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Los Angeles

Volume 36 Number 1

Serving Los Angeles County for Over 36 Years

Observer Group Newspapers of Southern California

First All-Black Crew to Make NFL History

By Earl Heath Contributing Sports Writer The NFL will create another part of history as it will put together an All Black officiating crew when the L.A. Rams travel to Tampa Bay on Monday night.

The crew members include Jerome Boger (Referee), Julian Mapp (Down Judge), Barry Anderson (Umpire), Dale Shaw (Side Judge), Anthony Jefferies (Field Judge), and Greg Snead (Back Judge).

Johnson and Snead will be newcomer as the others have worked together as a regular crew. The Crew has a combined 89 seasons experience in the league.

With COVID-19 being a factor the league relaxed is

assignments as they try to keep officials to close proximity to their homes whenever possible.

Boger is the third ever Referee in league history following Johnny Greer and Mike Cary. He is 17-year veteran who worked Super Bowl XLVII San Francisco 49’ers vs Baltimore Ravens.

Boger also was a four-year starting quarterback at Morehouse before becoming joining the NFL in 2004.

“This historic Week 11 crew is a testament to the countless and immeasurable contributions of Black officials to the game,” said Troy Vincent NFL executive VP of football operations.

“Their exemplary performance and to the power of inclusion that is the hallmark of this great game.”

Brett Davis (Photo: USA TODAY Sports)

The school to prison pipeline starts as early as preschool for our youngest Black learners.

Black Men for Educational Equity Special to California Black Media Partners According to the U.S. Department of Education (20162017), Black children face issues with preschool access and exclusion, and are prone to receive harsher discipline than nonBlack students who display the same behavior.

Statistics show that Black children are 15% of the K-12th grade student population; however, they are 36% of students suspended at least once. Too many Black early learners are bounced around between multiple preschools or childcare programs like urban nomads.

During the height of the George Floyd protests, a group of African American men with professional experience in education, policy, research and social work formed Black Men for Educational Equity (BMEE) to address implicit bias in early education. Over the last five months, BMEE examined the disparities and inequalities that exist in the system for young Black children and have created a plan of action for addressing these systemic issues. To combat this problem, BMEE is calling on the California Legislature to ensure that Black preschoolers are not excluded from important educational components and success through implicit bias and structural racism. Having access to quality preschool, fair treatment in the classroom, and equal opportunity for success are all crucial components in helping our Black preschool students succeed now, and for generations to come.

Too often, the three “B’s” predict a preschooler’s risk of expulsion: “big, Black and boy.” Black children are expelled at twice the rate of white children, particularly if they are bigger or taller than their peers. Research reveals this is less about the physical characteristics of the child and more about what is going on in the teacher’s mind, than what the child is doing. Although there is great need in California for preschool and childcare services, preschool is not compulsory.

Preschools in California currently can exclude students prior to even attempting to teach them based on subjective behavioral expectations. These unfounded behavioral expectations are often fraught with implicit bias and hidden from research as providers are not required to track or report reasons for exclusion, expulsion, or suspension. It is tantamount to expulsion without any process or notice of rights, and contrary to long term public policy.

Young Black children, particularly Black boys, are too often victims of an education system that fails them and stifles their potential to succeed. When Black children are held to different standards for learning and behavior and even worse, higher standards are seen for them in preschool, it furthers the systematic racial divide.

“It is important early education staff shift from destructive approaches to discipline and towards research-informed best practices,” commented Dr. Judy D. White, Riverside County Superintendent of Schools. “The Research is clear that when teachers are supported with resources and evidence-based Continued on page A3

Pressure on Gov Increases to Appoint Bass or Lee to Replace Kamala Harris Antonio‌ ‌Ray‌ ‌Harvey‌ ‌ ‌California‌ ‌Black‌ ‌Media‌ ‌ ‌ A loudening chorus of voices from across California and around the country are putting pressure on California Gov. Gavin Newsom to appoint Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA-37) or Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA-13) to fill the state’s soon-to-be-vacant U.S. Senate seat that will be vacated by Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.

A coalition of community groups and organizers from Southern California have created a petition at Change. org titled “Let’s Keep the Seat.” It asks for support to keep a Black woman in Harris’s position and points out why that decision is important.

“Currently Kamala Harris is the only African American woman in the entire United States Senate and when her seat becomes vacant there will be no African American woman in the US Senate,” the petition explains.

The petition also highlights Bass’s and Lee’s experience.

“Please sign the petition and join the movement to urge Governor Gavin Newsom to replace Kamala Harris with either Congresswoman Karen Bass (D-California), Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus or Congresswoman Barbara Lee, both of whom are coalition builders with significant National and Foreign Policy experience,” it states.

Democracy for America (DFA), a Left-leaning political action committee, also launched a grassroots effort last week calling on Gov. Newsom to replace Vice President-elect Harris with another progressive Black woman in the U.S. Senate.

“In this year’s election, Black women helped make history by making Kamala Harris the first Black woman to be elected Vice President. Today, we’re calling on California Gov. Gavin Newsom to replace Vice President-elect Kamala Harris with another powerful, progressive Black woman to ensure that a leader with Black women’s unique life experience continues to have a voice in the U.S. Senate,” stated Yvette Simpson, CEO, Democracy for America.

“We hope California Gov. Newsom will honor Californians’ historic choice and make sure the nation’s largest state continues to be represented by a powerful, progressive Black woman who will make her state proud,” Simpson stated in a letter dated Nov. 10.

The California Legislative Black Caucus (CLBC) and other Black leaders are also piling the pressure on Gov. Newsom to appoint an African American woman to fill the seat.

CLBC held a virtual news conference on Friday, Nov. 13, featuring CLBC chairperson Assemblywoman Shirley N. Weber (D-San Diego), state Sen. Steven Bradford (DInglewood), who is vice chair of the CLBC and city of Los Angeles councilmember-elect Mark Ridley-Thomas.

“These are two public servants who have a history of being inclusive. Their politics don’t represent a narrow view of democracy, but an expansive view,” said Ridley-Thomas.

CLBC members also sent a letter to Gov. Newsom.

“The African American community has worked hard to elect the first African American Senator in the state,” Weber said. “Though we represent a small percentage of California’s population, our voting power demonstrates our ability to build strong coalitions across diverse communities. We are adamant that this position goes to an African American woman.”

At noon on Saturday, Nov. 21, the California Democratic Party Black Caucus is joining with other women organizations -- including the National Organization for Women NOW) and Black Women United (BWU) -- to hold a rally at the California State Capitol in Sacramento.

At the event, they will be calling on the governor to appoint Lee or Bass.

In 1990, Lee was elected to the California State Assembly, where she served until 1996 when she was elected to the State Senate. As a California legislator, Lee authored 67 bills and resolutions that were signed into law by Republican Gov. Pete Wilson.

In 1998, Congresswoman Barbara Lee was elected to serve California’s 9th congressional district (now the 13th)

Thursday, November 19, 2020

Civil Rights Leader Rogers Johnson Dies at 62

Implicit Bias in Early Education

Top Row: Khieem Jackson, Jason Henderson, Ayo Taylor. Dr. J.Luke Wood. Bottom Row: Dr. Joseph F. Johnson, Chad Owes, Adonai Mack and Khaim Morton. (Courtesy Photo)

Free!

in a special election. She serves on the Budget Committee and the Appropriations Committee, which oversees all federal government spending.

She also serves on three subcommittees: State and Foreign Operations; Labor, Health and Human Services and Education; and Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration) of the Appropriations Committee.

Re-elected to her sixth term on Nov. 3, Bass serves on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs where she is the chair of the subcommittee on Africa, global health, global Continued on page A3

STRATHAM, N.H. (AP) – Rogers Johnson, a former New Hampshire lawmaker and longtime civil rights leader, has died.

Johnson, who served as president of the Seacoast NAACP and was chair of the Governor’s Advisory Council on Diversity and Inclusion, died Thursday at age 62.

Johnson also served as a member of statewide commissions related to police accountability and equity in the state’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.

A Republican who represented Stratham as a state representative from 2001 to 2006, he was the was the first Black lawmaker to serve as House Majority whip.

In a statement Friday, Gov. Chris Sununu praised Johnson for his tireless leadership and advocacy in making New Hampshire a more diverse and equitable state.

“We will carry on this work in his legacy and honor, and all of New Hampshire mourns his passing,’’ Sununu said.

Johnson, who was born in New York, was an insurance salesman and executive who also served as the director of intergovernmental affairs for the U.S. Department of Education during the Bush administration. In addition to leading the Seacoast NAACP chapter, he was treasurer of the organization’s New England regional conference.

Johnson is survived by his wife and two sons.

