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A Time To Give

Christmas the season of giving not only to those we love but a time as well to share the holiday spirit and brighten the lives of those who are less fortunate and underserved. As the holidays near, many charitable organizations in the community make special fundraising appeals in their efforts to provide food, clothing and toys to those in need. Americans gave a record $484 billion to charities in 2021 and while approximately 77 million Americans volunteer their time, talents and energy to make a difference, money is the most preferred method of giving, with about $574 being the average amount people give to charity and $128 being the average online donation. Whether it’s your time, toys or money, there are countless ways to donate. Food, clothing and toy giveaways are an annual tradition for many churches and local businesses. Elected officials also do all they can to assist in providing referrals to those in need.

Some churches offer programs where you can adopt a family in need for Christmas and provide them with a range of needs from groceries to winter coats.

If you are in need this holiday season or just want to help others in need, listed below are some of the worthwhile programs you can tap into. Be sure and check with your church for what they are doing or for referrals. Children’s Hospital Los Angeles: Holidays from the Heart Program aims to make the holidays a little happier for chronically ill children and their families. You can sponsor a family, as well as provide toys and monetary donations. Visit wwwchla.org for more information.

Department of Public Social Service's (DPSS)

Adopt-A-Family Program: This program assists lowincome families with toys, clothes and food during the holidays. Fill out a sponsor form no later than Dec. 13 and coordinators will match you with the perfect family to assist personally. Grocery gift cards, meals and gifts are also welcome. For information, call (213) 744-4590. Homeless Housing Placement Agency: Requests for services increase greatly during the holiday season. Donations are gladly accepted for clothing for children and adults as well as canned and non-perishable items. Call (213) 484-2150 for more information. Los Angeles Regional Food Bank: Food banks across the county are stretched thin at Christmas, so in addition to food and monetary donations, the mission will accept gift cards for local grocery store chains in the Los Angeles area. Volunteers are always needed to help prepare, serve and feed the hungry and homeless. Visit www.lafoodbank.org Operation Gratitude: Since 2003, Operation Gratitude volunteers have lovingly packaged and shipped care packages containing letters, holiday cards and goodies from home to servicemen and women deployed overseas. For more information, call (818) 960-7878 or visit www.operationgratitude.com. Project Angel Tree: Prison Fellowship Los Angeles reaches out to children with incarcerated parents by getting churches and other groups to purchase Christmas toys, bikes, clothing and books for children and youth. Contact (800) 55-ANGEL (2-6435) Salvation Army: The Salvation Army provides a vast range of services to youth, the homeless, seniors, veterans with your monetary donations. Additionally, the Salvation Army has family stores located across Los Angeles that accept donations of clothing, furniture, appliances and toys. If you have time to spare, the Salvation Army is also signing up volunteers. Call 1-800-725-2769 Special Needs Network: SNN– a nonprofit grassroots organization responding to the crisis of autism and other developmental disabilities in underserved communities– brings hundreds of families, community partners, and stakeholders together for a festive and memorable holiday celebration. This event provides the county’s most vulnerable families with an opportunity to celebrate with others. Families receive health-related referrals and resources, food, music and a toy giveaway. For information, call (323) 291-7100. Toys for Tots: With a mission to collect new, unwrapped toys throughout the holiday months for children in need, the U.S. Marine Corp Reserve Toys for Tots program is by far one of the most popular. And, for good reason: helping children in need during the holidays is a true gift, so help make a difference this year and play an active role in your community by donating toys at the various drop-off locations. To find a location near you, go to http://www.toysfortots.org

Biz News Briefs

Cresco Labs, the No. 1 U.S. wholesaler of branded cannabis, has announced the signing of a deal valued at $185 million to divest certain New York, Illinois, and Massachusetts assets to a business entity owned and controlled by Sean “Diddy” Combs. The Transaction is Combs’ first investment in cannabis, the fastest growing industry in the U.S., and upon closing, will create the country’s first minority-owned and operated, vertically integrated multi-state operator. This industry-changing transaction is rooted in Cresco’s vision to develop the most responsible, respectable and robust industry possible, and advances Combs’ mission to open new doors in emerging industries for Black entrepreneurs and other diverse founders who are underrepresented and underserved.

“My mission has always been to create opportunities for Black entrepreneurs in industries where we’ve traditionally been denied access, and this acquisition pro-

Diddy Gets in on The vides the immediate scale and impact needed to create

Weed Game with a more equitable future in cannabis,” said Combs, Chairman and CEO Combs Enterprises. “Owning the entire $185 Million Deal process – from growing and manufacturing to marketing, retail, and wholesale distribution – is a historic win for the culture that will allow us to empower diverse leaders throughout the ecosystem and be bold advocates for inclusion.”

