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to ti ci eing met w him. ve their client’s innould take several mong ordered poof the murders Josh ith dismayb. roaden DNA test- chelle Oal media. His insultgscrude and racist anhdite, resigned ua Ryen an nths, will cence and bam ta eted fo rters of the The lone su mments B d rmer Firstco fi lack shooti a, U,S. Rep. Maxrg In 1 rvivor nally exon family, frie Ryens and they are dis Lady Miin n er e n g H at d W v on four co9u85, a San DiegoJeffrey s u e ic at g ap an ti h er m es p d s o .

L. Boney Shares His Personal Journey of Surviving the Coronavirus and Dealing su an in al Th C l p te d ac o omas . Par an unnamed ross th “Unfortunat d with the gov 26 and an nts of murder. At unty jury convicte ker, a form ely, Required say Los Angeles oR noOvercome for justicAnguish r’s decisioen state COVID-19 the tim d Cand over time it er ooperMental er deputy h ffi with the Emotional to e e ce cord - incluescaped priso o in , f . b h th el is n se is ie ems e vic arrest, he w in ate. His ead of the Th case no District FBI’s tims’ desire “The evis guy is innocenvt,es Cooper. as “P in Pennsylv ding several burgm ngthy crim Attorney Jamatters less and leth laries and le ” he told th idence was ania – did ri ss o in ,” so r al S D n an re N A n th A B d er o e rape of a not help his te er e p n n Cooper, form st la so N ar th in n ew n d te e g icl sa d st th aimed ou Y , he was fr and.” minor case. erly named in 1958 ld exoneratat Mr. Cooper sougidh in a statement. amed, theork Times.

What has k per’s guilw e him have t, agreed to cops lied t.” months onldear Pittsburgh, PenRichard Goodman, ep t a th fe al e d an eral appella l confirmed case going d nsylvania. was born Y et p During his , he was adopted an te er M an su W ec co r. d as ution and re hen he was urt Cooive argumen C per aliv LAKE FOR six monies and eiew the ca’ssedecision in 2004 toooWASHINGTON and he spenchildhood, his par d renamed Kevin ts ased on Gov. Newvso – FormerESPresident Barack ents physica is (AP) w stay his exisCooper. reasonable qualeslegations of evidenbce T, Calif. (A t a good p co it recover h n fl m ic juvenile det o ti m re n ing afleaders D ’s g sc ar P)the

N ll d te ti ie t ta y ec A o – Offici Obama on Saturday criticized U.S. overseeing n st o te m n ab ti is if g te r s p fi io at ad u ab b st er c en y se n o ei o in o ev in o rs d ti n n le u to g g id o g u t sc h ro , n se co th en st im k al en ad in South centers. In a mental h d to nail Co eep raising Californ ruckgrade methods low an mes early ce. to the coronavirus, ce living in by a polic nation’s response telling college o th at ea er er ta 1 an in ia o 9 n ck lt p d G se 8 ro th er h C 2 , st o v . Three wea und of commencement , e Lagu facility in P aliforniapaneral and in swo ver ories investi California. address . f the in po rn ch Polithat three attack ennsylvanCiaooper escaped from - have high expectanor whose supportteerrm ouates the Orangnea Bea proan greonline ce Othe ssmany ive officials tions. ers who wertestimony, JoshuanRs were used in the fficetor Th s before mov o During his demic shows “aren’t even pretending beo as C n o th “D u e n co ty p N u so o A ld have bee R li y e m ing to ti en eg W te ca eo murder tria is st h sa l n te in gued that C it L e’ id r e. g should im s pet when he initiallm in charge.’’ eft Feb He later test he saw solve the R n Hispanic l, o p y th o ro th F p m y se u . e er en ifi . ed rt 1 cu ca ed k 9 h iate Ryen, th illed husb t dar case . Me Your Walk, tors succ er that they Chiang sa spoke on “Show HBCU ted in fron ke pObama named Diacomplicating the pro lace atotwo-hour id during thand finally ensurely taEdition,’’ t M cG neighboreiCr 10-year-old daughand and wife Dougesansfully ar- ban re event for students graduating from u th ir n se at e a ju cutions’ clai e campaign Roper cam says when h DNA eviden stice is serv elonging to te ssica an hristopher the anim d Peggy e . m e ed fo “N historically black colleges and universities broadcast on s, ce al g rw ,” b o a h o Hughes. rPJe ca d was bigger ut testing in t out to chec womer former b ar n elp law to get t only is it p bloothat olice foundan 11-year-old inal. She turned thanwere oyfriend wd withsites

By Jeffrey L. Boney opened. I desperately enforcemen this case whowanted ro nimal CHis dy clhad YouTube, Facebook andATwitter. ven a houunexothinrecently se cat. ontrremarks the eviden the bloodie t g for my E u ven th so ld o to lv l co o an e a violeprimarily ffi m cr o NNPA Newswire Contributor peace of mind, but also because I ce u an ce over toho wastested, e im pectedly political, given the venue, and touched on curd destroyed it. g rs rushed at no cost to imal hospit h Newsom es, tr nt crim- is bold, he the pwas the b ’s al th au African Am , d is o w ec e m li tr “Jeffrey, unfortunately, your test came back positive concerned for my family.

They were still living in the h rent events beyond the virus and its social and economic st is ce a. ea er at io , d e e. n b in is it ” u in su g t w th er ca e th as diagnolese thimpacts. icans, Hisp ey re lly on a e Cooper ca D for the Coronavirus.” r. anics and o same house as me. watchinat California voters fu K p se ri o te sti Krause, ntially p“More across theand ther minIosaw she expecthis He media olarizithan ahas Hearing those words from the doctor, March 27th, I readg. the vetfully, is keepreports erinarfinally ng anything, political sp ritiesthe ts thpandemic ing his online e 11-psooumany iafolks liv-news. n, tells th b ec ac onticlear, fo torn back the curtain on the idea ofilthe tr k cu nd (5-k u in shook me to the core. on social media.

ItCwas on those reports, that I nuedbased s m to o are n fairness an the wthat on page A og“A ramlot il d af te in charge what they’re doing,’’ Obama said. d justknow r M it Was that a death sentence for me? was not displaying the type of respiratory2 symptoms that cGuire visit re ns stre ) cat to ice th n th. ed the bogai them aren’t even pretending be in charge.’’ at if he seto Was it a coincidence that my mom years earlier had the majority of COVID-19 patients were reported to have bcat on Fgri es it agaitelevised Later Saturday, during a second n, he’ll iscommenceday. died in the same month of March? been experiencing, such as shortness of breath or having su e a tick ment address for high school seniors, Obama panned “soet for ja Was this really how my life was going to end? a heavy cough. There were also reports that the only way called grown-ups, including some with fancy titles and The news reports I had been watching and reading rea person could be tested was if they were elderly or a first important jobs’’ who do “what feels good, what’s conveported dire results relative to those who had contracted the responder. I was deeply concerned. nient, what’s easy.’’ virus. Death tolls were rising. Governors began searching A few days after my call with Rep. Reynolds, I received “Which is why things are so screwed up,’’ he said. for beds and ventilators for people who were being impacta call on my cell phone from U.S. Congresswoman Sheila Obama did not name President Donald Trump or ed by this virus.

Jackson Lee on Wednesday, March 25th. She had heard I any other federal or state officials in either of his appearHonestly, I felt like the odds were stacked against me. was experiencing a health challenge and asked me some ances. But earlier this month, he harshly criticized Trump’s The journey for me started with a very slight cough. questions. Congresswoman Jackson Lee then immediately handling of the pandemic as an “absolute chaotic disaster’’ On March 17th, I started experiencing internal digestive informed me that she wanted me to come down to Unitin a call with 3,000 members of his administrations obsymptoms that I initially assumed was a result of me not ed Memorial Medical Center (UMMC) on Tidwell to get tained by Yahoo News. eating anything that day. It was a Tuesday, which meant tested right away. I wasted no time. I asked the CongressThe commencement remarks were the latest sign that Obama intends to play an increasingly active role in the it was Press Day at the Houston Forward Times, where I woman for the address and immediately got dressed to coming election. He has generally kept a low profile in serve as the Associate Editor. Now, it wasn’t uncommon for make my way to UMMC. the years since he left office, even as Trump has disparaged me to skip breakfast and skip lunch in order to remain laser As I was driving to the hospital, Congresswoman Jackhim. Obama told supporters on the call that he would be focused on getting the newspaper done. However, when I son Lee told me that she had already spoken to the Chief “spending as much time as necessary and campaigning as started feeling faint, I decided to get something to eat.

