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.