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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (July 18, 2018)
Page 2 The Skanner July 18, 2018 ® Challenging People to Shape a Better Future Now Black Workers Need Real Paid Family Leave Bernie Foster Founder/Publisher W 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 Updated daily. n F ebo m me • nts TheSkannerNews o k • learn • co in y o u r c o m m u n d ay ! • L i ke u s o ac it SPECIAL ISSUE: BACK TO SCHOOL August 16 to y • Opinion hen Dorcas, a home health aide living in New York, learned of her mother’s illness, she used most of her vacation time to fly home and care for her. After a few weeks her leave was exhausted and trag- ically she could no longer af- ford to be with her mother in the final days of her illness. In the end, Dorcas was forced to take unpaid leave, and re- turn to Florida, arriving just hours before her mother passed away. Dorcas counts every penny and the unpaid time resulted in a mountain of unpaid bills and financial challenges that lingered well into the follow- ing year. Dorcas weathered that storm. But she says, “it still pains me that I wasn’t able to be with my mom during her last days.” Dorcas’ story is one of many shared in the Family Values@ Work story collection. Dorcas’ story exemplifies a crushing dilemma that many Black women workers face every day when caring for themselves or a family mem- ber. Life shouldn’t be this way but it is the reality for far too many in the United States. On July 11, the Senate Fi- nance Committee’s Social Se- curity, Pensions and Family ing a small amount in each pay period to a self-sustain- ing fund. Black Women’s The FAM- Roundtable ILY Act builds on p ro g ra m s Policy Subcommittee held a hearing on paid family leave in California, New Jersey, that featured two very differ- and Rhode Island and with the newest programs being ent policy options. The “real” policy is the Fam- implemented in New York, ily and Medical Insurance Washington, the District of Leave (FAMILY) Act that cre- Columbia, and Massachu- ates a national insurance pro- setts. The “fake” paid family leave gram to fund the time needed option, restricts participation to only maternity leave and diverts social security funds to pay for the program. U.S. Senators Joni Ernst (Iowa), Mike Lee (Utah) and Marco Rubio (Florida) plan to in- troduce legislation covering only the birth or adoption of a child. This deeply flawed proposal to welcome a new baby, ad- will require people to borrow dress one’s own health issue, against their social security or the serious health issue of a family member. It also in- accounts, delaying their re- cludes time for certain mili- tirement date or receiving a tary families’ care giving pur- decreased retirement benefit. For most Black women, social poses. Emploees, employers and security makes up at least self-employed workers would half of their income stream fund both the benefits and during retirement, according the administrative costs of to the 2014 Black Women in the program by contribut- the United States report by Melanie L. Campbell and Jennifer Tucker “ It still pains me that I wasn’t able to be with my mom during her last days the Black Women’s Roundta- ble. This proposal would result in even smaller social securi- ty, death or disability benefits, making the retirement secu- rity of older Black women, even more, precarious than it is currently. Any paid family leave pro- posal that ignores the care- giving responsibilities that families are facing for older relatives is outdated. Accord- ing to the AARP Policy Insti- tute, each year, 40 million American adults assist loved ones with tasks of daily living. Family members are help- ing with eating and bathing; household chores; and nurs- ing tasks so people can age in place. Surprisingly, of these 40 million family caregivers, about 25 percent are millen- nials, between the ages of 18 -34 years old. One in three employed millennial fami- ly caregivers earn less than $30,000 per year – that in- cludes nearly 30 percent of Black family caregivers. We urge policymakers to deliver paid family leave pro- grams that fit the times and their constituents’ diverse needs. Black workers and their families need and de- serve #RealPaidLeave. Our nation deserves nothing less. Roland Martin: Pleading Our Own Cause K udos to Roland Martin, the pioneering journal- ist who has taken his departure from TV One and turned it into a digital platform. He’ll be back with a daily program, but he’ll be online instead of traditional media. He has financing from AFSCME, the American Fed- eration of State, County and Municipal Employees, and he is also hoping for funding from us, the folks who say they miss the program and say they want unfiltered news. From his website, www.ro- landmartin.com, you can join his #BringTheFunk support group and help Roland bring the funk! Roland has had it with the traditional media, and he is right to point out the lack of commentators and hosts on conventional media—the networks and the “key” cable outlets. Many of those folks have to toe the line, and can’t be, but so “controversial.” But sometimes one person’s con- troversy is another person’s truth. The corporate media squirms when journalists call out our 45th president on his many lies, because some of them are still currying favor with him. And unless light shines on the filth that is oc- curring in Washington, it will continue. Forty-five said he would “drain the swamp,” but he has become one of the world’s great alligators, prof- iting from his presidency both Julianne Malveaux NNPA Columnist through ties to China (even as he imposes tariffs), through his many name-branded ho- tels, and through all kinds of other shady deals. Dorothy Leavell, the pub- lisher of the Crusader news- papers in Chicago and Gary, “ We wish to plead our own cause. Too long have others spoken for us Ind., is the chairman of the National Newspaper Publish- ers Association (NNPA). At the organization’s June con- ference, she convened a panel that focused on fake news and the Black Press. I was privi- leged to participate with the National Association of Black Journalist (NABJ) President Sarah Glover, pugnacious at- torney A. Scott Bolden, and marketing expert Deborah Gray-Young. I think that fake news is not only about the Trump shenanigans and lies, but also about news that is un- reported or distorted. For ex- ample, how come every time a White person shoots up a classroom, movie theatre, or public space, the focus is on their “mental illness,” while whenever a Black person commits a crime, of any sort, the focus is on criminality. Why has Rev. Barber’s Poor People’s Campaign been so underreported, and why was the June 12 shackling of faith leaders outside Supreme Court wholly ignored by the mainstream (and even the sidestream) media? Why has there been so little focus on the economic status of Afri- can American people, except when “45” crows about all the improvements he has (not) made on the economy. Just the other day, I was commiserating with some- one about the ways the main- stream media ignores the Af- rican American community. The brother I was talking to said, “this is why I miss Ro- land.” So, Roland is coming back roaring, lifting up the oft-quoted 1827 line from Freedom’s Journal, the na- tion’s first Black newspaper, “We wish to plead our own cause. Too long have others spoken for us.” Roland Mar- tin and the NNPA have made the case that if we want our story told, we have to support it. It is a shame that the Black Press is so poorly embraced. NNPA newspapers need ads, and they also need subscrip- tions, but while many of us talk a good game, we don’t sustain Black-owned media enough to help it thrive. So, they go seeking ads to sur- vive, perhaps compromising integrity while doing so. The Black Press, those who plead our cause, must not feel that they have to buck-dance to the whim of advertisers. Adver- tising, all too often, is contin- gent on the support of a spe- cific position, or avoidance of controversy. Thus, in launch- ing his #BringTheFunk group, Roland is challenging African Americans who say that they want real news to support it. That means con- tributing a little or a lot to grow the digital platform Ro- land is building. Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die. In other words, everyone wants real news, and nobody wants to pay for it. One of the ways to support real news is to take out a subscription to an NNPA newspaper, or three. Another way is to help Roland bring his particular brand of reporting and analysis to us through his digital platform. Check his powerful statement out at www.rolandsmartin. com. And check out the ways you support fake news by failing to challenge the main- stream media. Do you write letters to the editor? Reach out to producers? Ask hard questions about representa- tion? Silence is consent. nt • lo c a l n e w s • eve
