Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 18, 2019)
Page 2 The Skanner Portland & Seattle September 18, 2019 ® Challenging People to Shape a Better Future Now Why Would HUD Gut Its Own Disparate Impact Rule? Bernie Foster Founder/Publisher W 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 2019 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. F ebo TheSkannerNews o k • learn • co m me in y o u r c o m m u n d ay ! • L i ke u s o n • to ac it Updated daily online. Charlene Crowell NNPA Columnist the disparate impact rule into a five-step process that would shift the burden of proving discrimination nearly exclu- sively to plaintiffs. By pro- posing that third parties test practices against algorithms to determine fairness, defen- dants in fair housing cases “ The proposed rule would make it sub- stantially more difficult for victims of housing dis- crimination could later move for dismiss- al and/or be shielded from li- ability. “Secretary Carson has pro- posed a rule that represents yet another egregious step by this Administration toward the dismantling of key civil rights protections in Amer- ica,” said Congresswoman Despite U.S. Open Loss, Serena Williams is still the Greatest of All Time S LOCAL NEWS BRIEFS LOCAL EVENTS • nts hatever happened to the American Dream of owning a home and giving your chil- dren a better life than you experienced as a child? Is this ‘dream’ being deferred or de- nied? In 2019, these questions are as timely as they are timeless. Beyond rising housing costs for would-be buyers and rent- ers alike, serious doubts are emerging about the nation’s commitment to the letter and spirit of fair housing laws, re- lated enforcement, and regu- lations supporting both. Today’s Black homeowner- ship rate is 41.1% -- lower than it was when the 1970 census showed this same data point at 42%. Since 2013, the disparate impact rule has objectively examined the effects of busi- ness practices with lenders, landlords, insurers, and real estate professionals against the provisions of the 1968 Fair Housing Act. The rule required that first a plaintiff must establish a discrimina- tory effect in policies and/ or practices, before the de- fendant(s) would bear the re- sponsibility of proving their own practices were nondis- criminatory. But in the August 19 Feder- al Register, HUD proposed a new rule that would expand erena Williams lost her bid for what would have been her sixth U.S. Open Singles title. It was the second straight year that Williams lost in the finals. But, with 23 Grand Slam tournament titles and a .850 career winning percent- age, Williams legacy as the world’s greatest tennis player was solidified a long time ago. Local News Pacific NW News World News Opinions Jobs, Bids Entertainment Community Calendar y Opinion “ ‘Serena Wil- liams’s lega- cy is sealed, whether or not she ever hits a tennis ball again’ “Serena Williams’s legacy is sealed, whether or not she ever hits a tennis ball again,” Tera W. Hunter, a profes- sor of history and African American studies at Prince- ton, wrote in an op-ed for the New York Times. “It’s sad she didn’t beat Bian- ca Andreescu at the finals of the U.S. Open Championships and match Margaret Court’s record of 24 Grand Slam sin- Stacy M. Brown Maxine Waters in reaction. The veteran lawmaker is also the Chair of the Housing Fi- nancial Services Committee. “The proposed rule would make it substantially more difficult for victims of hous- ing discrimination, includ- ing persons with disabilities, families with children, and racial minorities, to prove their case in a court of law and thereby hold bad actors accountable for their actions.” New York Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney was even more direct in a Twitter post. “What is wrong with Ben Car- son. You can’t expand housing rights by limiting civil protec- tions. The ’D’ in HUD doesn’t stand for ‘Discrimination’.” During delivery of Capitol Hill testimony earlier this spring, Nikitra Bailey, an EVP with the Center for Responsi- ble Lending (CRL) also under- scored the importance of dis- parate impact in fair housing. “Disparate impact analy- sis encourages creative ap- proaches that both increase effectiveness and inclusion,” testified Bailey. “This process and the value of disparate impact analysis was recently pointed out and endorsed by the largest personal loan com- pany in the country, Lending Club.” Other organizations ac- tively engaged in opposing HUD’s proposed rule reversal include the Lawyers’ Com- mittee for Civil Rights Under the Law, the Leadership Con- ference for Civil and Human Rights, NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and the National Fair Housing Alliance. Between now and October 18, concerned citizens, ad- vocates, organizations and others have a brief opportu- nity to stand up and speak out against the Carson proposal. Once this 60-day public com- ment period concludes, HUD will have the green light to move forward as planned or modify its proposal. Before the Fair Housing Act’s enactment, local zon- ing laws across the country supported segregation along with redlining Black commu- nities to exclude borrowers from mortgage and home im- provement loans along with a litany of real estate practices that denied Blacks and other people of color opportunities to build family wealth. Par- ticularly by omitting Black neighborhoods from multi- ple listing services, door-to- door block-busting practices inflamed racial tensions with warnings of lost property values if integration was to occur. years old. By winning the 2001 Aus- tralian Open doubles cham- pionship with Venus Wil- liams, became the fifth pair to complete a Career Dou- bles Grand Slam and the only pair to win a Career Doubles Golden Slam. At the 2001 U.S. Open, marked the first time in the Open Era, and the second time in 117 years that sisters met in a Grand Slam final (with Venus) At the 2002 Roland Garros final, she became the first younger sister to defeat her older sister in a Grand Slam singles tournament. By winning the 2003 Aus- tralian Open, became the fifth woman to hold all four Grand Slam singles titles si- multaneously. By winning the 2003 Aus- tralian Open, became the first African-American to win the championship. By winning the 2003 Wim- bledon ladies’ title, Wil- liams became just the fifth woman in the Open Era to win back-to-back Wimble- don crowns. By reaching the final of the 2003 Australian Open, she and sister Venus became the first players to compete in 4 consecutive slam finals. By winning the 2005 Aus- tralian Open by defeating Mauresmo and Davenport, became the only player in tennis history to win three Grand Slam singles titles (1999 U.S. Open, 2002 Ro- land Garros) by beating the top two ranked players. By winning the 2007 Aus- tralian Open became the first unseeded player since 1978 to win a slam; she was ranked #81 in the world. Her six-year gap between Wimbledon titles (2003– 2009) is second only to Evonne Goolagong Cawley’s nine years in the Open Era. Her eleven-year gap be- tween Roland Garros titles (2002–2013) is the longest in the Open Era. By winning the 2010 Roland Garros doubles with sister Venus, they became the first pair since 1998 to hold the four doubles slams at the same time. By winning the 2010 Roland Garros doubles with sister Venus, they became the first pair in the Open Era to com- plete the Career Doubles Golden Slam twice. In 2012 Wimbledon, in her semifinal match against Az- arenka, she hit a record 24 aces in a match. In 2012, she set a record for most aces served in a tour- nament, hitting 102 aces in the tournament. • • NNPA Columnist gles titles. But her contribu- tions to the game are much bigger than reaching another Grand Slam Final,” Hunter wrote. Williams, 37, began playing tennis at the age of 5 in Comp- ton, California. Under the tutelage of her father, Richard Williams, Ser- ena and her sister Venus rose to stardom in the 1990s. The duo took the tennis world by storm with Serena Williams ultimately surpassing her sister and others as easily the best in the sport. Serena Williams, who has earned approximately $100 million in her career, won her first Grand Slam title at the age of 17 and she hasn’t looked back. Here are just some of her ac- complishments: • At the 1999 U.S. Open, became the second Afri- can-American woman to win a Grand Slam title at 17 • • • • • • Read the rest of this commentary at TheSkanner.com • • • • • • • Read the rest of this commentary at TheSkanner.com nt • lo c a l n e w s • eve