URBAN CONFIDENTIAL: What’s Is Going On? A14 ACTOR RETURNS HOME A3 Heralding the First Amendment: Freedom of the Press and the Public’s Right to Know!
VOL. 1 NO. 11
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A11
COMPTON
HERALD www.comptonherald.com
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Arrests, protest on a cold, surreal night
LOS ANGELES (MNS) —There’s a new sheriff in Metropolis. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors ushered in a new era with the swearing in of Sheriff Jim McDonnell as the county’s 32nd sheriff, Dec. 1, at the Hall of Administration. Second District Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas welcomed Sheriff Jim McDonnell to take the helm of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, after serving as chief of the Long Beach Police Department for the past four years.
BREITBART
A phalanx of police move to arrest protesters obstructing traffic on the 110 Freeway in downtown L.A., Nov. 28.
McDonnell, was greeted by enthusiastic crowds of family, friends, supporters and colleagues, said he looked toward establishing a high bar of excellence, integrity, accountability and service as the new sheriff of the county. Ridley-Thomas noted he was eager to work side-byside with the new sheriff in implementing much needed reforms. “Sheriff McDonnell has shown he is true leader,” Ridley-Thomas said. “We have a lot of work ahead of us but I am confident he has the ability to create a department that will be seen as model for law enforcement.” With 18,000 men and women in the department, and one of the largest law enforcement agencies in the country, McDonnell said he will embrace oversight, improve treatment of those in custody and maintain good community relations. “I [am] humbled and honored to take on these challenges [to] move beyond past divisions and fractures; to start fresh,” McDonnell said.
FOOD A8
MONDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2014
New sheriff takes helm in County
Sheriff Jim McDonnell
TURKEY SOUP ON THE MENU
LOS ANGELES—It was 6 p.m. in the Westlake area of Los Angeles on Black Friday, when members of the Los Angeles Police Department began detaining Ferguson demonstrators, restraining them with zip ties while they ran background checks. Lt. Andy Smith of the LAPD said bluntly,“Terrorizing motorists is not covered by the First Amendment.” The defiant protesters were marching in response to a grand jury verdict for Ferguson, Mo. policeman Darren Wilson, who was See PROTEST page 4
RAW STREET: MAYHEM IN URBIA
Gunfire and cold blood BY JARRETTE FELLOWS, JR. COMPTON — African American males are being shot to death with such alarming regulaity by law enforcement officers, if not for eyewitness corroborating evidence brought forth
by cell phone video cameras, so many violent altercations would hardly be believable. After all, this is not America circa 1800s or Nazi, Germany for that matter. Before the current appalling spate of cop killings of African American males,
that has captured the attention of the mainstream media and witnessed on a global scale, few embraced the claims by Black Amer ican males that they were unfairly targeted and singled out by abusive cops. Recent videoed accounts of random street encoun-
Beginning This Edition
RAW
Street
MAYHEM IN URBIA By J arret te Fellows, Jr.
ters with police and sheriff’s deputies prove it doesn’t require much for these encounters to quickly turn violent with African American male victims left dead by nervous, “hair-trigger” inclined cops. The incidents involving Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Fla., and Eric Garner in Statin Island, NY., are three sensational cases that captured a torrent of publicity igniting an uproar of police brutality claims accross the nation, often supported by someone with a cell phone video camera. What more Americans— especially whites—and the world are learning, is there appears to be a culture of brutality existent in urban policing where little provacation is required for a cop to shoot a black, or brown male. And what is becoming more and more translucent all the time as these shooting incidents come to the fore is, the problem is
more pervasive than the popular belief. Black and Brown males are being gunned down by cops with frightful regularity with communities like Compton, South L.A., and adjoining areas situated at ground zero. The deaths of so many at the hands of law enforcement augments an already egregious picture of blackon-black murder and mayhem precipitated by street gang rivalries. The majority of copinvolved shootings do not attract overt scrutiny — even with omnipresent cell phone video cameras — it is impossible for potential eyewitnesses to be everywhere, especially when a good number of the violent encounters occur during wee hours under the cover of darkness in remote places like sidestreets and alleys. Too often there is only one side to the story, usually provided by the cops See A TAIL page 15
“Agitate, Agitate, Agitate!” — Frederick Douglass, 1895
PAGE 2 COMPTON HERALD MONDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2014
CITY BEAT Jarrette Fellows, Jr.
uNchArTed
M
Y FELLOW WRITER-IN-ARMS, Betty Pleasant crafts SOULVINE each week for thousands of loyal readers who have perused her work for years. She presents an interesting flashback to the the Watts Riot of August 1965 (page 3), drawing parallels to the violent outburst in Ferguson, Mo., in wake of the grand jury decision to exonerate policeman Darren Wilson for the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown. In August 1965, I was living in the Jordan Downs Housing Project with my family, 10 years old, two months shy of my 11th birthday, when the nightly gunshots, firebombings, the torching of 103rd Street (Watts’ main thoroughfare) exploded, augmented by Army National Guard cries of “Halt, Halt, Halt! to fleeing looters bearing the spoils of public disorder. These sounds were seared in my consciousness. The mayhem ensued for six days, then gradually declined to an uneasy peace, the air foul with the acrid smell of burnt dwellings. For the remainder of that summer, we boys in the hood were limited in terms of activities to keep us busy. The one walk-in movie theatre was a burnt-out hulk, all the shops, liquor stores and fast-food joints along 103rd Street were gone! What was a young boy to do? I’ll tell you what we did; We played a game called, “National Guard,” emulating the tense interactions between guardsmen and looters. Some were troopers, others were looters. We even had our own self-styled weapons—rubberband guns (slings really) made by affixing a clothespin (remember these?) to the end of a flat 12-15-inch piece of wood, where we threaded a rubber band through the end of a wire coiled fulcrum (the wired item that joined two pieces of grooved wood at the center to comprise a clothespin) then stretched the band from the front end of the stick very taut to the opposite end placing the head of the wire coiled fulcrum into the jaws of the clothespin which clamped shut. The clothespin was affixed to the stick by another band. When we depressed the stretched band bearing the wire coiled fulcrum, it zipped forward like a sling to the target and left quite a welt wherever it zinged the body. Nobody wanted to get zinged by the fulcrum projectile. It was quite painful. When another “dude” beat you to the draw, all you could do was cringe and brace. Eventually, we stopped playing “National Guard” at the behest of our parents. Too many of us were getting hit in the face by “fulcrum projectiles.” Those are the bygone days of boyhood innocence, when we engaged in “pretend” shooting games, years before our simple rubber band slings morphed into cold metal .22, .38, and .45 caliber handguns far too many have embraced in an insane systemic fratricide in those very same Jordan Downs, Nickerson Gardens, and Imperial Housing Projects in Watts, and too many other urban ‘hoods far and wide in Black and Brown America—youth gang killing fields for some 50 years. Too many have mourned the loss of their young sons over the years in too many wars abroad on foreign soil at the point of bayonets, the long barrels of AK-47 assault rifles, and explosive ordnance, some say for the price of freedom. Tens of thousands more have bled out and given up the ghost right here at home at the point of .22, .38, and .45 caliber handguns, AK-47 assault rifles, and, yes, 9mm semi-automatic law enforcement sidearms. Not for the price of freedo or any sane reason, for that matter.
