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Los Angeles
Volume 36 Number 39
Serving Los Angeles County for Over 36 Years
Observer Group Newspapers of Southern California
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Thursday, August 12, 2021
Kool & the Gang Widening Educational Co-founder Dies Inequality in Year of COVID Portland, Ore., July 28, 2021 — NWEA — a notfor-profit, research and educational services provider serving K-12 students — released today new research that highlights a challenging year in education with most students making lower-than-typical learning gains in math and reading. The research examined MAP Growth assessment scores from 5.5 million U.S. public school students in grades 3-8 between fall 2020 and spring 2021 and found: • On average, students across most grades and subject areas made learning gains in 2020-21, but at a lower rate compared to pre-pandemic trends. • 2020-21 outcomes were lower relative to historic trends. Gains across 2020-21 were at a lower rate and students ended the year with lower levels of achievement compared to a typical year, with larger declines in math (8 to 12 percentile points) than in reading (3 to 6 percentile points). • Achievement was lower for all student groups in 2020-21; historically underserved students (e.g., American Indian and Alaskan Native, Black, and Latino and/or students in high poverty schools) were disproportionately impacted, particularly in the elementary grades that NWEA studied. “As our nation continues to grapple with COVID-19 and its impact on every facet of our lives, this new research from NWEA illuminates just how devastating the academic consequences have been for our nation’s children. While all students have suffered from interrupted instruction, Continued on page A2
NWEA is not alone in this advocacy. Like minded, equity-focused organizations and voices are speaking up even louder now to support our educational community in the long path ahead. (Photo: iStockphoto / NNPA)
Jasmyne Cannick’s Work Led to Ed Buck Conviction in L.A. Black Men Deaths
Edward Henderson California Black Media Reporters are expected to remain neutral as they uncover the facts of a story even when their biases or details they discover pull them in particular directions. Jasmyne Cannick, who is an activist, journalist, and political strategist in Los Angeles, says getting the criminal justice system to investigate the mysterious deaths of two Black men in the home of an influential White Democratic Party donor required a bitter fight and balancing act. She had to rely on her uncompromising sense of right and wrong, her unbending commitment to social justice, particularly for Black people, as well as investigative reporting instincts she has acquired over the years. In July 2017, Cannick received a tip from then-LA Weekly writer Dennis Romero about a story he was covering. Gemmell Moore, 26, had been found dead from a crystal meth overdose in the West Hollywood home of businessman and political activist Ed Buck, who was 63 at the time. Moore’s death had been ruled an accidental overdose and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department did not investigate. “Beyond the journalism, there was going to need to be some serious activism and strategy around getting a homicide investigation going,” said Cannick. “Getting these politicians to return their money, getting the DA to prosecute, all of that was a strategy I developed beyond the journalism to make happen.” Combing through the details of the case, Cannick says she was aware of how the complex interplay of race, class, sexuality, and politics can influence how authorities approach a case. Moore was a Black, gay man who spent time homeless on the streets of Los Angeles where Buck began to pursue him. “As journalists, there are those stories that will really get to you. You want to do more about it because you realize that there is a profound wrong being done,” said Cannick. Cannick, who has over 20 years of experience in journalism, got her start in broadcasting. She says she prides herself on having gained the trust of the community she serves. “I built a name around talking about issues that were hard. Whether it was homophobia in the Black community, racism or politics, I just wanted to have real, honest conversations without being fake. You have to earn people’s trust. You have to be
