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Opinion Celebrating Marcus Garvey “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 H ELEN S ILVIS Multimedia Editor 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- A ug. 17 will mark the 125th Birthday of the most for- midable Pan Africanist leader the world has ever known, the Honorable Marcus Mosiah Garvey. And, 2012 is the 50th Anniversary of Jamaica’s inde- pendence. What better time to renew the call for Marcus Gar- vey’s birthday to be proclaimed Universal African Flag Day as an act of Kujichagulia/Self-Determi- nation? This is not a new call. For years I have attempted to make the case that people of African descent should take at least one day to proudly and massively display the flag Marcus Garvey bequeathed to African people as one of his great- est gifts. Speaking of “audacity of hope,” Marcus Garvey burst upon the global scene at a time when the vast majority of Africans suffered under the boot of white supremacy either through ruthless, exploita- tive and humiliating forms of European colonialism or segrega- tion/apartheid in the Diaspora. As his life’s commitment, the Jamaican-born national was deter- mined to use his extraordinary gifts as a visionary, orator and organizer to uplift the African race and propel Black people to their rightful place in the forefront of civilization. To achieve his goal, however, he had to find a way to “keep hope alive.” One of Gar- vey’s greatest gifts was his keen appreciation of the role that sym- W ORLD 21 ST C ENTURY Dr. Ron Daniels bols play in inspiring, uplifting and motivating disadvantaged and oppressed people. There was hard- ly a more daunting challenge than finding a way to give hope to the ethnically disparate and virtually universally despised sons and daughters of Africa. Never one to be discouraged by the difficulty of the task, Garvey boldly declared cials with the President General at the top. But, Garvey did more than conceive of structures for an African government, he created a National Hymn, rituals and cere- monies and most importantly a Flag as critical ingredients in his formula for inspiring, uplifting and unifying the African peoples of the world. Indeed, in part Gar- vey was responding to a popular white Supremacist song of the era “Every Race Has a Flag but the Coon.” This was no laughing mat- ter for Garvey who said: “Show People of African descent should take at least one day to proudly and massively display the flag Marcus Garvey bequeathed that he would give Black people a vision of a “government,” men of “big affairs and a “flag!” The master organizer built the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) into the largest mass organization of Africans in history, with hundreds of chapters in the U.S., Canada, Central and South America, Europe and Africa. The genius of the UNIA was that Garvey organ- ized it as a virtual government in waiting with social, economic, political and military structures and a chain of command of offi- me the race or the nation without a flag, and I will show you a race of people without any pride.” The red, black and green flag was not only an answer to the white supremacists, it was intended to be a meaningful cultural-historical symbol encapsulating the pain of the past, the struggle for freedom and the promise of the future of African people. Though there are varying inter- pretations of the colors, at Institute of the Black World 21st Century forums and celebrations we describe the Red for the blood and suffering of African people, the Black for the color and culture of African people and green for the land we will reclaim to build our nation. We believe this interpreta- tion captures the essence of Gar- vey’s definition of the meaning of the flag. Over time, particularly during the rise of Black conscious- ness, Black Power and Black Nationalism in the 60s, the flag became closely associated with the Black Liberation Movement in the U.S. But, Garvey never intend- ed the flag to be for Africans in America exclusively. His goal was to create a substantive unifying symbol for Africans everywhere, an overarching symbol of the power, potential and possibilities of Pan Africanism. In the red, black and green African people have a universal flag and Africans everywhere should understand its origins, meaning and significance and dis- play it or the colors with cultural, political pride and conviction. At a time when Africans in America are in the throes of a State of Emer- gency and our sisters and brothers on the Continent are still afflicted by neo-colonialism, intensified exploitation and internal divisions, there is an urgent need for a cul- tural offensive to inspire Black people to understand the vision of Marcus Garvey. Read the rest online at www.theskanner.com 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 Associ- ation 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. © 2012 The Skanner. ALL RIGHTS RE SERVED. REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART WITHOUT PERMISSION PROHIBITED. To see The Skanner News on your smart phone go to theskannermobile.com or scan this