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HERALD Monday, Dec. 8, 2014 PUBLISHER and EXECUTIVE EDITOR
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A portion of the Los Angeles Youth Orchestra which will perform in Compton, December 19, 2014
Orchestra plays locally Dec.19 COMPTON (MNS) — The sounds of Christmas are coming to Compton thanks to a partnership between Fourth District Councilman Dr. Willie O. Jones and the popular and talented Los Angeles Youth Orchestra. The orchestra will present “A Classical Christmas Concert,” bringing Yuletide favorites, Dec. 19 from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at the Dollarhide Community Center, 301 N. Tamarind Ave., Compton. The Los Angeles Youth Orchestra is a renowned contingent of young musicians from throughout the
Los Angeles area who collaborate to rehearse and perform symphonic music. Jones said their orchestral offerings would help promote the spirit of the season in Compton. “I wanted to make sure that we spread some holiday cheer,” Jones noted. “Nothing helps to bolster the C h r i s t m a s s p i r i t like Christmas music and carols. “The Los Angeles Youth Orchestra recently performed to standing ovations at Carnegie Hall, and UCLA’s Schoenberg Hall, and features student musicians from more than 60
public and private institutions. “I thought it would be wonderful to introduce the orchestra to the City of Compton, [as well as] the wealth of young musical talent [here].” Jones added. The Christmas concert will also feature selections by student musicians from the award-winning Compton Unified School District. Michael Armstrong, program director of the Los Angeles Youth Orchestra, said, “The [orchestra] is very much looking forward to performing for Compton, and the opportunity to
meet with student musicians from the area. “The opportunity to add members to the orchestra from Compton is exciting,” Armstrong said. The evening will feature a special surprise guest vocalist that concert producers want cloaked in secrecy until performance time. Jones said staff will be accepting unwrapped toys valued at $10 which will be donated to needy children in the community. “A toy is not required for [admission],” he said, but it will “be appreciated.” More info: (310) 6055662.
Families benefit from StubHub feast CARSON—The StubHub Center Foundation and LA Galaxy Foundation in a show of charitable generosity and charitable generosity played host to the 11th Annual Thanksgiving Foundation’s Feast at StubHub Center’s American Express Stadium Club on Nov. 24. As part of the event, LA Galaxy players as well as staff from both the Galaxy, StubHub Center, and StubHub Los Angeles locations helped serve a complete Thanksgiving meal to 250 local children and families in need. An annual tradition at StubHub Center since 2003, this year’s event featured the serving of a full
Thanksgiving buffet, including turkey, stuffing and all the trimmings. Arts & crafts, activities, and gift bags were also presented to families. This year, kids had the opportunity to participate in a Camp for Kids soccer clinic before dinner presented by Stub- Hub at 2 p.m. at StubHub Center’s Field 5. Thanksgiving Foundations hosted dozens of families, which included Fred Jefferson Memorial, Los Angeles Children and Family Services, Colette’s Children’s Home, The Salvation Army Red Shield, Koinonia Family Services, Children’s Hospital, Challengers Boys & Girls Club, Compton Parks & Recrea-
LA Galaxy players helped serve the needy.
tion, LAUSD Homeless Education Program, and El Nido Family Services. This year’s Thanksgiving Foundations’ Feast was made possible by donations from the LA Galaxy, StubHub Center, CocaCola, StubHub, McDonald’s, Ralph’s/Food 4 Less,
Polly’s Pies, Levy Restaurants, Starbucks, and Bristol Farms. The StubHub Center Foundation is also collecting toys and books for the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Program 11th Annual Toy Drive, Dec. 8-16, 2014
PAGE 3 COMPTON HERALD MONDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2014
LOCAL SOULVINE BY BETTY PLEASANT RIGHT ON!—It’s been almost 50 years since I’ve felt the need to make that exclamation. In fact, it will be 50 years since Aug. 11, 1965 when South L.A.’s black residents, fed up with the overtly racial hostility of the white Los Angeles Police Department, launched six days of unrest and violence that resulted in the destruction of the Watts commercial district to the tune of $40 million in damage, the deaths of 34 people, injuries to 1,032 and the arrest of 3,438 others. Some people call those six days the “Watts Riot,” others call it the “Watts Rebellion.” I was there; in the middle of the 35,000 angry rioters, and I call it William H. Parker both: a “riotous rebellion” which the city of Los Angeles had coming. After all, the city had a notoriously racist police department, headed by Chief William H. Parker, who habitually referred to us as “nigras,” and whose officers beat us up for trumped up reasons whenever they felt like it. They were awful and we hated them. The Watts riot was started by an interaction between a black family and a white law enforcer, namely Highway Patrol motorcycle officer Lee Minikus, who stopped Marquette Frye and his brother Ronald for the reckless driving of their mother’s car. While Marquette, who was the driver, was dealing with Minikus, Ronald walked to their nearby home and brought their mother, Rena Price, back to the 116th Street and Avalon Boulevard scene, where a group of their black neighbors began gathering. Being surrounded by black people, Minikus called for back-up and white LAPD cops with shotguns descended upon the Nigras. They subdued and arrested Marquette by physical force and fought with Ronald and his mother, Rena. The growing crowd of onlookers began yelling and throwing things at the cops and despite the arrest of the two men and their mama, the numbers of angry onlookers rapidly grew into a menacing mob which neither Parker’s cops nor community leaders could control. Elected officials called, in vain, for “calm.” The people told the elected officials what to do with their “calm” and set about destroying everything in sight. The California Army National Guard and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department were deployed throughout a vast region of South Los Angeles during the rioting and I was almost shot by a national guardsman while I was trying to get an interview. Now, I feel the excruciating pain and mind-blowing anger of Ferguson, Mo. residents when they responded to the American justice system’s failure to hold Ferguson cop, Darren Wilson, accountable in any way for his killing of the black unarmed teenaged Michael Brown by virtually burning down their neighborhoods. The one thing we learned from the Watts Riotous Rebellion is that you don’t burn down your own stuff— your own community. Personally, I’m not averse to violence, I just believe it should be directed at the enemy, in this case, Henderson’s police stations, not the people’s businesses. Granted, Henderson residents’ brains stopped working when the Wilson verdict validated the justice system’s position that black lives don’t matter in America, and the people took it out on the entities within their community. We in Los Angeles have learned not to do that and Henderson residents will learn it, too. But then, we are talking about lives now. Fifty years ago, we were subjected to police abuse and beatings and set-ups and such and we were fighting for our civil rights. Now, we’re fighting for our very lives and the lives of our children. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: The greatest problem facing America is the massacre of our unarmed black men by law enforcement throughout this country. Our elected officials—from the White House on down —are doing nothing about this massacre except telling us to “protest peacefully.” Shut up! Solving this problem goes beyond the lame belief that law enforcement merely needs training and sensitizing as to how it should treat people. We black people need to fight for our lives like we fought for our rights. We need the Black Panthers, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), the NAACP, the SCLC, CORE and the United Nations to help us. In fact, somebody needs to take to the United Nations the issue of the United States allowing government goons to murder unarmed black and brown men for whatever reason they can concoct. The United States has no business intervening in Syria or any place else when somebody needs desperately to intervene in the United States.
Peace On Earth!
‘Black-ish’ star will lead 62nd Christmas Parade COMPTON (MNS) — Veteran silverscreen star and comic Anthony Anderson will serve as celebrity grand marshal for the 6 2 n d Annual Compton Christmas Parade, set to proceed through the streets of Compton on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2014, beginning at 11 a.m. The official announcement that Anderson is confimed as this year’s grand marshal came from the office of the city manager. Second District Councilman Isaac Galvan applauded the return to Compton of a native son. “It’s always good when someone from the community gives back,” said Galvan. I supported Anthony Anderson from the beginning to be our grand marshal. He’s a great addtion to the 62nd Annual Compton Christmas Parade.” Councilwoman Yvonne Arceneaux of the Third District echoed the sentiments. “I am happy that Anthony Anderson, one of o u r
“Black-ish” star Anthony Anderson native hometown heroes, has come home to help us celebrate this momentous occasion,” she said. “I am proud of his accomplish-
ments in the entertainment industry and consider him a good role model and inspiration to our youth. Mr. Anderson is a prime
example of what our young people can do and achieve in life.” Born Aug. 15, 1970 in Compton, Anderson has appeared in more than 20 films. His performance in “Law & Order” earned him his fourth straight NAACP Image Award nomination for Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series in 2010. The actor is the star and executive producer of ABC’s sitcom “Black-ish” alongside Tracee Ellis Ross and Laurence Fishburne. He plays the main character in the series, a family man struggling to acquire a sense of cultural identity in a predominantly white upper-middle-class neighborhood. Following the parade, the city will host the Second annual “Battle of the Bands,” at 3 p.m., featuring six prep bands, including the heralded Centennial High School drum line. Site for the competition is the ECC Compton Center football stadium, 1111 Artesia Blvd.
