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Wel c Dee per ome Con to te

Obs Black Entrepreneur erve Signs r Int Major Deal with Sam’seClub ract ive

nt. P US Court to Revise ictu Policies After res Mov Sexual LaMisconduct e. A wsu d s Ta Disc it All Allegations O R TH lk. L ege rimi IS P s n 3. S r i v e a C e g t A to Take Her Family Tea Recipe Nationwide SMARTNP LOGO Sho ion nan O HON WIT ffice t Pri by H YO ppi E. ng. son UR T r ABL E Nailah Ellis-Brown, maker of Ellis Island Tea, is the only female African American beverage maker in the United States with her own manufacturing plant. Her family recipe for Jamaican Sweet Tea can now be found in the coolers of every Sam’s Club location in the country!

Detroit, MI — Detroit entrepreneur Nailah Ellis-Brown is defying the odds. At the age of 20, she started her hand-crafted tea business during the height of the Great Recession in one of the hardest hit cities in America. She should have failed.

Instead, today Ellis-Brown’s business is thriving – she has her own beverage manufacturing plant and has just inked a deal that will test her family recipe for Jamaican Sweet Tea in every Sam’s Club location in the country beginning on May 16.

Last fall, Ellis-Brown’s bottled Jamaican Sweet Tea – known as Ellis Island Tea – hit the shelves in Sam’s Clubs in Michigan, Indiana and Ohio. Response to the Sam’s Club exclusive 64-ounce bottles of her hibiscus-based tea was so good that Ed Romero, Sam’s Club Sr. Vice President General Merchandise Manager of Fresh, decided to give Ellis-Brown a shot at the rest of the Sam’s Club locations. Starting this May, Ellis Island Tea will be sold in all of the nearly 600 Sam’s Club locations across the nation.

“We’re heading into summer so the timing couldn’t be better,” Ellis-Brown said. “Ellis Island Tea is the perfect party beverage for summer celebrations, backyard barbecues or holiday festivities. It is an antioxidant rich, beautiful red tea with a smooth, exotic flavor. It offers iced tea lovers a fresh, innovative beverage made from all-natural ingredients.”

Romero said he enjoys the tea’s “complex flavor and fantastic

color.”

“Bringing high quality, unique items that are exclusive to Sam’s Club is what we’re all about,” said Romero. “We think our members are going to love this item. And we’re proud that Nailah even uses our Member’s Mark All-American Fancy Clover White Honey as one of her ingredients.”

When Ellis-Brown first connected with Sam’s Club executives, Ellis Island Tea already was sold in more than 500 stores including Whole Foods, Meijer and Kroger, in high-traffic airports nationwide, in niche markets and online. Ellis-Brown herself had earned national recognition for her business acumen and her brand, landing on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in 2016, making Forbes All-Star List in 2017 and appearing on The Root 100 list last year. All that is great, but for Ellis-Brown the bottom line is critical. This new deal is a game changer.

“This Sam’s Club order is by far the biggest order I’ve received in my 10 years in business,” Ellis-Brown said. “It’s exciting to have our plant operational every day almost ‘round the clock. I know I am creating jobs for fellow Detroiters, which has been one of my goals since I opened my plant in 2014.”

Ellis-Brown is the only African American female beverage maker in the United States with her own manufacturing plant.

Since opening her state-of-the-art facility, she’s been able to provide services for other small beverage companies who can’t afford the minimum batch requirements of larger production outlets.

While others doubted her potential for success, Ellis-Brown knew deep down that she had the right ingredients to make it.

Continued on page A3

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) _ The nation’s largest federal court circuit is establishing a new position to oversee discrimination and sex harassment training following the resignation of a judge facing sexual misconduct allegations.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court announced Monday that its juLOS a new job for a director of workplace reladicial council cer i approved ANG s s tions. The council agreed ELEto revise the court’s confidentiality baby uinalso g tithedoesn’t S (A employees from reporting w policy to clarify that s h t TO was ile re P) _ ate pprevent p s R r p sexual misconduct or harassment.

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By Lauren Victoria Burke NNPA Newswire Contributor Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, an American actress with an African American mother, were married on May 19 after exchanging vows at St. George’s Chapel in the Windsor Castle in England about an hour from London.

The ceremony was striking for its racial diversity in a royal family not know for it. The blend of African American and British culture noted by many onlookers resulted in a memorable ceremony with cutting edge aspects and several obvious historical first for the British royal family.

It wasn’t just the entrance of tennis champion Serena Williams wearing Versace or Oprah Winfrey in a pink Stella McCartney dress and hat, it was the music, the style and the words spoken at the ceremony.

Gone was the predictable stuffiness that often accompanies royal ceremonies; the wedding’s diversity made the affair even more regal.

The bride’s mother, Doria Ragland, stood nearby, sometimes shedding tears, as the only blood relative on Meghan’s Markle’s side of the family to attend the wedding. Markle’s father, Thomas, was too ill to attend the ceremony after a recent heart ailment.

Sheku Kanneh-Mason, a Black 19-year-old classic cellist from Nottingham England, who was the first Black musician to win the BBC Young Musician of the Year award in 2016, performed at the wedding. Kanneh-Mason performed “Sicilienne,” “Après un rêve” and “Ave Continued on page A5

America’s First Black Billionaire

By Freddie Allen Editor-in-Chief, NNPA Newswire Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, the president and CEO of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), co-hosted an event celebrating international filmmakers and the European premiere of a documentary about the life and legacy of Reginald F. Lewis, America’s first Black billionaire, during the Cannes Film Festival in France.

Dr. Chavis joined Loida Nicolas-Lewis, the widow of Reginald F. Lewis, and Ken Naz of MariKen Productions in hosting the affair at the Le Majestic Beach on Wednesday, May 16. The Honorable David Lisnard, the mayor of Cannes also attended the star-studded event.

“On behalf of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, we are very pleased to co-host, along with the Lewis family, the European premier of the documentary,” said Dr. Chavis.

The documentary titled, “PIONEERS: Reginald F. Lewis and the Making of a Billion Dollar Empire,” chronicles the rise of one of Wall Street’s greatest entrepreneurs.

As a young man growing up in Baltimore, Lewis began his record-breaking, entrepreneurial journey with the Black Press, Dr. Chavis said, distributing newspapers like the Baltimore AFRO. According to a 1988 New York Times article, when Lewis was 9 years-old, he acquired a paper route that ‘’ultimately became a $15 to $20-a-week business—a lot of money in those days,” he said.

Lewis attended Virginia State University then Harvard Law School and worked in corporate law after he graduated. He helped to establish the first African American law firm on Wall Street. In 1983, he launched TLC Group, L.P. and organized the $22.5 million leveraged buyout of McCall Pattern Company, according to his official biography.

“Lewis streamlined operations, increased marketing, and led the company to two of the most profitable years in McCall’s 113year history,” Lewis’s biography said. “In the summer of 1987, he sold the company for $65 million, making a 90-to-1 return on his investment.”

According to his biography, Lewis then outmaneuvered Citicorp to acquire Beatrice Foods, which included 64 companies in 31 countries; the deal was worth $985 million, the largest leveraged buyout of overseas assets by an American company at that time.

“As Chairman and CEO of the new TLC Beatrice International, [Lewis] moved quickly to reposition the company, pay down the debt, and vastly increase its worth,” his biography said.

“By 1992, the company had sales of over $1.8 billion annually,

making it the first Black-owned business to generate a billion dollars in annual sales.”

In the documentary, Ken Chenault, the former CEO of American Express, said that Lewis’s success helped to pave the way for many African American businessmen and women on Wall Street.

“I think that really is the test in demonstration of real leadership,” Chenault said.

Lewis was not only an incredibly successful businessman, he also gave back to the Black community in extraordinary ways.

Lewis represented The Wilmington Ten, a group of political prisoners, who were wrongfully convicted in 1971 of firebombing a White-owned grocery store in Wilmington, N.C. Dr. Chavis, who was a 24 year-old civil rights leader with the New York-based Commission for Racial Justice, at the time, was one of the Wilmington Ten, and credited Lewis with helping to get their convictions overturned by the federal appeals court in 1980 and ultimately championing the eventual exonerations of the group.

“He offered the rope of hope. He offered what was possible.

He never stopped giving [to] the Civil Rights Movement, to political leadership, to universities,” Reverend Jesse Jackson, Sr. said in the documentary. “He never stopped giving…selfless giving.”

Dr. Chavis said that he has personal and professional interests in the promotion of the documentary.

“It’s in the best interest of the NNPA, as a national trade group that represents Black-owned newspapers, to be supportive of other Black-owned entities…in the film industry, in the entertainment industry and the media industry,” Dr. Chavis said. “All of that comes together at the Cannes Film Festival.”

Dr. Chavis said that it was important for the NNPA to not only co-host the European premiere of the documentary on Reginald Lewis, but to also support the Lewis family in screening “PIONEERS” in major U.S. markets and at other international film festivals and venues. The NNPA announced plans to screen the Reginald Lewis documentary at their annual conference in Norfolk, Va., in June.

Dr. Chavis said that the Reginald Lewis documentary sends a powerful message to young people of color to never settle for the realities of poverty and injustice that exist today.

“Young people of color must summon all of their God-given talents to respond to those circumstances by focusing on economic development, economic empowerment and improving the quality of life in the communities where they live,” Dr. Chavis said. “The Reginald Lewis story is a transcendent story for those

US Postal Service Issuing Scratch and Sniff Stamps

WASHINGTON (AP) _ Letter writers will soon be able to express their sentiments in words and smells.

The U.S. Postal Service announced Monday that it will soon issue its first scratch-and-sniff stamps. The stamps feature illustrations of ice pops. The agency says the stamps will “add the sweet scent of summer’’ to letters.

The 20 stamps depict watercolor illustrations by California artist Margaret Berg. Each of the 10 stamp designs includes two different treats. The words “FOREVER’’ and “USA’’ appear along the bottom of each stamp.

The stamps will be issued on June 20 at a children’s museum in Austin, Texas.

Illegal Street Race Kills 2 Children in So. California PERRIS, Calif. (AP) _ Two young children have died after a Southern California street racer smashed into their car.

The California Highway Patrol tells KNBC-TV that the children, who were 6 and 8 years old, were in a Nissan Versa that was struck head-on Tuesday by a car taking part in the illegal race in Perris.

The children died at a hospital.

CHP Officer Dan Olivas says the drivers of the Versa and the Honda Accord that hit it suffered minor to moderate injuries.

The CHP says the driver of the Accord could face charges of vehicular manslaughter.

Authorities are looking for the other car involved in the street race. Witnesses described as a black, possibly 2005 Nissan Altima.

