‘Sanford and Son’ at 50, ‘Double-Edged’ Black Sitcom Pioneer
Howard University Professor Says Americans are Quitting ‘Bad Jobs’
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News Observer Bakersfield
Volume 48 Number 21
Serving Kern County for Over 48 Years
Observer Group Newspapers of Southern California
Wednesday, January 26, 2022
COVID Winter Surge Brings New Challenges for Elder and Youth Health Care
Aldon Thomas Stiles California Black Media The COVID-19 winter surge has impacted different age groups in different ways, as caretakers struggle to take care of the elderly during this pandemic and parents remain wary of their children returning to in-person classes. “It’s been here but it’s been everywhere for like the last 14 days,” said Los Angeles County resident Clarence Johnson whose wife, Tanesha Johnson, decided to shut down their daycare last year. Across the United States, 1,099 children under 18 have died from COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In California, the state Department of Public Health reports that 47 children have died of the disease. This past December saw a four-fold increase of children admitted to hospital over the past year, according to the African American Wellness Project. Tanesha Johnson, owner and director of the Sunshine Academy Childcare Center in Inglewood, made the choice to close her daycare after reflecting on her own concerns as a parent. “When I started seeing how fast the COVID-19 virus began to spread, I had to now think as a mother and not just as a business owner,” said Johnson. “I said, ‘okay, if I did not own a daycare, would I feel comfortable sending my children to school at this time,’ and the answer was no.” Johnson said she is still cautious about her children returning to school and hopes that kids will be required to test before returning. Both the federal and state governments have been pushing for more tests in schools, with Gov. Gavin Newsom announcing
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each student in public school will get two at-home COVID-19 tests. The Biden administration announced that they will be
implementing initiatives that will increase the number of tests in schools by 10 million per month. Continued on page A2
Policies at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina are at the heart of the issue that the court has agreed to consider.
Carolina are at the heart of the issue that the court has agreed to consider. At those schools, a student’s race counts among the criteria used to decide who enters class at those institutions. The Department of Justice late had urged the justices to reject the case against Harvard. “The filing from the office of US Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar emphasized that lower US courts had extensively
reviewed Harvard’s racial admissions practices and found them sufficiently limited to meet Supreme Court precedent as they furthered the school’s interest in campus diversity,” CNN reported. Admissions practices that take account of students’ race, first upheld in a 1978 Supreme Court decision, and reaffirmed in 2003, reportedly have boosted the admission of Black and Latino students for decades.
FIGHTING HOMELESSNESS Gov. Newsom Sets Sights on Mental Health, Addiction
Antonio Ray Harvey California Black Media Gov. Gavin Newsom says his administration is emphasizing combating drug addiction and mental illness as part of the state’s multi-year plan to solve California’s homelessness crisis – the worst in the country. Newsom says focusing on those health needs of unhoused people is a component of his ongoing “Comeback Plan,” an effort launched last year to help the state recover from the economic and social impacts of the pandemic. “This past year, California has been able to move 58,000 individuals off our streets and into the housing and treatment they desperately needed,” said Newsom, adding that it will require a multi-pronged approach to end homelessness because the housing, medical and social needs of unhoused people vary. When Newsom presented his budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2022-23 on Jan. 10, he asked the Legislature to approve $12 billion to support his housing strategy. About $3 billion of that amount would be spent on behavioral health housing, creating 44,0000 new housing units and treatment opportunities for people who are mentally ill. Another $2 billion would go to local governments in the form of flexible aid for housing programs, he said. “The California Blueprint will double down on those efforts, focusing on clearing encampments, while also setting
Pharrell Williams Calls for Economic Equity During MLK Event VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) – Singer and music producer Pharrell Williams is challenging corporate America to “do more” by supporting entrepreneurs of color and adopting economic equity measures. The Virginian-Pilot reports that in remarks Monday during the Urban League of Hampton Roads’ annual Martin Luther King Jr. awards program, Williams said big businesses need to invest in people of color and noted that some of them already are. “Not all businesses,’’ Williams added. “The smart ones - the ones that will be here in 50 years.’’ Williams singled out the Japanese financial and venture capital group SoftBank. He said the group was investing in founders of color, who could then create generational wealth and change their cities for the better. Williams, who was born in Virginia Beach, also urged businesses and philanthropists to support the Urban League and thanked the local chapter for their work in financial wellness, health and housing. The event, which could not be held in person because of COVID-19, was livestreamed on Facebook and YouTube. Several local leaders were honored for representing King’s legacy of social justice.