Man jailed under ‘revenge porn law’ LOS ANGELES—A man has been sentenced to one year in jail, 36 months probation, and domestic violence counseling for posting nude photos of his exgirlfriend online. The conviction is the first by City Atty. Mike Feuer under California’s new “Revenge Porn” statute signed into law in October 2013, prohibiting the unauthorized posting of nude or
sexual images of an individual with the purpose of causing emotional distress. Noe Iniguez, 36, was found guilty of three criminal counts including two restraining order violations and the state revenge porn statute following a sevenday jury trial. Judge David Fields also ordered Ini- quez to attend domestic violence counseling and to stay away from
the victim. After sentencing, Iniguez was immediately taken into custody to begin serving his time. According to Deputy City Atty. Brad Pregerson, who prosecuted the case, Iniguez, using an alias, posted obscene information about his ex-girlfriend on her employer’s Facebook page in December 2013. Three months later in March, 2014, he posted a
topless photograph of his ex-love interest on the site, accompanied by a message that labeled her a “drunk” and a “slut,” said Pregerson. The victim had previously secured a restraining order against Iniguez in November 2011 after receiving harassing text messages following the breakup and resolution of their 4-year relationship.
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PAGE 4 COMPTON HERALD MONDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2014
CALIFORNIA Stiffer measures force drug money to U.S. CHULA VISTA, Calif. (AP) — For a company that booked $12 million in annual sales importing snacks like chile- and limeflavored chips from Mex-
Investigators say there was a reason for the anonymity: The business was laundering money from Mexican drug traffickers. Baja Distributors, whose
NORTH-SOUTH OF THE BORDER U.S.-MEXICO
ico, Baja Distributors Inc.’s offices were oddly quiet. There were no signs outside. Its small warehouse was almost empty. Phones went unanswered.
executives denied laundering drug money, brought more than $17 million from Mexico in 18 months. U.S. front companies for cartels aren’t new, but U.S.
officials say they took a more prominent role after Mexico capped dollar deposits in cash at $7,000 a month for businesses in 2010, later raised to $14,000. As a result, they say, cartels sought companies to deposit money in American banks and wire it back in pesos under the guise of international trade. San Diego, the largest American city on Mexico’s border, became a magnet for cash coming to the country from south of the border according to an Associated Press analysis of customs declarations since 2009. Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto lifted the restrictions last month, say-
ing the anti-money laundering measure harmed honest firms. The move sparked concern among U.S. officials that cartels may go back to brazenly walking into Mexican banks to deposit drug-tainted dollars. “If one day you have a restriction and the next day that restriction no longer exists, one would think logically that it now becomes easier,” said Joseph Burke, head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s National Bulk Cash Smuggling Center. Pena Nieto’s move came two days after U.S. agents raided businesses in downtown Los Angeles’ fashion district that were suspected
of funneling drug money to Mexico and seized $70 million in cash. Drivers have always stuffed trunks with cash from drug sales in the U.S. and went to Mexico undetected. That has never changed but, with Mexican banks out of the picture in 2010, cartels sought new ways to convert profits to pesos to fund their operations and lifestyles. Couriers brought dollars back to the U.S. and often declared them to customs officials, as required for amounts of $10,000 or above, U.S. officials say. The Treasury Department imposed more reporting requirements on armored car services at San Diego
border crossings in August, calling it a response to Mexico’s regulations. U.S. border inspectors have little power to stop cash, and money laundering charges are difficult to prosecute, which leads some to believe the scheme will continue even without Mexico’s restrictions. Investigators say money traveling back and forth across the border makes it more difficult to track. There was $3.73 billion declared at U.S. ports of entry from Mexico last year, up from $3.15 billion in 2009, the year before Mexican regulations took effect, according to the AP’s analysis of customs See CARTEL page15
Ferguson protest spills onto major freeway Continuef from front page exonerated of all blame in the shooting death of 18year-old Michael Brown. Many of the Ferguson protesters obeyed police orders to disperse and moved away from the area where they were demonstrating. Others, however lingered. Unfortunately for them, they were arrested. LAPD Capt. Mike Oreb said, “It became very dangerous for the driving public and they were doing it on purpose,” Oreb said of the demon-
strators. Also on Friday in San Francisco, a march for racial justice turned ugly, reported SFGate, when hundreds of hostile protesters caused mayhem on
Union Square. The obstreperous crowd reportedly began breaking windows, attacking police and frightening shoppers. One protester spray painted “F T P” (F—The Police)
on an Apple Store, prompting one woman shopper to remark, “So stupid. It isn’t really smart.” Her family quickly cautioned her not to give her name out to the SFGate reporter, fearing
that activists might seek reprisal for criticizing the vandalism. After awhile, police steered the roughly 100 demonstrators down to Market Street and into the
Mission District. The activists broke windows and spray painted buildings along the way. There police made several arrests. Two officers were injured by flying objects.
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COMPTON HERALD MONDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2014
NATION & GLOBE HOLDER INSISTS
Fed Ferguson probe will be independent WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Atty. General Eric Holder says “far more must be done to create enduring trust” between police and communities they serve, even as his Justice Department continues to investigate possible discriminatory police actions in Ferguson, Mo. Civil rights lawyers at Justice working alongside FBI agents have also been examining whether white police officer Darren Wilson intentionally violated the civil rights of 18-yearold Michael Brown, the unarmed black teenager he shot dead Aug. 9. Last week, Holder spoke about the DOJ’s ongoing efforts emphasizing that both federal investigations will “continue to be thorough, independent and ongoing.” He did not provide a timeline for the investigations, but said they “will be conducted rigorously and in a timely manner so that we can move forward as expeditiously as we can to restore trust, to rebuild understanding, and to foster cooperation between law enforcement and community members.” Proving that Wilson, who was cleared Dec. 1 by a St. Louis County grand jury, violated federal criminal law will be difficult, DOJ veterans say. But in the aftermath of the local grand jury announcement, Holder has insisted the federal probe
of the policeman is ongoing and independent of St. Louis prosecutors. “And although federal civil rights law imposes a high legal bar in these types of cases, we have resisted forming premature conclusions,” Holder said in a statement on Dec. 1. Mediators from the Justice Department Community Relations Service have been on the ground in Ferguson trying to ease tensions since August. And the DOJ community-oriented policing unit has been trying to train local law enforcement to respect protesters and de-escalate tensions. Scattered violence and scenes of burning businesses in the area overnight Dec. 1 mean that work is far from complete. Justice Department lawyers are making slow but steady progress on another facet of their task in Ferguson: investigating allegations of unconstitutional policing by law enforcement there. Holder tipped his hand last month, publicly calling for “wholesale changes” in the Ferguson force. Holder’s DOJ investigators have opened more than two-dozen investigations into biased policing tactics and patterns of excessive force in places from Albuquerque, NM, to New Orleans, La. to Newark, NJ. Such cases often end in lawsuits or court-enforce-
able agreements to change hiring, training and traffic stop actions. Vanita Gupta, the acting leader of the civil rights division at Justice, said at a news conference in October, the goal of such cases is to “ensure that the city has an effective, accountable police department— “that controls crime, ensures respect for the Constitution, and earns the respect of the public it is charged with protecting.” Holder also said the day after the grand jury’s decision, he was disappointed that some reacted with violence rather than heeding the call for non-violence issued passionately by Brown’s parents. The attorney general says his top aides will work with local police in Missouri “so that we can develop strategies for identifying and isolating the criminal elements from peaceful protesters.” Holder says people in Ferguson who tried to stop looters and arsonists are to be applauded for their actions. They are “heroes, in my mind,” he said. The issue is personal for Holder, the country’s first black attorney general. He told members of the media earlier this year he wanted to keep working to forge better relations between police and minority communities even after he retires in 2015. National Public Radio contributed to this story.
THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Attorney General Eric Holder hugs a student at the Florissant Valley Community College in north St. Louis. Holder visited Ferguson, Mo., in August, where he met with elected and police officials and community members.
306 W. Compton Blvd., Ste. 200, Compton, CA 90220
Agents nab man with $250k in alleged drug cartel cash BREITBART
BROWNSVILLE, Texas —A Texas border man came close to having his thanksgiving dinner in a jail cell after federal agents caught him allegedly trying to smuggle more than $250,000 in cash into Mexico. Agents with U.S. Customs and Border Protection arrested 23-year-old Hipolito Garcia Jr. at the Brownsville Matamoros International Bridge after finding $259,000 in undeclared cash hidden inside his 2007 Volkswagen Jetta. Drug cartels use individuals to smuggle their illegal proceeds from the U.S. to Mexico. It is not uncommon to find multiple individuals bringing in cash bundles on a regular basis from the U.S. to Mexico. Garcia had been driving from Brownsville to Mexico when federal agents at the bridge sent him to a secondary inspection area
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and after getting the vehicle x-rayed found two tightly packed bundles of cash inside the car. Garcia refused to speak with federal agents during questioning. A U.S. Magistrate Judge formally charged Garcia
with cash smuggling and set his bond at $50,000 with a cash deposit of $5,000. After posting bond, federal agents released him until his future court hearing giving him the opportunity celebrate Thanksgiving outside of a jail cell.
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THE AMERICAS Unheralded History These were the ancient people of Mexico
T
he Ancient Mexicans Part III
Pyramids of Teotihucan “In the midst of the feasts and sacrifices an enormous demon with long bony arms and fingers, appeared dancing in the court where the people were assembled. Whirling through the crowd in every direction he seized upon the Toltecs that came in his way and dashed them at his feet. He appeared a second time, and the people perished by hundreds in his clutches.
At his next appearance the demon assumed the form of a white and beautiful child, sitting on a rock and gazing at the holy city from a neighboring hilltop. As the people rushed in crowds to examine this strange creation, it was discovered that the child’s head was a mass of corruption, the stench from which smote with death all who approached it. Finally the devil, or the god, appeared again and warned the Toltecs that their fate was sealed as a nation, and that they could only escape destruction by flight.”
The visitor to this city of the gods today will find, scattered all over the surface of the pyramids and mounds, along the road of the dead and in the adjacent fields, numerous heads of clay, or terra cotta. They are grotesque in feature and singular in design. It is not known what use was made of them, why they were made in such quantities, nor why only heads are found, instead of entire figures having a body as well. It is thought by some that these idols were given by the priests, or holy men, to the crowds of worshipers
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who used to resort to this city of sanctuaries in these early times. Whether those pyramids are Toltec, Olmec, or Totonac, it is very certain that they were built by a people who inhabited Anahuac long before the Aztecs arrived in it. Quetzalcoatl, God of the Air It was some time during their residence in Tula, that Quetzalcoatl, the “Feathered Serpent,” appeared amongst the Toltecs in the valley of Mexico. He was a great hero mentioned in Toltec traditions. We have seen that Tula was their capital and that there they lived in peace for many years. Quetzalcoatl was a beneficent deity, who seemed to have taken the shape of a man in order to improve the condition of the people of earth. His name is constructed from two words, Quetzal, a bird of beautiful plumage found in the forests of southern Mexico, and Coatl, a serpent, also found there—Quetzalcoatl, the “Plumed Serpent.” The traditions, or legends, paint him as a tall, white man with a large beard, in complexion and general appearance very different from the Indians, among whom he lived, in Tula, as “God of the Air.” Everything prospered exceedingly during his stay, and the people wanted for nothing. He created large and beautiful palaces of silver, precious stones, and even of feathers. In his time corn grew so strong that a single ear was a load for a man, gourds were as long as a man’s body, pumpkins were a fathom in circumference, while cotton grew on its stalks of all colors, red, yellow, scarlet, blue, and green. He taught the people all their wonderful arts: how to cut the precious green stone, the chalchiuite, and the casting of metals. He also had an incredible number of beautiful and sweet-singing birds, the like of which has not been seen in the country since his time. But all this prosperity was to come to an end. There came amongst the people an evil-minded god called Tezcatlipoca, who wished to drive Quetzalcoatl from the country. So
Quetzalcoatl
he appeared to him in the form of an old man, and told him that it was the will of the gods that he should be taken to Tlapalla. After drinking a beverage the old man offered him, the Plumed Serpent felt so strongly inclined to go that he set out at once, accompanied by many of his subjects. Near a city yet pointed out in the valley of Mexico, that of Quauhtitlan, he felled a tree with stones, which remained fixed in the trunk; and near Halnepantla he laid his hand on a stone and left an impression which the Mexicans showed the Spaniards after the conquest. Finally, on his way to the coast, he passed through the valley of Cholula, where the inhabitants detained him and made him ruler over their city. He did not approve of the sacrifice of human beings, which some of the tribes performed in their worship, but he was a mild and benevolent being, and ordered that they offer to the gods only flowers and fruits. After 20 years, he continued his journey, though the sorrowing Cholulans would have detained him longer. Taking with him four noble and virtuous youths, he set out for the province of Coatzcoalcos, on the Gulf of Mexico. Here he dismissed his attendants and launched upon the waters of the gulf alone, while they returned and ruled over Cholula for many years. It is said that Quetzalcoatl appeared upon the coast of Yucatan, where he was
worshiped under the name of Kukulcan; and his image may be seen to-day, cut in the wall of one of the vast ruined edifices of Yucatan. He promised his followers of Tula and of Cholula that he would some time return, and bring back to them the prosperity that had attended his coming. For everything changed when he left, and even the sweet-singing birds he sent before him to that mysterious kingdom in the east, the land of Tlapallan. This is but a tale of the priests, a legend of the early Mexicans, yet their descendants believed in it, and looked for the promised return of the Feathered Serpent for hundreds of years. We shall find, farther on in this history, that the Aztecs believed in his coming and at first took the cruel Spaniards to be messengers from the mild and beneficent Quetzalcoatl. They thought they were messengers of life, these fierce and blood-thirsty demons of death! The Pyramid of Cholula Even at the arrival of the Spaniards, the city of Cholula was considered holy place, the residence of the priests. Its people raised an immense mound in honor of Quetzalcoatl, with a temple on its summit dedicated to his worship. It was more than a mound, it was a pyramid, the largest in America Presented as a feature to bridge cultural gaps and foster interest, “These Were the Ancient Mexicans” continues next week.”
