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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 21, 2016)
Page 2 The Skanner December 21, 2016 Challenging People to Shape a Better Future Now Opinion Bernie Foster Founder/Publisher Envisioning the Beginning of the End of the AIDS Epidemic Bobbie Dore Foster Executive Editor “I 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 ’m very proud of what we’ve accomplished together over the past eight years. Here and around the world, over 18 mil- lion people are receiving the treatment and care they need — millions of infections have been prevented. What once seemed like an impossible dream, the dream of an AIDS- free generation, is within our grasp. But we know that there’s work to do to banish stigma, save lives and empow- er everyone to reach their po- tential….” — President Barack Obama, Video Message for World AIDS Day, Dec. 1. On June 5, 1981, the Centers for Disease Control published its weekly Morbidity and Mor- tality Report. The report — which described five cases of previously healthy, young gay men in Los Angeles infect- ed with a rare lung infection — would eventually become recognized as the first official report on HIV/AIDS in the United States. Since the start of the ep- idemic 35 years ago, an es- timated 35 million people have died from AIDS-related illnesses around the globe. In the United States alone, more than 700,000 people have died an AIDS death since the beginning of the epidemic. Thirty-five years ago, testing HIV positive was an automatic death sentence, Marc H. Morial National Urban League but today, as a result of tar- geted HIV prevention ef- forts, rapid testing, advances in treatment and increased access to life-saving health care, what was once a death sentence is now, in many cas- es, a chronic disease that can be lived with and managed. “ and socioeconomic dispari- ties. African Americans and Latinos continue to bear the disproportionate burden of HIV infection in our nation. In 2015, African Americans, who represent 12 percent of the U.S. population, account- ed for 45 percent of HIV di- agnoses. While Latinos, who represent 18 percent of the U.S. population, accounted for 24 percent of HIV diag- noses. Regionally, the South is experiencing the highest infection rates, illness and deaths than any other U.S. re- The link between health, so- cial and economic equity and our vision of an AIDS-free generation is real and borne out by the shocking rate of HIV/AIDS in communities of color and vulnerable popu- lations. Given the dispropor- tionate impact of the epidemic in communities of color, effec- tively addressing HIV/AIDS in the United States also means addressing poverty and a lack of access to health care. The National Urban League and its affiliates continue to partner with organizations and groups working to de- The current statistics related to HIV/AIDS are a call to action to put an end to HIV with leadership and com- mitment that amplifies our impact in all communities ravaged by this disease Today, more than 1.2 million people in the United States are living with HIV, according to the CDC. New infections are down from their peaks in the 80s and 90s, with the CDC estimating that new HIV diagnoses have fallen by 19 percent from 2005 to 2014. The death rate from AIDS-re- lated illnesses has dropped by 30 percent, approaching our nation’s 2020 target rate. We must keep in mind that the epidemic is far from over and that our progress has been uneven and remains riddled with all-too-familiar racial gion, with the Southern states accounting for close to half— an estimated 44 percent—of all people living with an HIV diagnosis in the United States. For those of us on the front lines of the battle versus this epidemic, these numbers are a call to action to put an end to HIV with leadership and commitment that amplifies our impact in all communi- ties ravaged by this disease. It is also a vivid reminder that health, health care, disease and its dissemination and eradication do not exist in a cultural or social vacuum. crease and defeat HIV/AIDS in the hardest hit popula- tions. League affiliates have joined the Act Against AIDS Leadership Alliance. As a part of AAALI, more than 500 HIV related events and train- ings have taken place. As a member of PACT (Partnering and Communicating Together to Act Against AIDS), we work on achieving the goals of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS) by reducing HIV in- fections, improving health outcomes for people living with HIV and reducing HIV related disparities. Will White Workers Accept Trump’s Billionaire Cabinet Picks? W hen Donald Trump was running for President, he specif- ically targeted the “White working class,” tell- ing them that he’d prevent their jobs from leaving the country, that he’d bring back manufacturing jobs, and that he’d revive the oil and steel industries. He hasn’t taken office yet, but he has already celebrated the fact that Car- rier, a furnace manufactur- er in Indianapolis, Indiana, has agreed to keep jobs in the United States, even though they had earlier announced that they would have moved jobs to Mexico. The Carrier deal that Trump has been crowing about is so deceptive, that some business writers describe it as a scam and a union leader accused Trump of lying his hind parts off. Trump says he saved over a thousand jobs, but the real number may be closer to 730. Carrier will still relocate more than 500 jobs to Mexico, and they had already planned to keep about 300 jobs in the United States. So Trump may have “saved” 400 jobs, not 800 or a thousand, and Indiana Governor Mike Pence had to give up $7 million in tax ben- efits to keep the jobs here. Trump and Pence have also signaled that they are willing Julianne Malveaux NNPA Columnist to play “let’s make a deal” on a case by case basis to keep jobs in the United States, instead of using public policy to encour- age the development of U.S. jobs and to limit the mobili- “ there’s never a slip and fall or an age, sex, or race discrim- ination case.” While the De- partment of Labor has been the advocate for workers, Mr. Puzder seems to be an advo- cate for worker exploitation. Okay, y’all working-class White folks, those of you who voted for Mr. Trump, are you ready to swallow a bitter pill? Because Mr. Trump has shown you, yet again, what he thinks of you. The historian Doris Kearns Goodwin wrote Mr. Trump seems to have assem- bled a team of war-mongering gen- erals and bombastic billionaires ty of capital. And, Carrier is still closing another Indiana plant, but there has been no intervention for that closure. Now, Mr. Trump has indi- cated that Andrew F. Puzder is his choice for Secretary of Labor. Puzder, the CEO of CKE Restaurant Holdings, a com- pany that franchises Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. fast food outlets, has opposed minimum wage increases, worker protec- tions, paid sick leave, and the Affordable Care Act. He has said that he welcomes auto- mation in the restaurant in- dustry, because machines are “always polite…never take a vacation, never show up late, about President Abraham Lincoln’s “Team of Rivals.” What Mr. Trump seems to have assembled is a team of war-mongering generals and bombastic billionaires. The Puzder appointment, then, is consistent with Mr. Trump’s philosophy, but it is inconsis- tent with the notion that the Labor Department should be an advocate for workers, and should regulate labor mar- kets and enforce labor legis- lation. The minimum wage was stuck at $5.15 an hour for ten years before it was increased in 2007. Then, Congress ap- proved a three-step increase, raising the wage to $5.85 an hour in July 2007, then $6.55 an hour in 2008, finally in- creasing to $7.25 an hour in 2009. It has been stuck there ever since. President Obama has recommended an in- crease of the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour, less than the $15 an hour that many activ- ists are advocating through the Fight for Fifteen. Puzder does not think the minimum wage should be more than $9 an hour. He also opposes Obama Administration ef- forts to give overtime pay to more workers. It would be crass to say that Puzder purchased his posi- tion, but it is important to note that he contributed more than $300,000 to the Trump campaign. His nomination is consistent with that of Okla- homa attorney general Scott Pruitt, a climate change de- nier, to head the Environmen- tal Protection Agency. Just as Pruitt has no intention of pro- tecting the environment, pri- oritizing energy production over environmental protec- tion, Puzder has no intention of advocating for or protect- ing workers. If Mr. Trump and Mr. Puzder have their way, they’ll get chump change for hourly pay. Is that the change they want to believe in?
