa Taskforce. She is
also Ranking Member on the
House Subcommittee on Afri-
ca. Follow her on Twitter at @
RepKarenBass.