PAGE 7 COMPTON HERALD MONDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2014
SPORTS Clippers: Six in a row LOS ANGELES—The 114-86 win by the Los Angeles Clippers over the Orlando Magic was the team’s sixth straight and double-digit wins are becoming routine. That was the case once again Wednesday, as the Clippers put away a 7-14 Magic team missing star center Nikola Vucevic in a 114-86 win. Despite 18 turnovers,
there was never much of a doubt even before the majority of starters watched the fourth quarter from the bench. The Clippers outscored the Magic every quarter, taking a 57-44 lead to the second half and watching a double-digit advantage continue to increase. Head coach Doc Rivers said the Clippers are playing with a better pace,
leading to better play. “When I say pace, I don’t mean us flying up and down the floor,” Rivers said. “I mean continuous movement. We weren’t doing that earlier in the year, but we’re doing that now. It makes us very hard to guard when you play that way.” The win was also the Clippers second straight at home.
Carson launches 5,000 lb. challenge CARSON—The City of Carson is kicked off its annual 5,000 lb. Weight Loss Challenge Program with a free 2-hour workout which featured hot hula/hot fusion, last Saturday, Dec. 6 at the Veterans Sports- Complex, 22400 Moneta Ave. in Carson. The 5,000 lb. Weight Loss Challenge Program is ongoing, and is a city-wide challenge that spun off from the 50 Million Pound
Challenge started by Dr. Ian Smith who initiated the national campaign to encourage everyone to join forces and fight the risks of being overweight for families and communities. The City of Carson is believed to be the first city in California to host the 5,000 lb. weight loss challenge program. The event featured a wide variety of health booths, a fit factory for kids portable recreation
unit, raffles, and giveaways. The City of Carson 5,000 lb. Challenge is co-sponsored by Gardena-Carson YMCA, CalState Dominguez Hills, Herbalife, West Coast Fitness, Kaiser Permanente, and SouthBay Pavilion. For more information on the ongoing challenge, call the city’s Recreation and Human Services Department at (310) 847-3570 or the Veterans SportsCom-
Preview of the Future THE FUTURE OF MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL—Major League Baseball's first Urban Youth Academy was founded in 2006 in Compton, California. As a not-forprofit organization, the UYA aims to set the standard for baseball and softball instruction, teach and educate in Urban America, and enhance the quality of life in the surrounding communities.
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PAGE 8 COMPTON HERALD MONDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2014
FOOD LEFTOVERS: Turkey soup and sandwich
O
ne of the best things about thanksgiving is the leftovers! One way that chefs, and home cooks popularly use up leftovers is in a turkey noodle soup. This recipe is a Real Mom Kitchen original and is made using the turkey carcass. However, you could easily substitute the broth portion of the recipe with canned broth or bouillon. Days After Thanksgiving Turkey Noodle Soup This soup comes with plenty of nodules. Fresh Frozen Homemade Style Wide Egg Noodles are great for this soup. These nodules are thick and yummy since it’s fresh pasta that has been frozen. It really adds to the homemade flavor of the soup. However, regular dry pasta works great too. Here are some other yummy soup recipe to use up your leftover turkey. On the chicken recipes, just substitute the chicken with turkey. If the recipe calls for cooking the chicken, just add the cooked turkey at the end of the cooking process Ingredients: Broth: 1 turkey carcass, all meat removed 9 cups water 1 onion, halved 8 baby carrots or 1 carrot cut in half 1 whole stalk celery 1 bay leaf 2 tsp. of chicken or turkey Better Than Bouillon or 2 chicken bouillon cubes For the soup: 2 Tbsp. butter 1 medium onion, minced 2 carrots, peeled and minced or equal amount baby carrots 1 stalk celery, minced 1 (16 oz) pkg, Grandma’s Fresh Frozen Homemade Style wide egg noodles or 8 oz. of uncooked pasta
2 cups shredded or cubed turkey salt and pepper to taste fresh parsley, optional
to thin it back down.
Directions:
Ingredients:
1. To make the broth: Place all ingredients in a large stock pot except for bouillon. Bring to a boil and simmer for 1 1/2 hours. Remove turkey carcass from pot and discard. Strain both with a colander into another stock pot. Discard remains in colander. Mix in bouillon into broth until dissolved.
1 croissant per sandwich shaved deli turkey breast (I prefer honey roasted) cream cheese fresh tomato slices avocado slices shredded lettuce salt and pepper, to taste
Croissant Turkey Sandwich
Directions: Slice the croissant in half. Spread a thick layer of cream cheese on the croissant, top with the tomatoes, turkeys, lettuce, and avocado. Add salt and pepper to taste.
2. Make the Soup: In stock pot the broth cooked in, melt butter. Add minced onion, carrot, and celery. Cook over medium heat until onions are translucent.
‘RESTAURANT ROW’ IS COMING! Shouldn’t your restaurant be among the ‘Row?’
Bonus Recipe Bagel Turkey Sandwich 3. Add onion mixture to stock pot and bring to a boil. Thaw noodles according to package directions. Add pasta and boil for time required on package. Add turkey and simmer for a couple minutes just to warm turkey. Ladle into bowls and top each serving with a little fresh parsley if desired. If any soup is left over, it will thicken up after refrigeration. Just add a little water when reheating
Always use leftover turkey with the following: two slices of bread, spread mayo on both, salt and pepper one slice, layer sliced turkey, dressing and cranberry slices. This sandwich is absolutely delicious and simple to make!
The holidays are here. That means Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s feasts! Do you have a special diabetic-safe recipe to share with our readers. The Compton Herald would like to feature you and your recipe.
Call (310) 908-9683
Call (310) 908-9683. Ask for the editor.
PAGE 9 COMPTON HERALD MONDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2014
LIFESTYLE Come out to see the
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PAGE 10 COMPTON HERALD MONDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2014
HEALTH Organs off limits to undocumented persons BY VIJI SUNDARAM SAN PABLO, Calif.— Without treatment to replace her failing kidneys, Olga knows she will die. The 37-year-old single mother is desperate to get a transplant so she can get well enough to nurture and provide for her three children again—something she hasn’t been able to do for the last couple of years. But her undocumented status disqualifies her from getting on the organ transplant list, endangering her life. Olga’s frail health forced her to stop working as a house cleaning woman and attendant at a Bay Area car wash, something she did seven days a week to supplement the $800 monthly checks her children’s father sends her. Those were jobs she could do without revealing her undocumented status.
In 2010, she was abruptly forced to quit her job loading boxes at a UPS facility, when her employer one day asked for her social security number. Olga, who asked that her last name not be used, stopped working completely two years ago after her legs began to swell and she suffered persistent headaches. Her trips to the emergency room only gave her temporary relief. She tried going on disability with the help of an immigration attorney provided by a charitable organization, but was told she didn’t qualify. The Mexico-born woman was diagnosed with kidney disease in 2001. In 2012, doctors told her she would require dialysis for the rest of her life unless she could get a kidney transplant. But to get on the transplant list, they told her, she would need to have legal status.
For illegal immigrants, under current law they may donate organs., but cannot receive them.