Visitation is set for Wednesday followed by a private funeral.

Bullet Fired into Home of New Selma Mayor SELMA, Ala. (AP) – A bullet was fired into the home of recently inaugurated Mayor James Perkins, causing minor damage but injuring no one, and authorities are trying to determine whether the shooting was intentional or an accident.

Selma Police Chief Kenta Fulford said Perkins returned home on Saturday to discover a bullet hole in the wall of his office and pieces of sheetrock on the floor, the Selma Times-Journal reported.

District Attorney Michael Jackson said Monday there have be “a lot’’ of shootings in Selma over the last several weeks, and police will try to determine whether the gunshot was intentional or the house was hit by a stray bullet.

“We will do everything that we can to see that the person or persons that are responsible for the shootings that have been going on not just at Perkins’ home but throughout our city are prosecuted,’’ Fulford said.

Perkins became the first Black mayor of Selma in 2000, leaving office in 2008. He was reelected last month and inaugurated on Nov. 2.

Ex-football Players Sue Iowa, Alleging Racial Discrimination IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – A lawyer for 13 Black former Iowa football players announced Thursday that he has filed a lawsuit alleging his clients suffered racial discrimination under longtime coach Kirk Ferentz.

The plaintiffs, including former star running back Akrum Wadley and career receptions leader Kevonte Martin-Manley, suffered “serious and pervasive discriminatory treatment and harassment,” according to a press release from attorney Damario SolomonSimmons.

They allege they were demeaned with racial slurs, forced to abandon Black hairstyles, fashion and culture to fit the “Iowa Way’’ promoted by Ferentz, and retaliated against for spe0aking out, the press release said.

Iowa agreed to pay Doyle $1.1 million in a resignation agreement in June, after scores of former players said on social media that he had bullied and discriminated against them. Doyle has denied the allegations.

An investigation by an outside law firm later found that the program’s rules “perpetuated racial and culture biases and diminished the value of cultural diversity’’ and allowed coaches to demean players without consequence.

The school has already rejected the former players’ demand for the firings of Barta and both Ferentzes and a $20 million payout for damages.

On Thursday, Iowa said the stories shared by former athletes has “resulted in a strong commitment to improve” and noted that those who left without a degree are eligible for financial assistance if they return to graduate.

“To that end, the University of Iowa continues to work hard to become a more inclusive campus for all students,’’ its statement said. “We appreciate the athletes using their voices and we are on a positive path forward with our team.’’

In addition to the lawsuit, Solomon-Simmons said he was filing civil rights complaints with federal and state government agencies, saying the players were “denied the benefits of a quality education and opportunities to excel.’’

A2

LOS ANGELES NEWS OBSERVER

Thursday, November 19, 2020

World & Nation

Killing of Black Teenage was ‘Emmett Till-like Lynching’ Says Local Residents

By Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent Who is Quawan “Bobby” Charles, and why are some comparing his death to Emmett Till?

The 15-year-old’s death has sparked demonstrations in rural Iberia Parish, Louisiana, a densely populated county where African Americans comprise about 31 percent of its residents.

According to multiple reports and photos circulating the internet, Quawan’s battered body was found by authorities sometime during or after Halloween night.

Police have not confirmed where and exactly when they found Quawan’s body, but family members have claimed it was discovered in a sugar cane field not far from his home.

A photo shows the teen’s face badly discolored and swollen, with parts of his jaw exposed and skin missing.

There are bruises on his forehead.

“Many say Charles’ body resembles 14-year-old Emmett Till who was lynched in Mississippi in 1955 after being accused of offending a white woman in her family’s grocery store,” reported the news website, The NC Beat, which published a side-by-side photo comparison of Quawan Charles and Emmett Till.

Law enforcement officials in Louisiana have not confirmed the authenticity of Quawan’s photo.

Investigators have noted that they’re still processing evidence, interviewing various individuals, and are awaiting autopsy results.

“The disrespect [from law enforcement] and lack of transparency are unacceptable,” ACLU of Louisiana executive director Alanah Odoms Hebert wrote in a

statement.

“We join the family in demanding a full and transparent investigation into the circumstances surrounding Bobby’s death,” Hebert continued. “This family is grieving and deserves answers – not disrespect and stonewalling.”

Demonstrators have reportedly questioned the possibility that the case involves foul play.

Many gathered along with Quawan’s family on Wednesday, Nov. 11, outside of the Iberia Parish Courthouse to demand more information be released.

“We are here to demand justice for a family of people who gruesomely lost their loved one, a 15-year-old child who was found in a way that just breaks my heart,” demonstrator Jamal Taylor told Louisiana’s WAFB-TV. “Members of law enforcement have done what they do well, which is deny and hide behind a pending investigation.

This family deserves answers,” Taylor remarked.

Ron Haley, the attorney representing Quawan’s family, also chided authorities for their lack of transparency.

“There are certain circumstances where I absolutely understand – and I think anybody would – why things aren’t made [available] to the public,” Haley told WAFB. “But let’s talk specifically about Bobby Charles. His family should know...His mother and father should be made aware of every step of this investigation.”

Racial tensions have routinely boiled over in Iberia Parish, where lynching of Black people became a regular occurrence following Reconstruction.

A blistering 2018 article published in The Acadiana Advocate reported that the Iberia Parish Sheriff’s Office had employed a violent gang with racist tendencies and batons.

According to the report, deputies in the Sheriff Department’s elite narcotics squad routinely beat suspects, and sometimes just random African Americans they confronted.

“Some of the same deputies fabricated reports, made bogus arrests and lied under oath to cover their tracks,” the newspaper reported. “And to hear federal prosecutors tell it, Sheriff Louis Ackal was the architect of the whole thing.”

Not long after he took office, in 2008, three of Ackal’s drug agents got caught jumping two young black residents just for kicks.

Ackal allegedly dismissed the matter as “just another case of n*****-knocking,” a comment deputies said made the rounds of the narcotics squad and set a free-swinging tone for years of abuse.

Nearly a dozen Iberia Parish deputies would eventually confess to civil rights violations, and several agreed to testify against their boss over the biggest policing scandal in Louisiana in a decade.

But then Ackal beat the rap in 2016 and came back to town.

Quawan’s family has started a GoFundMe to help pay for an independent autopsy. The site also contains a graphic photo of the teen’s body.

So far, the effort has raised more than $65,000 against its original $15,000 goal.

“According to Eugene Weatherspoon Collins of the Baton Rouge NAACP, Quawan Charles was lynched just like Emmett Till,’” Baton Rouge activist Gary Chambers wrote this week on Facebook.

“There is no other way to put it.”

Many gathered along with Quawan’s family on Wednesday, Nov. 11, outside of the Iberia Parish Courthouse to demand more information be released.

Minority Employees v. Amazon Rev. Jackson, CK Hoffler, Announce Support of Class Action Lawsuit

By Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent Rev. Jesse Jackson has announced his support for former Amazon employee Chris Smalls, who has spearheaded a class-action lawsuit against the company for its alleged failure to provide personal protection equipment.

Smalls and his attorneys, National Bar Association President C.K. Hoffler and famed Civil Rights Lawyer Michael Sussman, detailed the lawsuit which seeks unspecified punitive damages against the tech giant, during a call with members of the press and media, including the Washington Post, which is owned by Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos.

Smalls claims that Amazon failed to comply with safety guidelines, particularly for Black and Brown employees, as the coronavirus pandemic raged in late March.

After starting his employment with Amazon in New York City in 2015, Smalls earned a promotion to a supervisory position about a year later.

He alleges that a co-worker with whom he had close contact tested positive for COVID on March 24, 2020.

When Smalls learned of the positive test, he said Amazon failed to issue a directive to quarantine workers with whom the employee had close contact.

One day later, Smalls said he arrived at work but wasn’t advised of any quarantine measures for himself or other

workers who had close contact with the infected employee.

He then spoke with higher-level managers and an individual in Amazon’s human resources department, seeking clarity and to request permission to quarantine.

Smalls eventually served as a liaison between workers, who felt management was unresponsive to their concerns.

He then led a demonstration with co-workers in Amazon’s parking lot.

After confirming that Amazon wasn’t taking employees’ temperatures before allowing them to work and that the company did not offer protective equipment, hand sanitizer, or adequately enforce social distancing measures within the facility, Smalls further raised concerns to management.

“Amazon concluded that as a Black man, he would serve as a ‘weak spokesman’ for the workers and criticized him for standing up and fighting for the workers,” Hoffler noted.

“Over 240,000 people have died in the United States from COVID-19, and millions have been infected, but Amazon was cavalier with the safety of its employees amidst this pandemic,” Hoffler offered.

“Amazon puts profits before people and placed its workers at risk.”

