URBAN CONFIDENTIAL: Police still seek clues in officer’s slaying A3 Williams sisters scorned again A7 Heralding the First Amendment: Freedom of the Press and the Public’s Right to Know!
VOL. 1 NO. 5
SOULVINE
Who is Prophet Walker? A3
COMPTON
HERALD www.comptonherald.com
MONDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2014
MEATLOAF COMFORT CLASSIC FOOD A8
16 PAGES
Partners beautify two local schools COMPTON — For a fifth consecutive year over 300 volunteers dedicated an entire day of service at Foster Elementary School, and for a second straight year, Whaley Middle School, as part of the William Morris Endeavor Foundation’s Annual Walk the Walk Day, Oct. 16. In concert with partners WME, IMG, Enrich LA, The Kitchen Community, City Year, Treepeople, and Compton Unified School District, the schools were beautified with new playground murals, repainted walls and doors, and garden maintenance. WME/IMG also provided teachers with classroom assistants. Superintendent Darin Brawley said the district is grateful to have the continuing support of WME as the partnership expands its role to Dominguez High School. “We are very proud of our partnership with WME who have supported the arts at Foster and Whaley, and have brought in many more partners here to work with us,” said Brawley. “They made a long term commitment to follow the pathway of these students as they transition to Whaley and to Dominguez High School. We’re looking forward to seeing what See PARTNERS page 11
‘Early Middle College’ approved COMPTON—Trustees of the Compton School Board recently approved the opening of an early/ middle college designed to help high school students earn up to 60 transferable college units or an associate’s degree along with a high school diploma. Beginning Fall 2015, the early/middle College will partner with nearby community colleges and universities to provide students at Centennial, Domguez, Compton, and Chavez high schools with the opportunity to participate in college-level courses.
U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters
City Year Project Leader Betsey Wynn prepares for another round of painting to spruce up Whaley Middle School during Walk the Walk Day last Oct. 15. Foster Elementary was a beneficiary, as well. See story first column
IS COMPTON READY FOR
the ‘Big One?’ BY JARRETTE FELLOWS, JR.
LOS ANGELES—Seismologists at the U.S. Geological Survey, one of the most advanced earthquake monitoring networks on Earth, reveal to us that thousands of earthquakes rumble globally on a daily, basis, though most are so small as to go unnoticed. But data amassed by the USGS ultra sensitive Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog-ComCat, also records hundreds of earthquakes that measure 6.0 or better on seismographs. Worldwide in 2014, alone, there have been 43 giant quakes 6.5 or stronger, nine quakes 7.0 or stronger, and one epic quake that registered at 8.2 NW of Iquique, Chile. Most of the Earth’s seismic activity occurs along the Pacific Rim, otherwise known as the “Ring of Fire,” an active volcanic zone that embraces North, South, and Central America, Alaska, Asia, Japan, Southwest Pacific, northern Australia, and New Zealand. Bearing all of the Pacific Rim quake activity, the likelihood of a large devastating earthquake upheaving in Los Angeles is very real. Is the City better prepared
A portion of I-5 Freeway in Los Angeles collapsed during the 1994 6.5 Northridge quake that left 57 dead. The temblor also caused $15.7 billion in damages.
now than in 1992, when the Northridge quake rendered $15.7 billion in damage and left 57 fatalities in its wake. Bringing it to our doormat, is Compton ready for what may come from down under? The question is critical, notably in view of the fact that the NewportInglewood fault a very active right-lateral strikeslip seismic zone runs parallel to Compton and presents a major threat here, as
“Agitate, Agitate, Agitate!”
—
well as to neighboring Inglewood, Carson, Gardena, Rancho Dominguez, Culver City, Signal Hill, Long Beach, Seal Beach, Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, and Costa Mesa. Though their has been numerous activity in the zone throughout the last century—with the majority of temblors averaging 3.04.0 in magnitude—a devastating quake did occur along the faultline, centered in Long Beach on
March 10, 1933 at 5:54 p.m. The Long Beach earthquake resulted in 120 fatalities and more than $50 million in property damage. Most of the damaged buildings were composed of unreinforced masonry. Numerous school buildings were destroyed, but fortunately because school was dismissed at the time of the episode, children were not present in the classrooms. See MAJOR page 15
Frederick Douglass, 1895
Waters urges Ebola safety review at LAX LOS ANGELES (MNS) —Rep. Maxine Waters, DLos Angeles, has called for a meeting of LAX officials to review the current procedures being undertaken to screen passengers and respond to potential crises involving the Ebola virus. In a letter to Gina Marie Lindsey, executive director of Los Angeles World Airports, Waters, who represents the 43rd Congressional district that includes LAX, requested a meeting with “officials responsible for the development and implementation of Ebola screening and response protocols at the airport. Waters seeks a meeting specifically with Lindsey and the proper officials from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “There is growing concern in the community about the threat [of] Ebola. Organizations representing diverse constituencies such as airport police officers, flight attendants and nurses have contacted my office to express their concerns,” Waters said in a statement. “Given the potential for the spread of Ebola through air travel, it is critical that officials [here] understand the procedures that are being followed at LAX to protect passengers, employees, and the community.” Waters plans to invite the mayors of the cities surrounding LAX and other key stakeholders. LAWA is a City department that owns and operates threeairports in Southern Cal, including LAX.
PAGE 2 COMPTON HERALD MONDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2014
CITY BEAT JARRETTE FELLOWS, JR.
uNchArTed HAT ON GOD’S EARTH HAVE we run afoul of this time with the Ebola virus? This microscopic denizen has already claimed more than 4,000 lives and climbing, in Liberia, West Africa. HIV-AIDS, notwithstanding, this scourge has the look and scope of a biblical plague. From the stories I have read and the images from Liberia I have seen, this disease is Category 10 in hurricane terminology. If not checked and leap-frogs from one nation to the next, it will become an unprecedented nightmare on Earth. I applaud Congresswoman Maxine Waters for shifting gears and calling for a critical meeting of LAX officials to assure that we have a firewall in place to stop the terrible disease from breaching the gates to this City. After one scare two weeks ago that turned out to be a false alarm, Waters has fielded concerns from airport police officers, flight attendants, nurses and others, representing Los Angeles International Airport, prompting her to convene called a meeting to review the current procedures being undertaken to screen passengers for— and respond to—a potential incident involving the Ebola virus. Water sent a letter to Gina Marie Lindsey, executive director of Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA)— which owns three airports in Southern Cal—requesting the meeting. Waters’ district includes LAX. Waters asked for the roundtable to include Lindsey, “the proper officials” from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Waters said she will also invite the mayors of the cities surrounding LAX and other key stakeholders. Let’s all hope and pray that while LAWA and the consortium of U.S. officials lock down LAX’s door to the encroach of the Ebola virus, the nation of Liberia will find a way to contain Ebola within its borders and neutralize it!
W
The front page feature, “Is Compton Ready for the Big One?” is another “Cautionary Tale,” not to paint a doomday scenario and spread trepidation, but to encourage Comptonians to be proactive and prepare. Most people who have lived in California for an extended period, know that Golden State will suffer a moderate-to-large-earthquake periodically. The ground is going to rattle. roll, and shake. Most big cities have disaster prepardness protocols in place, but I wasn’t so sure smaller municipalities like Compton had similar protocols. Can the fire department and emergency rescue handle fires, broken gas mains, and massive injury and death simultaneously? Residents should be proactive and prepare, likewise. Extra food, water and a back-up generator should be a given. In a major quake, supermarket shelves will empty rather quickly of water and food, especially dry, non-perishables. Fresh meat and dairy items won’t keep long, especially given the prospect of power outages. Keeping a clean barbecue grill is also wise for outdoor cooking, along with charcoal, wood, and lighter fluid. Other essentials iuclude a flash light and batteries, small battery-operated radio (cell phones may not function if cell towers are destroyed or damaged.) Households should contain an earthquake kit that contain much of the aforementioned.
