Page 2 The Skanner January 13, 2016
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
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WINNER
The Skanner has received 20 NNPA awards since 1998
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tablished in October 1975, is a
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every Wednesday by IMM Publi-
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Opinion
FROM THE PUBLISHER:
Looking Ahead to the 2016 Presidential Race
I
t’s January 2016 and we are
just days away from Iowa’s
first vote in the presidential
election. The political sea-
son is in full swing. Then 99
caucuses later the candidates
will be on to New Hampshire,
South Carolina, Nevada and
other states. In November
America will choose a new
leader to steer our way into
the uncertain future.
So far I’m not impressed
with most of what I have seen.
If Donald Trump was audi-
tioning to be a radio shock
jock I might hire him. But
his statements on Muslims,
immigrants and women — in
fact just about everyone who
isn’t a White male billionaire
— terrify me. Who’s next? It
will be you and me. Trump’s
shoot-from-the-lip approach
is not just racist, it’s down-
Bernie
Foster
Publisher
right dangerous. The other
GOP candidates are no better.
All they seem to want is to cut
taxes, repeal Obamacare and
put a gun into the hand of ev-
ery newborn.
And it’s all about the money
for the candidates. Without
big donors they’re out of the
game. The Koch brothers, for
example, now have more than
three times as many paid staff
as the Republican National
Committee, and they plan to
spend more than $889 million
on this election.
Are you mad yet? If you’re
not, you should be.
As for the Democrats, at
least they are talking about
the issues.
Still, it’s not easy to get ex-
cited about another Clinton
presidency. And it’s just as
hard to get behind career pol-
“
If more of us voted our choices
would look very different
itician Bernie Sanders, who,
when confronted by the ur-
gency of the Black Lives Mat-
ter movement, didn’t have the
sense to stand back and give
those women in Seattle the
microphone.
None of this means that vot-
ing doesn’t matter -- it does.
Fewer than 6 in 10 of us ac-
And we need to think of the
big picture too. Only by tak-
ing part can we help build a
better system with better can-
didates.
So this year when two con-
tenders finally emerge, I’m
going to pick the better one.
And I’m going to vote for that
candidate. You should too.
And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow,
I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American
dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live
out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-
evident, that all men are created equal.” I have a dream that one
day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the
sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the
table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of
Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering
with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of
freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four little children will
one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color
of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream
today! I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious
racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of
“interposition” and “nullification” -- one day right there in Alabama
little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little
white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. I have a dream
today! I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and
every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places
will be
#SKBreakfast
made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight;
“and the
#KingBreakfast2016
glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.”2
KEYNOTE SPEAK-
This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back
to
ER: Trial law-
yer, hew
author and
he South with. With this faith, we will be able to
out
lifelong activist
of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With
Charles this
Bonner
was born in Selma,
faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords
o f
Ala. At the age of
16 Bonner joined
our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.
Student Nonvi-
With this faith, we will be able to work together, to the
olent pray
Coordinating
Committee (SNCC)
together, to struggle together, to go to jail together,
t o
in 1963 and participated in sit-ins, marches and
other actions be
for voting
rights in the
South. Two
stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will
free
one
day.
years later he became a field director for the or-
Bonner was one
of hundreds
were
921 will
SW 6th
Ave., day
Portland,
OR will
97204 be the day ganization.
And this
be the
-- this
when
all
of who God’s
beaten on Sunday, March 7, 1965 by Alabama State
children will be able to sing with new meaning: troopers
My
‘tis
on the country
Edmund Pettis Bridge during
the of
“Bloody Sunday” Selma to Montgomery March for
thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where
my fathers died,
the right to vote.
New
Location
Hilton P !
ortland
F oundation
30TH
ANNUAL
Martin Luther King, Jr.
BREAKFAST
January 18, 2016
Hilton Portland, Grand Ballroom
SIGN UP FOR
BREAKING
NEWS
tually exercise our privilege
and right to vote. That weak-
ens our democracy. If more
of us voted our choices would
look very different.
In 2016, America needs wise
leadership more than ever.
We need a president who
understands the big picture.
8:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.
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