se
se rican-Amer o t in han Cooper. ican deathld quadruple The allegeddcuffs and ha New row inmate in ci Cooper’s 1som’s decision could d en Flori t wa making ouda Today reports t Hills famil 985 conviction in lead to the overtu t. y th rn A an e u in th k d g il o ling of a ru their 11-y ri Enough Of of has the Your Lovtie”es say t Californiapnotential, some polieatir-old house guest. ral Chino and a s. The case cal watcher s say, to d Both the C ivide aliforn and more an a dozenia and United States past appeath lo su w p er courts hav re ls. e rejectedmCe courts “I take no p ooper’s osition regar nocence at about the h this time,” Newsodming Mr. Cooper’s g uilt or inigh-profile said in his terest. N ca ex se free 2. When you see a photo or ad with the Observer 1. Get for that hby Yothe as downloading rk Tapp drawn inteecutive order Sen. Kamew im es ’ co rn lu al at m Interactive logo scan over the whole photo with your it from Google Play or The Apple App a io n is H n al in t Nic arri have all ca lled for res -tand reality TV starholas Kristof, U.S.tablet or smartphone. forensic Store technology. esting using curr Kim Kardashian SUL ent, more The ACLU gorilla suitPHUR, La. (AP) – P se n si an ti ve groups hav d other hu mattress befbroke into a Louisiaol man rights e also urged o n a deeper in an News ouretl officers arrested h Serving Kern County ves gation California state o d social justice et into Cooper fficials to la s Gov. Newtiso sp q u o k o es te m Mel E for Over 46 Years unch ’s con m’s tion issu st in ThSuulphu officers saan by formerorder Friday expandviction. w Jeremie es rsday test four ed s G p co o Moran wal re v. stume. They vious direc rry Brown lowed analpyieces of crime scenJe h ad in son looking received ca kin D ember lls a into homes to an orange sts to perform DNe evidence. Brownec ’s . E to A o st es says Mo prosecutors wel; and the han re-testing on a tan rder al- bo p ra ro n ac ran into a hed but w dle and sh dies in the say Cooper T-shirt; as discover eath Ry In th new u charges incl ed investigatseiod in the murders. of a hatchet Joshua Ryen, theen’s home with a total u d of hair frois in g re tr sisting an hoidin y, meth poss victims’ 8-y wound on of 143 stab button Com the victims’ hannd, analysts will look es ea h w si is in ro o g in the San u o son, su throat. He In Louisian n and wearingffia c ffered a slnasds. the al was the old Bernardino tigators plaoper’s attorney No s, blood samples anat strands tack. a, a person in n p ly le h u g County are blic survivor of ations Coo nvicte Angeles Co nted at the scene rman Hile mainta d a green le After Coopers’s per’s attorn not surprise the at- D.A.’s office most. Excecan be sentencedco in g o ja u al f s n il ly ty th in ey b to d . p e v re st S s M ab esti uperior Co ay crime. A re ak thre ar vestigation o an o n ed , e u s ra y in t m ar in ci v o h ak e es al biases an f em freq olidays like al a ho in tigat also urt judge w . ti d discrimth Halloweenlowed for relig uently comg about their ill oversee rethd Los familsay they found eviduse next door to thors found, he il- complaints Cooper, 61 in It at an p ’s la io dM unclear if M e victims. ence in th y’s statio in abou are hand n in the e in, has main years. His g ment. oran has a ardi G tained his For some,nGwagon that tied Coe Ryen’s home and inThey unang prosecutor Miclehd. Just last month,way their cases ort lawy by Gov. Nlawyers hope the re in n o ce d a o ae er o n p th S v. l er ce an pressure fo e Selyem, wh sults of the New ewsom, wh Volume 46 Number Newspapers January 22, 2020 over the ingObserver BernardinWednesday, in the case Group the murderCalifornia som’s order oftoSouthern hel20 r o re m p pro o o ic n -t ak is h is s. so es in W being met co ti cial media. with dismtoaybroaden DNA te st him. ve their client’s innould take several mong ordered poof the murders Josh His insultgscrude and racist anhdite, resigned - chelle Obama, U ua Ryen an nths, will . The lone su cence and ta rters of the rg mments et ed ,S fo B . d rmer Firstco finally exo Rep. Maxin lack shooti In 1 Lady Minerate they are disappoRyens and Hughesfamily, friends andrvivor n e g