COMPTON
HERALD Monday, Oct. 27, 2014 PUBLISHER and EXECUTIVE EDITOR
Jarrette Fellows, Jr. MARKETING DIRECTOR
Marshall Crawford DIGITAL MARKETING DIRECTOR
Tyrone Gaines COMMUNITY RELATIONS DIRECTOR
Alonzo Williams COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR
Kingsley B. Jones DISTRIBUTION / CIRCULATION
Pedro Martin
Editorial: (310) 908-9683 Advertising: (562) 719-7096 700 N. Bullis Rd., Compton, CA 90220 website :www.comptonherald.com e-mail: thecomptonherald@gmail.com ads@comptonherald.com
HAROLD HAMBRICK Community Pillar BY F. FINLEY McRAE and VICKI C. PHILLIPS
LOS ANGELES—In a moving funeral service Friday in Los Angeles, scores of leaders in the arts, culture, clergy, education, politics and business, joined professionals and grateful residents to salute Harold Hambrick, an entrepreneurial visionary, community griot, and strategist for the poor and struggling. Hambrick, 71, died Oct. 8 of an unknown cause. Held at Victory Baptist Church, a major stop on the city’s church circuit for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., during the 1960s, the fourhour service and Thursday evening memorial drew an estimated 1,200 to honor Hambrick, the president of the Los Angeles Black Business Expo and Trade Show. With his sister, Kathe, in 1994, Hambrick also cofounded the River Road African American Museum in Donaldsonville, La. to preserve the history and contributions of African Americans. Among the notables paying tribute to Hambrick was Congresswoman Maxine Waters, who said she met him in the late 1960s. In the 1980s, “Harold walked with me, through the territories of the Crips and Bloods, to convince them to take advantage of education and job training programs,” she said in her tribute. Waters concluded her remarks, recalling Hambrick’s reputation as a leader steeped in integrity. “In 1990, when we brought Nelson Mandela to the Los Angeles Coliseum to speak, sacks of money were collected to send to the African National Congress (ANC). Harold was entrusted with that responsibility because we knew all of it would get there.” Although Hambrick’s footprint in building the Expo into a gigantic enter-
prise earned accolades nationwide, for 35 years he was also a highly regarded advocate for communitybased healthcare. Championing access to high quality healthcare for lowincome communities, Hambrick campaigned throughout California and much of the country. With indefatigable energy, he founded the Western Association of Community Health Centers and the California Community Health Institute. He cofounded the Health Care Coalition for the Truly Needy, which staged a dramatic protest in front of the White House when Ronald Reagan slashed crucial funding. Retired Congresswoman Diane Watson, when she served as Chair of the California State Senate’s Health And Human Services Committee, said “Hambrick was the first person [I] called to get an expert perspective on the state of health care of African Americans.” Born in Slidell, La., Hambrick graduated from a segregated high school. Three days later, he left to join his parents and siblings in Los Angeles. A pivotal turning point in Hambrick’s life came in 1967, when he left a managerial position at IBM to join the South Central Multi-Purpose Health Service Center, which later became Watts Health Foundation (WHF) and, eventually, Watts Health Systems (WHS). Hambrick distinguished himself in a number of positions there, most notably as vice president of public affairs, while WHS added a broad range of business interests. One of them was the Expo, which WHS acquired in 1996 from its founder, Barbara Lindsay. Held each year in the Tom Bradley Hall at the Los Angeles Convention Center, the Expo was perhaps the most prominent in
Harold Hambrick
a host of shining achievements that crown Hambrick’s gleaming legacy. As the nation’s second largest African American consumer products exhibit, the event comprised upwards of 400 vendors and 300 support staff at its peak. In his eulogy, Dr. Clyde W. Oden, Jr., Hambrick’s close friend for more than 40 years, pastor of Bryant Temple AME Church and former CEO of WHS and Watts Health Foundation. said, “he demonstrated, time and again, that you can love your black self and that does not diminish your love and respect for others.” In the late 60s, Oden said, “… Harold was there, not only in Watts, but in East Los Angeles (the residents are primarily Latino), the Central Valley, Northern California, South Florida, South Texas and with Cesar Chavez in Sacramento, to bring better health care to the poor.” An unabashed promoter of the art, culture and intellectual acumen of African Americans, Hambrick played a critical role in efforts to re-vitalize Watts, which he saw as an essential component in the histories of Los Angeles, the state of California and the nation. Determined to see its resurgence during his lifetime, Hambrick became a human advertisement for the promotion of all things Watts, the epicenter of culture and activity during the 1960s —the Watts Summer Festival, Watts Coffee House, Watts Christmas Parade and the Watts Martin Luther King, Jr. Breakfast. To celebrate the culture of his native Louisiana, Hambrick, in 1988, teamed with a group of its other
sons in the city to create LALA, the Louisiana to Los Angeles Organizing Committee. An intrepid collector of African and black American art, culture, histories and artifacts, Hambrick was fond of citing an African proverb to remind people of color that “until the lion start has its historian, the hunter will always be the hero.” In the wake of Hambrick’s death, a range of respected Angelenos have commented on his unselfish, wide-ranging service and its impact. Ayuko Babu, the founder of the Pan African Film Festival, now America’s largest in black cinema, spoke fondly of help he received from Hambrick during the festival’s first year in 1992, as he struggled to access sponsorships and financing. “Hambrick gave us space in the Expo to promote the festival and, just as important, introduced us to corporate officials and funding sources in non-profit corporations,” Babu recalled. Establishing cultural institutions for black people, Babu explained, requires "a great deal of emotional and psychological support. Hambrick he said, "gave us that support; when we saw him, he gave us energy because his example showed us that others, like him, were professional, organized and had their priorities straight." Dante Chambers, a singer who often collaborated with the jazz notables like drummer Billy Higgins and The Peoples Arkestra organizer Harold Tapscott, said Hambrick’s help was his salvation. “I was in Leimert Park every day, getting high on cocaine and heroin and spending at least $30 to $40. A lot of people came to help, to lift me out of addiction,” but their words had no effect, Chambers said. One night, “I saw Harold. I was embarrassed because I always respected him. He drove over in his van, picked me up and got me something to eat. But he didn’t condemn me.” Ever the diplomat, Hambrick told him, “I know you, you can do better than this. I will help you with whatever you need to do. I’ll be there for See HAMBRICK page 15
PAGE 3 COMPTON HERALD MONDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2014
LOCAL SOULVINE
Police still seek clues in slaying
By Betty Pleasant AN UNUSUAL CANDIDATE — In my more than 40 years as a journalist, I’ve met, interviewed and written about more candidates for political office than I can count. But the one I met and grilled several weeks ago is by far the most interesting and intriguing aspirant to an elective office I have ever known. He grabbed my attention the first time I heard his unusual name: Prophet La’Omar Walker. While recovering from the shock of his name, I learned he is 26 years old! Seriously?! I’m old and I like old people because we have a lot in common and we know the same stuff. I’m not one of those people who glorify youth for youth’s sake. I hold that if you’re young, then you ought to be learning something and doing something meaningful. Prophet Walkerl Here comes the potential deal breaker: In addition to his strange name and his mere 26 years in existence, Prophet Walker, candidate for the 64th Assembly District, is an ex-convict!! Instead of being an interview deal breaker, this piece of information made it imperative that I talk to him to find out what his deal is, so I went running around the community gathering as much input about this fellow as I could. I learned that Compton Mayor Aja Brown had endorsed him and my activist brothers Najee Ali and the Rev. K.W. Tulloss, and the actor Tyrese were actively campaigning for Walker’s election, and I had to find out why. So, bring him on. Walker, who was named Prophet by his paternal grandmother, was born and raised in South Los Angeles. His mother was a heroin addict who died of her addiction when Walker was seven years old. His father, alone, raised him and his sister. As is often the case, 16-year-old Walker got caught up in teenage rambunctiousness which ultimately led to a fight with a group of other teenagers, for which he was arrested and sentenced as an adult to six years in prison for great bodily injury and robbery because he took one of the other combatant’s technical devices. Walker had an epiphany while in prison and he said to himself: “I am not a criminal. This is not going to be my life.” And, despite the odds against him, he turned his life around and became an innovator, a leader, a role model, a community activist and a juvenile justice advocate par excellence. Did I mention he is 26 years old? While in prison, Walker helped create a program that gives incarcerated youths the ability to earn a two-year college degree and he became the program’s first graduate. I was told that to date, more than 100 of the program’s graduates have left jail and enrolled in four-year college programs — including Walker, who attended Loyola Marymount University. The program was so effective that in 2007 movie producer Scott Budnick visited Walker in prison and encouraged him to write a proposal detailing his juvenile justice rehabilitation ideas. Walker wrote the proposal; Budnick took it to Sacramento and presented it to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), which created a pilot program based on Walker’s proposal which has been in operation for the past seven years. Later, juvenile justice advocates Assemblyman Richard Bloom of Santa Monica and Sen. Loni Hancock of Berkeley undertook the codification of the pilot program and wrote AB1276 based on the framework written by Walker. Last month — on Sept. 26 to be precise — Gov. Jerry Brown signed AB1276 into law. (Mercy! Walker isn’t even in the Legislature yet and he’s got a law under his belt — sort of!) I learned that, by no means, does Walker’s commitment to the community stop there. He co-founded the “Watts United Weekend,” which brings together young residents of local public housing projects before they turn into gang rivals. He’s a founding member of the Anti-Recidivism Coalition, which advocates for prison and sentencing reform and helps young people get a fresh start after incarceration. He serves on the Board of Directors of “insideOUT writers,” which teaches juvenile offenders to express their emotions through writing, and he was recently appointed to the board of Kids Progress Inc. (KPI), which supports at-risk young people living in and around public housing projects in Los Angeles. Walker, who has an eight-year-old daughter, currently works for the Jordan Downs Redevelopment Project, which seeks to transform that major housing project and create jobs in Watts, and before that he was a project engineer for the Morley Builders, helping to build the ACE Hotel downtown. Walker also worked as a project engineer for Nautilus Group Inc., where he helped implement the first fully robotic parking structure in the U.S. Walker seeks the Assembly seat that represents Carson, Compton, Watts, Wilmington and North Long Beach. He said he is driven by his personal experience. “My goal is to serve as an advocate for children, as I am living proof that every young person can be a productive member of society,” he said. “In the Assembly, I will focus on economic development, improving public schools and reforming our juvenile justice system so that it rehabilitates our kids instead of giving up on them,” Walker said. In addition to Mayor Brown, Walker has been endorsed by Rep. Tony Cardenas, former Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, LAUSD member Monica Garcia, Jose and Maria Garcia of Watts’ Amigos de Colores, Pastor Xavier Thompson, president of the Baptist Ministers Conference, the International Long Shore and Warehouse Union, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 18; Elito Santarina, Carson mayor pro tem; Albert Robles, Carson City Councilman, and Isaac Galvan, Compton City Councilman, and several ministers throughout Carson and Watts. He has also been endorsed by SEIU California, the Black Los Angeles Young Democrats, the Los Angeles County Young Democrats and the Martin Luther King Democratic Club. Okay. I get the picture. There’s a lot more to Assembly candidate Prophet La’Omar Walker than his unusual name, his youth and his incarceration. In fact, he’s downright fascinating and has the best bonafides of any candidate I’ve ever interviewed. I’m sorry I don’t live in his district and, therefore, cannot vote for him!
LOS ANGELES—Los Angeles Police Department Homicide investigators are still seeking leads from the public in identifying the individual or individuals responsible for the murder of Calvin Gray, a former L.A. County Sheriff’s Department security officer. Last July 29, 2014, Gray, 33, was shot to death while off duty dropping off his son in the 1000 block of West 76th St., in L.A. To encourage local residents to come forward who may have witnessed the shooting death of Gray, the Professional Peace Officers Association and the County Board of Supervisors together are offering a $30,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the per-
sons responsible for this murder. Gray was hired by the Sheriff’s Department on Oct. 10, 2010. He graduated with Class 23 as a sheriff’s security officer from the Sheriff’s Academy on Nov. 21, 2010. His superiors described him as an exemplary officer. He leaves behind four children, four sisters and 12 brothers. Investigators are urging witnesses to contact LAPD Robbery Homicide Division detectives at (213) 486-6890, an after hours Tip Line: 1-877-527-3247, or “LA Crime Stoppers” at 800-222-TIPS (8477), texting letters TIPLA and tip to 274637. Elsewhere on the justice meter, a Gardena gang
member who attempted a quadruple murder in 2008, has reaped the worldwind. Erasmo Rivera Garcia, 30, was sentenced to life in state prison without the possibility of parole, convicted in the first-degree murders of three and the attempted murder of a fourth victim. Jurors found true a special circumstance allegation of multiple murders, as well as gang and gun allegations. Judge Steven Van Sicklen of the L.A. County Superior Court, Torrance Branch, presided over the 10-day trial and sentencing hearing. Garcia shot three people to death and wounded a fourth person on Aug. 10, 2008 at Imperial Highway and Western Avenue, an area in L.A. near Ingle-
Calvin Gray
wood known for “cruising,” the prosecutor said. The defendant believed the victims were gang members but they were not, the prosecutor added. The case was investigated by the county Sheriff’s Department, and the Gardena Police Department.