Until then, she could receive dialysis on an outpatient basis three times a week. California currently
has 50,057 patients on dialysis. Though not very health literate, Olga appreciates
the irony of her situation. She knows it would be cheaper for her to get a kidney transplant for about $100,000 than it is to receive a lifetime of dialysis, which costs $80,000 a year in the San Francisco Bay area. On average, transplantation doubles the life expectancy of a patient compared to dialysis. But even if she were given a transplant, Olga’s medical treatment would be far from over because she would need anti-rejection drugs costing about $10,000 a year for the rest of her life. Many transplant centers say an undocumented person’s status could compromise his or her ability to continue paying for follow-up care. “Essentially, all transplant centers require that all transplant candidates have medical insurance, be it public or private, so that the patients will have coverage following transplantation to cover the cost of the immunosuppressive drugs, which are expensive,” said Dr. John Scandling, medical director of the kidney transplant center at Stanford University, where some undocumented patients living in Santa Clara County have received transplants. But he asserted: “My personal opinion is that undocumented patients should not be kept off the organ waiting list. We don’t turn down organs donated by undocumented people, but we are not willing to provide organs to them.” An oddity in the U.S. health care system requires that federal Medicare cover all patients with end-stage renal disease, regardless of their age, for dialysis and organ transplantation. The exception is undocumented immigrants. But low-income undocumented patients can receive emergency care for which hospitals are reimbursed by
the federal-state funded insurance program for lowincome people called Medicaid (Medi-Cal in California). Olga is lucky that California, like New York and North Carolina, defines the outpatient dialysis she receives as “emergency care.” Last year, following protests by 14 undocumented patients in critical need of organ transplants, two Chicago-area hospitals agreed to put undocumented patients in need of organ transplants on the wait list. Even if Olga could get on the kidney transplant list, she would likely have to wait six to 10 years to get a transplant in the San Francisco Bay Area because there is a greater demand for kidneys here than there are donors, Scandling said. In the Pacific Northwest and the Midwest, by contrast, the wait time is between one and three years. Olga’s father, who had lived in the United States illegally since he, his wife and Olga immigrated here from their native Mexico 15 years ago, moved back home in 2012 to seek treatment for his diabetes. Olga, too, could go back to Mexico, where a kidney transplant costs $40,000, but she would have to sneak back in through the desert to reunite with her three U.S.-born children. That, she said, would be too dangerous. Laura Lopez, executive director of Street Level Health Project, an Oakland-based non-profit that helps immigrants gain access to health care and other services, believes that California should provide health care for all of its residents. She supports democratic Sen. Ricardo Lara’s Health Care For All bill. “People shouldn’t have to go back to their homeland to die because they can’t get health care in the U.S.,” Lopez asserted.
Compton Herald Online www. comptonherald.com
PAGE 11 COMPTON HERALD MONDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2014
FILM STAGE TV Selma Martin Luther King Jr. biopic debuts Dec, 25 (MNS)— Media mogul/ actress Oprah Winfrey and actor David Oyelowo are starring in an amazing new biopic about the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The film, “Selma,” is due in theaters on Christmas day Dec. 25, 2014, and critics are already giving the film two thumbs up. Directed by Ava DuVernay and produced by Oprah Winfrey herself and Brad Pitt, the film is already creating an Oscar buzz. It’s being co-produced by Harpo Productions and distributed by a division of Paramount Pictures. Winfrey and Oyelowo costarred together already in the hit 2013 film The Butler, which starred
Forest Whitaker. But this time, the two are the stars themselves. Oyelowo plays Dr. King, one of the most well-known civil rights leaders in history, and Winfrey plays one of his avid supporters. Actor Tom Wilkinson portrays President Lyndon Johnson, rapper Common plays Bevel, and actress Carmen Ejogo portrays the character of Coretta Scott King. The film also co-stars Cuba Gooding, Jr. as famed civil rights attorney and activist Fred Gray, and Niecy Nash who portrays Richie Jean Jackson, the wife of Dr. Sullivan Jackson. Selma focuses on a time
period just two years after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous “I Have A Dream” speech. The film covers three civil rights protest marches that all took place in March 1965 in Selma, Al., and essentially paved the way for passage of the historic Voting Rights Act . Because the film will be released this year, it will be eligible for a 2015 Oscar nomination. In a scene from Selma, Oprah Winfrey’s character is restrained by police. Below, actor Wendell Pierce, center in black coat, is portrays Hosea Williams in the movie “Selma.”
Will Smith guested on The Queen Latifah Show.
‘Queen Latifah Show’ gets dethroned; anemic ratings (MNS) — The Queen Latifah Show, which has aired for two seasons on CBS and stars Queen Latifah herself as talk show host, has officially been canceled by Sony Pictures Television. A representative from the company said the show has been axed due to low ratings and high costs. Reportedly, production will continue until Dec. 2014, and then the show will officially end although original episodes will continue to air until March 2015. The show, which is mostly watched by a daytime audience of women 25 to 54, averages only about 1.4 million viewers per episode, which sounds like a lot but is not enough, said producers. According to marketing experts, the viewership is actually down nine percent from last season, and it ranks last among all talk shows. Disney’s Live With Kelly and Michael and NBC’s The Today Show had much stronger followings. Sony spokeswoman Paula Askanas released a statement saying: “We want to thank Dana (Queen Latifah), the producers and the entire staff of The
Queen Latifah Show for creating a program that we are all very proud of.” She added, “Thank you also to our terrific station partners and advertisers who supported the show.” The show, produced by Latifah’s own Flavor Unit Entertainment, and Will and Jada Pinkett Smith’s Overbrook Entertainment, is not Latifah’s first talk show. She hosted another daytime talk show that also aired for two seasons from 1999 to 2001.
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PAGE 12 COMPTON HERALD MONDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2014
BUSINESS ‘Don’t Be a Not-See’ campaign underway (MNS)—Positive Prints P. S. has released a new music video in conjunction with its universal call to action—“Don’t Be A ‘Notsee’” campaign encouraging silent witnesses to child abuse to report the crime to authorities. “We have launched a new community,” says Adam L. Perkins, campaign originator. He explained that the term “Not-see” came about after noticing the tendency of people to ignore injustice. “‘Not-see’ is defined as one who ignores injustice by pretending not to see it,” said Perkins. “It’s been said that if it bleeds it leads. What does that say about our society? I take issue when a person knows, suspects, or witness an injustice and does nothing. “Pretending not to see injustice won’t stop it from happening. Our goal is to encourage and motivate people to act when they witness injustice,” he said. According to Perkins the coined word “Not-See” identifies both the act of not getting involved and the individual. “Thousands of cases of children and women being
abused are reported each year and it hurts. [But] it hurts even more when it’s discovered that someone could have been the difference but did nothing. That has to stop “Getting involved with the Don’t Be A Not-see community will help. This approach will help because of its direct appeal. It promotes awareness and presents in a bold new way a challenge to everyone to confront injustice.” But Perkins admits there were times in his life when he too was guilty of looking the other way. “It’s nothing I’m proud of. All of us probably can admit to [this]at some point in our lives regarding something.” According to the Every Child Matters Educational Fund, in the past 10 years, more than 20,000 American children are estimated to have been killed in their own homes by family— nearly four times the number of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. The child maltreatment death rate in the U.S. is triple Canada’s. The most recent figures from the 2014 Children’s Defense
The ‘Not See’ campaign organizers say they plan to take its anti-child abuse message nationwide.
Fund’s Annual State of America’s Children Report is that 1,825 children are abused or neglected each
HERALDO DE COMPTON VIENE!
day in the U.S. National estimates of child deaths from abuse and neglect in the U.S. totaled 1,640 for 2012. This amounts to at
least four child maltreatment fatalities per day. It is worth noting that definitions of child abuse vary by state, one of the
problems in reporting and preventing the problem. The Centers for Disease Control has proposed more uniform definitions.
Leather brand money in the bag METROPOLIS NEWS SERVICE
CHARLOTTE, NC — “Mr. Sylvia” is the name that many call this designer of extravagant leather hand bags, designer Gregory Sylvia is not a single designer at all. Founded by husband and wife duo, Gregory and Terri Sylvia Pope, the bags officially went on the market sales in 2012 and have experienced a steady growth ever since. Gregory and Sylvia Pope and one of their bags, left.
Headquartered in Charlotte, NC, Gregory Sylvia is a designer brand of leather goods and accessories namely handbags and wallets.The products are featured and available on the official Gregory Sylvia website.