NAACP Statement on Santa Fe High School Shooting BALTIMORE, Md., May 18, 2018 /NNPANewswirePR/ The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the nation’s premier civil rights organization, issued the following statement regarding the tragic shooting at Santa Fe High School in Santa Fe, Texas: The NAACP mourns the tragic and senseless loss of 10 lives on Friday, May 18 at Santa Fe High School in Texas. In addition to those killed, 10 individuals were also wounded. Nine of the 10 fatalities were students, studying subjects they loved and planning for their future. This is the 22nd school shooting of 2018, according to CNN. We cannot sit back and allow gun violence to continue to take the lives of our students. The NAACP sends our sincerest condolences to the family and friends of the victims and everyone whose lives they touched. Talk alone is not enough to address the issue of gun violence in

Video Captures Bus Driver Counting Cash While Driving “PIONEERS: Reginald F. Lewis and the Making of a Billion Dollar Empire” was featured during a star-studded reception at the Cannes Film Festival. (WNET/Greg Heisler)

young people today who are contemplating becoming entrepreneurs on Wall Street.”

Dr. Chavis continued: “Reginald Lewis proved that you can transcend racial barriers, that you can transcend the ideology of White supremacy and not only overcome those obstacles, but also excel in U.S. and around the world.”

SECAUCUS, N.J. (AP) _ Transit officials will investigate a New Jersey bus driver who was seen on video allegedly counting cash while driving.

A passenger captured the incident and posted it Saturday on Twitter, saying the New York-bound bus was traveling through Secaucus that evening when the driver started sorting money.

NJ Transit spokeswoman Nancy Snyder says the agency is investigating. She says NJ Transit has explicit rules that prohibit drivers from counting money or tickets while driving.

The name of the driver has not been released.

World & Nation

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LOS ANGELES NEWS OBSERVER

Thursday, May 24, 2018

A #MeToo Upheaval Up and Down the Croisette

By JAKE COYLE AP Film Writer CANNES, France (AP) - Fifty years after filmmakers shut down the Cannes Film Festival, the prestigious Cote d’Azur extravaganza was again shook by upheaval.

From the start to the finish, the 71st Cannes was dominated by protest and petition for gender equality, culminating in the extraordinary sight at the festival’s closing ceremony Saturday of Italian filmmaker and Harvey Weinstein accuser Asia Argento vowing justice for sexual predators in the film industry.

“You know who you are,’’ Argento told the audience. “But more importantly, we know who you are. And we’re not going to allow you to get away with it any longer.’’

Argento’s excoriating speech had all the more effect because it was at Cannes 21 years ago that Weinstein raped her, she has said. Weinstein, for decades a ubiquitous fixture of the festival, has denied allegations of non-consensual sex. Declaring that Weinstein would never again set foot

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at the Cannes Film Festival -”his hunting ground,’’ she said - Argento’s speech was the final salvo in a festival bombarded by demands for change.

The festival wrapped Saturday after 12 turbulent days of soul-searching and cinema and was defined as much by who wasn’t there as who was. Weinstein, of course, was absent. So too was Netflix, which pulled its films from Cannes after the festival ruled films must have theatrical distribution in France to compete in Cannes’ main slate.

With a few notable exceptions like Spike Lee’s Grand Prix-winning, rousingly received Ku Klux Klan drama “BlacKkKlansman,’’ American films were also largely AWOL, a casualty partly of Hollywood’s increasing focus on a fall-festival launching pad for Oscar hopefuls. Selfies were banned, as was, back in Kenya, the lesbian drama “Rafiki,’’ the country’s first film at Cannes.

Seats were left poignantly vacant for two filmmakers in competition, Iran’s Jafar Panahi and Russia’s Kirill Serebrennikov, whose home countries have prohibited either from traveling. The French filmmaking legend Jean-Luc Godard, who spearheaded the protests in 1968 that shut down Cannes amid nationwide strikes, didn’t attend but called in via FaceTime. He still walked away with a first-time award that the jury dubbed the “Palme d’Or SpÈciale.’’

And yet among the glaring absences, there were powerful presences. There were only three films directed by women among the 21 films in competition, but each was among the most talked-about films at the festival. Two of them took home awards: Lebanese filmmaker Nadine Labaki’s neo-realistic child poverty drama “Capernaum,’’ which won the Jury Prize, and Italian director Alice Rohrwacher’s farm boy fable “Happy as Lazzaro,’’ which tied with Panahi’s “Three Faces’’ for best screenplay.

Perhaps the festival’s most inedible moment came ahead of the premiere of French filmmaker Eva Husson’s “Girls of the Sun,’’ which is about a Kurdish battalion of women soldiers. Eighty-two women together walked the red carpet and stood on the Palais steps to, as Cannes’ Artist Director Thierry Fremaux said, “affirm their presence.’’ Their number reflected the sum total of female directors whose films have played in competition in Cannes’ 71-year history.

“Women are not a minority in the world, and yet our industry says the opposite,’’ said jury president Cate Blanchett and, in French, Agnes Varda, from the top of the Palais steps. “The stairs of our industry must be accessible to all. Let’s climb.’’

Issues of gender equality are especially acute in Cannes not just because it was for so many years a French Rivera playground for Weinstein. With elaborate red-carpet pageantry, Cannes is a massive, formally attired expression of tradition, one carefully guarded by etiquette and status. As Christopher Nolan said, introducing his glorious restoration of Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey,’’ Cannes is “the festival that cares the most about the history of cinema and the traditions of cinema.’’

But in the era of (hash)MeToo, its critics say, Cannes has remained too male. Only one female filmmaker (Jane Campion in 1993 for “The Piano’’) has won the Palme. The inclusion in this year’s program of Lars von Trier, the Danish provocateur previously declared “persona non grata’’ at Cannes, was evidence to some that Cannes remains too much in the thrall of male auteurs.

Yet it was hard to miss the sweep of change at this year’s festival.

Just two days after the 82-women rally, a collection of women’s rights groups including France’s 50/50 by 2020 and the U.S.’s Time’s Up gathered in a crowded seaside tent just down the Croisette to press the festival to sign a pledge for improving gender equality.

The atmosphere was electric. Blanchett’s nine-member jury, including Ava DuVernay and Kristen Stewart, came and sat front row. They watched Fremaux and other festival leaders arrive and sign a pledge to make their selection process more transparent and take other measures to improve gender equality.

“The world has changed,’’ said Fremaux. “We must question our history and our habits.’’

How much Cannes is willing to adapt will only be apparent in the years to come. But even the clamor of this year’s Cannes was further proof of the festival’s singular position as the pre-eminent global stage for the movie industry. The protests for gender equality included participants from dozens of different countries, with varying levels of parity that would have been impossible anywhere else.

And, as usual, the films that were celebrated spanned the globe, from Poland’s “Cold War,’’ by Pawel Pawlikowski, to South Korean Lee Chang-dong’s “Burning.’’ The Palme d’Or went to Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kor-eda’s “Shoplifters,’’ a delicate drama about whether parenthood is determined by DNA or something deeper. A gentle and lovely film by a veteran master, the universally acclaimed “Shoplifters’’ gave Cannes something like consensus.

But the images that most defined this year’s Cannes weren’t on the screen, but in the rallies on and off the red carpet, and in the ringing words of Argento.

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Protecting Our Community and the Foster Care System

By Congresswoman Karen Bass (D-Calif.)

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, our community was under a full-fledged attack. Crack was in our streets, it was in our schools, it was in our parks, it was in our playgrounds, and for some, it was in our homes. The epidemic wasn’t just affecting one part of the community; this impacted the entire community, leaving sons without fathers, daughters without mothers, and parents, ultimately, alone.

But the carnage didn’t stop there. Policies enacted during the crack epidemic exacerbated the destruction. Children in South Los Angeles were ripped away from their parents and shipped off into the child welfare system, some to never see their parents, or their families, again. It was at the height of the crack epidemic when the number of kids in foster care exploded and the percentage of Black youth in the system skyrocketed.

Now, the country, not just our community, faces a new epidemic. Our child welfare system is already becoming increasingly populated due to the consequences of the opioid epidemic. The current crisis is starting to devastate families and our already overworked and under-resourced child welfare system. This time, we must apply the lessons learned from the crack epidemic: if you want successful policy, you must include the affected communities in the formulation of new policy.

We cannot afford to turn our backs on those impacted again.

At the end of this month, the Congressional Caucus on Foster Youth will host its 7th annual Foster Youth Shadow Day, a program that brings foster youth from all over the country to meet and shadow the very Members of Congress who represent them in Washington, D.C. No one knows more about the pitfalls of our nation’s child welfare system than those who grew up in it. These young people are travelling thousands of miles to come to D.C. to share their stories—both their challenges with abuse, trafficking, overmedication, or homelessness—as well as their successes with mentorship, adoption, family reunification, community activism and independent living.

The result of these visits is a better understanding of how to improve the child welfare system and fight against this epidemic.

The FY 2018 omnibus bill that was passed earlier this year had the single biggest increase in investment in child welfare funding history along with a large investment in funds to combat the opioid crisis. Despite this progress, there will always be more work to be done and this month, I look forward to continuing this fight.

National Foster Care Month is a month to honor the successes and challenges of the more than 400,000 foster youth across the country and to acknowledge the tireless efforts of those who work to improve outcomes for children in the child welfare system.

Making sure that all children have a permanent and loving home is not a Democrat or Republican issue – it should be an American priority. Our society is judged on how we treat the most vulnerable amongst us. We must invest in life improving foster care services, praise foster families, caregivers, and relatives for their selflessness to others, and continue to provide a hand up so that foster youth can realize their full potential.

Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.) says that National Foster Care Month is a month to honor the successes and challenges of the more than 400,000 foster youth across the country.

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BORN TO BE GREAT Wells Fargo Fined $500M for To be ready for the jobs of the future, students need learning experiences that meet them where they are, engage them deeply, let them progress at a pace that meets their individual needs, and helps them master the skills for today and tomorrow. To learn more about ESSA and how you can get involved, visit www.nnpa.org/essa.

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“Financial Harm to Consumers”

By Dr. John E. Warren San Diego Voice and Viewpoint/NNPA Member As federal agencies expand their investigation into the business practices of Wells Fargo & Company, the fines and penalties for the financial services institution, with $1.9 trillion in assets, continue to rise.

While many saw the news about the $1 billion fine against Wells Fargo, the real story was not in the amount of the fine, but rather who fined the bank and why.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) assessed a $500 million penalty against Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. “and ordered the bank to make restitution to customers harmed by its unsafe or unsound practices, and develop and implement an effective enterprise-wide compliance risk management program,” according to a press release about the fine.

The press release continued: “The OCC’s action was closely coordinated with an action by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), which through a separate and collaborative approach assessed a $1 billion penalty against the bank and credited the amount collected by the OCC toward the satisfaction of its

fine.”

The press release said that, “The OCC took these actions given the severity of the deficiencies and violations of law, the financial harm to consumers, and the bank’s failure to correct the deficiencies and violations in a timely manner.”

The OCC found that the bank had violated Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Act. The OCC also reported that Wells Fargo, “engaged in unsafe and unsound practices relating to improper placement and maintenance of collateral protection insurance policies on auto loan accounts and improper fees associated with interest rate lock extensions,” the press release said. “The OCC penalty will be paid to the U.S. Treasury.” The order also modifies restrictions placed on the bank in November 2016 relating to the approval of severance payments to employees and the appointment of senior executive officers or board members, the press release said.

The press release continued: “The original restrictions related to severance payments applied to all employees, which unnecessarily delayed severance payments to employees who were not responsible for the bank’s deficiencies or violations.”

