Valley's News Observer 7.29.21

Leon Bridges Shares His Evolution to ‘Gold-Diggers Sound’

Los Angeles County Returns $75 Million Land to Black Family

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Volume 36 Number 37

Serving the San Fernando Valley for Over 36 Years

Observer Group Newspapers of Southern California

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Thursday, July 29, 2021

Civil Rights Museums Open for Free on Emmett Till’s Birthday

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – Two Mississippi civil rights museums are marking what would have been the 80th birthday of Emmett Till on Sunday by letting people in for free.

The Mississippi Civil Rights Museum and Museum of Mississippi History in Jackson are also having guided tours from noon to 3 p.m. Sunday. The museums currently also have an exhibit called “I AM A MAN: Civil Rights Photographs in the American South, 19601970.”

Till was 14 years old when two white men kidnapped, beat and lynched the Black teen from Chicago who was visiting family in Mississippi.

The men said Till flirted with a white woman inside a store and were acquitted by an all-white jury.

Till’s mother insisted on an open casket funeral and photos of the teen’s horribly beaten body were shown in magazines across the country making him an important person in the fight for civil rights and against racism.

Empowering Black Men Focus of Barbershop Competition Kati Hernandez leads the crowd in Afro-Cuban dances. (Ricky Richardson photo)

By Ricky Richardson Contributing Writer (Los Angeles)-Leimert Park Village was Lit. It was on and crack-a-lackin during the monthly Art Walk. Founded

by Ben Caldwell, of KAOS Network in the Summer of 2010. The monthly gathering has continued to thrive ever since. The Leimert Park Art Walk take place in Leimert Park Village, the hub of African American culture in Los Angeles.

July 25, 2021- The Mighty Queens of the Afrodiaspora was honored. The occasion, International Day of Women of African Descent. In 1992, Black women from 32 different Latin American and Caribbean countries united

in the Dominican Republic to fight racism and sexism they face. The day became known as The International AfroLatin American and Afro-Caribbean Women Day. Every year on July 25th, the world comes together to celebrate Black Women. The day is accepted by UNESCO and other international organizations and celebrates all women of African descent across the diaspora. The day aims to make Afro-descendant women visible and promote public policies that help improve their quality of life and eradicate racism and discrimination.

Locally, the event in Leimert Park featured a stellar international line-up of women percussionists, Continued on page A4

Nadia Calmet lead the crowd in Afro-Peruvian dances

Civil Rights Legend Dies at 86 “We have lost one of the most courageous organizers of our time,” wrote activist and teacher, Zellie Imani, on Twitter. “As a field organizer for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Bob Moses was the architect of the Mississippi Freedom Project, the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, and the Algebra Project.”

By Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent Robert Parris Moses, one of America’s foremost civil rights leaders who stood fearless in the face of violence to register African American voters in the South, has died at the age of 86.

His daughter, Maisha Moses, announced his death.

Often clad in denim overalls, Moses drew comparisons to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The depth and scale of Moses’ courage proved legendary.

His activism drew the ire of White supremacists, but minorities and the oppressed hailed him as a pioneer.

Moses famously noted the Southern Christian Leadership Conference’s (SCLC) Ella Baker as an inspiration.

In a tribute released by the Student Non-Violence Coordinating Committee (SNCC) on Sunday, July 25, SNCC officials said Moses was key to the SNCC launching its voter registration campaign in Mississippi.

That work led to Freedom Schools, the 1964 Summer Project, the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, the Poor People’s Campaign, and the Mississippi Freedom Labor Union.

“And these not only began to alter the face of

Mississippi but also challenged the country to be true to the best in itself,” the SNCC wrote in its tribute.

They continued: “At the heart of these efforts was SNCC’s idea that people – ordinary people long denied this power – could take control of their lives. These were the people that Bob brought to the table to fight for a seat: maids, sharecroppers, day workers, barbers, beauticians, teachers, preachers, and many others from all walks of life.”

The statement continued: “The Algebra Project [Moses] founded in 1982 is a direct outgrowth of this early work in Mississippi. The project’s work aims to prepare those still kept on the bottom rungs of our society for success in the information economy of the 21st century.

“Finally, the SNCC Legacy Project want to issue a call on behalf of Bob and other SNCC veterans like Julian Bond, John Lewis, Chuck McDew, Fannie Lou Hamer, Ruby Doris Robinson, James Forman, Marion Barry, Ms. Ella Baker, Amzie Moore, Unita Blackwell, and the local people with whom they worked to continue to raise the banner of the continuing struggle for a better world.”