A company spokesperson declined to comment.

Smalls, who said he’d not been diagnosed with COVID, added that he’d been loyal to Amazon since his arrival in 2015 and until they fired him because of his activism.

“I was a loyal worker and gave my all to Amazon until I was unceremoniously terminated and tossed aside like yesterday’s trash because I insisted that Amazon protect its dedicated workers from COVID-19,” Smalls declared.

“I just wanted Amazon to provide basic protective gear to the workers and sanitize the workplace.”

Sussman and Hoffler both asserted that Amazon’s actions violate federal statutes and New York City Human Rights law.

They said the New York Attorney General’s office

currently has a whistleblower investigation into Amazon related to Smalls’ allegations.

“As New York City was fast becoming the epicenter of this deadly and brutal disease, Amazon knowingly subjected its majority-minority line workers to unsafe, dangerous, and inferior work conditions as compared to its white employees working in managerial classifications,” Hoffler remarked.

“When Chris Smalls organized workers against Amazon’s discriminatory practices by voicing his opposition in an effort to protect the workers, he was fired.”

Sussman noted that the case is still early but is expecting “thousands” of plaintiffs to join the class action suit.

Jackson and his Rainbow Push Coalition have also backed Smalls.

“I have spent my entire career fighting against the type of oppression that Chris and his fellow workers experienced at JFK8 and around the world,” Jackson offered in a statement.

“It’s a shame that Amazon would not protect its workers and laborers, exposing them to one of the deadliest enemies in modern history— COVID-19. It’s not right, and I applaud Chris for his courage under fire.”

Jackson continued: “We, too, stand in solidarity with him on this journey.

COVID-19 has disproportionately impacted Black and Brown communities on so many levels, from warehouses to jailhouses. It’s an invisible enemy that is killing our communities.

“Chris’s case is a classic example of how corporate greed and insensitivity can literally expose communities to untold and unnecessary risks. We must continue to fight for the voiceless who can’t fight for themselves because of their circumstances.”

News Observer Los Angeles

“When Chris Smalls organized workers against Amazon’s discriminatory practices by voicing his opposition in an effort to protect the workers, he was fired.”

New Coronavirus Vaccine Requires ‘Trust’ of Black Community Pfizer’s vaccine is the first in the United States to generate late-stage data. (Photo: iStockphoto / NNPA)

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Associated Press, Better Business Bureau, GLAAACC President: Ellen Coley Operations Manager: Jon Coley Editor: James Luckey Credo - The Black Press believes that America can best lead the world away from racial and national antagonisms when it accounts to every person, regardless of race, color, or creed full human and legal rights. Hating no person, fearing no person, the Black Press strives to help every person in the firm belief that all are hurt as long as any one is held back.

By Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent News that Pfizer and BioNTech’s announcement that their coronavirus vaccine was more than 90 percent effective in preventing COVID-19 among those without previous infection arrives as the United States continues to realize record-breaking new cases.

For the first time on Thursday, November 12, the country surpassed 150,000 new coronavirus cases in a single day.

The total number of cases soared past 10.5 million, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Both California and Texas have recorded more than 1 million total cases, while states like Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey have seen significant rises in COVID infections.

The most recent available statistics show that the District of Columbia has more than 18,500 total positive cases and 657 deaths. Washington, DC health officials have administered nearly 572,000 COVID tests to roughly 272,000 residents.

More than 242,000 people have died in the United States since the declaration of the outbreak of the pandemic in March. Health officials have expressed that the new vaccine offers real hope for the future.

“It is a great day for science and humanity. The first set of results from our Phase 3 COVID-19 vaccine trial provides the initial evidence of our vaccine’s ability to prevent COVID-19,” Dr. Albert Bourla, Pfizer Chairman and CEO, offered in a news release.

“We are reaching this critical milestone in our vaccine

development program at a time when the world needs it most, with infection rates setting new records, hospitals nearing over-capacity, and economies struggling to reopen,” Dr. Bourla remarked.

He continued: “We are a significant step closer to providing people around the world with a much-needed breakthrough to help bring an end to this global health crisis. We look forward to sharing additional efficacy and safety data generated from thousands of participants in the coming weeks.”

Pfizer has maintained a strategic partnership with the National Newspaper Publishers Association, offering insight on various rare diseases like sickle cell that disproportionately affect the African American community.

Dr. Kevin Williams, the Chief Medical Officer for Pfizer’s Rare Disease unit, periodically writes a column in the Black Press to help keep the African American community informed.

Pfizer’s vaccine is the first in the United States to generate late-stage data.

An analysis of individuals that received two injections of the vaccine, spaced three weeks apart, revealed more than 90 percent fewer cases of symptomatic COVID-19 when compared to those who received the placebo.

The results are significant because health and science experts have stated that they expected a vaccine to yield an effective rate of no more than 70 percent.

In spite of this good news, many in the African American community continue to take a wait-and-see approach.

“Somehow, scientific, education and community leaders must reassure a skeptical community of color that the vaccine will help and protect them,” said Gina Harper.

She created an urban garden in New York after growing up on a farm in Oklahoma.

“Perhaps the best way would be to prove the point by exemplifying members of the Black community who have taken the vaccine and remained healthy,” Harper remarked.

The Pfizer vaccine clinical trial “went out of its way in their recruitment and enlarged their initial population of 30,000 to almost 44,000 to recruit more people of color,” stated Dale Yuzuki, a biotech executive and author of “COVID-19: From Chaos to Cure. The Biology Behind the Fight Against the Novel Coronavirus.”

“It is certainly a focus within the National Institutes of Health, where they are sensitized to the acute needs of minority populations and their justified suspicion of government-sponsored public health programs.”

Dr. James E.K. Hildreth, one of the world’s foremost immunologists and president and CEO of Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tenn., is a recent appointee to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s commission that will ultimately approve the Pfizer vaccine and any others.

Hildreth, an African American, insists that any vaccine must have the confidence of Black people.

“I’ve made the decision that I’m going to participate in one of the vaccine trials. The trust issue cannot be overstated,” Dr. Hildreth said.

“We have to have more trusted messengers and more trusted opinion leaders to make this work.”

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Features

Thursday, November 19, 2020

LOS ANGELES NEWS OBSERVER A3

Pressure on Gov Increases to Appoint Bass or Lee Continued from page A1

human rights, and international organizations. She is also a member of the House Judiciary Committee.

Prior to serving in Congress, Bass made history as first African American woman elected to be the speaker of the California Assembly.

“We have two outstanding individuals that are being put forth. Two phenomenal women with unquestionable credentials and leadership abilities,” Bradford said of Lee and Bass.

Carol Moseley Braun was the last Black woman elected to the Senate in 1992. Harris, elected in 2016, followed

Barbara Boxer, who served in the role of junior Senator from California from 1993 to 2017.

Brittany Cooper, a professor at Rutgers University in New Jersey says President-elect Biden and the Democratic Party owe Black women are owed for their votes and the role they played in the fight against a “massive voter-suppression campaign” during the 2020 election.

“Black women leaders are so important to this democracy precisely because they dare to keep dreaming, even after the immediacy of a perpetual nightmare like Donald

Trump. Representation is not everything. But it is absolutely something,” Cooper wrote.

CLBC is supporting Lee and Bass to become California’s senator. But other women of color names have been floated, too, in California political circles, including San Francisco Mayor London Breed, the first Black woman elected to the position.

Other groups in the state have urged the governor to appoint California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, Secretary of State Alex Padilla, and Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, among others.

Gov. Newsom can either decide to make an appointment to complete Harris’s term, which ends in 2023, or he can hold a special election.

“We are adamant that Senator Harris’s replacement must be an African American,” said Weber. “The African American community has proven itself in this election – and in past elections – to be the strongest force in the Democratic Party.”

By LARRY BARKER KRQE News 13 ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) _ Behind the well-manicured facades of many Albuquerque tree-lined neighborhoods lurks a dirty little secret.

The evidence is stashed away in a nondescript government warehouse in southeast Albuquerque. Inside the secure facility, a cache of dusty documents hidden away for decades shatters the perception of Albuquerque as a racially tolerant community.

Television station KRQE reports that the documents show bigotry and prejudice was an accepted practice in the city some 70 years ago.

New Mexico State Historian Rob Martinez calls the documents “very disturbing.''

“This is distasteful. It's offensive, it's inflammatory, and it's racist,'' says NAACP Albuquerque Chapter President Harold Bailey.

As an example, there's nothing unusual about a nondescript home on Tyler Road. But when you dig up real estate papers filed 74 years ago, you'll find a provision in the property's restrictive covenant that does not allow the premises to “. be sold, leased or occupied by any person of Oriental or African descent.''