Thursday, May 24, 2018

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Features

Black Entrepreneur Racism after Graduation May Just Inks Deal w/Sam’s Club Be What’s on the Menu

By Julianne Malveaux NNPA Newswire Columnist Marvel’s “Black Panther,” Chadwick Boseman, graduated from Howard University with a bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts (BFA) in 2000.

On May 12, Boseman returned to his alma mater to address the Class of 2018, while receiving an honorary degree.

The Howard University graduation is one of more than 100 Historically Black College and University graduations and one of more than 4,000 general graduations across the country.

On May 5, White House Correspondent April Ryan, brought down the house at Bennett College in North Carolina.

In Arkansas on the same day, journalist and political commentator Sophia Nelson, made lasting remarks during the Philander Smith College commencement exercise.

All across the nation, families are gathering, people are celebrating and graduations are being hailed as an occasion of joy.

However, despite these many festivities, if you are a Black American who graduated from the University of Florida (UF), your achievements may have been marred by the horrible memory of faculty marshals physically pushing you off of the stage, after you decided to celebrate your Black Greek (fraternity) pride, with the execution of a few “steps.”

More than 20 students were assaulted by the unidentified faculty member (although some say he is a chemistry lecturer), who is now on paid leave.

Why would the university continue to pay someone who seems to have differentially attacked Black students, as apparently no White students were assaulted or pushed off of the stage?

This lecturer is a menace to society and college students, who should not be exposed to his racism, either on stage or in a classroom.

According to The New York Times, UF President W. Kent Fuchs apologized to the affected students and left a personal message of apology on Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity member Oliver Telusma’s voicemail, due to the incident.

However, from where I sit, President Fuchs should track that student down along with all of the others and visit them face-to-face.

The UF incident reminds Black students that graduation is but one of the many hurdles they must clear.

Every day, every single day, they face the possibility of pernicious racism, differential treatment, and the threat of law enforcement to compel compliance with the most foolish of laws and norms, spoken or unspoken.

That’s why Holly Hylton, the White woman who managed a Philadelphia Starbucks, felt free to call the police on two Black men after they had been seated, without ordering anything.

That’s why a hysterical White female bigot, called the police on a Black man, who was barbecuing in a public park in Oakland, California, where barbecuing is customary.

That’s why the police were called on three Black women (and a White man), because they failed to wave or smile when they exited an Airbnb in Rialto, California, and were detained for 45 minutes despite possessing proof that they had reserved their space.

That’s why the police wrestled a 25-year-old Black woman to the ground (exposing her bare breasts) in an Alabama Waffle House, after she asked for plastic cutlery and an ignorant employee reportedly said “she did not know her place,” and the beat goes on and on and on.

The police are too often called to put Black people in their place, to force them to comply, to reinforce the tenet of White supremacy; the notion that when we see a White person, we must shuck and jive and smile. So-called law enforcement officers become servants of racism, who want us in our place.

I want the graduates to know that their place is everyplace.

Class of 2018, your place is in that Starbucks at the table, order or not. Your place is in that Waffle House, getting the utensils you requested. Your place is at the lake in Oakland, burning those bones on your grill. Your place is on that stage at UF. Resistance has a high price. Who wants to go to jail and end up, like Sandra Bland, whose mysterious death in Texas still has not been solved? Who wants to be handcuffed, humiliated, exposed, and maligned, just for asking a simple question?

Starbucks will close thousands of stores to the tune of millions of dollars for unconscious bias training. But who will train these biased police officers and the racists who call them, because their feelings are bruised when no one waves at them?

The Class of 2018 will learn, as have millions of other Black Americans, that racism is alive and well.

They’ve cleared a hurdle with graduation, but even as some cross the stage, they are being reminded that there are many more hurdles to clear, to survive in our unfortunately racist nation.

Perhaps though, the Class of 2018, will be among those to dismantle the racist hurdles.

Perhaps in the process of clearing other hurdles (graduate and professional school, marriage and children, artificial intelligence and gentrification), they will also find the wherewithal to eliminate racial barriers to success.

Ellis-Brown would brew tea in her mother’s kitchen and sell it from a cooler in the trunk of her car around Detroit.

One of those was resilience, another determination.

“Growing up in Detroit, I knew nothing was going to be handed to me. I expected doors to be closed and knew I would need to work hard and never take ‘no’ for an answer,” she said.

“I’ve heard ‘no’ but I haven’t let that stand in my way. There is always a way forward.”

Ellis-Brown’s story gives hope to other entrepreneurs. In 2008, she was a 20-year-old college dropout and was living in her mom’s basement. All she had was the desire to be her own boss and a recipe handed down from her great-grandfather for Jamaican Sweet Tea. Each night Ellis-Brown would brew tea in her mother’s kitchen and sell it from a cooler in the trunk of her car around Detroit. She’d return home every night with an empty cooler and cash in hand – more than enough money to buy the ingredients to brew more tea for the next day’s efforts. But that wasn’t enough. Ellis-Brown knew she wanted more. She wanted her family tea to be sold on store shelves everywhere.

“People would see me and say ‘Hey aren’t you that Lemonade Girl?’ and I’d say ‘No, I make tea,” Ellis-Brown said. “There is a lot of history in the recipe for this tea. It was handed down

to me from my Great-Grandfather Cyril Byron, who was a Jamaican immigrant. He knew his recipe had value. He passed it down through the generations with the caveat that it was to be ‘sold, not told’ – meaning take the tea to market. I am honoring his legacy every single day with every bottle of Ellis Island Tea I brew and sell.”

Ellis Island Tea is not just any iced tea. It is the only Jamaican Sweet Tea made in America! It is an all-natural bottled tea made from hibiscus with a smooth, refreshing flavor. Its rich red in color makes it a standout on store shelves and at events and parties.

Starting her own company back in 2008 stemmed from Nailah Ellis-Brown’s lifelong desire to become an entrepreneur.

Choosing to brew Ellis Island Tea came from her hope to carry on her family legacy. Ellis Island Tea is based on a recipe created by her Great-Grandfather Cyril Byron, a Jamaican immigrant, chef and entrepreneur who told his family the recipe was to be “Sold, not told.” Ellis-Brown honors those words every day working from her company headquarters in Detroit where the tea is brewed.

Dr. Julianne Malveaux says that for our young millennials, racism is inevitable.

Black Mothers Forum Helps Arizona Students Succeed

Janelle Wood is the founder of the Black Mothers Forum, a parents’ group in the Phoenix, Ariz.-area that was empowered by the Every Student Succeeds Act. (Black Mothers Forum)

By Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire Contributor Janelle Wood is on a mission.

The Arizona State University and Phoenix Seminary graduate has been on that mission since she gave birth to a son, years ago.

Her prayer, she said, is that she’ll be a “radiant light in dark spaces” who leaves a legacy of hope, peace and love.

Wood and other parents in the Phoenix area’s Black Mothers Forum are seen as game-changers in the fight for education equality for Black children.

Led by Wood, who has served as a pastor in a women’s prison and as Chief of Staff for the Phoenix City Council, the group has taken the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), the education law passed during the Obama Administration, very seriously. The Black parents’ group is using ESSA to leverage their awareness and involvement in their children’s education and to ensure that African American students excel in the public school system.

“We, as Black mothers, have come together to collectively address the concerns that we have with our Black sons and daughters being pushed out of their schools at an alarmingly higher rate

than their White peers all over the nation,” Wood said.

The mission of the Black Mothers Forum, Wood explained, is to educate parents on their rights with respect to student discipline and a culturally-inclusive curriculum, while also getting organized through focus groups that allow members of the forum to execute a course of action to effectively make structural changes.

“We do this by meeting multiple times a month and having various experts come in from various organizations to educate and train our mothers on knowing their rights, sharing a culturally-integrated curriculum and learning [the signs and symptoms] of any mental health challenges our children may be experiencing,” Wood said.

For instance, the group has entered partnerships with the ACLU’s Demand 2 Learn program, Arizona State University’s Center for the Study of Race and Democracy, and other initiatives.

Members of the Black Mothers Forum, also completed a 13-week course on Black history to help develop a deeper understanding of their ancestors so that they could properly inform their children.

“We attend high school and grade school district board meetings regularly and address the disproportionate suspensions and dismissals of our students of color for minor infractions,” said Gwendolyn Payton, a Black Mothers Forum member, who also serves in the Equality division of the organization. “As a result of speaking out, schools are contacting us to come on campus and be visible and interact with our students of color. We challenge the schools to include more culturally diverse curriculum and activities and to hire more teachers and principals of color.”

In February, when a Black Phoenix charter school student was pulled out of school after officials claimed the boy’s hair braids violated school policy, the Black Mothers Forum sprang into action to defend the youth causing the district to issue a mea culpa and welcome the child back to school.

“The dress code at the school was specifically created as another means of targeting and harassing our Black children,” Wood said.

But, it’s just one reason why the group must encourage Black mothers to attend school board meetings and request study sessions be conducted publicly to address the disproportionate disciplinary practices with respect to Black children, Wood said.

“When we show up in large numbers to address an issue we have seen positive results,” Wood said. “We have found that in order to dismantle the school to prison pipeline it starts with us focusing in on ensuring our children are in safe and supportive learning environments and that means we need to address the punitive disciplinary actions administered by implicitly biased school administers and teachers.”

Wood continued: “We strongly believe that, as parents, we have the power to change the current school system when we collectively communicate the same message.”

According to Wood, that message is simple: “We, as Black mothers, will no longer remain silent while our children are blatantly disrespected, threatened, harassed, intimidated, provoked, neglected and set up to fail through policies, disciplinary practices, curriculum, regulations and/or laws deeply rooted in racial stereotypes.”

Learn more about the Every Student Succeeds Act and your rights as a parent at nnpa.org/essa.

Meet the Genius Black Inventor Who Created the Super Soaker -- And Holds More Than 80 Patents on Other Popular Products

Lonnie Johnson, from Mobile, Alabama, was working as an engineer for NASA when he accidentally created what led to the invention of the Super Soaker water gun. It was the year 1990, and his invention quickly became America’s favorite toy and went on to generate more than $1 billion dollars in revenue.

Now 68-years old, Lonnie recently told Forbes that he has been “tinkering around” with inventions all his life. Although he had absolutely no experience at all in the retail industry, he just knew that his super-powered water gun would be a great product for both children and adults alike.

How he came up with the idea Lonnie says that one day while at work in a NASA laboratory, he was working on a heat pump that used water instead of Freon. He was experimenting with nozzles, and suddenly he was able to shoot a stream of water across the room. The vision came to him almost instantly!

In 1989, he pitched the idea to some executives in the toy industry at the annual Toy Fair, and convinced them to develop the product and pay him royalties. And within just one year, the

Super Soaker was in toy stores all across the country... and the rest is history!

More than just water guns Most people don’t know this, but Lonnie is also the guy who invented high performance Nerf dart guns. These also became wildly popular, leading to a lucrative licensing deal with Hasbro the largest toy maker in the world. He reportedly made more than $70 million in royalties from this deal.

In addition, Lonnie continues to run his own engineering firm called Johnson Research. Based in Atlanta, he and his 25 employees are currently developing two devices that he believes can revolutionize electrical power generation and storage.

