www . THeSkANNer . Com
J uLy 13, 2011
S eATTLe , w ASHiNgToN
V oLume XXXiii, N o . 37
25
CeNTS
I nsIde
Black Apprentice
page 1
Calendar
page 2
C hallenging P eoPle to S haPe a B etter F uture n ow
Smart moveS
Slavery
row Dogs
goP
Romney, Pawlenty
decide not to sign
conservative pledge
PHOTO BY JulIe keefe
The skanner staff
from wire reports
Joey Thomas, former NFL player and current football coach at Ballard High School, demonstrates ways to avoid a
defensive player during a football camp he hosted July 9th at Ballard High School.
Black Families Struggle to Survive
Black economic gains now reversed in Great Recession
By Jesse washington
aP national writer
BalTIMORe (AP) Growing
up black in the segregated
1960s, Deborah Goldring slept
two to a bed, got evicted from
apartment after apartment, and
watched her stepfather climb
utility poles to turn their discon-
nected lights back on. Yet
Goldring pulled herself out of
poverty and earned a middle-
class life — until the Great
First, Goldring’s husband fell
ill, and they drained savings to
pay for nursing homes before he
died. Then Goldring lost her
executive assistant job in the
Baltimore hospital where she
had worked for 17 years. The
cruelest blow was a letter from
the bank, intending to foreclose
on her home of almost three
decades.
Millions
of
Americans
endured
similar
financial
calamities in the recession. But
for Goldring and many others in
the black community, where
unemployment has risen since
the end of the recession, job loss
IndeX
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has knocked them out of the
middle class and back into
poverty. Some even see a his-
toric reversal of hard-won eco-
nomic gains that took black peo-
ple decades to achieve.
Goldring remembers her
mother taping the window
shades to the wall so no one
could see them stealing electric-
ity. She remembers each time
she sat on the curb with her
three brothers, surrounded by
her family’s belongings, waiting
for a new place to live. Sitting
on those curbs, she promised to
always pay her bills on time.
Now, after finding herself
poor again, “the only word I can
say is devastated,” says
Goldring, 58.
“For me to live that life we
were so comfortable in, we
never had to worry about
finances, we always had money
where I can help my kids and
my grandchildren — to go to
calling my daughter to borrow
$100 because I can’t pay a bill
…” Goldring’s voice trails off
as she struggles to hold back
sT. Paul, Minn. (AP) — Republicans
Tim Pawlenty and Mitt Romney have
refused to sign a pledge written by a conser-
vative Christian organization in Iowa that
asks presidential candidates to denounce
same-sex marriage rights, pornography and
forms of Islamic law.
Pawlenty is the second major Republican
presidential candidate to say no to the
Family Leader’s Marriage Vow, following
former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s
decision. Former New Mexico Gov. Gary
Johnson and former Utah Gov. Jon
Huntsman have also ruled it out.
Two other Republicans, Minnesota Rep.
Michele
Bachmann
and
former
Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum signed
the document.
Bachman and Santorum are under fire for
signing the controversial pledge before it
had been stripped of an introduction that
claimed African Americans were better off
under slavery.
After Black ministers complained, the
group removed the offending clause.
Originally, “The Marriage Vow — A
Declaration of Dependence upon Marriage
and Family,” included these words:
“Slavery had a disastrous impact on
African-American families, yet sadly a
child born into slavery in 1860 was more
likely to be raised by his mother and father
in a two-parent household than was an
African-American baby born after the elec-
tion of the USA’s first African-American
President.”
When the controversy broke, both
Bachman and Santorum tried to repair the
political damage. Alice Stewart, a
spokesperson for Bachman said Sunday “In
no uncertain terms, Congresswoman
Bachmann believes that slavery was horri-
ble and economic enslavement is also horri-
ble.”
see ReveRsed on page 2
see ROw on page 2
African-American “Apprentice” Speaks
Dr. Randal Pinkett is the only Black Winner of Trump Show
D
r. Randal Pinkett has established
himself as an entrepreneur, speaker,
author and scholar, and as a leading
voice for his generation in business and
technology. He is the founder, chairman and
CEO of his fifth venture, BCT Partners, a
multimillion-dollar consulting firm head-
quartered in Newark, NJ that provides orga-
nizational development and capacity build-
ing services to public and nonprofit sector
organizations. He is also a partner in the
Chicago-based joint venture, Blackwell-
BCT Consulting Services, which specializes
in management consulting and information
technology solutions for the Federal gov-
ernment and Fortune 500 corporations.
Randal has received numerous awards for
business and technology excellence includ-
ing the Information Technology Senior
Management Forum’s Beacon Award, the
National Society of Black Engineers’
Entrepreneur of the Year Award, and the
National Urban League’s Business
Excellence Award. He has been featured on
nationally televised programs such as the
today Show, live with regis and Kelly,
nightline and larry King live. In 2009, he
was named to New Jersey Governor Jon
see Places on page 4