Page 2 The Skanner November 16, 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
2016
MERIT
AWARD
WINNER
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tablished in October 1975, is a
weekly publication, published
every Wednesday by IMM Publi-
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Opinion
Black America’s Resilience Keeps Us Struggling Forward
N
obody said that the road
to freedom, justice and
equality would be easy.
In the wake of the re-
sults of the national elections
across the United States, it is
crystal clear that the aspira-
tions, hopes and dreams of 47
million Black Americans are
neither in vain or hopeless.
We have been disappointed
before. We have been joy-
ous before. But today we are
all called to be vigilant, per-
sistent and resilient.
As one of our sacred free-
dom songs refrains in an up-
beat, “Woke up this morning
with my mind stayed on free-
dom…ain’t gonna let nobody
turn us around…Got a keep
my mind, spirit and soul fo-
cused on freedom…no mat-
ter what happens…we gonna
keep on marching…we gonna
keep on shouting…we gonna
keep on marching down free-
dom’s road.”
You have heard me affirm
before within the printed and
digital contours of the Na-
tional Newspaper Publishers
Association (NNPA) that our
collective sense of righteous
optimism and moral impera-
tives were really never based
exclusively on one event or
one defeat or even one vic-
tory. Ours is a long protract-
ed struggle for freedom and
equality.
Benjamin F.
Chavis, Jr.
NNPA
President
and CEO
Our brother freedom fight-
er, writer and author, James
Baldwin, once told me, “We
have to look at the future
without a moment to blink,
with our heads unbowed with
a transcendent determination
always to rise above the cyni-
cism of the day and never let
“
challenged and confused. But
interestingly some of our el-
ders as well as many of our
young activists that night
and morning gained renewed
strength to fight on for anoth-
er day and era of progress.
We will continue to pick up
our pens to write and speak
truth to power. We will con-
tinue to publish in the grand
tradition of motivating and in-
forming the masses to be ever
aware of what’s happening
now. Every day brings teach-
able moments and lessons.
The National Black Voter Poll,
done by Howard University’s
We have come too far to even con-
template resigning, giving up or
throwing-in the towel
giving-in to wrong creep into
our souls…for nobody knows
or even cares about our suf-
fering if we ever stoop to be
silent or indifferent after the
bloody lash of history has
once again hit out bare backs.”
On election night, Novem-
ber 8, 2016, the entire world
waited for the election results
into the wee hours of the next
morning. Black Republicans
were overjoyed and repur-
posed. Black Democrats were
dismayed and disappointed.
Black Independents were
interdisciplinary group of
faculty and student scholars
and the NNPA turned out to
be the most accurate when it
came to the Black American
vote across America.
Voting in our communities
is not just a right; it is a histor-
ic and contemporary respon-
sibility. As we prepare to en-
ter 2017 with a new political
regime in the White House,
each of us should ask, “What
can I do to help improve the
quality of life of my family
and community?”
How can I and those who I
trust in the solidarity of the
struggle for freedom and em-
powerment work together to
increase the economic devel-
opment of the communities
in which we reside? How can
I contribute to ensuring that
our children receive the high-
est quality education pre-K-12
to college and post graduate?
How can I help raise aware-
ness about the healthcare is-
sues that specifically impact
our communities? How can
I make a positive difference
to make our world a better
place?
We have come too far to
even contemplate resigning,
giving up or throwing-in the
towel. President-elect Donald
Trump has been given the op-
portunity and responsibility
of a lifetime. Will the United
States go forward? Or will
the nation go backward? The
answers to these critical ques-
tions will not be limited to
what President Trump will do
or not do. Each of us will also
contribute to what the future
holds.
From my perspective, Black
America must do what we
have always done. Speak out.