Medical Officer for United Memorial Medical Center hard as I can” for Joe Biden, who served as his vice presI made my way down to the Reggae Hut around 5:30 (UMMC), Dr. Joseph Varon, and that he was prepared to ident. pm and ordered the oxtails, rice and peas and the vegetareceive me and administer the test.

“Let’s be honest: A disease like this just spotlights bles, along with a beef patty and a Kola Champagne to I was so relieved that I would be able to get testthe underlying inequalities and extra burdens that black drink. I made my way back down to my office with my ed and get a definitive on whether I had contracted the communities have historically had to deal with in this plate and I ate a little bit of the rice and peas; a little of the COVID-19 virus or not. country,” Obama said. “We see it in the disproportionate vegetables; and barely ate one of the oxtails, before closing I arrived to UMMC and was met by Dr. Varon. He impact of COVID-19 on our communities, just as we see the container and putting the plate in the refrigerator. That walked with me inside to the place where I was to be tested, it when a black man goes for a jog and some folks feel like was the last time I saw that plate or my office. and he immediately tried to put me at ease. I was told by they can stop and question and shoot him if he doesn’t The next day, I not only had a continuous loss of apDr. Varon that my test results would take anywhere from submit to their questioning.’’ petite, I also had stomach pain and was experiencing heavy I am forever grateful to God and to everyone who ut- 24-48 hours to come back, so I waited patiently and ea“Injustice like this isn’t new,” Obama went on to say. and unusual bouts of diarrhea. I even had an episode where tered a prayer, shared an encouraging word, provid- gerly.

“What is new is that so much of your generation has woI went to the bathroom and while on the way, I passed As anxious as I was to find out the results on the folken up to the fact that the status quo needs fixing, that the old ways of doing things don’t work.” In the face of a void out and was disoriented. I woke up lying on the floor in a ing any resources or sent positive energy my way. lowing day, I decided to give it another day. in leadership, he said, it would be up to the graduates to sweat, trying to figure out what happened to me. I drank (Photo: Facebook) On that Friday, March 27th, things took a drastic turn shape the future. lots of water, tried natural remedies and ceased all of my for the worse, as it relates to my health. I began to cough, “If the world’s going to get better, it’s going to be up normal activities. None of that worked or changed my sit- probably the best option at the time, considering the symp- and what I thought would be regular phlegm coming out, toms I was experiencing. to you,” he said. uation. turned out to be a significant amount of bright red blood.

It is a perilous time for the nation’s historically black I decided to reach out to my good friend, State Rep- As this continued to happen, I made the decision to call I self-quarantined and self-isolated for eight days colleges and universities, which have long struggled with from Tuesday, March 17th to Wednesday, March 25th. resentative Ron Reynolds to express my concerns about Dr. Varon and share my update. After hearing my status, less funding and smaller endowments than their predomDuring that time, I contacted my primary care physician, my health status, as well as get his advice on whether he Dr. Varon implored me to come to the UMMC Emergency inantly white peers and are now dealing with the financial who informed me that continuing to self-quarantine was thought I should go through one of the drive-thru testing Continued on page A3 challenges of the coronavirus. Even at the better-endowed HBCUs, officials are bracing for a tough few years.

Obama’s message to high school students came at the end of an hourlong television special, and was less sharpedged than his speech to the college graduates. He urged the young graduates to be unafraid despite the current challenges facing the nation and to strive to be part of a diverse community.

“Leave behind all the old ways of thinking that divide us – sexism, racial prejudice, status, greed – and set the world on a different path,” Obama said.

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My Personal Battle from a Positive to a Negative Result

The Black Crisis in the Midst of the Coronavirus Crisis

By Lisa Fitch OW Editor-in-Chief Dr. Maulana Karenga, chair of the Department of Africana Studies at CSU Long Beach, wants the Black community to make sure that physical distancing during the pandemic does not interfere with relationships or establishing networks.

“We’ve got to shop for each other, we have to pick up prescriptions for each other,” Karenga said. “We’ve got to talk; we’ve got to share information, so we don’t have to be afraid unnecessarily.”

Karenga was recently featured on the Carl Nelson Show and conducted a phone conference with Nelson and his radio audience at WOL radio in Washington, D.C. “There’s no real denying of the damage and destruction that this coronavirus has done to our lives,” Karenga said.

“We can’t even worship in the same way anymore.”

During the show, Karenga admitted that there is a lot of fear and confusion out in the world now, and he warned against buying into the conspiracy theories which can pit persons against each other. He also expressed his dismay with the information the government issues to the public.

“They don’t have culturally competent messages for us,” Karenga said, claiming that at least 46 percent of coronavirus victims are Black. “Even though Black people are in the emerging hot zones… Chicago, Detroit, Milwaukee, New Orleans…we lack the ethnic data. Who’s tested positive? Who has died? We don’t have any of that.”

“Why do we need this data?” he asked. “It saves lives.

We could target resources where they’re most needed.

Help slow down the virus. We need culturally responsible education and mobilization.”

The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) has called for the Centers for Disease Control to collect and report racial data for COVID-19. As of April 8, only nine states and the District of Columbia released data based on race.

“We need full disclosure of racial data to identify and prioritize the areas of greatest impact,” the letter stated.

Former President Barak Obama agreed, raising the issue at a virtual meeting with mayors, local leaders and members of response teams from around the world.

“When you start looking at issues of domestic abuse and you start looking at racial disparities that are popping up in your cities, paying attention to that is the kind of

“This is a pivotal moment for our communities, our country and our future,” said NAACP President Derrick Johnson. “This is the moment when we unmask those inequalities and injustices and chart a new path toward a more just nation.” (Photo: iStockphoto / NNPA)

leadership I know all of you aspire to,” Obama said. “You have to be intentional about these issues.”

Rep. Karen Bass (CA-37), chair of the Congressional Black Caucus holds frequent town hall teleconferences on various subjects.

“Healthcare disparities in our country have been a long-standing issue and concern for the Congressional Black Caucus,” Bass said. “The spread of the coronavirus has compounded these issues, leaving Black people even more vulnerable. We need to urgently address these disparities with a targeted response to our community.”

Los Angeles County released figures amid a national conversation on how COVID-19 is affecting racial groups differently. The city’s racial breakdown of coronavirus deaths shows the majority of people who died were White or Latino. However, Black people accounted for a disproportionate 17 percent of the deaths while making up only 9 percent of the county’s population.

Across the nation, the numbers reveal similar racial disparities. Blacks are at greater risk, mostly because many have a greater burden of disease. The problem is especially acute in Louisiana, Illinois and Michigan. In Louisiana, 70 percent of people who died were lack, but African Americans make up only a third of the population “It’s not that [Blacks are] getting infected more often,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci during a recent With House briefing. “It’s that when they do get infected with their underlying medical conditions -- diabetes, hypertension, obesity, asthma – those are the kind of things that wind them up in the ICU and ultimately death.”

Fauci says the pandemic is shining a bright light on the healthcare disparities which have always existed in the country and added that efforts to limit these disparities should resume after this global crisis.

“Many of the social structures in our country have long placed African Americans in disadvantageous positions,” said Dr. Marjorie Innocent, senior director of NAACP Health Programs in a recent teleconference. “At the same time, African Americans are more likely not to have regular sources of healthcare and tend to rely far too much on emergency center care.”

NAACP Director of Environmental and climate justice, Jacqui Patters, noted that the most vulnerable and most marginalized populations often end up falling through the cracks during an emergency. NAACP President Derrick Johnson agreed, adding that the government’s response to the Black community reminded him of the Katrina crisis.

“People were left stranded on rooftops,” he said during the teleconference. “Are we going to leave a significant portion of the population stranded?”

Johnson later sent an email reiterating the “deepseated racial inequities embedded in everything from healthcare to the economy are compounding the effects of the coronavirus pandemic for Black, Brown, Asian and indigenous communities.”

“This is a pivotal moment for our communities, our country and our future,” Johnson continued. “This is the moment when we unmask those inequalities and injustices and chart a new path toward a more just nation.”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said he was wary of Continued on page A2

Bobcat Re Obama Criticizes cove A f t er Bein Virus Response ing Hi PoliSpeech ce Car Graduation

Football’s “Gentle Ben” Williams Dies OXFORD, Miss. (AP) – Robert Jerry “Ben’’ Williams Jr., former Buffalo Bills defensive end and the first African- American player to appear in a game at Mississippi, has died. He was 65.