Real estate documents filed in 1945 for a home on Cypress Drive prohibits the sale, rental or occupancy by anyone “. not of the white or Caucasian race.''

In northeast Albuquerque's McDuffie Place neighborhood, 1946 property restrictions dictate “.no person of any race other than the Caucasian race shall own, use or occupy any building . of this subdivision.'' The restrictive covenant provided an exception for “domestic servants.''

It's a historical chapter you won't find in the history books.

“To be honest with you, I was shocked. The city was

essentially racially restricted in virtually the entire city,'' says academic researcher Stephon Scott, who focused on the subject for his master's thesis.

“Based on the research . about 85% of the city was racially restricted. It was to the benefit of whites only, every single part of the city. Northeast, northwest, southeast, southwest,'' Scott said.

Beginning in the 1920s and continuing for another 30 years, scores of newly developed neighborhoods, from the West Mesa to the Sandia foothills, were designated “whites only.'' Some of the city's most fashionable addresses specifically excluded minority ownership and included homes in Nob Hill, the area around the University of New Mexico, the Albuquerque Country Club neighborhood and Ridgecrest.

And it wasn't just Albuquerque. Flagrant racial segregation surged nationwide after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1926 that the use of racially restrictive real estate contracts were lawful.

So, when a home on Smith Avenue in southeast Albuquerque was sold in 1926, the deed listed just one restriction: No ownership by “.any person of oriental or African descent.''

“Racial Covenants were designed to maintain the homogeneity of neighborhoods . to exclude people who were deemed undesirable,'' says University of Pennsylvania Professor Michael Jones-Correa, who teaches racial and ethnic politics and is director of the Center for the Study of Ethnicity, Race and Immigration.

“At that time period, buyers and sellers were being encouraged by their real estate agents only to sell to people of the same race,'' Jones-Correa says. “The realtors are kind of the villain of this whole thing. They play a role at every step of the way in enforcing (and) policing these neighborhood boundaries.''

Scott, in his thesis, wrote that national and local real estate boards, along with neighborhood and homeowner's associations,

played a role in creating racially restrictive covenants.

In the late 1920's, Albuquerque real estate developer William Leverette peddled homesites in the Monte Vista Addition east of the university. According to covenants drafted

by Leverette's company, none of the homes in the neighborhood could be occupied, leased or sold to “.any person of Oriental or African descent.'' Monte Vista property deeds routinely excluded minority ownership up until 1947.

When homesites in southeast Albuquerque's Skyline Heights neighborhood were sold by Berger and Briggs in the 1940s, the real estate contracts specifically excluded ownership by any person who was 1/8 or more Black or Asian.

The research found that developers, bankers, lenders, lawyers and community leaders all actively participated in blatant discrimination by allowing homeowners to do practically anything with their property, except sell to minorities.

Even cemeteries were segregated. According to records filed with the Bernalillo County Clerk, in the 1930's and 1940's, Sunset Memorial Park sold cemetery plots only for “.the burial of the human dead of the white race.''

Blacks and Asians were not the only targets. In 1932, property deed covenants in northwest Albuquerque's Navajo Addition excluded Mexicans and those of Spanish decent.

In 1948, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled racial restrictions in housing were unconstitutional. However, the television station's investigation found the practice continued in Albuquerque and Santa Fe for another decade.

With the passage of the Fair Housing Act in 1968, neighborhood racially restrictive covenants were deemed illegal.

Martinez said he was shocked to find out it happened in his hometown. “It was discrimination. It was racism, blatant laid down in documents that people were typing,'' he said.

“Anyone who would read that should feel offended,'' says Bailey of the NAACP. “You have to just wonder what were they thinking? What was in their hearts and what was in their minds to just go along with something like that.”

Today, thousands of Albuquerque residents live in homes that once excluded minorities. In fact, Mayor Tim Keller says he was appalled to learn a 1928 deed to his own residence contains a racial restriction.

“I think it's really a reflection of how explicitly racist everything was,'' he said.

Bernalillo County Clerk Linda Stover says she was shocked to find it was common practice to restrict home ownership to “whites only.”

Even though racial covenants are today illegal, county clerks cannot remove offensive language from legally binding documents that have been recorded.

“The facts are unavoidable. It really is a history in which rampant, blatant discrimination was practiced,'' says state Sen. Jerry Ortiz y Pino, a Democrat from Albuquerque. “When you read those covenants, they are clearly part of Albuquerque's history. This was part of the way we thought about things in the 30s and 40s. And it's a complete scandal, an embarrassment.”

Ortiz y Pino plans to address the issue when the Legislature convenes in January.

Sen. Daniel Ivey-Soto of Albuquerque has prepared an affidavit that any homeowners can sign and file with the county clerk renouncing racially offensive wording in real estate documents. A copy of the affidavit will be available at the Bernalillo County Clerk's office.

Documents Outline Albuquerque’s Segregated Past

Hate Crimes in US Reach Highest Level in More Than a Decade WASHINGTON (AP) – Hate crimes in the U.S. rose to the highest level in more than a decade as federal officials also recorded the highest number of hate-motivated killings since the FBI began collecting that data in the early 1990s, according to an FBI report released Monday.

There were 51 hate crime murders in 2019, which includes 22 people who were killed in a shooting that targeted Mexicans at a Walmart in the border city of El Paso, Texas, the report said. The suspect in that August 2019 shooting, which left two dozen other people injured, was charged with both state and federal crimes in what authorities said was an attempt to scare Hispanics into leaving the United States.

There were 7,314 hate crimes last year, up from 7,120 the year before _ and approaching the 7,783 of 2008. The FBI’s annual report defines hate crimes as those motivated by bias based on a person’s race, religion or sexual orientation, among other categories.

Some of the 2019 increases may be the result of better reporting by police departments, but law enforcement officials and advocacy groups don’t doubt that hate crimes are on the rise. The Justice Department has for years been specifically prioritizing hate crime prosecutions.

The data also shows there was a nearly 7% increase in religion-based hate crimes, with 953 reports of crimes targeting Jews and Jewish institutions last year, up from 835 the year before. The FBI said the number of hate crimes against African Americans dropped slightly to 1,930, from 1,943.

Anti-Hispanic hate crimes, however, rose to 527 in 2019, from 485 in 2018. And the total number of hate crimes based on a person’s sexual orientation stayed relatively stable, with one fewer crime reported last year, compared with the year before, though there were 20 more hate crimes against gay men reported.

As the data was made public on Monday, advocacy groups, including the Anti-Defamation League, called on Congress and law enforcement agencies across the U.S. to improve data collection and reporting of hate crimes.

Critics have long warned that the data may be incomplete, in part because it is based on voluntary reporting by police agencies across the country.

Last year, only 2,172 law enforcement agencies out of about 15,000 participating agencies across the country reported hate crime data to the FBI, the bureau said.

And while the number of agencies reporting hate crimes increased, the number of agencies participating in the program actually dropped from the year before. A large number of police agencies appeared not to submit any hate crime data, which has been a consistent struggle for Justice Department officials.

“The total severity of the impact and damage caused by hate crimes cannot be fully measured without complete participation in the FBI’s data collection process,’’ the Anti-Defamation League’s president, Jonathan Greenblatt, said in a statement.

An Associated Press investigation in 2016 found that more than 2,700 city police and county sheriff’s departments across the country had not submitted a single hate crime report for the FBI’s annual crime tally during the previous six years.

Greenblatt also said America must “remove the barriers that too often prevent people in marginalized communities - the individuals most likely to suffer hate crimes - from reporting hate-based incidents,’’ a sentiment shared by other advocates.

“The FBI’s report is another reminder that we have much work to do to address hate in America,’’ said Margaret Huang, the president of the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Implicit Bias in Early Education

Continued from page A1

training, preschool can help young children build crucial socialemotional and pre academic skills. A child’s ability to successfully navigate social and emotional learning at a young age is a major factor in educational success. Exclusionary discipline such as suspension isolates the children most in need of social-emotional development, and results in poor educational outcomes. We want all preschoolers to experience an inclusive and welcoming learning environment.”

While legislators have made efforts to address preschool accountability, such as AB 752 by Assemblywoman Blanca Rubio (D-Baldwin Park) which proposes a series of interventions and referrals before expelling a child, there remains a hole the size of Mount Everest in California’s early learning accountability and teacher training system.

California should establish developmentally appropriate policies and structures to provide support to preschool providers by clarifying definitions for suspension and expulsion in preschool and providing due process. Due process should come before any sort of expulsion to help ensure disciplinary practices are not abused. It is long past time for California to take measurable action to eliminate exclusionary practices that contribute to the preschool to prison pipeline.

Preschool providers should collect and track data on rates of expulsion and suspension in early learning and preschool settings. At a minimum, four dominant categories should

disaggregate the data.

