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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 27, 2019)
Page 2 The Skanner Portland & Seattle February 27, 2019 ® Challenging People to Shape a Better Future Now Why We Need Paid Family Leave Bernie Foster Founder/Publisher T 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 LOCAL EVENTS 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 Updated daily online. to y • Opinion he start of a new year is supposed to be about new beginnings, but for me this year has been a reminder of someone I will always be missing. That’s be- cause this year marks nine years since my son Da’Reil passed away after a long bat- tle with brain cancer. He was 19 years old. I wish that I had been able to spend more time with him as he fought cancer, but the childcare company where I was working at the time didn’t offer paid or unpaid leave. Since neither my husband nor I could take any time off, we both worked through two years of Da’Reil’s surgeries, chemotherapy, and radiation. The emotional toll of watch- ing your child face cancer is heartbreaking enough. But for us, having to contend with medical bills on top of everything else was crush- ing. Even with financial as- sistance from Supplemental Security Income and support from the hospital, our family was devastated. We went days without water because mon- ey was so tight. My older sons had to drop out of school to work and support the family and help us look after Da’Reil. Taking unpaid leave to be with Da’Reil wasn’t a possibil- ity for us. When Da’Reil passed away, I wished more than anything that I’d been able to spend Ruthie Guidry MomsRising more time with him during his final months. That’s time I’ll never get back. No mother should be in the position I was in while Da’Reil was sick. And the good news for those of us living on the west coast is that Washington state will soon join California “ whether it’s to care for an ill child or family member, re- cover from serious illness, or look after a new baby. The average worker con- tributes just over $2 per week -- less than it costs to buy a cup of coffee. An affordable price to pay for the certainty that you won’t have to choose between putting food on the table and caring for your fam- ily. But this isn’t the case for families in Oregon where too many workers are still forced to make this impossi- ble choice without access to I wished more than anything that I’d been able to spend more time with him during his final months. That’s time I’ll never get back in implementing a paid fami- ly and medical leave program. Oregon is getting closer to passing a similar law and hopefully will in the next few months. In Washington, on Jan. 1, workers and some business- es across the state began contributing to a statewide insurance pool to fund a comprehensive paid family and medical leave program, which will begin paying out benefits the following year on January 1, 2020. The new program guarantees up to 16 weeks of combined paid fami- ly and medical leave per year, paid leave. What’s more, 67 percent of Oregon workers don’t even have access to un- paid leave under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). Fortunately, support is growing for a comprehensive paid leave proposal moving in Oregon, known as the Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI) Equity Act. A strong FAMLI Equity Act would pro- vide a meaningful amount of time to give or get care, cover all working Oregonians, pro- tect employees from retalia- tion, and be sustainably fund- ed through a social insurance pool. Families are counting on the Oregon Legislature to make paid family and medical leave a priority this legisla- tive session. I’m a childcare provider by profession. Taking care of other people’s children is what I’ve been doing for more than 20 years. So I understand both personally and profes- sionally the time and effort it takes to care for a child, even a healthy one. Families with sick children need time above all else — to be able to go to doctor’s appointments and hospital visits without being afraid of losing their jobs. I wish I could have been at every appointment with my son, but our financial situ- ation made it impossible. I can’t even imagine how much paid family and medical leave would have helped my family. If the program had been in place when Da’Reil was sick, I could have focused on what mattered most: my son. I feel hopeful knowing that paid leave will make such a differ- ence for other mothers and families across Washington, but I will not stop speaking out until all Americans — in- cluding Oregonians — can have the peace of mind that comes with paid family and medical leave. Ruthie Guidry is a Seattle res- ident and member of Moms- Rising. Will Reparations Become Democrats’ Campaign Theme? A new refrain could be taking center stage during the 2020 Presi- dential Campaign. Senators Kamala Harris of California and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, both 2020 presidential candi- dates, said they support rep- arations for African Ameri- cans to redress the legacy of the slavery. The senators’ statements came as many are observing the 500th anniversary of the transatlantic slave trade and the 400th year since the first African was brought to Vir- ginia. “I think that we have got to address that again. It’s back to the inequities,” Harris said during in an interview with The Breakfast Club radio show. “America has a history of slavery. We had Jim Crow. We had legal segregation in America for a very long time,” she said. Harris continued: “We have got to recognize, back to that earlier point, peo- ple aren’t starting out on the same base in terms of their ability to succeed and so we have got to recognize that and give people a lift up.” When she told the radio show’s host, Charlamagne Tha God, that “Livable In- comes for Families Today,” Stacy M. Brown NNPA Columnist the Middle Class Act tax cut plan is one way to address the rising costs and the inequities of living in the U.S., the host asked if her comments were about reparations. “ People aren’t starting out on the same base in terms of their abili- ty to succeed “Yes,” Harris said. She also noted the “systemic racism” in the criminal justice system. “We have a problem with mass incarceration in partic- ular of black and brown men,” Harris said. “There is no ques- tion that no mother or father in America should have to sit down when their son turns 12 and start having the talk with that child about how he may be stopped, arrested or killed because of the color of his skin,” she said, addressing police brutality. Warren also said she sup- ported reparations for both African Americans and Na- tive Americans. “America has an ugly histo- ry of racism,” Warren said af- ter addressing Democrats at an annual state dinner in New Hampshire, according to The Boston Globe. “We need to confront it head-on. And we need to talk about the right way to address it and make change.” Warren later expanded on her ideas for Native Amer- ican reparations in a state- ment, writing that, “tribal na- tions have unique interests, priorities and histories, and should not be treated mono- lithically.” “I fully support the federal government doing far more to live up to its existing trust and treaty responsibilities and that includes a robust discussion about historical injustices against Native peo- ple.” She continued: “Tribal nations have a gov- ernment-to-government re- lationship with the federal government, and they de- serve a seat at the table in all decisions that will affect the well-being of their people and their communities.” Another Democratic Presi- dential hopeful, Julian Castro, also has said he endorses rep- arations. A 2017 article in Quartz, not- ed that to “repair this breach, it’s becoming increasingly clear that reparations for black slavery and its legacy — including Jim Crow — must be part of the equation.” The article continued: “Facing what activist Ran- dall Robinson calls ‘the debt’ to people of African descent, those of us who are low on melanin content (aka ‘white’) will have to address the often uncomfortable history of how lighter skin color conferred, and continues to confer, eco- nomic advantage. To do oth- erwise is to live a destructive lie, perpetuating a perverted myth of deservedness that holds back our entire society and each of us individually.” As Ta-Nehisi Coates wrote in his groundbreaking 2014 At- lantic article, reparations are “the price we must pay to see ourselves squarely.” “Reparations,” he contin- ued, “beckons us to reject the intoxication of hubris and see America as it is—the work of fallible humans. An America that looks away is ignoring not just the sins of the past but the sins of the present and the certain sins of the future,” Coates said. nt • lo c a l n e w s • eve