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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 20, 2016)
JANUARY 20, 2016 Portland and Seattle Volume XXXVIII No. 16 25 CENTS News ............................. 3,10,12 MLK Breakfast Photos ..6-7 Opinion ...................................2 A & E .................................... 8-9 Calendars ........................... 4-5 Bids/Classifieds ....................11 CHALLENGING PEOPLE TO SHAPE A BETTER FUTURE NOW PHOTO BY JULIE KEEFE MLK CELEBRATION Charles Bonner Bonner Speaks at Breakfast Christen McCurdy Of The Skanner News C harles Bonner learned in school that Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves — but what he saw growing up in Selma, Ala., told a different story. Bonner, now an international civil rights lawyer and author, was the key- note speaker at The Skanner Founda- tion’s 30th annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Day breakfast Monday, Jan. 18. About 1,000 people packed the downtown Hil- ton’s grand ballroom to listen to Bonner speak about his experience with the original Civil Rights Movement and BY TOM.ARTHUR [CC BY-SA 2.0 (HTTP://CREATIVECOMMONS. ORG/LICENSES/BY-SA/2.0)], VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS See BREAKFAST on page 3 Is ‘Fast Food’ a Dirty Term? Large chains fight to set themselves apart page 10 Kam gives ‘Sweaty Betty’ Four Stars page 8 PHOTO BY SUSAN FRIED Attorney reflects on King’s legacy, the Civil Rights Movement About 5000 people participated in the 34th Annual Martin Luther King Jr Day march from Garfield High School to the Federal building in Seattle Monday. The annual celebration held Jan. 18 included workshops, a rally in the Garfield High School gym and the march. Snyder Appeals Obama’s Denial of Aid Michigan governor argues water poisoning was a ‘natural catastrophe’ because ‘lead contamination into water is a natural process’ DAVID EGGERT Associated Press LANSING, Mich.— Michi- gan Gov. Rick Snyder asked President Barack Obama on Wednesday to recon- sider his denial of a federal disaster declaration to ad- dress the drinking water crisis in Flint, saying its se- verity poses an “imminent and long-term threat” to residents. Obama declared an emer- gency — qualifying the city for $5 million — but deter- mined it is not a disaster based on the legal require- ment that such additional relief is intended for natu- ral events, fires, floods or explosions. In his appeal letter, Sny- der called it a “narrow reading” and likened the crisis to a flood, “given that qualities within the water, over a long term, flood and damaged the city’s in- frastructure in ways that were not immediately or easily detectable. This di- saster is a natural catastro- phe in the sense that lead contamination into water is a natural process.” He said the state and city cannot meet all the needs of Flint residents. He again painted a bleak picture of the city and said the “eco- nomic injury” from the crisis is significant. Snyder said the disaster will lead to years, potentially de- cades of health problems and economic losses as well as infrastructure re- pairs that “neither the city, county or state have the ca- pacity to conduct.” The second-term Re- publican, who devoted his annual State of the State speech Tuesday night to the emergency in Flint, planned Wednesday to release his own emails regarding Flint’s water, which became contami- nated with too much lead when the city switched its water source in 2014 as a cost-cutting measure while under state financial man- See FLINT on page 3 Glaucoma Awareness Month African Americans are five times more likely to develop the progressive eye disease By Arashi Young of The Skanner News A n estimated three million peo- ple in the United States suffer from glaucoma, the leading cause of irreversible blind- ness. Of that three million, only half know they even have the progressive disease. January is National Glaucoma Awareness Month. The campaign brings attention to the sight-stealing disease that often goes unnoticed un- til there has been permanent vision loss. Dr. Mansi Parikh from the OHSU Casey Eye Institute said African Americans have a fivefold greater risk for developing glaucoma. The condition affects Black people at ear- lier ages and presents a more aggres- sive disease course. See GLAUCOMA on page 3 Researchers are trying to find out why Blacks are more likely to develop glaucoma.