He currently holds over 80 patents, and has over 20 more pending on products and processes ranging from toys and consumer products to advanced technology energy devices and methods.

To learn more about Lonnie Johnson and/or his company, visit www.johnsonrd.com

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Coach Mike Mayden, director of the National Urban Professional Baseball League.

Negro League Baseball is Back Nationwide — Thanks to the National Urban Professional Baseball League, the rebirth of Negro League Baseball will take place with opening day on May 25, 2018 in Laurel, Mississippi at 7pm as the Vickie Pasley All-Stars (the first African American woman to have a professional baseball team named after her) will take on the Josh Gibson All-Stars.

On May 31, 2018 the Rube Foster All-Stars will take on the Lester Barclay All-Stars at USA Stadium in Millington, Tennessee for its opening day. We are encouraging all that can and will to set their schedule and plan to attend this great event a blast from the past. As each game day will have a special theme, open mic night, Jazz/Blues night, Senior Citizen Day, Gospel Night, Family & Friends Old School Night and Game Day @ The Park, not to mention the Fish Fry and Fried Chicken Dinners.

Mike Mayden, league director, comments, “We want this league to provide affordable family entertainment, promote diversity in the game of baseball, rekindle past memories of African American baseball players and to link this new generation of youth baseball players to the past history of the game.”

The season will run from May 25th though the second week in August. The home fields will be Wooten Legion Field in Laurel, Mississippi and USA Stadium in Millington, Tennessee. Full schedules are posted on the website at www.nupbl.com.

“Opening day will be Gospel Night for both openers as we dedicate this league to God,” Mayden says.

Sponsorship opportunities are available. To inquire, please contact the league at baseball@nupbl.com or (773) 741-3530.

Admission is just $8 per person, and parking is free.

Former UCLA product and current Cleveland Cavalier Kevin Love posting up Draymond Green in 2017 NBA Finals. (Cavsnation.com)

NBA Players Speak on Mental Illness

By Cameron Buford Whatsgoodinsports.com It’s often been said sports are a microcosm of society. This makes a lot of sense as teams are often comprised of athletes from various ethnicities and upbringings across the globe. Just as different as their backgrounds would cause varying reactions to various situations that may arise in life or on the court. Players are often applauded for their mental awareness on the court or field of play, similarly these players should be applauded for speaking on a topic that often gets hidden or swept under the rug.

Recently, Kevin Love, the Cleveland Cavaliers Power Forward chose to speak on his situation and experience with, what he described as, a “panic attack” earlier this season against the Atlanta Hawks, “I thought this was a great opportunity to help someone.”

Love further expounded on his incident and his thoughts on this topic in his Players Tribune article, which he posted in March; “I’ve never been comfortable sharing much about myself. I turned 29 in September and for pretty much 29 years of my life I have been protective about anything and everything in my inner life. I was comfortable talking about basketball — but that came natural. It was much harder to share personal stuff, and looking back now I know I could have really benefited from having someone to talk to over the years. But I didn’t share — not to my family, not to my best friends, not in public. Today, I’ve realized I

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8th at through March May Register Candidates cheerauditions cheerleader March Rams are hosting attherams.com/2018 The Los Angeles season starting Sunday, perform the 2018 ers not only and at auditions for Rams Cheerlead Coliseum 11. Los Angeles at the LA Memorial also participate service at home games in Mexico City, but community Estadio Azteca internaes, events and nationally and in public appearanc Angeles region, t the year. or oldacross the Los must be 18 tionally throughou online by looking to audition Candidates March 1, and must register n is not availer by Thursday, 8. Walk-up registratio y auditions Thursday, Marchfrom last year’s preliminar r/videos. able. Coverageat therams.com/chee Rams Cheerleaders can be viewed to auditions the Los Angeles In addition,voluntary workshops prior t the LA region. four Choare hosting Fitness locations throughou dance led by of n hour Hour at 24 includes one followed by a presentatio Each workshop PETERS, Rams Cheerleading Diper the reographer JOHN A segment with. Workshops cost $40.00 last and a Q & FIMBRES Footage from candiavailability. rector KEELY have limited viewed here. Interested person and .com/cheers can be year’s workshopup for workshops at therams dates may sign leaders/workshops.

(KEEP INSPIRING STRONG SISTAHS) Female First Black to Nominated Fame of State Hall

Women’s Retreat Held in Burbank

Tina Knowles-Lawson, wife, entrepreneur, and mother to singers Beyoncé & Solonge Knowles. (Carrington Prichett/Los Angeles News Observer Photo)

Candidates May Register through March 8th at attherams.com/2018cheerauditions The Los Angeles Rams are hosting cheerleader Bill Cosby’s auditions for the 2018 season starting Sunday, March Daughter Ensa Dies at 44 11. Los Angeles Rams Cheerleaders not only perform at home games at the LA Memorial Coliseum and Los at Angeles Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, but also participate in public appearances, events and community service across the Los Angeles region, nationally and internationally throughout the year.

Candidates looking to audition must be 18 or older by Thursday, March 1, and must register online by Thursday, March 8. Walk-up registration is not available. Coverage from last year’s preliminary auditions (KEEP INSPIRING STRONG SISTAHS) can be viewed at therams.com/cheer/videos.

Women’s Retreat In addition, the Los Angeles Rams Cheerleaders Held in Burbank are hosting four voluntary workshops prior to auditions at 24 Hour Fitness locations throughout the LA region.

Each workshop includes one hour of dance led by Choreographer JOHN PETERS, followed by a presentation and a Q & A segment with the Rams Cheerleading Director KEELY FIMBRES. Workshops cost $40.00 per person and have limited availability. Footage from last year’s workshops can be viewed here. Interested candidates may sign up for workshops at therams.com/cheerleaders/workshops.

By Darlene L. Williams Los Angeles Contributing Beat Writer BURBANK, CA- The K.I.S.S. (Keep Inspiring Tina Knowles-Lawson further empowered the enerpe of HoWomen’s Strong retreat was held Saturday, Feb- getic group with an open question and answer session in geSistahs) Messa ruary, 24th at the Ramada- Burbank Airport Hotel from relation to operating successful businesses.

The CSU’s 1 p.m. to 9.m. The one-day event geared towards inspir“The best businesses are services people need. You ing and empowering women to love themselves, featured want to have a product that people need,” explained dia Tina CampKeynote Speaker,rn and Black MeWinner, Knowles-Lawson. iaMulti-Award Texas Woman toof Ca bell the lifo famed sister duo, Mary Mary and aeca Qtes andin Pants “Find a couple of people you can trust, she said. t an Def Gr ’s gs PG&E A session with entrepreneur, designer, philanthropist, to Hide Dru Knowles-Lawson along with husband, Actor Richmotivational speaker, and mother of iconic daughters ard Lawson successfully operates and owns WACO Beyonce’ and Solange; Tina Knowles-Lawson.

(Where Art Can Occur) Theater Group in Los Angeles, The event also included a One-Woman Stage play, where they mentor inner-city youths. an All Male Panel Discussion (What Men REALLY “I’ve always dreamed of mentoring young girls”, she Want?) hosted by Fox 11 News Reporter, Leah Uko; and said.

Flying Over 50 Exotic Dance Coach, Makeda Smith.

Event founder, producer, life-coach, and celebriCampbell, spoke to a group of about 70 women ty hairstylist, Stephanie Singleton told The Bakersfield about the importance of faith, forgiveness, and healing.

News Observer; that the overall message intended “I’m a person of faith, Campbell said. Jesus is for women is that they embrace their “outer and what I do”. inner beauty”.

Campbell, spoke about her marriage to Robert Coats and Brandon Ellis both husband, Teddy Campbell. “I dealt with his inflew out from Akron, Ohio to support Singlefidelity very publicly and it almost destroyed ton and the K.I.S.S. retreat.

“I’m here my marriage. I’ve overcome the opinions of to support the movement people,” she said. and brand. It’s power“God has your life fully orchestrated, Campful for bell told the attentive group, as she began to the womsoftly sing her hit song, “Destiny” an culture. This “I’ve got a destination in my view/ is a great time to push the road may be bumpy getting there/ for the woman, it’s so importBut I’m pressing through/ I will enjoy ant,” Coats said. this journey/ No matter come what “It’s a nice atmosphere; it’s nice what may/ I’ll become better and she’s (Singleton) doing for the women. stronger/ and wiser every It’s important to make women feel powerday.” ful, Ellis said. We are kings and queens.” “ W h y Additionally, Veteran Entertainlook good er and Flying Over 50 Exotic Dance when you can be Coach, Makeda Smith encouraged the good,” Campbell women in attendance to move their said. hips and to “awaken the sleeping goddess within.” “When was the last time Exotic Dance Coach, Makeda Smith leading you shook your hips? Smith asked. the audience in a dance practice. (Carrington Soon the energetic and funny Prichett/Los Angeles News Observer Photo)

Exotic Dance Coach, Makeda Smith leading the audience in a dance practice. (Carrington Prichett/Los Angeles News Observer Photo)

Observer Group Newspapers of Southern California

Tina Knowles-Lawson further empowered the energetic group with an open question and answer session in relation to operating successful businesses.

“The best businesses are services people need. You want to have a product that people need,” explained Knowles-Lawson.

“Find a couple of people you can trust, she said.

Knowles-Lawson along with husband, Actor Richard Lawson successfully operates and owns WACO (Where Art Can Occur) Theater Group in Los Angeles, where they mentor inner-city youths.

“I’ve always dreamed of mentoring young girls”, she said.

Event founder, producer, life-coach, and celebrity hairstylist, Stephanie Singleton told The Bakersfield News Observer; that the overall message intended for women is that they embrace their “outer and inner beauty”.

Robert Coats and Brandon Ellis both flew out from Akron, Ohio to support Singleton and the K.I.S.S. retreat.

“I’m here to support the movement and brand. It’s powerful for the woman culture. This is a great time to push for the woman, it’s so important,” Coats said.

“It’s a nice atmosphere; it’s nice what she’s (Singleton) doing for the women.

It’s important to make women feel powerful, Ellis said. We are kings and queens.”

Additionally, Veteran Entertainer and Flying Over 50 Exotic Dance Coach, Makeda Smith encouraged the women in attendance to move their hips and to “awaken the sleeping goddess within.” “When was the last time you shook your hips? Smith asked.

Soon the energetic and funny

First Black Female Nominated to State Hall of Fame

By Dr. Soraya M. Coley President, Cal Poly Pomona As I was reflecting on the importance of CSU’s Super Sunday, what came to mind was an experience I had meeting an African American great-grandmother who introduced me to her 8-year-old great-grandson that she and her husband were raising. She had heard my message about the

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) _ The first black female member of the General Assembly is being nominated to the Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame.

The late Margaret E. Morton was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1972. She served four terms, representing Bridgeport. She later won a Democratic primary against an incumbent senator and then went on to win the general election after a lengthy court battle with Bridgeport Democrats.

She served six terms in the Senate, eventually becoming deputy president pro tempore in 1990. She retired in 1992 and died in 2012.

Four current black women legislators nominated Morton to the hall of fame, citing her “quiet determination” to fight prejudice and racism.

