Page 2 The Skanner Portland & Seattle January 23, 2019
Challenging People to Shape
a Better Future Now
Bernie Foster
Founder/Publisher
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Executive Editor
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NAACP
President
Derrick
Johnson
Responds
to Federal
Judge Jesse
Furman’s
Ruling on the
2020 Census
T
he addition of a citi-
zenship question to the
2020 Census only in-
creases the likelihood
of a substantial undercount
of immigrant communities,
particularly immigrants of
color including those from
the African Diaspora who are
essential to determining U.S.
elections, congressional seats
and federal funding decisions
for a decade.
Derrick Johnson, Presi-
dent of NAACP, issued the
following statement on fed-
eral Judge Jesse M. Furman’s
ruling to block of the Trump
Administration’s plan to put a
question about citizenship on
the 2020 census:
“The ruling by Judge Jesse
M. Furman is a step in the
right direction to stopping
xenophobic rhetoric and poli-
MLK Tree Lighting
A small crowd gathers Jan. 21 at for the 1st Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Civil Rights Memorial Park Tree Lighting
Ceremony at MLK Jr. Park in Seattle. In Honor of Black History Month, park trees will remain Lit to the end of February.
The event was presented by the MLK Commemoration Committee.
Derrick
Johnson
NNPA
President &
CEO
cy at all levels of government.
The addition of a citizenship
question to the 2020 Census
only increases the likelihood
of a substantial undercount
of immigrant communities,
particularly immigrants of
color including those from
the African Diaspora who
are essential to determining
U.S. elections, congressional
seats and federal funding de-
cisions for a decade. Any citi-
zenship question compounds
“
We must con-
tinue to stay
vigilant
the already inadequate prepa-
ration for Census 2020 and
further dilutes the votes of
racial and ethnic minorities
and deprive their communi-
ties of critical federal funds
and undervalue their voices
and interests in the political
arena. We must continue to
stay vigilant and not let this
administration use yet anoth-
er mechanism to devalue and
stifle the voices of people of
color.”
Founded in 1909, the NAACP
is the nation’s oldest and larg-
est nonpartisan civil rights
organization. Its members
throughout the United States
and the world are the premier
advocates for civil rights in
their communities.
Either Trump Cannot Make the ‘Deal’ or it Wants
to Bring About a Crash
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®
or someone who sold
himself to the public as
the great deal-maker (i.e.,
The Art of the Deal), Don-
ald Trump has made a mess
of negotiations with Congress
over the federal budget and
his own demand for a Wall.
In order to strike a deal, one
must engage in good faith
bargaining. A deal is never
arrived at by simply holding
one’s position. What is ar-
rived at with that approach is
either victory or surrender.
This, therefore, begs the
question as to what Trump is
attempting to achieve. I saw a
piece by a commentator who
noted that Trump is the lead-
er of a movement but not the
leader of a country. I found
such insight quite profound.
Trump is, in fact, not looking
to craft a deal.
He is attempting to molli-
fy his base and humiliate his
opponents. There are many
problems with this approach
not the least being what I call
the “Fletcher Principle:” One
never humiliates or attempts
Bill
Fletcher Jr.
The Global
African
to humiliate one’s opponent
unless one can annihilate
them. To do so runs the risk of
creating an enemy for life.
Trump’s focus on his base
makes it impossible to lead
the country. Simply put, the
“
own circle, his approach to-
ward the current shutdown
should prove his inadequa-
cies — some would call it in-
competence — as a leader.
What Trump has decided
to do is to shoot the dice with
the lives of hundreds of thou-
sands of federal workers in
order to prove to his base
that he remains their “man”
and will stand firm. That he
is making no effort to arrive
at a compromise is, there-
fore, noteworthy. He is quite
prepared to bring the temple
What Trump has decided to do is
to shoot the dice with the lives of
hundreds of thousands of federal
workers in order to prove to his
base that he remains their “man”
and will stand firm
numbers are not there. Even
if he was not facing increas-
ing questions regarding his
relationship with Russia as
well as corruption within his
down on himself and every-
one else around him.
There are those who sug-
gest that many in Trump’s
circle are happy about the
shutdown / lockout /forced
labor because it reduces the
size of government. This may
be true but it is not something
that can withstand the pres-
sure in the larger ruling class,
not to mention the pressure
from the people of the USA,
for the services that govern-
ment is supposed to provide.
It is also testing the limits of
the patience of federal work-
ers who, I would argue, have
every right to withhold their
services rather than contin-
ue to be treated as cattle by
Trump.
Since we should now un-
derstand that Trump cannot
bring himself to make a deal,
we must create such intense
pressure on the Senate that
they will be forced to act
around Trump. So far, the
Senate has been unwilling to
act, but should the sickouts
spread among federal work-
ers and be joined by larger
public support, the possibili-
ties for ending the lockout are
numerous.
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