Hahn drafts ex-LAPD Chief’s Bratton name to take charge of Secret Service NEW YORK—A New York tabloid reported that Democratic Rep. Janice Hahn, whose 44th district includes Compton, is lobbying for former Los Angeles police chief and current N.Y. Police Commissioner William Bratton, to take over the beleaguered White House Secret Service. The New York Post reported Oct. 7, that “Hahn is
William Bratton
VOTE NOV. 4
throwing Bill Bratton’s name into the mix to be the next director of the embattled federal agency.” The newspaper wrote that Hahn plans to recommend Bratton to Vice President Joe Biden when he flies to LA Tuesday for a meeting. “I just think Bill Bratton is very good at coming into a law-enforcement department and turning it around,
and that’s what our Secret Service needs,” the Post quoted Hahn. New York Police Department spokesman Stephen Davis responded to Hahn’s Secret Service overture, saying: “[Commissioner Bratton] really appreciates the vote of confidence, but he’s where he wants to be and he wants to stay here.”
Have all 52 issues the Compton Herald
mailed home! Subscribe! Call for Our Special Rate. Don’t miss another edition!
(310) 908-9683
PAGE 4 COMPTON HERALD MONDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2014
CALIFORNIA State to form new anti-meth network SACRAMENTO (MNS) —The California Department of Justice will create a new anti-methamphetamine team of special agents based in Los Angeles to suppress the illegal substance’s sale and use. The suppression unit will be funded by a $1 million federal grant, said Attorney Gen. Kamala D. Harris, who said transnational crime organizations have made California the single biggest point of entry for methamphetamine into the U.S., with 70 percent entering through the San Diego Port of Entry. “This funding supports the California Department of Justice’s crackdown on this devastating drug by
strengthening our enforcement capabilities,” Harris said. The Justice team will be comprised of six special agents assigned to investigate illicit activities related to the manufacture and distribution of methamphetamine in California. The team will work in a coordinated effort with other existing state task forces including leading agency in the fight against illicit street drugs—LA IMPACT (The Los Angeles Intera- gency Metropolitan Police Apprehension Crime Task Force). “The production and use of meth is a serious threat to the health and safety of our communities,” Ronald
L. Davis, COPS Office director said. “I am pleased to make $6 million available to help state law enforcement agencies fight the abuse of this highly addictive drug.” The Justice Department currently leads a statewide 18-member task force, including LA IMPACT, which is a compilation of numerous federal, state and local law enforcement agencies in L.A. County. The primary focus of LA IMPACT is to investigate major crimes, with an emphasis on dismantling mid to major level drug trafficking organizations Last month, LA IMPACT worked with local and federal law enforcement agen-
SUBSCRIBE TO THE HERALD Call (310) 908-9683 Today!
cies to execute dozens of search warrants and arrests linked to businesses suspected of using “Black Market Peso Exchange” schemes to launder narcotics proceeds linked to Mexican drug cartels. The operation resulted in the seizure of more than $90 million in ill-gotten funds. This federal grant was secured through the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) within the U.S. Department of Justice. COPS works to advance the practice of community policing in America’s state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies by sharing information and making grants to police departments
throughout the U.S. This annual grant program was open to state law enforcement agencies authorized to engage in or supervise anti-methamphetamine investigative activities. In March, Harris called the trafficking of methamphetamine a growing threat to the state and a top priority for law enforcement in a report, Gangs Beyond Borders: California and the Fight Against Transnational Organized Crime. The report represented the first comprehensive report analyzing the current state of transnational criminal organizations in the state. The report also outlined
recommendations to combat the problem, which include increased funding for state anti-narcotics trafficking task forces and additional coordination between federal, state, and all law enforcement agencies in fighting transnational criminal organizations. Following the release of this report, Harris led a delegation of state attorneys general to Mexico to strengthen working relationships between the governments of both countries and enhance efforts to combat drug crime. The delegation met with Mexican officials to discuss drug, human, and firearms trafficking, money laundering and tech crime.
Four candidates certified for 35th district special election SACRAMENTO (MNS) —Secretary of State Debra Bowen has certified the list of four candidates who will appear on the Dec. 9 Special Primary Election ballot for the 35th Senate District. The candidates and their official ballot designations are: Louis L. Dominguez, a retired public school teacher; political affiliation, Democrat; Isadore Hall, III, assem-
Romans 10: 9-10
blyman/reserve sheriff; political affiliation, Democrat; Hector Serrano, planning commissioner; political affiliation, Democrat; James Spencer businessman, political affiliation, Republican. The Senate District 35 special election is being held to fill the vacancy left by the resignation of Rod Wright. In a special primary, if
one candidate receives a majority of the votes cast (50 percent plus one), no additional election is necessary and that candidate will assume the office. If no candidate receives a majority of the votes, a runoff election will be held on Feb.10, with a ballot featuring the two candidates who received the most votes in the primary, regardless of party preference.
Senators urge state hospitals to ensure Ebola prepardness Washington—U.S. Demcratic Senators Barbara Boxer Dianne Feinstein are on record having sent a letter to California Hospital Association President and CEO C. Duane Dauner and California Association of Public Hospitals and Health Systems President and CEO Erica Murray to ensure that their member hospitals across the state are taking all appropriate measures to screen, diagnose and treat any potential
Ebola patients. “We are confident that the U.S. health system can and will respond appropriately to contain Ebola as long as providers are properly prepared to do so,” the senators wrote. “The purpose of this letter is to make sure that California hospitals are 100 percent up to date to keep Californians safe from the threat of this deadly disease,” the senators wrote.
COMPTON HERALD ONLINE! www.comptonherald.com
ONLINE
JOURNALISM INTERNSHIPS! INQUIRE AT (310) 908-9683
PAGE 5
COMPTON HERALD MONDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2014
NATION & GLOBE EVER OMINOUS
Shadow of the Border Wall BY DAVID BACON
TIJUANA, MEX.—In downtown Tijuana, a huge concrete channel was built to house the Tijuana River. The river rises in Sierra de Juarez in the south, and
“There are so many living on the street here,” he said. “Some are abandoned by their parents when they go across the border, or when they arrive in Tijuana from other parts of Mexico.” Once I drove with him through the honky-tonk
NORTH-SOUTH OF THE BORDER US-MEXICO
eventually crosses the border five miles before it reaches the beach. Only a trickle of water, however, runs down the middle of this vast expanse of cement. Instead, its walls house people. Many have come up from the south, especially Oaxaca. Some thought they might get jobs in a maquiladora factory, while others thought they might have some luck jumping the fence. Juan Guerra lives under one of the bridges that cross the river channel. In their camp of stranded migrants he heats tortillas and a stew of vegetables, gathered from food thrown out by nearby restaurants catering to tourists. Juan speaks Zapotec, an indigenous language of the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca. Some in the camp speak Mixtec, ano ther indigenous tongue, while others from Mexican states further north just speak Spanish. “I’m proud that I speak my language,” he says, “but people look down on me here. Maybe it’s because I’m from Oaxaca, or maybe it’s just that I have no money or place to live.” Mexico is a country of young people. Its median age is 26.7 and the average age of border crossers is even younger — 20 years old. Guerra says he’s 25, and the others living in the camp under the bridge look younger. In the streets of Tijuana live hundreds of street children, who are even younger than that. I had a friend, Mario, who was a Tijuana cop. He talked about the kids in a very matter-of-fact way.
area of downtown. Some of the buildings at the bottom of Avenida de la Revolucion, as it gets close to the border, have broken boards and doorways on their front facing the street. Small, dirt-paved alleyways weave through the blocks, where many street children live. “They sleep in hotel rooms, under food carts, or in abandoned buildings during the day,”
he explained. Next to the river’s channel rise apartment houses for the luckier of Tijuana’s working class residents. These are the families who can pay enough rent to escape the dirt streets of the hillside barrios ringing the city. In the trash bins behind the buildings, Luisa, a homeless woman, collected discarded plastic bottles. She is doing the same thing homeless people do in San Diego, just a few miles north. The border often seems a chasm separating wealth and poverty. But the lives of people who have no home are basically the same, regardless of which side they live on. Mario had stories about street children that sounded like tales from Oliver Twist. “Doña Lupe,” he says, “has thirty three children. She used to be a pollera [someone who guides people across the border]. Then she taught her kids to sell roses in the street in front of the clubs.
The U.S.-Mexico seems to extend forever along its 1,969-mile stretch.
They’d surround a customer, and while they’re asking him to buy roses, they’ve hidden a knife in the bunches. Someone cuts the pocket of the pants of the customer, and their wallet falls out.” Mario remembered the time when there was no fence on the border. When he started he believed those crossing the border without papers were just criminals. “I thought they deserved to be caught and punished because they were breaking the law,” he said. “But after a while, I began to understand that immigration and undocumented people exist in many countries. After that, I began to
look at myself as their protector, rather than as their enemy.” Today no one can cross the border in Tijuana. There are multiple fences, including one made of iron bars over twice the height of a person. A concrete noman’s land on the U.S. side is lit by floodlights, and Border Patrol agents are omnipresent. But there was a time, two and three decades ago, when people could still cross in Tijuana, hilariously dramatized in a famous scene in a Cheech and Chong movie. Mario remembered a similar scene, but it wasn’t as funny. “Once the Grupo Beta
squad [the Tijuana police group monitoring migrants] was called to a place where a lot of pollos [border crossers] had assembled to jump the fence,” he recalled. “A whole lot of them jumped over, and began to run. The border patrol was about a hundred yards away. There were two brothers among the pollos, and the migra got one. “After they had him, his brother began to throw rocks at the agents, to get them to let him go. So then the migra began to chase the one throwing rocks. He ran to the wall and began climbing back over into Mexico. As his hand
PAGE 6 COMPTON HERALD MONDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2014
THE AMERICAS Unheralded History Slave Gaspar Yanga led 1570 revolt against Spain
T
The heritage of Africans in Mexico after Christopher Columbus is a rarely explored topic in the history books of the Americas. Gasper Yanga is one of the neglected figures within African history in the Americas. He was the founder of the town Yanga, located in the Veracruz region of Mexico, between the Port of Veracruz and Córdoba. It is among the first free African settlements in the Americas after the start of the European slave trade. While the available official reports regarding the
history of Gasper Yanga is sorely lacking, local lore reports that Yanga escaped slavery from the region of the Nuestra Senora de la Concepcion plantation in 1570. Regional lore also provides that Yanga was a prince stolen from a royal family of Gabon, Africa. The word “Yanga” has origins in many regions of West and Central Africa, including the Yoruba regions in Nigeria where the word means “pride.” Between 1570 and 1609, Yanga led his followers into the mountains located in the vicinity of Pico de Orizaba (Citlaltépetl, or “star mountain,” the high-
est mountain in Mexico), the Cofre de Perote, Zongolica and Olmec regions. By 1600, it is reported that the Yanga maroon settlement, or palenques, was joined by Francisco de la Matosa and his group of African maroons. All of this occurred before the independence of Mexico from the Spanish crown. Yanga’s early palenques would turn into decadeslong resistance against colonial Spain. In 1609, Spain’s viceroy of New Spain (the colonial name of Mexico) was Luis de Velasco, Marquis of Salinas. That year, Velasco sent Captain Pedro González on
a military mission against the Yanga palenques. The battle came to a head at the Rio Blanco and resulted in major losses on both sides. By 1631, viceroy of New Spain Rodrigo Pacheco began negotiations with the Gaspar Yanga resistance. Yanga struck an agreement with the colonial leader respecting Spain’s recognition of an autonomous region for the African community. The first official name was San Lorenzo de los Negros (aka San Lorenzo de Cerralvo), near Córdova. Since 1932, the Mexican town has bore the name of its liberator Gasper Yanga. “Yanga is important to the people of Mexico and America,” said Gordillo Jaime Trujullo, who along with his wife Maria Dolores Flores promotes the town’s history. “It is a great deal and has not been taken into account. This town is the birthplace of freedom. The most important legacy of black Yanga is freedom. Freedom is what we appreciate most in this community,” Trujullo said. Like his birth, no definitive records are available regarding Yanga’s date of death. There is said to be a great deal of information in the national archives of Mexico and the archives of Spain, according to historian and anthropologist Antonio García de León. The first information about Yanga arose in the second half of the 19th century by the historian and military-man Vicente Riva Palacio, grandson of Mexico’s first black president, Vicente Guerrero. Today, the town reportedly hosts the “Carnival of Negritude” every August 10th in honor of Gasper
Image of Statue of Gasper Yanga (aka El Yanga and Negro Yanga) of Yanga, Veracruz, Mexico.
