Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 12, 2014)
Opinion Dr. king ‘turning in his Grave’ “Challenging People to Shape a Better Future Now” B ERNIE F OSTER Founder/Publisher B OBBIE D ORE F OSTER Executive Editor J ERRY F OSTER Advertising Manager 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- tion, published each Wednesday by IMM Publications Inc., 415 N. Killingsworth St., T he children of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. sue each other – as well as loyal fam- ily friends – so often that you need a program to keep up with the court action. Bernice and Martin Luther King, III sued Dexter because he failed to open the books of their father’s estate. Dex- ter, hoping to sign a $1.4 million book contract, sued Bernice, who administers their mother’s estate, for not sharing their parents’ love letters. Now, for some inexplicable rea- son, Martin III has teamed up with Dexter to sue Bernice to compel her to turn over their father’s Bible – the one President Obama used at his second swearing-in – and his 1964 Nobel Peace Prize medal because they have an interested buyer. But Bernice refuses to sur- render the items, saying some things are sacred and should not be for sale. The person who was perhaps least surprised by the latest family shenanigans is Harry E. Johnson, Sr., president of what was once called the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Project Foun- dation. In a series of tape-recorded interviews with me, beginning April 21, 2011, Johnson, who raised more than $100 million to erect the Memorial, recounted his disappointing experience with the King family. His first disappointment came when the family-controlled entity responsible for preserving Dr. King’s image charged the founda- tion a licensing fee of $2.8 million. But even that wasn’t King is a private figure anymore. “They keep throwing out the T HE C URRY fact that Dr. King was a private R EPORT citizen – that’s why his image is protected. And I told Roland [Mar- tin] to ask Jeffrey Toobin, the George E. lawyer on CNN: ‘At what point Curry does one stop becoming a private citizen? Is that when we named a holiday after him? Or is it when we put a memorial on the Mall of enough and the King family him next to the other icons of this refused to extend the licensing country?’ (Martin confirmed that agreement. Consequently the Johnson made that request of him, name of the foundation was but he never asked Toobin to changed last year to The Memori- reply.) “This is the killer part: If he’s a al Foundation. “When we originally had an private person, then the King agreement with them, it was a estate and family can say, ‘If you take a picture of the Memorial and King family feuds over plans to sell his Nobel Peace Prize and family Bible licensing agreement to use the name and images of Dr. King [in fundraising material],” Johnson stated. “They said the licensing agreement has expired. Fine. I’m saying, ‘Give me another licens- ing agreement.’ They’re saying, ‘No we don’t want you to use the name.’ It really boils down to this: They want me out of the way because they are saying they need to raise $170 million for the King Center and I’m in the way. Philan- thropy in this country is a $320 billion a year industry. How am I in the way to raise whatever they need to raise?” Johnson questions whether Dr. you sell it as a postcard, you owe them a licensing fee. I don’t know if a member of the Congressional Black Caucus would be willing to pick that up as an issue, but I am certain a White Republican would say, ‘Get the hell out of here.’” Warming to his subject, Johnson said, “Who makes a profit off the Lincoln Memorial? Who makes a profit off the Jefferson Memori- al?…The King family – or any entrepreneur – should not benefit from saying I want to sell some postcards of the Memorial that’s on federal property. “My whole point is that’s crazy. Why are y’all jacking with me, knowing I know all this informa- tion? All I wanted to do was raise money to build a memorial for your daddy… Let them go out there and take some pictures of Dexter’s house in Malibu, with him living in a large mansion. Y’all trying to raise $170 million for the King Center.” He noted the King estate had engaged Sotheby’s, the auction house, in 2006 to sell Dr. King’s personal papers. “They were putting the papers on the auction block,” Johnson recounted. “Shirley Franklin [the former mayor of Atlanta] said, ‘We can’t have that’ and paid the King estate $32 million. Now, the King estate is coming back and saying, ‘Oh, we need $170 million for the King Center. I can even understand that. But what did you do with the $32 million? Is this going to be every time y’all need some money, you’re going to put your hands out to hold someone hostage? They are already charg- ing people for the ‘I Have a Dream’ speech.” In a statement, Bernice King said, “While I love my brothers dearly, this latest decision by them is extremely troubling. Not only am I appalled and utterly ashamed, I am frankly disappointed that they would even entertain the thought of selling these precious items.” Bernice was correct when she said, “Our father MUST be turn- ing in his grave.” Read the rest online at www.theskanner.com 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. © 2014 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 Car Loans hit People of Color hardest N ew research by the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) finds that con- sumers of color still report paying higher interest rates on dealer- financed car loans than other consumers. This disparity is even more disturbing given that Black and Latino consumers report mak- ing more of an effort than Whites to negotiate their interest rates. Thirty-nine percent of Latinos and 32 percent of Blacks reported negotiating their interest rate, compared to only 22 percent of White buyers. CRL’s new report, Non-Nego- tiable: Negotiation Doesn’t Help African-American and Latinos on Dealer-Financed Car Loans, is the first research on the impact of shopping habits as well as infor- mation consumers report receiving from car dealers and disparities related to “add-on” products. Findings were based on an Octo- ber 2012 phone survey of 946 consumers. The report identifies three spe- cific sales practices as the main culprits behind higher financing costs for buyers of color: Dealer interest rate mark-ups, sometimes called “dealer reserves” or “dealer participation” can and do raise interest rates above those charged by financial institutions. Lenders bidding to buy the auto loan contract from dealers allow the dealer to add to the interest rate for compensation. B ENNETT C OLLEGE Julianne Malveaux Dealers then pocket most or all of the difference. As with a similar practice once allowed for mort- gage brokers, this discretion to raise interest rates can facilitate discrimination. Previous research shows that people of color get items were not. Misrepresenta- tions, when accepted by consumers, can increase the total purchase price and then lead to higher default rates. Similarly, “add-on” products sometimes known as “loan-pack- ing” also increase the amount of financing. Non-essential items such as optional insurance and warranties become part of the financing package at highly-inflat- ed costs. Multiple add-on products were sold to Black customers nearly double the rate sold to Whites – 30 percent versus only 16 percent. New report identifies three specific sales practices as the main culprits behind higher financing costs for buyers of color higher interest rates from dealers that are not justified by objective measures, such as credit history. Misleading sales information is a second cause of higher costs. For example, many consumers report they were told that they were offered the “best interest rate available,” when it was not. Other consumers surveyed shared that they were told that certain addi- tional items were mandatory for the purchase when in truth, the Page 2 The Portland and Seattle Skanner February 12, 2014 Since the report’s Jan. 23 release, auto dealer representa- tives have criticized CRL’s research for being based on a sur- vey. However, the industry to date has withheld their own data that would allow better side-by-side comparisons – the same kind that consumers deserve when shopping for a vehicle. CRL has called on regulators to prohibit compensation for dealers that is tied to the interest rate of the loan. Until regulators enact rules to better protect consumers, here are a few useful tips: • Get pre-approved loan financ- ing. Historically credit unions and banks offer better deals than loans obtained from car dealers. And even if the dealer offers a lower rate, the dealer will look to make up the difference in sales of add- on insurance and other items. Remember that those items are not required and that all of them can be purchased later. • Don’t shop by monthly pay- ment. Dealers have many tricks, such as making the loan term longer, that can make a monthly payment look affordable. Under- stand the entire cost of the loan, not just the monthly payment. • Avoid showroom fever. Buy- ing a car is often the second most costly consumer purchase – after that of buying a home. Know the cost of insurance, registration tags and regular preventive mainte- nance. Every cost associated with a car should be anticipated and estimated. • Decide how much of a car loan you can afford. If your budget has little flexibility for a long-term debt, it could be better to begin a dedicated savings account to lessen the amount of a loan you will need. Read the rest online at www.theskanner.com
