Page 10 The Skanner November 8, 2017
News
NAACP
cont’d from pg 12
important tool, which is
the Black Press,” Johnson
said.
A veteran activist,
Johnson, 49, said it’s
also important that the
NAACP engage and sup-
port young people.
“We urge the young
ones to keep studying
and continue advocating
to make sure their voices
are not suffocated, be-
cause of a lack of knowl-
edge,” he said. “I’m en-
couraged by the number
of young people who have
taken to the streets with
the tools at their disposal
to become more active. If
they find that the NAACP
is a tool they’d like to use,
then it is incumbent upon
the NAACP to support
their ability to do that, be-
cause the young activists
of today will be our lead-
ers of tomorrow.”
A regular guest lectur-
er at Harvard Law School
and an adjunct professor
at Tougaloo College in
Jackson, Miss., Johnson
previously
furthered
his training through fel-
lowships with the Con-
gressional Black Caucus
Foundation.
As president of the
NAACP Mississippi State
Conference, he led criti-
cal campaigns for voting
rights and equitable ed-
ucation, NAACP officials
said in a news release.
Johnson
also
suc-
cessfully managed two
bond referendum cam-
paigns in Jackson, which
brought $150 million in
school building improve-
ments and $65 million to-
ward the construction of
a new convention center.
In the wake of Hurri-
cane Katrina, Johnson
founded One Voice, Inc.,
to improve the quality
of life for African Amer-
icans through civic en-
gagement, training and
initiatives,
according
to Johnson’s bio on the
NAACP’s website. One
Voice has spawned an
annual Black Leadership
Summit and the Missis-
sippi Black Leadership
Institute, a nine-month
training program for
community leaders.
“I really appreciate the
support of the chair of
the Board of Directors,
who invested confidence
in me to do this job,”
Johnson said. “I think we
have to control our nar-
rative and tell our story,
because we have units
across the country that
have been extremely ef-
fective in their work, but
we haven’t been able to
control the narrative.”
Johnson called con-
trolling that narrative
both a challenge and an
opportunity.
He said the NAACP is
working diligently to-
ward the 2018 midterm
elections and making
sure to tackle voter reg-
istration and issues that
have worked to deny
African Americans the
right to cast a ballot.
“We have to figure out
how to maximize the
engagement of folks in
our community to exer-
cise their right to vote,”
Johnson said. “We have a
fertile and vibrant pipe-
line for young people to
have a stronger voice in
what’s taking place and,
at the same time, we can
support young people al-
ready out there advocat-
ing with the understand-
ing that social justice is
not a competition, but
an opportunity for many
individuals to add their
voice for progressive
change.”
OBITUARY: Anthony Lawrence Stone
Anthony Lawrence Stone
was born October 3, 1951 to
Forrest and Ruth Stone in
Vancouver, WA. He was a lov-
ing husband and father. He
leaves to mourn his wife Thel-
ma Stone and children Ladel,
Robert, Lovey, Artent and Sa-
maura as well as many grand-
children and great grand-
children. He was preceded in
death by son Rahshann. Ser-
vice arrangements are pend-
ing and will be made available
when completed. He will be
missed by many.
Anthony
Lawrence Stone
Weinstein
cont’d from pg 9
sexual harassment have been shat-
tered, the flood gates are open.
“This is the patriarchy starting to
crumble,” says Toni Van Pelt, presi-
dent of the National Organization of
Women. “I think that women are fi-
nally taking their power. They know
they’re strong.”
In the three weeks since the first
allegations were leveled against
Weinstein, there have been at least
20 prominent men who have been
forced to defend or apologize for past
actions. Amazon Studios chief Roy
Price resigned after a television pro-
ducer on one of Amazon’s shows said
he had sexually harassed her. Follow-
ing allegations of sexual advances on
an underage actor, Netflix halted pro-
duction on Kevin Spacey’s “House of
Cards.” A Roman Polanski retrospec-
tive prompted protests in Paris.
“
Another woman
spoke and then
another woman
spoke and there
was action
Sari Kamin was one of 38 women
who came forward to the Los Angeles
Times to say that the director James
Toback sexually harassed her by lur-
ing her with the possibility of a film
role. Toback has denied the claims but
within days the number of alleged vic-
tims climbed past 300.
“Listening to women come out from
the Harvey Weinstein fallout, that
certainly empowered me,” said Ka-
min. “It brought back a lot of painful
memories and kind of unlocked some-
thing. It made me think: Well, if they
can come forward maybe so can I.”
“More than anything what made me
want to come forward is: I felt like fi-
nally people were listening,” said Ka-
min, a once aspiring actress who now
works in publishing and food writing.
“That was signaled very clearly with
what happened with Weinstein. An-
other woman spoke and then another
woman spoke and there was action.
There were consequences. It told me
not only that people were listening
but that they wanted to do something
— that they want to stand up and say:
‘No more.’ That was a powerful thing
to tap into.”
An air of “who’s next” has settled
over not just Hollywood, but else-
where, too. NBC News terminated
Mark Halperin’s contract allegations
that he sexually harassed a dozen
women while at ABC News. John
Besh, the New Orleans celebrity chef,
stepped down from the company he
founded after more than two dozen
allegations of sexual harassment.
Fashion photographer Terry Richard-
son, who has previously been accused
of sexual harassment, was banned by
Conde Nast. Accusations of harass-
ment have been leveled against actors
Dustin Hoffman and Jeremy Piven.
Vox fired its editorial director, Lock-
hart Steele after a former employee
raised allegations. Andy Signore, se-
nior vice president of Defy Media,
was fired after several women made
sexual harassment allegations. The
Atlantic magazine removed contrib-
uting editor Leon Wieseltier from its
masthead after allegations emerged
that Wieseltier harassed numerous
women during his lengthy tenure
with The New Republic.
Two executives at Fidelity Invest-
ments were forced out for sexual
harassment. Nickelodeon fired “The
Loud House” show runner Chris
Savino for sexual harassment. NPR
news chief Michael Oreskes, who was
ousted after sexual harassment alle-
gations dating back to the 1990s sur-
faced.
Read the rest of this story at
TheSkanner.com
My angels
Tameka age 28
Ashawn age 4
were taken from me
11-4-2009
domestic violence
503-988-6400