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After a year and a half going head-to-head with the industry’s giants, the company has carved out a nitch market with sales surpassing $350,000, encouraging the couple to implement additional growth strategies to continue the trend. The couple started their brand to fill a gap they saw in the marketplace. “After noticing a lack of African Americans producers in the leather goods industry, we felt it could be a place where we could be successful and make an impact,” said Gregory. Soon thereafter the couple went to work on their brand, developing a vision, establishing a brand name, drafting logos, and designing products. Their brand focus has been the mid- to high-end handbag and accessories market with current sales exclusively online. For the company, there are now plans to embed their brand further and into more markets. In addition to continued expansion initiatives for online growth, the company is also looking to expand its sales channels with offline sales to retail stores and boutiques. “From our start we saw the lack of black-owned producers in this arena and we wanted to bring some diversity and excellence,” Gregory said. “We also saw [ourselves] doing this together as a means to encourage people to follow their dreams and bring marriage and family to the forefront,” said Terri.
PAGE 13 COMPTON HERALD MONDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2014
RELIGION Garner decision stirs Southern Baptists Seen as a major miscarriage of justice across racial lines WASHINGTON (BP)— Black and white Southern Baptists reacted with grief following a grand jury’s decision not to indict a white police officer in the chokehold death of a New York City man despite a widely viewed video of the incident. A Staten Island grand jury declined Dec. 3 to bring an indictment against officer Daniel Pantaleo in spite of a ruling by the New York City medical examiner’s office that Eric Garner’s death was a homicide. Pantaleo is shown in a video posted online restraining Garner, 43, with a chokehold and forcing him face down onto the sidewalk with the help of other officers. While prone, Garner is heard saying at least eight times, “I can’t breathe.” K. Marshall Williams, president of the SBC’s National African American Fellowship, called the grand jury;s action an “out-
rageous verdict” that is “a clarion call to us to be light in the midst of so much darkness.” “I cry out to the Lord this morning, for my spirit is deeply grieved and filled with righteous indignation, as I mourn with the family of Eric Garner as they endure the pain of this visualized injustice,” Williams said in a written statement. “I’m stunned speechless by this news,” said Russell Moore, president of the Ethics & Religious liberty Commission (ERLC). “We hear a lot about the rule of law— and rightly so. But a government that can choke a man to death on video for selling cigarettes is not a government living up to a biblical definition of justice or any recognizable definition of justice.” The Staten Island jury’s refusal to indict Pantaleo came at an incredibly raw time for African Americans regarding treatment by the
police. The Dec. 3 decision followed by only nine days a St. Louis County grand jury’s decision not to indict white police officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown. No incriminating video existed of Brown’s August death in Ferguson, Mo., and witnesses provided conflicting accounts. The failure to indict still met widespread criticism and protests. Trillia Newbell, the ERLC’s consultant for women’s initiatives and an African American, said the Garner case—as well as what happened in Ferguson — “is yet another reminder that all is not well in America. It’s a reminder that racial tensions and divisions are high. It’s a reminder that there is a glaring racial disparity in our justice system.” “We may not agree in this country on every particular case and situation, but it’s high time we start listening
to our African American brothers and sisters in this country when they tell us they are experiencing a problem,” Moore said. “For those of us in Christ, we need to recognize that when one part of the body of Christ hurts, the whole body of Christ hurts,” Moore said. Bart Barber, pastor of the First Baptist Church in Farmersville, Texas, and a former Southern Baptist Convention first vice president, called Garner’s death “needless and tragic.” “As I witness rising tension between black Americans and American law enforcement, I am reminded that for much of our modern history (and in many places even today) Baptists have suffered under antagonistic relationships with the civil order,” Barber told Baptist Press in a written statement. “This reality should dispose us to relate sympathetically with those who feel they are in
the same situation today, should instruct us as to how Christians ought to behave in confrontations with the law and should encourage us that Christ can bring reconciliation and even camaraderie between those who were once estranged. Let us pray for God to bring about the same outcome today.” Williams, senior pastor of Nazarene Baptist Church in Philadelphia, urged the church toward “inexplicable unity and a radical obedience to the Greatest Commandment [to love God, as in Matthew 22], which will set the platform for healing and reconciliation through an unprecedented spiritual revival and awakening.” Frank S. Page, in comments to Baptist Press, said the grand jury decisions in Ferguson and New York City have “peeled back the layers of deep-seated racial tensions and precipitated a new wave of social unrest
in our nation.” Page voiced concern “that we are at a place where trust of police is being deeply diminished. I have always been a strong proponent of supporting and trusting the police. I remain so. The vast majority of law enforcement officers are individuals of high integrity who act professionally. “With that being said, I do not believe police should be given the latitude to use excessive force in enforcing the law,” Page said. “I find it incredulous that a grand jury would not bring forth any kind of indictment with such clear video evidence of excessive force. I am disturbed by all illegal behavior, whether those who break the law are on either side of the fence, citizens and police alike. ... “Being a child of the ‘60s, I have seen many things in my life. I had hoped that we had come past many of the things we have seen occur in the last few weeks,” Page said. “We must not slow down, back up, or back away from God's vision of racial harmony and unity. We must continue to respect authority, but we must also hold authority accountable in the arenas of justice, fairness and compassion.” In a Dec. 3 statement, President Obama said it is important for Americans — “regardless of race, region, faith” — to realize “this is an American problem and not just a black problem or a brown problem or a Native American problem. This is an American problem. When anybody in this country is not being treated equally under the law, that's a problem.” The president said police have an incredibly difficult job and are risking their lives to protect Americans, but “right now, unfortunately, we are seeing too many instances where people just do not have confidence that folks are being treated fairly. And in some cases, those may be misperceptions; but in some cases, that's a reality.” The White House announced Dec. 1 a task force to make recommendations on improving relations between law enforcement and minority communities. Atty. General Eric Holder announced later Dec. 3 that the Department of Justice would conduct a federal civil rights investigation into Garner’s death. The Staten Island grand jury’s decision not to bring an indictment came after more than three months of deliberations by its 23 members. Only 12 needed to agree in order to indict Pantaleo. The medical examiner’s office concluded Garner’s death was caused by “compression of neck , compression of chest and prone positioning during physical restraint by police.” reported. Other factors contributing to Garner's death included asthma and heart disease, according to the medical examiner's office.
Read the Herald online: www. compton herald.com
PAGE 14 COMPTON HERALD MONDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2014
EDITORIAL JARRETTE DEAN FELLOWS, JR PUBLISHER, CEO and EXECUTIVE EDITOR FOUNDED 2007
What Is Going On? BY JARRETTE FELLOWS, JR. Three high-profile killings of Black men by police, and three more lives kicked into the gutter. How else can you describe the loss of life of three African American males at the hands of excessively brutal cops, and a low-paid security guard predisposed to racist profiling? We all know what happened at the jury trial of George Zimmerman, the rent-a-cop whose was criminally inclined in his decision to racially profile 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, shadow him, then execute him and claim self-defense. The jury exonerated him to the shock of millions. Everyone knew the grand jury decision to try police officer Darren Wilson on charges he acted recklessly and irresponsibly in the shooting death of teenager Michael Brown, might go south; and it did. But, the New York grand jury’s decision to clear Officer Daniel Pantaleo—who applied a chokehold to Eric Garner in New York, precipitating cardiac arrest and Garner’s death—was unconscionable. A coroner’s findings already ruled his death a homicide. How could this
grand jury overlook that? It was a wanton disregard for a life, an “African American life” Garner was caught on video and arrested for peddling single cigarettes, and police attempted to take him into custody for that reason, alone. Garner resisted and he was wrestled to the ground, after which Pantaleo applied an illegal choke-
grand jury, which was empaneled in September specifically to review evidence in Garner’s racially charged death. In a statement released by his union, Pantaleo said: “I became a police officer to help people and to protect those who can’t protect themselves. “It is never my intention to harm
‘In the wanton killing of African American males at the hands of trigger-happy cops, there seems to be a return to another era in American history, when lynching a black man was like a side notion.