Jay-Z, Byron Allen Bid to Acquire Washington Commanders?

Jay-Z, Byron Allen, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Matthew McConaughey, Robert Griffin III and Red Sox owner John Henry are among those being reported as potential bidders for the Washington Commanders football team (formerly known as the Washington Redskins).

Earlier this month, Dan Snyder, who has owned the D.C-based NFL team since 1999, hired Bank of America Securities to consider potential transactions. The purchase price being bandied about is somewhere in the neighborhood of $5 — 7 billion dollars, though it is unclear as to whether or not the bids are for a minority stake or ownership of the entire team.

According to multiple reports Jay-Z may be partnering with Bezos on a bid. The two were recently seen together at a swanky Hollywood restaurant presumably to talk “Commanders” business.

A-list actor Matthew McConaughey is also reportedly looking to get in on the action with an offer according to the Washington Post. McConaughey–a longtime fan of the team–would either join an existing investment group or form his own.

Byron Allen–who had hoped to acquire the Denver Broncos earlier this year in a move that would make it the NFL’s first Black-owned team–is also preparing a bid.

“Crypto Chaos”

In October, FTX–ranked as the third largest crypto exchange by volume in 2021–was valued at $32 billion, but last month it plunged into bankruptcy, leaving its more than one million creditors holding the bag and capping off a year that has thrown the crypto industry into chaos.

Bitcoin, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency, has plummeted about 65% this year. Ether, the world’s second most valuable cryptocurrency, hasn’t fared much better, down more than 50% from its all-time high in 2021. In fact, since last November, the market capitalization of all crypto assets has reportedly dropped from a combined $3 trillion to around $900 billion.

The implosion of FTX has also brought lawsuits against celebrities who endorsed the crypto exchange including Shaquille O’Neal and Steph Curry. In the wake of crypto volatility, lawmakers are trying to figure out how to establish guidelines that will make cryptocurrency safer for investors and at the same time less attractive to cybercriminals. President Joe Biden signed an excutive order earlier this year that called on government agencies to study the “responsible development” of digital assets.

The biggest problem, say experts, is that crypto is unregulated for the most part, making it a risky investment.

Experts recommend keeping any cryptocurrency investments to less than 5% of your total portfolio and to never invest more than you are comfortable with losing. Also, to steer clear of depositing money from a credit card, as it can not only be risky, but expensive as credit card companies process cryptocurrency purchases as cash advances which makes them subject to higher interest rates than regular purchases, and you’ll also have to pay additional cash advance fees.

Chris Paul’s “Good Eat’n”

NBA All-Star Chris Paul is getting into the food industry with the launch a new line of vegan snacks. Passionate about the benefits of a plant-based lifestyle, Chris Paul hopes to transform the “snack aisle” with Good Eat’n — a new line of flavor-forward, plantbased products that include a unique selection of snacks including Cinnamon Sugar Mini Donut Puffs, Nacho Cheeze Tortilla Chips, Big Dill Ranch Tortilla Chips, and Classic BBQ Porkless Rinds.

“As someone with a plant-based diet who loves flavorful foods, I know first-hand that it can be difficult to find delicious and approachable plant-based alternatives to your favorite snacks,” said Paul. “I’m thrilled to announce this new brand with Gopuff that makes plant-based snacks easily available with flavors that appeal to the masses.” 9

It has all the markings of the quintessential true crime story. Young girl found dead at a Mexico resort while vacationing with friends, all of whom have a conflicting story of exactly what happened to her. Then a video surfaces that becomes a mother’s worst nightmare, depicting one–perhaps even two of her traveling companions beating her senseless with injuries that hours later she would tragically succumb to.

So, who leaked the video and why? Did one or more than one person take part in what is now classified as a brutal murder? Was it a set up? Why haven’t any or all of them been arrested? What role is the FBI playing? What are her so-call friends saying?

All are questions circulating in what has become a viral phenomenon online with online reports and blogs posting every update to quench the thirst for answers and information of the tens of thousands who are closely monitoring the story on Twitter, Facebook and TikTok with the hashtag #JusticeFor Shanquella.

In fact, it was the internet frenzy surrounding the story that sparked headlines in every major media outlet across the country, from the Washington Post and New York Times to CNN. While it surely isn’t the only murder of an American woman to be found on Mexican story, this story has captivated Americans like none other recently as misinformation shrouds the investigation and amplifies the mystery of it all.

