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Page 2 The Skanner February 1, 2017 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 Opinion Activists Can Learn from King’s ‘Creative Disruption’ Tactics W hen Dr. Martin Lu- ther King envisioned the Poor People’s Campaign in 1968, he envisioned all kinds of people descending on our nation’s capital, bringing demands to federal agencies. He envi- sioned people pushing for af- fordable housing, for quality education, for better health care, for minority business development programs, and more. He envisioned them demanding these things, and occupying government of- fices until these things were produced. Unfortunately, Dr. King’s death and the curse of disorganization prevented the Poor People’s Campaign from being exactly what Dr. King imagined. But it still made a difference, and people still refer to its conception as brilliant. The Poor People’s Campaign was a paradigm shift in our manner of protest. It wasn’t just marching, and it wasn’t just protest. It also involved the creative disruption that would come if thousands of people sat in federal offices and demanded change. Can this kind of creative disrup- tion be useful in the age of Trump? After all, Mr. Trump has already told us what he thinks of most of the Ameri- can people. His nomination of Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) Julianne Malveaux NNPA Columnist as Attorney General is a flash of the middle finger to men of color, especially the Black men who have been tossed around as cavalierly as the term “law and order.” It is a “ they should have to release their financial information, and they shrug off the notion of conflict of interest. Con- trast them with Dr. King who only got a big paycheck when he won the Nobel Peace Prize, and he gave “every penny” of the $54,000 that he won in 1964 to the civil rights move- ment. Dr. King was extremely clear about those he identi- fied with. He once said: for Me, Myself, and I.” Absent a sense of service or of social/ public consciousness, Mr. Trump seems to believe that his own personal richness makes America great again (hate again, sick again). His swaggering dismissal of any- one who dares ask a question that challenges suggests that he thinks he is ascending a monarchy, not leading a de- mocracy. And the tone-deaf lemmings that surround him, some (like Kellyanne Con- way) called “Trump whisperers” must be whispering sweet nothings, because the behav- ior modification so many expected has not yet happened. Still, we who are progres- sive play ourselves cheap when we respond to his smug tweets. We play ourselves cheap when we moan and whine. The time for whining is over now. This is the time for a paradigm shift in the way we respond to institu- tional stupidity. This is the time for us to consider cre- ative disruption whenever, wherever, and however. What does that mean? Let’s channel the energy of the Poor Peo- ple’s Campaign. Let’s show up in those federal offices. Let’s carry demands; let’s ball up our fists. Let’s get it on! Trump seems to do little more than create a cabinet of billionaires who are as far re- moved from the way ordinary people live slap in the face to the immi- grants and women who have already seen what Sessions stands for. And it is not as if other Trump appointments are better. Indeed, not a single Trump appointment passes the cen- trist smell test or suggests a willingness to reach across the aisle. Indeed, Trump seems to do little more than create a cabinet of billion- aires who are as far removed from the way ordinary people live that the public policy they attempt to create will be little more than self-serving. None of them seems to un- derstand the concept of pub- lic service. They don’t think “I choose to identify with the underprivileged, I choose to give my life for the hungry, I choose to give my life for those who have been left out of the sunlight of opportunity… this is the way I’m going. If it means suffering, I’m going that way. If it means dying for them, I’m going that way, because I heard a voice saying DO SOMETHING FOR OTH- ERS.” Our President-Elect has also heard a voice, but the voice he heard said: “Do Something 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. ©2017 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 BE A PART OF THE CONVERSATION @theskannernews It’s Time for the Democratic Party to Wake Up E veryone appears to have figured out that a danger- ous, stupid fascist with no knowledge of how the federal government works is now the President of the Unit- ed States. Everyone, that is, except members of the Dem- ocratic Party, now serving in the 115th Congress. You have to wonder how many dangerously incom- petent, racist and blindly ideological decisions the ex- ecutive branch have to make before the Democrats in the United States Congress, who are supposedly in the oppo- sition party, wake up. What is the strategy? What is the plan? Be certain to take note of the Democrats who vote in favor of Trump’s cabinet nominees for Treasury, Education, La- bor and Health and Human Services. Senate Democrats have uni- fied against exactly zero of Trump’s cabinet nominees. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) who is allegedly a progressive leader, voted in favor of Dr. Ben Carson to lead a department he has no quali- fications to run. Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.), who has great Instagram posts of food, voted with Republicans to raise pre- scription drug prices. Senators who have no re-election fears whatsoever Lauren Victoria Burke NNPA Columnist in 2018 are lying down and showing no signs of resist- ing Trump when the easiest show of resistance is a simple “thumbs down” on the Senate floor. “ ership. The decision between Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) and former Labor Secretary Tom Perez for Democratic Na- tional Committee Chair will be a crucial benchmark for the party. Over a million people took to the streets to participate in marches around the world, the day after Trump’s Inaugu- ration, which drew far low- er numbers than President Obama’s historic inaugura- tion in 2009. Protesters fig- nelly granted a temporary stay so those in transit taken into custody could continue their travels. On the evening of January 28 it was learned that Trump had installed his racist, an- ti-Semitic political advisor Steve Bannon as a member of the National Security Council (NSC). The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, four-star Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford was removed from the NSC. This happened a day after the Trump White House released a Holocaust Re- membrance Day state- ment that omitted the words “Jewish” or “Jews” from it and avoided men- tioning that of one of the worst mass murders in history happened because of the faith of the victims. Then Trump officials said that not mentioning Jewish people was intentional because “oth- ers were killed too.” On the day of Barack Obama’s first inauguration on January 20, 2009, top Re- publicans met for dinner to discuss strategy against his agenda. That strategy was eight years of obstruction against Obama’s agenda and it worked. Whether Democrats in the Senate and House like it or not, they are the first line of defense against the Trump Administration. Take note of the Democrats who vote in favor of Trump’s cabinet nominees for...Treasury, Education, Labor and Health and Human Services Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who took over as Democratic Leader from re- tired Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), so far, has decided to vote in favor of almost all of Trump’s nominees. What makes this even more confusing is that the messaging of Democratic leaders is the opposite of the action. The Democratic Party is at it’s lowest point in four decades in terms of seats held in the U.S. House of Repre- sentatives, governors’ houses and seats in state legislatures. With Trump’s arrival and no strategy to be seen, there has never been a better argument for younger and newer lead- ured out there needed to be resistance to Trump before he took office, but Democrats standing on the floor of the U.S. Senate and House remain asleep. Last weekend, Trump signed an executive order that blocked entry of all ref- ugees to the U.S. for 120 days and barred Syrian refugees from entering the U.S. indefi- nitely. The order also blocked entry to anyone from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen — all Mus- lim majority countries. After confusion and protest at sev- eral major airports across the U.S., federal Judge Ann Don-