Noted Civil Rights leader and National Newspaper Publishers Association President and CEO Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr., saluted the life and legacy of Moses on behalf of the Black Press of America.

“Bob Moses’ entire life was dedicated to freedom, justice, and equality for African Americans and all people,” Dr. Chavis reflected.

“The Black Press of America pauses to express our condolences to the Moses family and to rededicate our journalistic efforts to keep alive the legacy and the vision of Bob Moses.

“SNCC does not get enough credit for all of the transformative work that SNCC accomplished in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Long live the spirit of Bob Moses.”

Filmmaker and famed television producer Topper

Carew also counted as a friend and admirer of Moses.

“Bob Moses wasn’t a drum major. Bob Moses was the drummer,” Carew told NNPA Newswire.

“I will miss his presence. Being around him made you stronger,” Carew remarked.

Continued on page A2

Rep. Hank Johnson Arrested in Washington Voting Law Protest Despite the violence that African Americans routinely faced when trying to vote, Bob Moses helped register thousands of voters. He trained countless organizers inside the walls of so-called freedom schools to carry out the mission of civil rights. (Photo: Bob Moses and Julian Bond, “Fifty Years After Freedom Summer and the Civil Rights Act of 1964” 2/26/14. Visit millercenter.org / Miller Center / Wikimedia Commons

Delta Variant is 83% of all U.S. COVID Cases Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent The delta variant of the coronavirus now accounts for roughly 83 percent of all U.S. COVID-19 cases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky announced on Tuesday, July 20.

“The best way to prevent the spread of COVID-19 variants is to prevent the spread of disease, and vaccination is the most powerful tool we have,” Dr. Walensky asserted during a U.S. Senate hearing.

On July 3, the CDC noted that the delta variant accounted for about half of U.S. COVID cases.

That number has dramatically increased.

The latest delta surge also has led to increases in hospitalizations and deaths, Dr. Walensky stated.

She remarked that deaths have risen by about 48 percent over the past week, and the U.S. now averages

239 COVID-related fatalities each day.

Dr. Walensky insisted that the surge could have been prevented.

“Each death is tragic and even more heartbreaking when we know that the majority of these deaths could be prevented with a simple, safe, available vaccine,” she demanded.

About two-thirds of U.S. counties have vaccinated less than 40 percent of their residents. That has allowed for the emergence and rapid spread of the highly transmissible delta variant,” Dr. Walensky continued.

President Joe Biden previously set a vaccination goal of reaching 70 percent of eligible adults by July 4, but the U.S. fell short.

Medical experts have warned that the delta variant is highly contagious and easily transmitted compared to other strains.

DETROIT (AP) – Community focused barbershops in the Detroit area can compete for a $10,000 grant as part of program designed to educate and empower African American men.

Applications are being accepted through Aug. 9 from state-certified barbershop owners for the Ford Men of Courage Barbershop Challenge.

Barbershop owners are asked to submit innovative community proposals designed to stimulate positive social economic mobility in their community. Up to three finalists will compete over a six-month period by developing community engagement programming for adults and youth.

The runner-up will be eligible to select a local nonprofit to receive a $5,000 grant.

The challenge is part of the Ford Men of Courage initiative aimed at building communities by advancing the narrative of Black men through storytelling, educational events, intergenerational forums, community visioning sessions and other curated events.

The Ford Motor Co. Fund and the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit are partnering on the competition.

“The challenge centers on a keystone in African American communities _ the barbershop _ and encourages owners to utilize this as a launch pad to turn ideas into community outreach and success,” said Pamela Alexander, Ford Motor Co. Fund community development director. “Detroit is a city filled with men who change and improve our world every day and we are excited to celebrate and honor them with this program.”

The Barbershop Challenge also is designed to complement the upcoming exhibit, Men of Change: Power. Triumph. Truth. Exhibition opening this fall at the Charles H. Wright Museum. The exhibition was created by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service.

“The reason it’s so formidable is the fact that it has the capability of transmitting efficiently from human to human in an extraordinary manner, well beyond any of the other variants that we’ve experienced, up to now,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the White House’s chief medical advisor, said during the Senate hearing.

Dr. Ebony J. Hilton, the medical director for GoodStock Consulting, LLC, and Associate Professor, Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine at the University of Virginia, repeatedly warned that the combination of vaccine hesitancy, the refusal to wear masks, and the delta variant would create the perfect storm for a worsening pandemic.

