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Page 2 The Skanner August 23, 2017 ® Challenging People to Shape a Better Future Now Bernie Foster Founder/Publisher Confederate Statues Fall, But Economic Racism Lingers Bobbie Dore Foster Executive Editor C Jerry Foster Advertising Manager Christen McCurdy News Editor Patricia Irvin Graphic Designer Melanie Sevcenko Reporter Monica J. Foster Seattle Office Coordinator Susan Fried Photographer 2017 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. ©2017 The Skanner. All rights re served. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission prohibited. LOCAL NEWS BRIEFS d ay ! • L i ke u s o n F ac it Updated daily. to y • ebo o k • learn • co TheSkannerNews m me • nts heers to New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, one of the first mayors to take Confederate statues down and to make the strong point that these statues repre- sent nothing but oppression. You should check out the speech he delivered, in May, at MarketWatch.com. More cheers to Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh who had statues removed in the dead of night to avoid Char- lottesville-type confronta- tions between racist White supremacists (also known as “good people” according to “45”) and those who oppose them. And though he does little that I agree with, in the interest of equal praise, I must lift up Maryland Gov- ernor Larry Hogan, who had the statue of Roger Taney removed from the Maryland state house. Taney was an especially vile racist who authored the Dred Scott de- cision in 1857. He wrote that Black people had no rights that Whites were bound to re- spect, and provided justifica- tion for enslavement, even as many in the rest of the nation were clamoring against the unjust institution. As the statues are falling, economic racism is not fad- ing. African Americans still earn just 60 percent of what Whites earn. We have just 7 percent of the wealth that Whites have. The unemploy- ment rate for Black workers is double the unemployment rate of White workers. Even with equal incomes, Blacks find it more challenging to Julianne Malveaux NNPA Columnist get mortgages or other access to capital and our economic rights are being challenged every day. It is important to note that these statues were not erect- ed immediately after the Civ- il War. Of course, Southern Confederates — a bunch of “ it in the dead of night. Black people, who had land, were of- ten forced to concede it or be killed. The Emergency Land Fund, a now-defunct organi- zation that documented the Black loss of land, indicated that Black folks lost as much as 90 percent of their accu- mulated land by 1970, at least partially due to trickery and intimidation. The origins of the wealth gap lie in this loss of land, and in the intimidation that kept African American people in near-slave status in the South. Confederate statues, flags, The origins of the wealth gap lie in this loss of land, and in the intim- idation that kept African Ameri- can people in near-slave status in the South losers — were too broke to build statues. They were still trying to recover from the devastation of the Civil War. How did they plan to recov- er? They needed a captive la- bor force to work their fields, just as enslaved people had before the war. So they en- sured quasi-captivity through intimidation. That need was partially responsible for the emergence of the KKK. They inspired fear, suppressed resistance, and, through Black Codes and Jim Crow, engineered the near-re-enslavement of Black people. Black people who wanted to leave the South after the end of Reconstruction had to do and Klan activity appeared wherever there was resis- tance—during and after the reconstructions, in the 1920s, after the Red Summer of 1919 and the return of Black men from World War I. Again, we saw the rise of this activity, these statues and these flags, in the 1950s as the Civil Rights Movement pushed hard for equality. When people talk about tak- ing “their” streets back, what they really mean is they want Black people (and other peo- ple of color) in their place; in their economic place and that place, for them, is subordi- nate. So while Confederate stat- ues are falling (not quickly enough — there are more than 700 of these odious symbols still standing), and Confeder- ate flags are waving less fre- quently, the economic racism the Confederacy established is alive and well. Just ask the young Black couple redlined away from a banking oppor- tunity, or the innocent arrest- ed person who can’t pay bail. Ask the Black student whose loan burden is nearly twice that of her White counter- part, or the Black woman who pays more, and at a higher in- terest rate, for a car loan. Sure, we have come a long way since those ugly days of enslavement or stark segrega- tion, but some power comes from the Benjamins. And, ac- cording to some estimates, it will take more than 200 years to close the wealth gap. The statues may be falling, but economic racism is alive and well. While I commend Repub- licans Lindsey Graham, Tim Scott, John McCain and so many others for condemning their president for his abject and ugly racism, I wonder if any of them would be so force- ful in condemning economic racism, or in advocating for reparations. Absent their willingness to do that, they can earn style points for their remarks, but they do not seem prepared to change the harsh realities of Black life in our country today. I challenge those who would tear down the statues and take down the flags to show equal zeal in tearing down the walls of economic racism. Symbols of Hatred and Racism Should Not be Venerated Trump administration’s refusal to condemn the public display of Confederate symbols emboldens the hateful groups that seek to divide our country F Local News Pacific NW News World News Opinions Jobs, Bids Entertainment Community Calendar in y o u r c o m m u n Opinion or too long, the American people have lived side by side with the emblems of White supremacy, oppression and segregation. Their continued presence in our public sites and buildings is highly offensive to millions of Americans — regardless of ethnicity — and also serves as a painful reminder of the racial, ethnic and religious hatred that have marred this country’s history. Today, we are dealing with a President who believes that to take down these symbols is to change “history” and “culture” and an Attorney General who believes that to remove the Confederate flag from public buildings is to “delegitimize the fabu- lous accomplishments of our country.” We ask: how does it benefit our country to pre- serve an archaic and trea- sonous Confederate culture which sought to devalue, di- minish and profit off the suf- Derrick Johnson NNPA Interim President & CEO fering of Black citizens? The Civil War is a part of our history, but those symbols be- long in textbooks so we may “ some instances blatantly defend the public display of these Confederate symbols – serves only to embolden and mobilize the hateful groups that seek to tear our coun- try apart. As was evident in Charlottesville, theremnants of the Confederacy will con- tinue to evoke hatred and in- spire domestic terrorism un- til they are removed. Leaders of the Ku Klux Klan and oth- The mechanisms that aim to spread hate, terror and injustice take on many forms – from dis- criminatory laws and unfair sys- tems, to racist symbols and con- federate statues learn from our past mistakes and grow from them. Symbols of hatred and racism should not be venerated. This administration’s re- fusal to condemn — and in er white supremacists groups continue to praise the actions and rhetoric of our President, further illustrating that he is on the wrong side of the mor- al compass. Striking down these stat- ues, flags, and memorials will not solve all the chal- lenges concerning race and equality in America, but it will symbolize an end to the reverence and celebration of values that have divided us for too long. Baltimore, home of our national head- quarters, just removed sev- eral confederate statues and moments. The NAACP com- mends the Charm City and the other towns, states and uni- versities that have taken steps to rid themselves of these shameful monuments. The mechanisms that aim to spread hate, terror and in- justice take on many forms – from discriminatory laws and unfair systems, to racist symbols and confederate stat- ues. As the nation’s foremost civil rights organization, the NAACP will continue to fight the constructs whose sole purpose is to make America hate again. nt • lo c a l n e w s • eve