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Page 2 The Skanner July 5, 2017 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 Melanie Sevcenko Reporter Monica J. Foster Seattle Office Coordinator Susan Fried Photographer 2017 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 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. ©2017 The Skanner. All rights re served. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission prohibited. Local News Pacific NW News World News Opinions Jobs, Bids Entertainment Community Calendar RSS feeds SAVE THE DATE The Skanner Foundation MLK Breakfast January 15 2018 NEW LOCATION! Opinion White House Proposes $9.2 Billion Education Cut N o one ever said that higher education wouldn’t cost money. Across the country, tui- tion is steadily rising and stu- dents are taking longer to pay off their student loans. Today, 44 million consum- ers share $1.4 trillion in bor- rowed student debt — more than double what it was in 2008. On average, graduat- ing seniors with a bachelor’s degree begin their careers with about $30,000 in student loans, while graduate stu- dents are almost assured of incurring six-figure student debt. All of these financial bur- dens have been acquired against a backdrop of an in- creasingly competitive global economy. The 21st century market- place is also dependent upon a highly-skilled workforce. Gone are the days when man- ufacturing could provide a steady and comfortable liv- ing. From steel to textiles and more, global competition requires America to work smarter and harder. So why would the Trump Administration propose a $9.2 billion cut in education? Over the next decade, the White House wants to ‘save’ $143 billion from college loan programs, including an end to $26.8 billion in subsidized loans. Currently, Pell Grants, designed to assist low-income Charlene Crowell NNPA Columnist students, are capped at less than $6,000 per scholastic year despite the average cost of tuition at a public college for its own state students ap- proaching $10,000 per year. Here’s one White House ex- planation on how less access “ Certainly, education budget cuts will not ‘make America great again’. Two days later and on the floor of the U.S. Senate, a di- verging view was spoken, “Let’s give struggling stu- dents a fair chance,” said Illi- nois’ Senator Richard Durbin. “We are seeing an increase in the wealth gap between col- lege graduates with student debt and those without stu- dent debt”, Durbin continued. “The burdens of student debt are threatening the notion that being college-educated is Student loan debt is the kind of debt that could potentially follow borrowers to the grave to higher education going to help the nation’s ability to re- main economically competi- tive. “We’re no longer going to measure compassion by the number of programs or the number of people on those programs, but by the number of people we help get off of those programs,” said White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney during a May 23 press briefing. It seems like the White House is really averse to more Americans receiving a higher education at a time when col- lege costs and its resulting debt are on an upward trajec- tory. enough to get ahead.” Sen. Durbin went on to share the story of a Chicago constituent, the first in her family to attend college, who appealed to his office for help. The majority of the for- mer student’s debts totaling $120,000 were private loans with high interest rates and monthly payments that were just as costly. The student also felt she had no chance of financial im- provement due to an ill-con- ceived enactment of a bill that prevented such debts being discharged in bankruptcy. Since 2005, student loan debt, unlike other types of un- secured debt cannot be a part of a bankruptcy filing. In oth- er words, it’s the kind of debt that could potentially follow borrowers to the grave. The Fairness for Struggling Students Act of 2017 (S. 1262), introduced by Sen. Durbin and co-sponsored by 11 other Senators would allow finan- cially struggling borrows to discharge private student loans in bankruptcy. The law is anticipated to re- lieve high-cost private loans that seldom come with many of the flexible repayment terms offered by federal ones. Some private student loans come with variable interest rates, high origination fees and scant — if any — repay- ment options. Already the bill has attract- ed the support of a large coa- lition of educational, student, civil rights and consumer or- ganizations that include: the United Negro College Fund (UNCF), NAACP, the Ameri- can Federation of Teachers, the Empire Justice Center, National Association of Stu- dent Financial Aid Adminis- trators, and the Center for Re- sponsible Lending (CRL). According to the Consum- er Financial Protection Bu- reau (CFPB), in 2012, at least 850,000 private loan bor- rowers were in default in the amount of $8 billion. Read the rest of this commentary at TheSkanner.com Nooses on National Mall Echo Domestic Terrorism U .S. Park Police con- firmed that another noose was found on the National Mall, last week, according to ABC News. Late last month, a portion of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Amer- ican History and Culture (NMAAHC) in Washington, D.C., was closed for nearly three hours after a noose was found in a gallery, officials said. The museum, on the Nation- al Mall near the White House, reopened fully later that day, after police deemed the area “safe and secure,” according to an internal memo provided to ABC News by the Smithso- nian. In an article posted to the Smithsonian’s, museum offi- cials said that the noose is a reminder of “America’s dark history with lynching” and referred to similar incidents of noose sightings around the country including at a school in Missouri, a construction site in Maryland, on the cam- pus of Duke University, at a fraternity house on Univer- sity of Maryland’s campus, at a middle school in Maryland and at a high school in Lake- wood, California. Tourists found the noose in Lauren Victoria Burke NNPA Columnist the museum’s exhibit on seg- regation. The incident at NMAAHC occurred after a noose was found on May 26 hanging from a tree outside the Hirsh- horn Museum, which is locat- “ ed outside of a window. “Let me be clear: This was an offensive act that has no place in our school. The im- agery is deeply offensive and everyone in our school com- munity should be appalled,” said Principal Malik Bazzell, as reported by on Raleigh TV. During a rally at the a park named after Confederate Civ- il War General Robert E. Lee Charlottesville, Va., on May 13, participants with torches chanted “Russia is our friend” and “you shall not erase us.” Tourists found the noose in the museum’s exhibit on segregation ed close to the Black History museum. In an email to museum staff- ers, Lonnie Bunch, the direc- tor of NMAAHC, said that the incident is a painful reminder of the challenges that African Americans continue to face. “The noose has long rep- resented a deplorable act of cowardice and depravity—a symbol of extreme violence for African-Americans,” said Bunch. On May 30, at Wakefield High School in Raleigh, N.C. a Black doll with a noose around its neck was suspend- According to ThinkProg- ress.org, the rally was in response to “the state’s de- cision to sell off a statue of treasonous general Robert E. Lee, who led the Confederate Army of Northern Virgin- ia against the United States during the Civil War.” ThinkProgress.org also re- ported, “Charlottesville May- or Mike Signer condemned the rally and its attendees.” On May 26, in Portland, Or- egon, a man named Jeremy Christian hurled anti-Mus- lim vitriol on a subway train at two young women, then murdered two men who intervened, Taliesin Nam- kai-Meche, 23, and Ricky Best, 53, and injured a third, Micah Fletcher. On May 20, Richard Collins, 23 year-old second lieutenant in the Army, was stabbed to death by University of Mary- land student Sean Urbanski, 22, as Collins waited with friends for a ride. Lt. Collins was about to graduate from Bowie State University on May 23. The FBI is investigat- ing the murder as a possible hate crime and it has already been reported that Urbans- ki was a member of an “alt- right” group on Facebook. On the eve of the NBA Finals, Cleveland Cavaliers star LeB- ron James’ Los Angeles home was vandalized; the “N-word” was written with spray paint on his house. “Just shows that racism will always be a part of the world, part of America. Hate in America, especially for African-Americans, is living every day. It is hidden most days. It is alive every single day,” James told reporters. “No matter how much money you have, how famous you are, how much people admire you, being Black in America is tough.”