Nipsey Hussle’s Legacy Inspires 3 Years After His Murder Page A3
Gun Safety ‘Wrapped in a Mental Health Bill’
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News Observer Los Angeles
Volume 37 Number 35
Serving Los Angeles County for Over 37 Years
Observer Group Newspapers of Southern California
All Star Game Special for Rachel Robinson
Jackie Robinson’s wife, Rachel, and son David are celebrated on the field on the 75th anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier. (Photo by John SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers)
Earl Heath Contributing Sports Writer This year Major League Baseball world will be focused on Dodger Stadium as Los Angeles host the 29nd annual midsummer Classic. It’s an extra special meaning in that Rachel Robinson (Jackie’s widow) will be celebrating her 100th birthday July 19th. The two met in 1941 and were married in 1946. They had three children Jackie Jr., Sharon and David Robinson. 2022 also marks the 75th anniversary Robison had his
debut in 1947. He would go on would go on to play in 151 games hit .297 and won the first Rookie of the Year Award. He led the National League in stolen bases with 29 and collected 175 hits as the Dodgers reached the World Series. Robinson would play 10 seasons, mostly at second base. He finished with a career average of .311. He played in six World Series for the Dodgers and retired after the 1956 season. He was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962. Today one of Robinson’s biggest legacy is the Jackie Robinson Foundation that generates scholarship’s to young
people. For nearly fifty years, JRF has provided college scholarships coupled with extensive mentoring and leadership development opportunities for highly motivated students of color with limited financial resources. The foundation has awarded scholarships and fellowships to fifteen hundred students attending two hundred and sixty colleges and universities, and it’s mentoring program has helped support a 98 percent graduation rate among its student recipients’. “Happy Birthday Rachel”
Record Inflation Shrinks Housing Affordability, Worsens Racial Wealth Gaps
Many Consumers Pay More for Rent Than Others Do for Mortgages By Charlene Crowell NNPA Newswire Contributor This summer, temperatures are not the only thing rising above normal. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the nation’s consumer price index (CPI) at the end of May was the largest since December 1981, more than 40 years ago. This key economic measure tracks the change in prices paid by consumers for goods and services for about 93 percent of the total U.S. population. The most recent report released on June 10, showed doubledigit CPI increases for fuel, food, utilities, and both new and used vehicles. Even before this data release, many consumers already adjusted their lives to compensate as best they could for $5 per gallon gas prices, keeping family cars longer, and taking fewer family outings to free up funds for still-rising food prices. But how much longer can housing remain affordable when prices for both homes and rents are rising even higher? Homeownership, historically a reliable building block to family wealth, is more of a challenge today for first-time homebuyers. As of 2022’s first quarter, the median price of an existing single family home grew to $368,200, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), 15.7 percent higher than a year ago. Families able to afford a 20 percent down payment on this median-priced home can look forward to a monthly mortgage of approximately $1,383, which is $319 more – 30 percent higher – than a year ago, according to NAR. For Black America, however, a history replete with systemic discrimination in education, employment, lending, and housing imposes additional harsh realities that have yet to be effectively addressed. From 2013 to 2019, after adjusting for inflation, the median household income of Black households increased by just $800, compared with about $3,000 for white households and $3,700 for Latinx households, according to research by the National Equity Atlas that analyzed the nation’s 100 largest metro areas. Additionally, during these same years, the number of neighborhoods affordable to Black households dropped by 14 percent.
Currently, the vast majority of new construction housing — whether for rent or for purchase – are for higher-income consumers, leaving moderate and low-income families with severely shrinking housing options.
“Shrinking neighborhood affordability and the dearth of affordable neighborhoods that provide the necessary conditions for health, well-being, and economic success in many large metros are reinforcing longstanding patterns of racial segregation and creating new ones,” concludes this report. Other new research from Freddie Mac sought to identify the causes of soaring home prices and where affordable homes might still be found. What drove home price growth, and can it continue? Freddie Mac’s new report found four factors driving escalating home costs: • Record low mortgage rates in 2020 and 2021 generated a race to beat future rate increases; • Home inventories were limited due to underbuilding on one hand, and below average distressed sales on the other; • The number of first-time homebuyers grew due in part to favorable age demographics; and • Many consumers left high-cost cities
for cheaper ones that already had a housing shortage. Where affordable homes can be found, brings to mind an old adage in real estate, ‘location, location, location’. “As of February 2022, migration out of the largest 25 cities remains three times higher than the rate pre-pandemic,” states the Freddie Mac report. “The most significant increase in migration has been to midsized metro areas with populations between 500,000 to 1 million, followed by smaller midsized metros and smaller metro areas.” The irony is that today, many consumers are paying more for fair market rent (FMR) than many monthly mortgages that lead to home equity and wealth. The down payment – rather than the monthly mortgage note – is the primary barrier to homeownership for many renters. With a rising cost of living, few – if any – dollars remain at the end of a month for many families. And even if a family has managed to save a few hundred dollars or more, home down payments on the private market are tens of thousands of dollars. Some home lenders may offer adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) as an alternative to cash-strapped buyers. But the key word in these loans is ‘adjustable’. When loan interest resets occur, borrowers should plan for higher interest rates. It would also be prudent to remember that the foreclosure crisis of the early 2000s was fueled by high-cost mortgage loans that left millions of Black and Latino homeowners either without a home or remaining in one with a loan balance larger than its market value. If this nation really wants to address its affordable housing crisis, then it is time to give Black America a level playing field with access to affordable and sustainable mortgages. It is equally important to diversify new construction housing. Currently, the vast majority of new construction housing — whether for rent or for purchase – are for higher-income consumers, leaving moderate and low-income families with severely shrinking housing options. Every family of every income needs a home. Effective housing reforms would offer both access and affordability – not either-or. Charlene Crowell is a senior fellow with the Center for Responsible Lending. She can be reached at Charlene.crowell@ responsiblelending.org.