W v on four co9u85, a San Diego Co ic at ti er m s . su an in al Th l p te d across the o an unnamed “Unfortunat d with the gov 26 and an nts of murder. At unty jury convicte state say Los Angelmas R. Parker, a form ernor’s dec ely, over tim the time of d Cooper for justice in es office, bel er is d io ep cord - incluescaped prison inm n e u . it ty h th is se is case mat head of the ie ems the vic arrest, he w Th ters FBI’s ti s’ desire “The evis guy is innocenvt,es Cooper. as no Distric in Pennsylv ding several burglaate. His lengthy cr ” he told th iminal re- “Prior DNtAAttorney Jason Anless and less,” San m id ries and the ania – did en ce w as B d er o not help his te er e p n n Cooper, form rape of a m st la so N ar th in n ew n d te e g icl sa d st th aimed ou Y , he was fr and.” case. inor erly named in 1958 ld exoneratat Mr. Cooper sougidh in a statement. amed, theork Times. What has k per’s guilw e him have t, agreed to cops lied t.” months onldear Pittsburgh, PenRichard Goodman, ep t a th fe all confirm e case goin deral appel and nsylvania. was born Y et ed g la p During his , he was adopted an te er M an su W ec co r. d C per al asive argum ution and re hen he was urt CooLAKE February iveheld ents ased six monies and iew the ca’ssedecision in 2004 toooWill be 2020 at and he spenchildhood, his par d renamed Kevin - on Saturday, FOREST,29, Gov. Newvso on conflicti ents physica is recoverin w stay his exisCooper. reasonable qualeslegations of evidenbce t a good p it Calif. (AP) h m 10:00am. juvenile det o m re n D ’s g sc g ar N ll d te ti ie af t ta y ec A o n st o te m n ab ti isio igators used testing com s out the pering, kee fiApplications c evidence. canyobe eingDr.Martin n roobtained struck by–aOffic ad in South atr bthe a mental h ention centers. Inf adolescence living used him at to nail Coab methods an p raising California es early inn to allow another polic in ea er ta 1 o 9 n ck lt p d G se 8 ro th er h C 2 , sto es inves overnor wh veral . Th undJr.oCommunity , facility in P aliforn and in swo California. King Street. una Bea1000 f the LagCenter ia. ose suppoertterm ofLuther the pro ti- have high expec rn testimonree weapons were ri ch PoOwens three attack ennsylvanCiaooper escaped from li O g ce re ra u ta ss O Beginning January 6, 2020 through February 18, 2020. er n se iv ti er ffi g y, s b d on e C nty R e so on the poli s who were cer Th efore movin Jo Duri mapplications ticatol Lsubmit egisteFebruary White. Heshua Ryen said hein the solve “DNA testing shs.o eone’s pet owuby g to could have been H gued that nCg his murder trial, Deadline Friday, r he initiaollmas eft Fall saw later testified uld immed th h is en p e o p an o R ro eb th F p ic y se u . e er en . rt 1 cu ca k 9. her iate Ryen, th illed husb t darted in y th case tors succ 18, 2020 by 8:00 pm. that they Chiang sa front named Diacomplicating the pro id during thand finally ensurely take place to reM cG neighboreiCr 10-year-old daughand and wife Dougesansfully ar- ban u th ir n se at e says when justice is se cutions’ clai e campaign DNA eviden elonging to a Roper came fo ter Jessica an hristopher th d e P an eg rv h g im . m y e ed “N s, ce al g rw ,” b o a her former ot nly is it Hughes. Po can h p law d was ut testing in t out to chec womd with b boyfriend ar lice foundan 11-year-old inal. She turned proven Animal Cobigger than a house enforcemoen is case woel who was aloody clothing the eviden the bloodie Even thoth n d t cat. u tr es so ld o to tr lv l co o o an e y ffi m cr ed v ce u an io ce e im d gh it. rs at no cost to len im es over to the is the state.”, trauma. al hospital, where itrushed the ble police, buttcrim- issubold, he is treadinNgewsom’s decision in African Am was diagno they ericans, His carefu e that the C se panics and watching. California voters acllroy on a potentially opoper case sh Dr. Kristi Krause other mino He is keep e expects th , a veterinar olarizing ss the politi rities liv- C in e ia ca g 1 n l 1 h , spectrum ar -pound (5-k is focus on tells th back into th ontinued e ilo fairness an on page A e d justice 2 McGuire wvild after it regainsgstram) cat to isited the re that(AP) if