Page 2 The Skanner August 17, 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 Oice Coordinator
Susan Fried
Photographer
2016
MERIT
AWARD
WINNER
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
Shirley Chisholm and the Fight for Equal Rights for All Women
W
ith a woman heading
the ticket of the Dem-
ocratic Party, it may
be challenging for
us to remember that women
have had the right to vote for
less than a century (and Black
folks less that). But the 19th
Amendment that gave women
the right to vote was ratiied
on August 18, 1920, just 96
years ago. At Congresswom-
an Bella Abzug’s (D-N.Y.) in-
sistence Congress designated
August 26 as Women’s Equal-
ity Day in 1971. The irst
part of the joint resolution
of Congress reads, “Where-
as the women of the United
States have been treated as
second class citizens and have
not been entitled to the full
rights and privileges, public
or private, legal or intention-
al, which are available to male
citizens.” Reading the words
reminds me how far women
have come, how far we still
have to go, and how little the
status of women of color is in-
cluded when we speak of the
status of women.
How far have we come? Few
would have predicted that
an African American would
win an election and efective-
ly lead the United States for
eight years, few would have
predicted that a women would
have more than a ighting
chance of winning the United
States presidency. And yet the
Julianne
Malveaux
NNPA
Columnist
very campaign that signals
progress is also one that illus-
trates how much more work
needs to be done before wom-
en’s equality is attained. Too
much of the rhetoric around
Secretary Clinton’s candida-
cy is downright sexist. She
should be judged by her po-
“
is a clear case of where there’s
smoke, there’s ire. One won-
ders how many other com-
panies have similarly hostile
work environments and how
oten women, simply attempt-
ing to earn a living, are placed
in the position of having to
manage unlattering com-
ments, downright harass-
ment, coerced sex, and even
rape. There are documented
cases of women being raped
in the military then being
discharged because they can’t
work with their rapists. And
let’s not get started on some of
what happens on some cam-
run for president has been
all but ignored in much of the
media frenzy about candidate
Hillary Clinton. However, it
does not surprise me given
the many ways African Amer-
ican women’s contributions
are sidelined, marginalized
or simply ignored. African
American women earn less
their White counterparts do,
but head more households
and have more economic re-
sponsibility. African Amer-
ican women are far less
likely than their White coun-
terparts to be found in the “C”
suite in corporate leadership,
and far more likely to
be further down the
ladder in every as-
pect of life in our na-
tion. While people say
they saw the glass ceil-
ing shatter with Hillary
Clinton’s nomination,
others saw the millions stand-
ing at the sticky loor with
few opportunities to climb
up to that glass ceiling. Those
standing on the sticky loor
are disproportionately wom-
en of color, especially those
who earn low wages and have
fewer opportunities than oth-
ers. Maybe Hillary Clinton
will bridge the gap when she
pursues a progressive eco-
nomic agenda that includes
fair and equal pay, afordable
childcare, and other beneits
for working women.
The very campaign that signals prog-
ress is also one that illustrates how
much more work needs to be done be-
fore women’s equality is attained
sitions and there should be
absolutely no talk about her
looks, hairstyle, attire, or
tone of voice. No man could
stand the kind of scrutiny that
she has had to endure. No man
has ever been subject to such
scrutiny.
The continuing saga of sex-
ual harassment at Fox News
is another example of the dis-
tance we must travel to reach
women’s equality. The compa-
ny’s former CEO, Roger Ailes,
is accused of multiple counts
of sexual harassment, and this
puses. That a Palo Alto judge
sentenced a Stanford student
to a scant six months in a rape
witnessed by another student
is amazing. That his father
actually decried the sentence
as too high a price to pay for
a few minutes of “action”
speaks to how much work we
have to do to reach women’s
equality.
And ain’t I a woman. What
about Black women’s equal-
ity? It chagrins me that
Congresswoman
Shirley
Chisholm’s (D-N.Y.) historic
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
Paciic NW News
World News
Opinions
Jobs, Bids
Entertainment
Community Calendar
RSS feeds
BE A PART
OF THE
CONVERSATION
#SkNews
Can We Rebuild Black Wall Street?
