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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 14, 2015)
Opinion Racism is Alive and Well Online “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 MERIT AWARDS WINNER The Skanner has received 20 NNPA awards since 1998 The Skanner Newspaper, es- tablished in October 1975, is a weekly publication, published each Wednesday by IMM Publications Inc. 415 N. Killingsworth St. P.O. Box 5455 Portland, OR 97228 Telephone (503) 285-5555 Fax: (503) 285-2900 E-mail: info@theskanner.com www.TheSkanner.com The Skanner is a member of the National Newspaper Pub lishers Association 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 unsolicit- ed. © 2015 The Skanner. ALL RIGHTS RE- SERVED. REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART WITHOUT PERMISSION PROHIBITED. To view The Skanner website on your mobile device, scan this QR code • Local news • Opinions • Jobs, Bids • Sports • Entertainment • Music reviews • Bulletin board • RSS feeds Y ou can run, but you can’t hide from racism. I was preparing to write a col- umn on the Trans-Pacific Partner- ship (TPP), the trade agreement that President Barack Obama wants to fast track through Con- gress. I considered tackling the Planned Parenthood kerfuffle, as Republicans are targeting a most important women’s health pro- vider for political purposes. But a friend sent me a link to a photo uploaded by Atlanta native “Geris Hilton” with a string of comments that simply turned my stomach, and I realized that the TPP would have to wait. (It isn’t going any- where until January anyway). Hilton, whose legal name is Gerod Roth, worked at the Polaris Marketing Group in Atlanta, Ga. There he took a selfie of himself and a coworker’s child and posted it on Facebook. When one of his “friends” asked why the child was running around the office, Roth replied, “He was feral.” The dictionary defines “feral” as “relating to, or suggestive of, a wild beast”, and “not domesticat- ed or cultivated – wild,” or “hav- ing escaped from domestication and become wild.” Excuse me? Roth’s own daughter hangs out at the office at the end of the day. She plays with the adorable boy whose innocent little face attract- ed the most “feral” comments from Roth’s intellectually chal- lenged Facebook friends. From one “friend”: “I didn’t Julianne Malveaux NNPA Columnist know you were a slave owner.” Others commented about selling enslaved people another suggest- ed that Hilton “send him back,” because they are “too expensive.” Sydney Jade is three-year-old Cayden’s loving, caring and hard and wrote about the incident and subsequent firing on Facebook. I am among those who think it should have taken less than two weeks, but they deserve credit for taking action instead of hiding be- hind the “free speech” argument that many make to defend their racist employees. The Root report- ed that others who made offend- ing comments about Cayden were also fired from their jobs. Yes! Gerod Roth is one of those pouty little racists who has now described himself as the “victim” in this matter. He “has been target- ed”, he says. He whines that his remarks were taken out of context. He had neither the grace nor the good sense to say, ‘I’m sorry and I’m out of order’, and then shut up. Instead, he tried to cover his insensitivity up working mother. Gerod Roth knew this, but he never corrected his “friends” who described the child as abandoned and worse. Jade, started using the hash tag #HisNameisCayden on Twitter to affirm her child’s humanity and to reject the caricature that Hil- ton portrayed. She has received an outpouring of love and support from cyberspace. Thumbs up to company exec- utives at the Polaris Marketing Group, who fired Roth about two weeks after his offending selfie He posted an “apology” that was several paragraphs long attempt- ing to “explain” how he happened to post the selfie in the first place, suggesting that young Cayden ac- tually asked him to take the pic- ture. He had neither the grace nor the good sense to say, “I’m sorry and I’m out of order”, and then shut up. Instead, he tried to cover his insensitivity up. Next thing you know, there will be a group of folks rallying around Roth who some would describe as nothing more than a child molest- er for his callous exploitation of his coworker’s son. Those who railed against this incident will be told this occurrence is isolated. The late, great writer Bebe Moore Campbell once wrote an essay about “race fatigue,” about the many ways she was tired of seeing, living, talking and writing about race. She wrote about ignor- ing slights she might once have challenged, tamping down an anger that might once have been volcanic. In that particular essay, she wrote about seeking a peace- ful respite from race matters. We all seek that respite, those days when we don’t have to think about the indignities of both institutional racism and the micro-aggressions that are difficult to quantify. We seek, but we don’t find the respite when cyberspace reveals life as both gritty and grand. While