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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 23, 2015)
Page 2 The Skanner December 23, 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. Opinion Huge Holes in Trump’s Views on Combatting Terrorism I awoke to a story that Pres- idential candidate Donald Trump was now proposing that the families of terror- ists should be killed. As best as I can tell, his rationale is that if any terrorists know that their families will be killed, they are less likely to be terrorists. The Russian mafia has a similar view on dealing with opponents, by the way. There are several things about this ‘proposal’ that struck me. First, which terrorists? Does Donald Trump mean that the family of the late Timothy McVeigh — the Okla- homa City bomber — should have been whacked by the USA? Does he mean the family of James Holmes, the convicted killer in the Aurora, Colorado massacre? Does he mean the family of Dylann Roof, of the Charles- ton, South Carolina church killings? Does he mean the family of Bill Fletcher Jr. The Global African Adam Lanza, the killer in the Newtown/Sandy Hook ele- mentary school shootings? For some reason, I suspect that this is not what Trump had in mind. But it is a rele- vant question since most of the post-9/11 terrorism in the USA has been carried out by “ This is actually more compli- cated than it seems since there is no international consensus on the definition of a terrorist. There are, for instance, Kurds who are fighting the so-called Islamic State (Daesh) in Syria and Iraq who are considered terrorists by Turkey, but have received varying degrees of support from the USA. Whose families should be exterminated? In the 1980s the U.S. government support- ed the Contras in their war with the Nicaraguan govern- ment. The Contras engaged in military attacks on civil- They talk as if we are engaged in a giant video game war where there are no real consequences white supremacists. Taking Trump’s argument to its log- ical conclusion would mean that a lot of White people would find themselves on the receiving end of drone at- tacks or sniper shootings. Second, who is a terrorist? ians and non-military targets. That is usually a definition of terrorism. Should their fam- ilies have been eliminated? What about the families of the US governmental authorities, e.g., the CIA, who supported such operations? You see where I am going? But let me add one point. Has it occurred to anyone that we may already be pay- ing the price for the killing of families of alleged terrorists? Every time there is so-called collateral damage in the kill- ing of alleged terrorists, that is frequently the family and/ or friends or in some cases, simply someone walking by. Has anyone considered that such killings may have al- ready triggered reactions on the part of people who might have otherwise never consid- ered anything close to terror- ism? Trump and several of the other Republican candidates are very fast and loose with their language. They talk as if we are engaged in a giant video game war where there are no real consequences, just a shoot ‘em-up free-for-all. In the case of Donald Trump, it might be that this is the result of prolonged exposure to re- ality TV shows. Just saying… Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia Defends Racism O n the same day that Pres- ident Barack Obama gave a stirring and his- torically grounded com- memoration regarding the 150th anniversary of the pas- sage of the 13th Amendment, the one that “abolished” slav- ery, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia chose to dis- regard tenets of equality and opportunity from the bench during the hearing for Fisher V. University of Texas. Scalia suggested that African Amer- ican students would benefit more if they went to “lesser track” schools. His verbatim comments: “There are those who con- Julianne Malveaux NNPA Columnist tend that it does not benefit Af- rican-Americans to get them into the University of Texas, where they do not do well — as opposed to having them go to a less advanced school, a slower-track school where they do well,” Scalia said. “One of the briefs pointed out that most of the Black scientists in this country don’t come from schools like the University of Texas. They come from less- er schools where they do not feel that they’re being pushed ahead in classes that are too fast for them.” “ situated students at the top of their classes? Abigail Fisher, who is bring- ing this lawsuit, was deficient, and judged as so. She was not in the top 10 percent at her Scalia suggested that African American students would benefit more if they went to “lesser track” schools What does Justice Scalia mean by “lesser schools?” Does he suggest that the Af- rican Americans, most at the top 10 percent of their high school class can’t compete with their peers, similarly Texas high school; according to the Top Ten Percent Plan any graduating senior in the top 10 percent of their grad- uating class receives admis- sion to the University of Tex- as at Austin. More than three quar- ters of the slots at the University of Texas-Aus- tin are reserved for that group of students. Fisher was a middling student who did not have enough social value to be consid- ered among the 8 percent whose admission is a function of the Personal Achievement Index (PAI) and Academic Index (AI). These are the folks who based on their race, so- cioeconomic status, fam- ily background, extra curricular activities and other factors stand out. These folks are not all African American; in fact of the 841 that make up the 8 percent, only 47 of them scored low- er than Fisher and only five of them were Afri- can-American. They are folks whose portfolio deserved special consid- eration. Read the full commentary at TheSkanner.com