consistent as well.” Cannick forged a connection with Moore’s parents and later published pages from a journal describing his relationship with Buck. The entries described how Buck forced him to take drugs. Moore also shared accounts of sexual abuse. News of the journal prompted other men to step forward and share similar encounters with Buck involving drugs and abuse. After Moore’s journal was published and news of it generated national media, Los Angeles County launched an official homicide investigation into the case. “Once I realized that this was a pattern of behavior, he was not going to stop until he was stopped,” Cannick said. “The man was basking in his White privilege. He knew that nobody was going to question him over the word of survival sex workers, homeless men, and meth addicts. That’s also a part of the problem, too. When victims tell you what happened to them, you need to believe them. Believe them like they were some white women.” Despite the testimony of the more victims, Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey declined to pursue criminal charges against Buck. Cannick said, for a while, it seemed like Buck’s privilege and connections to powerful people were going to save him. Then
came a turning point in the case. On Jan. 7, 2019, 55-year-old Timothy Dean was found dead in what appeared to be an overdose in Buck’s residence, where Moore was found dead nearly a-year-and-a-half earlier. The public outrage in reaction to Dean’s death reignited Cannick and other advocates in their effort to bring Buck to justice. Despite the pressure from both families of his victims, their supporters and an ongoing investigation of the second death in his home, Buck continued his predatory behavior. A third drug overdose involving a young Black man, 37-yearold Joe Doe occurred in his home. But Doe survived and was able to report the incident to authorities. On September 17, 2019, Buck was arrested and charged with operating a drug house and providing methamphetamine to Doe. The following month, Buck was indicted by a federal grand jury on offenses, including the distribution of narcotics and the deaths of Moore and Dean. After a series of delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic, on July 27, Buck was found guilty on nine charges and is currently awaiting sentencing. He faces 20 years to life in prison. Cannick says the journey to Buck’s conviction was arduous and emotionally taxing but she never lost faith that justice would be served. “Over four years a lot happened. My grandmother died, my best friend died, another friend died from COVID and I got dumped. A lot of life things happened to me,” said Cannick. “We’re all doing this work as a passion of love. This isn’t work that pays our bills or anything. We all had stuff to do, but we still kept doing it despite all of the things that were happening in our lives. I’m so happy that I never fell off.” After taking some time to decompress, Cannick says she plans to write a book about the Buck ordeal. Her goal is to provide her perspective of the proceedings and that of Buck’s victims – shared with more depth and authenticity. “One of the things that is really important to me is that White people don’t steal this story from us,” Cannick said. “They have a really bad habit of doing those type of things. There are already three films in the works out there. I am determined for that not to happen. Nobody is going to tell my story but me.”
“Respect” Film Review
By Dwight Brown NNPA News Wire Film Critic “They want to hear you sing,” says Rev. C.L. Franklin (Forest Whitaker) to his 10-year-old daughter Aretha (Skye Dakota Turner). And she did. Eventually singing herself into 25 Grammys, a posthumously awarded Pulitzer Prize Special Citation and the history books. How Franklin became the Queen of Soul and loved by millions is the subject of this fairly detailed and very entertaining biofilm that charts her rise from childhood to 1972 and her making of the classic, live- recorded album, Amazing Grace. This project stars Jennifer Hudson, the singer who was handpicked by Franklin to play her. Like a Queen anointing a princess, Franklin deemed: “I've made my decision, and it is you, young lady, who I want to play me.” That endorsement makes this Respect the quintessential Franklin biodrama and any others, not so much. Detroit 1952, ten-year-old Aretha is a precocious musical prodigy lauded by her dad C.L., loved by her grandmother (Kimberly Scott, The Abyss) and envied by her siblings. Years later as a young adult in the 1960s, Franklin (Hudson) tours churches with her father who watches her like a hawk, warding off suitors. C.L. helps his daughter land a recording contract with Columbia Records in 1960, and Franklin releases jazz/pop-orientated albums to little success. When she hooks up with hustler turned manager Ted White (Marlon Wayans), C.L. is peeved: “You are not leaving this family for that piece of trash!” Yet this is when Aretha finds her stride. She develops her own brand of soul music, which starts with the gospel/blues tinged “I Never Loved a Man,” recorded with the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Band on Atlantic records in 1967. The rest is soul music history. Director Liesl Tommy and the film’s producers made a smart decision when they had the entire cast sing live. It’s a strategy Continued on page A2
