District 2 gets new basketball court

On Friday, June 16, 2023, the Compton City Council welcomed Kobe Bryant’s widow, Vanessa Bryant, as well as WNBA legend Lisa Leslie and Atlanta Hawks star Tre Young as they celebrated a new basketball court at Wilson Park. Wilson Park sits in District 2 where representative Andre Spicer oversees it. The refurbished court was part of a donation given to the city.

Nobody’s Free

continued from page 6 and violence so “we can heal from it and not let it happen again.”

As she says, “I’m adamant about schools actually having the truth told.” Her own children’s book Juneteenth: A Children’s Story is just the kind of history and truth that some schools and libraries in her home state and elsewhere are desperately trying to ban and hide right now. Some current Members of Congress voted against making Juneteenth a federal holiday. But truth hidden will always be brought to light.

For more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation slavery continued as usual in Texas, but on June 19, 1865, U.S. Major General Gordon Granger issued General Order No. 3 finally

Expungement

continued from page 2

The purpose of the event is to help those previously stamped in the criminal justice system with eradicating their misdeeds.

“I worked in Compton with the public defender’s office for about 28 years, about 21 of those is in Compton,” Blackburn said. I’m not from Compton, but I’m from Compton now. And what I’ve been seeing is what we call zip code justice. We see that not only the prosecutions in the way that is over policing of the community, but it has reverberating effects.

“It’s hard for people to get their lives restarted. What our office wants to is make sure we want to be part of any part of the process. We’re going to fight with you, for your case. If you don’t have a case, there are services we can connect you to, and it’s informing all people in Texas that all enslaved people were free. For decades after that, many Americans did not know what Juneteenth symbolized. Now it is a federally recognized annual holiday that teaches all Americans about that inescapable moment in our history and officially reminds us of the ongoing struggle to make the promise of liberty and justice for all real. As Mrs. Lee also says, “We don’t want people to think that Juneteenth is a stopping point, because it isn’t. It’s a beginning.”

On June 13 Mrs. Lee was one of the honored guests at the White House’s Juneteenth Concert, and as Vice President Kamala Harris opened the event, she invited her to come to the stage. Mrs. Lee greeted all the “young people”—telling the whole audience they were included if they were not yet 96—and said: “Please, could I just say this to you, young folk: Make yourself a committee of one to change somebody’s mind. If people can be taught to hate, they can be taught to love. And it’s up to you to do it.

We are the most powerful country . . . and we must get together and get rid of the disparities, the joblessness and homelessness, and health care that some people couldn’t get and others can, and climate change that we are responsible for. If we don’t do something about it, we’re all going to hell in a handbasket.” We honor this spirit on Juneteenth as we remember again that nobody’s free until everybody’s free.

Passion and Skills

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The turnout for the event was more than good for Blackburn and the public defender’s office. Coming into the event, Blackburn had a certain goal she wanted to make. Those expectations were met and exceeded by the number people stopping by to try to get a clean record, she said.

“It’s kind of already met my expectations. I think we’re around thirty [people], If we were to get fifteen more, I would just love it. But this is just first of many,” Blackburn said.

Blackburn and the public defender’s office uses a plethora of tools, including social media, connecting with churches, and other platforms to alert community members about these expungement events. She says that one of the biggest challenges that ex-offenders face is trying to right the wrong they made have made in the past.

“Just back on their feet and not be weighed down by maybe the worst time in their life or a maybe mistake they made,” said Blackburn. “Just being treated like anyone else.”

So, what’s her stake in all of this? It’s about serving others, Blackburn said.

“My whole has been about helping people, helping people that other don’t want to help, that you look away from,” quipped Blackburn. “It’s usually people of color…my gratification is just helping out my people, because they’re most Black and brown and doing what I can to try to make their lives better.”