Opinion
Pope’s Message of Compassion
“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
C hristen M C C urDy
News Editor
P atriCia i rvin
Graphic Designer
a rashi y oung
D onovan M. s Mith
Reporters
M oniCa J. F oster
Seattle Office Coordinator
J ulie K eeFe
s usan F rieD
Photographers
2015
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“I was hungry and you gave me
something to eat, I was thirsty and
you gave me something to drink,
I was a stranger and you invited
me in, I needed clothes and you
clothed me, I was sick and you
looked after me, I was in prison
and you came to visit me…I tell
you the truth, whatever you did for
one of the least of these brothers of
mine, you did for me.” – Matthew
25:35-36,40
L
ike power, with compassion
comes great responsibility.
So much more than a feel-
ing, the person with compassion
is compelled to transform their
compassion into intent, and most
importantly, action. To be compas-
sionate is to see, to feel and to do
something.
The recent arrival of Pope Fran-
cis on our shores has rekindled our
national conversation over how
we will protect and care for our
marginalized, provide access to
our disenfranchised communities
and promote justice for all.
Francis, the spiritual leader of
more than a billion Catholics, the
world over, has placed the poor
and the treatment of the poor at
the center of his papacy. But his
message of mercy, compassion
and service as the engines of
much-needed change is not sole-
ly limited to the Catholic faithful.
It is a message that can transcend
boundaries of faith, gender, politi-
cal cultures or borders. It is a mes-
sage that can transform the entire
world for the benefit of the com-
mon good.
While calls for societal change
Marc H.
Morial
National
Urban League
precede the pope, his papacy and
his status as a respected global
leader, gives added voice to the
voiceless and the oppressed, and
encourages the men and women
who have decided they would no
longer observe (or suffer) injustice
from the sidelines – instead they
would advocate, and when neces-
sary, agitate for a more just society
for the excluded and marginalized
among us.
From Moses to the man register-
ing students to vote, or the woman
fighting for environmental justice
in an impoverished community
today, for as long as inequality
has plagued society, people have
always appeared in the pages of
history to carry the heavy and
unavoidable banner of change.
For Francis, this call to action is
motivated by God’s presence,
which he said in his final homily
in Cuba, “never leaves us tranquil:
it always pushes to do something.
When God comes, He always calls
us out of our house. We are visit-
ed so that we can visit others; we
are encountered so as to encounter
others; we receive love in order to
give love.”
For more than 100 years, the
National Urban League has dedi-
cated itself to loving, visiting and
encountering people and commu-
nities in their times of need. Our
mission–like the mission of so
many people of faith dedicated to
changing lives and reforming the
structures that compromise the
quality of life of the most vulner-
able – is to establish mechanisms
and policies aimed at economic
empowerment in order to elevate
the standard of living in histor-
ically underserved urban com-
munities. This cross-section of
compassion and social justice has
‘When God
comes, He always
calls us out of our
house’
been, and continues to be, a defin-
ing element of our existence and
struggle across a range of social
justice movements.
The pope is visiting the United
States at a pivotal time in our his-
tory, when justice and equality is
facing challenges on many fronts.
We face challenges in the constitu-
tional right of citizens to vote; we
are experiencing a rash of deaths
of Black men at the hands of po-
lice officers who are rarely held
accountable; equity in funding
and resources for public school
education remains a distant reali-
ty; and the economic gap that exist
between the rich and the poor only
continues to widen.
The National Urban League con-
tinues to tackle these ever-present
issues with programs and policy
recommendations that not only
benefit communities of color, but
our nation as a whole. Our educa-
tion programs, like Project Ready,
support academic achievement,
civic involvement and the physi-
cal and emotional development of
our young people. But it doesn’t
end there, we also challenge our
states and federal government to
develop formulas to distribute re-
sources to schools in a fair manner
that does not discriminate based
on what community you live in.
Our workforce development pro-
grams deliver jobs and valuable
employment services to the people
who need it the most and encour-
age economic self-sufficiency. We
have fought, and continue to fight,
on the frontline of the battles to rid
our nation of pervasive criminal
justice abuses.
The gospel of compassion has
guided many into service beyond
their own lives and self-interests.
The gospel of compassion: to see,
to feel and to do something, is a
driver of change that pays no re-
gard to differences in gender, col-
or, community or faith. It is a call
to minister and serve those who
find themselves on the margins
of any given society. We may all
come from different traditions
and cultures, but we should all be
able to agree on our broader duty
to provide access to a decent stan-
dard of living, protect the poor and
promote justice. It is the message
of the Francis and his Church, and
I hope that it is a message that will
continue to reach many more ears
– and hearts.
