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Page 2 The Skanner November 15, 2017 ® Challenging People to Shape a Better Future Now Bernie Foster Founder/Publisher ACA Enrollent Surging, Even Though It Ends Dec. 15 Bobbie Dore Foster Executive Editor T 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 Pacific NW News World News Opinions Jobs, Bids Entertainment Community Calendar LOCAL NEWS BRIEFS to y • d ay ! • L i ke u s o n F ac it Updated daily. ebo m me • nts TheSkannerNews o k • learn • co in y o u r c o m m u n Opinion he enrollment period to be covered by the feder- al Affordable Care Act (ACA) began Nov.1st, and is scheduled to end Dec. 15th, for those hoping to qualify for health care coverage be- ginning January 1, 2018. The Trump Administra- tion, which has made no se- cret of its wish to “repeal and replace” President Barack Obama’s signature legisla- tive achievement, has done everything it can to force the ACA to whither on the vine by cutting the enrollment pe- riod from the previous three months, to just 45 days. And it has also cut the $100 mil- lion Obama Administration budget to both advertise the open enrollment period, and slashed grant funding efforts for state and community or- ganizations across the nation that reach those in dire need of all that the ACA offers through education and mobi- lization, by an estimated 90 percent to just $10 million for the entire nation. And yet, according to re- cent published reports, Pres. Trump’s efforts to strangle Cash Michaels NNPA Columnist the ACA to discourage partic- ipation are coming up short. In fact, based on available numbers, people are enroll- “ Pres. Trump’s efforts to strangle the ACA to discourage participation are coming up short ing at a higher, faster pace than last year at this time, and there’s every reason to be- lieve that pace will continue the closer Dec. 15 comes. While no official numbers have been released by the ad- ministration yet, The Wash- ington Post (citing sources) reports that, “More than 200,000 Americans chose a plan on Nov. 1 (first day of open enrollment). That’s more than double the number of consumers who signed up on the first day of enrollment last year. More than 1 million people visited HeathCare. gov, the official federal web- site, the official said, which amounts to roughly a 33 per- cent increase in traffic com- pared with 2016.” This doesn’t account for over a dozen states that have their own health insurance exchanges. However, several states, like California, New York and Connecticut, all say they are seeing more signups over last year as well. Indeed, those wishing to en- roll should go to www.health- care.gov to qualify for federal tax subsidies to offset the ris- ing cost of health insurance premiums. Those subsidies, better known as APT (Ad- vanced Premium Tax Subsi- dies), make monthly premi- ums more affordable for most Americans who apply. Premiums on some health insurance plans can be sub- sidized as low as $87.00 per month from a high of $662.00, depending on the type of plan an applicant needs and signs up for. To make sure Pres. Trump’s efforts to squash the ACA signup period fails, several advocacy groups across the nation, including the NNPA, have stepped forward, mak- ing sure that their constitu- encies are properly informed about all ACA deadlines and requirements. Some states are stepping up to cover the cost of open en- rollment education too, like California, adding $5 million to its efforts. The question now is, though it’s clear that many Ameri- cans are ignoring Trump’s efforts to kill the ACA, just how many of them are young people. There is concern in the health care community that most of the new signups are people who are older and have afflictions, versus young, healthy people who are needed in large numbers in order for the ACA to work properly by design. Is the FBI’s New Focus on ‘Black Identity Extremists’ the New COINTELPRO? I f you’ve been to a Black Lives Matter rally or tweet- ed the related hashtag re- cently, then the FBI might consider you a “Black Identity Extremist,” at least according to a report published by one of the nation’s top law en- forcement agencies. In October, an internal FBI report titled “Black Identity Extremists Likely Motivated to Target Law Enforcement Officers,” was leaked to the public—raising concerns of activists, civil rights groups, and policy makers, including myself and other members of the Congressional Black Cau- cus. The report concludes, based on a limited total number of incidents, that: “...it is very likely Black Identity Extremist (BIE) per- ceptions of police brutality against African Americans spurred an increase in pre- meditated, retaliatory lethal violence against law enforce- ment and will very likely serve as justification for such violence. The FBI assess[es] it is very likely this increase began following the 9 Au- gust 2014 shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missou- ri, and the subsequent Grand Jury November 2014 declina- tion to indict the police offi- cers involved.” These unsubstantiated con- Rep. Cedric L. Richmond Chairman, Congressional Black Caucus clusions are troubling, es- pecially in the context of the FBI’s history of targeting Af- rican American activists and leaders, including Martin Luther King, Jr., and members of the Congressional Black Caucus. But what is more “ Does the FBI believe rac- ism, injustice, and police brutality don’t exist? troubling is the FBI’s creation of the term “Black Identity Extremist” and the definition of it. According to the report, Black Identity Extremists are individuals who, “in response to perceived racism and injus- tice,” commit violent acts in the name of those beliefs, and, in some cases, desire a “sepa- rate Black homeland…social institutions, communities, or governing organizations within the United States.” The report continues: “The mere advocacy of political or social positions, political activism, use of strong rhet- oric, or generalized philo- sophic embrace of violent tactics ‘may not’ (emphasis mine) constitute extremism, and may be constitutionally protected.” I think the words “may not” leave people who orga- nize under the Black Lives Matter movement and other well-meaning African Amer- ican activist groups vulnera- ble to the type of monitoring and manipulation that the FBI engaged in as part of COINTELPRO, a counter intel- ligence program that unfairly and, in some cases, unlaw- fully destroyed movements, careers, relationships, and lives. I’m also concerned about the FBI’s definition of “ex- tremism.” The question be- comes: What does the FBI consider extreme? The report never provides an answer to that question and further complicates the issue on page 4 in talking about the case of Micah Johnson, the African American man who shot 11 police officers in downtown Dallas, Texas, on July 7, 2016: “Johnson searched and liked social media pages of BIE and Black separatist groups, and had been ousted from a lo- cal BIE group for being too radical, according to an open source news article.” I agree that Johnson was an extremist, but here are some questions I have: What group kicked him out? Was it Black Lives Matter, a non-extremist group? Does the FBI consid- er this group representative of extremism? If so, then its definition of Black Identity Extremists is extreme and ineffective. Also, what does the FBI mean by “perceived racism and injustice” and “perceived past police brutal- ity incidents?” Does the FBI believe racism, injustice, and police brutality don’t exist? Here are some other ques- tions I have: Why is one of the most powerful federal law enforcement organizations in the nation relying on news articles to figure out whether Johnson was kicked out of a local Black Identity Extremist group? Also, if this is a prob- lem that’s on the rise as the FBI indicates, why isn’t clear and convincing incident data illustrating this included in the report? Finally, is the FBI devoting as much time on this issue as it is on White extrem- ism? If they are, then they are not spending their time wise- ly when it comes to domestic extremists. Read the rest of this commentary at TheSkanner.com nt • lo c a l n e w s • eve
