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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (March 23, 2016)
Page 2 The Skanner March 23, 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 Reporter 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 Opinion Women of Color Disproportionately Represented in Prisons B lack women today yield significant political pow- er as the most reliable Democratic voters. Yet, despite growing political im- portance, they score at the very bottom when it comes to virtually every economic indicator from education to lifetime earnings to house- hold wealth. Some past histo- ry that shapes black women’s lives just aren’t changing fast enough. I grew up with no father and an addicted mother; I raised myself, became a mother at 15, dropped out of school and struggled to support my child and siblings. It was a dark time. Living with pover- ty, surrounded by substance abuse and being neglected, I didn’t think much about the future. But nothing was as dark as waking up in a jail cell without remembering how I got there. More than 1 million women are behind bars in the United States. Two thirds are women of color, and more than a third of those incarcerated for drug offenses. Eighty-five percent have been victims of violence, rape, sexual assault, neglect and child abuse. A recent report shows that over the past two decades, the percentage of girls growing up the way I did who get pris- on sentences jumped from Tamisha Walker The Safe Return Project 20 percent to 50 percent. The number of women in prison is now rising at nearly dou- ble the rate for men. Many of these women are mothers criminalized for being addict- ed while pregnant. Last year, Tennessee passed a law that made it a crime to be addicted “ even after — when it could have helped accelerate the healing of my family. Most incarcerated women have lit- tle or no access to drug treat- ment, even though nearly 75 percent of them were using drugs before their arrest. Nor is there much available treat- ment to help abused women recover. There’s also little counsel- ing or parenting education for incarcerated women, even though most inside, like my- self, are mothers. And there’s scant legal or advocate sup- port for women coming out of Many of these women are mothers criminalized for being addicted while pregnant while pregnant. The right intervention for addiction is treatment, not prison, but women of color disproportionately get pun- ishment instead of treatment. Girls of color who have lived with abuse are more likely to be labeled as offenders than White girls. I was arrested 19 times be- fore I turned 18. No adult ever asked what was wrong or what was leading me down this road of bad decisions and bad consequences. There was no intervention before going to prison, while in prison, or prison and seeking to regain custody of their children. Like men, women coming home face employment chal- lenges, but they often face more even barriers in getting assistance for themselves and their kids if they’ve been con- victed of a drug offense. In the six years since I came home from jail, I have earned my GED, obtained an associ- ate’s degree and become an advocate for changing poli- cies to better serve people re- turning home after incarcer- ation. I’ve reunited with my sons and kept them close, as- suring them they won’t expe- rience the life I knew at their ages. I’m a trained advocate, mediator, mentor and leader in the fight to end mass incar- ceration. Had I known that in my state, California, 54 percent of drug-related prison sen- tences go to women of color, even though women of col- or are only 38 percent of the population, I wouldn’t have been so surprised to end up in prison like growing numbers of other young women. My story inspires others to work for change, too. But it’s an uphill fight, especially for women. I’ve been there, and know it takes more than in- spiration, vision and dreams to change Black history. My work now focuses on redefining public safety by helping people being released from jails and prison to be- come whole in our society. My goal is reduce recidivism by dealing with conditions that led to incarceration to begin with, and facilitating recov- ery from the pain and disen- franchisement of incarcera- tion and the conditions that led to it. A record number of women of color in prison is becoming part of our shared Black his- tory, a by- product of systemic racism, sexism, and oppres- sion that continues to persist. 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. ©2016 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 BE A PART OF THE CONVERSATION #SkNews Veterans and Consumers of Color Often Targeted for Fraud A lthough the former Co- rinthian Colleges, once one of the nation’s larg- est for-profit colleges, closed its doors last year, many of the problems in- curred by its former students persist. The now-defunct col- lege is the only questionable actor among for-profit col- leges. To date, investigations, and lawsuits have focused on a growing list of other for-prof- it schools and colleges includ- ing but not limited to Comput- er Systems Institutes, DeVry University, ITT Tech, Mari- nello Schools of Beauty and Trump University. One of the worst finan- cial abuses perpetrated are against the men and women who sought to successfully transition from military to civilian life. Many veterans enrolled and even graduated from for-profit institutions, like Corinthian, but now find there are three strikes against them: the promised better ca- reers and high earnings nev- er materialized, and thirdly, educational benefits that un- derwrote a portion of the so- called educational cost have now been suspended. In response, eight state At- torneys General have chal- lenged the Department of Vet- erans Affairs (VA) to “restore the educational and vocation- Charlene Crowell NNPA Columnist al rehabilitation benefits that thousands of veterans are deprived of due to misleading advertising, or enrollment practices of predatory insti- tutions, such as Corinthian Colleges, Inc.” These Attor- “ federal student aid, provide up to $21,084 per year for tuition; additional funding covers housing, books and supplies. VR&E benefits are awarded for service-related disabilities that can include job training and education, workplace accommodations and career coaching. Legally, for-profit colleges may receive up to 90 percent of their annual revenues from Title IV. VR&E assistance is not included as part of Title IV. If both Title IV funds – and 2011, Trump University operated as an unlicensed educational institute that promised to teach real estate investment techniques. The office’s investigation revealed that participating consumers paid up to $1,495 for a three- day seminar. While in atten- dance, they did not receive the real estate training promised but were encouraged to sign- up for programs ranging in costs from $10,000 to $35,000. In 2005, the New York State Education Department ad- One of the worst financial abuses perpetrated are against the men and women who sought to successfully transition from military to civilian life neys General (AGs) represent the states of California, Con- necticut, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington. “Most of the student relief flowing from enforcement actions against predatory educational institutions has, however, pertained to student loans – not the hard-earned benefits of our nation’s veter- ans,” wrote the AGs. Two taxpayer funded pro- grams, the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill and the Vocational Rehabilita- tion and Employment (VR&E) program are at the heart of the AGs’ concerns. G.I. Bill benefits, funded by Title IV which also include Pell Grants — are combined with VR&E benefits, taxpayers are almost completely funding for-profit enterprises. “Millions of Americans look to higher education for train- ing that will lead to mean- ingful employment and good pay,” said FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez. “Education- al institutions like DeVry owe prospective students the truth about their graduates’ success finding employment in their field of study and the income they can earn.” According to New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman, between 2005 vised the enterprise of its state law violation. The enter- prise’s name was not changed until 2010. Last fall the Center for Re- sponsible Lending (CRL) re- leased research that found how high-cost, for-profit col- leges make millions each year by targeting students of color. As students of color enroll more often at for-profit col- leges, they are disproportion- ately harmed. Charlene Crowell is a com- munications manager with the Center for Responsible Lending. She can be reached at Charlene.crowell@responsi- blelending.org.
