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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 8, 2018)
Page 2 The Skanner August 8, 2018 ® Challenging People to Shape a Better Future Now As Trump Distorts NFL Players’ Messages, Let’s Join Together Bernie Foster Founder/Publisher A 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 on F ebo m me • nts TheSkannerNews o k • learn • co in y o u r c o m m u n y ! • L i ke u s ac it Updated daily. d ay • to 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. s teams gear up for the NFL season, President Trump is reviving his destructive and diver- sionary attacks aimed at turn- ing fans against players. The league office stepped in it, by unilaterally declaring that players who do not wish to stand during the national anthem, should stay in the locker room. The NFL players association had little choice but to force negotiations over that insult. Jerry Jones, the owner of the Dallas Cowboys, is a de- cent guy. But he stuck his foot in it as well, when he recently announced that the Cowboys had to stand for the anthem and couldn’t stay in the lock- er room — or else. The league wisely told him to zip it, while the policy was under negotia- tion and so it goes. So much of this is a false narrative. Fake news. Trump dishonestly insists that the players are disre- specting the flag. In fact, the players kneeling during the anthem were expressing a silent protest not against the flag, but against police brutal- ity and the reality of structur- al racial inequality. Kneeling before the flag in silent, nonviolent protest is not disrespectful to the “stars’ and stripes.” In fact, it’s just the opposite. It is a sign of deference and respect, a call Rev. Jesse Jackson NNPA Columnist to honor what the flag is truly supposed to represent. Burning the flag is consti- tutionally protected, but is a desecration. Burning a cross is a desecration. It is violent. Kneeling before the cross, or during the anthem, on the other hand, isn’t a desecra- “ The only way to fight hate is with self-per- severance and love tion; it is a call for help. Colin Kaepernick was and is concerned about Blacks being beaten and killed by police. He kneeled during the anthem to highlight how the values of the flag were being ignored on the streets. He wasn’t dis- respecting the flag — he was protesting those who trample its values. He was being a pa- triot. Now Trump wants to light the dynamite again. His pol- itics prey and thrive on divi- sion. He hopes to divide us one against the other, while his administration rolls back protections of consumers, workers and the environ- ment, allowing corporate lobbyists to rig the rules, with lards of more and more tax cuts and subsidies on en- trenched interests and the wealthy. So, he purposefully peddles the false narrative that the players are disrespecting the flag. Jones, who is a Trump sup- porter, isn’t a bad man. Be- yond the playing field, beyond contracts, he has been a decent guy. He paid for the funeral of Cowboy great Bob Hayes. But Jones has allowed himself to be turned into Trump’s pawn in this diversion. The reali- ty is that we would not have the Dallas Cowboys in Dallas, were it not for those protest- ing for their rights. The victory of the Civil Rights Movement opened the way to a New South. The nonviolent protests and resis- tance pulled down the old bar- riers and walls in the South, clearing the way for the Cow- boys and the Spurs and the Rockets of the New South, where Blacks and Whites could play on the same team and wear the same colors— where fans root for the colors of their team, not the color of the players’ skin. Successful protests — at the cost of far too many lives — finally ended slavery and apartheid in this society. We should be honoring the pro- testers, not distorting their message. Kaepernick was right to protest what is going on in our streets. He has paid a heavy penalty for expressing his views in a nonviolent and dig- nified fashion. One of the best quarterbacks in the league, he has effectively been banned, a blatant conspiracy that ought to constitute a clear violation of anti-trust laws. Kaepernick stands among giants. Curt Flood in baseball and Muhammad Ali during the prime years of his boxing life were banned, but in the process, they changed sports and the country for the better. There have always been pol- iticians who profit by appeal- ing to our fears. There have always been politicians who seek to divide us for political gain. We’ve come a long way, but we still have a long way to go to fulfill the flag’s values of liberty and justice for all. The players expressing their views in nonviolent and dig- nified fashion aren’t disgrac- ing the flag, they are express- ing its values. Let us turn against those who would divide us and join together to make America better. Congressman Ron Dellums: A ‘Fierce’ Focused Fighter W hen the Congressio- nal Black Caucus (CBC) holds its An- nual Legislative Con- ference this September (Sep. 12–16), I hope there will be a tribute to one of its founders, Congressman Ron Dellums, who made his transition on July 30. Dellums was a fierce, fo- cused fighter for justice, an anti-war activist who served in the military, authored sev- eral CBC Alternative Budgets (budgets that focused on hu- man needs rather than mili- tary buildup) and was an in- defatigable fighter for South African freedom. He is the epitome of con- gressional activism, progres- sive leadership, and stellar integrity. After 27 years in congress and a term as May- or of Oakland, he had a much lower profile in recent years. Still, his name remains syn- onymous with principled leadership, and he will be sin- cerely missed! Dellums blazed on the na- tional political scene, decried by then Vice President, Spiro Agnew, as a “radical” from “Ber-zerkely.” Dellums had the right response, telling the Washington Post: “If being an advocate of peace, justice, and humani- ty toward all human beings is radical, then I’m glad to be Julianne Malveaux NNPA Columnist called radical. And if it is rad- ical to oppose the use of 70 percent of federal monies for destruction and war, then I am a radical.” With this as a definition of “radical,” the question really is, why aren’t there more radi- “ his greatness. “We are losing one of its fin- est members, a member that I have great respect for, be- cause he always did his home- work, was so articulate and eloquent on this floor,” Delay said. “He always got my at- tention when he stood up and took the microphone.” Emphasizing Dellmus’ abil- ity to stop every member of Congress in their tracks, De- lay also mentioned the late congressman’s aptitude to claim the respect that both sides of the aisle had for the If being an advocate of peace, justice, and humanity toward all human beings is radical, then I’m glad to be called radical cals in our nation? I’m not sure what Congress- man Dellums would think of the organization he co-found- ed. While he became some- what less confrontational the longer he served in Congress, the fight never left him. He didn’t mind calling presidents or his colleagues out, though he did it in a way that even conservative House Speaker Tom Delay (R-TX), described as gentlemanly. Upon Dellums’ retirement from the House of Represen- tatives in the middle of his term in 1998, Delay spoke on gentleman from California. “And the incredible reputa- tion that the gentleman from California has brought to this House, has elevated this House,” Delay continued. “He has elevated the distinction of this House by serving here, and this House will greatly miss him when he leaves.” Though Dellums ran for Congress as a Democrat and caucused with the Democrats, he did not register to vote as a Democrat until he ran for Mayor of Oakland. Indeed, he was one of the vice-chairs of the Democrat- ic Socialists of America. His alternative budgets reflect- ed socialistic principles, el- evating human needs over military needs, embracing pacifism instead of war and military intervention. He had a masters’ degree in social work, and it showed, both in his interactions with people and in the alternative budgets he worked on. When I was a professor at UC Berkeley, I brought a group of students (I called them Bey-Bey’s kids because some of them were so wild) to D.C. to soak up some public policy knowledge. Congressman Dellums’ team told us that he only had 30 minutes, but when he met the group, got engaged with them and began to answer their questions. He took off his jacket, rolled up his sleeves, pulled out a flip chart and broke down the CBC Al- ternative Budget. We were there for almost two hours, far more than the allotted time. He acknowledged that the Alternative Budget had no chance of passing, but said that he worked so hard on it, because it was “a possibility.” He persistently fought for the right thing, even if the right thing was a long shot. Read more at TheSkanner.com
