Washington State AG and Ex-Sheriff Face off in Governor's Race
Former U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert is trying to become Washington’s first GOP governor in 40 years. But he faces a difficult hurdle in the Democratic stronghold against longtime Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson, a darling of liberals for his many lawsuits against the Trump administration.
19 Mayoral Candidates Compete to Lead Portland, Oregon, in a Race With Homelessness at Its Heart
Whoever wins will oversee a completely new system of government.
The Skanner News Endorsements: Oregon Statewide Races
It’s a daunting task replacing progressive stalwart Earl Blumenauer, who served in the office for nearly three decades. If elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, Rep. Janelle Bynum (D-Clackamas) would be the first Black representative Oregon has ever sent to the U.S. Congress. This election offers many reasons to vote.
Washington State Voters will Reconsider Landmark Climate Law
Supporters of repealing the Climate Commitment Act say it has raised energy costs and gas prices. Those in favor of keeping it say billions of dollars and many programs will vanish if it disappears. The law is designed to cut pollution while raising money for investments that address climate change.
“I look back at my time being homeless and I’m done with looking at it as traumatic. Now it’s art.” – Violet Clyne,...
Seattle Shakespeare Company Announces Twelfth Night at ACT Contemporary Theatre
Memorandum of Understanding signed between organizations regarding their first joint production playing June 2025 ...
Meeting the Demand: The Essential Role of Current and Future Health Professionals
Multiple ,200 United Health Foundation Diversity in Health Care scholarships available. Applications due October 31, 2024. ...
Senator Manning and Elected Officials to Tour a New Free Pre-Apprenticeship Program
The boot camp is a FREE four-week training program introducing basic carpentry skills to individuals with little or no...
Prepare Your Trees for Winter Weather
Portland Parks & Recreation Urban Forestry staff share tips and resources. ...
15-year-old boy is held pending charges in 5 deaths in Washington state
SEATTLE (AP) — A 15-year-old boy will be held pending charges in connection with the deaths of two adults and three young teenagers at a home east of Seattle, authorities said Tuesday. The teen waived his right to appear in court on Tuesday, according to the King County Prosecuting...
Teen in custody after 5 found dead in shooting at home in Washington state, police say
FALL CITY, WASH. (AP) — Law enforcement officials found five people killed in a shooting inside a home southeast of Seattle on Monday morning and took a teenager into custody, police said. Several people called 911 around 5 a.m. to report a shooting in Fall City, Washington, King...
College football picks: No. 25 Vanderbilt, No. 24 Navy get chances to punch above their weights
Opportunity comes knocking Saturday for two of the surprise teams in college football. No. 25 Vanderbilt, in an Associated Press regular-season poll for the first time since 2008 and coming off 10 consecutive losing seasons, hosts No. 5 Texas three weeks after it shocked the nation...
Missouri aims to rebound from 0-for-everything SEC record last season with revamped roster
Missouri (8-24, 0-18 SEC) After leading the Tigers to the NCAA Tournament in his debut season, everything fell apart for Dennis Gates in Year 2 when a transfer-heavy team failed to come together. They failed to win a conference game for the first time since their 1907-08 season and...
The Skanner Endorsements: Oregon State and Local Ballot Measures
Ballots are now being mailed out for this very important election. Election Day is November 5. Ballots must be received or mailed with a valid postmark by 8 p.m. Election Day. View The Skanner's ballot measure endorsements. ...
Measure 117 is a Simple Improvement to Our Elections
Political forces around the country have launched an all-out assault on voting rights that targets Black communities. State legislatures are restricting voting access in districts with large Black populations and are imposing other barriers and pernicious...
My Head Start classroom was a warm environment that affirmed me as a learner. That affirmation has influenced my journey from Head Start to public media president. ...
The Skanner News: 2024 City Government Endorsements
In the lead-up to a massive transformation of city government, the mayor’s office and 12 city council seats are open. These are our endorsements for candidates we find to be most aligned with the values of equity and progress in Portland, and who we feel...
Local news sources are still drying up, but there's growth in digital sites in metro areas
Newspapers in the United States closed at the rate of more than two per week during 2023, but a burst of activity among digital entrepreneurs illustrated some tiny shoots of growth in what has become a desert-like climate for local news. A total of 127 newspapers closed last year,...
Orange and black... and pink and purple. Some twists for creative Halloween parties
“I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers,” says the heroine in L.M. Montgomery’s book “Anne of Green Gables.” All we autumn aficionados feel the same, right? The season usually takes its star turn in October, with peak leaves, sweater-worthy days, and the...
Trump hurls a string of insults at Harris including 'lazy,' a racist trope against Black people
GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) — Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump unleashed a series of personal attacks at Vice President Kamala Harris, calling her “lazy” — a word long used to demean Black people in racist terms — and repeatedly questioning her intelligence and stamina. ...
Book Review: Cop cold case unit pursues a rapist, foils a terrorist plot and tackles a 1947 murder
It’s early morning in Southern California, and Renee Ballard, director of the LAPD Open-Unsolved Unit, is where she most loves to be. She’s surfing, and she’s darned good at it. After a final run, she returns to the parking lot and discovers that someone has broken into her car and stolen her...
Celebrity birthdays for the week of Oct. 27-Nov. 2
Celebrity birthdays for the week of Oct. 27-Nov. 2 Oct. 27: Actor-comedian John Cleese is 85. Country singer Lee Greenwood is 82. Country singer-guitarist Jack Daniels (Highway 101) is 75. Bassist Garry Tallent of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band is 75. Author Fran Lebowitz is...