he– se HONOLULU The is bexpected obcat ontonFgth. es itU.S. ag Navy n, he’ ri ll issuecarrier honor a World War II hero when aainew aircraft a ticket fodray. j is named for Mess Attendant 2nd Class A look at the sold out gymnasium at Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Center. To see a photo of each award winner scan over this picture using your Doris Miller. “Observer Interactive” App. (Carrington Prichett photo) The anouncement is expected to be made at Pearl Harbor Monday, The Honolulu StarAdvertiser reported Friday. Miller was the first African American to receive the Navy Cross for valor. Miller was recognized for Doris Miller was the first By Jason Land Jr. The MLK Community Awards Breakfast serves greatest passion is for preventing the criminalization of our manning a machine African American to be Student Correspondent concurrently as a medium to celebrate individuals young people before they’ve even had a real chance of life. gun on the USS West awarded the Navy Cross. In reminiscence of activist and Civil Rights leader, Dr. upholding King’s vision of “The Fierce Urgency of Now” We need to break the cycle of incarceration. If any one Virginia and returning Martin Luther King Jr, citizens of Bakersfield communed and to simulate the fire of equality he ignited within person is hurt by injustice, it hurts all of us. One of my fire against Japanese planes during the Dec. 7, 1941 together. On the morning of January 20th, 2020, over 450 the global community with togetherness. Among many favorite Martin Luther King Jr. quotes was written in the attack on Pearl Harbor. locals, elected officials, and community leaders gathered in recipients, Kathleen Faulkner was a beneficiary of the Birmingham Jail, April 16, 1963— ‘Injustice anywhere is USS Miller, a destroyer escort, was previously the Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Center at 1000 committee’s Humanity Award. Her acceptance speech a threat to justice everywhere.” — Kathleen Ellis Faulkner, named in his honor. South Owens St. Following tradition, local dignitaries entailed the refusal of any form of racism and a demand Faulkner and Faulkner Law Offices. “I think that Doris Miller is an American hero were recognized for their outstanding work within the of justice for all. “The calling of my life is a fight for Civil With 2020 marking the 20th anniversary of the MLK simply because of what he represents as a young community. Rights of individuals since I was very young. Now, my Continued on page A6 man going beyond the call of what’s expected,” said Doreen Ravenscroft, a team leader for the Doris Miller Memorial. An African American was not allowed to man a gun in the Navy in 1941, Ravenscroft said. “Without him really knowing, he actually was a part of the Civil Rights movement because he changed By Gwen McKinney now. servants – denied fundamental liberty. Then and now, we the thinking in the Navy,” Ravenscroft said. Sojourner Truth. Harriet Tubman. Ida B. Wells. Look no further than the historical landscape of that wage claims to own our bodies, voices and choices. Two of Miller’s nieces are expected to be at Pearl Shirley Chisholm. Rosa Parks. moment. Congressional approval of the Act in 1919 was We build on that truth by redefining suffrage beyond Harbor for the announcement on Martin Luther King These household names, spanning a couple of the same year as the infamous Red Summer, a tumultuous the limited act of casting a ballot. For Black women, Jr. Day. centuries, qualify for the Suffrage Hall of Fame. white supremacist reign of terror and lynching in Black the narrative is rooted in telling herstory, unerasing the Miller, then 22, was collecting laundry when the Almost a buzz word synonymous with the Year of communities across the country. One year after the 19th achievements of yesterday and the possibilities for the attack alarm sounded. His normal battle station in an the Woman, in 2020 the centerpiece of suffrage will be Amendment was adopted in 1921 racist mobs set ablaze future. marked by the 100th Anniversary of the 19th Amendment Tulsa, OK, decimating what was revered as Black Wall This centennial year