Yanga. The town reports approximately 20,000 citizens that is now primarily considered mestizo, Spanish for “mixed heritage.” The inscription under Gaspar Yanga’s statue reads: “Negro Africano precusor de la libertao de los negros esclavos fundo este pueblo de san lorenzo de cerralvo (hoy yanga) por acordado del virrey de nueva espana Don Rodrigo Osorio Marzuez de cerralvo el dia tres de octubre del ano de 1631 por mandato del virrey trazo el pueblo el Capitan Hernando de Castro Espinosa H. Ayunta-
mento Constl. 1973-1976.” English translation: African Black liberator and precursor of the black slaves who founded the town of San Lorenzo de Cerralvo (now Yanga) by agreement of the viceroy of New Spain, Rodrigo Pacheco, on the third day of October 1631 by order of the viceroy’s pen.Village Captain Hernando of Castro Espinosa H. Ayuntamento Constl. 1973-1976.” Reference source: Blacks in Colonial Veracruz: Race, Ethnicity, and Regional Develelopment, by Patrick Carroll.
Border wall slams door shut Continued from page 5 grabbed the top of the fence, and he was hanging there, the agents grabbed his legs and pulled him down. They threw him down into the dirt, and one of the agents put his foot on his neck.” There wasn’t much love lost between the U.S. Border Patrol and Tijuana cops. Border Patrol agents think the cops are all on the take from drug gangs, Mario said. And the cops think the Border Patrol is filled with agents who look down on Mexicans. “We criticize the U.S. government for sending army troops to patrol the border here, but the Mexican government sends troops to the border with Guatemala,” he charged.
Once the Mexican government sent him there after the Guatemalan government asked the Mexican government to investigate complaints of beatings and rapes. Mario said he found the crimes were committed by former police and border guards themselves. Mario’s dead now, but I once asked him what he thought the border should be like. “I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s OK the way it is,” he said. “What would happen if our roles were reversed? Lots of Americans live in Rosarito [half an hour south of the border], and have houses and jobs. The government doesn’t say anything because it thinks they’re good for the economy.
GRAPHIC ARTIST INTERN NEEDED! experienced in newspaper layout
(310) 908-9683
“But what would happen if the U.S. fell into the same kind of crisis we have now in Mexico, and millions of people wanted to come here? We’d build a wall twice as tall as it is now,” he said. In Tijuana the wall and the border are omnipresent facts—taken for granted, yet a physical and social presence in each resident’s life. At Playas de Tijuana, going to the beach seems at first the same as anywhere. Looking south along the sand families stand and sit in the sun and wade in the waves. But looking north a 20-foot high barrier of iron posts marches into the Pacific, a wall whose other end terminates in another ocean entirely, 1,954 miles away. Curious visitors go up to look between the bars, at the concrete barriers beyond, and then a similar stretch of sand that continues north to San Diego. A little park — Friendship Park — welcomes families on the Mexican side, but the impenetrable wall (at least for humans) belies any visible sign of friendship with the U.S. On the park’s little platform and exercise bars, Jorge, a boxer, acts out his fantasy of the ring. He moves through his exercise routine, from one stance to another. They all seem to defy the border itself.
PAGE 7 COMPTON HERALD MONDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2014
SPORTS Tennis head banned for derogatory comments MOSCOW (AP)—Russian Tennis Federation head Shamil Tarpischev was unrepentant about the comments he made about the Williams sisters, saying last Oct. 18 they were only meant as jokes and that he doesn’t understand why he was banned for a year by the WTA Tour. Tarpischev was fined $25,000 and suspended from tour involvement for a year after referring to Serena and Venus Williams as “brothers” on a Russian TV show and called them “scary” to look at. Asked whether he regretted his comments, Tarpischev told The Associated Press at the Kremlin Cup that the program on which he spoke was “a humorous show,” adding: “I don’t answer stupid questions.” When asked about his ban, Tarpischev said: “I can’t comment. I don’t understand it.” In a statement released later by the Russian Tennis Federation, Tarpischev
denied any “malicious intent” and said his quotes had been taken out of context. “I didn’t want to offend any athlete with my words,” he said. “I regret that this joke ... has garnered so much attention. I don’t think this incident deserves so much fuss.” The Williams sisters are "outstanding athletes" who "personify strength and perseverance," he added. The WTA said it would seek his removal as chairman of the Kremlin Cup tournament. Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko told the ITAR-Tass agency that he regretted that Tarpischev had made the comments and that his suspension was “an unpleasant fact,” but suggested his sanction should be reduced. Tarpischev has been chairman of the Kremlin Cup, Russia’s only WTA event, for all of its 18 years as a women’s tour event, and is also a member of the
International Olympic Committee. During the 1990s, he was the personal tennis coach to Russian President Boris Yeltsin and served as his adviser on sports matters. He made his comments during an appearance on a Russian talk show this month alongside former Olympic singles champion Elena Dementieva. When Dementieva was asked what it was like playing against the Williams sisters, Tarpischev interjected and called them the “Williams brothers.” He also said that “it’s scary when you really look at them.” The WTA tour issued a sharp rebuke on Oct. 17. “Mr. Tarpischev’s statements questioning their genders tarnish our game and two of our champions,” WTA Tour chairman and CEO Stacey Allaster said in a statement. “His derogatory remarks deserve to be condemned and he will be sanctioned.”
Venus (left) and Serena Williams exchange congratulations after doubles win versus Timea Babos of Hungary and Kristina Mladenovic of France during the 2014 Kremlin Cup tournament.
PAGE 8 COMPTON HERALD MONDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2014
FOOD Comforting meatloaf tonight baby lima beans Salt and pepper to taste 1/2 cup water 1 10-ounce package frozen sweet corn 1/2 cup heavy cream 1 1/2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
BY NITA HOLLEMAN Food.com
es, there is a meatloaf as good as it looks, and as easy to prepare. Absolutely delicious meatloaf and sauce! Those who claim they don't believe there can be such a thing as a great meatloaf will love this.
Y
Directions: 1. Cook bacon in a large skillet over medium-high heat until crisp. Remove to paper towels to drain.
Ingredients: Serves: 42 3/4 cup shortening 1 cup packed brown sugar 1/2 cup white sugar (reserved for coating raw dough balls) 1 large egg 1/2 cup molasses 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon salt (see note
Ingredients: Serves: 4-5 1 1/2 lbs ground beef (ground shoulder roast is good) 1 slice bread (broken or chopped finely) 1 egg 1 small vidalia onions or 1 small type sweet onion, finely chopped 1 teaspoon table salt 1/4 teaspoon black pepper 4 tablespoons ketchup 1/2-2/3 cup whole milk or 1/2-2/3 cup half-and-half Sauce 4 tablespoons apple cider vinegar 2 -4 tablespoons dark brown sugar, packed firm (to taste) 1/2 cup ketchup Directions: 1. Meatloaf: Combine meat loaf ingredients and place into a loaf baking dish. 2. Smooth out top. 3. Sauce: Combine sauce ingredients and pour on top and sides of meatloaf. 4. Bake at 350°F about 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes or until done. 5. The addition of 1 or 2 teaspoons of Kitchen Bouquet® makes this recipe very good. 6. Recipe shoul be plump from the addition of the milk or Half & Half. 7. It should NOT be runny. 8. A second batch of sauce served hot is good to serve with the meatloaf.
Cheesy Mash Potatoes Make quick and easy flavorful mashed potatoes with instant mashed potatoes, shredded cheese and McCormick® Minced Garlic. Ingredients: Serves: Makes 8 (1/2-cup) servings. 6 servings instant mashed potatoes 1 teaspoon McCormick® Garlic, Minced 1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese 1/2 cup sour cream 1 teaspoon McCormick® Parsley Flakes
Reserve 1 tablespoon of bacon grease and discard the rest. 2. Melt the butter with the remaining bacon grease in the same skillet. Add onion and bell pepper, sea-
below) 2 teaspoons baking soda 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon ground ginger 1 teaspoon allspice 1 teaspoon nutmeg Directions: 1. Cream together shortening and brown sugar.
Directions: 2. Stir in egg and molasses and mix well.
Prepare mashed potatoes as directed on package, adding garlic to water. Stir in cheese, sour cream and parsley until well blended.
3. Fold in dry ingredients and stir. 4. Cover and chill till firm (1-2 hours). 5. Preheat oven to 350°.
Creamy Succotash with Bacon and Thyme
6. Roll dough into small balls and roll in white sugar.
Ingredients:
7. Place on lightly greased cookie sheet.
4 strips bacon, chopped 1 tablespoon butter 1 medium onion, chopped 1 small red bell pepper, diced 1 10-ounce package frozen
‘RESTAURANT ROW’ IS COMING! Shouldn’t your restaurant be among the ‘Row?’
