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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (July 11, 2018)
Page 2 The Skanner July 11, 2018 ® Challenging People to Shape a Better Future Now A Letter from America’s Children Bernie Foster Founder/Publisher D Bobbie Dore Foster Executive Editor 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 LOCAL NEWS BRIEFS ! • L i ke u s on F ebo m me • nts TheSkannerNews o k • learn • co in y o u r c o m m u n y toda ac it Updated daily. y • Opinion nt • lo c a l n e w s • eve Check out: TheSkannerReport.com Your One-Stop Hub for Community Newspapers Throughout the U.S. ear U.S. Media, Demo- crats, Republicans, Inde- pendents and to the con- cerned Americans who poured out into the streets to protest Donald Trump’s cruel and faulty immigration poli- cies, What about us? We understand and applaud your response to this admin- istration’s malevolent sepa- ration of immigrant families from their children—policies and practices so un-American and shocking that they have come to dominate the nation- al conversation. Your imme- diate, visceral response to evil spurred you into action. But there is another evil, a pervasive, chronic and un- relenting wickedness that we, your children, live with every day. We are being shot down on the nation’s streets, locked away in juvenile facil- ities, poisoned by dangerous drinking water, threatened and harassed by neighbor- hood gangs, left homeless, ei- ther alone from abuse or with parents that cannot afford to put a roof over our heads. We live in neighborhoods bereft of adequate food sources and with fathers and mothers so wrought with financial and psychological instability they can’t provide our needs. And because our nation has lived with this reality so Ron Harris NNPA Guest Columnist long, it has become almost ac- cepted. It has become quietly and unconsciously perceived as part of the norm, part of the landscape, like the air we breathe, until little by little it becomes so caustic that it kills us or chokes us into action. Unfortunately for us, your children, you haven’t reached that point. There are 408,000 of us, American children, who also have been separated from our families and placed in the care of others, like the 2,000 immi- grant children who you took to the streets to protect. Many of us languish in foster care with little hope of ever be- ing united with our parents or extended families. As we watched the huge crowds that stretched across 700 U.S. cit- ies Saturday. We saw the signs proudly held high that read, “Family Separations Are Cru- el.” And we thought, “Yes, they are.” What about us? Where is our march? Where is our media coverage? Half of us currently in fos- ter will be homeless within six months after growing too old for the system. We are unprepared to live on our own. We have limited education and no social sup- port. About a quarter of the rest will be homeless within two to four years of leaving the system. Some of us will become part of the 20,000 U.S. children annually forced into prostitution. “ There are 408,000 of us, Ameri- can children, who also have been separat- ed from our families Another two million of us this year will separated from our families and placed be- hind bars and in juvenile cus- tody. Many of us, like Clarice, one of twin 14-year-old sisters in Montgomery County, Md., can’t go home because there is no suitable home to go to. Her parents are homeless, and authorities can’t release her to an unstable home. Other parents are dysfunctional or can’t provide the guidance we need. So, we go behind bars because there are not enough treatment facilities for us. We want a march, too, one for better schools for all, because you recognize how the hopelessness created by faulty education diminishes lives and leads to incarcer- ation – that 32 percent of white males in juvenile cus- tody dropped out of school, and that nearly half of Afri- can-American and Hispanic male youth behind bars also quit. Media reported how families from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico are fleeing to the U.S. to escape gangs in their countries. Many of us live in gang-infested neighbor- hoods, too. In cities like St. Louis, Baltimore, New Orle- ans, Detroit, Cleveland, Las Vegas, Kansas City, Mo., Mem- phis, Newark and Chicago, the 10 U.S. cities with the highest murder rate, we have long understood their terror. We understand their fear. In Chicago, a city rife with street gangs and where at least 16 children have been mur- dered in the first six months of this year, more than 50,000 people demonstrated for the rights of immigrants fleeing gangs in countries few of them have ever visited. Read the rest of this commentary at TheSkanner.com Maxine Waters Takes Strong Stand for Fair Housing W hen Dr. Ben Carson was named Secre- tary of the Depart- ment of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), many housing and civil rights advocates wondered how a world-renowned neurosur- geon would direct the future of housing in America. By his own admission, he arrived at HUD with no governmental experience or active interest in housing’s history either. Despite those professional shortcomings, Secretary Car- son swiftly began a series of actions that triggered broad and sustained criticism from civil rights and housing pol- icy advocates. On Secretary Carson’s watch, HUD pro- posed billion-dollar budget reductions, increased rental fees for public housing ten- ants, removed explicit lan- guage on fair housing from the agency’s mission state- ment, and halted efforts that require local communities re- ceiving HUD funds to address fair housing needs. In sum, Secretary Carson has acted like a man on a mis- sion with no time to spare. This past January, Carson also announced a suspension of a key rule known as Af- firmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH). The rule that went into effect in July 2015 required any state, lo- Charlene Crowell NNPA Columnist cality, or public housing au- thority receiving HUD funds to have a plan and timeline that incorporates community concerns to actively address fair housing issues in their locales. “ Since becom- ing Secretary, Ben Carson has taken nu- merous steps to eliminate fair housing protections for the most vulnerable Although civil rights and consumer protection ad- vocates have brought legal challenges to reverse the sus- pension of AFFH and other misdeeds, the wheels of jus- tice continue their character- istically slow and deliberate pace. But California Congress- woman Maxine Waters re- cently stepped up to file legis- lation designed to cure many of the regressive ills pushed by Secretary Carson. On June 26, she introduced a bill enti- tled, Restoring Fair Housing Protections Eliminated by HUD Act of 2018 (H.R. 6220). “The Department of Hous- ing and Urban Development is supposed to create strong communities; expand access to affordable housing; and enforce fair housing rights,” said Congresswoman Waters. “Unfortunately since becom- ing Secretary, Ben Carson has taken numerous steps to elim- inate fair housing protections for the most vulnerable fami- lies in this country.” The following day, June 27, the House Financial Services Committee, chaired by Rep. Jeb Hensarling of Texas, con- vened a hearing with Secre- tary Carson. “Over the last 20 years, the HUD budget has doubled, whereas the family budget, which pays for it, has in- creased by less than double digits,” said Rep. Hensarling. “In fact, HUD’s budget has grown faster than almost every other federal budget function, including social se- curity, education, and nation- al defense. HUD resources have not been the challenge, HUD’s focus and success has been.” Speaking next as the Com- mittee’s Ranking Member, Congresswoman Waters offered a completely oppo- site perspective on HUD and Secretary Carson. In her re- marks, Rep. Waters under- scored that her new legisla- tion was intended to revoke key actions by Secretary Car- son and return them to HUD’s fair housing agenda. Those actions included restoring: Fair housing language to the agency’s mission state- ment with the specific inclu- sion of text stating “inclusive and sustainable communities free from discrimination”; HUD’s AFFH rule as soon as practically possible following the bill’s enactment; HUD’s Local Government Assessment Tool that helps state and local jurisdictions to comply with the AFFH rule within 30 days of enactment; and A requirement that the HUD Secretary report to Congress a Secretary-directed review of fair housing complaints that involve an online plat- form. The Secretary’s report to Congress would also in- clude analysis of trends relat- ed to discrimination. Read the rest of this commentary at TheSkanner.com
