WWW . THESkANNER . COM
N OvEMBER 16, 2011
P ORTLANd & S EATTLE
v OLUME XXXIII, N O . 55
25
CENTS
i nSide
Len Cabral
page 2
OutdoorAfro
page 7
Credit Card Rules
C hallenging P eoPle to S haPe a B etter F uture n ow
Black
Student
Unions
page 9
Riot Standoff
Youth leaders are
finding new support
in BSU organizations
By Bruce Poinsette
Special to The Skanner News
See StudentS on page 3
indeX
News .................2,3,10
Opinion ..................4,5
A & E .........................7
Books.......................10
Healthy Food.............9
Bids/Classifieds ........11
PHoto BY liSa loving
I
n recent years, as Portland has seen the
loss of organizations for youth of color,
Black Student Unions have taken on
greater importance in instilling cultural
awareness and encouraging young people to
be leaders.
“When you lose youth oriented groups
and initiatives those losses have impact,”
says Madison High School BSU co-adviser
Wade Nkrumah. “When you have some-
thing to fill the void it is inspiring and hope-
ful.”
In an effort to foster youth-led initiatives,
the Urban League of Portland sponsors a
BSU Leadership Summit Saturday, Nov. 19,
from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Grant High
School. The event will also be open to
Latino Club students.
Coordinators say inviting both groups of
young people to participate is important
because African American and Latino stu-
dents face similar challenges academically.
They say it will also give all the students a
chance to network.
“It’s the first time anything like this has
happened in the region,” says Urban League
Civic Engagement Manager Inger
McDowell.
She says the goal of the event is for youth
to produce their own initiatives to improve
education and get more involved in commu-
nity service.
According to McDowell, the idea grew
from the previous Legislative Action Day in
Salem, where students and community
members interacted with legislators on
issues that affected the Black community.
Students from Portland area schools, includ-
ing Grant, Franklin, Cleveland and
Jefferson participated.
Since then, the Urban League, BSU advis-
ers and students from Portland high schools
have sought to coordinate the upcoming
Leadership Summit.
Portland Police and the Occupy Portland movement clashed Sunday as city officials wiped the two-month-old
encampment off the map. The shut-down did not stop activists from protesting Wednesday afternoon, when a
planned Portland State University walkout in support of the movement triggered arrests and a large General
Assembly meeting in the rain at Pioneer Courthouse Square. More protests are planned Thursday, Nov. 17.
Are Newcomers Old Enemies?
Author speaks on origins of conflict for immigrants from Africa
G
rowing numbers of peo-
ple from the Horn of
Africa have fled war and
violence by immigrating to the
United States. But although
Ethiopians, Eritreans, and
Somalis share borders and his-
tory, they also come from cen-
turies of conflict that made them
enemies to one another. Here in
the Northwest, they often find
themselves living together as
neighbors with their children
meeting as classmates in school.
In her new book ‘Seeking
Salaam,’ author and former
University of Washington lec-
turer Sandra Chait talks about
the challenges facing East
Africans in the Pacific
Northwest.
the Skanner news: What’s
your connection to East Africa?
Sandra chait: I used to
teach African Literature at the
University of Washington and I
had this Eritrean friend who
used to speak in glowing terms
about her country. She’d tell me
how everyone had worked
together, united, to bring the
country to independence and
how they were working togeth-
er yet again to develop Eritrea.
There was no homelessness
there, she said, no beggars on
the street, and unlike in many
African countries, the govern-
ment wasn’t corrupt.
She persuaded me and two
colleagues to go out there and
see for ourselves, which we did.
At the time, 2001, we were
incredibly impressed—things
have changed since then – but
then we were impressed enough
that we formed a partnership
between the University of
Asmara and the University of
Washington. We worked with
Asmara in different disciplines:
computer science, nursing, and
in my case literature.
tSn: How did you get the
idea for a book about East
Africans in the Northwest?
Sc: I was teaching an online
course with an Eritrean col-
league from Asmara and my stu-
dents were able to meet his stu-
dents through the internet and
See africa on page 10
States Worry About Consumer Rip-Offs
Former homeowners could be robbed twice -- by banks and cons
By lisa loving
of The Skanner News
F
ederal officials say they are actively
investigating consumer complaints on
home foreclosures, but state Attorneys
General are sounding the alarm to counter
small-time fraudsters who may try to rip
you off by pretending to help.
Washington Attorney General Rob
McKenna’s office is taking an active role in
warning consumers – who may already
have been ripped-off by their home mort-
gage servicers – not to get robbed a second
time by opportunistic con artists posing as
government agencies but charging thou-
sands of dollars for mortgage negotiations.
Established as part of a negotiated settle-
ment between the federal Office of the
Comptroller of the Currency and more than
a dozen mortgage companies in April, the
independent foreclosure review is designed
“to correct deficiencies in their servicing
and foreclosure processes and to engage
independent firms to conduct a multi-
faceted independent review of foreclosure
actions that occurred in 2009 and 2010,”
according to a statement.
See forecloSure on page 3