8. Bake at 350° for 9-10 minutes. son with salt and pepper, and cook until the vegetables are softened. 3. Stir in the lima beans and water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, partially covered, for 7 minutes. Add corn, heavy cream, and thyme leaves and cook for 5 more minutes. Stir in reserved bacon and serve.
9. Leave on sheet one minute until set. 10. I changed the amount of salt in here. My original recipe calls for 1 tsp of salt but that may be too much for some. A few people have made it as is (the majority) with no complaints on salt, however a few commented it was too much. I think 1/2 tsp can be used with no alterations to the recipe.
Dessert Surprise Soft Molasses Cookies
The holidays cometh 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 (562) 719-7096
Call (310) 908-9683. Ask for the editor.
PAGE 9 COMPTON HERALD MONDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2014
FOOD BEWARE:
Foods labeled ‘natural’ often
‘Modified’ Editor’s Note: A majority of U.S. packaged foods labeled as “natural” and tested by Consumer Reports actually contained a substantial level of genetically modified ingredients, according to CR. BY CAREY GILLIAM
WASHINGTON (Reuters)—Consumers are deliberately being misled by the “natural” label, said Urvashi Rangan, executive
director of Consumer Reports Food Safety and Sustainability. Consumer Reports said it had conducted a survey of more than 80 different processed foods containing corn or soy, the two most widely grown genetically engineered crops in the United States, to determine whether labeling claims for GMO presence were accurate. While foods labeled as “non-GMO,” or “organic” were found to be free of
genetically modified corn and soy, virtually all of the foods labeled as “natural” or not labeled with any claim related to GMO content contained substantial amounts of GMO ingredients, Consumer Reports said. GMOs were present in breakfast cereals, chips, and infant formula, the group said. The organization said it tested at least two samples of each of the 80 products to measure GMO content.
Mercury in many processed foods (NaturalNews)—Nearly half of all commercial high-fructose corn syrup used in processed foods like soda pop, ketchup and candy is tainted with toxic mercury, according to a peer-reviewed study published in the journal Environmental Health. Among 20 samples of commercial HFCS tested for the heavy metal, nine tested positive, says the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, the consumer group that spearheaded the study. Researchers from IATP tested HFCS as part of a larger investigation into the safety of this common sweetener, which is often used in place of table sugar. Since it is used in everything from salad dressing
and barbecue sauce to commercially prepared breads and cereals, HFCS is a major component of millions of people's diets, having been quietly introduced into the U.S. food supply during the 1980s. According to IATP, the average American consumes roughly 12 tablespoons of HFCS daily, while teenagers are believed to consume up to 80 percent more, or roughly 22 tablespoons, of the substance every day. Based on the findings of the study, this means that mercury is being ingested at levels never before seen, presenting serious health risks that could cause permanent health damage. “Mercury is toxic in all its forms,” stated Dr. David Wallinga from IATP, co-
author of the study. “Given how much high-fructose corn syrup is consumed by children, it could be a significant additional source of mercury never before considered. We are calling for immediate changes by industry and the [U.S. Food and Drug Administration] to stop this avoidable mercury contamination of the food supply.” More than 30 percent of processed foods containing HFCS also contain toxic mercuryIATP also conducted a joint study on individual consumer products containing HFCS, revealing that about onethird of them contain mercury. The most common products containing mercury were dairy products, dressings and condiments such as ketchup.
The products were purchased between April and July 2014, the group said. Products considered to be free of GMOs contained no more than 0.9 percent genetically modified corn or soy. The report comes as the Grocery Manufacturers Association, which represents more than 300 food companies, is pushing the federal government to develop a definition of the term “natural” on food
packaging, and to allow foods containing GMOs to be labeled as natural. Some food manufacturers have been sued for using “all natural” labels on products that contain gen- etically modified ingredients. Biotech crops currently on the market include corn, soybeans, canola and sugar beets that have been genetically altered to repel pests or tolerate direct spraying of herbicides. The companies that develop them say
the crops are safe. Many scientific studies back those claims. But critics point to studies that show links to human and animal health problems and environmental damage. Last October, an international coalition of scientists said there is a lack of consensus in the scientific community about the safety of genetically modified crops. Vermont has passed a law that requires foods containing GMO ingredients to be labeled as such, and more than 20 other states are considering mandatory labeling of GMO foods, including Colorado and Oregon, which have the issue on the ballot for the November election. The policy arm of Consumer Reports, Consumers Union, supports mandatory labeling of foods containing GMOs.
PAGE 10 COMPTON HERALD MONDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2014
HEALTH Many unaware of mental health coverage SAN FRANCISCO (NAM)—Under the Affordable Care Act, health insurance plans are generally required to provide mental health coverage— but almost half of Californians who have insurance say that a lack of coverage is the reason they haven’t gotten mental health treatment despite needing it. That’s one of the major findings of a new Field Poll administered on behalf of the California HealthCare Foundation (CHCF). The survey results point to “gaps in the public’s knowledge about their health insurance and mental health coverage,” according to Field Poll director Mark DiCamillo. “There needs to be greater communication to Californians about the treatment options that are available to them if they have a mental health problem.”
Conducted in June, the poll surveyed just over 2,000 adults in six different languages. A majority of Californians still don’t know that health insurance plans are generally required to provide coverage on par with the benefits they provide for other medical services. Less than 40 percent of respondents understand the concept of mental health parity—that health insurance plans, with very rare exceptions, have to provide mental health benefits with the same rules about copays, deductibles, and coverage limits as other kinds of medical care. And many people who have insurance have no idea that they likely have mental health benefits and are covered for treatment of issues like depression. Some 47 percent of insured people say that they have not accessed mental health treatment
that they needed because they did not have coverage. About 30 percent of insured Californians say they don’t know if their insurance includes mental health benefits, and about 10 percent think that their
related problems.” Insured Asian Americans, as well as insured Spanishspeaking Latinos, are the groups least likely to know that they probably have mental health coverage. Less than half of insured
Forty-seven percent of insured people say they didn’t know they had mental health coverage. plans provide no coverage. “Under the Affordable Care Act, generally speaking, all health plans have to provide those kinds of benefits,” says DiCamillo. “Forty percent are unaware that they actually have coverage for mental health-
Asian Americans and insured Spanish-speaking Latinos think that their health plans provide those benefits. The poll also measured the public’s opinions about obtaining mental health treatment.
Over 80 percent of respondents believe that treating mental health problems does improve people's lives. But despite that large number, many people express reluctance about actually seeking treatment. When asked whether they would seek treatment if they had a mental health or substance abuse problem, just over half of adults say they’d be “very likely” to do so. The numbers are lowest among Asian Americans and Spanishspeaking Latinos, with some 41 percent of Asian Americans saying they’d be very likely to get help, and some 47 percent of Spanish-speaking Latinos. Spanish-speaking Latinos are also the group least likely to believe that mental health treatment can even be effective (67 percent believe it can be helpful). Overall, about 1 in 5 peo-
ple say they’d be unlikely to seek help at all, even with insurance coverage. When asked where they would most like to receive mental health treatment, if they had to get some kind of treatment, the most popular options were getting help from a primary care doctor or from a counselor or psychologist. Latinos, especially Spanish-speaking Latinos, are more likely than other groups to prefer help from an online crisis hotline, chat service, or other online option. Over half of Latinos, and some 64 percent of Spanish-speaking Latinos, expressed a preference for online services, compared to less than 40 percent of Asian Americans, African Americans, and white nonHispanics. DiCamillo suggests that the preference for online help, which is often anonymous in nature, may “point
Health care favored for undocumented BY ANNA CHALLET
SAN FRANCISCO (NAM)—A majority of California voters support the idea of expanding health coverage to include all low-income people in the state, regardless of their immigration status, according to a new poll. The poll, commissioned by private health foundation The California Endowment, showed that some 54 percent of the state’s voters would support expanding Medi-Cal and Covered California to provide health insurance to all who are low-income, including the state’s undocumented population. Health care reform under the Affordable Care Act currently excludes undocumented immigrants, and legislation to expand coverage to them in California Some 47 percent of insured people say that they have not accessed mental health treatment that they needed because they did not have coverage. The “Health For All” bill authored by state Sen. Ricardo Lara, D-Los Angeles, didn’t make it onto Gov. Brown’s desk in 2014. But with numbers showing that public support is growing for providing health care to everyone, elected officials and advocates are preparing for the reintroduction of that bill when the state legislature reconvenes in January. At a Health For All rally on Wednesday in front of the state building in Oakland, Assemblymember Rob Bonta, D-Oakland said he was excited by the poll results, calling them “consistent with the values I have and the state has. It shows we value the health care of our community. I would like to see the numbers grow more, but
it’s a starting point.” Bonta co-sponsored the Health For All bill in 2014, and will continue to support it when Lara reintroduces it for 2015. The poll surveyed 800 voters in late August in English and Spanish. Support for providing coverage to the undocumented was highest among voters of color, particularly Latinos (69 percent) and African Americans (68 percent), compared to 47 percent of white voters. By age, support was highest among 18 to 29year-olds (68 percent). Daniel Zingale, senior vice president of The California Endowment, said that the numbers show “a generational shift under way in California in attitudes” around covering the undocumented. Approximately 1.4 million people in California lack health insurance due to their immigration status, among them Denise Rojas, who spoke at the rally. Rojas, a young undocumented woman, spoke about her family’s struggle with not having health insurance. “When I was in college, my mom was diagnosed with uterine fibroids,” Rojas said. “She was denied health coverage so she made the tough decision to immigrate to Canada,” where she was able to access care. Rojas hasn’t been able to see her since then, because her own immigration status prevents her from visiting. In the poll, when asked about specific aspects of the proposed expansion, voters were most supportive of the idea of improving access to preventative care, and the resulting reduction in overall costs to the state. Some 86 percent of voters were supportive of this.
PAGE 11 COMPTON HERALD MONDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2014
FILM STAGE TV ‘Mammy’ story told in prequel novel BLACKNEWS.COM
Pharrell Williams
Seventy-eight years after the publication of Margaret Mitchell’s infamous “Gone With the Wind,” and 75 years after the release of the Oscar-winning film, a new book is being released as a prequel detailing the life and story of Mammy. Ruth’s Journey by Donald McCaig (released Oct. 14th) finally gives Mammy
Singer in upcoming ‘Chanel’ picture (BET) The hit-making singer-producer, Pharrell Williams will appear in a new film for Chanel, WWD reports. He stars alongside model of the moment Cara Delevingne and Hudson Kroenig, the godson of Chanel’s creative director Karl Lagerfeld, who memorably walked the runway for the French fashion house as a toddler. Lagerfeld directed the film, which will be shown during Chanel’s Pre-Fall show in Austria on Dec. 2. It’s the latest foray into fashion for Skateboard P, who this year launched apparel lines with Adidas, G-Star jeans, Uniqlo and Louis Vuitton, plus GIRL, a unisex fragrance named after his smash sophomore album. Oh, and then there’s the frenzy he spurred over his gallonsized Vivienne Westwood Mountie hat at the 2014 Grammys.