Roth is little more than gas in the wind, not even a foot- note in our nation’s history, he merits attention, because there are so many more of him, lurking out there, fracturing peace because they are so hateful. Who calls a child “feral” and then describes himself or herself as the victim? And who, in the light of this kind of nonsense, says we live in a “post racial” space? Julianne Malveaux is author and economist based in Washington, DC. Her new book “Are We Bet- ter Off? Race, Obama and Public Policy” is available for pre-order at www.juliannemalveaux.com. Salute to Rev. Jackson on his 75th Birthday eventy-five years ago a free- dom fighter was born in Greenville, South Carolina. His name is Jesse Louis Jackson, Sr. and I need to say something about this brother that I have known and worked with for de- cades in the ongoing Civil Rights Movement in the U. S. and in the overall freedom struggle interna- tionally. Too often, particularly among Black American leaders, we are too quick to say something nega- tive about each other, and too late to say a positive word about that leader while they’re still alive. Yes, I am talking about Black unity among Black leaders. It’s a subject or a call that is rarely men- tioned today. Why? Some would argue that the di- vision or lack of operational unity among Black American leaders today is a symptom or byproduct of centuries of racial, economic and political oppression. I believe that is partly true. But on the oth- er hand, disunity is not something that we are born with. It is socially generated. My point here is sim- ply to remind all of us that we need more unity not just among our leaders, but we also need more unity in the Black American com- munity in general. I was in Detroit, Michigan re- cently to attend the 16th Annual Rainbow PUSH Global Automo- tive Summit on Oct. 8, 2015 on behalf of the National Newspaper S Page 2 October 14, 2015 The Portland and Seattle Skanner Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr. NNPA President and CEO Publishers Association (NNPA). Sister Glenda Gill, another strong freedom fighter and the Executive Director of the Rainbow PUSH/ CEF Automotive Project made sure that the audience was made Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in the 1960s. At the automotive summit in front of industry corporate exec- utives, Rev. Jackson challenged everyone to understand that there is a difference between winning freedom and establishing equali- ty, in particular economic equali- ty and equal opportunity to fulfill one’s true God-given potential in life. Rev. Jackson stated, “Rain- bow PUSH will continue to en- gage with the auto manufacturers to protect consumers and continue the quest for equity and fairness.” I have been a firsthand witness to the remarkable, game-changing leadership and irrepressible spirit of our brother leader aware that the day was Rev. Jack- son’s 75th birthday. As I watched and listened to the Rev. Jackson take the podium at the kick off reception, it brought back many positive memories of the past. I have been a first- hand witness to the remarkable, game-changing leadership and irrepressible spirit of our brother leader. Although I was just a little younger, we both had the privilege and awesome pleasure and re- sponsibility to work with the Rev. From the early days of SCLC’s Operation Breadbasket in Chicago in the 1960s to the 2015 auto sum- mit in Detroit, Rev. Jackson has been the most consistent Black American leader on the question of economic justice and equali- ty for Black Americans and for all people throughout the world. Black Americans, according to the Nielsen research company, have an estimated collective buying power of $1.1 trillion in the Unit- ed States. Yet, too many of our communities remain in poverty. Thus, the quest today for eco- nomic equity and parity should be priorities for all our national organizations and movements. I also remember when Rev. Jack- son decided to run to be President of the United States in 1984. His campaign became both a political and spiritual crusade to lift the as- pirations and hopes of millions of people across the nation as part of an emerging Rainbow Coalition. The Reverend Wyatt T. Walker and I were the national clergy co- ordinators for Rev. Jackson’s 1984 political empowerment campaign. “Run Jesse Run” became the proud theme for millions of peo- ple who were crying out for free- dom, justice and equality. The truth must be told. Rev. Jackson’s 1984 campaign opened the door wider for the subsequent, successful historic political cam- paign that led to the election of President Barack H. Obama in 2008. During the past 60 years we have made progress, but we still have a long way to go to fulfill Dr. King’s dream. We all should be vocal and grateful that Rev. Jackson is still on the case with outstanding leadership. We thank you, Jesse Louis Jack- son, Sr. We salute you, we respect you and may we work today to raise up a new generation of free- dom fighters who know what it means to advance the cause of freedom and equality for all.