Stand up. Keep fighting for
freedom, justice and equality
with renewed vigor, faith and
energy. Resilience is in our
DNA.
www.TheSkanner.com
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Trump Won, but White Supremacy Won’t Win Forever
I
began election night with
exuberance. I was among
the many who forecast a
Hillary win. The only dis-
agreement among my circle
was how big the Hillary rout
would be. I thought she’d get
at least 300 electoral college
votes, and hoped that she’d
thump Trump by getting as
many as 340, holding him to
less than 200 electoral college
votes. The tables were turned
and Trump was the one doing
the thumping, with the elec-
toral vote count estimated to
be 290-228 (at this writing, fi-
nal counts were not in). Mean-
while, Hillary Clinton won
the popular vote, garnering
around 600,000 more votes
than Donald Trump.
White folks won the day
for Trump in an amazing
showing of White solidarity.
Trump took 58 percent of the
White vote, but did not get a
majority vote from any oth-
er racial/ethnic group. Only
8 percent of African Ameri-
cans voted for Trump. He did
better among Asian Ameri-
cans (29 percent) and Hispan-
ics (nearly 30 percent). White
people repudiated Hillary
Clinton and embraced Trump
as one of their own, despite
his racist, misogynistic, and
jingoistic rhetoric.
Hillary Clinton counted on
White women, especially col-
lege-educated White women,
to save the day. Clearly, they
Julianne
Malveaux
NNPA
Columnist
were not with her. According
to Edison Research exit polls,
Trump won 45 percent of col-
lege-educated White women
and 62 percent of White wom-
en non-college graduates.
“
There were nearly 900 fewer
voting places in 2016 than in
2012. Further, states like Wis-
consin, which Hillary lost by
less than a percentage point,
introduced new voter ID laws
between 2012 and 2016. Clin-
ton lost by less than 2 percent
of the vote in Michigan, Wis-
consin, Pennsylvania, and
Florida.
People of color were more
likely to be affected by voter
suppression measures than
Whites. In Durham, North
Hillary Clinton failed to energize the
base, or transcend the indifference
that too many voters felt for her
Trump won 53 percent of the
total White female vote.
Hillary Clinton failed to
energize the base, or tran-
scend the indifference that
too many voters felt for her.
Turnout was only 56.8 per-
cent, just one percent higher
than 2012, and lower than the
58.2 percent turnout in 2008.
More than 95 million peo-
ple who were eligible to vote
didn’t show up to the polls.
The Republican vote was
similar for Trump and for
Mitt Romney, the last Re-
publican Presidential nom-
inee. Democrats turned out
in much lower numbers for
Clinton than they did for
Obama. Why? Voter suppres-
sion is part of the answer.
Carolina, voting machines
weren’t working, and a judge
ruled to keep the polls open
longer to compensate for the
broken machines. Clinton lost
North Carolina by less than
4 percent. How many more
might have voted, but for bro-
ken machines and other chi-
canery?
How many spent hours in
line, and how many had to
leave lines because they had
to go to work?
Lots of fingers can be point-
ed in this post-election analy-
sis, but Trump won. It hurts
to write that reality down, but
it is a reality we will all have
to grapple with for four years.
Part of the ugly reality is
the realization that too many
of our fellow citizens have
embraced a racially divisive
candidate whose rhetoric has
unleashed hateful speech and
attitudes. The Detroit News
reported that students in
Oakland, Michigan blocked
pathways of Latino students
coming to school, shouting,
“build the wall.” These chil-
dren are emulating their
elders, including the “Presi-
dent-elect.”
Donald Trump was able
to tap into the angst that too
many Whites felt during
the Obama presidency,
and he was able to win the
presidency in the name
of White solidarity and
White supremacy. It seems
incongruous that a rich, priv-
ileged, urban businessman
should become the voice of the
working class disgruntled,
the rural neglected (Trump
got 62 percent of the rural
vote), and White women. But
this is the new reality: the tri-
umph of White privilege and
hate rhetoric.
Whites are just 40 percent
of the population in Califor-
nia, a state that gave Hillary
Clinton 61.5 percent of its
vote. And the Census reports
that by 2044 there will be no
majority group in our nation.
White folks might as well en-
joy Trump while they can, but
time and demographics are
on our side. White suprema-
cy won’t reign forever.