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Opinion Obama Races from Issue of Race “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 B RUCE P OINSETTE 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. W hen Barack Obama accepted his party’s presidential nomination in Denver on August 28, 2008 – the 45th anniversary of the March on Washington where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream Speech” – excite- ment filled the air. Amid that jubilance, however, it struck me as odd that Obama failed to mention Dr. King by name. “.. And it is that promise that, 45 years ago today, brought Ameri- cans from every corner of this land to stand together on a Mall in Washington, before Lincoln’s Memorial, and hear a young preacher from Georgia speak of his dream,” Obama said at the time. Seconds later, he would add: “’We cannot walk alone,’” the preacher cried. And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We can- not turn back.” When Obama was inaugurated for the second time on Jan. 21, the day we officially celebrated as the King federal holiday, I knew – or thought I knew – that President Obama would not make that same omission again. I listened carefully as he said: “We the people declare today that the most evident of truth that all of us are created equal – is the star that guides us still; just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls and Selma and Stonewall; just as it guided all those men and women, sung and unsung, who left footprints along this great mall, to hear a preacher say that we cannot walk alone; to hear a King proclaim that our indi- T HE C URRY R EPORT George E. Curry vidual freedom is inextricably bound to the freedom of every soul on Earth.” Why couldn’t President Obama utter Dr. King’s name on the day he used the slain civil rights leader’s Bible to be sworn in? On King’s birthday, why couldn’t he remarks by Rev. Jeremiah Wright, his former pastor, he said in Philadelphia: “But race is an issue that I believe this nation cannot afford to ignore right now.” However, that’s exactly what he has been doing. Frederick C. Harris, director of the Institute for Research in African-American Studies at Columbia University, noted, “… as president, Mr. Obama has had little to say on concerns specific to blacks. His State of the Union address in 2011 was the first by any president since 1948 to not mention poverty or the poor. The political scientist Daniel Q. To discuss race less than Lyndon Johnson, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, all White southerners, should be embarrassing to President Obama be called more than just a preach- er? Even though Beyoncé lip- synced the National Anthem on Inauguration Day, she hasn’t been accused of faking it when she sings another song – “Say My Name.” If you ain’t running a game Say my name, say my name The problem is larger than the failure to say Dr. King’s name. The problem, according to Michael Eric Dyson, is that, “This president runs from race like a Black man runs from a cop.” When candidate Obama was forced to address the issue of race in the wake of controversial Gillion found that Mr. Obama, in his first two years in office, talked about race less than any Demo- cratic president had since 1961. From racial profiling to mass incarceration to affirmative action, his comments have been sparse and halting.” Sure, he had a beer summit at the White House with Harvard profes- sor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and the White police officer who arrested him in his own home. Obama said the officer had “acted stupidly,” but later softened his criticism. The president also said, “If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon [Mar- tin].” Of course, the issue is not whether Obama has a son who looks like Trayvon Martin. What is he going to do about people who are treated like Trayvon? To discuss race less than Lyndon Johnson, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, all White southerners who grew up under segregation, should be embarrassing to Presi- dent Obama. It should be even more of an embarrassment that Obama hasn’t taken leadership on the issue as Bill Clinton did when he launched his “One America Ini- tiative” on race. Putting aside the merits of the initiative, it demon- strated Clinton was willing to con- front the issue of race. As my friend Courtland Milloy wrote in the Washington Post, it’s time to stop making excuses for Obama. Unfortunately, some of the most vocal Black leaders have either been co-opted by the White House or fear a backlash from adoring Black voters. The usually outspoken Rep. Maxine Waters [D-Calif.] told a crowd in Detroit, “If we go after the president too hard, you’re going after us.” And former Congressional Black Caucus Chairman Emanuel Cleaver, II of Missouri admitted, “With 14 percent [black] unem- ployment if we had a white presi- dent we’d be marching around the White House.” If we don’t get some true leader- ship on this issue, perhaps it will be time to march around the White House, Congress and the head- quarters of some of our civil rights organizations. Read the rest online at www.theskanner.com 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 Page 4 The Portland Skanner Credit Card Reform Fears Never Materialized S ince the enactment of the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclo- sure (CARD) Act of 2009, con- sumers have benefited from more transparent pricing and improved ability to manage credit card debt. Although 68 percent of consumers had a credit card in 2010, fewer than 40 percent carried a balance that year – the lowest proportion on record. Interest rates paid on credit card debt has fallen since the Act’s implementation. More- over, the number of late fees paid by consumers dropped by more than half – from $901 million in January 2010 to $427 million in November that same year. Consumers benefited while issuers continued to profit. At the same time, the nation’s top five credit card issuers – who account- ed for more than half of the credit card market with combined port- folios of $475 billion, continued to enjoy net earnings that were sig- nificantly higher than those of other commercial banks. The State of Lending in America and its Impact on U.S. House- holds, addresses how credit card practices and usage have changed since the enactment of credit card reform. It also speaks to emerging challenges. While opponents of credit card reform predicted that the Credit January 30, 2013 R ESPONSIBLE L ENDING Charlene Crowell CARD Act would lead to higher prices and shrinking credit avail- ability, those claims were never realized. According to CRL, “Opponents of the Credit CARD Act raised fears that the reforms an additional cost of $66.5 mil- lion. Despite these encouraging developments, debt remains a weighty financial burden for mil- lions of Americans. After examin- ing consumer activity from 2000 to 2012, CRL found that credit card debt rose over a full decade from $172 billion in 2000 to $855 billion in 2012. The only con- sumer debts that surpassed credit cards were housing, cars, and stu- dent loans. Many low and moderate income households still turn to credit A series of credit card enforcement actions in 2012 by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau resulted in consumers receiving nearly half a billion dollars in refunds would result in the unintended consequence of restricting con- sumers’ access to credit. This has been proven unfounded.” Additionally, a series of credit card enforcement actions in 2012 by the Consumer Financial Protec- tion Bureau resulted in consumers receiving nearly half a billion dol- lars in refunds. Government penal- ties were added to these refunds at cards to pay for basic expenses at the rate of 40 percent. Credit card debt has also stemmed from out- of-pocket medical costs for 47 per- cent of low- and middle-income families. And among families struggling with the challenges of employment, 86 percent racked up credit card debt. Further, new financial chal- lenges are emerging with a seven- year surge in the use of prepaid cards. In 2009 alone, six billion prepaid card transactions totaled $140 billion in the U.S. In addition to consumers, many governmental benefits are shifting towards payment via prepaid cards and some employers now offer prepaid cards instead of traditional payroll checks. “Prepaid credit cards can pro- vide convenience and safety, but these advantages can be quickly eroded by high fees. Many prepaid cards come with significant charges – fees to sign up, deposit money, check a balance, use an ATM, and cancel the account,” the report said. “Because the disclo- sure of fees varies from card to card – many are hidden altogether – consumers have difficulty know- ing what their costs will be, let alone comparison shopping”, the report said. CRL urges continued state and federal enforcements and strong defense of both the CFPB and the Credit CARD Act. For prepaid cards, CRL will analyze credit fea- tures, mandatory arbitration and the effect of overdraft fees. Charlene Crowell is a communi- cations manager with the Center for Responsible Lending.
