Supreme Court Hears Arguments in Landmark Case Challenging Roe V. Wade Page A2
Playboy Names Cardi B as First-Ever Creative Director in Residence
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News Observer Bakersfield
Volume 48 Number 14
Serving Kern County for Over 48 Years
Observer Group Newspapers of Southern California
Abrams’ Gubernatorial Run Provides a Jolt for Midterms By Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent In an announcement that has provided a jolt to the 2022 midterm elections, Stacey Abrams said she’s running for governor of the Peach State. The race, which could mean a second dual between Abrams and Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, promises to catapult Democrats into the position of favorites. A Democrat and noted voting rights advocate, Abrams lost to Kemp by just over one percentage point in their controversial 2018 battle. Her activism helped Democrats claim the majority in the U.S. Senate when Georgia Democrats Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff defeated Republicans Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue in the January 2021 runoff election. “I’m running because opportunity in our state shouldn’t be determined by zip code, background, or access to power,” Abrams declared. “That’s the job of the governor – to fight for one Georgia, our Georgia,” Abrams exclaimed. “And now, it is time to get the job done.” Abrams’s work since her 2018 loss to Kemp has received praise across the political spectrum. In 2019, she launched Fair Count and Fair Fight Action to encourage voter participation in elections and educate voters about elections and their voting rights. The PAC brings awareness to the public on election reform, advocates for election reform at all levels, and engages in other voter education programs and communications. “Voter suppression, particularly of voters of color and young voters, is a scourge our country faces in states across the nation,”
Abrams noted on her website. She said Georgia’s 2018 elections “shone a bright light on the issue with elections that were rife with mismanagement, irregularities, unbelievably long lines and more, exposing both recent and also decades-long actions and inactions by the state to thwart the right to vote.” “Fair Fight Action was founded to organize collective efforts to expose, mitigate, and reverse voter suppression. We engage in voter mobilization and education activities and advocate for progressive issues,” Abrams continued. Fair Fight PAC has initiated programs to support voter protection programs at state parties around the country and is engaging in partnerships to support and elect pro-voting rights progressive leaders. After serving for eleven years in the Georgia House of Representatives, seven as Democratic Leader, in 2018, Abrams became the Democratic nominee for Governor of Georgia, winning more votes than any other Democrat in the state’s history. She broke the glass ceiling as the first Black woman to become the gubernatorial nominee for a major party in the United States and as the first Black woman and first Georgian to deliver a Response to the State of the Union. “It’s a very humbling experience to know that if I win this election, I would have achieved something that Black women as far back as Barbara Jordan and Shirley Chisholm has fought about, not necessarily the same job, but transforming how we think about leadership in America and physically claiming that mantle of leadership and holding it signals that anything is possible, and we can re-define what leadership looks like and who we can lift up,” Abrams said in a 2018 interview with the Black Press of America.
In addition to her many other achievements, Stacey Abrams broke the glass ceiling as the first Black woman to become the gubernatorial nominee for a major party in the United States and as the first Black woman and first Georgian to deliver a Response to the State of the Union.