Expressly, Dr. Hilton has noted that Covid-19 deaths in predominately White communities have continued to rise at dramatic rates.

Continued on page A4

ATLANTA (AP) – A suburban Atlanta congressman was among nine people arrested Thursday for blocking the door of a Senate office building in Washington while protesting inaction on Democratic voting law proposals.

U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson, a Lithonia Democrat, said in a statement after his arrest that he was protesting “Senate inaction on voting rights legislation & filibuster reform. In the spirit of my dear friend and mentor - the late Congressman John Lewis - I was getting in good trouble.”

A number of members of the Congressional Black Caucus had spoken at a rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court urging Congress to change filibuster rules that allow a minority of 41 or more senators to block legislation. They say such changes were needed to pass laws creating nationwide standards to mandate early voting and automatic voter registration, limit gerrymandering and put back in place reviews of voting rules in areas with a history of discrimination.

Congressional Republicans oppose the proposals.

Johnson and others later marched to the Senate office building. U.S. Capitol Police confirmed they arrested two men and seven women. The statement from Capitol Police said demonstrators were arrested for “illegal demonstration activity” after being warned three times to stop. Demonstrators often seek to be arrested on U.S. Capitol grounds as part of civil disobedience actions.

Video posted online shows the demonstrators blocking a door while chanting “Hey, hey! Ho, ho! The filibuster has got to go!” and “What do we want? Justice!

When do we want it? Now!” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Francys Johnson, the former head of the Georgia chapter of the NAACP, was also among those taken into custody.

World & Nation

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The Valley’s News Observer

Thursday, July 29, 2021

Gov. Newsom Joins Asm. Jones-Sawyer, Others in Fight Against Shoplifting

By Aldon Thomas Stiles California Black Media Gov. Gavin Newsom joined top law enforcement officials, state lawmakers and local officials in Los Angeles County on July 21 for a press conference to discuss rising violence and retail theft in California.

“Among the most basic needs for all Californians is to feel safe at home, at the park or walking to school,” Newsom said. “As we pursue nation-leading criminal justice reforms – all with an eye to making our communities safer – a more holistic approach is called for. We must invest in public safety while, at the same time, tackling the root causes of these increases.”

Newsom also promoted his efforts to try to deter gun violence, including mental health services and after-school programs.

“We need to see more accountability, we need to see enforcement and we need a commensurate commitment to address the reforms that I think many of us behind me embrace and have long embraced in California that have proven successful in this state,” Newsom said.

At the press conference, Newsom signed Assembly Bill (AB) 331, which includes measures designed to crack down on organized retail theft by expanding the California Highway Patrol’s shoplifting task force.

According to Newsom, the task force conducted nearly 700 investigations which have led to 252 arrests and the recovery of $16.3 million in merchandise statewide since 2019.

The signing of this bill occurs as incidences of organized retail theft is rising in California’s major metropolitan areas.

Assemblymember Reggie Jones-Sawyer (D-Los Angeles), the author of AB 331 , spoke briefly about how it came about.

“We want to make sure we actually went after the organized retail theft felons who were victimizing not the only the people that they got involved in this but also victimizing our businesses and retails,” he said.

“This governor has also put in billions of dollars to make sure that those individuals can move into services such as drug rehab, education and employment so that they can permanently, permanently, get out of organized retail theft because that’s the ultimate goal here,” JonesSawyer continued.

Newsom acknowledged the growing public concern.

“Bottom line, at the end of the day, as members of the public you expect us to resolve, to address these issues,” he

said.

“You expect all of us, regardless of your political stripes, regardless of geography, you expect all of us to respect you, you expect to feel some kind of connection to your community and you all expect, appropriately so, to be protected,” Newsom also said.

Some retailers and lawmakers believe that Proposition 47, a ballot measure California voters approved in 2014 that raised the minimum dollar amount for felony shoplifting from $450 to $950, is partially to blame for the spike in retail theft. The measure reclassified many of the state’s nonviolent offenses from felonies to misdemeanors.

One critic is Sen. Melissa Melendez (R-Lake Elsinore) who suggested Newsom’s signing this bill was political theater to make up for Prop 47 and avoid a recall.

“In typical Newsom fashion, the Governor is patting himself on the back for attempting to fix a problem he not only breathlessly endorsed, but helped create,” tweeted Melendez on Wednesday, July 21.

Newsom denies the current wave of retail theft issue is related to Prop 47, claiming that the measure is an “easy scapegoat” for people who are against criminal justice reform.

