Amoeba Music Comes Back in a Big Way
‘Godzilla vs. Kong’ Stomps to PandemicBest $48.5M Opening
News Observer Page A8
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Los Angeles
Volume 36 Number 21
Serving Los Angeles County for Over 36 Years
Observer Group Newspapers of Southern California
Police the Police & Possibly Give Calif Its First Black Sheriff
Police in Kenosha, Wisconsin, during the current protests. (Photo Credit: Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency/ Getty Images)
Aldon Thomas Stiles California Black Media Watching your tax dollars, elected officials and legislation that affects you. To serve and protect California’s many communities is a daunting responsibility -- from entry level jobs to the highest elected positions in public safety. Therefore, qualifications to hold these positions are important considerations as those criteria could mean the difference between life and death. In the California Legislature, there are a few bills being proposed that aim to specify qualifications for those who take the oath to maintain public safety. One such bill is Senate Bill (SB) 271, also known as the Sheriff Democracy and Diversity Act, authored by Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) and Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley). It would allow any registered voter to be eligible to be voted county sheriff in California. “We want to reimagine a sheriff’s department that is accountable to the community they are supposed to serve, and the only way that happens is if we the people have the ability to run a diverse group of candidates, candidates that are concerned with taking care of our communities and not dominating, incarcerating and dehumanizing them,” said Cat Brooks, executive director of the Justice Teams Network, an organization committed to eliminating “state violence.” As it currently stands in California, only individuals who possess Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) certificates can run for the office. This requirement went into effect in 1989, making Michael Hennessey, the longest serving sheriff of San Francisco, the last civilian in California to be elected to the office in 1980. “Since 1988, California voters have come to accept that only individuals with a law enforcement background can competently perform the job of a sheriff. SB 271 puts an end to that myth,” said Judge LaDoris Cordell, former Continued on page A2
Seven Texas Police Officers Fired After Death of Black Man in Jail By Lauren Victoria Burke NNPA Newswire Correspondent Seven sheriff’s officers in Collin County, Texas, were fired on April 1. The firings appear to be in connection with the death of 26-year-old Marvin D. Scott III. An eighth officer related to the incident has resigned. Scott was arrested on a marijuana possession charge on March 14 in which he possessed less than two ounces of the drug. This is a misdemeanor offense in Collin County. Scott family attorney Lee Merritt, informed media that Scott had a schizophrenia diagnosis. Scott’s funeral was on March 30. There is video footage of the episode that has not yet been publicly released. On March 15, the Collin County, Texas Sheriff’s office put out a release stating, “On Sunday, March 14, 2021, 26-year-old Marvin D. Scott III of Frisco, Texas, died while in custody at the Collin County Detention Facility. Officers from the Allen Police Department arrested Mr. Scott earlier that day and transported him to the county jail. The Sheriff referred the matter to
the Texas Rangers, who are investigating this death. As a matter of policy, the Sheriff placed seven detention employees on administrative leave and ordered an internal administrative investigation. The Sheriff’s Office will not release additional information while the Texas Rangers are investigating.” “Evidence I have seen confirms that these detention officers violated well-established Sheriff’s Office policies and procedures,” Jim Skinner, the Collin County sheriff, said in a statement. The news of Scott’s death arrived into the public eye during the trial of Derek Chauvin. Chauvin is on trial in the death of George Floyd on May 25, 2020 in Minneapolis, Minn. Police brutality has been an issue for African American civil rights leaders for over 80 years. In 1962, an encounter with Los Angeles Police Department outside a mosque resulted in the death of a Nation of Islam member. The incident of police brutality was focused on by Malcolm X.
26-year-old Marvin D. Scott III (Photo: The Chicago Crusader)
Spending Must Include Minorities as State Prepares for
Billions in Fed Cash
Bo Tefu California Black Media Some African American leaders in California are concerned. As the state looks forward to receiving billions in new federal funding this year for development projects, they fear African American and other minority-owned businesses and their workers will be left out. The leaders say California has not lived up to its commitment to equitably include African American contractors and businesses in the state’s ongoing infrastructure investments. The state has also failed, they say, to include Black-owned institutions like newspapers and other media when informing the public about open bids for taxpayer-funded contracts, hiring and other economic opportunities. John Warren, the publisher of the San Diego Voice & Viewpoint, the city’s largest African American-owned publication, said that there is little-to-no community outreach when government agencies allocate funds for contracts and announce job opportunities. “The notices for the jobs are not being advertised in our Black and Brown newspapers,” Warren said. “If they don’t reach out to us from a standpoint of being proactive inclusive, we won’t benefit from these jobs.” Last Wednesday in Pennsylvania, Pres. Biden announced a $2 trillion infrastructure federal spending plan called the “American Jobs Plan.” He says, if the U.S. Congress approves it, the proposal would create $19 million jobs. In addition, it would invest in research and development that helps the United States “out-compete” China and other countries around the world. Biden also promised that his plan would also address Continued on page A2
Free!
