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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (May 1, 2019)
Page 2 The Skanner Portland & Seattle May 1, 2019 ® Challenging People to Shape a Better Future Now Gag Rule Threatens the Health of People of Color Bernie Foster Founder/Publisher D 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 onald Trump’s new gag rule is disastrous poli- cy that will dispropor- tionately impact com- munities of color, making existing barriers to health care for people of color even worse. It “gags” doctors and prevents them from telling patients about all of their op- tions, including abortion. It also threatens to block access to basic care at reproductive health centers. The idea of doctors with- holding information or knowingly not offering pa- tients access to available services is the antithesis of patient-centered care and, in this case, disproportionately impacts women who would not otherwise be able to iden- tify and access those services on their own. The gag rule is unethical, illegal and harmful to public health. Planned Parenthood health centers provide access to cru- cial preventive healthcare services to underserved com- munities in Oregon through Title X, the nation’s program for affordable birth con- trol and other reproductive health care. Services provid- ed through Title X are so es- sential — including wellness exams; STI testing, education Sirius Bonner Planned Parenthood Columbia Willamette and counseling; and breast and cervical cancer screen- ings. Almost 50,000 Oregonians receive care through Title X. For many of our patients, we are their only source of care. There is already a massive divide between who does and “ The gag rule is unethical, illegal and harmful to public health doesn’t have health care in Oregon, and the gag rule will only worsen these racial, so- cioeconomic and geographi- cal health disparities. Due to discriminatory public policy and systemic racism, women of color and women with low incomes already face barriers in accessing health care and, under this gag rule, they’re going to bear the brunt of the harm. Of Planned Parenthood Co- lumbia Willamette’s Title X patients in Oregon, 5 percent identify as Black or African American and 22 percent identify as Hispanic or Lati- no. Research shows that the barriers to health care that many women of color face often result in delayed diag- noses, higher rates of breast and cervical cancer, and in- creased mortality rates for breast cancer. Families that are struggling to make ends meet and peo- ple who live in rural areas must have the same access to full, unbiased information from their doctor as everyone else. Planned Parenthood will never force our clinicians to withhold medical infor- mation from our patients, and we will fight the Trump administration in the courts to protect everyone’s funda- mental right to health care. Last month, a federal dis- trict court judge in Oregon issued a preliminary injunc- tion to block the gag rule. However, this is still a tempo- rary reprieve. The gag rule is just the lat- est step in Trump’s efforts to ban abortion, restrict repro- ductive rights and block care at Planned Parenthood. If Roe vs. Wade is overturned, more than one in three women of reproductive age in this coun- try could be left without ac- cess to abortion in their home state. This includes nearly 3.5 million Black or African American women, more than 4.3 million Hispanic or Latino women, more than 800,000 Asian women and nearly 300,000 American Indian or Alaska Native women of re- productive age. It’s clear that this admin- istration is punishing com- munity members who are the most impacted by health, education and economic in- equities — the communities who continue to be targeted by racist, homophobic, xeno- phobia and ableist policies and laws. Meanwhile, the gov- ernment continues to cut so- cial service programs such as child care, education, housing support and other integral services that our families rely on, making its agenda clear. At a time of rising maternal mortality and escalating STI infections, politicians need to stop attacking women’s rights and instead work with doc- tors and public health leaders to increase access to health care. Trump, Media Assaults on Omar a New Low for US Politics A merican politics ap- pears to have hit a new low. According to reports, Congresswoman Ilhan Omar has beefed up security fol- lowing the vicious attacks she’s received and even news reports that paint her as un-American. What’s worse, the attacks stem from tweets made against her by President Don- ald Trump. “The criticisms of Congress- woman Omar, what Trump has been saying about her, is reprehensible,” said New Jer- sey Sen. Cory Booker, a Demo- cratic presidential candidate. “It is trafficking in Islam- ophobia, and should be con- demned by everyone,” Booker said. One of the first Muslim women to serve in Congress, Omar has come under repeat- ed attack from the president and others, including Fox News as a result of her ques- tioning America’s relation- ship with Israel. “We will never forget,” Trump tweeted in all-capital letters recently, attaching a video that spliced together comments Omar made with footage of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks. Some media favorable to the president have also at- tacked Omar and despite death threats made against her, Trump has continued his assault by calling her — with- out any supporting evidence Stacy M. Brown NNPA Columnist and against her denials — “an- ti-Semitic,” and “anti-Israel.” Booker noted that Trump has also attacked other Afri- can American women leaders like California Rep. Maxine Waters. “ It is traffick- ing in Islam- ophobia, and should be condemned by everyone “The kind of language this president uses, especially about black women in power, is toxic,” Booker said. That Trump claims he’s not racist isn’t satisfactory, Book- er said. “It’s not enough to say, I’m not a racist. We must all be anti-racist,” he said. The rhetoric by Trump and his allies against Omar have resulted in the Senator ramping up security, partic- ularly as she’s received death threats. Recently, a Rhode Island man allegedly threatened to “kill every Democrat in the world,” federal officials said. Matthew Haviland, 30, of North Kingstown was charged after sending ap- proximately 28 threatening emails on March 10 to a col- lege professor, whose name and affiliation was withheld by federal officials. Haviland is facing federal threat charges and cyberstalking. In an affidavit, FBI task force officer Richard Laft, Jr. wrote that the professor told authorities Haviland’s “views regarding abortion and pol- itics have become more ex- treme” within the last year. The professor, who had been friends with Haviland for about 11 years, believed Haviland’s views changed because “of the way the news media portrays” President Donald Trump, Laft wrote. Authorities said Omar was among the Democrats whom Haviland threatened to kill. Latagia Copeland-Tyronce, a writer and journalist out of Detroit, said as a black wom- an and social justice advocate, she knows “all too well what it feels like to be attacked for speaking up and out.” “And, as such, I believe that there should be a zero-tol- erance policy in regards to our black representatives in Congress,” Copeland-Tyronce said. “We, as a people, cannot al- low our black leaders to be attacked for their advocacy. I am a proponent of freedom of speech and freedom of the press, however, abuse and racism crosses the line and should be called out when and where it rears its ugly head,” she said. Dr. Omekongo Dibinga, an American University profes- sor and director of Upstander International, said it’s imper- ative that all stand up to big- otry. “We need to fight fire with facts. I know that President Trump has ushered in the era of fake news and alternative facts, but I believe at the end of the day, the reality of his policies of lies and dissen- sion will do him in, even with his followers as the effects of [Former President] Barack Obama’s positive economy begin to dwindle and they re- alized he never cared about them in the first place,” Dibin- ga said. Shiwon Oh of Sogang Uni- versity in Seoul, South Korea, said Trump’s presidency ex- poses a racist underbelly of America that has always been there from the beginning. “He just gave validation to their opinions and beliefs that its influence is now seep- ing into mainstream media channels like Fox News,” Oh said. “All people can do is contin- ue countering the lies with facts, voicing their opposi- tion to racial oppression, and urging their communities to be on the right side of history, even if it means being ridi- culed by some,” she said. nt • lo c a l n e w s • eve