For those like Veda Brown, owner of an online digital marketing firm, “it reveals just how unsafe children can be even with so-called friends.

Said Brown, “It also concerns me because of the brutality of the fight and then out of five people, all of them could have a peace about going home and leaving her there and lying to her mother. It’s shocking that none of them had a conscience or compassion. It begs the question where as parents…as a society drop the ball. It’s the evilness in this world but even this group who had no conscience…no compassion.” @prebeautyana commented, “Things like this make you not want to trust anybody. This is evil. I can’t imagine something like this happening to my children. We live in a treacherous world.” @wumi91 said, “Don’t be friends with people you are doing better than ever.”

“I just want answers. I guess I really just want to know why they beat her like that and what really happened in that hotel room,” said Tiffany Brown.

Well, Tiffany, here is the most accurate and up-todate accounting of the events to date.

On Friday, October 28, 25-year old Shanquella Robinson and six of her college friends arrived in San José del Cabo, which is 20 miles northeast of Cabo San Lucas, to celebrate a birthday. They had reserved a rental villa in Fundadores, an exclusive gated community with vacation homes and a private beach club.

According to her mother, Salamondra, who spoke to her that morning, things were going well. “She seemed pretty happy,” her mother recounted in an interview, who added that there was no indication of trouble. There was even a video showing Robinson walking through the villa excitedly looking for her friends.

That would be the last time she spoke to her daughter. The next call she would receive from Mexico came from Robinson’s friends the very next day on October 29 saying that Shanquella wasn’t feeling well and that it was alcohol poisoning.

At the time of the call, Salamondra said, she repeatedly told Shanquella’s travel mates,to take her to a doctor, but they told her the villa’s manager was coming over with a medic.

“I’m not sure if anyone ever arrived, because I was never allowed to talk to them,” Salamondra said. “I asked them to let me speak to the doctor when they arrived, but they told me that the doctor was busy with Shanquella,” Sallamondra Robinson told WSOC-TV.

She waited for what seemed an eternity for status on her daughter and her heart sank when they did call back to tell her that her daughter was dead.

This is where the facts become blurred.

According to one account, a local doctor from a nearby hospital was called and treated Robinson for close to three hours before she was pronounced dead with the following timeline: Congresswoman Karen Bass

D.T. CARSON

Staff

• 2:13 p.m. – Wenter Donovan, one of six friends who traveled with Robinson, called for medical help at Villa Linda 32, a property run by company Cabo Villas. • 3:13 p.m. – Dr. Karolina Beatriz Ornelas Gutiérrez, from a local hospital, arrived to treat Robinson. According to the Charlotte Observer, Gutiérrez says she was told that Robinson had “drunk a lot of alcohol” and needed to “be given an IV.” Gutiérrez says Robinson had stable vital signs but was dehydrated, unable to communicate verbally and appeared to be inebriated. The report said Gutiérrez believed Robinson needed to be transferred to a hospital, but her friends insisted that she be treated in the villa. • 4:13 p.m. – Robinson begins having a seizure. The convulsions from the seizure lasted less than a minute. •4:14 p.m.: Gutiérrez requests that the friends take Robinson to the hospital. They decline and insist on her being treated at the villa. • 4:45 p.m. – Wenter Donovan calls 911 for an ambulance while doctor administers CPR. • 5:25 p.m. – Police arrive. • 5:30 p.m. – Paramedics arrive and administer 14 rounds of CPR, five doses of adrenaline and six discharges (AED shocks) without success. • 5:47 p.m. – Shanquella declared dead.

Mexico and came to her house to bring some of Shanquella’s personal belongings and their condolences.

Still, the idea of Shanquella dying as a result of alcohol poisoning just didn’t sit well with her.

Over the next two days, her husband Bernard Robinson struggled trying to find someone who spoke English to assist him with the process of transporting his daughter’s body back to Charlotte before finally connecting with a woman on the villa’s management team who spoke English.

“She is an angel. She’s the one who first told us the truth,” Robinson said. “She said: ‘Mr. Robinson, your daughter didn’t die of alcohol poisoning. She died of a broken neck.’”

The death certificate would subsequently confirm what she’d told him.

Grave injuries to her back and neck were determined to have cause her death after an autopsy by officials in Mexico officially listed "severe spinal cord injury and atlas luxation," the latter being a traumatic dislocation of the neck. The police report revealed that she’d also suffered cardiac arrest and that Shanquella was dead approximately 15 minutes after being injured.

On neither report was there any mention of alcohol.