They are: sex, race, ethnicity, and disability status. Information could be housed locally and by the state. Preschool providers should also be required to provide due process before kicking a student out. “California’s early learning and care system continues to suffer from historic and structural racism and sexism,” according to Dr. Mary Ann Dewan, Santa Clara County Superintendent of schools. “Policies and procedures such as incentivizing providers to expel children who are deemed ‘problematic’, paying a higher reimbursement for part-day preschool than full-day preschool and directing CalWORKS recipients to lower-quality childcare programs serves to perpetuate the inequities caused by structural racism and sexism. Now that we know better, it’s time to do better.”

“BMEE is here to shake up the system and not maintain the status quo,” said Khaim Morton, owner KRM Strategies and BMEE Member. KRM strategies specializes in the advancement and application of comprehensive legislation and government affairs strategies. “All Black children deserve an opportunity to succeed. Research shows that implicit bias demonizes Black children before they get to kindergarten. BMEE’s vision is to remove stigmas that Black preschoolers are subjected to and support policy solutions.” About the Authors BMEE is a group of African American men with professional experience in education, policy, research and social work.

Please wear a mask and socially distance youself.

Do your part to end COVID-19

A4

Entertainment LOS ANGELES NEWS OBSERVER

Thursday, November 19, 2020

Charley Pride Returns to the CMA Awards to Receive Lifetime Acheivement Award

“Fearless, Inspiration, Courageous, Pioneer,” Jimmie Allen tweeted about Charley Pride ahead of the awards show

By Matthew Leimkuehler Nashville Tennessean Nearly five decades ago, Charley Pride hoisted his first CMA Awards trophy.

It would be one in a long line of “firsts” that'd come to define Pride's career, country music's foremost Black superstar.

He received a standing ovation during his performance that night and, according to The New York Times, kept his speech short.

“I'm shaking again,” Pride said, per an archived Times article. “I don't talk too well. But I'm just happy.”

Pride returns to the CMA Awards stage Wednesday night to receive the Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award.

It's the latest honor in a trailblazing musical impact that follows Pride from a semi-professional baseball field in Montana to singing Hank Williams songs in the 1960s, reaching best-selling success in the 1970s and, eventually, earning enshrinement in the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Charley Pride gets ready to perform during the 14th annual CMA Awards show at the Grand Ole Opry House Oct. 13, 1980.

He joins Nelson, Dolly Parton, Kris Kristofferson, Johnny Cash and Kenny Rogers in the CMA Awards' elite lifetime achievement club.

And he's still humbly short of words on his achievement.

“The best I can say is I wanna go and receive this and put it with all the rest that I've been fortunate enough to

smashed segregation barriers for Black athletes in the major leagues, Pride would peruse his own major league career.

He bounced between Negro leagues and major league farm systems, pitching for teams in Wisconsin, Kentucky, Alabama, Idaho, Texas and, perhaps most notably, the Memphis Red Sox. He'd earn a stop in 1956 on the Negro American League all-star team, only to be drafted later that year into U.S. military service. He served until 1958.

“I was gonna go to the major leagues and break all the records there and set new ones,” Pride said, adding a laugh.

“By the time I was 35 or 36, then I was gonna go sing.

That's what my plan was.”

In Nashville In the early 1960s, Pride's major league opportunities dwindled — but his voice grew.

He lived in Montana at the time, where he played semi-pro baseball, worked at a smelting factory and occasionally sang tunes in honky-tonk bars. At a Montana gig in 1962, touring country singers Red Sovine and Red Foley invited Pride to sing two songs on stage — “Lovesick Blues” and “Heartaches By The Number.”

Sovine encouraged Pride to visit Cedarwood Publishing in Nashville and, in 1963, he obliged. Pride first took to Music City on his way home from a New York Mets tryout in Clearwater, Florida.

At Cedarwood, Pride connected with his would-be manager Jack D. Johnson and, two years later, landed a deal at RCA with the help of Chet Atkins and producer “Cowboy” Jack Clement.

Charley Pride Accepts CMA Lifetime Achievement Award After Performing Duet with Jimmie Allen

Charley Pride gets ready to perform during the 14th Annual CMA Awards show at the Grand Ole Opry House Oct. 13, 1980. Photo courtesy Ricky Rodgers/The Tennessean

get,” Pride said. “And enjoy it.”

He accepts the achievement on a night when Darius Rucker becomes the only Black artist to co-host of the CMA Awards since Pride welcomed viewers to the program in 1974, another “first” for the small-town Mississippi native.

“To be doing that at a time when nobody really wanted him here, it's crazy to look back now ... that must've been so hard,” Rucker told The Tennessean. “I can deal with whatever comes my way because it can't be near what Charley went through. That's something I told myself.”

Rucker continued, “To have the career he's had, the success he's had. That's something that's not talked about enough. There should be a movie.... That's a story to be told.”

Mississippi upbringing Pride's story starts in Sledge, Mississippi, where he worked as a kid picking cotton for his father, a local sharecropper. One of 11 children, he saved $10 to buy his first guitar, with an assist from his mother, out of a Sears Roebuck catalog.

He learned songs from formative Opry singers, often hearing the Louvin Brothers on the famed WSM broadcast — which, at 50,000 watts, traveled 275 miles southwest to Pride's corner of rural Mississippi — and catching radio star Smilin' Eddie Hill at makeshift concerts in town.

“I lived only 54 miles from Memphis,” Pride said.

“They'd come down, put a flat bed truck up.”

Pride later told Hill: “I wanted to get up there so bad. He said, 'You shoulda said something. We would've probably got ya up there.' That wasn't the thing to do back in those days. Segregation, you know.”

Charley Pride, co-host with Glen Campbell, performs during the nationally televised CMA Awards show at the Grand Ole Opry House on Oct. 13, 1975.

But music only played a B-side in Pride's burgeoning passions. His first big hit came on the baseball diamond.

In the 1950s, not a decade after Jackie Robinson

In the mid-1960s — as civil rights activists marched for equality in the South — the label hesitated at promoting an African-American in country music.

Despite being arguably formed by intertwining Black and white Southern cultures in the early 20th century, the once-called “hillbilly” format (“hillbilly music” was released in the 1920s as a segregated marketing tactic for white record buyers; Black consumers were marketed toward “race records”) was dominated for decades by white artists and gatekeepers.

The label pushed Pride's early singles, such as “The Snakes Crawl at Night” and “Before I Met You,” without distributing his picture.

RCA could keep Pride's face off a record, but promoters couldn't keep him from audiences who paid tickets to hear his voice.

Hall of Fame member Charley Pride arrives for the 2010 medallion ceremony at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum on May 23, 2010.

Pride recalled being introduced to rousing applause early in his career, only to be greeted to silence as he took the stage. He makes a sound similar to a deflating balloon when recalling those first gigs.

“They were quiet as a pin,” Pride said. “They thought maybe it was a joke.”

During a 1966 show at Olympia Stadium in Detroit, Pride faced the biggest gig of his career to that point. He'd been walking out to a few hundred deflated balloons each night. This night, he'd be walking out to thousands.

“Here's what Jack and I came up,” Pride said, “'Ladies and gentlemen I realize it's a little unique with me comin' out on stage wearin' this permanent tan. I got three singles -- I only have ten minutes -- I get through with those I'll maybe do a Hank Williams song, but I ain't got time to talk about pigmentation.'”

“And I hit it.”

Legacy in the song

By 1967, Pride sang his way into the top 10 of the country charts with “Just Between You and Me.” And he didn't stop there.

From the downhome honesty on “All I Have to Offer You (Is Me)” to wanderlust heartbreak on 'Is Anybody Goin' to San Antone,” his rich baritone and welcomed, heartfelt storytelling propelled him to the top of country charts throughout the 1970s and '80s.

He charted 29 No. 1 songs, reaching a pinnacle of commercial country music success achieved by few artists before him. He'd become the best-selling RCA artist since Elvis Presley.

Charley Pride, right, speaks to the audience after winning the Entertainer of the Year award during the CMA Awards show at the Ryman Auditorium on Oct. 10, 1971. Presenter Glen Campbell looks on.

“Just as a country music singer, Charley Pride is one of the all-time greats,” Rucker said. “He's a superstar, everybody knows he's an icon.”

And no song may be associated with Pride's legacy more than hit “Kiss An Angel Good Morning,” which spent five weeks at No. 1 on the country charts and crossed into pop success.

“I had no idea it would do what it did,” Pride said. “I just couldn't wait to get into the studio to get that baby done. It's been my biggest, so far.”

He credits his success to the singing that took him from baseball fields to the Grand Ole Opry stage.

