WWW . THeSkANNeR . COM
A uGuST 31, 2011
S eATTLe , W ASHINGTON
V OLuMe XXXIII, N O . 44
25
CeNTS
I nsIde
Family Fun
page 2
Job Listings
page 3
Zendaya
C hallenging P eoPle to S haPe a B etter F uture n ow
page 4
Gregoire
Touts
Diversity
Summer
League
But AP investigation
finds her staff is
mostly white, male
mike Baker
Of The associated Press
PHOTO BY susan FrIed
The Jamal Crawford Foundation
Summer ProAm featured an incredible
line up of professional and college all
stars like Nate Robinson, Jamal
Crawford, Isaiah Thomas, and Tony
Wroten Jr., Aug. 27 and 28 at the
Rainier Vista Boys and Girls Club. On
Saturday the summer league Hawks
played the Mavericks followed by a
close game between the Bulls and
the Sonics. Sundays festivities
included a three point shootout and
slam dunk contest, followed by an all-
star game.
Poll: uS Muslims Feel Targeted
Singled out for harassment, yet supportive of government policies
By Hope Yen
The associated Press
WasHIngTOn (aP) —
More than half of Muslim
Americans in a new poll say
government anti-terrorism poli-
cies single them out for
increased surveillance and mon-
itoring, and many report
increased cases of name-calling,
threats and harassment by air-
port security, law enforcement
officers and others.
Still, most Muslim Americans
say they are satisfied with the
way things are going in the U.S.
and rate their communities
highly as places to live.
The survey by the Pew
Research Center, one of the
most exhaustive ever of the
country’s Muslims, finds no
signs of rising alienation or
anger
among
Muslim-
Americans despite recent U.S.
government concerns about
homegrown Islamic terrorism
and controversy over the build-
ing of mosques.
“This confirms what we’ve
said all along: American
IndeX
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Muslims are well integrated and
happy, but with a kind of linger-
ing sense of being besieged by
growing anti-Muslim sentiment
in our society,” said Ibrahim
Hooper, spokesman for the
Council on American-Islamic
Relations, a Washington, D.C.-
based Muslim civil rights group.
“People contact us every day
about concerns they’ve had,
particularly with law enforce-
ment authorities in this post-
9/11 era,” he said.
Muslim extremists hijacked
four passenger planes on Sept.
11, 2001, crashing them into the
World Trade Center, the
Pentagon and a field in
Shanksville, Pa.
In all, 52 percent of Muslim
Americans surveyed said their
group is singled out by govern-
ment for terrorist surveillance.
Almost as many - 43 percent -
reported they had personally
experienced harassment in the
past year, according to the poll
released Tuesday.
That 43 percent share of peo-
ple reporting harassment is up
see muslIms on page 4
OlYmPIa, Wash. (AP) –Gov. Chris
Gregoire has spent part of this summer
reshuffling her leadership team, adding two
new people to her inner circle, elevating
another to chief of staff and naming a new
cabinet secretary.
All of them are white.
Gregoire’s staffing selections have pro-
longed a trend that runs contrary to her vow
to make diversity one of the chief initiatives
of her administration. Minorities now
account for more than one-quarter of
Washington state residents, but Gregoire’s
entire senior staff is white and her cabinet of
26 has only two people of another race.
It’s a gap that extends to rank-and-file
workers. Just 18 percent of state employees
as a whole are minorities, according to an
AP analysis of state personnel records, and
there’s even less diversity among managers
– only 16 percent of them are non-white.
The numbers are not getting any better:
The percentage of minority hires has fallen
from 18 percent in 2007 to just under 16
percent this past year.
Gregoire spoksman Scott Whiteaker said
the governor understands the importance of
diversity and has placed an emphasis on
minority recruitment and retention.
“It’s a challenge we don’t shy away from
and strive to continue to improve,’’
Whiteaker said.
Supporters of diversity in state govern-
ment believe an expanded minority pres-
ence would help officials better understand
and work with the people they serve. Some
pointed to a lack of diversity in social serv-
ices that provide aid to a large segment of
minority residents. –
Gregoire herself has long touted the bene-
fits of diversity.
“Because diversity is as important in the
workplace as it is in the community, the
Governor has selected a diverse staff within
see gregOIre on page 4
Attorneys General: Stop Online Sex Ads
State law enforcement says website is major avenue for abuse
W
ashington State Attorney General
Rob McKenna and 45 other attor-
neys general Wednesday called
for information about how Backpage.com
presumably attempts to remove advertising
for sex trafficking, especially ads that could
involve minors.
In a letter to the online classified site’s
lawyers, the attorneys general say that
Backpage.com claims it has strict policies to
prevent illegal activity. Yet the chief legal
officers of Washington state, Missouri and
Connecticut have found hundreds of ads on
Backpage.com’s regional sites that are
clearly for illegal services.
“It does not require forensic training to
understand that these advertisements are for
prostitution,” the attorneys general wrote.
The letter says the hub for illegal sex ads
is a magnet for those seeking to exploit
minors and points to more than 50 cases, in
22 states over three years, involving the
trafficking or attempted trafficking of
minors through Backpage.com. “These are
only the stories that made it into the news;
many more instances likely exist,” the attor-
neys general wrote. They also reminded
Backpage.com of a 2010 request from near-
see TraFFIckIng on page 2