NEW YORK (AP) – Dennis “Dee Tee’’ Thomas, a founding member of the long-running soul-funk band Kool & the Gang known for such hits as “Celebration’’ and “Get Down On It,’’ has died. He was 70. He died peacefully in his sleep Saturday in New Jersey, where he was a resident of Montclair, according to a statement from his representative. Thomas was the alto sax player, flutist and percussionist. He served as master of ceremonies at the band’s shows. His last appearance with the group was July Fourth at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. Born Feb. 9, 1951, in Orlando, Florida, Thomas was known for his prologue on the band’s 1971 hit, “Who’s Gonna Take the Weight.’’ Known for his hip clothes and hats, he was also the group’s wardrobe stylist. In the early days, he served as their “budget hawk,’’ carrying their earnings in a paper bag stuffed into the bell of his horn, the statement said. In 1964, seven teen friends created the group’s unique bland of jazz, soul and funk, at first calling themselves the Jazziacs. They went through several iterations before settling on Kool & the Gang in 1969. The group’s other founders are brothers Ronald and Robert Bell, Spike Mickens, Ricky Westfield, George Brown and Charles Smith. Ronald Bell died Sept. 9, 2020, at home in the U.S. Virgin Islands at age 68. The band has earned two Grammy Awards and seven American Music Awards. They were honored in 2014 with a Soul Train Lifetime Achievement Award. Their music is heavily sampled and featured on film sound tracks, including those for “Rocky,’’ “Saturday Night Fever’’ and “Pulp Fiction.’’ Among those Thomas is survived by are his wife, Phynjuar Saunders Thomas, daughter Tuesday Rankin and sons David Thomas and Devin Thomas.
Virginia University Buildings Renamed for Black Women ETTRICK, Va. (AP) – Four buildings at an historically Black university in Virginia named for white men with links to the Jim Crow era or to the Confederacy have been renamed for Black women. Virginia State University announced the new names on Friday, five months after the original names were taken down, with replacement names considered by a committee. “It wasn’t hard, and we didn’t have to look far to find women who embody our mission today,’’ Tonya Hall, VSU’s vice president of external relations, told the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Vawter Hall, originally named for a Confederate captain, was renamed for Lula Johnson, who is believed to be the first woman to graduate from a Virginia public college in the 1890s, from what is now VSU. Byrd Hall, a dorm named for former governor and U.S. Sen. Harry F. Byrd Sr., is now Otelia Howard Hall, honoring a school English teacher in the 1920s and ‘30s. A statue of Byrd, a staunch segregationist, was removed from Capitol Square in Richmond last month. The former Trinkle Hall is now named for Johnella Jackson, who wrote the music for VSU’s alma mater in the 1920s. Elbert Lee Trinkle was governor in the 1920s and signed a law that prohibited interracial marriage. And Eggleston Hall, named for Joseph Eggleston, a board of visitors member in the early 20th century, is now named for Lucretia Campbell, the faculty’s first Black female member. Eggleston was a state schools superintendent.
Muddy Waters’ Landmark Status CHICAGO (AP) – The Chicago home where blues legend Muddy Waters once lived and recorded music is a step closer to landmark status and becoming a museum in his honor. The Commission on Chicago Landmarks on Thursday granted final approval of landmark status to the brick two-flat home in the South Side neighborhood of North Kenwood, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. It now moves to the City Council Committee on Zoning, Landmarks and Building Standards and, if approved, to a vote of the full council. Waters, known as the “Father of Chicago Blues,’’ moved to the city from rural Mississippi in 1943. He moved his family into the home in 1954 and purchased it in 1956. Waters’ family lived on the first floor of the house. He rented out the upstairs and had a recording studio in the basement. Waters’ great granddaughter, Chandra Cooper, now owns the property and is converting it into The MOJO Muddy Waters House Museum. Cooper was “elated and happy’’ that the landmarks commission recognized and is honoring Waters’ musical legacy and history. “We’re on this great path toward becoming one of Chicago’s landmarks, and we are looking forward to working with the blues community, the city and the alderman on this project to leave a piece of his legacy for the city of Chicago,” she said. After arriving in Chicago in the 1940s, Waters played parties at night for extra cash and later became a regular performer in local nightclubs. Chess Records released his first hits by 1948, and by the early 1950s his blues band had become one of history’s most acclaimed. Waters’ Chicago home was a gathering place for musicians, and some _ including legends like Chuck Berry and Otis Spann _ lived there at one time or another. Waters lived in the home until his wife died in 1973. He then moved to suburban Westmont, living there until his 1983 death.