R. Kelly Sentenced to 30 Years in Federal Prison Page A3
California-Hawaii NAACP Legacy Awards Honors Rep Maxine Waters Page A9
News Observer Los Angeles
Volume 37 Number 34
Serving Los Angeles County for Over 37 Years
Observer Group Newspapers of Southern California
WNBA Superstar Brittney Griner Pleads for Freedom
in Letter to President Biden
By Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent As Russia reportedly continues to push for a prisoner swap that includes notorious arms dealer Victor Bout, WNBA Superstar Brittney Griner has pleaded for her release in a letter to President Joe Biden. “As I sit here in a Russian prison, alone with my thoughts and without the protection of my wife, family, friends, Olympic jersey, or any accomplishments, I’m terrified I might be here forever,” Griner wrote. “I miss my wife! I miss my family! I miss my teammates! It kills me to know they are suffering so much right now. I am grateful for whatever you can do at this moment to get me home.” Griner has been held in Russia since her February arrest at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport after cannabis oil was allegedly found in her luggage. If convicted, Griner faces up to ten years in prison. Reportedly, fewer than 1% of defendants in criminal cases are acquitted in Russia. Even if Griner wins acquittal, the Russian government has the right to overturn any decision and still remand her to prison. Like many other WNBA players, Griner plays EuroLeague basketball during the offseason to augment her income – reports suggest that Griner and others earn five times more in Russia than they do in the WNBA. Multiple reports suggests that Russian President Vladimir Putin would free Griner if the U.S. freed Bout, an arms dealer who sells weapons to entities seeking to kill Americans. Bout is serving a 25-year federal prison sentence. “On the 4th of July, our family normally honors the service of those who fought for our freedom, including my father who is a Vietnam War veteran,” Griner wrote to Biden. “It hurts thinking about how I usually celebrate this day because freedom means something completely different to me this year,” she continued. “Please do all you can to bring us home. “I voted for the first time in 2020 and I voted for you. I believe in you.”
Griner has been held in Russia since her February arrest at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport after cannabis oil was allegedly found in her luggage.
Gov. Signs $308 Billion Budget:
Californians to Get “Inflation Relief” Checks of Up to $1050 Edward Henderson California Black Media Around 23 million California residents will receive “inflation relief” checks of up to $1,050 soon. The aid is included in the new budget deal reached by state lawmakers and Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sunday, June 26th. “California’s budget addresses the state’s most pressing needs, and prioritizes getting dollars back into the pockets of millions of Californians who are grappling with global inflation and rising prices of everything from gas to groceries,” said Newsom in a statement. The checks are designed as tax refunds and will come from the state’s robust $97 billion budget surplus. The total state budget for the next fiscal year (2022-2023) is $308 billion. The relief payments are based on income, tax-filing status and household size – similar to the stimulus checks sent to Americans by the federal government during the pandemic. Single taxpayers who earn less than $75,000 a year and couples who file jointly and make less than $150,000 a year will receive $350 per taxpayer. Those with dependents will receive an additional $350 per child. For example, a couple that earns under $125,000 and has two children qualify for $350 per adult plus $350 for each additional child, up to a total check of $1,050.
Higher income Californians will receive smaller payments. Single taxpayers who make between $75,000 and $125,000 a year and couples who earn between $150,000 and $250,000 will receive $250, plus the same payment for each dependent, up to a maximum of $750 per family. Single people who earn between $125,000 and $250,000 and couples who earn between $250,000 and $500,000 annually would receive $200 each, plus the same amount for their dependents. The maximum payment couples in that salary range will receive is $600 per family. Couples who earn above $500,000 and single taxpayers who earn above $250,000 aren’t eligible for the payments. Checks will be sent via direct deposit or debit cards by late October. “In the face of growing economic uncertainty, this budget invests in California’s values while further filling the state’s budget reserves and building in triggers for future state spending to ensure budget stability for years to come,” Newsom said. “In addition, California is doubling down in our response to the climate crisis – securing additional power-generating capacity for the summer, accelerating our clean energy future, expanding our ability to prepare for and respond to severe wildfires, extreme heat, and the continuing drought conditions that lie ahead.”
Other hot button issues addressed in the finalized budget include a $47 billion multi-year infrastructure and transportation package, $200 million in additional funding for reproductive health care services, and funding for education, universal preschool, children’s mental health and free school meals. Not everyone was excited about the final negotiated version of the budget. Republicans complained about the limited time they were given to review the package for input. “Where is the information?” Sen. Jim Nielson (R-Yuba City) asked during the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee’s brief hearing on Monday. “What are you afraid of?” Gov. Newsom signed the budget into law on June 30.