is an appropriate time to redefine antiaircraft battery magazine was destroyed by a torpedo. granting women’s voting rights. Referred to as a bold Street. universal suffrage through the prism of triumphs and He went on deck and carried wounded soldiers to safety justice movement, suffrage will be celebrated as America’s The Year of the Woman battle cry is perversely at tragedies. Trust Black women must be more than a cliché. before receiving orders to aid the mortally wounded march to full democracy. odds with Black women’s unbroken quest for liberation. Unerased Black Women promises to create brave captain on the bridge. In popular parlance, can we unpack the significance Although lauded today as the most reliable and consistent spaces and in alliance with Black newspapers across the “He subsequently manned a 50-cal. Browning antiof suffrage and inclusive democracy for Black women? voting bloc for democratic change, we’ve historically country, unfurl a frank public conversation about Suffrage, aircraft machine gun until he ran out of ammunition Words matter. But the impact and impetus of their endured being marginalized, dismissed and erased. Race, and Power. and was ordered to abandon ship,” the Navy said, noting meaning matter more. Black women’s demand to be equal and heard extends Through a digital destination, we’ll turn our ear to Miller was not trained to operate the gun. Here’s a composite definition from online beyond the century run-up to the 19th Amendment. It a beating heart of resilience, resistance, words and deed. dictionaries: was intersectional and linked with abolition of slavery, Daughter of slaves, descendants of warriors, writers, Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, the commander in Suffrage is the right to vote in public elections. anti-lynching battles, literacy drives, sharecropper land journalists, teachers, mentors, activists – universal chief of the Pacific Fleet, presented the Navy Cross to Universal suffrage means everyone gets to vote, as opposed rights campaigns and the establishment of a radical Black suffragists all – have something to say. Miller in Pearl Harbor in May 1942. to only men or property holders… For example, after press that was led by many Black women suffragists. Frances Ellen Watkins Harper. Anna Julia Miller died while serving on a ship that was trying for about a hundred years, American women were Our suffrage quest continued through Cooper. Mary Ann Shadd. Harriet Jacobs. Josephine torpedoed by a Japanese submarine in November 1943. granted suffrage and voted for the first time in 1920. the Civil Rights Era and passage of the Voting Rights St. Pierre Ruffin. Mary McLeod Bethune. Fannie Lou The 19th Amendment was adopted Aug. 18, Act of 1965 which finally, for the first time, delivered the Hamer. Ella Baker. Gertrude Bustill-Mossell. Charlotta 1920, after the required number of states ratified the franchise to Black people in the South. Bass. Marvel Jackson Cooke. constitutional measure. Though many Black women Rewind centuries earlier. Most of these women can’t claim household name ’ led suffrage campaigns, the 19th Amendment put Our demand to self-govern predates the formation of status in the traditional suffrage roll call. But their noble white women on an empowerment tract to electoral this republic, beginning in 1619 when the first Africans, stories will be unerased. engagement. Interestingly, the suffrage movement, snatched from their ancestral home, landed on these Stay tuned as suffrage, redefined, meets our truth. festooned in the symbolic color white, is often portrayed shores. Those nameless suffrage pioneers joined with their Gwen McKinney is campaign director of an initiative, through a narrow window uncomplicated by the strictures men to resist and carry the torch for all people – Native “Suffrage. Race. Power: Unerased Black Women,” that of race and power that framed the Amendment then and Americans, Chinese immigrants and even Irish indentured will launch in March.
Welcome to Observer Interactive
Deeper Content. Pictures Move. Ads Talk. Live Shopping.
Man in Go Breaks in r Hides UndH e
News Observer Bakersfield
Free!