Thursday, April 8, 2021
First Black Supreme Court Justice in Colorado Dies at 72
DENVER (AP) – Gregory Kellam Scott, the only Black justice to serve on the Colorado Supreme Court, died unexpectedly at his home in Indiana. He was 72. Scott died Wednesday, the Denver Post reported. He was sworn onto the court in 1993 after being appointed by Gov. Roy Romer. He served seven years before stepping down to become vice president and general counsel of Kaiser-Hill LLC, a private company contracted to clean up a former nuclear weapons facility in the Denver suburbs. When announcing his retirement from the court, Scott said it had been an “experience of a lifetime.” Patty Powell, an adjunct faculty member at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law and one of Scott’s friends, said Thursday that Scott was a giant and a role model for the state’s legal community. “He was such an intellectual giant. He loved the law. He was a good person, too,” Powell said, recalling when he asked advice from friends on whether he should seek a seat on the court. “All of those things added up to your needing to do that. And you would be the first Black justice on the Colorado Supreme Court and that diversity is needed.” Scott participated in about 1,000 opinions, including Hill v. Thomas in which the court upheld a state law that created an eight-foot buffer zone between protesters and people entering abortion clinics. The opinion survived a challenge before the U.S. Supreme Court. Retired Denver County Judge Gary Jackson said Scott was active in the community before he joined the state Supreme Court and continued to participate in organizations after his appointments to the NAACP, Urban League and Sam Cary Bar Association. “He had a calling,” Jackson said. “He served as a role model for many, many diverse people of color who didn’t think they had the opportunity to be corporate lawyers, security lawyers, law professors, judges.” Scott earned his law degree at Indiana University. He and his wife, Carolyn Scott, moved to Denver in 1977 when he became a trial attorney with the Securities and Exchange Commission’s regional office. Carolyn Scott also was a lawyer, and the couple had two sons, Joshua and Elijah. Both sons died within a year of each other while in their late 30s. Scott moved to Anderson, Indiana, later in life where he served as executive director of the Indiana Civil Rights Commission until a near-fatal car accident impacted his mobility and speech and forced him to retire. Scott died the same day as retired Colorado Supreme Court Justice Mary Mullarkey, who was the first woman to serve as the state’s chief justice. Funeral arrangements for Scott have not been set.
New Autopsy Finds Kansas Black Man’s 2004 Death Was Homicide KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) – The case of a Black man who died following a party in rural Kansas more than 16 years ago has been ruled a homicide after his body was exhumed as federal authorities investigate his death as a possible hate crime. The Federal Bureau of Investigation said Monday that a new autopsy on the body of Alonzo Brooks concluded the cause of death was homicide. His body was exhumed last year from a Topeka cemetery and transported to Dover Air Force Base for an examination. Brooks was 23 when he disappeared after attending a party near La Cynge, Kansas, in May 2004. His family later found his body in a creek near where the party was held. The FBI reopened the investigation in 2019 and offered a $100,000 reward for information. Federal authorities say Brooks’ death was possibly racially motivated. He was one of only three Black people at a party attended by about 100 people at a farm near La Cynge. “We knew that Alonzo Brooks died under very suspicious circumstances,” Acting U.S. Attorney Duston Slinkard said in a news release. “This new examination by a team of the world’s best forensic pathologists and experts establishes it was no accident. Alonzo Brooks was killed. We are doing everything we can, and will spare no resources, to bring those responsible to justice.” The new autopsy focused on injuries to parts of Brooks’ body that the examiner concluded are inconsistent with normal patterns of decomposition, the FBI said. “The FBI’s commitment to justice remains at the forefront of each and every investigation,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Timothy Langan. “Our reach is broad, and the strength of our investigative tools are exceptional. We remain dedicated to uncovering the truth surrounding the murder of Alonzo Brooks and ensuring those responsible are held accountable for their actions.”
Tulsa Sued for Race Massacre Related Documents OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – An attorney who has sued the city of Tulsa for reparations for victims and descendants of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre has filed a lawsuit for the release of records related to the massacre and the coming centennial of the attack. “Plaintiff seeks these documents in connection with the upcoming Centennial” of the attack that killed an estimated 300 mostly Black people and wounded 800 more, the lawsuit states. “The documents are crucial to provide an accurate public accounting of the Massacre, and will assist plaintiff in its research, writing, and responses to interview and public speaking requests to commemorate and memorialize the Massacre, its victims and its ongoing impact,” according to the lawsuit.