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
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Executive Editor
Jerry Foster
Advertising Manager
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News Editor
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Graphic Designer
Monica J. Foster
Seattle Office Coordinator
Susan Fried
Photographer
2017
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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.
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