Nominations for the hall of fame are accepted on an ongoing basis and reviewed by a consulting scholars committee.

Continued on page A2

Robertson s Communit Amelia ral Communic Multicultu Media Group, Pleshette of Black Employee Integrated One New Fiona Chan Publisher,One New Media Group.

Dudley Najieb, Lennice Najieb, G&E and

Multi-Grammy Winning Gospel Artist, Tina Campbell.

(Carrington Prichett/Los Angeles News Observer Photo)

57 year-old, whose motto is #SexyNeverGetsOld, had the women up on their feet and moving. It appeared as if all the sleeping goddesses had been awakened, as the women swayed their hips from side to side to a sultry and soulful blues tune Smith used for the inspirational moment.

Bridgett LaRe’, Author, Aspiring Actress and event attendee, told the BNO, “I was looking for self-love and a friend told me about the retreat; I knew it was God.” “I was handed a flyer at church, said another event attendee, LaToya Towner of Los Angeles, I’m trying to find myself.”

“K.I.S.S. stems from a personal place; it’s a movement, Singleton said. I’m helping women to know that we were all born with love and someone robbed us if you can’t say you love yourself.”

The CSU’s Message of Hope

Multi-Grammy Winning Gospel Artist, Tina Campbell.

(Carrington Prichett/Los Angeles News Observer Photo)

57 year-old, whose motto is #SexyNeverGetsOld, had the women up on their feet and moving. It appeared as if all the sleeping goddesses had been awakened, as the women swayed their hips from side to side to a sultry and soulful blues tune Smith used for the inspirational moment.

Bridgett LaRe’, Author, Aspiring Actress and event attendee, told the BNO, “I was looking for self-love and a friend told me about the retreat; I knew it was God.” “I was handed a flyer at church, said another event attendee, LaToya Towner of Los Angeles, I’m trying to find myself.”

“K.I.S.S. stems from a personal place; it’s a movement, Singleton said. I’m helping women to know that we were all born with love and someone robbed us if you can’t say you love yourself.”

Dr. Soraya M. Coley (Courtesy Photo)

L to R Justin Real, Sr. Program Manager, PG&E, Allen Fernandez Smith, Manager Customer Energy Efficiency, PG&E, Amelia Ashley-Ward, Publisher, Sun Reporter, Felicia Roberts, Publisher, Central Valley Voice, Dionne Adams, President of Black Employees Community Support, Regina Wilson, Executive Director, CBM, Valerie Bell, V.P. Operations, PG&E, Fiona Chan Integrated Multicultural Communications, PG&E, Jerilyn Gleaves, Manager, Supplier Diversity, PG&E, Julia Dudley Najieb, Publisher, One New Media Group, Pleshette Robertson, Publisher, Sac Cultural Hub, Libby O’Connell,PG&E and Lennice Najieb, One New Media Group.

Dr. Soraya M. Coley (Courtesy Photo)

Candidates May Register through March 8th at attherams.com/2018cheerauditions The Los Angeles Rams are hosting cheerleader auditions for the 2018 season starting Sunday, March 11. Los Angeles Rams Cheerleaders not only perform at home games at the LA Memorial Coliseum and at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, but also participate in public appearances, events and community service across the Los Angeles region, nationally and internationally throughout the year.

Candidates looking to audition must be 18 or older by Thursday, March 1, and must register online by Thursday, March 8. Walk-up registration is not available. Coverage from last year’s preliminary auditions can be viewed at therams.com/cheer/videos.

In addition, the Los Angeles Rams Cheerleaders are hosting four voluntary workshops prior to auditions at 24 Hour Fitness locations throughout the LA region.

Each workshop includes one hour of dance led by Choreographer JOHN PETERS, followed by a presentation and a Q & A segment with the Rams Cheerleading Director KEELY FIMBRES. Workshops cost $40.00 per person and have limited availability. Footage from last year’s workshops can be viewed here. Interested candidates may sign up for workshops at therams.com/cheerleaders/workshops.

First Black Female Nominated to State Hall of Fame HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) _ The first black female

member of the General Assembly is being nominated to the Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame.

The late Margaret E. Morton was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1972. She served four terms, representing Bridgeport. She later won a Democratic primary against an incumbent senator and then went on to win the general election after a lengthy court battle with Bridgeport Democrats.

She served six terms in the Senate, eventually becoming deputy president pro tempore in 1990. She retired in 1992 and died in 2012.

Four current black women legislators nominated Morton to the hall of fame, citing her “quiet determination” to fight prejudice and racism.

Nominations for the hall of fame are accepted on an ongoing basis and reviewed by a consulting scholars committee.

California Mayors Seek $1.5 Billion to Help Homeless

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) _ Mayors from California’s eleven largest cities on Wednesday asked state lawmakers to provide $1.5 billion to help with what they say is a growing homeless crisis.

They are backing legislation that would require the cities to provide matching funds, creating a $3 billion pot of money to be spent on affordable housing, temporary shelters, supportive services and outreach.

They said in an earlier letter to legislative leaders that lawmakers should use a quarter of the state’s $6.1 billion budget surplus to help the homeless.

San Diego Mayor Kevin L. Faulconer called it “the most pressing issue facing California cities today.’’

The mayors cited a 2017 federal estimate that the most populous state now has more than 134,000 homeless people.

Their request came the same day that two Democratic state senators announced they will seek $2 billion for affordable housing, also in response to the mayors’ requests.

The bipartisan group includes mayors from Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, San Francisco, Fresno, Long Beach, Sacramento, Oakland, Bakersfield, Anaheim and Santa Ana. The proposals come less than six months after Gov. Jerry Brown signed 15 housing bills into law. They imposed a new $75 real estate transaction fee and placed a $4 billion housing bond on the November ballot.

Texas Woman Defecates in Pants to Hide Drugs CORSICANA, Texas (AP) _ Police say a Texas woman attempted to hide evidence during an arrest by defecating in her pants and using the feces to conceal drugs.

Officers in Corsicana, about 55 miles (88 kilometers ) south of Dallas, were investigating a report of a theft at a grocery store on Wednesday when they attempted to subdue a female suspect and take her into custody. Police say they placed Shannen Martin in the back of a police cruiser where they say she intentionally defecated in her pants then hid a crack pipe, 2.3 grams of crack cocaine and a Valentine’s Day card in her excrement.

Officers had to sift through the woman’s feces to retrieve the evidence after Martin was booked on charges of tampering with evidence and possession of a controlled substance.

California Mayors Seek $1.5 Billion to Help Homeless

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) _ Mayors from California’s eleven largest cities on Wednesday asked state lawmakers to provide $1.5 billion to help with what they say is a growing homeless crisis.

They are backing legislation that would require the cities to provide matching funds, creating a $3 billion pot of money to be spent on affordable housing, temporary shelters, supportive services and outreach.

They said in an earlier letter to legislative leaders that lawmakers should use a quarter of the state’s $6.1 billion budget surplus to help the homeless.

San Diego Mayor Kevin L. Faulconer called it “the most pressing issue facing California cities today.’’

The mayors cited a 2017 federal estimate that the most populous state now has more than 134,000 homeless people.

Their request came the same day that two Democratic state senators announced they will seek $2 billion for affordable housing, also in response to the mayors’ requests.

The bipartisan group includes mayors from Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, San Francisco, Fresno, Long Beach, Sacramento, Oakland, Bakersfield, Anaheim and Santa Ana. The proposals come less than six months after Gov. Jerry Brown signed 15 housing bills into law. They imposed a new $75 real estate transaction fee and placed a $4 billion housing bond on the November ballot.

lanewsobserver.com increasing value of a college degree and the commitment of the CSU system to access and opportunity. She wanted reassurance that if her great-grandson continued to excel in school, he might one day achieve his dream of becoming an astronaut. She also wanted advice on courses he should take to prepare him for college. She and her husband were in their 70s and had few resources but were trying to set

PG&E’s Grant to California Black Media

By Tony Khing California Black Media SACRAMENTO -- On Feb. 22, PG&E presented a $53,000 grant to California Black Media to help their efforts in supporting major African-American news outlets within the company’s service area. The endowment was given during a multicultural media event at The California Endowment co-hosted by PG&E and CBM with eight African-American print and broadcast organizations.

“At PG&E, we work hard to support the African-American community all year, but February is a special month because it’s a formal acknowledgement of many

Tina Knowles-Lawson, wife, entrepreneur, and mother to singers Beyoncé & Solonge Knowles. (Carrington Prichett/Los Angeles News Observer Photo)

increasing value of a college degree and the commitment of the CSU system to access and opportunity. She wanted reassurance that if her great-grandson continued to excel in school, he might one day achieve his dream of becoming an astronaut. She also wanted advice on courses he should take to prepare him for college. She and her husband were in their 70s and had few resources but were trying to set Continued on page A2

on page A2

Continued on page A2

Los Angeles Rams Host Cheerleader 2018 Auditions

PG&E’s Grant to California Black Media

By Tony Khing California Black Media SACRAMENTO -- On Feb. 22, PG&E presented a $53,000 grant to California Black Media to help their efforts in supporting major African-American news outlets within the company’s service area. The endowment was given during a multicultural media event at The California Endowment co-hosted by PG&E and CBM with eight African-American print and broadcast organizations.

“At PG&E, we work hard to support the African-American community all year, but February is a special month because it’s a formal acknowledgement of many unsung African-American heroes who’ve made significant contributions in history. The African-American press is a vital resource in the African- American community. We’re pleased to partner with them to support their work. We look forward to continuing to work with them in 2018 on important PG&E updates and energy policy initiatives,” said PG&E Community Relations Manager Jimi Harris.

Representatives from outlets such as The Post News, Sun Reporter andSacramento Observer and other media outlets learned about PG&E’s Time of Use rate plan and how customers can better manage their energy usage.

During the one-hour session, they also received informa

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Thursday, March 1, 2018

The CSU’s Message of Hope

a Texas _ Police say arrest by Texas (AP) an CORSICANA,to hide evidence during to conceal using the feces woman attempted her pants and defecating in (88 kilomea , about 55 miles drugs. a report of investigatingwhen they atOfficers in Corsicana y of Dallas, were ters ) south store on Wednesdaand take her into suspect in the theft at a grocery subdue a female Shannen Martin lly tempted to say they placed say she intentiona custody. Police cruiser where they pipe, 2.3 grams hid a crack card in her exback of a police her pants then s Day Valentine’ defecated in a and feces of crack cocaine the woman’s on crement. to sift through was booked Officers had after Martin possession of a evidence and PG&E, the to retrieve with evidence Energy Efficiency, Customer Dionne Adams, President charges of tampering s, PG&E, Voice, Smith, Manager Operation Fernandez Central Valley Bell, V.P. controlled substance.