Ole Miss announced in a release that Williams died Monday from natural causes at a Jackson, Mississippi, hospital. Affectionately known as “Gentle Ben,’’ he was the Rebels’ first black player to earn All-America honors as a first-team selection in 1975, and was also a three-time first team All-Southeastern Conference selection.

Williams is the Ole Miss career sacks leader with 37, including a single-season record of 18 in 1973, and a member of its Team of the Century.

Williams was drafted by Buffalo in the third round in 1976 and went on to spend his entire 10-year NFL career with the Bills, during which he had 140 starts in 147 games.

He retired as the Bills’ career sacks leader with 45 1/2 before his record was shattered by Pro Football Hall of Famer Bruce Smith, who went on to set the NFL career record. Smith often credited Williams for helping his development during his rookie season in 1985.

Listed at 6-foot-3 and 250 pounds, Williams earned his nickname because of his friendly off-field personality.

From Yazoo City, Mississippi, Williams and James Reed became the first black football players to enroll at Ole Miss in 1971. Williams played as a true freshman in 1972, while Reed made his debut the following year.

Athletic director Keith Carter recognized Williams’ achievements for breaking the football program’s race barrier and being the first to be elected Mr. Ole Miss by the student body. The Williams-Reed Football Foyer at the Olivia and Archie Manning Center honors the players’ contributions.

“Gentle Ben’s impact on our university, the SEC and college football as a whole is immeasurable,’’ Carter said in the release. “He was a great person, player and ambassador for our university, and will forever be beloved by Rebel Nation.’’

Williams eventually returned to Jackson, where he owned a construction company. He served on several Ole Miss boards, and was active in local charities.

In 1992, he helped establish the Robert Ben Williams Minority Scholarship Endowment.

Williams was inducted into the Ole Miss and Mississippi sports halls of fame, and selected an SEC Legend in 2002.

Funeral arrangements are pending.

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World & Nation

Thursday, May 21, 2020

Carolina Times Publisher Dies at 66 By the NCBPA (North Carolina Black Publishers Association) DURHAM, NC — Kenneth William Edmonds, Editor-Publisher of The Carolina Times, died on Saturday, May 2, 2020, at the age of 66. Edmonds succeeded his mother, Ms. Vivian Edmonds, in 2002, and carried on the legacy of his grandfather, Louis Austin.

Kenneth attended the local public schools in the Durham and Chapel Hill-Carrboro school systems, where he excelled in basketball and, after the ninth grade, attended prep school at Laurinburg Institute and majored in journalism at East Carolina University.

He began working for The Carolina Times in his youth, at age 4 or 5, as he assisted his grandfather by serving as “Keeper of the Keys.” He remarked that his grandfather would misplace his keys around the house, the office, the post office, and other places that he frequented. Kenneth’s first job was to keep up with them as they moved around Durham. He saw firsthand through the life, work and sacrifices that Louis and Stella Vivian Walker Austin faced as they sought to bring about a more equitable and just community in Durham.

Kenneth held numerous positions at the paper, including selling newspapers outside the office and later in the neighborhoods, which gave him keen insights into the lives of those featured weekly in “The Times.” He progressed at the paper, and his first writing assignment was writing obituaries and, eventually editorials. His photography also graced the newspaper, and, eventually, he began laying out the paper and exploring the business side of the profession.

The Carolina Times was founded as The Standard Advertiser in 1921 by Charles Arrant, who died in 1922. In 1927 Louis E. Austin, originally from Enfield, NC, purchased the paper and renamed it The Carolina Times. Austin transformed the paper into the most important voice for Black North Carolinians during the 1930s. Mr. Austin edited and published The Carolina Times from 1927 until

his death in 1971.

He was succeeded as publisher by his daughter, Mrs.

By Julianne Malveaux NNPA Newswire Contributor There were 4623 incarcerated people over 65 in federal prisons during the first week of May. Until May 12, Paul Manafort, Mr. Trump’s one-time campaign manager, was one of them. The 71-year-old petitioned the court for release to home confinement because of his age, heart condition, and “fear of coronavirus.” Yet the federal correctional institution that housed Manafort had no coronavirus cases, and Manafort had served fewer than two years of his more than seven-year sentence. Recently developed federal guidelines suggest at-home confinement for those at risk who have served more than half of their sentence or have less than eighteen months of jail time left to serve.

Manafort meets none of these criteria, but he apparently had enough high-priced lawyers to push his case aggressively.

I’m not as outraged at Manafort’s early release as I am disturbed about the other 4622 elderly inmates, most who lack the resources and access that Manafort had. Nearly forty percent of those incarcerated in federal prisons are African American, many serving very long sentences for drug-related crimes. Many have some of the same underlying medical conditions and “fear of coronavirus” that Manafort had. How many of them will get an early release and the relative luxury of home confinement? The treatment of a wealthy, older white man and a poor, older Black man is vastly different.

Prisons are a breeding ground for the coronavirus.

Prisons are overcrowded with social distancing an impossibility since an average cell, about five feet by five, does

not allow six feet of distancing. Recent studies show that the COVID-19 germs from a loud conversation or a cough linger for minutes, sufficient time to infect another person. The notorious Riker’s Island prison has eight times the COVID-19 infection rate of the New York City rate.

Infection is not a possibility, but a near-certainty. Prison infections are so widespread that some activists describe them as “death camps.”

Older people don’t commit violent crimes (although they commit financial crimes and perjury). Releasing those over 65 who were convicted of drug crimes and other nonviolent crimes saves money and has little social cost. But incarceration is an economic driver for some communities.

Federal prisons employ tens of thousands of people. In some isolated communities, these prisons are a significant source of employment. Releasing prisoners early may cause layoffs. Is this why we insist on keeping so many people locked up for such long periods?

Parole was eliminated in federal prison in the mid1980s, allowing “good behavior “ only after 85 percent of a sentence has been served. But Manafort, citing “fear of coronavirus,” ended up serving less than a quarter of his sentence. Can an old Black man get the Manafort treatment and serve the rest of his sentence in a cushy condo in Northern Virginia? Manafort had a lot less to fear, at his minimum-security prison, than a Black inmate might.

Other countries have reacted to coronavirus crowding by releasing inmates in the tens of thousands. According to David Anderson of the International Legal Foundation, Iran released more than half of its prisoners – 100,000 of 189,000. Palestine is holding emergency court sessions to

Kenneth William Edmonds, Editor-Publisher of The Carolina Times, died on Saturday, May 2, 2020, at the age of 66.

Vivian Edmonds. She carried on the tradition of publicizing racial inequities and fighting for racial equality in North Carolina and throughout the United States. Austin’s grandson, Kenneth Edmonds, became Editor-Publisher at his mother’s retirement and continued the legacy of printing “The Truth Unbridled,” which is the newspaper’s motto.

Kenneth brought the newspaper into the age of digital technology and ushered in an era of a new relevance to the publication with the inclusion of national wire service stories, and the incorporation of color photography within the pages of The Carolina Times. Though he made these improvements, Edmonds was always mindful of a statement his mother once made, “I’m trying to work my way out of a job.” She made that comment in the hopes that someday the playing field for all Americans, economically as well as socially, could be leveled.

Her son took up that banner and continued printing weekly to not only point out the need for continued African American progress but chronicle the Durham Black community’s continued movement in that direction.

The Carolina Times, under Mr. Edmonds, continued its membership in the National Newspaper Publishers Association, as well as the North Carolina Black Publishers Association. Even though his responsibilities at “The Times” were pressing, he still accepted the position of Treasurer of the North Carolina Black Publishers Association, a position he handled admirably at the time of his death.

He was also a life member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and enjoyed fellowship with St. Joseph’s African Methodist Episcopal Church since his childhood.

Born on Dec. 5, 1953 to the late educator, Woodrow “Woody” W. Edmonds, and educator and editor, Vivian L. Austin Edmonds, Kenneth leaves to cherish his memories his loving and devoted son, Christian Edwards, and cousins, Bernard Austin and Vivian Austin.

