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
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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?
