January 4, 2017 The Skanner Page 9 By Freddie Allen (Managing Editor/ NNPA Newswire) P resident Barack Obama used his last press conference of the year to reflect on the accomplishments of his administration over the past eight years. “As I was preparing to take office, the unemployment rate was on its way to 10 percent. Today, it’s at 4.6 percent — the lowest in nearly a decade,” said Obama. “We’ve seen the longest streak of job growth on record, and wages have grown faster over the past few years than at any time in the past 40.” Even as the economy approaches full employment, however, the Black un- employment rate (8.1 percent) is almost twice the White unemployment rate (4.2 percent), according to the Labor Department; a gap that has persisted since the federal government started collecting separate jobs’ data for Blacks nearly 50 years ago and that no presi- dent has been able to address. Obama also touted his administra- tion’s success with insuring people under the Affordable Care and Pa- tient Protection Act, also known as Obamacare. “When I came into office, 44 million people were uninsured. Today, we’ve covered more than 20 million of them,” said Obama. “For the first time in our history, more than 90 percent of Amer- icans are insured.” Still, disparities in healthcare also persist. The uninsured rates for Blacks (12 percent) remains higher than the uninsured rates for Whites (8 percent), and according to the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), Blacks, American Indians and Alaska Natives have a higher prevalence of asthma, diabetes, FREDDIE ALLEN/AMG/NNPA News With Final Press Briefing of 2016, President Obama Reflects on his Record See OBAMA on page 11 President Obama speaks during his last press conference of 2016. d ite ng! lim ati se 3 1 s t A nnual Martin Luther King, Jr. BREAKFAST Tickets on sale at: www.theskanner.com/mlk-breakfast-tickets Jan. 16, 2017 8:30-10:30am Hilton Portland, Grand Ballroom 921 SW 6th Ave., Portland, OR keynote speaker howard Moore, Jr. CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY Attorney Howard Moore, Jr. earned his B.A. degree in 1954 from Morehouse College, and his LL.B. degree from Boston University School in Law. In 1962 he joined the Atlanta law firm of Moore, Alexander and Rindskopf. As one of only 10 black lawyers in Georgia, Moore worked long hours and traveled on Sundays with Vernon Jordan. Moore has represented both Julian Bond (1966) and Angela Davis (1971-1977). sponsors: H #SKBreakfast