Local Leader Strives to Inspire Her Community for Better
Film Review: Yusuf Hawkins: Storm Over Brooklyn
Page A9
Page A3
News Observer Bakersfield
Volume 47 Number 40
Serving Kern County for Over 47 Years
Observer Group Newspapers of Southern California
Black Educators Discuss Ahead of School Re-Opening This Fall
Education Equity Joe W. Bowers Jr. California Black Media The California Association of African-American Superintendents and Administrators (CAAASA) held their 13th annual professional development summit May 26 – 28th in San Diego. The theme for this year’s conference was, “Achieving an Equity Driven Education.” Co-hosted by the San Diego County Office of Education and Moreno Valley Unified School District, the conference was held in-person and virtually. For their safety, in-person participants were required to have been vaccinated or to have tested negative for COVID-19. According to Dr. Daryl Camp, President, CAAASA and Superintendent, San Lorenzo Unified School District, “CAAASA was one of the last organizations to host an inperson conference in 2020 and will be the first organization to host an in-person conference in 2021.” CAAASA welcomed about 150 in-person attendees. About 600 other participants joined the conference online. Those attending were education practitioners, including school administrators, teachers, and staff; education researchers; policymakers; and community members inspired and motivated to learn ways to improve the educational experiences and outcomes for African American and other students of color by promoting equity and social justice and improved school climates. The conference theme, “Achieving an Equity Driven Education” acknowledges the need, “to ensure the next normal will achieve an equity driven education for students,” says Camp. “While the pandemic has presented many challenges, it has also provided an opportunity to re-envision what an equity driven education may look like for underserved students.” The conference was organized around seven goals: Align strategies that promote access to excellence for boys and girls of color; Utilize Social Emotional Learning (SEL) supports to address the impact of trauma and poverty on
Gerald Dessus teaches a social justice course at Mastery Charter Shoemaker Campus in Philadelphia. (Photos Courtesy of the Mighty Engine / Rashiid Coleman)
Continued on page A2
VP Harris to Head Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment
By Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent President Joe Biden is establishing the White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment with a mission to mobilize the federal government’s policies, programs, and practices to empower workers to organize
and successfully bargain with their employers. Headed by Vice President Kamala Harris, the mission includes looking for ways to increase worker power in areas of the country with restrictive labor laws, for marginalized workers, including women and people of color, and for workers in industries that are difficult to organize and lack
VP Kamala Harris will lead a White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment (Courtesy Photo)
labor protections. The White House said the Task Force would comprise more than twenty cabinet members and heads of other federal agencies with powerful levers to help the Task Force carry out its mission. The Task Force will engage with a diverse set of leaders in the labor movement, academia, advocacy groups, and beyond to seek ideas for potential federal action and feedback on initiatives under consideration. In an executive order issued Monday, April 26, President Biden directed the Task Force to make a set of recommendations within 180 days addressing two key issues. The first issue is how can existing policies, programs, and practices promote worker organizing and collective bargaining in the federal government? The second issue is, where are new policies needed to achieve the Task Force’s mission, and what are the associated regulatory and statutory changes needed? “The Task Force will be a historic effort to put the federal government’s policy of encouraging worker organizing and collective bargaining into action,” the White House noted in a briefing. The Task Force will endeavor to achieve the following four goals: 1. Lead by example by ensuring that the federal government is a model employer concerning encouraging worker organizing and collective bargaining among its workforce. 2. Facilitate worker organizing across the country by taking an all-of-government approach to mobilize the federal government’s policies, programs, and practices to provide workers the opportunity to organize and bargain collectively. 3. Increase worker power in underserved communities by examining and seeking to address the particular challenges to worker organizing in jurisdictions with restrictive labor laws; the added challenges that marginalized workers in many communities encounter, including women and people of color; and the high barriers to organizing workers in specific industries. 4. Increase union membership across the United States to grow a more inclusive middle class and provide workers the opportunity to come together for mutual advancement, the dignity of workers, respect, and the fair compensation they deserve.
Racial Disparities Are a Public Health Crisis Bo Tefu California Black Media Some health advocates are calling on Gov. Gavin Newsom to treat health inequity in California as a public health crisis – one that is complicated by racism. Their appeal to the governor comes as California state officials propose a $115 million investment in the state’s budget for the next fiscal year to address health disparities. If approved, some of the money would fund programs administered by community-based organizations. “The biggest hardship that we’re facing right now is really getting the governor to support investments to community-based organizations to focus on health equity and racial justice interventions within healthcare,” said Ron Coleman, the managing director of policy for the California Pan-Ethnic Health Network (CPEHN). Coleman said the state needs to make new investments in public health that will remedy the social determinants
that worsen health disparities in the healthcare system. In the revised May budget, Newsom proposed a $115 million annual grant program for health equity and $200 million for local health infrastructure. He also included $15 million in funds to support underprivileged lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people. Despite the plan to increase spending on leveling the playing field in health care, a dozen community-based organizations want Gov. Newsom to do more. In addition to CPENH, other organizations include the Asian Pacific Partners for Empowerment, Advocacy and Leadership (APPEAL), Black Women for Wellness Action Project, California Black Health Network, California Black Women’s Health Project, California Latinas for Reproductive Justice, Latino Coalition for a Healthy California, Public Health Advocates, Public Health Institute, Roots Community Health Center, and Roots of Change. The leaders of these organizations are asking the state
to expand support for health programs with funds from California’s budget surplus that are targeted to addressing health disparities that impact vulnerable populations, including low-income Black and Brown families. In the May budget revisions, “There was absolutely no new investment in the budget for public health, whether it’s the infrastructure, workforce, health equity racial justice, or prevention,” said Coleman. Coleman specified that the money Newsom is allotting for health equity should go to community-based organizations, particularly for racial justice interventions in the healthcare system. “We need Governor Newsom to begin treating racism as a public health crisis and make the investments in the community that will help us reduce healthcare disparities and improve health outcomes,” said Coleman. Gov. Newsom said that the state has partnered with multiple community-based organizations for public Continued on page A2
Free!