Partners beautify schools Continued from page 1 this partnership will bring in the future.” Sarah Adolphson, executive director, WME Foundation, said she is proud of how Walk the Walk has grown each year. “It’s been exciting to see it get bigger with more partners helping out at the schools and it’s because of the leadership shown by the District and Foster’s principal Dr. Jacqueline Sanderlin,” she said. “We now want to partner with Dominguez High School so we can follow the students all the way to graduation.” Sanderlin thanked WME and all of the participating partners for their generosity. “This partnership began six years ago when WME adopted our school. It has resulted in more partners who have decided to really make a difference in the lives of our children,” she said. “With their own hands they’ve come in to plant trees and paint murals. These are things that positively affect our students.” Whaley principal Dr. Candice Waters, said her students benefit from having a school with more curb appeal. “It absolutely promotes school spirit, a sense of community and ownership. “The school looks more pleasing and inviting to students. We are so excited to have so many wonderful things being done in our school. We welcome all of the volunteers to return next year,” she said.
a name and a back story. The story begins with her childhood in Haiti detailing her family’s experiences during the slave rebellion against France. Said McCaig, “Mammy is one of the truly powerful figures in the book and movie and, oddly enough, one of the figures nobody tends to think much about. When people say what is ‘Gone With the Wind’
about, they say it’s a love story between Rhett Butler and Scarlett O’Hara. But Mammy is almost a third party.” Written in a different style from the original See PREQUEL page 15 In the film, “Gone With the Wind,” Mammy was played by Hattie McDaniel (right) who co-stared with Vivien Leigh.
MANAGING A NIGHTMARE
CIA Probe widely invalidated
BY RYAN DEVEREAUX
Editor’s note: Our multipart account of the CIA’s alleged complicity in aiding Nicaragua’s Contrarebels raise money from the street sale of cocaine, continues this week.
PART III
WASHINGTON—In each case, one or another agency of the U.S. government had information regarding the involvement either while it was occurring, or immediately thereafter. The chief of the CIA’s Central America Task Force was also quoted as saying, “With respect to (drug trafficking) by the Resistance Forces…it is not a couple of people. It is a lot of people.” Despite such damning assessments, the subcommittee report received scant attention from the country’s major newspapers. Seven years later, the San Jose Mercury New’s GaryWebb would be the one to pick up the story. His articles distinguished themselves from the AP’s reporting in part by connecting an issue that seemed distant to many U.S. readers — drug trafficking in Central America — to a deeply-felt domestic story, the impact of crack cocaine in California’s urban, African American communities. “Dark Alliance,” Webb’s series, focused on the lives of three men involved in shipping cocaine to the U.S.: Ricky “Freeway” Ross, a legendary L.A. drug dealer; Oscar Danilo Blandón Reyes, considered by the U.S. government to be Nicaragua’s biggest cocaine dealer living in the United States; and Meneses Cantarero, a powerful Nicaraguan player who had allegedly recruited Blandón to sell drugs in support of the counter-revolution. The series examined the relationship between the men, their impact on the drug market in California and elsewhere, and the disproportionate sentencing of African Americans under crack cocaine laws. And while its content was not all new, the series marked the beginning of something that was: an indepth investigation published outside the traditional mainstream media outlets and successfully promoted on the internet. More than a decade before Wikileaks and Edward Snowden, Webb showcased the power and reach
of online journalism. Key documents were hosted on the San Jose Mercury News website, with hyperlinks, wiretap recordings and follow-up stories. The series was widely discussed on African American talk radio stations; on some days attracting more than one million readers to the newspaper’s website. As Webb later remarked, “you don’t have be The New Yo r k Ti m e s o r T h e Washington Post to bust a national story anymore.” But newspapers like the Times and the Post seemed to spend far more time trying to poke holes in the series than in following up on the underreported scandal at its heart, the involvement of U.S.-backed proxy forces in international drug trafficking. The Los Angeles Times was especially aggressive. Scooped in its own backyard, the California paper assigned no fewer than 17 reporters to pick apart Webb’s reporting. While employees denied an outright effort to attack the
Mercury News, one of the 17 referred to it as the “get Gary Webb team.” Another said at the time, “We’re going to take away that guy’s Pulitzer,” according to Kornbluh’s CJR piece. Within two months of the publication of “Dark Alliance,” the L.A. Times devoted more words to dismantling its competitor’s breakout hit than comprised the series itself. The CIA watched these developments closely, collaborating where it could with outlets who wanted to challenge Webb’s reporting. Media inquiries had started almost immediately following the publication of “Dark Alliance,” and Dujmovic in “Managing a Nightmare” cites the CIA’s success in discouraging “one major news affiliate” from covering the story. He also boasts that the agency effectively departed from its own longstanding policies in order to discredit the series. “For example, in order to help a journalist working on a story that would undermine the Mercury
News allegations, public affairs was able to deny any affiliation of a particular individual — which is a rare exception to the general policy that CIA does not comment on any individual’s alleged CIA ties.” The document chronicles the shift in public opinion as it moved in favor of the CIA, a trend that began about a month and a half after the series was published. “That third week in September was a turning point in media coverage of this story,” Dujmovic wrote, citing “[r]espected columnists, including prominent blacks,” along with the New York Daily News, the Baltimore Sun, The Weekly Standard and the Washington Post. The agency supplied the press, “as well as former Agency officials, who were themselves representing the agency in interviews with the media,” with “these more balanced stories,” Dujmovic wrote. The Washington Post proved particularly useful. “Because of the Post’s
national reputation, its articles especially were picked up by other papers, helping to create what the Associated Press called a ‘firestorm of reaction’ against the San Jose Mercury News.” Over the month that followed, critical media coverage of the series (“balanced reporting”) far outnumbered supportive stories, a trend the CIA credited to the Post, The New York Times, “and especially the Los Angeles Times.” Webb’s editors began to distance themselves from their reporter. By the end of October, two months after “Dark Alliance” was published, “the tone of the entire CIAdrug story had changed,” Dujmovic was pleased to report. “Most press coverage included, as a routine matter, the now-widespread criticism of the Mercury News allegations.” “This success has to be in relative terms,” Dujmovic wrote, summing up the episode. “In the world of See MAJOR U.S. page 14
PAGE 12 COMPTON HERALD MONDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2014
BUSINESS LATINO US BUSINESS
Growing at a blistering rate BY EVANGELINE GOMEZ
h i l e there can be debate about what it means, the unassailable fact is that Latino owned businesses in the United States are growing at a blistering pace — in fact more than twice the national average. This trend has been sustained for at least the last decade and manifests itself both in the growing number and size of Latinoowned businesses. During the latest 5-year period for which information is available from the census bureau, Latino owned business’ revenue jumped by an astonishing 55 percent to nearly $350 billion. Some think that the census data underestimates the economic clout of Latino businesses, estimating the sales of such businesses in 2008 at $547 billion.
W
Many are very substantial businesses with numerous employees: the number of Latino- owned businesses with more than $1 million in revenue grew to over 44,000 in 2007, up from just 29,000 five years earlier.
Growing Latino DOLLARPOWER ONE IN A SERIES
The experts expect that this trend will continue over the next decade. Latino-owned businesses are expected to increase their total revenue contribution to the economy by 8 percent annually over the 10 years from 2005 to 2015. This is more than three times the average growth for all businesses. What does this mean? Latinos will have more economic clout, employ a greater proportion of the population and purchase substantially more in goods and services than they do today. Already this trend
has had a major impact in states with large Latino populations. For example, more than 20 percent of all businesses in New Mexico, Florida and Texas are owned by Latinos, and even in the state with the largest economy, California, the figure is fast approaching 20 percent. Since in the U.S., small business has always been the gateway to affluence, this means that a growing proportion of Latinos will find economic success. Inevitably this will lead to greater roles for Latino business owners in local chambers of commerce, local communities and government. Moreover, more Latinoowned businesses could mitigate the effects of the discrimination that Latinos still suffer in many communities, benefitting Latino employees with higher wages and more opportunities for advancement. Of course, the economic
COMPTON HERALDO!
Navarro Discount Pharmacies, Inc., frequently referred to as Navarro is the largest Hispanic-owned pharmacy chain and pharmacy benefit manager in the U.S. with annual sales of more than $350 million.
benefits from the dynamic growth of Latino businesses are not limited to the Latino community: one study in Los Angeles showed that growth of Latino owned businesses is a major factor in helping the city to recover from the devastating effects of the recession on its economy. The positive trends caused by Latino entrepreneurship can benefit the entire national economy and help the country to start grow-
ing again. Not surprisingly, the political class has noticed these trends. In making its case for the passage of the American Jobs Act, the Obama administration has argued forcefully that it will benefit 2 million Latino- owned businesses across America. It has also touted the role of the Minority Business Development Agency inside the Commerce Department as a partner for
Latino-owned businesses, and has said that Latinoowned businesses must plan a prominent role in increasing trade with the economies of South and Central America. While much of the economic news we hear today is bleak, the dynamic growth of Latino-owned businesses is a bright spot that will likely transform the economic and political landscape in the U.S. in the years ahead.
Unemployment claims rise after three weeks of decline REUTERS
WASHINGTON—Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 17,000 to a seasonally adjusted 283,000 for the week ended Oct. 18, the Labor Department said on Thurs- day. That followed three straight weeks of declines, which had pushed claims to levels last seen in 2000. Last week’s increase was in line with economists’ expectations. The four-week moving average of claims, considered a better measure of labor market trends as it
Advertise Your Business! Let the public know what you have to offer. Call Marshall Crawford at (562) 719-7096
irons out week-to-week volatility, fell to 281,000, the lowest level since May 2000, from a revised 284,000 in the previous week. “It shows that job creation continued to forge ahead in October,” said Jennifer Lee, a senior economist at BMO Capital Markets in Toronto. Prices for U.S. Treasury debt fell to session lows, while the dollar rose to near a two-week high against the yen. U.S. stock futures were pointing to a higher open. The claims data covered the week during which the
government surveys businesses for October’s nonfarm payrolls. The fourweek average fell 18,750 between the September and October survey periods, suggesting another month of solid employment gains. Payrolls increased by 248,000 last month and the jobless rate fell below 6 percent for the first time since July 2008. The jobless claims report showed the number of people still receiving benefits after an initial week of aid fell 38,000 to 2.35 million in the week ended Oct. 11. That was the lowest reading for the so-called continuing claims since December 2000, suggesting that some of the long-term unemployed were finding jobs.