Star Athlete Quits Prestigious New York Prep School over Racist Remarks
Tony Humphrey, a standout baseball player at Iona Preparatory School who already has committed to play collegiately at Boston College, said that nowformer assistant athletic director Bernard Mahoney questioned why Humphrey decided to run on the track team. (Courtesy Photo)
By Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent Student protests have continued at one of New York’s premier college preparatory schools after an assistant athletic director made a derogatory comment to a 16-year-old African American student-athlete that caused him to withdraw from the Roman Catholic-headed academy. Tony Humphrey, a standout baseball player at Iona Preparatory School who already has committed to play collegiately at Boston College, said that now-former assistant athletic director Bernard Mahoney questioned why Humphrey decided to run on the track team. “[Mahoney] said ‘it never hurts to gain speed,’” Humphrey recalled. “But he said I was already fast enough because I gained that speed by running from the police.” When Humphrey told his mother, she immediately withdrew him from the school. Alex Malecki, a spokesman for the school located in the New Rochelle section of Westchester County, said the assistant resigned. Thomas R. Leto, the president of the private school run by the Edmund Rice Christian Brothers, said Iona doesn’t condone the assistant’s behavior. Such comments “go against the very mission of the school to develop “moral and ethical leaders, as well as the Essential Element of an Edmund Rice Christian Brother Education to celebrate the value and dignity of each person,” Leto said in the statement. “It is behavior that Iona Preparatory does not condone for its students and will not accept from its faculty and staff. With about 750 students and a population breakdown of about 68 percent white and 12 percent African American, Leto asserted that one of the most critical aspects of Iona Prep remains the acceptance and respect of every student. “[That aspect] has been infringed upon,” Leto insisted in the statement. “On behalf of the administration and staff, I am deeply sorry to this student and those most offended and negatively
Iona Prep School in New Rochelle, New York, has about 750 students. Just 12 percent are Black. (Courtesy Photo)
impacted.” Leto said the school immediately began investigating the incident after it occurred. He noted that he addressed friends and classmates of Humphrey who staged a walkout in protest of the racially insensitive remarks. “Despite all we have undertaken, including a recent threeweek respect campaign, there is much work to be done, as such conduct and comments cannot be tolerated any longer,” Leto insisted. “We remain fully committed to being an open, welcoming, embracing, and nurturing community, where every young man holds a special place in the brotherhood of Iona men.” Humphrey told reporters that it wasn’t the first time he found himself on the receiving end of racist attacks at Iona Prep. “During my freshman year, I took it up with the deans, I too it up with the higher-ups, and nothing happened,” Humphrey asserted.
California Goes on Offensive as Omicron Variant Threat Grows Aldon Thomas Stiles California Black Media Three days after Thanksgiving, Gov. Gavin Newsom went online to address the new COVID-19 Omicron variant, a version of the virus with at least 50 mutations, according to the World Health Organization. 26 of those mutations have never been detected before, scientists say. “California is monitoring the new variant,” Newsom tweeted. “We will continue to be guided by data and science. Right now, the best way we know to protect yourself is to get vaccinated and get your booster. Go today. Don’t wait.” The variant was first identified by a South African scientist and has since surfaced in several other Southern African and European nations, and has now been detected in at least 16 states in the United States, including California. In California, the Omicron Variant was first detected in San Francisco on Dec. 1. Since then, Alameda County public health officials have confirmed five new cases with mild symptoms. All of them were people who attended a wedding in Wisconsin where they likely contracted the virus. Gov. Newsom responded to the news with a tweet last Wednesday. “CA’s large-scale testing and early detection
systems have found the Omicron COVID-19 variant in California,” Newsom tweeted Dec. 1. “We should assume that it’s in other states as well. There’s no reason to panic--but we should remain vigilant. That means get vaccinated. Get boosted. Wear a mask indoors.” Assemblymember Akilah Weber (D-San Diego), a board-certified obstetrician/ gynecologist, said the state has taken several steps to protect Californians and contain the
variant, including “doubling down on COVID-19 vaccination and booster efforts to ensure that all Californians have access to safe, effective and free vaccines.” Weber was speaking at a briefing organized for Black media last Friday. She said the California Department of Health
is monitoring the presence of the variant throughout California and is partnering with the federal Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to support local public health departments and health care providers across the state. “The state is also preparing to increase COVID-19 testing at airports across California for U.S. citizens and legal residents returning from South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique and Malawi,” she said. “These countries are where higher rates of Omicron have been observed and may shift over time.” Last week, President Joe Biden also pushed for vaccines and boosters in preparation for this new variant on Twitter. “As we move forward, we will continue to be guided by what the science and my medical team advises. For now, the best way to strengthen your protection if you’re already vaccinated is to get a booster shot, immediately,” Biden tweeted. In a controversial move, Biden has issued a travel ban from eight African countries where the higher numbers of the variant have been reported. “The WHO has identified a new COVID variant which is spreading through Southern Africa. As a precautionary
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Take One!