Senators Aim to Remove Racist’s Name from Traffic Circle
Supreme Court May End Affirmative Action at Universities
By Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent The Supreme Court said it will reconsider race-based affirmative action in college admissions. The Monday, January 24, announcement could eliminate campus practices that have widely benefitted African American and Hispanic students. Policies at Harvard University and the University of North
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the groundwork for long-term systemic change with significant investments in mental health and substance abuse treatment to get vulnerable people off the streets.” Black Californians are disproportionately homeless. Of the estimated 160,000 unhoused people in the state, more than 40 %
are African American. Newsom said, in addition to several other measures like securing housing for students and veterans, his administration is currently considering a plan to move the state toward conservatorship for people who are mentally ill. He did not give details about the program, but he said there is a possibility the state will begin entrusting the care of mentally ill people to individuals or institutions in the near future. In 1967, when Ronald Reagan was governor of California, the State deinstitutionalized mentally ill patients after the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act (LPSA) was passed and signed into law. California was one of the first states to deinstitutionalize mentally ill patients. The number of mental patients occupying mental hospitals in California reached its highest point at 37,500 in 1959 when former Gov. Jerry Brown’s father, Edmund G. Brown, was governor. It dropped to 22,000 patients eight years later, according to a report by Chauvet Public Relations titled, “The History of Homelessness and Why We Can Do Better.” Supporters of LPSA believed the law would provide protections for mental health patients and eliminate “the inappropriate, indefinite, and involuntary commitment of persons (to mental institutions) with mental health disorders,” the language of the bill reads. Continued on page A2
WASHINGTON (AP) – Maryland’s U.S. senators have introduced legislation to remove the name of a segregationist former lawmaker from a prominent Washington-area traffic circle. Democratic Sens. Chris Van Hollen and Ben Cardin said in a statement Tuesday that they are seeking to take Francis G. Newlands’ name off of a fountain and plaque at Chevy Chase Circle, which is on the border of Washington’s Chevy Chase neighborhood and Chevy Chase, Maryland. “We should not be memorializing him and the deeply harmful policies he stood for _ the legacies of which are still impacting marginalized communities to this day,’’ Van Hollen said. The former U.S. senator from Nevada, who died in 1917, aimed to keep working-class, Black and Jewish families out of the Chevy Chase community that he helped develop, according to the statement. Newlands also called for the repeal of the 15th Amendment, which granted African American men the right to vote, and advocated for anti-immigrant policies. Chevy Chase Circle is managed by the National Park Service and therefore under federal jurisdiction. U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland and Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District of Columbia’s nonvoting member of Congress, previously introduced similar legislation in the House. The land development company that Newlands founded and the Chevy Chase Village Board of Managers have both expressed support for removing the name.
Hockey Leaguer Suspended 30 Games for Racial Gesture
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) – The American Hockey League has suspended San Jose Barracuda forward Krystof Hrabik for 30 games for making a racial gesture toward Tucson Roadrunners forward Boko Imama during a recent game. Hrabik was suspended Friday for making the gesture during a Jan. 12 game in San Jose. Hrabik is white. Imama is Black. The Barracuda, the AHL affiliate of the San Jose Sharks, immediately removed Hrabik from all team activities pending an investigation. “The Barracuda and San Jose Sharks organizations were appalled to learn of this incident,’’ the Sharks said in a statement. “We offer our sincerest apologies to Boko, the Roadrunners organization, the AHL, our fans, and the entire hockey community. While we support the ability for individuals to atone and learn from disrespectful incidents in this context, these actions are in direct opposition to the Barracuda and Sharks organizations’ values.’’ Hrabik can apply for reinstatement on March 12, pending an evaluation of his progress in training provided by the NHL Player Inclusion Committee.
Historic Masonic Lodge in Detroit Added to National Registry
DETROIT (AP) – A Masonic lodge in Detroit has been added to the National Register of Historic Places, in part because of its contributions to the civil rights movement. The Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge on Detroit’s east side was added Wednesday to the National Park Service’s list of historic landmarks the federal agency has been compiling since 1966, the Detroit Free Press reported. The Detroit lodge now joins a vast list of properties across the nation deemed worthy of preservation. The lodge was noted by the National Park Service for its contributions to the civil rights movement and the general experience for African Americans in Detroit in the 20th century. The Masonic lodge is one of more than a dozen statewide that are part of the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons network. Prince Hall was an abolitionist and leader in the community in Boston who founded Prince Hall Freemasonry. Freemasonry is a mostly secular organization with a social network that spans the globe. While some of the group’s practices are kept from the public, many efforts are concentrated on community service and leadership.