Senate Poised to Confirm Marines’ First Black Four-Star General Page A2
Taurean Blacque, Actor on Hill Street Blues Dead at 82 Page A3
News Observer Bakersfield
Volume 48 Number 47
Serving Kern County for Over 48 Years
Observer Group Newspapers of Southern California
San Bernardino Police Avoid DOJ Investigation by Claiming Black Man They Shot Had a Gun
Attorney Ben Crump speaking at a press conference with the family and supporters of Rob Marquise Adams in front of San Bernardino City Hall July 20, 2022. (Photo: CBM Staff)
Antonio Ray Harvey California Black Media The officer-involved shooting of 23-year-old Rob Marquise Adams in San Bernardino on July 16 has put the spotlight on a law that requires state prosecutors in California to investigate such incidents. Authored by Assemblymember Kevin McCarty (D-Sacramento), Secretary of the California Legislative Black Caucus, Assembly Bill (AB) 1506 requires the California Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate “incidents of an officer-involved shooting resulting in the death of an unarmed civilian.” While an investigation would appear to be warranted in the Adams shooting case, DOJ stated in a July 22 email to California Black Media (CBM), “We’re aware of the incident. However, our office is not currently involved under AB 1506. At this point, local authorities are best-positioned to comment on the matter.” That’s because the San Bernardino Police Department (SBPD) is claiming Adams had a gun, so an unarmed civilian was not involved. Adams was shot multiple times in the back while running away from SBPD officers. The officers arrived in an unmarked sedan after receiving information that a Black man armed with a handgun was in the parking lot of a business known to house an illegal gambling operation. Adams ran toward two parked vehicles with the gun in his right hand, according to a video statement SBPD Chief, Darren Goodman posted on the department’s website. “The cops briefly chased Adams, “but seeing” that Adams had no outlet, “they believed he intended to use the vehicles as cover to shoot at them,” Goodman said, describing his understanding of the events that preceded the shooting. While SBPD says that Adams had a gun in his hand as he ran from the officers, the attorneys for the Adams family, Bradley C. Gage, and civil rights lawyer Ben Crump say he was holding his cell phone. Gage said, “There are millions of Black men so any one of them could be a suspect. When you’re holding a cell phone it could look like a gun especially when you think it’s one.” “They needed it to be a gun because God help them if they shot an unarmed man running away,” Crump said of the officers who shot Adams. Continued on page A10
Job Displacement Affects Blacks Women, and Non-Degreed Individuals Most By Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent A new study focusing on job displacements between 1989 and 2019 found that, on average, Black workers are 67 percent more likely to be displaced than their white peers. Research by the nonprofit Brookings Institution further revealed that workers without a bachelor’s degree are also 67 percent more likely to be displaced than those with a bachelor’s degree. Additionally, workers whose parents are in the bottom half of the income distribution are 27 percent more likely to be displaced than those with parents in the top half. Titled Job displacement in the United States by race, education, and parental income, the study noted that using an event study fixed effects model, researchers measured the impact of a given displacement on annual earnings by worker group. They discovered similarly large and persistent adverse effects on earnings across all demographic and socioeconomic groups. The study authors estimated a 57 percent decline in earnings following a displacement. They also estimated a 25 percent decline in the 10th year after a displacement.
During the first months of the COVID-19 recession, an estimated 22 million Americans lost their jobs – roughly 13 percent of the U.S. workforce. The initial impact on employment was largest for women, Black workers, Latino workers, and less-educated workers. “This negative employment shock occurred against a backdrop of long-term trends of declining intergenerational economic mobility and high-income inequality across race and education levels,” the researchers explained. The study examined how job displacements affect workers by race, education level, and parental income in the United States. “An extensive literature in economics shows that workers experience large and persistent earnings losses following a job displacement,” Brookings researchers determined. “Given the millions of workers displaced during the COVID-19 recession and the high-income inequality in the United States, it is important to understand the role that job displacement may play in driving inequalities across demographic and socioeconomic groups.” The authors continued: “In this [study], we use the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) to measure the frequency and earnings impact of job
The initial impact on employment was largest for women, Black workers, Latino workers, and less-educated workers. displacements by race, education, and parental income level.” Meanwhile, the authors found that workers whose parents are in the bottom quintile of the income distribution are 27 percent more likely to be displaced than those with parents in the top income quintile. Continued on page A9
COVID in California:
Study Finds That Pandemic Has Lowered the Life Expectancy of Black Californians
Edward Henderson California Black Media If you follow social media or if when you’re out in public and count the number of masks being worn, you might conclude that the COVID-19 pandemic is over. People have resumed posting pictures of their summer vacations and family gatherings. Fourth of July celebrations and fireworks shows entertained thousands of uncovered faces across the nation. But, neither the Center for Disease Control (CDC) or World Health Organization have declared the pandemic has run its course and statistics and death tolls across California tell a distressing story about the indelible mark the pandemic has left on all of us. A study by collegiate researchers, including representatives from UCLA, recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) found that during the pandemic Black Californians and other minorities experienced a disproportionate reduction in life expectancy occurred compared to White Californians. The JAMA study also found that for Californians living in the highest income census tracts versus the lowest, the gap in life expectancies increased from a difference before the pandemic of about 11.5 years to 14.67 years in 2020 and 15.51 years in 2021.
