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
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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