“Chet Atkins, he told Jack Clement he'd never heard a voice ... just cut through, when I started singing like that,” Pride said. “I guess it's the richness of the voice.”

After earning Entertainer of the Year in 1971, Pride

won the CMA Awards' Male Vocalist of the Year in 1973 and 1974 — the first artist to earn back-to-back victories in the competitive category. He joined the Grand Ole Opry in 1993 and, in 2000, entered the Country Music Hall of Fame.

At his peak, some referred to Pride as the Jackie Robinson of country music, but the path for Black country singers after Pride wouldn't be followed as quickly as those in major leagues. It took country gatekeepers until 2008 to welcome another Black artist, Rucker, to top the radio charts; pleas for diversity on the charts and in positions of power in country music continue today.

Charley Pride performs “Kiss An Angel Good Morning” during the 50th annual CMA Awards show at the Bridgestone Arena Nov. 2, 2016 in Nashville.

Pride hopes to resume touring when its safe; COVID-19 precautions prevented him from performing his usual 25-or-so yearly gigs.

He's still recording and releasing music — Pride teamed with Rucker and country newcomer Jimmie Allen for “Why Things Happen,” a collaboration on the latter's latest EP. And he's taking each moment with a few humble words.

“I'll tell you what Charlie Monk said,” Pride said, referring to the popular “Mayor of Music Row” country radio host. “He says, 'Charley Pride, can I say something to you? You have no idea how much you're loved in this business.'

“I said, 'I got an idea, a little bit. I think it's pretty good.'”

Charley Pride was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2000. His biggest hit is “Kiss an Angel in the Mornin.”

Book on Church Bombing Survivor Done

By SHAUNA STUART Al.com BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) – For more than a decade, Sarah Collins Rudolph, one of the victims of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, has traveled the country telling her story. Now, her full story will come out in a forthcoming book, published by Africa World Press and The Red Sea Press.

“The 5th Little Girl: Soul Survivor of the 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing (The Sarah Collins Rudolph Story)’’ is now complete and available for purchase. Written

by Wright State University political science professor Tracy D. Snipe after hours of conversation with Rudolph, the book is a chronicle of her life growing up in civil rights era Birmingham. The biography is also a deep dive into Rudolph’s relationship with her family and the aftermath of the bombing, according to a description from Africa World Press: “In this intimate first-hand account, Sarah imparts her views on topics such as the 50th year commemoration, restitution, and racial terrorism. This story also delves into the bond between Sarah and her mother, Mrs. Alice Collins.

In the backdrop of a national reckoning and global protests, underscored by the deadly violence at Mother Emanuel in Charleston, SC, and tragedies in Charlottesville, VA, and Pittsburgh, PA, Sarah’s unflinching testimony about the ‘63 Birmingham church bombing is illuminating.’’

Rudolph was 12-years-old when dynamite planted by the Ku Klux Klan inside of the 16th Street Baptist

Church exploded on Sept. 15, 1963. The blast blew glass and shrapnel at her face, leaving her blind in one eye, and killed her sister Addie Mae Collins and their friends Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley, and Denise McNair.

Collins Rudolph had glass fragments in her chest, left eye and abdomen for decades after the explosion.

In June, Thomas E. Blanton, the last surviving Ku Klux Klan member convicted in the 1963 bombing, died in prison. Blanton and Bobby Frank Cherry both were arrested in 2000 on murder charges, nearly four decades after the deadly Birmingham bombing.

In July, lawyers representing Rudolph wrote a letter to Gov. Kay Ivey asking for an official apology from the state and possibly compensation. Two months later, Gov. Ivey issued an apology to Rudolph for the state’s role in fomenting the 1963 attack.

“If feels good that her story is coming out because it’s long overdue. But you cannot rush the process,’’ Collins Rudolph’s husband George Rudolph told AL.com in a brief phone interview. “I’m thankful that it will finally happen.

Because this is the true story.’’

The forthcoming book will include details that Sarah Collins Rudolph has never shared publicly. While the 70 year-old Birmingham native isn’t giving any further insight those details just yet, she told AL.com that she is glad a years-long process has finally come to fruition.

“I’m very excited about it because we have waited so long. It came out on my birthday and it makes me so happy.’’

Thursday, November 19, 2020

Sports

LOS ANGELES NEWS OBSERVER A5

Chargers Weekly- Chapter 14

By Cameron Buford Whatsgoodinsports.com For the second time in as many seasons, the 2-6 Los Angeles Chargers travel to South Florida to take on the 5-3 Miami Dolphins on 83 degrees afternoon at the Hard Rock Stadium.

What makes this game even more intriguing is it will a matchup between the #5 and #6 draft picks from this the past April’s NFL Draft. As Tua Tagovailoa was drafted by the Dolphins with the #5 pick, this left Justin Herbert on the board for the Chargers who draft had the #6 pick in the said draft.

Where Tua Tagovailoa was put in the game to replace veteran quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, a few short weeks ago, amidst much concern across the league. Justin Herbert was thrust into his role in Week 2 after a unique unprecedented injury to starting quarterback Tyrod Taylor. Because 2020 has been a season, unlike any others, for this country and the NFL, neither QB had a preSeason to adjust to the league and polish up their skills.

After a less than impressive debut, Tagovailoa was assisted by the defense and special teams of the Dolphins as they beat the Los Angeles Rams in every phase of his initial game. In his second start, the QB known to most as simply,Tua showed the promise and excitement he was expected to be coming out of the draft. Against the Arizona Cardinals Tua showed the elusiveness, accuracy, and strong-arm that coaches and GM’s were salivating over going into the draft.

Since being thrust in the starting lineup, due to a medical mishap, Justin Herbert has shown one or two things, preseason may be overrated or he’s that special. In 7 weeks, Herbert has thrown 17 touchdowns passes and is on pace to break the NFL rookie record for touchdown passes in a season, which has him tied for fifth in the AFC. He also recorded the first win in pro football history by a rookie quarterback while posting 300 passing yards, three touchdown passes, a rushing score, and no interceptions. In four games, Herbert has tossed three-plus touchdowns in four separate games, which ties him for the most by a rookie since the merger.

Herbert tossed at least three touchdowns in each game of October, totaling 10 touchdowns to one interception. The 10 touchdowns made the Oregon product just the third rookie in NFL history to toss double-digit scores during the month.

Tagovailoa on the other hand won both of his starts, although his second outing was much more impressive than his initial outing, where he received the assistance of the defense and special teams as they overwhelmed the Los Angeles Rams.

However, in this 30th matchup between these two teams, the Chargers will be without All-Pro Defensive End Joey Bosa and 3rd year Running Back Justin Jackson and the Dolphins will

Los Angeles Chargers Defensive End and team captain Melvin Ingram III heads to center field for the opening coin toss. (Photo: Mike Now/Los Angeles Chargers)

be without their young Defensive Tackle Christian Wilkins. Each of these coaches is fairly new to this franchise series, Chargers Head Coach Anthony Lynn is 1-1 and Dolphins Brian Flores is 0-1. The Dolphins lead the all-time series 16-14 and have won 2 of the last 3 matchups. When asked about Justin Herbert, Dolphins Head Coach Brian Flores mentioned that “Herbert’s done a good job, a really good job early on. He’s big, he’s strong, he’s athletic, He’s a lot to deal with!” Flores said in the closing part of the opposing Head Coach media session, “their (the Los Angeles Chargers) record is misleading.”

In his special way, Justin downplayed the fact that he would be playing against the quarterback drafted ahead of him saying, “I think it’s more important to beat the team you’re playing against.”

Herbert was then asked if there’s any frustration with losing, Herbert responded by saying, “Losing is always tough, it’s always frustrating; It’s all about moving forward.” He was also asked

if losing as Freshmen at Oregon burned at him, he responded by saying, “I knew that from second grade on; when I lost flag football games or kids sports basketball games. you get to figure out that losing is not fun at any level! I’ve always been competitive and I don’t think one year made that.”

The Chargers continue their futility since winning a playoff game in 2017. Not only have they not won a game that they have trailed by 10+ points at any point since Week 15, 2018, but they have only won 7 games since that recent high-water mark. It appeared that they allowed the Dolphins defense to dictate what they wanted to allow the Chargers to do on the offense side of the ball, and that took the ball out of Justine Herbert’s hand and allow their running attack to beat them if they could.

That was an awesome strategy by Dolphins Head Coach Brian Flores if that was the case, as the Chargers rushed for less than 100 yards on 29 carries. When I asked Coach Anthony Lynn

about this, he responded by saying, “we were never that far out of the game, to not run the football. We’re two scores down, with all your timeouts, you can still run the football… there’s still plenty of time in the game coming out in the 3rd quarter. When we had to throw it in the end that what we did. But we had to run it, to get back in it, and keep them honest.”