“T
here are [Blacks] who
are willing to worship
the pyramids of 4,000
years ago, but will not
build pyramids in the pres-
ent so their children may see
what they let behind as well.
We have a leadership who
rallies the people to look at
past glories, but leave their
children neglected, who will
make great analytical and
oratorical dissertations on
the inadequacies of Eurocen-
tric education and yet will
not contribute one penny of
their money or their time to
the construction of their own
schools.” — Dr. Amos Wilson,
Afrikan Centered Conscious-
ness versus the New World
Order.
Montoya Smith, host of the
Atlanta talk show, “Mental
Dialogue,” asked, “Can we re-
build ‘Black Wall Street?’”
“No, really,” he added, recog-
nizing the depth of his ques-
tion and assuring folks he
was not kidding or just being
rhetorical.
So, what was Black Wall
Street? Most of what I have
learned about it was obtained
from a book by John Sibley
Butler titled, “Entrepreneur-
ship and Self-Help Among
Black Americans, A Recon-
sideration of Race and Eco-
nomics,” which contains an
exhaustive section on Tulsa,
Oklahoma’s history and a de-
James
Clingman
NNPA
Columnist
tailed account of what took
place in its Greenwood Dis-
trict. Some of the information
below comes from Dr. Butler’s
book. I also learned from face
to face conversations with six
“
Despite hundreds of Black
lives lost in the riot and all
of Greenwood’s businesses
destroyed, the story of that
economic enclave during the
ensuing seventeen years was
one of triumph over tragedy.
By 1923, as a result of Blacks
pooling their money to cap-
italize new enterprises, the
Black business district was
even larger than before, and
Greenwood was completely
restored by Black people by
1938. Ultimately, urban re-
is based on the fact that we
have done it before under far
worse circumstances than
we are under today. But as I
listened to the other guest on
Montoya’s show, Mr. Jay West,
entrepreneur and president
of the Lithonia Small Business
and Merchants Association
located on the outskirts of At-
lanta, Georgia, I became even
more convinced.
Immediately impressed by
Mr. West and the work his
group is doing in a city that is
approximately 85 per-
cent Black, I sought
him out to learn more.
Jay West understands
and promotes local
business support. “I
do 95 percent of my
shopping right here in Li-
thonia,” West said, “because
I know that one dollar spent
here has the multiplier efect
of three dollars, as our busi-
nesses support one another.”
West is absolutely correct,
and the Lithonia merchants
association will beneit col-
lectively and individually
from circulating their dollars.
They will grow their busi-
nesses and create more jobs.
This nascent organization
can be the model from which
new Black Wall Streets can be
built across this nation.
‘I know that one dollar spent here has
the multiplier efect of three dollars, as
our businesses support one another’
of the survivors of the Tulsa
Riot.
Black Wall Street was
burned to the ground in 1921
by a White mob. The Green-
wood District, located in the
northern section of Tulsa,
Oklahoma, was once called
“Negro Wall Street,” and
“Little Africa.” It was home
to hundreds of Black owned
businesses and sat on valu-
able land desired by White oil
speculators, who even tried to
buy parcels of that land from
Blacks for ten cents on the
dollar immediately following
the Tulsa riot. Fortunately
and wisely, Blacks refused to
sell.
newal and integration, which
allowed Blacks to shop at non-
Black stores, led to the demise
of “Black Wall Street.”
To Amos Wilson’s point,
Greenwood was a pyramid
built by Blacks in the ear-
ly 1900’s. Instead of looking
back and merely reveling in
the successes of Mound Bay-
ou, Mississippi, and other en-
claves that came before them,
Black people in Greenwood
built upon those legacies.
Thus, my answer to the ques-
tion posed by Montoya Smith,
(Can we rebuild Black Wall
Street?) was and is an emphat-
ic and unequivocal, “Yes!”
My answer to that question
Read the rest of this story at
TheSkanner.com