Between 2019 and 2021 the research shows the life expectancy for Black Californians decreased by nearly 3.8 years from 74.8 years to 71. Latinx Californians’ life expectancy fell by nearly 5.7 years from 82.5 years to 76.8 and for Asian Californians the decrease was 3 years, from 86.6 years to 83.5. White Californians life expectancy only decreased 1.9 years from 80.5 to 78.6 years.
“This disparity, much like other racial and ethnic inequities, has roots in the social determinants of health as well as structural barriers resulting from systemic racism that have helped perpetuate disparities for generations,” researchers stated in the study. The study found that economic factors including the likelihood of Black and Latinx Californians working frontline jobs increased their exposure to the COVID-19 virus coupled with the increased need for them to attend work in person to financially survive the pandemic were possible contributors to the life expectancy decrease. “Families of lower socioeconomic status are more vulnerable to economic instability and were less likely to access income support programs during the pandemic, raising concerns that the stresses brought on by the pandemic might have widened health gaps related to income and race and ethnicity,” the study reported. As of July 11, only 68 % of Black Californians have received both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine and only 25 % of Black children in California. Government supported programs and additional funds allocated in budget for Medi-Cal coverage for undocumented immigrants are a few steps that have been taken to combat some of these disparities.
Take One!
Wednesday, July 27, 2022
Jury Deadlocks on Racial Discrimination Suit by Two Officers CINCINNATI (AP) – An Ohio jury has deadlocked on a racial discrimination suit filed against the city of Cincinnati and its former police chief by two officers, one white and one Black, over different discipline imposed after use of the same racial slur. The jury of six women and four men, all white, deliberated for about eight hours before a mistrial was declared Friday evening in the suit filed by officers Donte Hill and Dennis Barnette. A new trial date was set for Aug. 16. The Cincinnati Enquirer reported that Hill, who is Black, was given a written reprimand after he was recorded using the language while responding to a 2018 fight. Barnette, who is white, was suspended after he was recorded using the same word several months later while trying to make an arrest outside a nightclub. Former Chief Eliot Isaac, informed of Hill’s punishment, had his case reopened and both men were then given 56-hour, unpaid suspensions. Both punishments were overturned during arbitration and both ended up receiving written reprimands and were compensated for loss of income during the time their police powers were stripped. Lawyers for the officers accused Isaac of levying a harsher penalty against Barnette, in part, because he was white. Hill argued he was targeted unfairly due to his race when his punishment was increased. Lawyers representing Isaac and the city said the initial disparity in punishment was an oversight by a busy chief running a short-staffed department. They said any distress to the officers was not the fault of the chief or the city but was due to the language they themselves had used. Hill has since left the Cincinnati department and is an officer in Evendale. Barnette remains an officer in Cincinnati.
Man Accused of Threats to Shoot Buffalo Grocery Customers SEATTLE (AP) – A suburban Seattle man has been arrested and accused of threatening to shoot Black customers at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York, according to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court. Joey George, 37, is charged with making interstate threats and is scheduled to appear in court Friday afternoon, The Seattle Times reported. George phoned a Buffalo grocery store twice in July threatening to shoot Black people in the store and ranting about a ``race war,’’ the complaint said. On May 14, a shooter killed 10 Black people and hurt several others at Tops Friendly Supermarket in Buffalo. A 19-year-old white man with ties to white supremacy has pleaded not guilty to federal hate crime charges. George did not call the same store but referenced it in his threat, prosecutors said. Prosecutors said George is also being charged in connection with a May call to a restaurant in San Bruno, California, in which he allegedly threatened to shoot Black and Hispanic patrons, and with making other threatening calls to businesses in Maryland, Connecticut and Washington over the last year. ``George allegedly used racial slurs and threats to shoot customers at the businesses because of his racial hatred,’’ according to Western District of Washington prosecutors. ``We cannot tolerate this kind of hate in our community and will not sit by while people seek to terrorize others across our country,`` said U.S. Attorney Nick Brown.
911 Caller: ‘There’s Blood Everywhere’ at the Home of Ex-NAACP Head GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) _ An unidentified man told dispatchers for a North Carolina sheriff’s office that ``there’s blood everywhere’’ at the home of the former state president of the NAACP who was found dead earlier this week, according to a recording of the call. The 911 call, placed by a woman who accompanied the man to the home, offers new information on the death earlier this week of the Rev. T. Anthony Spearman. Authorities have released few details about what happened or how Spearman died. During the call, when the dispatcher tried to give instructions for CPR, she said the man who was attending to Spearman told her ``there was no hope,’’ the News & Record of Greensboro reported. Dispatch records indicate the call initially came over as a cardiac/respiratory call. Spearman was found dead by friends or family members at his home in Greensboro shortly after 5 p.m. Tuesday. The Guilford County Sheriff’s Office has released no other details about his death, which is still under investigation. Another 911 call about a week before Spearman’s death indicated an armed robbery took place at his house then, although it’s unclear if that’s connected to his death. According to audio from a 911 call on July 13 and a magistrate’s order, Spearman alleged that a man asked for $2,000, which Spearman said he didn’t have. The man is alleged to have taken Spearman’s cellphone and tried to use an app to transfer money to his account. Spearman said the man pulled a gun and when Spearman grabbed it, a shot was fired. Spearman said he wasn’t hurt. Records also show the man hit Spearman with the gun before he fled with his cellphone. According to a magistrate’s order, the man was arrested and charged the same day with robbery with a dangerous weapon and assault with intent to kill. He was later released on a $15,000 bond.