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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (July 20, 2011)
opinion Happy Birthday Nelson Mandela “Challenging People to Shape a Better Future Now” B ErNIE F OStEr Founder/Publisher B OBBIE D OrE F OStEr executive editor t ED B ANkS advertising Manager J Erry F OStEr account executive L ISA L OVINg news editor B rIAN S tIMSON reporter D AVID k IDD graphic Designer M ONICA J. F OStEr Seattle office Coordinator J uLIE k EEFE S uSAN F rIED Photographers The Skanner Newspaper, established in October 1975, is a weekly publica- tion, published each Wednesday by IMM Publications Inc., 415 N. Killingsworth St., P.O. Box 5455, Portland, OR 97228. Telephone (503) 285-5555. E-mail: info@theskanner.com World Wide Web site: http://www.theskanner.com Fax: (503) 285-2900 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. © 2011 the Skanner. ALL RIGHTS RE SERVED. REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART WITHOUT PERMISSION PROHIBITED. knowing What’s Important Can Change your Life! Subscribe to The Skanner – don’t miss an issue! Please sign me up for: q 1 year $74 q 2 year $140 q New Subscription q Renewal ________________________ Name _________________ Address _________________ City _________________ State ______ ZIP ________ Phone Mail with check or money order to: The Skanner P.O. Box 5455 Portland, OR 97228 L iterally millions of people on each continent through- out the world paused on July 18, 2011 to recognize and to celebrate the birthday of the living legend, Nelson Mandela. As an African American, I personally joined the ranks of the African National Congress more than 40 years ago while I was a younger Black community activist and organizer for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the United Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice. Today, at the wisdom age of 93, Nelson Mandela still stands tall as a living symbol of the tri- umph of the long protracted strug- gle of humanity for freedom, jus- tice and equality. We celebrate the birth and con- tinuing leadership of one of the world’s greatest freedom fighters. Nelson Mandela is a father, grand- father and a serious family man. Even during his long unjust imprisonment for over 27 years, he never lost his sense of perspec- tive about the importance of his family and the leadership of the ANC investing the spirit and ide- ology of the freedom struggle in the youth of South Africa. The youth of the ANC, who later would rise up in such an irrepress- ible unity and focus that caused even the rigid foundations of apartheid to collapse and fall. Mandela embodies what it means to be an African transformation visionary who not only fought hard and long to free South Africa from the ruthless apartheid regime, but also who became the first Black President of South E DUCATION S ERVICES Benjamin F. Chavis Jr. Africa with a universal sense of global dignity, integrity and respect. I believe today that the first Black President of the United States of America, President Barack H. Obama can also learn from the legacy of Nelson how to unite a divided nation in order to summon a common, inclusive, transformative and par- ticipatory agenda that takes the nation forward in the face of fierce “reactionary” head winds that are determined to take the nation backwards. The current divisive debate in the United States on increasing the national debt limit to avoid eco- nomic default and catastrophe is yet another classic example of politicians putting their narrow political and economic views over the common good for the nation. But, some would join me I believe today that the first Black President of the United States of America, President Barack H. Obama can also learn from the legacy of Nelson Mandela Mandela. When Mandela became President of South Africa, it was not an easy task. It was difficult and trying on every issue because of the history of racial oppression and economic exploitation. But, Mandela rose to the occasion with a masterful astuteness that even brought his political opponents to see and value his inclusive vision for a “new” South Africa. Yes, there are vast differences between the United States and South Africa. My point, however, is that President Obama has a similar trial and tribulation that Mandela had: in saying that this was exactly why the majority of people who voted in the United States elected President Barack Obama to rise to every occasion to help the nation move forward and not backward. President Obama, like President Mandela in the past, will have to transcend the retrenchment bound- aries of partisan politics toward a “new” America that cares more about all its people without the stagnate lethargy of the status quo elite who have little or no concern for the downtrodden and margin- alized masses of people who are crying out for a better way of life in America. Neither South Africa or the United States is perfect, but both nations are still evolving and it will take strong leadership to lead both nations in the broader context of the global community to achieve greater progress for all of humanity. The global economy needs global leadership that views and values diversity, but bonds and binds the global community together with the best of govern- mental, as well as grass roots, leadership and empowerment for all. In my last face to face