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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 27, 2017)
September 27, 2017 The Skanner MINORITY BUSINESS ENTERPRISE EDITION Page 11 MBE 2017 Special Business Edition By Freddie Allen Editor-In-Chief, NNPA Newswire D uring an on the record meeting with publishers of Black-owned news- papers on Capitol Hill, Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) discussed a range of is- sues from symbols of the Confederacy to advertis- ing in the Black Press and the impeachment of Pres- ident Donald Trump. Publishers and staffers representing the Daily Challenge, Cross Roads News, the San Diego Voice and Viewpoint, the Chi- cago Crusader and Gary Crusader, The Washing- ton Informer, the Mich- igan Chronicle, Atlanta Daily World, New Pitts- burgh Courier, Chicago Defender and the Houston Forward Times attended the meeting, that lasted more than hour. When he learned that the Black Press was cel- ebrating its 190th an- niversary, Green, who represents Houston, Missouri City and Staf- ford, recommended that the milestone receive a formal Congressional ci- tation. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr., the president and CEO of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, said that Congressman Green is a servant of the people, adding that he was one of the best law- makers on Capitol Hill. “Each member of the Congressional Black Caucus, including Green, not only well-represents their constituencies— but when you are Black and you are something, you have to do more than what your title says you’re responsible for, that’s just who we are,” said Chavis. “Your con- gressional district is rep- resented by one of the best, because you are one of the best. Green said that he has taken up the cause to get Confederate monuments removed from public spaces and he lamented the proliferation of Con- federate monuments and symbols across the South and in Houston, in par- ticular. According to ABC 13 Eyewitness News, “Spurred on by calls from the public, Mayor Sylvester Turner has agreed to begin a full re- view of Confederacy-re- lated statues on Houston public lands.” Green said that tax dol- lars shouldn’t go to sup- porting the Confederacy that fought to enslave Blacks. “The Confederacy is dead,” said Green. “[Con- federate monuments] won’t come down, if we don’t let our [represen- tatives] know where we stand. It really requires our say…and we have to tell them why, because ‘Confederacy’ is a nice word for ‘rape’; it’s a nice word for ‘murder’; it’s a nice word for ‘stealing’; it’s just a nice way to say that a gang of cutthroats went through the South and tried to maintain an institution that was anti- thetical to our existence.” Green also sought to debunk myths about Ar- ticle II, Section 4 of the Constitution that involve impeachment proceed- ings for government of- ficials. Article II, Section 4 of the Constitution states Information is powerful. The power is in your hands. NEWS www.TheSkanner.com TheSkannerNews @TheSkannerNews that: “The President, Vice President and all civil officers of the United States, shall be removed from office on impeach- ment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.” Green noted that for the president to be im- peached, the President does not have to commit a crime. “That’s important, be- cause the mainstream media isn’t telling the whole story,” said Green. Green said that law- makers, who are seri- ous about starting the impeachment process, should not wait for the outcome of former FBI chief Robert Mueller’s special investigation into Russia’s tampering with the 2016 election. “Impeachment is a po- litical process, not a judi- cial process and, because it’s a political process, all of these rules that you normally apply to a case going to court don’t apply to impeachment,” said Green. “The presi- dent can be impeached whether he commits a crime or not.” Green encouraged the Black publishers to read the Federalist Papers, es- pecially “Federalist 65,” written by Alexander FREDDIE ALLEN/AMG/NNPA Rep. Al Green Meets with the Black Press on Capitol Hill (From left-right) Rep. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr., the president and CEO of the NNPA, Dorothy Leavell, the chairman of the NNPA and Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) pose for a photo after a meeting on Capitol Hill with NNPA members. Hamilton. “We have to find that the president has com- mitted an act that would merit his removal from office because of the harm that he is doing to society,” said Green. The Texan lawmaker said that the Constitution gives each member of the House the same amount of power when it comes to impeachment. “I’m not giving my power of impeachment to anybody,” said Green. “No president ought to be above the law and be be- yond the long arm of jus- tice…I’m going to bring impeachment of Donald J. Trump to the floor of the Congress of the Unit- ed States of America.” Green continued: “I’m going to give everybody there the opportunity to make their own decision, their own conscienc- es will be their guide, I won’t lobby a single one of them, but everybody is going to have to take a vote, everybody is going to have to take a stand… and you can tell the world.” When he was asked about the status of the Government Account- ability Office’s report on advertising spending by federal agencies, Green said that that invidious discrimination still ex- ists. “If we don’t acknowl- edge that racism still ex- ists, others won’t either and it exists in the halls of power and it exists in the places where con- tracts are awarded and in banking,” said Green. Green concluded with a popular political quote that epitomizes Mahat- ma Gandhi’s nonviolent philosophy. “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you and then, if you have a righ- teous cause, you win. We will win.”