“Although considered soft spoken by some, Kenneth William Edmonds, had a way of making a point that got the attention of everyone in the room. His carefully thought out points were a significant voice in the direction for Black Newspapers in North Carolina,” said Paul R. Jervay, Jr., NCBPA Media Services Specialist, who often conversed with Edmonds regarding issues, as well as advertising concerns from around the state.

Dr. Benjamin Chavis, President and CEO of the National Newspaper Publishers Association offered the following comment, “At the age of 14 in 1962, I started to drive my parents’ car in Oxford, N. C. and in that same year, Mr. Louis Austin, the distinguished publisher of The Carolina Times Newspaper in Durham, N. C. gave me my first job as a weekly writer and researcher on the civil rights issues impacting Black Americans across the state of N. C. The Austin family, like the Jervay family, was the heartbeat of the courageous Black Press freedom-fighting publishers.

Kenneth Edmonds, the grandson of Louis Austin, carried on the family tradition of being a bold steadfast advocate of the empowerment of Black American families and communities as the third-generation publisher of The Carolina Times. Our responsibility today is to respectfully mourn the passing of Kenneth Edmonds, but also we must use this moment to rededicate our support for the continuation of The Carolina Times in Durham and to strengthen the Black Press across America.”

“It is difficult to sum up the life, legacy and work of Kenneth W. Edmonds. However, we are comforted by the exemplary life of this servant leader, who leaves behind a legacy of excellence that can never be undone. He will be genuinely missed, but his spirit will live on today and forever,” concluded NCBPA President, Mary Alice Jervay Thatch.

Funeral arrangements for Kenneth Edmonds are under the direction of Fisher Memorial Funeral Parlor and are incomplete at press time.

COMMENTARY: Old, Sick and Incarcerated allow inmates to petition for release. Other countries seem to understand that COVID-19 and crowding don’t work and are releasing prisoners.

Meanwhile, our country, in Anderson’s words, is “addicted to punishment.” In keeping nonviolent inmates incarcerated, we are “prioritizing punishment over public health.” The inmates aren’t the only ones at risk. Correctional officers, lawyers, and visiting family members are also vulnerable. We are so committed to getting a “pound of flesh” from those incarcerated that we refuse to consider the high costs of incarceration.

Consider the case of former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. Convicted of perjury, obstruction of justice, and other crimes, Kilpatrick was sentenced to 28 years for his crimes. He is not scheduled to be released until 2037!

While Kilpatrick certainly deserved to be convicted, a 28year sentence is excessive. Recently an inmate at his Oakdale, Louisiana prison died from the coronavirus. I’m sure Kilpatrick is as frightened of the coronavirus as Manafort is. He is not likely to be allowed home confinement.

Unless there is intervention, Kilpatrick will be eligible for Social Security before he is released! What is the purpose of such a long sentence? How much does it cost to incarcerate someone for 28 years? Is it worth it?

The coronavirus magnified our nation’s inequality.

Manafort is out after less than two years’ incarceration.

Thousands who are old and poor remain incarcerated and vulnerable to coronavirus. Our criminal injustice system is in dire need of reform.

Julianne Malveaux is an author and economist. Her latest project MALVEAUX! On UDCTV is available on youtube.com. For booking, wholesale inquiries or for more info visit www.juliannemalveaux.com

Early Data Shows Encouraging Census Response Charlene Muhammad California Black Media Early data is showing cities in California with some of the hardest-to-count census tracts are among places with above-average U.S. Census response rates so far. Many of them are areas where African Americans live.

Invitations to fill out the Census 2020 questionnaire started going out to Californians in mid-March. At the time, the deadline for completion was July 31.

But because states across the country issued emergency shutdown orders about two months ago responding to the global coronavirus pandemic, the federal government has pushed the self-response deadline to October 31.

Now, as California begins to phase in the reopening of offices, businesses and public spaces, census advocates are reminding people that even with the extension, it is still urgent that they submit their questionnaires as soon as possible.

“The data coming in suggests that response rates are encouraging, but we can’t get comfortable,” said Walter Scott Hawkins, a senior research associate at NewHawk, a southern California-based data collection firm.

“African Americans across the state have to push each other and make sure every person they know completes his or her form,” Hawkins said. “Until we have the actual numbers for those hardest-to-count places in the state, which can sometimes be as small as several blocks, we don’t have the full picture.”

In California, 60.6% of all residents have submitAdjudicated a Newspaper of General Circulation on July ted their 2020 Census forms. A total of 51.1% of that 2, 1991, Los Angeles Superior Court Decree, Case No. number completed their questionnaires on the interBS007262, Government Code 6023. net. The state has a response rate of 59.5%.

So far, among the top 13 counties in California with Bulk Mailing Permit 724 Bakersfield, CA 93385 the highest African American populations, Contra Costa County has the highest response rate at 69.1%. Kern County has the lowest at 54.5%.

Published every Thursday by The Observer Group NewsAcross the United States, approximately 79 million papers of Southern California, Inc. households have already responded to the 2020 Census online, by phone or by mail. The estimated 55 million that Member: National Newspapers Publishers Association, haven’t should be receiving “don’t forget to respond” postcards soon.

Associated Press, Better Business Bureau, Hawkins, who spent 30 years in the California State GLAAACC University system, recently authored California Black Media’s Counting Black California: Counting the Hard to

President: Ellen Coley Count” study.

The report identified areas in the state where African

Operations Manager: Jon Coley Americans are least likely to be counted by the 2020 Cen Editor: James Luckey sus.

“Several cities with pretty good response rates are areas with large numbers of hard-to-count populations,“ Credo-The Black Press believes that America can best lead said Hawkins.

News Observer The Valley’s

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.

The Observer Group Newspapers reserves the right to publish views an opinions that may not necessarily reflect those of the staff and management and are solely the product of the responsible individuals who submit commentaries published in these newspapers. Letters, articles and comments appearing in the Observer Newspapers reflect the opinions of the contributor and do not constitute the opinion or endorsement

by The Observer Newspapers or its staff. The Observer Group Newspapers assumes no responsibility for photographs, articles, letters, press releases and unsolicited materials. Decisions as to the editing and publishing of materials are at the discretion of the Publisher and Editors. All rights are reserved on materials accepted for publication unless otherwise specified.

THE VALLEY’S NEWS OBSERVER Bakersfield News Observer Los Angeles News Observer 1219 20th St. Bakersfield, Ca 93301 Mailing Address P.O. Box 2341 Bakersfield, CA 93303 Phone (661) 324-9466 FAX. (661) 324-9472 emails- General info: observernews@gmail.com Advertising: observeradvertising@gmail.com Online: www.ognsc. com

Among California’s cities with the highest numbers of African American residents, Elk Grove in Sacramento County has the highest response rate of 73.7%. The Black population in Elk Grove, one of the hardest-to-count areas in Sacramento County, is more than 11% — nearly two times the percentage of African Americans in the state.

Other cities with sizable Black populations and above average response rates include: Carson (64.8%); Sacramento (63.3%); Riverside 62.7%; Oakland (61.8%); Rialto (60.7%); and Long Beach (59.3%).

In the greater Los Angeles area, including parts of Los Angeles County and the Inland Empire, the number of Black residents is more than the number of African Americans in the rest of the state combined. The response rate in several Los Angeles area cities are slightly lower than the state’s total number. They include Victorville (59.3%); Fresno (59.1%); Bakersfield (58.8%); Stockton (57.7%); San Bernardino (54.7%); Compton (54.5%); Inglewood (54.3%); and Los Angeles (49.2%).

For African-American community-based organizations, the ongoing COVID-19 crisis has thrown their outreach plans off track, many of them say. So, news that the Census Bureau has moved its deadline to later in the year was a gift they had been anticipating.

“We know that working-class Black people in Oakland already face barriers to being counted in the Census. The extension of the Census deadline will give the Black community the opportunity to prioritize adjustments to their livelihood, while also giving us more time to complete the Census,” said Laneisha Butler, field manager for Oakland Rising, a community-based civic engagement organization.

Butler is optimistic the extension will enable her organization to find new ways to reach people where they are.

Recently, the organization conducted tens of thousands of wellness checks via text that revealed the alarming amount of African Americans throughout Oakland and Alameda County who have lost their homes, jobs, and even loved ones as a result of the coronavirus crisis, according to Butler.

“On top of this, many Black people lack access to adequate — proper medical attention and other resources to help them get through this quarantine,” she continued.

According to the Census Bureau, some areas where census takers were originally going to hand deliver forms will now receive a reminder letter in the mail. The agency will drop off invitations for those who don’t receive mailed letters, until it’s safe enough to return to business as usual.