Though he had his worst outing yet as a pro. Herbert still had a couple of awesome achievements. He passed for 187 yards and 2 TD’s, ran for another, and an INT. This gave him 19 scores for the season and his 6th consecutive game with multiple TD passes which is the longest streak in NFL history. Additionally, Herbert became only the 6th quarterback to pass for over 2300 yards in his first 8 starts in league history, yet the Dolphins seemed to mess up the rhythm he’s had in recent weeks. When asked about what he saw from the Dolphins defense Herbert responded by saying, “we definitely underperformed on offense. They’ve got a really great defense and they’re really well-coached and they really played better than us. they did a good job disguising their looks and well fell short today.”

Having a chance to talk to Chargers S Rayshawn Jenkins post-game, I was curious to hear from a defensive player as to the challenges they’re experiencing that side of the ball with key guys out, he responded by saying “at the end of the day you have to go through growing pains, especially young guys who haven’t seen a lot playing time in this league.”

Opening the game with a blocked punt, then an offsides penalty on defense that allowed the Dolphins to keep their drive alive and take a 14-0 lead in the game, is yet another week where the Chargers show their propensity to lose games. Coach Lynn admitted that was a personnel issue today, however, something similar seems to happen each week. He also has said multiple times this team is resilient, this resolve will be challenged in the remaining weeks of the season, and we will learn a lot about their leadership in the coming weeks when there’s not much to play for.

Do you think the Los Angeles Chargers can turn this season around and close the season with some positive momentum heading into the offseason? Let me know your thoughts by reaching out to me on Twitter @whatsgoodnsport or forward any suggestions on what topics or angles you’d like to see discussed to info@whatsgoodinsports.com.

Lastly, be sure to subscribe to our weekly “Voice of the Fans Podcast” which is available for you on most podcasting platforms where we talk everything in the NFL, NBA topics along with a multitude of current sports topics; Apple and Google Podcasts including Spotify, TuneIn, and iHeart Radio. Thank You, as always, for making our voice your choice!

Sam Howell (7) set school records passing for 550 yards and 6 touchdowns at East Carolina. (Photo: UNC Athletics/Grant Halverson)

Howell and White Earn Walter Camp Awards

By Earl Heath Contributing Sports Writer After one of the wildest weekends of the 2020 College football season, Sam Howell of North Carolina and Jerell White of Cincinnati came away as Walter Camp Offensive and Defensive Players of the week. It was a weekend when 14 games were postponed or cancelled around the country.

Howell won offensive honors as he led the Tarheels to a 5953 win over Wake Forest in a good old fashion ACC shootout.

The sophomore from Indian Trail, North Carolina completed 32 of 45 passes for 550 yards and 6 touchdowns both school records.

The 6-4- 225-pound QB led his team from a 21-point deficit and helped the Tarheels (6-2) score thirty-five straight second half points. as he rushing for 52yards.

“He always stays even keel in a positive way and I can’t say enough about his ability to run,” says UNC head coach Mack Brown. “There was a third and ten on our last drive that he made with his legs. And then the quarterback draw was a great call by coach (Phil) Longo but also Sam makes a couple of people miss and we couldn’t have done that last year.”

Jerell White had 7 tackles a QB sack and a QB hurry. He also had an interception return for a touchdown as Cincinnati rolled over East Carolina 55-17.

The senior linebacker helped the Bearcats (7-0, 5-0 AAC) win their 19th consecutive game.

The Cincinnati native is the team’s leading tackler with 65.

Thirty-five of them solo. He joins Desmond Ryder (OCT. 25) as teammates who have earned National Player of The Week in the same season.

Walter Camp is known as the Father of American football.

He first selected an All-American team in 1889. The Walter Camp Foundation is an all-volunteer organization based in New Haven, Connecticut. It was founded in 1967 to perpetuate the ideas of Camp and continue the tradition to select annual AllAmerican team.

This is the 17th year that the Foundation has awarded one Offensive and Defensive Player of the Week. Recipients are selected from a group of national media members and administrated by the Foundation.

Jerell White (8) had seven tackles and a QB sack vs. ECU to became the second Bearcat to win WC Player of the Week award. He is the teams leading tackler with 65. (Photo: U of Cin. Athletics)

Rams Continue To Defend Home Field

The Los Angeles Rams face off against a divisional rival Seattle Seahawks during an NFL Week 10 regular season game, Sunday, November 15, 2020, in Inglewood, CA. The Los Angeles Rams won 23-16. (Photo: Will Navarro/LA Rams)

By Earl Heath Contributing Sports Writer The Rams were coming off a tough loss at Miami and a game where the offense looked discombobulated with four turnovers as they headed into the bye week.

All that doubt went away this week when the Seattle Seahawks came into SoFi Stadium with Russell Wilson who was playing at an MVP level.

The Ram Defense was having none of that as they came away with a 23-16 win holding down the leagues third-ranked offense averaging over 400 yards per game. The win gives L.A. a 4-0 record at home.

It was a collective effort as Lennard Floyd led the way with three of the Rams six sacks along with a fumble recovery. Darius Williams who has started seven of nine games this season twice picked off Wilson, once in the endzone stopping a potential scoring drive.

“It was an unbelievable job by our defense,” said Coach Sean McVay. “You just can’t say enough about what they’ve consistently done, doing it against an offense that’s arguably producing at the highest level in the league.”

Wilson who has thrown for 2,730 yards and 28 touchdowns this season only had 246 passing yards while completing 22 of 37 for a passer rating of 57.0 percent his lowest since 2018. It was the second straight game against the Rams (6-3) he had no touchdown passes vs. this defense.

“You can’t understate everything they’ve done,” said Jared Goff. “It’s exciting as a quarterback to be so reliant on them. You want to win the game by four touchdowns but we don’t have to score on every drive. We’re able to rely on the defense a little bit and it’s helpful.”

Micah Kiser led the defense with 12 tackles that included

10 solo. John Johnson III added 8 solo tackles. Jalen Ramsey shut down DK Metcalf holding him to two catches for 28 yards.

As a team the Rams have only given up one second half touchdown all year. “I really couldn’t say enough about our second half adjustment’s the coaches do a great job on figuring out what needs to be done,” added McVay. The Offense drove downfield on its opening possession and got a field goal from Kai Forbath it was his first at SoFi stadium.

Jared Goff seemed to be confident as he connected on 27 of 37 passes for 302 yards with no interceptions. He bounced back strong after two INT’s and two fumbles the last game against the Dolphins. He did lose a fumble on a strip sack.

The ground game led by Malcom Brown had two running scores as Darrell Henderson added a third rushing TD. Those two and Cam Ackers combined for 100 yards rushing.

Josh Reynolds had career highs hauling in 8 catches for 94 yards, including a 21 yarder. Tyler Higbee had 3 catches for 60-yards a 20-y.p.c. average.

“I think that in the fourth quarter if we had been able to finish those drives with a touchdown we’d feel a lot better,” added Goff. “We are happy about the win but being able to score 35 instead of 23 would have been tremendous.”

The team will make its 5th East Coast trip in nine games when they head to Tampa to take on Tom Brady and the (7-3) Bucs on Monday night.

RAM NOTES: Darius Williams had the first multi – interception game of his career… Lenard Floyd 3 sacks were a career game high. Kiser’s 12 tackles made this the third game he had 10 plus tackles… Aaron Donald had 2 hits on Russell Wilson that totals 35 career hits on Wilson. The Rams held Seattle to 3 points in the 2nd half. The Rams have only allowed only 3.7 points after halftime- that’s the lowest in the league.

A6

Local

LOS ANGELES NEWS OBSERVER

Thursday, November 19, 2020

‘Tis the Season for L.A. County Holiday Celebration

Ricardo Lemvo (Photo Credit: Jeannie Jalbert)

Noteable (Courtesy Photo)

By Ricky Richardson Contributing Writer Los Angeles- The most festive and merriest time of the year is fast approaching. Yes, ladies and gentleman, boys and girls, The Music Center will assist you to usher in Christmas with music and dance performances.

The 61st Annual L.A. County Holiday Celebration offers a new take on a holiday classic as L.A. based artists celebrate the season with uplifting, memorable performances.