Take One!
Thursday, July 14, 2022
Family of Man Hurt in Police Van Seeks Civil Rights Charges
By PAT EATON-ROBB Associated Press The family of a Black man in Connecticut, paralyzed when a police van without seatbelts braked suddenly, asked federal authorities Friday to file civil rights charges against the officers involved. The driver was taking Randy Cox, 36, to a police station in New Haven, Connecticut, on June 19 for processing on a weapons charge when he braked hard to avoid a collision, police said, causing Cox to fly headfirst into the wall of the van. His family said he remains paralyzed from the chest down. Cox’s mother, two sisters and civil rights attorney Ben Crump spoke before meeting with U.S. Department of Justice officials in New Haven Friday, arguing that Cox’s constitutional rights were violated. “You ask yourself, was it cruel and unusual punishment to put him in the back of that police transportation van with no seat belt, knowing that if you’re speeding, if you slam on the brakes, that somebody is going to be seriously injured?” Crump said. Cox’s supporters say the police mocked his cries for help and accused him of being drunk. Video shows the officers dragged him by his feet from the van and placed him in a holding cell at the police department before paramedics finally took him to a hospital. Cox remains hospitalized and unable to speak because of his breathing tube. Hundreds of protesters led by Crump, members of Cox’s family and the local NAACP staged a march Friday evening in New Haven to the city’s police headquarters. With many carrying signs and banners with Cox’s face and the hashtag (hash)Justice4RandyCox, the crowd chanted slogans like “Randy Cox’s life matters,” “protect Black people” and “no justice, no peace.” Using a bullhorn, Crump and others yelled to the marchers: “If I say my neck is broke.” In unison, they responded: “Don’t take it as a joke.” The city announced a series of police reforms Thursday stemming from the case. The reforms include eliminating the use of police vans for most prisoner transports and using marked police vehicles instead. They also require officers to immediately call for an ambulance to respond to their location if the prisoner requests or appears to need medical aid. Cox’s family said they appreciate the gesture but want more to be done. “Why do you need a policy that says if someone needs help for you to give them help?” Latoya Boomer, Cox’s sister, said. “That should never have to be a policy. That should be in your own brain already.” Five members of the New Haven Police Department who were involved in the transport remain on leave while the episode is investigated. “I – slash we – want them fired and arrested, and I’m going to keep saying it until it happens,” Boomer said.
Windshield Cleaners Killed Man with Bat BALTIMORE (AP) – A man was shot and killed after swinging a baseball bat during a confrontation with people who were cleaning windshields for cash at a downtown Baltimore intersection, according to police. The bat-wielding man – Timothy Reynolds, 48, of Baltimore _ was driving through an intersection near the city’s Inner Harbor on Thursday afternoon when he encountered so-called squeegee workers and had a heated interaction, Commissioner Michael Harrison told reporters. Police released Reynolds’ name and hometown on Friday. Squeegee workers, also known as squeegee kids, consist mostly of teens from low-income neighborhoods who clean drivers’ windshields at intersections in exchange for money. Some drivers in Baltimore have complained about them. Reynolds drove through the intersection, parked his car and came back with a baseball bat, Harrison said. “He swung the bat at one or more of those squeegee workers. In return, one of the squeegee workers pulled out a gun and fired, striking this male victim,” the commissioner said, adding that police didn’t know if Reynolds hit anyone with the bat. Reynolds, who was white, was pronounced dead at a hospital. The workers fled the scene on foot, Harrison said. No arrests had been made as of late Thursday afternoon. A witness told The Baltimore Sun that he saw a squeegee worker shoot Reynolds after he got out of his car with the bat. Cody Bro, who was visiting Baltimore for a convention, said he saw the driver “arguing with one of the squeegee people – the people who squeegee your windows.”
Anniversary of Last Slave Ship MOBILE, Ala. (AP) – Descendants of the last African people abducted into slavery and brought to America’s shores gathered over the weekend on the banks of an Alabama river to pay tribute to their ancestors. The descendants of the 110 people aboard the Clotilda, the last known slave ship to bring enslaved African people to the United States, held a ceremony to mark the anniversary of the vessel’s arrival. Dressed in white and walking slowly to the beat of an African drum, the descendants made their way to the banks of the Mobile River near Alabama’s coast. A wreath of white, yellow and red flowers was carried into the river by a kayaker and released into the waters. In 1860, the Clotilda illegally transported 110 people from what is now the west African nation of Benin to Mobile, Alabama. The voyage happened decades after the law banning the importation of slaves had taken effect when a wealthy plantation owner made a bet he he could smuggle a shipload of enslaved people across the ocean. “Today is the day that, 162 years ago, 110 enslaved Africans were brought to this country against their will for the purpose of satisfying a bet,’’ said Darron Patterson, president of the Clotilda Descendants Association, told al.com. The discovery of the remnants of the Clotilda sparked renewed interest in its saga. But Patterson said the focus should be on the people it carried. “The ship was pure evil. It was a vessel of evil. The real story was the people inside that cargo hold. Very soon, we’re going to stop talking about the ship as much as we talk about the people. Because the stories of the people are what matter,’’ he told al.com. The “landing’’ ceremony was held near the bridge to the Africatown community founded by Clotilda survivors after the Civil War. “Proud of my heritage. I’d like to say even more so proud of the resilience and the legacy that they left behind,’’ descendant Ronald Ellis Jr told FOX10.