The document was a gamechanger for the Robinsons, who were at the time, still in touch with some of those who’d traveled to Mexico with their daughter but had become more and more suspicious as their stories about what happened that fateful day kept changing.

On a subsequent visit she turned to them and asked, “What did you all do to my child?”

She recalls that after being confronted one of them broke into a sweat and immediately left. She has heard nothing from them since.

Just as frustrating for the Robinsons was the response from officials. The United States State Department initially released a statement saying there was no clear evidence of foul play.

But on November 9, came the biggest twist of all when a video surfaced on a social media outlet showing a naked woman–who appears to be out of it– being hit and punched in the face multiple times by another woman until she falls to the ground as others in the villa record the scene.

Sallomondra immediately recognized the woman being violently attacked in the short clip as her daughter and the people in the video footage as those who had traveled with her daughter to Mexico.

In the video a man is heard saying “Quella can you at least fight back?” And while there are reports that more than one of them took part in beating Shauquella, what is clear is that no one intervened to help her or to stop the beating.

At one point in the video, Shanquella slumps down motionless. "She did not deserve to be treated like that," says her mother. "It was never a fight. She didn't fight. They attacked her.”

Still, officials were slow to take action, that is until the video went viral and was downloaded and reposted a thousand times over on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok, sparking headlines and putting a national spotlight on the story. Now, not only Shanquella’s parents wanted answers but so did thousands who’d seen the video and countless others who learned of Shanquella on CNN and other TV news programs and questioned why no one was being held responsible.

By the time, Mexican officials opened an investigation, the six had returned to the U.S. and despite the national media coverage have not spoken publicly on what happened. And while an arrest warrant has been issued for one of the six, no one has been taken into custody or charged in the case and authorities have not released the names of Robinson's friends.

To this day, misinformation continues to be the rule.

Even officials just can’t seem to get the story right. Mexican authorities have said the death occurred in San José del Cabo. The FBI said it occurred in nearby Cabo San Lucas. And while the official death certificate notes the approximate time between injury and death as 15 minutes, what of the report that a doctor treated her for three hours.

Now, nearly one month after the death, Mexican prosecutors who’d issued an arrest warrant are seeking to extradite one of Robinson's friends as a suspect in the case. The prosecutors said they were working on extradition proceedings with Mexico's attorney general and the Foreign Affairs Ministry. "There is already an arrest warrant issued for the crime of femicide," or the killing of a woman because of her gender, said Daniel de la Rosa, a local prosecutor adding that "a friend" of the victim was allegedly responsible for the death.

The death did not result from a "quarrel" but from "a direct aggression that this person made," de la Rosa stated.

Being that both the victim and the perpetrator are Americans, there is also an outside chance that the U.S. could prosecute. The FBI’s Charlotte field office has officially opened an investigation into Robinson’s death.

With the latest developments, the Robinsons finally believe they’re on track to getting the truth about what happened to their daughter.

“It feels good. My stomach doesn’t feel so empty. Feels like we are getting somewhere,” Robinson told a reporter.

“I just want justice for my daughter,” said her father, Bernard Robinson.

In the meantime, Shanquella’s sister launched a GoFundMe page with the goal of raising $350k to help with burial and legal expenses.

“My beautiful sister #ShanquellaRobinson, recently went on a trip to Cabo, Mexico, with people she believed were her friends,” she wrote. “During this trip, she was found dead. Her associates claimed she died of alcohol poisoning, but the death certificate from the Mexican government contradicts this statement as it reveals a broken neck and cracked spine...

“We face a tremendous unexpected financial burden and a great deal of pain as we prepare to lay my sister to rest. Any support you can contribute to our legal fees and other critical expenses is greatly appreciated.”

As of this printing, the page had raised nearly $400,000 from over 5000 donors, including a Brooklyn Nets point guard Kyrie Irving, who contributed $50,000.

While there are plenty of life lessons to be learned from Robinson’s death.

“The saddest part is that this was a girl who was going somewhere, and I believe they might have been jealous of her early success. It shows the importance of those we choose as friends,” said Brenda Fisher. “It makes you wonder about your own kids and the decisions they are making about who to trust.”

Robinson's parents described their late daughter as a hardworking business owner who had a "great heart. In fact, it has been reported that it was Shanquella who paid for the villa they all stayed in. At 24, had run two businesses. There was Exquisite Babies, where she created intricate hair braiding designs for children and the Exquisite Boutique, which sold clothes.

Shanquella Robinson was laid to rest on November 19 in a funeral attended by hundreds with loved ones wearing pink, her favorite color. But her parents and a growing community of supporters say they will never rest until they find the truth of what really happened to Shanquella Robinson.