Dodgers win over Padres in NLDS decider averages 12.9 million viewers in Japan
NEW YORK (AP) — Last Friday's decisive fifth game of the National League Division Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres was the most-watched Major League Baseball postseason game on record in Japan, averaging an estimated 12.9 million viewers, according to MLB. ...
An attack on a Turkish defense company that kills 5 people is blamed on Kurdish militants
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Suspected Kurdish militants set off explosives and opened fire Wednesday at Turkey's...
Sweeping blackouts in Cuba raise the question: Why has the island's solar buildout been so slow?
HAVANA (AP) — Cuba’s large-scale blackouts that left 10 million people without power this month may not have...
McDonald's tries to reassure customers after deadly E. coli outbreak
McDonald’s said Wednesday that customers should feel confident ordering from its restaurants despite a deadly E....
Belarus sets a Jan. 26 election that's almost certain to extend its authoritarian leader's rule
TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Lawmakers in Belarus on Wednesday set the next presidential election for Jan. 26, a vote...
Sensational mass trial shines a dark light on rape culture in France
AVIGNON, France (AP) — They are, on the face of it, the most ordinary of men. Yet they’re all on trial charged...
As coal plants shut in Romania, some miners transition to green energy while others are reluctant
PETRILA, Romania (AP) — For many years, Sebastian Tirinticǎ worked in a coal mine, just like his father and...
Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson (3) warms up before the first half of an NFL football game against the Carolina Panthers, Sunday, Oct. 26, 2014, in Charlotte. (AP Photo/Bob Leverone)
The Black Athlete
In early October, Seattle Seahawks Super Bowl winning quarterback, Russell Wilson, published a revealing article on ThePlayersTribune.com, where he discussed his years of being a bully in grade school. Wilson realized that it would be beneficial to tarnish his squeaky-clean image so more fans and players alike could relate to him. But now it’s been reported that unnamed “sources” within the Seahawks locker room claim some players don’t consider Wilson “black enough,” while being too close to the team’s upper management.
It seems like just yesterday when 2nd-term African-American President, Barack Obama, was questioned about not being “black enough” while running for the presidency in 2008. Former Miami Dolphins lineman, Jonathan Martin, was deemed not “black enough” by his African-American teammates a year ago, when being bullied and called the N-word by white veteran player, Richie Incognito. A year before that, Washington’s popular Heisman Trophy winner, Robert Griffin III, was speculated of being a “cornball brother” by African-American sportswriter, Rob Parker, who was quoting discussions overheard at his local Detroit barbershops.
The ongoing and bitter history of African-Americans who mistrust, ostracize and bully each other into following certain stereotypical traits, beliefs and concerns of the community has been a long and conflicting battle.
On one hand, certain group decisions are still needed to benefit the race as a whole, in particular on issues of politics that may affect fair education, employment, housing, taxation and the fair practices of American law. But when it comes to individual beliefs, ideas, habits, likes, dislikes and behaviors, all bets are off. Each person should have a God-given right and license to be who they are.
Restriction on individualism is where the problems lie. There have been far too many disputes about how someone looks, walks, talks, dresses, who they hang out with, what music they listen to, and who they marry.
I participated in such race bullying in my college years, where certain small town kids were teased for being less than urban cool. When you’re born and raised in the strong cultured big cities of Philadelphia, New York, Washington DC, Chicago, Detroit, and so on, you tend to set a higher bar of what black is supposed to be. Everything else becomes “country,” “corny,” “backwards,” “bama” and “not black enough.”
PHOTO: Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson (3) works against the Carolina Panthers during the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Oct. 26, 2014, in Charlotte. (AP Photo/Mike McCarn)
However, the most harmful type of black-on-black bullying is when we accuse someone of “acting white,” “selling out” or being an “oreo.” Without realizing the many societal implications involved, “acting white” becomes a label for African-Americans who have higher academic standards, speak correct English, read books, live in higher economic neighbors, are successful at their goals, and are accepted and sociable with white American peers.
Wow, that sounds like Russell Wilson. But the problem is, if all of that is “acting white” and not being “black enough,” then what is “acting black” and being “real”—having low academic standards, speaking broken English, never reading anything, living in poverty, never reaching your goals, and not being accepted or sociable with white America?
Think about it. What exactly are we saying when we quantify the words “black” and “white?” Because the last time I checked the dictionary, everything “white” is deemed fresh, clean, innocent, angelic, perfect, ideal, good, honest, bright, new, beginning, exact and unmarked. In contrast, “black” is labeled soiled, dark, evil, deadly, mysterious, deceptive, violent, secretive, demonic, tragic and the end of things.
Ironically, the color “black” is also identified with power and elegance, like Black Power and black-tie affairs. However, that’s not the identification of the word “black” that African-Americans are referring to when they claim that someone isn’t “black enough,” I assure you. The question is, what do they mean by the term? I’ve never used it, because I understand that they are degrees to everything. And your “not black enough” may be someone else’s “too black.”
Like the use of the N-word that sports media professionals argued about last year, the African-American term “not black enough” will continue to be argued about as well. Nevertheless, one has to wonder if the Seattle Seahawks were a dominate 6-0 or 5-1 instead of a struggling 4-3, whether Russell Wilson’s degree of blackness would have ever become an issue.
Hence, losing and complaining about your teammates becomes a “black thing,” while winning and loving your guys is all right and “white.” Think about it.
Omar Tyree is a New York Times bestselling author, an NAACP Image Award winner for Outstanding Fiction and a professional journalist @ www.OmarTyree.com