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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (March 13, 2024)
Page 2 The Skanner Portland & Seattle March 13, 2024 Challenging People to Shape a Better Future Now Opinion OP-ED: A Silent Killer No More Bernie Foster Founder/Publisher Bobbie Dore Foster Executive Editor P Jerry Foster Advertising Manager Patricia Irvin Product Manager Graphic Designer Saundra Sorenson Reporter Mary Reischmann Digital Content Monica J. Foster Seattle Office Coordinator Susan Fried Photographer 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. ©2023 The Skanner. All rights re served. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission prohibited. olitical provocateurs are determined to stir up controversy over De- fense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s failure to tell Pres- ident Biden about his treat- ment for prostate cancer. Yet, his desire to keep the matter private—and out of the public eye—is in line with what many men, particularly men of col- or, have done for decades. The reticence to share details of a medical condition is under- standable, but prostate cancer is a silent killer in the Black community and the time has come to give it a voice. In the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., whose son Dexter recently passed from prostate cancer, I ask: How long? How long will Men of color suffer in silence and die alone? How long will too many brothers hide their plight? When he finally commented publicly about his condition, Austin offered regrets about keeping silent and then made an important pledge. He said that by not initially disclosing his diagnosis, he “missed an opportunity to send a mes- sage on an important public health issue,” while noting the prevalence of prostate can- cer, particularly among Black men. Encouraging all men to get screened, Austin prom- ised, “You can count on me to Hamil R. Harris Guest Columnist set a better example on this issue today and for the rest of my life.” Any cancer diagnosis is a private matter. But men like Dexter King and Austin can help so many others who “ LOCAL NEWS BRIEFS LOCAL EVENTS Updated daily online. d ay ! • L i ke u s o n F ebo m me • nts TheSkannerNews o k • learn • co in y o u r c o m m u n to y • ac it Hear about it first. Sign up for Breaking News and Events at Black men have a 70 percent high- er rate of developing prostate cancer than White men are prone to prostate can- cer. Keeping the surgery and treatment a secret would only have continued to add to the stigma surrounding prostate cancer. That would have been a disservice to the thousands of men of color diagnosed an- nually. Indeed, data from Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City shows that more than 13 percent of African American men between the ages 45 and 79 will develop prostate cancer in their life- times. And Black men have a 70 percent higher rate of de- veloping prostate cancer than White men. The American ity between Black and white men exists – decades of struc- tural racism, environmental issues, certain comorbidities, different molecular pathways in the body of Black men – a great deal of the reason comes down to the fact that Black men are disproportionately not being screened for pros- tate cancer as early or as reg- ularly as White men. A recent study published in JAMA Oncology by a team at the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center found that Black men get fewer PSA (prostate specific antigen) screenings; they are more likely to be diagnosed with later stage cancer; they are less likely to have health in- surance; and they have less access to high-quality care and other disparities that can be linked to a lower overall socioeconomic status. Given his platform as Sec- retary of Defense, I am happy that Austin recognized his duty to be open and honest about his battle with this dis- ease. And in doing so, he now joins groups and individu- als who are already working on spreading awareness for prostate screenings who can act as guideposts. For example, Mount Sinai Medical Center recently un- veiled the Robert F. Smith Mobile Prostate Cancer Screening Unit, which will visit New York City neighbor- hoods where men could be at a higher risk of developing prostate cancer. The mobile home sized bus is named af- ter the African American philanthropist and venture capitalist who donated almost $4 million to launch the pro- gram. Thankfully there are indi- viduals like Smith and now Austin to use their platforms to spread awareness for this deadly – yet very treatable – form of cancer and ensure that more people don’t die needlessly. Highway Robbery in Alabama I Local News Pacific NW News World News Opinions Jobs, Bids Entertainment Community Calendar Cancer Society also shocking- ly predicts that Black men are more than twice as likely to die from prostate cancer than their White counterparts. These figures are appalling when considering that pros- tate cancer is one of the most treatable forms of the disease with the five-year survival rate for men diagnosed with it being greater than 99 per- cent if the cancer is detected during the early stage. While there are numerous reasons for why this dispar- magine the neighborhood your family has lived in for more than 150 years being turned into a deteriorating flood zone. Now imagine the flooding was caused by the state. That is what is happen- ing to the people of Elba, Al- abama’s historic Black Shiloh community. Thanks to the construc- tion of an elevated highway through the community in 2018, residents are watching their homes be destroyed by flooding caused by the high- way project. “My house has already sunk two feet into the mud. I see my inheritance and my childrens’ American Dream being washed away and stolen,” says Pastor Timothy Williams. Pastor Williams is a rever- end and the owner of a restau- rant and cleaning business. Like many other Shiloh res- idents, his family has been on this land dating back to Reconstruction. Now he and others in the community see their generational wealth dis- appearing before their eyes from property devaluation as well as the physical destruc- tion of their homes. Just eight feet away from Pastor Williams’ home, in the direction it is sinking, is a Southeast Gas Company natu- ral gas pipeline. He has been told there is a possibility the sinking house could hit the gas line and blow the house up. Ben Jealous Executive Director of the Sierra Club Pastor Williams’ story of- fers but a glimpse into the nightmare Shiloh residents are facing. Part of the highway project – one of the earliest phases – involved directing storm- water drainage pipes into the community. Now, picture the “ I see my in- heritance and my childrens’ American Dream being washed away elevated highway essentially placing the neighborhood in a bowl. There did not used to be flooding. Now it is rampant. And the state will not even own up to its highway expan- sion being the cause. In addition to causing floods, the highway also cut off access to the neighbor- hood’s only fire hydrant. In 2020, there was a fire. Some- one burned to death in their home. Residents believe their neighbor’s death would have been preventable with access to the hydrant. This is not merely an exam- ple of poorly executed urban planning. It is reckless envi- ronmental racism. The same kind that has been respon- sible for creating so-called “sacrifice zones” across the country. Sacrifice zones are populated areas that bear a disproportionate brunt of health and environmental hazards due to their close proximity to sources of pollu- tion and development. They are most often communities of color and low-income com- munities. Residents of the Shiloh com- munity are educated … they are business owners … many of them are veterans. They have advantages that people in some other neighborhoods sacrificed to development do not have. But simply by speak- ing up and advocating for themselves, Shiloh residents have become targets of racist hate. There have been inci- dents of racial harassment ever since the community started receiving news cov- erage of their plight. A chill- ing reminder of what white supremacy looks like in the deep South. Pastor Williams has seen it firsthand. His restaurant’s clientele is mostly white. One customer told him that he and others had been told to boy- cott the eatery because Wil- liams had been vocal about the crisis facing the Shiloh community. Elba, Alabama also happens to be the hometown of Dr. Robert Bullard. Dr. Bullard is known as the “Father of Envi- ronmental Justice.” He literal- ly wrote the book – actually many books, including one ti- tled “Highway Robbery” – on environmental racism. And his extensive scholarship has earned him a spot on the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council. Now, Elba has become a text- book example of the environ- mental harm of racist zoning and transportation policies Dr. Bullard has taught so many of us about. More than a mere twist of cosmic irony, it shows how pervasive the problem of environmental racism is – that the hometown of our nation’s great warrior for Environmental Justice, who has helped countless people and communities, is still vulnerable to its impacts. Ultimately, the Alabama De- partment of Transportation and Governor Kay Ivey are the ones who have the ability and responsibility to fix it and compensate the community’s residents for all they have lost. So far all they have done is deny wrongdoing and dupe Shiloh residents into signing away their rights. Read the rest of this commentary at TheSkanner.com nt • lo c a l n e w s • eve
