Page 2 The Skanner September 28, 2016
®
Challenging People to Shape
a Better Future Now
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Opinion
President Obama Makes Urgent Call for Black Voter Turnout
On Sept. 17, we were pleased
to witness, irsthand, Presi-
dent Barack Obama’s keynote
address at the Congressional
Black Caucus Foundation’s
2016 Phoenix Awards Din-
ner; it was his inal speech,
as Commander-In-Chief, at
the celebration that included
Black members of Congress,
celebrities, civil rights lead-
ers, journalists and corpo-
rate partners. Thousands
of guests in their black-tie
attire gave the President of
the United States of America
a rousing standing ovation
in response to his speech
that focused on the progress
that we’ve made, as a nation,
during Obama’s eight years in
the White House.
But the most poignant and
dramatic utterance by Pres-
ident Obama during his re-
marks happened when he
energetically stated, “There’s
no such thing as a vote that
doesn’t matter. It all matters.
And ater we have achieved
historic turnout in 2008 and
2012, especially in the Afri-
can-American
community,
I will consider it a personal
insult, an insult to my legacy,
if this community lets down
its guard and fails to activate
itself in this election.”
President Obama empha-
sized, “You want to give me a
good sendof? Go vote. And
I’m going to be working as
Benjamin F.
Chavis, Jr.
NNPA
President
and CEO
hard as I can these next seven
weeks to make sure folks do.”
The countdown to the most
important election in our life-
time has begun.
We concur with President
Obama. The national elec-
“
to the polls in Black America
will once again be the single
most determinative factor in
the outcome of the national
elections and for the future of
America.
We in the National Newspa-
per Publishers Association
(NNPA) are helping to lead
the combined nationally co-
ordinated Get-Out-The-Vote
(GOTV) campaign to ensure
that more than 20 million
Black American voters will
surge to the voting polls in ev-
ery precinct throughout the
‘My name may not be on the ballot,
but our progress is on the ballot.
Democracy is on the ballot. Justice
is on the ballot’
– President Barack Obama
tions across the nation on
Nov. 8, 2016 are tremendous-
ly important and crucial
to Black America and to all
Americans, who want free-
dom, justice and equality.
Beware of the false proph-
ets that are predicting and
even hoping for a low African
American voter turnout. We
deied the odds in 2008 and
in 2012 with large Black voter
turnouts. Now we must do it
again.
The best way to celebrate
Black history is to make more
history. The turnout of voters
county on November 8. 2016.
To achieve the goal of “20
Million Black Voters to the
Polls,” the NNPA’s Project
Black Voter Turnout 2016: 20
Million Black Voters to the
Polls will work in coordina-
tion with the National Coali-
tion on Black Civic Participa-
tion (NCBCP) that ofers an
online link for voter registra-
tion.
Time is running out to reg-
ister to vote in many states. If
you are not registered to vote,
do it today without delay.
In addition, the NNPA will
work to coordinate national
GOTV eforts with the Na-
tional Association for the
Advancement of Colored
People (NAACP), National Ur-
ban League, National Action
Network (NAN), Rainbow
PUSH, National Medical As-
sociation, National Associa-
tion of Black Social Workers,
National Association of Black
Journalists, National Associa-
tion For Equal Opportunity in
Higher Education (NAFEO),
Thurgood Marshall Center
for Social Justice, National
Association of Real Estate
Brokers (NARWB), and with
the Southern Christian Lead-
ership Conference (SCLC),
Project Black Voter Turn-
out 2016: 20 Million Black
Voters to the Polls will also
work with the following na-
tional Black church organi-
zations and religious leaders:
National Baptist Convention,
Progressive National Baptist
Convention, African Meth-
odist Episcopal Church, Af-
rican Methodist Episcopal
Zion Church, Church of God
in Christ, United Church of
Christ, and the Impact Net-
work.
President Obama conclud-
ed, “If you care about our
legacy, realize everything we
stand for is at stake.”
Read the rest of this commentary at
TheSkanner.com
Oregon Needs Measure 98
I
graduated from Jeferson
High School in 1967. Al-
though I didn’t know it at
the time, an electronics
course I took there helped in
my choice that led me to what
ended up being a lucrative,
44-year career as an electri-
cian.
Because I loved math, I
thought I would be an ac-
countant. But a college path
didn’t hold my interest, and I
dropped out. It was by a stroke
of luck that I heard about an
electrician
apprenticeship
program. I signed up and, as
they say, the rest is history.
But there’s a disconnect.
I didn’t set out to join the
trades, I only fell into it by
chance.
What I’d love to see is a
pipeline where young people
get engaged with hands-on
skills in high school that can
enlighten them to a whole
universe of possibilities, in-
cluding the trades.
Oregonians will have an op-
portunity this fall that starts
such a pipeline by voting “yes”
in November on Measure 98.
Measure 98 prioritizes our
high schools by allocating a
portion of new revenue for
districts to spend in ways that
we know improve outcomes
for high school students.
Measure 98 dollars are avail-
able for districts to spend on
Keith
Edwards
Retired Int’l
Rep, IBEW
9th District
expanding and creating new
vocational and career techni-
cal education (CTE) so that all
high school students can take
advantage of it. Right now, a
lot depends on whether you
“
other Portland high schools
are just now beeing up CTE.
These aspects contribute to
our embarrassing graduation
rate.
Furthermore, our gradu-
ates aren’t well prepared be-
cause they lack basic skills
— three out of four who go
directly to community college
must take basic education and
many can’t even use a tape
measure.
CTE opens up new worlds
to high school students. First,
Measure 98 dollars are available
for districts to spend on expanding
and creating new vocational and
career technical education (CTE)
so that all high school students can
take advantage of it
live in the right zip code or
win a lottery to a CTE-focused
school. Measure 98 dollars
also can be used for college
prep and dropout prevention.
Although Portland high
schools ofer CTE, we have far
too little classes available for
all of our students who would
like vocational education
opportunities. Benson High
School, the district’s CTE-fo-
cused high school, consistent-
ly has long waiting lists and
they learn that these voca-
tions exist — and that they
are starting points on paths to
successful futures. Students
explore and discover their
potential. Many young people
ind out that they enjoy and
are good at working in an ap-
plied learning environment
and/or with their hands. The
relevance of school is easy to
see. This will also make high
school a springboard to the
real world of work toward ca-
reer goals.
Consider these additional
important facts:
Expecting 100 percent of
high schoolers to ind their
way into the workforce via
traditional college just isn’t
realistic. It’s a major inancial
commitment. Fact is only 28%
of students that enter high
school in Oregon graduate
from college over the next 10
years. Measure 98 is a good
investment in our human
capital.
In contrast, an apprentice
can begin working at a mid-
dle-income wage job as soon
as 10 months ater entering a
program. With so many baby
boomer retirements and the
amount of construction go-
ing on in our city, electricians
other skilled tradespeople are
some of Portland’s most in-de-
mand workers. These jobs
pay $35 an hour and more
for workers who are fully
trained.
Second, Portland’s gradua-
tion rate is 71 percent — low-
er than the statewide aver-
age of about 72 percent and
much lower than nationwide
average of about 84 percent.
That’s one of the worst grad-
uation rates in the nation,
and the igures are worse for
those who are disadvantaged.
Read the rest of this commentary at
TheSkanner.com