Like other advocates working to ensure a robust Black count, part of Oakland Rising’s efforts include a new text banking program on top of its current phone banking program to be able to directly reach out to Hard-to-Count communities, specifically Black and other communities of color, according to Butler.

“This is a new strategy we developed in order to be able to check-in on our neighbors who have been more than likely burdened by the impacts of COVID-19,” said Butler.

In Inglewood, the California Black Women’s Health Project says the census extension brought great relief to them, too. Although it’s hard to make major adjustments with partners, said CEO Sonya Young Aadam.

A couple of the organization’s partners were able to push forward because of their associations with food banks or other places where food is distributed, Aadam said. This gave the group an opportunity to distribute information by slipping them in care packages.

According to Aadam, the California Black Women’s Health Project’s faith-based approach to the census targets Christian, Muslim, and elderly Black female communities. It also works with partners focused on improving the lives of marginalized youth.

“Extending it just gives us time because right now our community is very much focused on something other than the census, and it’s going to take time before people start to think about things that are more civic engagement-related,” continued Aadam.

The Black Crisis in the Midst of the Coronavirus Crisis Continued from page A1

publicizing incomplete information, as not every health facility was completing demographic information.

Last week, County Supervisor Herb Wesson penned a letter to fellow board members and Dr. Barbara Ferrer, the director of the county’s Department of Public Health.

“The COVID-19 pandemic is presenting many compelling challenges. An important challenge is transparency in the reporting of data on how this pandemic is impacting communities and ethnic groups in Los Angeles County.

“It is vital that while our emergency public health mobilization gathers momentum that we have the needed data that is key to understanding the impact and the response that is aimed at addressing the crisis.

“This data is critical to the effective deployment of needed resources and the shaping of public education and communications, particularly in communities of color. It is also vital for the purpose of accountability.

“More specifically, I am requesting data including, but not limited to, a break-down by ethnic groups related to rates of death, the number of tests, the results of those tests, the number of those in quarantine and the data on

individuals who have tested positive and have recovered. I am also requesting that this information be included with the Public Health Department’s regular updates.”

The message was received, as during one of the recent briefings, Ferrer noted that the ethnic data was often no filled in on the forms that the county collected for daily statistics during the crisis, but that the department would do its best to get the requested data. Data from April 9, there were 7,574 laboratory confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 384 of them were Black. There were 212 deaths and 23 of them were African American.

“Early data on deaths show that no group is immune from COVID-19,” said Mayor Eric Garcetti in his recent news briefings. “We need every community to understand this can affect you. No matter what community you live in or come from, this can affect you.”

“Long-term racial disparities still exist,” Garcetti said.

“The effect it has on communities can be disproportionate.”

Garcetti also mentioned that it is important to be conservative when it comes to judging the peak of the crisis. Lawmakers don’t want to cause a second virus surge by lifting the social distancing order too soon.

The mayor has ordered all residents to don nonmedical masks when out in public. These can be scarves or purchased coverings for the nose and mouth.

“Keep your masks very secure and sterile,” Garcetti said. “Wash them at night. Don’t lay them down anywhere, they can pick up germs.”

Karenga, who spoke at the 1995 Million Man March, reminded his radio listeners that he wrote the mission statement for the march, which included the reaffirmation of and strengthening of the Black family, based on principals of shared responsibility. That strength will help conquer “the awesome task before us,” he said.

“We are the people who survived the holocaust of slavery,” Karenga noted. “We have no business thinking we cannot handle this.”

Karenga referred to Kwanzaa and pointed to the fourth principle of the holiday, Ujamaa, cooperative economics.

“That’s central to this,” said Karenga, who stressed the need to find a common ground in our blackness. “We need a collective approach where everybody benefits.”

Thursday, May 21, 2020

THE VALLEY’S NEWS OBSERVER A3

News

COVID 19– My Personal Battle from a Positive to a Negative Result Continued from page A1

Room (ER) immediately, which I prepared to do.

Before I got off the phone with him, however, he hit me with the update I was anxious to finally receive, but with some news I was definitely hoping and praying not to hear. Dr. Varon informed me that I had tested “POSITIVE” for the Coronavirus.

I was shook. My family was stunned. I am a married father of three. My family is everything.

Upon my arrival, there were two large signs that said STOP. My wife, who had followed me to the hospital, was not allowed inside. I was met by medical staff and they ushered me into a room in the ER. She stood outside awaiting word. The nursing staff immediately went to work, initially drawing blood and then taking some vitals at the order of Dr. Varon.

As events would unfold, Dr. Varon would turn out to be one of the primary angels of medicine that made the difference relative to my Coronavirus recovery efforts.

One of the first things Dr. Varon ordered his medical staff to do with me upon my arrival to the ER was to do a CT Scan. For those who may not know, a CT Scan is more detailed than a regular X-ray, and allows doctors to see inside your body by using a combination of X-rays and a computer to create images of your organs and other things inside your body.

Of course, I didn’t know why a CT Scan was being performed on me at the time, nor did I know what the end result would be. Let me just say that performing that CT Scan on me was the best thing that could have ever happened to me, because it revealed something major that was going on inside my body that couldn’t be seen by looking at me from the outside. The CT Scan revealed that my lungs showed a severe case of pneumonia, as well as other issues involving my vital organs that came as a result of the Coronavirus.

It was decided at that moment that I needed to be admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) right away. It was then that I realized how serious things were, and it was the moment that I knew that I was going to have to rely on my faith in God. I called my wife to tell her I was being admitted and informed her that I was not going to be able to have any visitation throughout my time in the ICU. I was on a mental and emotional roller coaster at this point. I didn’t know how long I would be in ICU, but more importantly, whether I would make it out alive. I could not help but think about the time in 2003 when my wife and I took my mom to the ER because she was ill. It was a life-altering experience for me.

After being seen by doctors in the ER, the medical staff informed us that my mom would need to be admitted to address her serious health condition, which turned out to be worse than believed.

My wife and I decided to stay with her, but my mom kept telling us to go home, get some rest and come back the next morning. We stayed anyway. They moved her in the wee hours of the morning to a different floor. It was then that I told her that I was not be going very far, as I chose to sleep at my mother-in-law’s house because it was closer to the hospital than my house was.

As reluctant as I felt leaving my mom at that hospital, nothing compares to the phone call I received from the hospital, no more than five minutes after I laid my head down on the pillow. The nurse on duty called to inform me that my mom had stopped breathing and had slipped into a coma. I mean, right after I left.

They told me that there was a shift change and that my mom had been given a specific medication, and by the

time the new nurse on duty went to check on my mom, they became aware of the situation.

I was devastated. I felt guilty. I felt as if I was there, I could’ve possibly done something. Several months later, my mother passed away and I never forgot that moment.

As I was being prepared to go to ICU myself, I was reminded of my mom’s experience, and I was instantly bombarded with memories and emotions about what she endured. I also struggled with the mental anguish of worrying about a virus that reportedly has no cure or vaccine to fight it. I knew I needed to draw on something greater than myself to get through this ordeal.

On Friday, March 27th, the journey towards fighting the Coronavirus had truly just begun.

Not only did I have a severe case of pneumonia when I entered ICU, my liver and kidneys also needed to be protected from the virus; my heart rate was through the roof; my heart condition worsened and I was headed to the point of potential heart failure; my blood pressure was high; I had a sharp pain in my right side; I continued to have heavy diarrhea episodes; and I still had a loss of appetite. Things were not looking good for me and I felt horrible. I began to wonder if I was ever going to get better.

From the very beginning, I had to rely on my faith in God, as I continued to deal with the mental anguish of being in this Coronavirus-specific ICU area, particularly knowing that there were people around with breathing issues and hearing machines go off all day and night, and as I regularly looked at the news and read reports showing the number of people dying on a daily basis as a result of the virus.

I needed a miracle.

Because I didn’t have any respiratory issues, just digestive issues, it caused the doctors to develop a treatment plan for me that was different than other patients they had been treating prior to my arrival to the hospital. Dr. Varon and Dr. Joseph Gathe, Jr. oversaw my care. They created a whole Coronavirus cocktail, which included heavy doses of Vitamin C, which was specific to my treatment. Per Dr. Varon, my case taught them that they must use high dose blood thinners on every Coronavirus patient admitted to the hospital.