PG&E, Julia Diversity,O’Connell,PPG&E, Allen CBM, Valerie Roberts, Publisher, Manager, Director, Manager, Supplier Program Sun Reporter, Felicia Hub, Libby Real, Sr. Wilson, Executive Sac Cultural Jerilyn Gleaves, rd, Publisher,y Support, Regina L to R Justin , Publisher, ations, PG&E, Ashley-Wa

By Dr. Soraya M. Coley President, Cal Poly Pomona As I was reflecting on the importance of CSU’s Super Sunday, what came to mind was an experience I had meeting an African American great-grandmother who introduced me to her 8-year-old great-grandson that she and her husband were raising. She had heard my message about the

Billy Graham Civil Rights Regrets Page A4

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News Observer K.I.S.S.

By Darlene L. Williams Los Angeles Contributing Beat Writer BURBANK, CA- The K.I.S.S. (Keep Inspiring Strong Sistahs) Women’s retreat was held Saturday, February, 24th at the Ramada- Burbank Airport Hotel from 1 p.m. to 9.m. The one-day event geared towards inspiring and empowering women to love themselves, featured Keynote Speaker, and Multi-Award Winner, Tina Campbell of the famed sister duo, Mary Mary and a Q and A session with entrepreneur, designer, philanthropist, motivational speaker, and mother of iconic daughters Beyonce’ and Solange; Tina Knowles-Lawson.

The event also included a One-Woman Stage play, an All Male Panel Discussion (What Men REALLY Want?) hosted by Fox 11 News Reporter, Leah Uko; and Flying Over 50 Exotic Dance Coach, Makeda Smith.

Campbell, spoke to a group of about 70 women about the importance of faith, forgiveness, and healing.

“I’m a person of faith, Campbell said. Jesus is what I do”.

Campbell, spoke about her marriage to husband, Teddy Campbell. “I dealt with his infidelity very publicly and it almost destroyed my marriage. I’ve overcome the opinions of people,” she said.

“God has your life fully orchestrated, Campbell told the attentive group, as she began to softly sing her hit song, “Destiny” “I’ve got a destination in my view/ the road may be bumpy getting there/ But I’m pressing through/ I will enjoy this journey/ No matter come what may/ I’ll become better and stronger/ and wiser every day.” “ W h y look good when you can be good,” Campbell said.

Mayors California Billion Seek $1.5 eless to Help Hom

Continued

In the first games she threw a three hitter in a 3-0 win over the Titans.

In the second game she blasted a three run homer to help in a 6-4 win. Garcia pitched both complete games.

“This team has faced very little adversity like this,” UCLA head coach Kelly Inouye-Perez said. “We’ve played such great softball, we haven’t really had this type of adversity like this and I think that’s a great thing. We can now add this layer into our experience.”

The Bruins will host Arizona in a Super Regional in a best two of three series beginning Thursday at 6 p.m. The second game will be Friday at 6, and a third game, if needed, would be Saturday at 4. The winner advances to the College World Series in Oklahoma City.

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Volume 33 Number 18

the enerempowered awson further and answer session in L. Williams Tina Knowles-L question .

By Darlene ng Beat Writer (Keep Inspiring getic group with an open You female Febsuccessful businesses Los Angeles Contributi people need.

CA- The K.I.S.S. _ The first black to operating was held Saturday, BURBANK, Conn. (AP) is being nominated to from relation best businesses are services need,” explained Women’s retreat people Airport HotelinspirHARTFORD, “The General Assembly Fame.

Strong Sistahs)the Ramada- Burbank a product that towards at member of theut Women’s Hall of was first elected to said. want to have event geared ruary, 24th can trust, she The one-day to love themselves, featured Knowles-Lawson. the ConnecticMargaret E. Morton served four Actor Richof people you Camp1 p.m. to 9.m. in 1972. She ng women The late Dem“Find a couple along with husband, Winner, Tina Representatives t. She later won a then owns WACO ing and empoweriand Multi-Award Mary and a Q and the House of Knowles-Lawson y operates and g Bridgepor Angeles, t senator and court Keynote Speaker, sister duo, Mary philanthropist, ard Lawson successfull Theater Group in Los terms, representin famed against an incumben ur, designer, after a lengthy Occur) bell of the daughters Can entreprene iconic Art ocratic primary the general election youths.

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A session with mentor inner-city went on to win awson. t Democrat Senate, eventually bespeaker, and mentoring young where they redreamed of motivational Solange; Tina Knowles-L the an Stage play, battle with Bridgepor “I’ve always six terms in tempore in 1990. She and celebriBeyonce’ and also included a One-WomMen REALLY She served pro life-coach, president event (What said.

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Ellis both Campbell scholars nation” to fightons for the hall of fame e of faith, forgivenes inner beauty”. Coats and Brandon Gospel Artist, Observer Phosaid. Jesus is Nominati and reviewed by a consulting my Winningos Angeles News about the importanc Robert to support Singleof faith, Campbell basis Akron, Ohio n Prichett/L “I’m here Multi-Gram ongoing “I’m a person from an out to (Carringto flew marriage m e n t to) K.I.S.S. retreat. committee. what I do”. , spoke about her inton and the the movehad powerdealt with his Campbell erGetsOld, as to support Campbell. “I almost destroyed motto is #SexyNev ful for brand. It’s It appeared it husband, Teddy and whose and of moving. the and publicly , as the wom- 57 year-old,up on their feet fidelity very I’ve overcome the opinions had been awakened sultry This the women to side to a my marriage.said. an culture. sleeping goddesses al ed, Camphips from side to push if all the people,” she your life fully orchestrat to a great time import- women swayed their Smith used for the inspiration is began has she as “God it’s so blues tune attentive group, event and soulful for the woman, Actress and Calbell told the hit song, “Destiny” view/ said. _ Mayors from state Author, Aspiring for self-love and e; it’s nice what moment. softly sing her a destination in my ant,” Coats Calif. (AP) looking y asked Bridgett LaRe’, “I’ve got BNO, “I was I knew it was God.” the women.

“It’s a nice atmospher getting there/ SACRAMENTO, cities on Wednesda what be bumpy largest ) doing for feel power- attendee, told the event retreat; to help with the road may through/ I will enjoy $1.5 billion me about the at church, said another ifornia’s eleven she’s (Singleton to provide to make women a friend told what a flyer I’m trying to lawmakers growing homeless crisis. would require the But I’m pressing It’s important We are kings and queens.”

“I was handed No matter comeand of Los Angeles, billion they say is a backing legislation that this journey/ ful, Ellis said. lly, Veteran Entertain- attendee, LaToya Towner creating a $3 tempomovebecome better Dance They are Additiona place; it’s a that may/ I’ll matching funds, wiser every Over 50 Exotic the find myself.” affordable housing, from a personal to know cities to provide stronger/ and er and Flying Smith encouraged outreach. leaders to be spent on “K.I.S.S. stems I’m helping women us if you pot of money supportive services and to move their day.”

Coach, Makeda to legislative $6.1 Singleton said. love and someone robbed attendance rary shelters, in an earlier letter “ W h y with the state’s women in “awaken the sleeping god- ment, were all born They said should use a quarter of good hips and to “When was the last time we say you love yourself.” look be can’t that lawmakerssurplus to help the homeless.called it “the asked. dess within.” when you can Faulconer hips? Smith budget L. your funny Kevin billion Campbell today.’’ and you shook good,” San Diego Mayor California cities that the Soon the energetic issue facing said. federal estimate most pressing Smith leading cited a 2017more than 134,000 homen (Carringto Coach, Makeda The mayors Photo) state now has Exotic Dance in a dance practice.

Demomost populous News Observer the audience day that two billion os Angeles Prichett/L less people. came the same seek $2 Their request announced they will to the mayors’ in response cratic state senators housing, also ent Los for affordable the commitm mayors from degree and ty. She wanted Fresno, requests. group includes of a college and opportuni The bipartisan San Jose, San Francisco, , Anato excel in increasing value Bakersfield Diego, system to access dson continued becoming of the CSU Angeles, San Sacramento, Oakland, that if her great-gran his dream of he should Gov. M. Coley Long Beach, Ana. reassurance one day achieve courses months after

By Dr. SorayaPoly Pomona e of CSU’s Super school, he might also wanted advice on her husband were heim and Santa come less than six into law. They imand Photo) bills proposals a had meet- an astronaut. She President, Cal reflecting on the importanc I She The set fee and placed signed 15 housing M. Coley (Courtesy him for college. but were trying to As I was was an experience who introDr. Soraya Jerry Brown $75 real estate transaction ballot. resources came to mind take to prepare dmother Sunday, what American great-gran dson that she and her in their 70s and had few on the November posed a new housing bond great-gran message about the ing an African page A2 billion on $4 8-year-old her my Continued duced me to raising. She had heard husband were

a

By Tony Khing Media PG&E presentedefCalifornia BlackENTO -- On Feb. 22, to help their SACRAM California Black Media outlets to merican news t was $53,000 grant g major African-A The endowmen California forts in supportin service area. company’s event at The within the a multicultural media CBM with eight Afgiven during co-hosted by PG&E and organizations. AfriEndowment print and broadcast to support the spea rican-American we work hard February is “At PG&E, all year, but gement of many community acknowled can-American it’s a formal who’ve made significanta because press is cial month merican heroes African-American ty. We’re unsung African-A communi in history. The We contributions in the African- American their work. to support vital resource with them work with them in 2018 initiag to pleased to partner to continuin energy policy Jimi look forward PG&E updates and Manager ity Relations on important PG&E Commun Post tives,” said such as The other and Harris. from outlets Representatives andSacramento Observer of Use rate plan Reporter PG&E’s Time energy usage.

News, Sun rned about their media outlets lea can better manage received informa and how customers session, they also one-hour During the

Bruins Win Regionals

Los Angeles Rams Host Cheerleader 2018 Auditions

Los Angeles

pers r Group Newspa

it out on your own, like everyone else around me always had.”(a) Kevin went on the articulate, “Everyone is going through something.” Love, a Gold Medalist and Five-Time NBA All Star continued on to say, “everyone has things, that you can’t see, you can’t touch that they’re walking around with every day.” Additionally, he credited DeMar DeRozan for having the courage to admitted to having bouts of depression during the NBA All Star Weekend, mentioning his intention is “to beat down the stigma of mental health.”

The Toronto Raptors leading scorer DeMar DeRozan, Compton, CA. native and former USC Trajan, tweeted about his experience with depression this past February, “This depression get the best of me…” In an interview with the Toronto Star he expanded on his comments by revealing: “I always have various nights. I’ve always been like that since I was young, but I think that’s where my demeanor comes from.

I’m so quiet, if you don’t know me. I stay standoffish in a sense, in my own personal space, to be able to cope with whatever it is you’ve got to cope with.”

My mom always told me: “’Never make fun of anybody because you never know what that person is going through.’ Ever since I was a kid, I never did. I never did. I don’t care what shape, form, ethnicity, nothing. I treat everybody the same. You never know.” (b) Following their theme of being flexible and responsive to their players and teams, credit the NBA for running their Public Service Announcements which have these prominent players speaking up about their mental health challenges, in an effort to reverse the stigma. To further aid their players to address their mental health challenges, the NBA has plans to implement a Health and Wellness program. The NBA will also provide mindfulness training for all teams and league employees in the near future; in addition to launching a website dedicated to offering resources for treating mental wellness challenges.

