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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 2, 2015)
Page 2 The Skanner December 2, 2015 Challenging People to Shape a Better Future Now Bernie Foster Founder/Publisher Bobbie Dore Foster Executive Editor Jerry Foster Advertising Manager Christen McCurdy News Editor Patricia Irvin Graphic Designer Arashi Young Donovan M. Smith Reporters Monica J. Foster Seattle Office Coordinator Susan Fried Photographer 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 every Wednesday by IMM Publi- cations Inc. 415 N. Killingsworth St. P.O. Box 5455 Portland, OR 97228 Telephone (503) 285-5555 Fax: (503) 285-2900 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 unsolicited. ©2015 The Skanner. All rights re served. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission prohibited. Local News Pacific NW News World News Opinions Jobs, Bids Entertainment Community Calendar RSS feeds SIGN UP FOR BREAKING NEWS Go to TheSkanner.com Opinion Strategic Power of the Black Press in 2016 F or over 45 million Af- rican Americans, there are multiple priorities that need to be addressed in order to ensure that the socioeconomic and political interests of our families and communities are accurately articulated and fulfilled. We live in a multimedia world. Too often, however, we are left with divergent, and sometimes inaccurate, infor- mation from so-called “main- stream” media sources when it comes to receiving the true facts about the issues and challenges that impact our overall quality of life. Since the first publication of Freedom’s Journal in March 1827 in New York City by Sam- uel Cornish and John Russ- wurm, Black-owned newspa- pers and media companies have been on the frontline of being the unrestrained trust- ed voice of Black America. Both Cornish and Russwurm were abolitionist publishers who knew the power of print- ing the truth to challenge and abolish slavery. They stated, “We wish to plead our own cause. Too long have others spoken for us, too long has the public been deceived by misrepresentations…We deem it expedient to estab- lish a paper, and bring into operation all the means with which out benevolent creator has endowed us, for the mor- al, religious, civil and literary Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr. NNPA President and CEO improvement of our race.” As we approach 2016, the ad- monition of the publishers of Freedom’s Journal still rings true today. We must plead our own cause for equal jus- tice. We must plead our own cause for economic empower- ment. We must plead our own “ cratic and Republican candi- dates who are running to be the next President of the Unit- ed States know the impor- tance of the African Amer- ican vote in 2016, there has yet to be any serious national effort by the various political campaigns to put as a priority the mobilization of millions of African American voters through the Black Press. In my opinion there is too much cynicism and negative focus only on the deficits and injustices that are pervasive in our communities. There should be more balance to We wish to plead our own cause. Too long have others spoken for us, too long has the public been de- ceived by misrepresentations cause for cultural solidarity and spiritual unity. And we must plead our own cause in the upcoming national politi- cal elections. We should not permit our communities to be unaware of all that is at stake in the 2016 elections. There are still millions of unregistered el- igible voters in the African American community. The Black Press has the proven track record of helping na- tionally and regionally to get out the vote. While many of the Demo- include more about the as- sets and triumphs of African Americans even in the face of racial inequity and injustice. This is where the Black Press comes in forcefully and strategically. The National Newspaper Publishers Asso- ciation (NNPA) is the nation- al trade association for the Black Press and the NNPA is the custodian for insuring the effective legacy of Black- owned newspapers and me- dia companies. In 2016, the Black vote nor the Black Press can be taken for granted. African Amer- icans spend in excess of $1.2 trillion primarily as con- sumers in the U.S. economy. Most of the major Fortune 500 companies enjoy a sig- nificant profit margin from African American consumer spending. But power is just not in spending money. Real economic power is measured in real estate holdings, invest- ments, and the ownership of businesses and institutions that serve the interests of one’s community. Every African American family should have an annual subscription to a Black-owned newspaper. In fact, if you are contemplating a gift for some- one during this year’s Kwan- zaa celebrations, you should give a Black-owned newspa- per subscription as a mean- ingful and useful gift. The Black Press of America not only has a definite future, it has a powerful strategic place in the world as long as mil- lions of African Americans continue to push forward for equality and empowerment. Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr. is the President and CEO of the National Newspaper Publish- ers Association (NNPA) and can be reached for national advertisement sales and part- nership proposals at: dr.bcha- vis@nnpa.org; and for lectures and other professional consul- tations at: http://drbenjaminf- chavisjr.wix.com/drbfc Reducing Emissions Locally and Internationally P acific Power, through its parent company Berk- shire Hathaway Ener- gy, was the first energy company to sign the Ameri- can Business Act on Climate Pledge in a ceremony at the White House. Apple, Google, Microsoft, Alcoa and others joined in this commitment to act to address climate change. We talk about climate change in our Portland neigh- borhoods and we are all com- mitted to making our air cleaner. We are working lo- cally on energy efficiency and bringing more solar and wind energy into the mix. A good local example is the solar ar- ray atop the Maggie Gibson Center on Northeast Alberta. Our Blue Sky Renewable En- ergy customers contributed $34,000 to that project. A larger example is on the roof of the Oregon Conven- tion Center, which we were happy to help dedicate in mid-November. Blue Sky cus- tomers helped put 5,000 ar- rays atop the Northeast Port- land landmark. But we know climate change is a global problem, so that is why we are working toward an achievable and sustain- able international treaty that Sheila Holden Pacific Power drives real global reduction in carbon emissions during the climate talks in Paris, scheduled for late this year. In our pledge, we commit- ted to bring more than 1,000 megawatts of new solar and wind generation, roughly “ to transition in a measured way to a lower carbon future while ensuring reliability and affordability for our cus- tomers, the 70,000 in North- east Portland and the 730,000 throughout the Northwest. The company’s long-range plans include the closure or conversion of 10 units of coal generation by 2029. We, in fact, closed two of those units in April. Our plans reduce coal generation as a source of energy by 40 percent over the next 15 years. As businesses and popula- Our plans reduce coal generation as a source of energy by 40 percent over the next 15 years enough power for 164,000 homes, onto our grid over the next two years. Berkshire Hathaway Energy also an- nounced that it will commit an additional $15 billion to new renewable generation projects, on top of the $15 bil- lion worth that the company already built. While these steps are sig- nificant, they’re only the lat- est in our multi-year journey tions grow, demand for elec- tricity continues to rise, but we’re investing significantly in energy efficiency pro- grams to reduce the need for new generation facilities. We expect to address fully 86 per- cent of that growth with ener- gy efficiency programs so that we won’t have to build a new thermal generating plant un- til at least 2028. Most folks don’t know this, but we are the largest utility owner of wind generation in the western U.S. Under Berkshire Hathaway Energy ownership, we have invested more than $2 billion in wind and solar generation. Integrating more renew- ables and maintaining grid reliably can be a challenge. Through our partnership with the California grid oper- ator to implement the Energy Imbalance Market across six western states, we are trans- forming the way that renew- ables are integrated into the electrical grid. Our job is to generate and deliver reliable, low-cost elec- tricity for our customers, while respecting the resourc- es we use and the impacts they have on the environment. It is all about striking a bal- ance. We can keep the power flowing and protect the envi- ronment. We can transition away from coal-fired genera- tion in a sensible, cost-effec- tive way while continuing to invest wisely in renewable re- sources that benefit our cus- tomers. Working together, we can create a sustainable en- ergy future for all of us that keeps costs low and reduces impacts on the environment.