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Fax: (503) 285-2900
No Due Process for ‘Standing While Black’
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s Patrick Lynch, president of
the New York Patrolmen’s Be-
nevolent Association, obliged
to defend his members even when
they are wrong? The open letter
posted on the PBA website and
printed in the New York Daily
News lacks credibility and con-
tributes to the fractured state of
police-community relations. He
has cautioned the media, and oth-
ers, about rushing to judgment
of James Frascatore, the walking
assault machine that tackled for-
mer tennis star James Blake, put
his knee to Blake’s back, and then
cuffed him. This was captured
by a security camera; the footage
is ubiquitous online. Lynch says,
“No one should ever jump to an
uninformed conclusion based on a
few seconds of video.”
Lynch makes every excuse that
he can for Frascatore, and chides
“pundits and editorial writers”
because “they have never faced
the dangers that police officers
routinely do.” Comments about
Blake’s false arrest and further
cover-up are “irresponsible, un-
just, and un-American.” Lynch
says Frascatore deserves “due
process, not summary profession-
al execution called for by editorial
writers.”
Due process is the legal require-
ment that the state must respect all
the legal rights due to a person.
When did James Blake get due
process? Frascatore tackled Blake
with neither provocation nor even
Julianne
Malveaux
NNPA
Columnist
conversation. Either Lynch didn’t
watch the video or he doesn’t care
that there is a pugilistic police
officer that has no regard for due
process when he interacts with the
public.
Frascatore should have been
history in the NYPD some time
ago. He has only been part of the
NYPD for four years, yet five
complaints against him have been
filed with the Civilian Complaint
mouth Lynch (consider his com-
ments in the wake of Eric Garner’s
murder) has talked himself onto a
limb with his passionate, but base-
less defense of a police “officer.”
If there were due process, Fra-
scatore would have been arrested
for assaulting Blake. But police
officers accused of wrongdoing
hide behind their uniforms and
rarely pay for their crimes. If there
were due process, a man with
five complaints before the CCRB
would have been put on desk duty,
if not suspended or fired, some
time ago.
The New York Daily News re-
ported on a 2013 incident where
Frascatore and two others fol-
lowed bicyclist Warren Diggs
home. Once there, they demanded
identification from him but pro-
ceeded to punch in the head and
Frascatore tackled Blake with neither
provocation nor even conversation
Review Board (CCRB). All of
these complaints involve the ex-
cessive use of force. Frascatore is
fast with his fists (he is accused of
punching people in the head, the
mouth, and in the torso); tragedy
would be compounded if he were
using a gun. For all of Frascatore’s
abuse of power, it took his assault
of Blake to get him desk duty.
Blake has very reasonably called
for Frascatore’s firing. But loud-
Page 2 September 30, 2015 The Portland and Seattle Skanner
pummel his body – before he could
retrieve his ID. Diggs’ significant
other, Nafeesah Hines, saw part of
the fracas and began recording it.
She asked officers for their names
and badge numbers; two complied
but Frascatore refused.
When Hines went to move
Diggs’ bicycle from the sidewalk
and into their home, she was told
that she was tampering with evi-
dence and was arrested. The Ci-
vilian Complaint Review Board
found inconsistencies between
Frascatore’s statements and the
recording Hines made. It recom-
mended “retraining” Frascatore.
Hines also sued the city for false
arrest and settled out of court.
Warren Diggs still has a federal
civil rights lawsuit against the city.
The Diggs case reveals Frasca-
tore as an accomplished liar who
doesn’t mind breaking the rules.
Just as there was an attempt to
cover up the Blake arrest, there
was also an attempt to justify the
brutal assault of Warren Diggs and
the false arrest of Nafeesah Hines.
Due process, Patrick Lynch?
As Blake has so gracefully said,
all police officers are not like Fra-
scatore. He declined to accuse the
NYPD, just the out-of-control of-
ficer. He accepted the apologies of
the police commissioner and the
mayor. But he insists that some-
thing must be done about exces-
sive force, and he has indicated
that he might pursue a lawsuit oth-
erwise.
The NYPD says they have spent
millions on training and retrain-
ing. Did Frascatore ever get the
training the CCRB recommended?
Why not monitor those officers
who have been “retrained” to see
if they have changed their ways?
Why not prioritize investigation
of those with repeat complaints so
that bad apples like Frascatore are
terminated before they do more
damage?