Wednesday, June 9, 2021
California to Pay $2M Church Legal Fees Over Virus Closures
By BRIAN MELLEY Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) – The state of California has agreed not to impose greater coronavirus restrictions on church gatherings than it does on retail establishments in a pair of settlements that provide more than $2 million in fees to lawyers who challenged the rules as a violation of religious freedom. A deal approved Tuesday by a federal judge comes after lawyers for a San Diego-area Pentecostal church took their challenge against the state to the U.S. Supreme Court three times and won. The settlement includes a permanent injunction in line with Supreme Court rulings that found restrictions on houses of worship cannot exceed those on retail businesses, attorney Paul Jonna said. “If they’re gonna restrict Costco to 50%, then they can do the same thing to churches,’’ Jonna said. “But what they were doing before, as you may remember, is they were keeping those places open and they were shutting down churches – at least in California – completely.’’ The settlement has little practical impact after a Supreme Court ruling led the state in April to lift limits on indoor worship. As the state’s case rate of COVID-19 has plummeted since a deadly winter surge and vaccination rates rise, Gov. Gavin Newsom is poised to lift all restrictions on June 15. Newsom’s office issued a statement saying he put the health of Californians first when he imposed closure orders. It said the settlements provide clarity on how public health standards can be applied to churches. Newsom was the first governor to issue a statewide stay-home order at the start of the pandemic in March 2020. His various closure orders and modifications that allowed certain businesses to open at different capacities were challenged in state and federal courts. The public health orders were generally upheld until religious groups won a string of victories after a change in the Supreme Court makeup last year when liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died and was replaced by conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett. While the settlements only apply to restrictions issued for the COVID-19 pandemic, Jonna said he does not believe the state would impose harsher restrictions on churches in the future because of the Supreme Court rulings. The settlements involve a federal lawsuits brought by South Bay United Pentecostal Church in Chula Vista and Father Trevor Burfitt, a Catholic priest in Bakersfield, who sued in Kern County Superior Court. Lawyers for the Thomas More Society, a conservative public interest law firm, will receive $1.6 million in legal fees in the South Bay case and $550,000 in the Burfitt case.
Meghan and Harry Welcome Second Child, Lilibet ‘Lili’ Diana SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (AP) – The second baby for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex is officially here: Meghan gave birth to a healthy girl on Friday. A spokesperson for Prince Harry and Meghan said Sunday the couple welcomed their child Lilibet “Lili’’ Diana Mountbatten-Windsor. Their daughter weighed in at 7 lbs, 11 oz. Her first name, Lilibet, is a nod to Her Majesty The Queen’s nickname. Her middle name is in honor of her grandmother and Harry’s mother. The baby is the eighth in line to the British throne. No photos of the newborn or the Sussexes accompanied the announcement. The birth comes after the Harry and Meghan’s explosive TV interview with Oprah Winfrey in March. The couple described painful discussions about the color of their first child’s skin, losing royal protection and the intense pressures that led her to contemplate suicide. Buckingham Palace said the allegations of racism made by the couple were “concerning.’’ The royal family said the issue would be addressed privately. Winfrey and Harry on mental illness have recently collaborated on the Apple TV+ mental health series “The Me You Can’t See.’’ Harry and American actor Meghan Markle married at Windsor Castle in May 2018. Their son Archie was born a year later. In early 2020, Meghan and Harry announced they were quitting royal duties and moving to North America, citing what they said were the unbearable intrusions and racist attitudes of the British media. They live in Montecito, a posh area near Santa Barbara, California. Last year, Meghan revealed that she had a miscarriage in July 2020, giving a personal account of the traumatic experience in hope of helping others. Months before the miscarriage, Harry said the royal family cut him off financially at the start of 2020 after announcing plans to step back from his roles. But he was able to afford security for his family because of the money his mother, Princess Diana, left behind. In the interview with Winfrey, Meghan said she grew concerned about her son not having a royal title because it meant he wouldn’t be provided security. said digesting everything during while pregnant was “very hard.’’ More than the “prince’’ title, she was the most concerned about her son’s safety and protection. Meghan said it was hard for her to understand why there were concerns within the royal family about her son’s skin color. She said it was hard for her to “compartmentalize’’ those conversations. Harry, too, said there are lasting impacts about Meghan’s treatment and his relationship with his family. Harry and Meghan’s departure from royal duties began in March 2020 over what they described as the intrusions and racist attitudes of the British media toward the duchess.