Akron Authorities Release
Disturbing BodyCam of Shooting of Black DoorDash Driver
Jayland Walker’s mother, Pamela Walker (center) is comforted by supporters while the family’s attorney, Bobby DiCiello, holds up Jayland’s picture and speaks at a press conference on Thursday in Akron. (Photo: The Root)
By Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent Authorities on Sunday released disturbing bodycam footage of Jayland Walker, an unarmed Black DoorDash delivery driver with no criminal record shot dozens of times by Akron Police Officers. The lawyer for the 25-year-old’s family called it an execution, telling media members that police fired 90 shots, hitting the young man “60 to 80 times.” As the video rolls, several officers are seen approaching Walker’s vehicle with their guns drawn. Police Chief Stephen Mylett claimed Walker had a ski mask on, reached toward his waist during a foot chase, and turned toward pursuing police officers. He claimed that’s when officers opened fire. Mylett said authorities found a weapon in Walker’s car, but it wasn’t clear if he discharged the gun. He admitted that Walker didn’t exit the car with a gun. While handcuffed and bleeding profusely from his wounds, Mylett claimed officers attempted to provide lifesaving help for Walker. Officials placed the eight directly involved in the shooting on administrative leave. “It was difficult to watch and shocking,” Mylett stated. “I’m not going to pass judgment.: The chief and Akron Mayor Daniel Horrigan commended Walker’s family for calling for peaceful demonstrations. “The video is heartbreaking, and it’s hard to take in,” Horrigan said. Continued on page A2
Take One!
Thursday, July 7, 2022
Flamethrower Used to Torch Pan-African Flag Flying on Pole
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) – A person using a flamethrower set fire Saturday to a Pan-African flag flying on a pole outside the headquarters of the Uhuru Movement, a Black international socialist group based in Florida. Security video released by the group shows the driver of a white Honda sedan pulling up outside the group’s St. Petersburg headquarters, removing a flamethrower from the trunk and shooting a tower of fire at the flag flying about 30 feet (9 meters) above the ground. The group says the man stopped when a worker inside the building yelled at him. The video shows him putting the flamethrower back in the trunk and then driving away. A photo supplied by the group shows the flag with a large hole. St. Petersburg police said they are investigating the fire and are working to identify a suspect. The Uhuru Movement is part of the African People’s Socialist Party, which says it is “uniting African people as one people for liberation, social justice, self-reliance and economic development.” Akile Anai, the group’s director of agitation and propaganda, said the attack is in the same vein as the May killing of 10 Black people at a Buffalo, New York, supermarket. Police say the arrested suspect in the Buffalo massacre is a white nationalist. Anai said such attacks are caused by the decline of a “social system and facade of normalcy based on oppression, colonialism and exploitation.”
3-Year-old Falls From 29th Floor of NYC Apartment NEW YORK (AP) – A 3-year-old boy died after falling from a 29th floor balcony of a New York City apartment building on Saturday morning, police said a preliminary investigation shows. Officers found the injured toddler lying on a 3rd floor scaffolding after receiving a 911 call at 11:09 a.m. The boy was taken to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead. We believe the child exited through a window, but exactly how that occurred is under investigation at the time,” a police spokesperson told The Associated Press. The apartment is located in the Taino Towers residential complex in Harlem. New York City law requires owners of buildings with three or more apartments to install window guards if a child age 10 years or younger lives there or if a tenant or occupant requests them. It’s unclear whether window guards were installed in this particular apartment. The spokesperson said the child’s death is under “active investigation” and police are speaking with two individuals who were inside the apartment when the boy fell. Nidia Cordero, who lives on the 34th floor of the building, told the New York Post that she suddenly heard what she believes was the mother of the child screaming. “And I looked,” she said, “and the baby was in the scaffolding.” Richard Linares told the New York Daily News he was outside the apartment complex when the toddler fell. “We heard a big bang,” he said. “My boy that was here ran to the front. He ran up the scaffold to find the baby. The baby was still crying and breathing when he got there.” He later added: “By the time the paramedics brought him down, they had a towel over his face.” Tanjelyn Castro, a neighbor, described to the Daily News a frantic scene as police and residents tried to reach the child. “Everybody that was outside was running, climbing,” she said. “Every man you saw was trying to get to the scaffold. It was a whole bunch of emotion.”
Traveling Green Book Exhibit Opens JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – A look at how African Americans traveled during the Jim Crow era in the U.S. is on display at the Two Mississippi Museums in downtown Jackson. The Negro Motorist Green Book, a Smithsonian traveling exhibition, opened Saturday at the venue, which is part of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, a Smithsonian affiliate. It includes artifacts from business signs and postcards to historic footage, images and firsthand accounts to convey not only the apprehension felt by Black travelers but also the resilience, innovation and elegance of people choosing to live a full American existence, officials said. Mississippi artifacts include items from the historic Riverside Hotel in Clarksdale and Hotel E.F. Young Jr. in Meridian. Two Mississippi Museums director Pamela D.C. Junior said she was ecstatic to have the exhibit housed at the venue. “During the Great Migration families moved across the U.S., thus the necessity to travel and visit relatives was born,” Junior said. “Postal worker Victor Green, innovatively responded to this need with a roadmap of havens to eat, rest, and visit. This safety net was a key guide for people of color throughout the Jim Crow south and other parts of America.” Green’s guidebook was published from 1936 to 1966 and was “an indispensable resource” for the nation’s rising African American middle class, the Mississippi Department of Archives and History said in a news release. The exhibition will run through Sunday, Sept. 25, in the Medgar and Myrlie Evers Exhibition Hall at the Two Mississippi Museums. Ticket prices are $15 for adults and $8 for youth ages 4-22. Discounts are available for students, seniors, active duty military, veterans, and groups of ten or more. Admission for children under the age of three is free. Admission on Sunday is also free.