Sears to lay off 5,500 REUTERS
Sears shares rose 4.6 percent to $36 in premarket trading. At least 46 Kmart stores, 30 Sears department stores and 31 Sears Auto Centers are scheduled to close before the end of January, said the report. Sears officials were not immediately available for comment. The company, which is struggling to reduce costs as its sales dwindle, closed 75 Kmart stores and 21 Sears stores in the first half of 2014. It said last week that it would lease out seven stores, including the one at Pennsylvania’s King of Prussia Mall, to discount fashion chain Primark for an undisclosed amount. Sears had 1,077 Kmart stores and 793 Sears stores in the U.S. as of Aug. 2.
PAGE 13 COMPTON HERALD MONDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2014
RELIGION TD Jakes proceeding with ‘theft’ lawsuit Claims rappers sampled speech on ‘Holy Ghost’ remix NEW YORK (MNS) — Megachurch leader T.D. Jakes is vowing legal action against rap artists Young Jeezy and Kendrick Lamar, claiming the rappers violated one of the Ten Commandments with a recent remix, reports the New York Daily News. The towering televange-
Young Jeezy
Bishop T.D. Jakes
Kendrick Lamar
list behind The Potter’s House, a famous Dallas church with 30,000 members, posted a “Special Notice” on Facebook recently claiming the rappers' remix of “Holy Ghost” rips off one of his sermons. “The ‘Holy Ghost’ remix by Jeezy featuring Ken-
drick Lamar was produced without the knowledge or consent of T.D. Jakes, TDJ Enterprises, Dexterity Music or its associated companies,” the Facebook post said. “We are taking the necessary legal actions to stop the unauthorized use of
T.D. Jakes’ intellectual property,” the post read. The remix opens with a sample of Jakes’ 2013 speech “Don’t Let The Chatter Stop You.” “I’m under attack, but I’m still on fire. I’ve got some chatter, but I’m still on fire. I’ve got some
Bishops reject wider welcome to gays, divorced Catholics VATICAN CITY (RNS) —Catholic bishops meeting here narrowly defeated proposals that would have signaled greater acceptance of gays and lesbians and divorced Catholics, a sign of the deep divisions facing the hierarchy as Pope Francis continues his push for a more open church. While the various proposals received a majority of support from the bishops gathered for the Synod on the Family, they failed on Oct. 18 to receive the required two-thirds majority that would have carried the weight of formal approval and churchwide consensus. The vote was an abrupt about-face from the midterm report from the Synod, which spoke of “welcoming homosexual persons” and acknowledging the gifts they have to offer the wider church. The revised proposal on homosexuality, that “men and women with homosexual tendencies should be welcomed with respect and delicacy,” failed in a vote of 118 to 62; a similar statement about opening Communion to divorced Catholics who remarry outside the church failed in a vote of 104-74. Despite the divide, Francis received a standing ovation that lasted several minutes in his final address to the Synod, where he had called for “sincere and open” debate. After days in which divisions inside the Vatican spilled over into the press, the pope described the twoweek summit as a “journey together,” and like any human journey, one that featured moments of “desolation, tension and temptations”. He said the role of the pope was to guarantee the unity of the church, and that he would have been “very worried and sad-
dened if there had not been these temptations and animated discussions.” Even though the sections on homosexuality and divorce did not pass with formal approval, Francis ordered them into the Synod’s final report so that Catholics could continue to debate the ideas. The Oct. 18 vote, however, is not the final word. Francis plans to host a follow-up summit a year from now, and both sides are expected to spend the next 12 months trying to either reinforce existing policy or trying to nudge the bishops toward a more open approach. Nonetheless, the closeness of the votes reflected a deep divide within the hierarchy that erupted into the open after the Oct. 13 gesture toward gay Catholics. After a vocal conservative revolt, English-speaking bishops pressed to change the wording from “welcoming” to “providing for homosexual persons”. Catholic reformers and gay groups wasted no time in expressing their disappointment. The progressive reform group Call To Action said the bishops’ report showed “positive steps” but also “missed opportunities”. “It’s disappointing that some in the institutional church are not yet ready to welcome all God’s children to the table,” said Jim FitzGerald, the group’s executive director. Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, a Maryland based gay Catholic group that’s often at odds with the hierarchy, was disappointed that the bishops’ final report overturned the “gracious welcome” issued to gays earlier in the week. “Instead, the bishops have taken a narrow view of pastoral care by defining it simply as opposition to
marriage for same-gender couples,” he said in a statement, adding that the bishops had failed to take account of those gays who receive “unjust and oppressive treatment” from governments, church, families, and society. At a Vatican media conference earlier Saturday, Cardinal Oswald Gracias of Mumbai, India, insisted there was “no cleavage,” or divide, among the bishops, and that gays and lesbians were welcome in the church. “Are gays welcome? I would say certainly, they are part of the church,” he said. “There’s no question of condemnation. I would say we are working together.” American Cardinal Raymond Burke, the conservative former archbishop of St. Louis who now heads the Vatican’s highest court, earlier blasted Francis for allowing the synod’s message to stray from official church teaching, especially on homosexuality. “The pope, more than anyone else as the pastor of the universal church, is bound to serve the truth,” Burke told BuzzFeed from Rome. “The pope is not free to change the church’s teachings with regard to the immorality of homosexual acts or the insolubility of marriage or any other doctrine of the faith.” Burke also acknowledged rumors that Francis is poised to demote the fiery conservative to a ceremonial post far away from the church’s center of power. “I very much have enjoyed and have been happy to give this service, so it is a disappointment to leave it,” Burke said. “On the other hand, in the church as priests, we always have to be ready to accept whatever assignment we’re given.”
United Methodist Church reaches out Healthcare personnel in Liberia labor to contain spread of the deadly Ebola virus. The United Methodist Church is maintaining a team there delivering supplies to workers. Photo: Rev. Anna Kaydor Labala, UM News Service
threat, but I’m still on fire. I got some liabilities, but I’m still on fire,” he says in the 24-second clip. “It’s not amazing that I’m on fire. I’ve been to hell and back, but I’m still on fire,” the Daily News wrote. Jakes, 57, is a Grammywinning star among evangelical leaders and once appeared on a Time magazine cover in 2001 with the headline, “Is This Man the Next Billy Graham?” At least one legal expert said Jakes might have a tall mountain to climb with his intellectual property claim, said the Daily News. “This sounds like a strong fair use case,” Los Angeles lawyer Jonathan Kirsch told the Daily News, referring to the doctrine that permits limited use of copyrighted material with-
out permission. Kirsch pointed to the landmark 1994 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the case that pitted Miami rap group 2 Live Crew against the publishing company behind Roy Orbison’s hit song “Oh, Pretty Woman.” In a unanimous decision, the justices said 2 Live Crew had a right to riff on the classic country tune for parody purposes. “Generally speaking, it is ‘fair use,’ in the context of a song, to copy elements of someone else’s work in order to make a point that amounts to commentary,” Kirsch said. “The notion of taking a cultural artifact, like a sermon, and using a small portion to make a comment on the role of religion in peoples’ consciousness is very similar.”
ATTEND CHURCH THIS SUNDAY
PAGE 14 COMPTON HERALD MONDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2014
EDITORIAL JARRETTE DEAN FELLOWS, JR PUBLISHER, CEO and EXECUTIVE EDITOR FOUNDED 2007
Deadly force in black and white A PROPUBLICA INVESTIGATION
Editor’s Note: A ProPublica analysis of killings by police shows outsize risk for young black males. Young black males in recent years were at a far greater risk of being shot dead by police than their white counterparts — 21 times greater, according to a ProPublica analysis of federally collected data on fatal police shootings. The 1,217 deadly police shootings from 2010 to 2012 captured in the federal data show that blacks, age 15 to 19, were killed at a rate of 31.17 per million, while just 1.47 per million white males in that age range died by police. One way of appreciating that stark disparity, ProPublica’s analysis shows, is to calculate how many more whites over those three years would have had to have been killed for them to have been at equal risk. The number is jarring — 185, more than one per week. ProPublica’s risk analysis on young males killed by police certainly seems to support what has been an article of faith in the African American commu-
nity for decades: Blacks are being killed at disturbing rates when set against the rest of the American population. ProPublica’s examination involved detailed accounts of more than 12,000 police homicides stretching from 1980 to 2012 contained in the FBI’s Supplementary Homicide Report. The data, annually selfreported by hundreds of police departments across the country, confirms some assumptions, runs counter to others, and adds nuance to a wide range of questions about the use of deadly police force. Colin Loftin, University at Albany professor and codirector of the Violence Research Group, said the FBI data is a minimum count of homicides by police, and that it is impossible to precisely measure what puts people at risk of homicide by police without more and better records. Still, what the data shows about the race of victims and officers, and the circumstances of killings, are “certainly relevant,” Loftin said. “No question, there are all kinds of racial disparities across our criminal justice system,” he said. “This is one example.” The FBI’s data has appeared in news accounts over the years, and surfaced again with the August killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. To a great degree, observers and experts lamented the limited nature of the
FBI’s reports. Their shortcomings are inarguable. The data, for instance, is terribly incomplete. Vast numbers of the country’s
tions. Indeed, while the absolute numbers are problematic, a comparison between white and black victims shows important trends. Our analysis included dividing the number of people of each race killed by police by the number of people of that race living in the country at the time, to produce two different rates: the risk of getting killed by police if you are white and if you are black. David Klinger, a University of Missouri-St. Louis professor and expert on police use of deadly force, said racial disparities in the data could result from
Mostly white cops are killing black males; but hundreds of cases involve black cops, too. 17,000 police departments don’t file fatal police shooting reports at all, and many have filed reports for some years but not others. Florida departments haven’t filed reports since 1997 and New York City last reported in 2007. Information contained in the individual reports can also be flawed. Still, lots of the reporting police departments are in larger cities, and at least 1000 police departments filed a report or reports over the 33 years. There is, then, value in what the data can show while accepting, and accounting for, its limita-
“ m e a s u r e m e n t e r r o r, ” meaning that the unreported killings could alter ProPublica's findings. However, he said the disparity between black and white teenage boys is so wide, “I doubt the measurement error would account for that.” ProPublica spent weeks digging into the many rich categories of information the reports hold: the race of the officers involved; the circumstances cited for the use of deadly force; the age of those killed. Who Gets Killed? The finding that young
black men are 21 times as likely as their white peers to be killed by police is drawn from reports filed for the years 2010 to 2012, the three most recent years for which FBI numbers are available. The black boys killed can be disturbingly young. There were 41 teens 14 years or younger reported killed by police from 1980 to 2012; 27 of them were black; eight were white; four were Hispanic; and one was Asian. That’s not to say officers weren’t killing white people. Indeed, some 44 percent of all those killed by police across the 33 years were white. White or black, though, those slain by police tended to be roughly the same age. The average age of blacks killed by police was 30. The average age of whites was 35. Who is killing black males? Mostly white officers. But in hundreds of instances, black officers, too. Black officers account for a little more than 10 percent of all fatal police shootings. Of those they kill, though, 78 percent were black. White officers, given their great numbers in so many of the country’s police departments, are well represented in all categories of police killings. White officers killed 91 percent of the whites who died at the hands of police. And they were responsible for 68 percent of the people of color killed. Those people of color represented 46 percent of all those killed by white officers. What were the circumstances surrounding all these fatal encounters? There were 151 instances in which police noted that teens they had shot dead had been fleeing or resisting arrest at the time of the encounter. Sixty-seven percent of those killed in such
circumstances were black. That disparity was even starker in the last couple of years: of the 15 teens shot fleeing arrest from 2010 to 2012, 14 were black. Did police always list the circumstances of the killings? No, actually, there were many deadly shootings where the circumstances were listed as “undetermined.” Seventy-seven percent of those killed in such instances were black. Certainly, there were instances where police truly feared for their lives. Of course, although the data show that police reported that as the cause of their actions in far greater numbers after the 1985 Supreme Court decision that said police could only justify using deadly force if the suspects posed a threat to the officer or others. From 1980 to 1984, “officer under attack” was listed as the cause for 33 percent of deadly shootings. Twenty years later, looking at data from 2005 to 2009, “officer under attack” was cited in 62 percent of police killings. Does the data include cases where police killed people with something other than a standard service handgun? Yes, and the Los Angeles Police Department stood out in its use of shotguns. Most police killings involve officers firing handguns. But from 1980 to 2012, 714 involved the use of a shotgun. The Los Angeles Police Department has a special claim on that category. It accounted for 47 cases in which an officer used a shotgun. The next highest total came from the Dallas Police Department: 14. ProPublica is award-winning investigative journalism dedicated to safeguarding the public interest.
