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.
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P.O. Box 5455
Portland, OR 97228
Telephone (503) 285-5555
Fax: (503) 285-2900
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www.TheSkanner.com
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Pub lishers Association.
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whole or in part without permission prohibited.
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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