,
hold, which had been banned by the City of New York and its police department. Still, the jury panel voted a “nobill” and dismissed all potential charges against Pantaleo. The blockbuster decision capped weeks of investigation by the special
anyone and I feel very bad about the death of Mr. Garner,” he added. “My family and I include him and his family in our prayers and I hope that they will accept my personal condolences for their loss.” Police Benevolent Association President Pat Lynch said it was
clear that Pantaleo had tried “to do nothing more than take Mr. Garner into custody as instructed and that he used the take-down technique that he learned in the academy when Mr. Garner refused.” The three aforementioned cases were sensational in scope and divided a nation. But there are hundreds of additional cases of brutality against black males by cops that never appear on social radar and remain hidden from scrutiny. If the wanton killing of African American males at the hands of trigger happy cops were not so blatantly widespread attracting the glaring attention that it does (mostly through the lens of omnipresent camera cell phones) no one would believe it is occurring. There seems to be a return to another era in American history, when lynching black men was like a side notion.” The three tragic deaths did not have to happen. Laws must change with respect to how law enforcement views black males and how agencies police urban communities if the one-sided carnage is going to end both now and forever. We’re now at the point where we all need to find common ground to move forward.
This space represents a wall of protest for the black and brown males who are gunned down by police in America under questionable circumstances every year, whose cases will never come to public knowledge, and whose names we will never know.
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PAGE 15 COMPTON HERALD MONDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2014
COMPTON HERALD
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The vehi that Antoine Hunter and Geremy Evans were in when confronted by county sheriff’s deputies, leading to Hunter’s death and Evans’ critical state
A slow ‘tail’ turned tragic Continued from front page who pulled the trigger. One recent case currently being investigated by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, involved two men from Compton— Geremy Evans and Antoine Hunter, both 24 years old, both Compton natives, out on a June 24 summer night cruising city streets. Little did the pair know that their lives were about to take a fateful turn. According to a sheriff’s department spokesperson Deputy Quiana Birkbeck (who would not prothe identities of two sheriff’s deputies) who told authorities they saw a vehicle driving recklessly and attempted to conduct a routine traffic stop for a possible DUI, as the preceding circumstance. The vehicle failed to stop, so the story goes, afterwhich a brief, slow-speed pursuit ensued. The pursuit ended, according to Birkbeck when the automobile which was being driven by Hunter “collided with a parked vehicle” at he intersection of N. Poinsettia Avenue and East Palmer Street The confrontation escalated, according to Birkbeck, when both deputies exited the patrol car and attempted to communicate with Hunter and Evans, when
Hunter allegedly tried to ram the deputies. Birkbeck said one of the deputies saw Hunter “arm himself with a handgun while the passenger, Evans, reached for the center console of the vehicle.” According to sheriff’s department officials, this is when both deputies opened fired on the men killing Hunter and critically wounding Evans. Witness Adam Perez, who was within earshot said, “I heard at least eight to 10 shots. And they’re all, like, accurate shots. It wasn’t like a shootout. It was more like they’re aiming, and they shot the person,” Perez said. The circumstances involving fatal shootings of other black and brown men by cops are all different. Certainly, the shooting of Michael Brown differed from Hunter’s and Evan’s, and the circumstances surrounding the death of Eric Garner, differs from any number of other violent deaths of urban males suffered at the hands of police officers and sheriff’s deputies. But the commonalities are all the same—deceased men who cannot give their account of what occurred, and anguished family, left mourning the loss, desperatly seeking answers to the tragedy. Again, that sad reality
haunts Martha Willis and Eunice Oby, the mothers of Hunter and Evans, respectively. Willis told a local television news station, “I heard that my son was shot 10 times. Why would [they] shoot someone when [they] could have tasered him?” she questioned.. Willis said her son served time in prison for burglary and was only several days away from completing his parole. She told KCBS News, “I’m not going to sit here and say he’s some angel, but I’ve never known my son to carry a gun. Never,” Take his little butt to jail if he was doing wrong, why did they have to kill my baby?” Eunice Oby, Evans’ son, suffers a different kind of anguish. Evans was not killed, but was riddled with bullets and remains criticle. Some time after the shooting, she told the news station, “The police raided my house looking for weapons for my son, and it’s unfair because they can’t just do what they want to do in the city of Compton,” she said. Sheriff’s officials said a hangun was recovered at the scene. An investigation is ongoing by LASD homicide detectives and the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office.
Cartel billions flood U.S. Continued from page 4 declarations. Declared money from Mexico totaled $3.96 billion during the first eight months of this year.. At San Diego’s Otay Mesa border crossing, declared cash soared from $10.6 million in 2009 to $1.17 billion in 2011 and $1.78 billion last year. It’s unknown how much of that was legitimate trade, but the U.S. Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control reported last year that couriers were bringing a “significant” amount of drug dollars to the U.S. through land crossings with Mexico. In Calexico, a border city east of San Diego, couriers came from Mexico with sacks of money after Mexico’s regulations went intoeffect, some on scooters, said Vince Piano, a Phoenix police lieutenant and executive director of the Southwest Border AntiMoney Laundering Alliance, a group of law enforcement officials. A Calexico storefront enterprise churned out business licenses for $500, including a U.S. telephone number and address. “It was flagrant,” Piano said. Baja Distributors caught the eye of ICE agent Nick Jones last November when he was scouring customs declarations. Numerous transactions jumped out, according to a search warrant affidavit
that linked the activity to Mexico’s banking restrictions. The company declared $17.2 million on 274 trips through San Diego’s San Ysidro port of entry from April 2012 to September 2013. Money was wired to Mexico from American bank accounts. Jones thought the company’s suburban warehouse was too small and quiet for the revenue it reported. Interviews with competitors led him to believe there was no reason to bring so many dollars from Mexico. The founder of Baja Distributors and two co-workers received suspended sentences of one year in jail, which they won’t serve if they complete three years of probation. The founder of the company and his employees pleaded guilty in state court to engaging in an unlicensed business after prosecutors agreed to drop money laundering and other charges. The attorney for the founder, Antonio Valle, said his client simply neglected to get a license for a currency exchange business he started. Jevon Hatcher said prosecutors failed to prove any connection to drug traffickers — a view echoed by Valle’s wife, Griselda Del Bosque, in a letter to the judge. “His present situation is
the result of circumstances which he knew nothing about,” Del Bosque wrote in the letter.
PAGE 16 COMPTON HERALD MONDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2014
NOTICE TO RESIDENTS OF COMPTON FROM THE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCILMEMBERS City of Compton 2014 Street Resurfacing Project Phase I of IV Dear Compton Residents, The City of Compton has contracted with American Asphalt South to complete street improvements adjacent to your home. The project will begin in October 2014 and continue through February 6, 2015. A variety of improvements will be made over the next several months including repairing damaged sidewalks, curbs and gutters, driveways, handicap ramps and street improvements such as slurry sealing and cane sealing. The streets effected are residential and no street closures are expected. Trash collection will continue as scheduled with minimum street sweeping interruptions. These improvements are designed to improve pedestrian safety and improve the street surfaces from more costly repairs in the future.
Aja Brown MAYOR Janna Zurita Councilwoman District 1
Isaac Galvan Councilman District 2
Yvonne Arceneaux Councilwoman District 3
Dr. Willie O. Jones Councilman District 4
Concrete Asphalt R ehabilitation Effort Paving the Way to a Better Compton Contractor - American Asphalt South - 800-678-4007 Construction Manager - APA Engineering - 949-679-2600 x1003
www.comptoncity.org/care