After several days, my symptoms began to subside, and my appetite came back in a major way. I longed for my breakfast, lunch and dinner, and couldn’t wait to eat it. Dr. Varon eventually informed me that all of my vital organs had returned to normal and that my blood work and vital signs were solid.

Finally, I felt like I was turning a corner and getting better. That was until a second CT Scan was performed, which revealed more shocking and devastating news regarding my health condition.

When the results of my second CT Scan came back, it revealed that I had been diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism in my right lung. A pulmonary embolism occurs when blood clots block the flow of blood to the lungs.

A pulmonary embolism can be fatal and life-threatening, which is why Dr. Varon and his team promptly took the necessary steps to address the blood clot and reduce my risk of death. I was immediately placed on blood thinner medication.

I continued to follow the instructions of the doctors until I received that wonderful news that on Sunday, April 5th, I had made significant and miraculous improvement, and subsequently was being discharged to go home to my family. I was so thrilled, yet still deeply concerned because I still didn’t know whether I was still “POSITIVE” with the Coronavirus.

Jeffrey L. Boney with his doctor, Dr. Joseph Varon and his nurse, Jerusha Brown Harshman. (Courtesy Photo)

I was concerned about my family and praying they would be fine. Prior to being discharged, I had another COVID-19 test done and was awaiting the results. I self-isolated once again, until I got my second test results.

After several days, I got the results and tested “NEGATIVE” for the virus. Because I wanted to be completely sure before interacting with my family again, the doctors administered another COVID-19 test and those results came back “NEGATIVE” as well.

This was a long and faith-filled journey, to which I still am slated to have to deal with this blood clot in my right lung for the next six months or so. I will continue to fight and do what I am supposed to do. In the meantime, I am encouraging everyone, especially my African American brothers and sisters, to get tested. I believe everyone should be tested immediately, regardless of whether you have symptoms or not.

This is NOT a drill.

This virus is unrepentant and aggressive and can spread quickly to anyone who comes in contact with it.

Listen to your local leaders and medical professionals to help stop the community spread.

I am a living witness that you can contract this virus and how it impacts you. Don’t ignore your symptoms and

Entertainment

Michael Jackson Musical Postpones its Broadway Debut

By MARK KENNEDY AP Entertainment Writer NEW YORK (AP) – A stage musical about Michael Jackson has pushed its Broadway debut until next year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Preview performances of “MJ'' are now set to begin in March 2021 at the Neil Simon Theatre. The musical _ previously called “Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough'' _ was to start performances in New York City on July 6.

The musical is inspired by Jackson's life and music.

Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage is writing the book, using Jackson's vast catalog of songs. Tony Award winner Christopher Wheeldon will direct and choreograph and Ephraim Sykes will star as Jackson.

Jackson sold millions of records and was a 13-time

Grammy winner. In 1983 he became an international icon with the release of “Thriller,'' the best-selling album with such hits as “Beat It'' and “Billie Jean.'' He died in 2009.

Although an exact date for performances to resume on Broadway has yet to be determined, Broadway producers are now offering refunds and exchanges for tickets purchased for shows through Sept. 6.

Other shows _ like an upcoming revival of Neil Simon's “Plaza Suite'' starring Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker _ have also pushed their production to next year.

Other shows scheduled to open this spring have abandoned their plans, including “Hangmen'' and a revival of Edward Albee's “Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?''

don’t ignore the seriousness of this virus. Don’t be selfish and just think about yourself. Think about your family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, loved ones and those you don’t know. Stay safe!

Giants can be intimidating. The fight can many times be tough. Sometimes we lose. Sometimes we win. The common thread in winning versus losing is giving it all you have when you are in the midst of a fight. In the Bible, David showed us that giants can indeed fall. This was my journey, and this is my testimony.

I am forever grateful to God and to everyone who uttered a prayer, shared an encouraging word, providing any resources or sent positive energy my way.

My family and I greatly appreciate each and every one of you. God bless you, and let’s do everything in our power to defeat this horrible and vicious COVID-19 virus.

Jeffrey L. Boney is a political analyst and international correspondent for the NNPA Newswire and BlackPressUSA.com and serves as Associate Editor for the Houston Forward Times newspaper. Jeffrey is an award-winning journalist, dynamic international speaker, experienced entrepreneur, business development strategist and founder and CEO of the Texas Business Alliance. Follow Jeffrey on Twitter @realtalkjunkies.

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THE VALLEY’S NEWS OBSERVER

Local

Thursday, May 21, 2020

My Faith & the Census Remind Us That “You Matter”

Rev. Eddie Anderson is the senior pastor at McCarty Memorial Christian Church in South Los Angeles. Anderson is a census campaign partner with LA Voice and part of the We Count Los Angeles Campaign comprised of more than 100 grassroots organizations committed to ensuring that everyone is counted in the 2020 Census.

By Rev. Eddie Anderson OpEd The census is important because it says, “You matter.

Who you are matters. Where you live matters.” Speaking from my faith, Scripture reminds us by way of the Gospels that proclaiming “I matter” is one of the most powerful acts a human can take.

As the senior pastor of my church in South Los Angeles, I lend my voice for the members of my congregation and remind each of them that they matter. In addition to my ministry, one of the meaningful ways I accomplish this is by serving as a census campaign partner with LA Voice, an interfaith grassroots organization uniting over 55 congregations and over 40,000 community members to encourage our brothers and sisters to be counted on the 2020 census.

Through countless phone calls, virtual town halls, telethons and digital roundtables, our faith-based community is united and working hard to make sure all of our church members are counted.

Why is the census so important for us?

When we participate in the census, we are marking ourselves as “present.” We say, “I matter. I count. My community matters.” When we are counted, we see better schools and enrichment programs for our children; we see better roads and more funding for our hospitals; we see SNAP and CalFresh funded so people are able to eat especially in times of crisis like today.

We see not only equality, but equity.

For African Americans, many of us can affirm and attribute the increase in resources to us by being counted.

Being counted is both a spiritual and political affirmation of our agency and being, even when oppression is rampant.

We must be counted. We must be counted in a time of crisis.

The region of Los Angeles County just surpassed the 50% response rate milestone, but there’s still a long road ahead. Our region, and particularly our African American communities, are expected to be undercounted in the 2020 census. This means millions of

dollars can potentially be taken from our communities.

I give you the challenge my mother gave me every day growing up: “show up.” It is up to us to show up for our families, for our church, and for our community.

I urge you to tell your neighbors. Tell your church members. Tell your friends. Tell your community members to take on the pledge to fill out the census and say “I matter. I count.

My community matters.” Everyone must be included.

We all have to come together.

Combining resources and partnerships between organizations and people are of utmost importance.

Our nonprofit organizations, local businesses and our faith community must all work collectively to spread this message far and wide, especially among our African American communities.

All throughout the Bible, God recounted the importance of being counted. Moses counted the people so he could help them and distribute resources equally and equitably. It is our turn to follow in these footsteps and make sure funding and resources for our communities are distributed equally and equitably.

The only way we can do that right now is by taking the time to fill out the census.

Completing your form is simple. It’s fast. It’s safe.

Complete your census online at my2020census.gov, by phone at 844-330-2020 or by mail if you received a paper form. Your responses are protected by the law and cannot be shared with other government agencies and organizations. For example, your landlord cannot get access to your responses.

Help spread the word on why the census is so important. Tell your neighbors, your family, your relatives and your church members. Even as we remain sheltered in place and continue to live our lives in this new environment, we have an important opportunity to work through our faith together for an accurate count.

Complete your census today and proclaim “I matter” powerfully and with joy.

Without Census Data We’re Invisible power. MENA populations then can elect individuals “who reflect the needs of our communities and hold lawmakers accountable” when they stigmatize MENA communities.

By Julian Do Ethnic Media Services Los Angeles – For generations, millions of Americans whose roots lie in the Middle East and North Africa — MENA — have essentially become invisible people because the Census Bureau has denied requests for their own racial category.

“Legally, in America, I’m classified as white,” says Dr. Hamoud Salhi, associate dean of the College of Natural and Behavioral Sciences, CSU-Dominguez Hills. “I was born in Algeria, which is part of Africa, so technically I could declare myself as African American, but I can’t.”

Palestinian-American Loubna Qutami, a President’s postdoctoral fellow at U.C. Berkeley specializing in ethnic studies, says that since MENA doesn’t have a classification of its own, it legally falls under the white category.