It was very courageous of these players to speak on a topic that has been taboo for many men in society, not to mention well accomplished athletes. A negative connotation has been applied to mental health largely because of politics, insecurities, and ignorance. The fact is these men are human, just as their fans, means they are just as vulnerable to the same feelings and challenges that affect us all. Please share your thoughts on this sensitive subject and let me know What’s Good by commenting in the comment section below or sending me an email to info@whatsgoodinsports.com.

Thursday, March 1, 2018

r News Observe K.I.S.S. Regrets

need to change that. I want to share some of my thoughts about my panic attack and what’s happened since. If you’re suffering silently like I was, then you know how it can feel like nobody really gets it. Partly, I want to do it for me, but mostly, I want to do it because people don’t talk about mental health enough. And men and boys are probably the farthest behind.

I know it from experience. Growing up, you figure out really quickly how a boy is supposed to act. You learn what it takes to “be a man.” It’s like a playbook: Be strong. Don’t talk about your feelings. Get through it on your own. So for 29 years of my life, I followed that playbook. And look, I’m probably not telling you anything new here. These values about men and toughness are so ordinary that they’re everywhere … and invisible at the same time, surrounding us like air or water. They’re a lot like depression or anxiety in that way.

So for 29 years, I thought about mental health as someone else’s problem. Sure, I knew on some level that some people benefited from asking for help or opening up. I just never thought it was for me. To me, it was form of weakness that could derail my success in sports or make me seem weird or different.

Call it a stigma or call it fear or insecurity — you can call it a number of things — but what I was worried about wasn’t just my own inner struggles but how difficult it was to talk about them. I didn’t want people to perceive me as somehow less reliable as a teammate, and it all went back to the playbook I’d learned growing up.

This was new territory for me, and it was pretty confusing.

But I was certain about one thing: I couldn’t bury what had happened and try to move forward. As much as part of me wanted to, I couldn’t allow myself to dismiss the panic attack and everything underneath it. I didn’t want to have to deal with everything sometime in the future, when it might be worse. I knew that much.

So I did one seemingly little thing that turned out to be a big thing. The Cavs helped me find a therapist, and I set up an appointment. I gotta stop right here and just say: I’m the last person who’d have thought I’d be seeing a therapist. I remember when I was two or three years into the league, a friend asked me why NBA players didn’t see therapists. I scoffed at the idea. No way any of us is gonna talk to someone. I was 20 or 21 years old, and I’d grown up around basketball. And on basketball teams? Nobody talked about what they were struggling with on the inside.

I remember thinking, What are my problems? I’m healthy. I play basketball for a living. What do I have to worry about? I’d never heard of any pro athlete talking about mental health, and I didn’t want to be the only one. I didn’t want to look weak. Honestly, I just didn’t think I needed it. It’s like the playbook said — figure

Texas Woman Defecates in Pants to Hide Drugs

CORSICANA, Texas (AP) _ Police say a Texas woman attempted to hide evidence during an arrest by defecating in her pants and using the feces to conceal drugs.

UCLA pitcher Rachel Garcia let’s go with one of her 501 pitches she threw over the weekend in helping get the lady Bruins to the Super Regionals. (Earl Heath photo)

By Earl Heath Contributing Sports Writer The UCLA softball team defeated Cal State Fullerton in a doubleheader last weekend to win the NCAA regional tourney at Easton Stadium in Westwood.

Rachel Garcia hit and pitched the Bruins (54-5) to wins.

Kinsley Washington (37) shares a moment with teammates after win. (Earl Heath photo)

Entertainment

Thursday, May 24, 2018

LOS ANGELES NEWS OBSERVER A5

Film Review:

Deadpool 2

Does What It’s Supposed to Do and Maybe That’s Good Enough 

Zazie Beetz stars in “Deadpool 2.” (20th Century Fox)

NNPA Newswire Film Critic Dwight Brown says that some of the film’s elements may be inconsistent, but the demented humor is always dead on. Ryan Reynolds and Leslie Uggams star in “Deadpool 2.” (20th Century Fox)

Ryan Reynolds (left) and Leslie Uggams star in “Deadpool 2.” (20th Century Fox)

The Kingdom Choir again sang. This time it was an Etta James styled version of “Amen (This Little Light of Mine),” a 1920s gospel song that was popular during the Civil Rights Movement.

Royal Wedding Features Black Bishop and Black Musicians Maria” during a break in the ceremony when the royal couple had to depart the altar to sign a registry in a backroom and out of the sight of their guests.

During an address focused on the power of love, that BBC commentators defined as “spirited,” Bishop Michael Curry, the head of the U.S. Episcopal Church, brought the Black church to the royal wedding.

Curry began and ended his speech quoting Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. saying, “Martin Luther King was right: We must discover love. And when we do, we will make a new world.”

Karen Gibson directed The Kingdom Choir in a performance of “Stand By Me.” The Ben E. King song is a R&B standard from 1961.

“A Black woman in an updo directing a Black choir in “Stand By Me” after a Black preacher gave a three-point sermon, complete with altar call, might be the official end of the United Kingdom. This is the real ‘Brexit,’” tweeted former Obama White House official Joshua DuBois.

As the newly-minted British royal couple left St. George’s Chapel with family following and entered a carriage after the ceremony, The Kingdom Choir again sang. This time it was an Etta James styled version of “Amen (This Little Light of Mine),” a 1920s gospel song that was popular during the Civil Rights Movement.

“Black bride. Black pastor. Black choir. Black cellist. African chants. Folks clapping and sangin’ “This Little Light of Mine.” Even a horse named “Tyrone.” This is the Blackest royal wedding evuh,” tweeted Dr. Stacey Patton, as the church ceremony ended.

This article was originally published at BlackPressUSA.com.

Lauren Victoria Burke is an independent journalist, political analyst and contributor to the NNPA Newswire and BlackPressUSA.com.

She can be contacted at LBurke007@gmail.com and on Twitter at @ LVBurke.

DJ Khaled is the Top Nominee for the BET Awards With 6 NEW YORK (AP) _ DJ Khaled has reason to be grateful - he’s been nominated for a leading six trophies for the BET Awards.

The nominations for next month’s ceremony were announced Tuesday night. Among the awards Khaled was nominated for include album of the year for “Grateful’’ and video of the year for “Wild Thoughts’’ which featured Rihanna and Bryson Tiller.

Other top nominees include Migos and SZA, both of whom were nominated for four awards.

Bruno Mars, Drake, Beyonce, Jay-Z, Cardi B, and Chris Brown are also up for key awards.

Recent Pulitzer Prize-winner Kendrick Lamar is among the nominees for best album, and he’s got competition from himself, for his “Black Panther’’ soundtrack.

The blockbuster is also nominated for best movie along with “Girls Trip’’ and “Wrinkle in Time,’’ among other films. Tiffany Haddish is nominated for best actress along with the likes of Issa Rae and Lupita Nyong’o, while Michael B. Jordan faces off against Chadwick Boseman and more for best actor.

Venus and Serena Williams are among the nominees for sportswoman of the year while LeBron James and Steph Curry are among the sportsman of the year nominees.

The BET Awards will air live on BET on June 24 from Los Angeles.

By Dwight Brown NNPA Newswire Film Critic 3.5 stars out of 5 stars In the pantheon of comic book hero movies, “Deadpool” set itself apart from the herd. It was ultra-violent, pansexual, hysterical, unapologetically sarcastic and frenetic and broke the 4th wall down with a sledgehammer.

The deeply droll and irreverent Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds played the vomit-faced superhero. The script by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick took audiences down a dark alley and assaulted them. Tim Miller, an American animator and visual effects artist, marked his feature-film directing debut. Miller and cinematographer Ken Seng (“Project X”) made the footage look very stylish—à la “The Matrix.” It took Reynolds 10 years to get the movie made, and that long gestation period gave the production team time to perfect every aspect of the film. As a result, “Deadpool” was impish, devilish joy and extremely attractive eye candy. It became the highest-grossing R-rated movie ever, making $745M at the box office.

“Deadpool 2” is different. Not better or worse. Just different. Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick and co-writer Ryan Reynolds have created an immensely ambitious storyline with an endless string of characters that parade across the screen for 159 minutes—10 minutes longer than its predecessor. Miller is out as the director and David Leitch, a former actor, stuntman, stunt coordinator and the uncredited director of the action film “John Wick,” is at the helm. “Deadpool 2” is long and not visually striking (cinematographer Jonathan Sela, “John Wick”). Yet, this offspring has a lot to offer its fans.

The title credits list a production team that is just a bunch of sarcastic asides. So, from the beginning, you know you can’t take anything seriously and a barrage of gut-funny jokes is on the menu. Initial action scenes depict Deadpool (Reynolds), a mercenary, carrying out his trade across the world, killing and maiming not-so-nice guys. The villains die in awkward and unique ways, and that’s how Leitch puts his stamp on this sequel. The stunts are fun, original and deadly.

After a cruel incident, Deadpool, aka Wade Wilson, finds himself in a fit of despair. He seeks solace from his close friends, some of whom are not used to his new wounded fawn persona. For example, when Wade is whimpering to his elderly friend Blind Al (74-year-old Leslie Uggams, a former child star on the 1960s TV show “Sing Along With Mitch”), Al bluntly tells him: “It’s hard to understand what you’re saying with that pity d—k in your mouth.”

The joyfully, raunchy banter and decorative violence continue, as Deadpool becomes a surrogate father to a wayward 14-yearold mutant (Julian Dennison, Shopping). His new charge was abused at an orphanage and is being chased by a gun-wielding

madman named Cable (Josh Brolin). Our anti-hero, with a scar-tissue face only a mother could love, has a lot on his hands.

He can go it alone. Or, he can draft a group of other misfit super heroes into fighting the good fight, in spite of some very pessimistic detractors: Cable to Deadpool: “You’re not a hero, you’re an animated clown dressed up as a sex doll.”

The first Deadpool was cut bare to the bones (editor Julian Clarke, “District 9” and “Elysium”). This film’s footage is less tidy.

Its editors (Craig Alpert, “Pitch Perfect 2”; Elisabet Ronaldsdottir, “John Wick”; Dirk Westervelt, “Logan”) haven’t trimmed all the fat. Opening scenes and the final ones have a steady rhythm.

What’s in-between, at times, feels clunky—especially the prison and security-truck-caravan sequences. The less than precise editing is made a bit more obvious by Leitch’s sometimes bland staging: When Deadpool meets the young combustible mutant, who has set fire to the environs, the flames look like faux campfires or lazy special effects, not like menacing infernos. The moment is made more noticeable by the stagnant choreography.

Also, the script doesn’t draw on some of the eccentric strengths of the first film: a sexual edge with an abundance of nudity. There was something extra naughty about Reynolds’ rampant sexuality and shameless nudity in Deadpool that differentiated him from other vanilla superheroes who never fornicate (Superman) or show skin (Batman). Maybe adding a 14-year-old protagonist to the mix meant the graphic sexuality had to go.

Some part of Reynolds’ fan base will be disappointed. Some will not.

The dialogue is relentlessly funny, bitter and ironic and the entire cast from Reynolds to Uggams to Brolin deliver their lines like they were doing standup comedy at an asylum. Some of the film’s elements may be inconsistent, but the demented humor is always dead on.

