Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (April 4, 2018)
Page 2 The Skanner April 4, 2018 ® Challenging People to Shape a Better Future Now Bernie Foster Founder/Publisher The Civic Obligation of Young Black Leaders Bobbie Dore Foster Executive Editor W Jerry Foster Advertising Manager Christen McCurdy News Editor Patricia Irvin Graphic Designer 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. ©2018 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 to y • d ay ! • L i ke u s o n F ac it SPECIAL SECTION: FAIR HOUSING April 18 ebo m me • nts TheSkannerNews o k • learn • co in y o u r c o m m u n Opinion ho would have thought that in less than 15 days, I would have to coordinate and manage 1,000 young, Black student leaders from over 24 cities on 17 buses in the name of gun reform and safety? The reality is, sometimes the work chooses you. I started my new job one day before the mass school shoot- ing at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. We’ve got over 650 active and reg- istered NAACP chapters on high school and college cam- puses across the country. We are the only organization, pe- riod, that can reach that many Black, young, organized members. Since February 14, 2018, the day of the Parkland shooting, I have followed these students who have built a national dis- cussion on the safety of young people at school in less than a month. A movement that in- spires, convicts and recruits people from across the coun- try and now the world, to an issue that Black folks have been talking about for over a decade. When gun violence hap- pens in white communities, it’s always reported on as a mental issue or because they were racist. When gun vio- Tiffany Dena Loftin Director, NAACP Youth & College Div. lence happens in the Black community, it is because of poverty, underfunded schools, police brutality or gangs. This is necessary to un- derstand because the solution we are fighting for can’t just be regulations against auto- matic military style weapons. “ Black students have the solutions and the answers It has to be a holistic solution to make all communities safe. The March for Our Lives is only a march for OUR lives if people meet at the intersec- tion of mass school shootings, community violence, pover- ty, the War on Drugs, police brutality and White suprem- acy. From Trayvon Martin to Stephon Clark, this is not the first time we’ve raised the is- sues of gun violence, but for many reasons, this moment is where we find ourselves with the most leverage of “people power.” When the opportunity presented itself for us to be involved and bring our mem- bers, I spoke with my boss and told him I would only sign up to help build for the “March for Our Lives,” if we got to do two things: First, I wanted to make sure that we weren’t just being used as representation at the march, but that we challenged the mainstream media, march organizers and organization- al partners to think about the intersection of gun violence, when it comes to the Black community. Second, it was important that this moment not turn into just another rally, but real op- portunity for us to educate and engage future members about the organization. Because a rally won’t end gun violence, I want my peers and young adults to make the clear connection from this issue to who should be held accountable for systemic and legislative change at the bal- lot box. That way, we know we showed up in numbers not just for a great rally, but for the start of a great revolution. It is my belief, that if all of the young folks from this march, the women’s march, the immigration movement and Black Lives Matter joined together for a strategic effort, we could change this country literally overnight. We must use this as a mo- ment to help young Black folks see that if we want real gun reform, if we want bet- ter public schools, if we want community policing then we MUST show up to the ballot box. This demonstration, for the NAACP Youth and College Division is not a free trip to a rally. It is the moment that we are using to build real power that will impact the political navigation of this country. Black students have the solutions and the answers. We’re going to stop asking to be included in national move- ments, and just take over. I am grateful to all of the staff, the partners and our do- nors who have helped make this vision possible. We can only use this moment to cre- ate bigger and better local victories for our people. Cheers to the strong and fearless students from every community, who have ever stood up to violence in their communities. This march is a celebration of your leader- ship, and a call to action for those looking to change the world. Race Trumps Everything in Maternal Health Care M ost people of color can point to at least one moment when they re- alize that popular cul- ture in America distorts the reality of their history and existence. The most memorable ex- perience for me was when I was in the sixth-grade in my segregated public school in Virginia. One of our courses was Virginia history and the state had provided us with the required history textbook. Somewhere between the cov- ers of that book was a picture of a group of smiling, dancing enslaved African Americans being observed by a small group of amused white people – presumably the owner and his family. The text explained that most slaves were hap- py with their condition and prospered under the kindly supervision of their masters. Fortunately, my sixth-grade teacher was having none of it. He had us open our books to that page and told us that we were being fed lies so that white people could remain in power in the state. He explained that truths were being kept from us because knowledge is power. It is the power to improve your life. There are so many lies in American popular culture, beginning with the moment we’re born – in the maternity ward. Several studies demon- Oscar H. Blayton Attorney, NNPA Columnist strate that racism in America kills Black expectant mothers and their newborn babies, but popular culture tells us that they are receiving the best health care. “ The Unit- ed States ranks 61st in maternal health, 42nd in children’s well-being A New York City Depart- ment of Health and Mental Hygiene 2016 report titled “Severe Maternal Morbidity in New York City, 2008–2012” put it this way: “Black non-Latina women with at least a college degree had higher SMM [Severe Ma- ternal Morbidity] rates than women of other race/ethnic- ities who never graduated high school.” The National Center for Biotechnology Information published a paper in 2016 that states: “Racism and racial discrim- ination in the USA is thought to be a major driver of the dif- ferences between birth out- comes among different racial and ethnic groups, particu- larly between Black women and women of other races.” The Centers for Disease Control found that during 2011 to 2013, there were 12.7 deaths per 100,000 live births for white women within a year of giving birth. But for Black women, the rate of death was almost four times higher at 43.5 deaths per 100,000 live births. While few popular media outlets have focused on this problem, Newsweek maga- zine published an article in 2016 that reported: “The shameful secret is that even when controlling for age, socioeconomic status and education, the U.S. Cen- ters for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that African-American women, … face a nearly four times high- er risk of death from preg- nancy complications than white women. In parts of the U.S. with high concentrations of women of color who live in poverty, such as Mississip- pi, maternal death rates can surpass those of sub-Saharan Africa.” Despite a mountain of evi- dence to the contrary, partic- ularly in the area of maternal health for Black women, the popular thinking is that U.S. health care is the best in the world. In 2015, Time magazine, MSNBC, CBS, CNN and other news outlets reported that the nonprofit organization Save The Children, in its annual re- port, ranked the United States as 33rd among 179 nations in the world for quality of life for women and children. That ranking was based upon an overall score that took into ac- count mothers’ and children’s health, educational, econom- ic and political status. What these news outlets did not re- port is that the United States ranks 61st in maternal health, 42nd in children’s well-being and 89th when it comes to the political status of women. The high infant and mater- nal mortality among Black women and babies is masked by the low numbers among more affluent Americans. For example, Save Our Chil- dren points to a 2011 study that revealed that infants in Washington D.C.’s Ward 8, where half of all children live in poverty, died at a rate more than 10 times higher than the death rate of infants born in Ward 3, the richest part of the city. Read the rest of this commentary at TheSkanner.com nt • lo c a l n e w s • eve