Page 2 The Skanner September 21, 2016 ® Challenging People to Shape a Better Future Now Opinion Bernie Foster Founder/Publisher The RNC Is Suing Me, a Loyal Black Republican Bobbie Dore Foster Executive Editor W 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 ith less than seven weeks to go before one of the most his- toric elections in our nation’s history, and when the GOP needs all the help it can get reaching Black voters, the Republican National Commit- tee (RNC) is suing me, a Black Republican, over an event I created. You can’t make this stuf up. A few facts. I created and hosted the irst “Black Re- publican Trailblazer Awards Luncheon” in February 2013 in the wake of former Mas- sachusetts Governor Mitt Romney’s loss to then-Sena- tor Barack Obama in the 2012 presidential election. Rom- ney received just 4 percent of the Black vote. The event was designed to recognize and honor Black Republicans who have made signiicant contri- butions to both America and the Republican Party. As I have written previous- ly, the head of the RNC, Reince Preibus, immediately saw the value in the luncheon and in- sisted that his organization pay for it. I coordinated and executed that 2013 luncheon, despite the fact that RNC stafers, un- beknownst to Preibus at the time, attempted to sabotage my eforts at every turn. More than 250 people at- Raynard Jackson NNPA Columnist tended the inaugural lun- cheon and I estimate that about 40 percent of them were Democrats. That irst year we honored William T. Coleman and Rob- ert J. Brown. David L. Stew- ard was the keynote speaker. Coleman’s work was critical “ is, Mo., who operates one of the largest Black-owned busi- nesses in the U.S., on the stage to talk about politics and the party. RNC stafers later ed- ited me out of the video that was recorded of our conver- sation. Despite the behind-the- scenes turmoil, that irst event was the gold standard. By 2014, Black stafers at the RNC decided they no longer needed my leadership. My original vision for the event was watered down. By the time NewsOneNow managing editor and noted liberal Ro- land Mar- tin hosted the event in 2015, I had com- pletely divorced myself from that RNC-sponsored minstrel show. Even one of the honor- ees, Senator Tim Scott (R-S.C.) declared: “I’m not a trailblaz- er. My father is the trailblaz- er.” I went my own way and sought to trademark the event through my political action committee (PAC) Black Amer- icans for a Better Future. BABF is the irst and only Black Super PAC established to get more Blacks involved in the Republican Party. Last November, I iled for This is the thanks I get for being a loyal Republican for more than 30 years? in the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education. Coleman also served as Secretary of Transportation during the Ford Administration. Bob Brown was the high- est-ranking Black stafer in the Nixon Administration. As I’ve said before, Coleman and Brown were both civil rights icons, who never forgot their obligation to ight on behalf of Black community. Preibus joined me and Dave Steward, the head of World Wide Technology in St. Lou- and received provisional trademark approval by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Oice (USPTO) for the name, “Black Republican Trailblaz- er Awards Luncheon.” I emailed invitations to my 2016 event in early January for the upcoming February luncheon in Washington, D.C. What did the RNC do? The organization sent out an invi- tation for an event using the same name as my event, but in Jacksonville, Fla., sched- uled a week before mine. In a conversation in January 2016, Preibus claimed that the RNC owned the name to my event. During a heated, hour-long conversation, the chair of the RNC, the national committee leader of my party, threat- ened to destroy me. He said that he would make it impos- sible for me to raise money through my PAC. Recently, I received notiica- tion from the USPTO that my trademark application was in dispute and oicially being opposed by the RNC. This is the thanks I get for being a loyal Republican for more than 30 years? Well, if they want a ight, that’s exactly what I’m going to give them. Read the rest of this commentary at TheSkanner.com 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 Airbnb Is Making Real Progress for Travelers of Color W hen I was asked by Airbnb to lead their efort to ight dis- crimination and bias, I was skeptical. Ater spending decades ighting for the protection and advance- ment civil rights and civil lib- erties, I’ve seen many compa- nies merely pay lip service to addressing these issues. I also wondered how one single company could have a real impact on racial dis- crimination.  The sad truth is that bias is deeply embedded in our culture, especially in the area of housing and pub- lic accommodations. Laws designed to prevent housing discrimination are uneven- ly enforced, and it remains a persistent civil rights chal- lenge in many communities. My time serving as the Dis- trict of Columbia’s irst Direc- tor of Tourism let me all too familiar with the tactics used by hotels, restaurants and tour companies to ignore or even facilitate racial discrim- ination. And as an African American woman, I also grew up feeling the sting of racial bias. I still remember my parents’ stories about “The Negro Motorist Green Book” and how Black families had to stay with other Black families when Jim Crow laws encour- aged most hotels to deny ac- Laura W. Murphy Laura Murphy & Associates commodations to Black trav- elers.   What initially persuaded me that change is possible at Airbnb was my irst conversa- tion with Airbnb’s CEO Brian Chesky. “Airbnb will never be “ ness will not happen again. So I, along with key senior leaders at Airbnb began a process designed to be as rig- orous, comprehensive and inclusive as possible. In addi- tion to Airbnb’s management team, I held conversations with employees at every level of the company. We also held consultations with hosts and victims of discrimination. Nearly all of them wanted to use the site again, and for many, Airbnb remains an im- portant source of supplemen- Everyone who uses Airbnb will be subject to a more robust and strin- gent non-discrimination policy and will have to commit to treat fellow users with respect. able to fulill its mission with- out seriously combating dis- crimination on its platform. We must solve this,” he said. Brian was also forthright in admitting that his com- pany was slow to address these problems. He and his cofounders, Joe Gebbia and Nate Blecharczyk, started Airbnb with the best of inten- tions, but he agreed that there was an unacceptable lack of urgency to his previous attempts to address it, and vowed that such unconscious- tal income. The thing that struck me the most was that employees recognized this as a problem they had to solve across the whole of Airbnb, rather than putting the full responsibility on users to self-police or raise it to their attention. As part of this journey I brought in experts includ- ing former Attorney General Eric Holder and Harvard pro- fessor Dr. Robert Livingston to get their input, as well as over 20 civil rights organiza- tions and leaders who have thoroughly explored the ad- vancement of civil rights in the sharing economy. Airbnb also engaged with federal and state regulatory agencies, who encouraged them to be proactive. They worked with elected oicials who have been ighting for civil rights in this country for decades, and who act as an important barometer of consumer con- cern when they hear from constituents about incidents of discrimination or bias. These individuals and or- ganizations provided invalu- able input that formed the basis for my report, Airbnb’s Work to Fight Discrimination and Build Inclusion, and the aggressive policy and plat- form changes Airbnb will adopt. Everyone who uses Airbnb will be subject to a more ro- bust and stringent non-dis- crimination policy and will have to commit to treat fellow users with respect. They have also hired a full-time team of engineers, designers, data sci- entists and more whose sole job is to work on rooting out discrimination where it hap- pens, and preventing it from happening again. Read the rest of this commentary at TheSkanner.com