The Music Center presents a L.A. holiday tradition that has been around for six decades, 1959, to be exact. The 61st Annual L. A. County Holiday celebration takes on a vibrant new format for 2020. Filmed on location at both The Music Center’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and Jerry Moss Plaza and at sites around Los Angeles County, the beloved and treasured three-hour showcase of 22 L. A.-based artists will air on PBS SoCal starting at 3:00pm, PST on Christmas Eve (December 24, 2020), and simultaneously streamed on https://pbssocal.org/holidaycelebration, https:// kcet.org and https://holidaycelebration.org PBS SoCal will air an encore presentation that evening at 7:00pm PST; KCET will rebroadcast the show on Christmas Day at noon PST. The Holiday Celebration is a production of The Music Center and PBS SoCal in association with CDK Production, the Emmy Award- winning holiday show features choirs, music ensembles and dance companies, representing the many cultures of Los Angeles. Highlighting the county’s rich creative diversity, the broadcast will also include five mini documentaries featuring artists from different neighborhoods as well performances on location at key landmarks, including the Korean Bell of Friendship in San Pedro and Angel’s Point in Elysian Park.

This year’s annual celebration will be like no other. Given COVID 19 restrictions as outlined by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health and the commitment to keeping artists and the public safe from community transmissions, the performances are presented without a live audience this year.

No doubt, viewers will not be disappointed with this year’s celebration, despite not being in attendance.

“The holiday season is about spreading joy and goodwill to all, which is so important this year, and we’ll do that with a special broadcast of beautiful and uplifting performances that showcase the talents and diversity of Los Angeles. While many other celebrations and gatherings have been postponed or altered this season, The Music Center is thrilled to be able to partner with PBS SoCal and CDK Productions to continue to bring Angelenos, family, and friends the time honored tradition of the L.A. County Holiday celebration,” said Rachel S. Moore, President and CEO, The Music Center. “Working with the same Emmy Awardwinning team led by the program’s 25-year producer and director,

Kenneth Shapiro, we have created a vibrant new format for 2020 that also features artists interviews and county landscapes.

This broadcast and streaming event truly is a ‘celebration of Los Angeles-of resiliency and of community-that we can take pride in from the comforts of our homes.”

Hosted by acclaimed American mezzo-soprano Suzanna Guzmán and actor/producer Brian White, the 61st Annual L.A. County Holiday Celebration offers Angelenos of all ages the opportunity to take a journey to experience and honor the dynamic, rich cultures of the county in the luxury of their own homes.

Fire up the fireplace( if appropriate), turn on the heater, gather your immediate family, and get ready to enjoy this wonderful holiday celebration. Sit back and enjoy a quality, smorgasbord of music and dance performances. Hopefully, this will become one of your annual Christmas Eve celebrations/traditions for years to come. Your family will be thoroughly entertained while viewing these magical, uplifting performances.

ARTISTS PERFORMING IN THE 61st ANNUAL L.A. COUNTY HOLIDAY CELEBRATION: • American Youth Symphony* nurtures the concert artists of tomorrow as six young virtuosos perform “Candlelight,” a piece composed and conducted by Music Director Carlos Izcaray.

• Ballet Folklorico de Los Angeles with Mariachi Garibaldi de Jaime Cuéllar* showcase Mexican American culture with precise movements, colorful costumes and traditional instruments as they celebrate Nochebuena: Christmas Eve in Mexico, performing “White Christmas,” “Las Olas” and “El Gusto.”

• Cuñao, an alternative Latin folk band, will perform a villancico, a Latin American and Spanish Christmas carol called “Los Peces en el Rio” and debut their new original single “Noche Buena,” an homage to how families celebrate Christmas Eve. • Daniel Ho Trio Hālau Keali’i o Nālani, featuring Tia Carrere and Friends, will perform “Colors in Harmony,” a piece written and arranged to illuminate the diverse cultures of Los Angeles and unity through the arts. With bandleader Daniel Ho and actress/singer Tia Carrere singing in English, Hālau Keali’i o Nālani will sing and chant in Hawaiian supported by the music of the Trio, Zendeko Taiko and other musical guests.

• Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles returns with its 26th consecutive Holiday Celebration appearance. Celebrating the joy and diversity in Los Angeles, the group performs the Hebrew tradition/Hanukkah favorite, “Ma’oz Tsur,” along with a pop medley of Christmas favorites and a traditional carol.

• Infinite Flow - An Inclusive Dance Company will perform “Dear Santa,” a letter by nine-year old twins Scarlett and Henry,

featuring holiday-themed choreography and original music composed by Jay Manuel and Joey Noble, two Black disabled artists. Including Scarlett in her wheelchair, the six-minute routine mixes dance and acting as the performance balances the sadness of the pandemic and social inequities with the twins’ Christmas wish list, recognizing the importance of diversity and inclusion.

• Jessica Fichot* and her band create an intoxicating multilingual fusion of French chanson, Shanghai jazz and gypsy swing with performances of the Chinese New Year classic, “Gong Xi Gong Xi” and the bandleader’s original song, “Gong Xi à Paris.”

• Jung Im Lee Korean Dance Academy, the official Korean cultural ambassador to Southern California, returns to the L.A. County Holiday Celebration in the company’s traditional red and white folk dress with a Korean janggu drum dance, highlighting movement and rhythm.

• Kayamanan Ng Lahi Philippine Folk Arts brings the celebratory traditional dance of theSouthern Philippines typically performed at Thanksgiving, which pays homage to the spirits for a good harvest, healing and peace.

• Lorenzo Johnson & Praizum returns to the L.A. County Holiday Celebration to harness the heart and soul of these times through music. Under the direction of Johnson with chorists from churches across Southern California, the inspiring group performs the hymn, “Only Believe” followed by the holiday classic, “Silver Bells.”

• Noteable* is the award-winning a cappella men’s barbershop quartet based out of Citrus College. Sharing the joys of the season, Notable performs favorites including “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” “White Christmas” and “Jingle Bells/Sleigh Ride.”

• Pacifico Dance Company, dedicated to the preservation and reconstruction of classical and contemporary Mexican dance forms, debuts an excerpt of the company’s newest work highlighting the southern coastal Mexican state of Veracruz and its Spanish, Afro-Caribbean and Indigenous cultural influences.

• Palmdale High School Choral Union and Sunday Night Singers, a select ensemble of current high school and alumni singers that has performed nationally and internationally, swings with Christmas favorites from the 1940s including “Big Band Carol Medley” and the poignant “I’ll be Home for Christmas.”

• Rangoli Dance Company shares the colorful sights, sounds and glory of south Indian music and dance traditions. Under the guidance of founder and choreographer Malathi Iyengar, six dancers perform to “Mallari,” a traditional composition with a dance that represents the sentiment of courage as a celebration of hope and light.

• Ricardo Lemvo and Makina Loca* blends Afro-Cuban

rhythms with pan-African styles and joyous music, bound to make audiences get up and dance. Under Lemvo’s direction, his Makina Loca ensemble performs original songs from its 30-year career.

• Sean Oliu and The Coastline Cowboys* is a young country trio from Southern California whose performance merges the classic country sound with holiday music such as “Winter Wonderland,” “Meet Me Under the Mistletoe” and “Please Come Home for Christmas.”

• Sound of China Guzheng Ensemble* puts the Chinese plucked zither instrument at the heart of its performances.

Presenting a mix of Chinese and American music for Christmas, the ensemble performs “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” Sleigh Ride” and “Fragrance at Night,” a popular Chinese song.

• Southern California Brass Consortium shares the exhilarating spirit of brass ensemble music for the holidays.

Beginning with the traditional hymn, “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,” the ensemble performs a “Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer/Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town” medley arranged by legendary Hollywood composer Jerry Fielding, which will be reproduced live for the first time since its original recording release 60 years ago.

• The Opera Company at LACHSA (Los Angeles County High School for the Arts) is the only high school opera company in the nation that performs a season with orchestra. Showcasing a song for the season harkening hope, peace and faith, The Opera Company at LACHSA performs a bilingual version of David Foster’s “The Prayer.”

• The Yuko Mabuchi Trio* performs a medley of three classic Christmas tunes tied together in a jazz style with improvisation on “Little Drummer Boy,” “Christmas Time is Here” and “Feliz Navidad.”

• Tres Souls, comprised of members Roberto Carlos, Jesús Martínez and Rocio Mendoza, represents a revival of “Trio Romántico” music. The group’s performance features its original song, “La Luna Eres Tu,” inspired by Hip Hop rapper Talib Kweli, but performed in a classic Bolero style, “Que Nadie Sepa Mi Sufrir” and the Motown classic, “My Girl.”

• Versa-Style Dance Company honors authentic Salsa music culture with Street dance styles in “Rooted Rhythms,” a playful, celebratory work that represents the diverse experiences of the Latinx communities in Los Angeles. The piece is bookended by the group’s performing traditional Latin dances together in festive harmony and cultural tradition. * L.A. County Holiday Celebration debut For more information about the 61st Annual L.A. County Holiday Celebration, visit https://holidaycelebration.org. Artists and performances are subject to change.