Reynolds is still the glue. He and the droll character he plays are inseparable. Hard to distinguish the two personalities; both are so ingeniously sardonic. In only a brief appearance Morena Baccarin, as the love interest, steals scenes. Zazie Beetz as Domino, a lucky superhero, is brazen and right for the part. Josh Brolin, who excels at playing badasses, raises hell as Cable. Dennison’s New Zealand accent makes it difficult to follow what the teenager is saying. It’s almost as if he is tripping over his words.

Don’t be surprised if action fans have a raging debate about which is better, the first or second “Deadpool.” It’s an argument worth joining.

Dwight Brown is a film critic and travel writer. As a film critic, he regularly attends international film festivals including Cannes, Sundance, Toronto and the American Black Film Festival. Read more movie reviews by Dwight Brown here and at DwightBrownInk.com.

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Local

LOS ANGELES NEWS OBSERVER

Thursday, May 24, 2018

New Deputy Inspector General Will Oversee SB 1

Gas Tax Revenue

By Manny Otiko California Black Media Los Angeles resident Debbie Lumpkin, a former corporate executive, and consultant was recently appointed as deputy inspector general for Diversity and Small Business Development in the Office of Audits and Investigations at the California Department of Transportation. Part of her duties will be to oversee minority contractors who apply for transportation funds raised

by Senate Bill 1, officially known as the Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017. The bill raised taxes on gasoline and diesel prices that go towards highway repair and maintenance.

According to a press release from Gov. Jerry Brown, Lumpkin previously worked for Southern California Edison in several senior positions. After leaving Edison, she worked as a consultant who represented “major corporations and diverse communities.”

“Most notably, she successfully secured $1.5 billion in diverse business contracts, tripling the amount spent on diverse enterprises in her first year,” according to the press release.

“Serving the great people of California in this capacity excites me. Over the next ten years, Senate Bill 1 is estimated to generate $52 billion in new contracts; someone needs to monitor them. This position has the potential to impact all community groups that represent California,” said Lumpkin.

“Lumpkin is a proven and devoted leader in every sense of the word. She has single-handedly created opportunities for many minorities, women, disabled and veteran-owned businesses across California,” said Assemblymember Chris Holden (D-Pasadena,) chair of the California Legislative Black Caucus in a press release. “Advocating for her in this new role was something that came easy for the CLBC. We know she has the best interest of all community groups in our state. I am confident that she will excel

at Caltrans in this new role.”

State Sen. Steve Bradford (D-Gardena,) who worked with Lumpkin at Edison, also praised her.

“I have no doubt that she will handle her new position with the same innovative and vigorous spirit that she has afforded every community she has served,” said Bradford.

Bradford worked hard to make sure minority contractors get a piece of the transportation bill funds. Bradford said he wants at least 25 percent of the contracts awarded to go to minority-owned businesses.

“If we are going to ask drivers who utilize California roads to pay an extra 12 cents per gallon and promise billions of dollars for infrastructure,” he said, “some of that must reach minority trucking firms, minority engineering firms, real estate firms, architectural firms, all those types of services that will be needed to build and repair those roads.”

Although SB 1 is expected to raise $1.8 billion annually, it was controversial when it passed. Many Republicans opposed it.

“Many Californians are living paycheck to paycheck and struggling just to make ends meet. Jerry Brown’s massive gas tax increase will add $2.50 every time we fill up our gas tanks, which hits our poor and working-class Californians the hardest,” said Assemblyman Travis Allen (R-Huntington Beach,) who launched a website to try and repeal the tax. “Meanwhile, Sacramento’s special interests are lining up for their $52 billion payday with absolutely no concern on how this will impact California’s hard-working families.”

Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, Assemblymember Chris Holden, Debbie Lumpkin, Senator Steve Bradford, Assemblymember Sydney Kamlager , Assemblymember Shirley Weber, Governor Jerry Brown and Speaker Pro Tem Toni Atkins and other CLBC members welcomed Lumpkin at a Sacramento reception May 16. (CBM courtesy photo)

Amazon’s HQ2 Moves in Los Angeles and Small Businesses Move Out!

By Aubry Stone, President/CEO of the California Black Chamber of Commerce Special to California Black Media Amazon is getting ready to select a home for its second headquarters, and the tech giant claims it will choose a location with a strong university system, highly educated labor pool and compatible cultural and community environment. Naturally, Los Angeles is on the HQ2 shortlist.

At first glance, hosting HQ2 sounds like a point of pride.

The rewards—a supposed 50,000 jobs and $5 billion in invest-

ment—look great on paper too. But both the direct & indirect costs to Southern California are high and potentially devastating: Los Angeles, for example with the probable Warner Center location as well as a few others, is wooing Amazon with financial incentives, infrastructure investments, and de facto free land.

But what many Angeleno small business owners are discovering – better late than never – is that HQ2 will wreak havoc on thousands of small businesses that make up the local fabric of our communities while giving unprecedented tax subsidies and corporate welfare to one of the richest companies in the world.

Today, local retailers across America admit that Amazon is the

The Albertsons, Vons and Pavilions Foundation Teams With Easterseals

biggest threat to their existence. With Amazon’s worldwide reach across industries from restaurants to retailers, experts project a threat on 12 million decent paying jobs.

Los Angeles Mayor Garcetti should keep his focus--and his citizens' hard-earned tax dollars--on fixing the homeless situation and the lack of affordable housing instead of trying to entice Amazon to locate its HQ2 in Los Angeles. Giving billions of dollars to a company that has long failed to pay its employees a living wage or pay its fair share in taxes to help fund local schools, roads and healthcare systems is a financial blank check Los Angeles cannot afford to write.

We’ve heard the stories of our neighbors in Inglewood when the football stadium construction began for the Rams and Chargers. Small businesses in a strip mall across the street such as Hi Tech Cleaners felt the affects and feared for their ultimate survival.

Small businesses, which are the bedrock of all our communities, are closing in droves because they cannot compete with Amazon. Local retailers are the backbone of our economy, but

many are finding themselves unable to keep up with a company that continues to have an unfair advantage. Main Street businesses such as the Hi Tech Cleaners in Inglewood have made it clear that big corporations such as Amazon are affecting their ability to stay competitive, attract new customers or even keep the lights on. There are over 28 million small businesses in the U.S., which account for more than 63 percent of net new jobs. Amazon poses a direct threat to the millions of Americans who depend on these businesses to earn a living and provide for their family.

What does it say about our values as a city, region and state that we are prepared to give massive sums of money to one of the largest companies in the world who already doesn’t pay their fair share in taxes. We continue to fail to help the thousands of hardworking people who balance their lives paycheck to paycheck, or who are struggling to pull themselves off of the streets?

It would be a complete betrayal of our residents to allow this to happen. Los Angeles must say NO to unprecedented corporate welfare and send a clear message that our values are not up for sale.

WIRELESS CONNECTION

Once Again to Support the Nonprofit’s Bob Hope Veterans Support Program SAN DIEGO/ORANGE/LOS ANGELES/SAN BERNARDINO/VENTURA COUNTIES — May 16, 2018 — For Immediate Release — The Albertsons, Vons and Pavilions Foundation is once again hosting an in- store fundraising campaign in May benefiting Easterseals Southern California’s (ESSC) Bob Hope Veterans Support Program, which assists veterans transitioning from the military to civilian careers. During a week- long campaign in observation of Memorial Day this year (May 23- 29), Albertsons, Vons and Pavilions shoppers throughout Southern California are being asked to make donations in support of the program via the pin pad at registers, with 100 percent of the donations going directly to ESSC. Over the past decade, The Albertsons, Vons and Pavilions Foundation has raised more than $10.5 million for ESSC services, $2 million of it specifically through the Veterans Campaign, which was launched in 2014. The Bob Hope Veterans Support Program provides one- on- one employment services, as well as referrals to other resources, to meet the unique needs of military personnel and veterans transitioning out of the military into a civilian job, starting their own small business or pursuing higher education. Since launching in 2014, the program has served nearly 1,100 veterans and families with employment support and referrals to other resources, placing more than 600 into civilian positions and 83 pursuing education degrees. Free to veterans, who do not need to have a disability to participate, the program was launched with a generous seed grant from The Bob Hope Legacy. Said Mark Whitley, president & CEO of ESSC, “The continued generosity of The Albertsons, Vons and Pavilions Foundation in supporting Easterseals Southern California’s Bob Hope Veterans Support Program enables us to assist even more veterans as they navigate the challenges of transitioning back into civilian life. The Albertsons, Vons and Pavilions Foundation is truly making a difference to the lives of those who have sacrificed to serve our country.” 2 | P a g e “We are proud to help support Easterseals to provide local veterans with the resources they need to transition from the military to meaningful civilian careers,” states Shane Dorcheus, division president of Albertsons, Vons and Pavilions. “Together, with the generosity of our customers, we are able to make a real difference in the lives of veterans and their families.“ Veterans or potential employers interested in learning more

about the Easterseals Bob Hope Veterans Support Program should visit www.easterseals.com/ESSCveterans or call (760) 737- 3990.

About Albertsons Companies Foundation, Vons Foundation and Pavilions Foundation Founded in 2001, Albertsons Companies Foundation, formerly the Safeway Foundation, supports causes that impact our customers’ lives. Albertsons Companies stores provide the opportunity to mobilize funding and create awareness in our neighborhoods through the generous contributions by our customers, our employees’ passion and partnerships with our vendors. We focus on giving locally in the areas of health and human services, hunger relief, education and helping people with disabilities. Albertsons Companies and Albertsons Companies Foundation have invested $2 billion in our neighborhoods since 2001. For more information about Albertsons Companies Foundation, visit www.albertsonscompaniesfoundation.org. About the Bob & Dolores Hope Foundation and The Bob Hope Legacy The Bob & Dolores Hope Foundation, which includes The Bob Hope Legacy, supports organizations that bring HOPE to those in need and those who served to protect our nation consistent with the legacy of Bob Hope, a world- class entertainer and humanitarian. To date, The Bob Hope Legacy has donated more than $2 million dollars in support of Easterseals’ military and veteran services. About Easterseals Southern California For nearly 100 years, Easterseals has been an indispensable resource for individuals and families with developmental disabilities or other special needs. The services provided by Easterseals Southern California (ESSC) – in Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, Imperial, Kern, San Bernardino, Riverside and Ventura counties – make profound and positive differences in people’s lives every day, helping them address life’s challenges and achieve personal goals so that they can live, learn, work and play in our communities. With 2,300 employees, 60+ service sites and hundreds of community partnership locations, ESSC assists more than 10,000 people, providing adult/senior day services; autism therapy; child development/early education; employment services, veteran employment support; independent living options; and more. At Easterseals, 88% of our income is spent on services. Join us in changing the way the world defines and views disabilities. Join the Conversation … Let’s take on disability together at: Easterseals.com/SouthernCal Like us: www.facebook.com/EasterSealsSoCal Follow us: www.twitter. com/EasterSealSoCal #

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Dulan’s

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Restaurant, Catering & Banquet Hall Gregory Dulan Owner

(323) 296-3034 4859 Crenshaw Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90043 www.dulansoncrenshaw.com