MENA populations have their own specific needs for health care, education, language assistance and civil rights protection, but they have no way to advocate for themselves because numerically they are folded into the category of white Americans.

To change this, Dr. Salhi, Dr. Qutami and other MENA leaders have been mobilizing their communities to participate in the 2020 census, encouraging people to write in their ethnicity. They spoke with other experts and activists on a May 13 two-hour video conference organized

by Ethnic Media Services on the historical, linguistic and political challenges that make the MENA population among the hardest to count in California.

Geographically, MENA populations live on three continents — from the border of Afghanistan south to the tip of Africa — and in 22 nations in the Middle East alone, with numerous subgroups such as Kurds, Chaldeans, Assyrians, Armenians.

“North Africa is actually a concept that the French gave to Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria, which they colonized,” says Dr. Salhi. The neighboring countries of Egypt and Libya were added later.

Because of their shared Arabic language and Islamic religion, people in the United States from North Africa were lumped together with people of the Middle East to form the MENA acronym.

For decades, the Census Bureau has turned down requests to add MENA to the official category of races, currently white, black or African American, American Indian, Alaska Native, Asian American and Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander.

The result, says Dr. Qutami, artificially props up the white population count, which has been in decline, while suppressing the count of MENA residents who don’t identify themselves as white. According to the 2015 Census Bureau’s “National Content Test – Race and Ethnicity Report, “As expected, the percent reporting as White is significantly lower with the inclusion of a distinct MENA category when compared to treatments with no MENA category.”

California mirrors the challenge to the MENA population of geographic size and diversity, says Emilio Vaca, deputy director of the state’s Complete Count Committee, which directs census outreach. The Census

Bureau’s 2017 American Community Survey reported that 11 million of California’s 40 million residents, about 27%, are immigrants.

“That’s equivalent to the entire state of Georgia,” Vaca emphasized. At home, most of those immigrants speak one or more of 200 languages other than English.

Homayra Yusufi, from the Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans, broke down the face of diversity in just one San Diego neighborhood that her organization serves: “We have 45 different national origins — from MENA, Asia and Latin America — who speak more than 100 languages in the 6.5-mile City Heights district, a distinct community of refugees and immigrants.”

Educating and motivating these groups to participate in the census is a way to engage them in the civic life of the wider city.

Historical necessity — what specific immigrant groups have done to survive — also plays a role in the MENA undercount. Up until the mid-20th century, only whites could own property, and only “free white immigrants” could become American citizens.

To survive and advance, Middle Eastern immigrants successfully petitioned the federal courts to be allowed to identify themselves as white in 1920. North African immigrants, as members of the MENA population, got pulled along and found themselves legally classified as white as well.

The discriminatory policy for citizenship and property ownership favoring whites only ended with passage of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952. But even then, MENA communities found it difficult to raise funds and mobilize calls for action to address their needs. They didn’t know where their fellow compatriots were located and couldn’t raise official numbers to request funds and resources.

“We were helpless. In many instances, we had to generate our own data,” says Dr. Qutami.

Over the years, the Census Bureau has never clearly answered why they’ve refused to include the MENA classification, despite concluding, in a 2017 report, that “the inclusion of a MENA category helps MENA Respondents to more accurately report their MENA identities.”

The bureau again turned down the 2018 request for the 2020 census. Karen Battle, chief of the bureau’s population division, announced in a public meeting on census preparations that “We do feel that more research and testing is needed.”

MENA advocates believe filling out the 2020 census is the only way to avoid another undercount. Without doing this, Yusui says, “our communities will continue to be invisible and left in the margins because data really matters.”

Gaining services customized to MENA’s needs is only part of what’s at stake. So, too, argues Yusufi, is building

By Kayo Johnson A few months ago, I was working at a childcare center in South Los Angeles handing out information about the 2020 Census when I met a mother with a familiar story.

This mother, like many other parents, received a census questionnaire in the mail along with numerous reminders to complete it. She didn’t think it was important or that it was simply the government’s way of trying to invade her privacy. Maybe she didn’t fully understand what the “census” was. Without hesitation, these forms all ended up in the trash.

That day, her view on the census changed entirely. As this mother went about her usual business to sign out her child from the center, she overheard me, the “Census Guy” (as I’ve come to be known in my community), talking to parents and staff. I was speaking about the importance of the census for both children and their families and how it affects our communities and the amount of resources we get for the next 10 years. “Hey, is that true?” the mother asked. “Yes, it is,” I smiled. I shared with her a flyer on the census.

For the next 10 minutes, she asked me a flurry of questions. We talked about the history of the census, why it happens, and how it impacts our children, families, and communities alike. “It also impacts you,” I ended. Shocked and upset that she allowed so many years go by without completing her census, I told her “Today is the day you can change that.” She committed to filling out her census for her and her family. As I left the center that day, I overheard her doing what I was doing when she met me — talking to other parents about the importance of completing the census.

That day reminded me of the importance of the work that I do every day as a Census Outreach Coordinator with Crystal Stairs, Inc., a nonprofit organization that serves children and families to provide them better futures.

That’s exactly why the census is so important: it’s about better futures. And that’s exactly why counting our children is so important: they are our future.

Every 10 years, the U.S. Census Bureau counts every person living in the United States — regardless of their race, ethnicity, immigration status, or age. Data from the

census helps determine where billions of dollars go to critical community resources for our children and families such as schools, parks, Head Start and Early Head Start, WIC, and SNAP programs across Los Angeles. If we want the brightest future for our families, we need every person — including every child — to be counted on the 2020 census.

However, our communities are at risk of not being counted. Historically, children — particularly those ages 0-5 — are the most undercounted demographic group on the census. In the 2010 census, nearly one in every 10 children were not counted on the census. And approximately seven percent of all young African American children were overlooked by the 2010 census.

Because of census undercounts, our communities lose millions of dollars every year. But it’s never too late for us to think about the future and reclaim these resources for our communities. The two young mothers who founded Crystal Stairs, Inc. over 40 years ago had a dream that all parents have: children learning, parents thriving, and communities bursting from the pride and success of

Kathay Feng of the nonpartisan watchdog Common Cause emphasized that participation in the census is the first step to representation. In America, resources and rights are accorded by representation based on the number of residents at all levels, from the state down to the municipality, in proportion to the total population.

“Everyone is counted, regardless of immigration status or whether they are registered voters or not,” Feng said, “because all residents pay taxes in one way or another, and most immigrants would eventually become citizens in the long run.”

Every 10 years, immediately after the decennial census submits population data, electoral districts are redrawn. In California, which has been at the forefront of redistricting reforms, the old practice of allowing legislators to draw district lines based on which populations are sure to vote them back into office — known as gerrymandering — was replaced in 2009 by independently selected commissioners.

Nine other states have followed California’s lead.

But, Feng emphasized, to be effective and to ensure their voices are heard, residents have to be engaged at the local level. And this year, there is a danger that antiimmigrant forces will restrict the residents who count in redistricting to voters only.

“In the city of El Cajon, San Diego, we faced a lot of discrimination, especially when the Syrian refugees arrived. Our children got bullied in school but the schools didn’t want to adopt any bullying policy because we don’t have representation,” said Dilkhwaz Ahmed, executive director of License to Freedom. “Representation is very important to us as a Kurdish community, as refugees, and as immigrants.”

Emilio Vaca is optimistic that California can meet the undercount challenge: “As of May 11, California has a selfresponse rate of 59.6%, which is above the national average of 58%.” This is all the more impressive, Vaca noted, given how the pandemic has affected outreach.

Many of the speakers on the call testified to the ongoing efforts to shift to virtual outreach and “drive by” caravans and taking the census to where the people are.

“We had a food bank event for the Middle Eastern and Muslim community in south Sacramento that attracted more than 2,000 families who came by cars, and we actually engaged with them about the census in every single car,” said Basim Elkarra, executive director of CAIR in Sacramento. “Many were recent refugees.”

The 2020 census form doesn’t include the MENA racial category, but Question 9 allows respondents to write in “MENA” and their specific ethnicities such as Lebanese, Palestinian, Algerian or Kurd.

Being visible in the 2020 census, the speakers agreed, will lay the foundation for the next few MENA generations to build on what this generation has started.

Counting Children on the Census is Critical nurturing children and families into better futures.

One way to live out this dream and make it a reality is the simple act of filling out your census form for your family. It’s fast, safe, and important.