Bobcat Re 2020 Bakersfield cove A f ter Being Black American olice Car Hi History P Parade Navy to Name Aircraft Carrier for Black WWII Hero
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Annual Community Awards Breakfast Redefining Suffrage, Unerasing Black Women
Renewing Martin Luther Kings Dream by Renewing Our Minds ’
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mathew Ahmann at the Civil Rights March on Washington, D.C. (National Archives)
By Dr. Kelvin “Kelly” Wright “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind,” a scripture reading from Romans 12:2. Transformation is something the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Junior was in pursuit of. He was seeking to fulfill his God given dream to help lead all people to the promise land of true brotherhood. On this
national holiday we observe the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr., a drum major who followed the drumbeat of a different drum. He did not follow the world’s cadence of anger, discord and violence but chose to operate in the unforced rhythm of God’s grace to take a stand against racism, militarism, injustice and poverty. He sought to serve others in his quest to achieve equality in civil and economic rights for Black Americans, along with a demand
for criminal justice reforms. In 1963, I remember as a child sitting at home in Hagerstown, Maryland with my mother and grandmother in our living room watching a network news report on the March on Washington for Jobs and Justice. The report showed Dr. King delivering what would become a speech literally heard around the world and echoed throughout history, “I Have A Dream.” It was a dream that set into motion the transformation of race relations in America. Dr. King’s leadership in the non-violent struggle for civil rights earned him the distinction of being called a “drum major for justice, a drum major for peace.” But to his four children, he was simply known as “daddy.” Dr. King was mindful of his children when he delivered his famous address, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” Dr. King’s youngest child, Bernice King, has followed in her father’s footsteps, becoming an ordained minister and continues his legacy. She believes that her dad’s dream for his children to be judged by the content of their character has, in many ways, become a reality. She says, “new generations of people have benefited greatly because of the dream but we still have more work to do.” King recently talked to me about her reflections of her father. Her dad’s incredible contribution to the world, she explained, is a result of his extraordinary faith in God. As I talked with her, she told me that everything her daddy did, came out of his personal commitment to Jesus Christ. King recalls how her dad’s deep faith helped him overcome the pressures from leading the non-violent struggle for Civil Rights, particularly when the burden became too heavy to bear: “I remember in the beginning when he was about to give up because he got a call that threatened to blow up his home where my mom and my sister were. He was in the kitchen and just before midnight, he told God; I’m at the end of my powers. I’m just down here trying to do right. Why do I have to deal with all of Continued on page A7
German Lawmakers Office Riddled with Bullet Holes
BERLIN (AP) – A black German lawmaker said Wednesday that bullet holes were found in the window of his constituency office in the eastern city of Halle. Karamba Diaby said on Facebook that police are investigating. The Senegal-born chemist became one of Germany’s first black lawmakers in when he and another black candidate were elected to the federal parliament in 2013. Diaby has been the subject of racist slurs and and his office window has been smashed in the past. German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, who like Diaby belongs to the center-left Social Democratic Party, called the window incident “repulsive and cowardly” and voiced his support for the lawmaker. Far-right extremists have stepped up their verbal and physical attacks against German politicians in recent years. Last June, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party was killed by a neo-Nazi with a long history of violence. Months later, a long-time mayor in the eastern state of Saxony resigned following a campaign of threats and intimidation from the far right.
New Al Sharpton Book Looks at America’s Politics NEW YORK (AP) – The Rev. Al Sharpton is working on a book that will address what he calls an urgent moment in American history. The longtime civil rights activist’s “Rise Up: Confronting a Country at the Crossroads” is coming out Sept. 15, less than two months before the 2020 election, Hanover Square Press announced Monday. Sharpton will look back at the Obama administration, the 2016 election of Donald Trump and the transformation of the Republican Party during Trump’s presidency. Sharpton said in a statement that he wanted to “get people to understand the gravity of where we are as a nation; whether we will choose to continue the path of progress towards human rights and to value all people or whether we will choose the path of returning to a value system of where might is right and wealth is the measure of human value.” Sharpton’s previous books include “Al On America,” “The Rejected Stone: Al Sharpton and the Path to American Leadership” and the memoir “Go and Tell Pharaoh.”