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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 14, 2016)
Page 2 The Skanner December 14, 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 Melanie Sevcenko Reporter Monica J. Foster Seattle Office 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 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 Tickets on sale The Skanner Foundation 31st Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. BREAKFAST Jan. 16, 2017 www.theskanner.com/ mlk-breakfast-tickets Opinion Bill Seeks Financial Justice for Wells Fargo Victims A series of developments following the Wells Fargo scandal has now led to the introduction of legislation designed to bring financial justice to the millions of consumers affect- ed by fees and fraudulent ac- counts they never authorized, nor opened. On Dec. 1, Ohio U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown, introduced a bill that would grant Wells Fargo victims their own day in court — even if they signed contracts that includ- ed arbitration for legitimate- ly-opened accounts with the bank. Entitled the “Justice for Vic- tims of Fraud Act of 2016,” the bill would work hand-in- hand with provisions of the Consumer Financial Protec- tion Bureau’s proposed over- sight rule. While CFPB’s rule would apply to credit con- tracts signed after the rule took effect, Brown’s legisla- tion would apply only to cases of fraud like those affected by the Wells Fargo scandal that preceded the record $185 mil- lion CFPB fine. A companion bill was also filed in the House of Repre- sentatives by California Con- gressman Brad Sherman. “I want to thank Senate Banking Committee Ranking Member Sherrod Brown for working with me to intro- duce the “Justice for Victims of Fraud Act of 2016.” This bill will give defrauded Wells Charlene Crowell NNPA Columnist Fargo customers the oppor- tunity for their day in court,” said Sherman. “If customers never authorized the open- ing of a phony credit card or checking account, there is no reason they should be bound by the arbitration agreement they were forced to sign when “ former CEO of Wells Fargo who said that the bank would continue its practice of forced arbitration, despite Sen. Brown pressing for clear an- swers as to how cheated cus- tomers with damaged credit scores would be treated. The nation’s third largest bank by assets, Wells Fargo fraudulently created an esti- mated two million credit card and deposit accounts. Forced arbitration autho- rizes an arbitrator selected and paid by the bank to settle customer disputes. It is also an approach that is usually ‘[The ‘Justice for Victims of Fraud Act of 2016’] will give defrauded Wells Fargo customers the oppor- tunity for their day in court’ they set up their legitimate account.” “Forced arbitration is shielding Wells Fargo from being held accountable for tanking customers’ credit scores and charging them fraudulent fines,” said Sen. Brown. “Wells Fargo’s cus- tomers never intended to sign away their right to fight back against fraud and deceit. We need to give customers back their ability to seek justice in court so they can be made whole again.” The legislative initiative follows earlier congressional testimony by John Stumpf, the hidden in the fine printed details of consumer credit agreements. If a consumer is dissatisfied with the decision of the arbitrator, he/she is denied the right to sue or fur- ther question the decision. Already, Brown’s bill has support of 14 Senate co-sponsors representing Connecticut, Hawaii, Illi- nois, Massachusetts, Minne- sota, Montana, New Jersey, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Virginia. Additionally, the measure is supported by a growing list of organizations that include the NAACP, California Rein- vestment Coalition, Public Justice, the Franciscan Action Network, the Economic Policy Institute, National Consumer Law Center, and Americans for Financial Reform. Speaking on behalf of the Center for Responsible Lend- ing, another organizational supporter, Melissa Stegman, a Senior Policy Counsel said, “This legislation gives these defrauded customers the op- portunity to seek justice in court and is a step in the right direction in bringing fairness to consumer finance…Open- ing fraudulent accounts is not the only abusive tactic Wells Fargo has committed – they are also notorious for manip- ulating transactions in order to charge excessive overdraft fees to their customers.” Defrauded consumers do not deserved to be financial- ly victimized a second time. Instead of trying to minimize the costs Wells Fargo will accrue, both the bank’s long- term interests and its custom- ers would be better served by fully acknowledging its actions, providing fair resti- tution, and enacting reforms to ensure that these kinds of illegal actions will not hap- pen again. Charlene Crowell is commu- nications deputy director with the Center for Responsible Lending. She can be reached at charlene.crowell@responsi- blelending.org. If Donald Trump Is Serious about Fighting Terrorism, He Should Try Registering White Nationalists First I have been trying to figure out how there can be any dis- cussion of registering Mus- lims due to alleged national security concerns, when it is documented that the ma- jor source of terrorism in the United States since 9/11 has been White suprema- cists groups. The Southern Poverty Law Center has been a major source of informa- tion documenting myriad right-wing terrorist attacks, though little mainstream at- tention has gone to this phe- nomenon. Just recently sev- eral right-wingers in Oregon were acquitted of an ARMED occupation of federal proper- ty. This was not civil disobedi- ence or standard protest, but an armed action. In the late 1960s/early 1970s, there were many Black activ- ists who worried that, in the face of some alleged crisis proclaimed by the U.S. gov- ernment, African Americans would be placed into con- centration camps. The main- Bill Fletcher Jr. The Global African stream political establish- ment declared that we were paranoid. While it was true, they would say, that Japanese immigrants and Japanese Americans had been impris- “ cans had been locked up on reservations was convenient- ly ignored. Fast forward to the 2016 Presidential elections. Repub- lican candidates, including, but not limited to, now Presi- dent-elect Trump, began mak- ing suggestions regarding the registering and possible in- terning of Muslims in the U.S. The rationale: alleged nation- al security concerns. This threat of registration, if not detention, has not disap- If there is a registry of Muslims, then all people of conscience should sign up as an act of protest to debunk the registry oned in 1942 as an alleged security threat during World War II, we were subjected to repeated arguments that this would never happen again; what happened to the Japa- nese had been an aberration. The fact that Native Ameri- peared. Despite the fact that White supremacists are the main source of terrorism in the U.S., there has been no call to register White national- ists, let alone any other White people. Using the Trump rationale, there should be a massive registering of White nationalists since history demonstrates their propen- sity for violence. Yet any time the issue of right-wing/ White supremacist terrorism is raised, it is brushed under the rug and the act(s) of vio- lence is pinned on an alleged- ly disturbed White person ,who committed the horrible act, solely due to some sort of inexplicable compulsion. If there is a registry of Muslims, then all people of conscience should sign up as an act of protest. We should ensure that the registry is debunked and that any dis- cussion of terrorism in the U.S. begins with a current and historical examination of the main danger of terrorism we face, terrorism perpetrated by the homegrown right- wing. Bill Fletcher, Jr. is a talk show host, writer and activist. Follow him on Twitter @BillFletcher- Jr, Facebook and at www.billf- letcherjr.com.