Wednesday, December 8, 2021
Jury to Hear Opening Statements in Potter Case This Week
By AMY FORLITI and STEVE KARNOWSKI Associated Press MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Opening statements loom this week for a white former Minnesota police officer who said she drew her handgun by mistake when she fatally shot Black motorist Daunte Wright, but not before the two sides meet with the judge Monday to finalize jury instructions. Kim Potter, 49, is charged with first-degree and second-degree manslaughter in Wright’s April 11 death in Brooklyn Center, a Minneapolis suburb. Opening statements are scheduled for Wednesday. Jury instructions are an important part of any case because they tell jurors what the law is and how the facts of the case should be applied to the law, said Mike Brandt, a Minneapolis-area defense attorney who is not connected to the case. Generally speaking, the defense will try to broaden the instructions _ so prosecutors have more to prove _ while the state will try to make the instructions as narrow as possible. “The broader that the instructions make the burden on the state, the more areas you have to punch holes in it,’’ Brandt said, adding that sometimes the process can be “very contentious.” The instructions will affect how both sides tailor their arguments. Potter has said she meant to use her Taser on Wright after he tried to drive away from officers while they were trying to arrest him, but that she grabbed her handgun instead. Her body camera recorded the shooting. A jury of 14 people – including two alternates _ was selected Friday to hear the case. Nine of the 12 jurors likely to deliberate are white, one is Black and two are Asian. The two alternates are white. The makeup of the jury is roughly in line with the demographics of Hennepin County, which is about 74% white, but notably less diverse than the jury that convicted former Minneapolis Officer Derek Chauvin this spring in the death of George Floyd. Legal experts have said juries that are diverse by race, gender and economic background are necessary to minimize bias in the legal system. Potter, who resigned two days after Wright’s death, has told the court she will testify. Body-camera video recorded the shooting, with Potter heard saying, “Taser, Taser, Taser’’ before she fired, followed by, “I grabbed the wrong (expletive) gun.’’ Wright, 20, was shot as Chauvin was standing trial 10 miles (16 kilometers) away for killing Floyd. Wright’s death sparked several nights of intense protests in the suburb. The most serious charge against Potter requires prosecutors to prove recklessness; the lesser requires them to prove culpable negligence. Minnesota’s sentencing guidelines call for a sentence of just over seven years on the first-degree manslaughter count and four years on the second-degree one. Prosecutors have said they would seek a longer sentence.
Funeral Planned for Former Florida Congresswoman Carrie Meek MIAMI (AP) – A wake and funeral services are being held in Florida for former U.S. Rep. Carrie Meek, who died last week at 95. Meek, the grandchild of a slave and a sharecropper’s daughter who became one of the first Black Floridians elected to Congress since Reconstruction, will be honored by a wake Monday evening at Miami Dade College’s William and Joan Lehman Theater, followed by a funeral service and celebration at 11 a.m. Tuesday at Antioch Missionary Baptist Church in Miami Gardens, her family said. Prior to the funeral service, her family will take part in a motorcade procession, “the Carrie Meek Final Farewell Journey,’’ that will pass by key landmarks associated with her life, family spokesman Adam Sharon said in a news release. Meek began her congressional career at an age when many people retire. She was 66 when she easily won the 1992 Democratic congressional primary in her Miami-Dade County district, as one of the first AfricanAmericans from Florida to win a seat in Congress. In 2003, due in part to health issues, Meek left Congress to make room for her son Kendrick Meek. “She’s home now,’’ her son told those gathered for a memorial service for his mother on Sunday. “She loved to have fun and she loved a good time and she was brilliant,’’ he said. “We as a family are just extremely proud of the example that she left with us here still in this community of how to live and how to serve.” The service was open to the public, and the wake and funeral service will be as well. Numerous elected officials attended to pay their respects. “This was a woman who was a demonstration of what public service is supposed to be: tough, smart, loving and exceedingly loyal to no end,’’ said U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, a Republican who represents parts of Miami-Dade County. In lieu of flowers, the family is requesting donations be made to the Carrie Meek Foundation, which she founded in November 2001 to provide the Miami-Dade community with much-needed resources, opportunities and jobs. Meek led the Foundation’s daily operations until 2015 when she stepped down due to declining health.