Opinion
Dr. king ‘turning in his Grave’
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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.”
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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