QR code with your app. • • • • • • • • Local news Opinions Jobs, Bids Sports Entertainment Music reviews Bulletin board RSS feeds Ryan: A Nightmare for Poor and Minorities I n an apparent off the cuff remark, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan gushed that he thought it was a “cool thing” that an African- American was president. But Ryan’s rapture with President Obama didn’t last past the first sentence. In the next breath he quickly added that he didn’t like much else about Obama. The much else was how Obama has spent on health, education and job development programs that would help the poor and minorities. That spending has been fiscal heresy for Ryan. His savage cost cutting plan is well-known. He’d cut tens of bil- lions from Medicaid and Medicare, and more than a trillion from everything from food stamps to welfare over the next decade. The Ryan slash and burn plan mer- cifully hasn’t happened during his tenure as House Budget Commit- tee chair. But as Vice President Ryan, he would be in a command- ing position to make his cost cut- ting plan a nightmare come true for the poor and minorities. The key to that is winning the vice-presidency. In distant times past, the vice-presidency was little more than a ceremonial, title-laden position that carried little authori- ty, and almost no power to make, shape or change public policy. Presidential candidates picked vice-presidents mostly to shore up their perceived political or ideo- logical weakness, be it sectional- ism, inexperience, image, or on domestic or foreign policy expert- ise. The VP was there to balance a ticket, and help a presidential con- Page 4 The Portland Skanner August 15, 2012 T HE L AST W ORD Earl Ofari Hutchinson tender win, and nothing more. But that was in the distant past. The vice presidential pick has morphed into a high stakes game in the evolution of presidential politics. The VP is now much more than just a standard dressing up of the presidential ticket. He or she must be able to actually help a presidential candidate win first enough to give Reagan a little edge with moderate Republicans. But the vice-president has become much more than that. A vice president is now directly involved in discussing, imple- menting and even helping to for- mulate domestic and foreign policy. Vice-Presidents chair pres- idential committees and commis- sions. They are consulted and make recommendations on major policy decisions and changes. They are often the hit men on con- troversial policy issues and during elections they are on the campaign trail to say what the president often can’t say. Clinton’s VP Al Gore and Bush’s VP Dick Cheney The poor are not only getting poorer, they are also more numerous than any time in the last half-century and have slipped even further behind in wealth and income disparities and foremost, or at worse not help him lose. There were times in past elections when VPs have made a difference. Lyndon Johnson in 1960 is the textbook example of that. He brought legislative savvy, he was a Southern then still in good stead, and he could deliver two or three Deep South states. He did his job. Bush Sr. also helped Reagan in 1980. He brought expe- rience, insider connections, and as a transplanted Southerner, the regional balance that Reagan needed. And he was moderate played the role of advisor and point man on key issues. Obama VP Joe Biden plays the same role. In any case, the VP is now often right in the center of presidential politics and the national political debate. Ryan would be even more at the center of that debate and decision making. He was picked in large part not to balance the Romney ticket, but because of his budget hammering big stick. A Romney White House will not only listen to him, but rely heavily on him on policy decisions involving spend- ing slashes, almost all of it involv- ing crucial domestic programs. This would come at the worst possible time for the poor and minorities. The poor are not only getting poorer, they are also more numerous than any time in the last half-century and have slipped even further behind in wealth and income disparities. Other reports repeatedly confirm that a dispro- portionate number of the poor are blacks and Hispanics. The single biggest reason for their plunge downward is the relentless peck- ing away at federal spending on enhancement programs in health care, education, job and skills training, and the massive cutbacks and downsizing in the public employment sector. This has been coupled with a colossal leap in the fortunes of the rich and major corporations. Their wealth bounty has soared through a benign and porous tax and regu- latory system that has given the taxpayer company store away to them. The Ryan plan would be a dream come true for them. It would shove out even more of the tax cut bounty to the wealthiest, and do absolutely nothing to insure that any of the tax cut give- away go toward investment in new job creation. The cuts would leave the tattered safety net for the poor in even greater tatters. It doesn’t take a soothsayer to predict that the number of poor will skyrocket even more under the Ryan plan.