private visit with Nelson Mandela and Russell Simmons in southern Africa, we discussed how impor- tant it was for the diamond indus- try and other extractive industries to invest in the empowerment of Africa. Shortly thereafter and tak- ing the wisdom of Mandela seri- ously, Russell, I and others from the industry established the Diamond Empowerment Fund (DEF) to provide financial support for the higher education of young African leaders from diamond producing nations in Africa. Business leaders and gov- ernment leaders can and should do so much more. Africans can learn from us, but equally important, there is so much we can learn from Africans. We are working now in South Africa and Botswana. Soon we will be in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). We are advocating con- cern about all the minerals and Read the rest online at www.theskanner.com Michele Bachmann: what is She Saying? A s you probably have read in press accounts and seen on TV, Michele Bachmann, the Republican Congressional Representative from Minnesota, has declared that she is running for president. Michele has stumbled several times out of the gate, on her road to the White House, but don’t tell her that. Bachmann’s “American Girl” dazzling looks and her status as the “darling of the Tea Party Movement” seems to be keeping her in good stead with her vocal constituency, and may be adding to her “teflonness,” similar to the Ronald Reagan phenomena. You remember the “Gipper”? The more he stumbled and bumbled; the more they loved him. All he had to do was hang his head sheepishly, give an aww shucks face and America forgave his mis- steps. Bachmann, who announced her candidacy in Iowa at the end of June, according to Florida’s St. Petersburg Times’ fact-checking Web site, politifact.com, has not gotten it right at least 19 times in recent statements. The Congresswoman’s inaccuracy quotient includes a statement about how many barrels of oil President Obama released from oil reserves. Bachmann claimed the President released all of the oil reserve to abate escalating prices at the pump, when in reality the President approved a release of a Page 4 The Portland Skanner July 20, 2011 W EStChEStEr C OuNty Linda Tarrant-Reid mere 4 percent of the oil in stor- age. Bachmann also got it wrong when she told conservative Iowan conference attendees that Obama’s administration had only issued one drilling permit since he came into office. The fact is that before the Gulf oil spill, the Obama Administration had issued 217 drilling permits, after the spill and their spelling not mine. Did she read the preamble? Her people say that she only signed the “can- didate vow” page, so does that mean she didn’t read the whole document? That’s a problem. But the bigger problem is surely the words on the first page of the mar- riage pact; that were subsequently deleted when the blogosphere went wild, which stated: “Slavery had a disastrous impact on African-American families, yet sadly a child born into slavery in 1860 was more likely to be raised I don’t think Bachmann’s team did their homework or, maybe, it just doesn’t matter to her campaign what African American voters think of her and her views with new regulations in place; the Administration announced that they had granted more than 35 shallow-water permits, and since the moratorium on issuing deep- water well permits was lifted in October, 2010, seven have been approved. For me, Michele Bachmann’s most egregious gaffe was when she signed the The Marriage Vow: A Declaration of Dependence upon Marriage and Family to get the support of Bob Vander Plaat’s group, THE FAMiLY LEADER, by his mother and father in a two- parent household than was an African-American baby born after the election of the USA’s first African-American President.” Oh my goodness! In order to slam the first Black President of the United States of America, this conservative Christian organiza- tion took slavery, the vilest institu- tion that was ever propagated in the USA, and twisted the facts to make slavery a family-friendly experience for enslaved Africans. Not so for Black Americans who are still struggling against the residual effects of slavery four hundred years later. Anyone with just a little bit of knowledge about slavery knows that the families of the enslaved were deliberately wrenched apart by slaveholders to erode family support and destroy the kinship networks that made Black people strong. It was essen- tial to the success of the British Mercantile Empire that slave fam- ilies – men, women and children – be separated and distributed to far flung plantations throughout the colonies, in order to serve as the backbone of their well-developed economic system. Enslaved women were repeatedly raped and impregnated by the white slave owners creating a bastardized family unit, into which more enslaved children were born. I don’t think Bachmann’s team did their homework or, maybe, it just doesn’t matter to her cam- paign what African American vot- ers think of her and her views. After all, she’s not really going after the Black vote anyway. And that’s why it’s important for voters to pay very close attention to each of the candidates in the Presidential race and in all of the races for those seeking political office, because what they are say- ing ultimately mirrors their beliefs. Read the rest online at www.theskanner.com
