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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (April 2, 2014)
Opinion Business: No Success Without Risk “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 Bernie Foster, Publisher Of The Skanner News You may have heard already: After just over a year in operation, Quartet Restau- rant has closed. From all the fuss that’s been made over Quartet’s financial woes, you’d think the Titanic had sunk again for the second time – not just a restaurant. According to Ohio State researcher H.G. Parsa, around 60 percent of restau- rants fail in the first three years. In fact, only about half of all small businesses are still alive after five years. That’s how capitalism works. And it’s how life works. For most of us failure is a nec- essary step on the road to success. That’s not just some- EDITORIAL The Skanner News thing motivational speakers say to make losers feel better What if Vincent van Gogh had given up because his work didn’t sell? What if Steven Spielberg had quit movies after getting multiple rejections from film school? What if Bill Gates had got out of the computer business when his first product bombed? As an investor you always ‘Quartet’s founder and co-owner Frank Taylor brought to town people like Stevie Wonder, Spike Lee and Michael Jordan, to name a few’ about themselves. It’s a stone cold fact. hope your investment will become successful. Some- times you need to have patience and wait to see that success. But if profits never show up, you have nobody to blame but yourself. Nobody twisted your arm; you took a gamble and lost… this time around. Quartet has given Port- landers some truly good times. Quartet’s founder and co-owner Frank Taylor brought to town people like Stevie Wonder, Spike Lee and Michael Jordan, to name a few. Without Taylor’s willing- ness to take a risk, we’d have fewer good memories of happy times. Taylor is still delivering great food and service at Portland Prime. We wish him success. What do you think? J ULIE K EEFE S USAN F RIED Photographers Can We Make It To The ‘Promised Land?’ F The Skanner Newspaper, established in October 1975, is a weekly publica- tion, published each Wednesday by IMM Publications Inc., 415 N. Killingsworth St., riday, April 4, marks the 46th anniversary of Dr. Mar- tin Luther King Jr’s assassination on a balcony in Memphis. Black America and people of goodwill in the nation and the world were stricken by grief, frustration and anger at the murder of this great man of justice and peace. Indeed, rebellions erupted in urban centers across the nation by people who could not fathom how an apostle of non-vio- lence could be struck down so V ANTAGE P OINT Ron Daniels referenced “we as a people.” But given his fervent belief in the promise of the Declaration of 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 “In the most memorable part of his oration [Dr. Martin Luther King] took the audience to the ‘mountaintop’ with him and declared that he had ‘seen the promised land.’” 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. • • • • • • • • Local news Opinions Jobs, Bids Sports Entertainment Music reviews Bulletin board RSS feeds Page 2 The Portland and Seattle Skanner April 2, 2014 Independence and Constitution, there is little doubt that he also believed that one day America as a nation must arrive at the Promised Land. King also knew that for the “promise” to be realized Black people and people of good will in the “beloved community” would have to struggle to achieve its ful- fillment. There would be trials and tribulations because there were “To get to the Promised Land, King also warned that the people, those who aspired to create the change must themselves undergo a change, a personal ‘revolution’ that would translate into creating a just and humane society.” forces deeply committed to restricting economic and political democracy to an elite “few” to the exclusion of the “many” in this society. As Dr. King peered over into the Promised Land, he saw a nation materialism and militarism are incapable of being conquered.” The people must create a “moral movement” to get to the Promised Land and that movement cannot countenance a system incompati- ble with “person-oriented” values. Therefore, those who would get to the Promised Land must challenge and change sys- tems of oppression and exploitation; they must advance a politics of social transformation. As King put it, “True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it comes to see that the edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring.” As we witness the calculated, mean-spirited assault on Blacks, labor, women and poor and work- ing people by rightwing extremists, the explosive growth in mass incarceration within the prison-jail industrial complex and the ever increasing concentration of wealth in the hands of the few, we must continue to be inspired by King’s view from the mountain- top. Black people in particular must be dedicated to leading our- selves and the downtrodden/dispossessed to the Promised Land. Ron Daniels is President of the Institute of the Black World 21st Century and Distinguished Lecturer at York College City Uni- versity of New York. Please send your news tips to info@theskanner.com To see The Skanner News on your smart phone go to theskannermobile.com or scan this QR code with your app. viciously and violently. It was clear that America was at yet another cross-road in the quest to achieve racial, economic and social justice. Despite constant death threats, Dr. King never flinched in his determination that this nation should be made to live up to its creed. The night before he was murdered, he reluctantly mounted the podium at the Mason Temple Church in Memphis and seemed to have a premonition of his impend- ing demise. Yet, he proclaimed that he was not afraid of dying. In the most memorable part of his oration he took the audience to the “mountaintop” with him and declared that he had “seen the promised land.” Sensing that his life would be cut short he said, “I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Prom- ised Land.” As we reflect on King’s courage and optimism in the shadow of death, the question is: Can we make it to the Promised Land? Clearly Dr. King was speaking to the long suffering sons and daugh- ters of Africa in America when he that embraced his concept of an Economic Bill of Rights mod- eled after Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “Four Freedoms,” where every human being would have a decent stan- dard of living: a land where no-one would lack for a job with a living wage or guaranteed annual income, quality affordable hous- ing, healthcare and education. To get to the Promised Land, Dr. King was preparing a Poor Peo- ple’s Campaign to galvanize the “many” to struggle for an Eco- nomic Bill of Rights even in the face of the fierce resistance of the “few” at the commanding heights of capital and finance. To get to the Promised Land, King also warned that the people, those who aspired to create the change must themselves undergo a change, a personal “revolution” that would translate into creating a just and humane society. Hence he proclaimed, “I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolu- tion, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin the shift from a ‘thing-oriented’ society to a ‘per- son-oriented’ society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism,