You can complete your census in several ways: online at my2020census.gov, by phone at 844-330-2020, or by mail if you received a paper form. When you fill out the census, your responses are protected by the law and cannot be shared with other government agencies and organizations. For example, your landlord will not be able to access your responses.

Make sure you count everyone living in your household, including young children. Then help spread the word! Just like the mother who became a census champion after learning about how important the census is, anyone can be an advocate for the census. Help bring resources to our children, families, and communities.

By filling out the census and making sure to count your children today, you are playing a critical role in building a better future for our children, parents, and communities to thrive into the next 10 years and beyond.

Thursday, May 21, 2020

THE VALLEY’S NEWS OBSERVER A5

Sports

Sports to Resume Play in California

By Cameron Buford whatsgoodinsports.com March 11 seems like so long ago, yet it was just a few short months ago when the sports world came to a screeching halt. After the Utah Jazz’s Rudy Gobert was diagnosed with COVID19 before a game against the OKC Thunder the NBA promptly canceled their season until further notice. Additionally, other professional sports leagues Boxing, MLS, and NASCAR quickly followed suit, and MLB was never allowed to get their season underway.

As the death toll of the United States has reached over 88,000, we all have had to endure a new normal in our lives in defense of this insidious pandemic. Which includes practicing social distancing, wearing masks, and consistently washing our hands. No telling how long these measures will be required but many sports fans like myself were elated to hear Governor Gavin Newsom remarks about sports returning in the state of California.

In recent weeks we’ve seen NBA players compete in virtual games of horse, various NBA 2K and Madden tournaments along with simulated NASCAR events. We’ve heard the rumors about the NBA completing their season in “bubble cities” to keep them safe from the COVID19 virus. But this Monday afternoon, sports fans in California were given some hope when mentioned the possibility of Pro Sports taking place, albeit without fans in the stands to begin with.

As reluctant as California Gov. Gavin Newsom has been to open up shopping malls and restaurants throughout the state. On Monday, May 18, he mentioned that with “modifications and very prescriptive conditions.”

Professional sports could resume as early as the first week of June.

With the Los Angeles Clippers and the Lakers in NBA Championship contention, this ruling would pave the way for them to resume practicing and hosting games with or without fans. Additionally, MLB’s San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers would be able to restart prepping for their season to begin.

This would also be great news for the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers and the Chargers and Rams who soon be opening their brand spanking new Sofi stadium just south of Los Angeles, in Inglewood.

Newsom continued to say, “A number of other sectors of our economy will open up again if we gold these trendlines in the next number of weeks.” This is considering that things continue to improve in California and we remain vigilant about protecting each other from the aforementioned Coronavirus.

As a Sports Writer, I’d like to see all sports resume play, across the country. However, I understand the safety concerns involved yet, providing they let fans right away which sports are you most eager to see return would it be the National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball, Major League Soccer, or professional Boxing? Let us know which sport you are anxious to see play whether attending a game or watching a game from home. Kindly share your thoughts on which pro sports games you would be looking forward to seeing most once welcomed to the stadium or arenas, by reaching out to me on Twitter @ whatsgoodnsport or forward your thoughts to info@ whatsgoodinsports.com. Additionally, be sure to subscribe to our weekly “Voice of the Fans Podcast” which is available for you on most podcasting platforms, Apple and Google Podcasts including Spotify, TuneIn, and iHeart Radio. As always, Thank You for making our voice, your choice!

Sports may resume play in early June, per Gavin Newsome CA Gov. (Photo Credit: Bing Photos)

Bruins Name New Athletic Director

UCLA’s new Athletic Director Martin Jarmond. (Photo Credit: Boston College Athletics)

By Earl Heath Contributing Sports Writer UCLA has had a legacy of having pioneers like Jackie Robinson, Arthur Ash, and Kenny Washington.

This week they have added another as Martin Jarmond was named the new Athletic Director. He’s the first African American in the schools 101 years of athletics.

Jarmond previously was the youngest AD in the Power Six Conferences while holding the same position at Boston College of the ACC at the age of 37. He was also the first African American to hold the same post there.

Jarmond worked as an administrator in the Big Ten Conference at Michigan State and Ohio State. His interviews for the UCLA job were limited to on-line video chats. He must have made a great impression not being able to appear in person.

He played basketball at UNC Wilmington where he was a two-time captain and led the Seahawks to NCAA and NIT tournaments. He later earned his business and masters degrees in sports administration at Ohio State.

He became assistant AD for development at Michigan State for six years before heading to Ohio State in 2009.

He became head administrator for football and Men’s basketball for the Buckeyes and did their scheduling. He served on the Rose Bowl advisory committee and the College Football National Championship advisory group.

When he first arrived at Boston College he put together a plan with goals like the football become a top 25 team, develop a fan council and the big one raise 150 million dollars athletics only funds. When you implement ideas like these you’re sure to raise eye-brows. ”You have to learn to communicate with a large variety of people,” Jarmond told Sports Business Journal. “and many of those conversations are going to be very different.

In one setting you might be selling a vision to a donor and another you might be talking to someone who is critical on twitter.”

Jarmond was on his way to getting it done when the Bruins came calling. He got the council. He hired former Ohio State defensive coordinator and former NFL coach Jeff Hafley that set a buzz around Eagle fans. Also they reached 108 million mark on the fundraising front.

He’s replacing Dan Guerrero who’s retiring in June after 18 years. Under his watch the Bruins had 32 titles but none in the top money making sports of football and basketball. The Bruins are 7-17 under Chip Kelly and Basketball was 19-12 under first year coach Nick Cronin.

The Bruins may have the right man for the program.

I am sure he will put together a plan to get the job done.

LAFC & MLS Provide Update On 2020 MLS All-Star Game Presented By Target Los Angeles & Banc of California Stadium Will Host 2021 MLS All-Star Game The Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC) and Major League Soccer today announced that the 2020 MLS AllStar Game, originally scheduled to take place on July 29 and feature the best of MLS against a team of LIGA MX all-stars, has been cancelled.

The 2021 MLS All-Star Game and festivities are expected to take place in Los Angeles at the same venue.

MLS and LIGA MX will resume discussions regarding the event, and there is every expectation that next year’s AllStar Game will be MLS vs. LIGA MX in The Heart of Los Angeles.

While tickets to the All-Star Game had not gone on sale yet, fans who purchased tickets to the All-Star Skills Challenge via Ticketmaster will be automatically refunded.

Refunds will take up to two weeks to be processed by Ticketmaster. Tickets purchased at the stadium box office with cash will be refunded once regular business hours resume when the venue reopens. Fans can visit www. bancofcaliforniastadium.com for the latest information regarding All-Star Skills Challenge refunds and venue box office hours.

In addition, the league also provided updates on the status of Leagues Cup and Campeones Cup previously scheduled for 2020: Leagues Cup: The second edition of the annual tournament between top MLS and LIGA MX teams, which was to take place between July and September, has been cancelled in a joint decision by both leagues. MLS and LIGA MX plan to play Leagues Cup in 2021.

Campeones Cup: The third edition of Campeones

Cup, which features the reigning MLS Cup champion against the winner of LIGA MX’s Campeón de Campeones, has been cancelled by the two leagues. It was scheduled to take place on August 12 at CenturyLink Field, the home of the 2019 MLS Cup champions, Seattle Sounders FC. The event will return in 2021.

About Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC) Now in its third season, the Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC) is the newest MLS club serving the greater Los Angeles area.

Coming off a record-breaking 2019 where the Club won the MLS Supporters Shield and established MLS records for most points, LAFC is dedicated to building a worldclass soccer club that represents the diversity of Los Angeles and is committed to delivering an unrivaled experience for fans. LAFC’s ownership group is comprised of local leaders and innovators of industry with intellectual capital,

financial prowess, operations expertise and success in the fields of entertainment, sports, technology and media.

LAFC is invested in the world’s game and Los Angeles, constructing and developing the 22,000 seat Banc of California Stadium and a top-flight training center on the campus of Cal State Los Angeles.

About Major League Soccer

Headquartered in New York City, Major League Soccer – celebrating its 25th Season in 2020 – features 26 clubs throughout the United States and Canada, in addition to future expansion teams in Austin, St. Louis, Sacramento, and Charlotte. For more information about MLS, visit www.MLSsoccer.com.

A6

Local

THE VALLEY’S NEWS OBSERVER

Thursday, May 21, 2020