Major US newspapers sought to invalidate the story Continued from page 11 public relations, as in war, avoiding a rout in the face of hostile multitudes can be considered a success.” There’s no question that “Dark Alliance” included flaws, which the CIA was able to exploit. In his CJR piece, Kornbluh said the series was “problematically sourced” and criticized it for “repeatedly promised evidence that, on close reading, it did not deliver.” It failed to definitively connect the story’s key players to the CIA, he
noted, and there were inconsistencies in Webb’s timeline of events. But Kornbluh also uncovered problems with the retaliatory reports described as “balanced” by the CIA. In the case of the L.A. Times, he wrote, the paper “stumbled into some of the same problems of hyperbole, selectivity, and credibility that it was attempting to expose” while ignoring declassified evidence (also neglected by the New York Times and the Washington Post) that lent credibility to
Webb’s thesis. “Clearly, there was room to advance the contra/ drug/CIA story rather than simply denounce it,” Kornbluh wrote. The Mercury News was partially responsible “for the sometimes distorted public furor the stories generated,” Kornbluh said, but also achieved “something that neither the Los A n g e l e s Ti m e s , T h e Washington Post, nor The New York Times had been willing or able to do — revisit a significant story
A U.S. Senate report found considerable evidence the Contras were linked to drugs.
that had been inexplicably abandoned by the mainstream press, report a new dimension to it, and thus put it back on the national agenda where it belongs.” This month the story of Gary Webb will reach a national moviegoing audience, likely reviving old questions about his reporting and the outrage it ignited. Director Michael Cuesta’s film, Kill the Messenger, stars Jeremy Renner as the hard-charging investigative reporter and borrows its title from a
2006 biography written by award-winning investigative journalist Nick Schou, who worked as a consultant on the script. Discussing the newly disclosed “Managing a Nightmare” document, Schou says it squares with what he found while doing his own reporting. Rather than some dastardly, covert plot to destroy Webb, Schou posits that the journalist was ultimately undone by the jealousies of the modern media. Concludes next week.
PAGE 15 COMPTON HERALD MONDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2014
COMPTON HERALD
CLASSIFIEDS - COMING! To place an advertiserment call (562) 719-7096. Deadline is Tuesday at 5 p.m. E-mail to: ads@comptonherald.com
Hambrick leaves a glowing legacy Continued from page 2 you.” Chambers had previously been enrolled in a treatment center, but “wasn’t committed,” he said, “because, I had developed a lifestyle.” Yet, Hambrick convinced
Chambers he could rise out of his condition and do something positive. Chambers said he hasn’t used drugs since that night in 2007 and is currently employed at a drug treatment facility in L.A.
Dr. Anthony Samad, community college professor, author and managing director of the Urban Issues Breakfast Forum, opined, “everybody can be replaced, but the question is, will that person have the
same substance and significant track record; will that person’s track record be a long one, or that of a sprinter.” Hambrick kept the faith and finished his long distance race.
Employment in Los Angeles County Jobs/Employment Throughout Los Angeles UberX Driving Partner Uber - Los Angeles Experienced delivery driver (UPS/Fedex/USPS), or taxi. $20-$35 per hour. (323) 860-8686. Admitting Clerk - Per Diem - Kindred Hospital Baldwin Park
Admitting Clerk. Kindred Hospital Baldwin Park. Per Diem to cover weekends, holidays. (626) 388-2700 PN Data Entry Clerk Youth Policy Institute Los Angeles Data Entry Clerk will have strong typing/data entry skills to assist with enrollment data, pre/post assessment data. (213) 688-2802.
Receptionist Advisor Wisewords - Los Angeles Answer, screen, and forward phone calls. Contact: www.wisewords.com Records Rep Cal State Univ., L.A. The incumbent will implement and explain academic and administrative policies and procedures mandated by the Registrar's Office. (323) 343-3000.
Receptionist Spay & Neuter Clinic Los Angeles Answer phone and schedule appts. (888) We-SpayLA. Journalism Interns Writers, Graphic Artist Compton Herald Only serious need apply! (310) 908-9683
Prequel recalls the story of ‘Mammy Continued from page 11 “Gone With The Wind,” most of the book is written in third person, but towards the end Mammy takes over the narrative, and readers start to hear her actual voice. McCaig admits this was risky, but says he thinks its the best part of the book. He admits that the book uses the n-word, but defends it as necessary component in a story about the times when the word was used. Ruth’s Journey is actually the first prequel (but third addition to the original book) to be authorized by the Margaret Mitchell estate since the release of the film in 1939. Mitchell died in 1949, but her legacy has lived on through her film and book, which has
Hattie McDaniel
earned the title of one of the greatest American fictional stories of all time. Actress Hattie McDaniel, who played Mammy in the film and became the first African American to ever win an Oscar for her performance, has also lived on in her legacy. Available at all major book stores, Amazon.com, and Barnes and Noble.com
The 6.4 magnitude 1933 Long Beach caused severe damage to property citywide.
Major earth quake will test City’s emergency prepardness network Continued from page 1 Given the Long Beach disaster, and Compton’s close proximity to Long Beach, it is reasonable to assume that future movement along the NewportInglewood fault could very well result in catastrophic consequences for the “Hub City,” as well as the network of freeways that ring the city. Recently, nearly 50 emergency management, response personnel and community members from here and and across the L.A. region trained as a team to strengthen the collective emergency management skills during the week of July 10. The Integrated Emergency Management wing of the Emergency Management Institute of Emmitsburg, Md., conducted the weeklong course which was designed to address specific emergency threats faced by the city. A team of nstructors provided learning opportunities to assist local government and community responders to sustain and improve their ability to communicate and coordinate during an emergency. Training scenarios included incidents involving train bombings with resultant hazardous material release along transportation corridors in Compton. Stacy Barnes, who works as emergency coordinator based at the Compton Fire Department, provided further insight into the weeklong convene. “As a new emergency management coordinator, I wanted to continue to build my knowledge foundation for my community,” said Barnes. “This course [brought] important training and subject matter
experts to help us move forward. FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Administration) makes experts [like these] accessible to communities like [Compton]. “This course built awareness for the types of emergency planning that is needed,” Barnes said. “City department heads now have a better understanding of their emergency responsibilities and the need to work together on preparedness for the best response and recovery.” Residents will be assured to know that the city has rock-solid protocols in place to deal with any sudden large scale emergency. One such protocol is digital communication system that allows residents to hear up-to-date information on a developing disaster or emergency. “Businesses and residents with landline telephones are automatically registered to receive these alerts, but personal cell phones must be signed up manually. Residents can register up to four addtional phone numbers to their address,” Barnes said. “They can also choose to receive notifications via TTY, SMS text messaging, and email in addition to standard voice notification,” she said. The Self-Registration Portal website: https://city ofcompton.onthealert.com. The local Compton Office of Emergency Management (OEM) also has a Facebook page (www.facebook.com/ComptonOEM) and a Twitter account (@ComptonOEM) Since Compton is in the County of Los Angeles, it qualifies to receive county assistance during major
catastrophes that strain local resources. It is prudent to highlight these services. L.A. County partners directly with OEM as the designated provider of interactive disaster information services to the community before, during, and after disaster events. A special designation called 211 LA County, responds to events by providing timely and accurate information for members of the community, working with the county Department of Public Health as distributor of public health issued advisories and warnings. To ensure maximum accessibility to disaster information during large scale events, 211 LA County also partners with private and nonprofit volunteer organizations for call handling assistance. As a founding member of 211 California and the National 211 Disaster Support Collective, 211 L.A. is active in county, state, and national disaster response through its collaborative efforts with these 211 partners, as they identify and document long term recovery resources available for those hit by a calamity. During disaster events, 211 LA will continue to serve the most vulnerable populations, particularly those with disabilities 211 LA relieves pressure on 911 and other first responder phone systems by providing an established number for individuals to call for non-life threatening situational information, particularly incident status, evacuation routes, road closures, shelter locations, and status updates of area reoccupations.
PAGE 16 COMPTON HERALD MONDAY, OCTOBER 27, 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, 2014. 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