“The evidence doesn’t back it up. The last three decades we’ve actually seen a significant decline in crime in the state. You’re seeing crime increase in red states that have no criminal reform,” Newsom told Fox News 11 in Los Angeles.

Newsom’s statement is backed up by U.S. Department of Justice data that concludes “laws and policies designed to deter crime by focusing mainly on increasing the severity of punishment are ineffective partly because criminals know little about the sanctions for specific crimes.”

Newsom asserted that this has been a continual effort.

He has led on policy efforts that have closed a number of California state prisons, halted the death penalty and eliminated cash bail for people who can’t afford it.

“This is not new in the state of California as the Assemblymember noted. We’ve been organized in a very deliberative manner to address the issue of organized retail crime for a number of years. We are doubling down on those efforts today with this bill that I’ll be signing here in a moment,” Newsom said.

Newsom’s closing remarks attempted to strike the balance between accountability and mercy.

“We need to hold folks to account but we’ll do it in a thoughtful and judicious way, we’re not going back to the

Press conference: Assemblymember Reginald Byron Jones-Sawyer, Sr. (D-Los Angeles) stands with Gov. Gavin Newsom to sign AB 331.

way things were in the 80s and 90s. At least not while I’m here,” Newsom said.

“We’re not going to back out on our commitment to reform, at the same time, we’re not going to walk away

from accountability either,’’ he concluded.

California Black Media’s coverage of the Governor’s Office public health efforts is supported by the California Health Care Foundation.

Indiana State Police Investigating Death of Black Woman in Custody

By Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent Indiana State Police are investigating the death of 23-year-old Ta’neasha Chappel, a Black woman who died after being transported from a Jackson County jail to a local hospital on Friday, July 16.

“It is with extreme sadness that we announce the passing of Ta’Neasha Chappell. She unexpectedly passed away at The Jackson County Jail in Brownstown, Indiana,” wrote Jeffontae Elijah McClain, who has organized a GoFundMe for Chappell’s funeral expenses.

“She was a loving mother, sister, daughter, and friend who touched the lives of many around her. She leaves behind her 10-year-old daughter Nevaeh who will miss her terribly,” McClain continued on the GoFundMe site that so far has raised about $6,412 of a $13,000 goal.

According to law enforcement officials, Indiana State Police arrested Chappell in May alleging she participated in

a shoplifting ring that operated from Louisville, Kentucky to Edinburgh, Indiana.

Unable to raise the $4,000 bond, Chappell remained in custody as she awaited a court hearing.

Authorities at the prison said Chappell complained of feeling sick and was rushed to Seymour Hospital where doctors pronounced her dead on Friday, July 16.

“It is unsettling, we want justice, we want answers – we have a lot of questions and no answers,” Ronesha Murrell, Chappell’s sister, told WDRB. Indiana’s Channel 3 news reported that Chappell’s family said they talked to her days prior to her death and she seemed healthy and in good spirits.

“I asked her how was it going, she was like she’s doing okay,” Chappell’s sister, Ronesha Murrell, explained to the news outlet. “We just talked, we just laughed for a little minute, she talked to my son, and we ended the conversation with I love you, she was going to call me back.

Chappell’s mother told WAVE 3 News her daughter feared for her life in the jail.

“She called every day telling us to get her out of there,” Chappell’s mother, Lavita McClain, said. “‘Mama they’re going to kill me in here, they’re going to kill me in here,’ and she would always say ‘get me out of here if anything happens to me just know that they did it.’”

The family has demanded answers.

“We are all devastated by her loss but are working tirelessly to figure out the events that transpired moments before her passing,” Jeffontae Elijah McClain stated. “In the meantime, we need any help possible to give her the proper burial she deserves. Any and all help will go to her funeral arrangements and autopsy. On behalf of our family, we truly appreciate your support and encouragement during this time.”

News Observer President Biden Nominates The Valley’s

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Eight for U.S. Attorney Posts

The President said each “will be indispensable to upholding the rule of law as the top federal law enforcement officials for their district.”

Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent President Joe Biden nominated eight individuals for U.S. Attorney across the country, including nominees for the District of Columbia and Maryland.

The President said each “will be indispensable to upholding the rule of law as the top federal law enforcement officials for their district.”

Matthew M. Graves received the nod for U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, where he serves as a partner at DLA Piper LLP. Erek L. Barron, a member of the Maryland legislature since 2015, earned the nomination for the District of Maryland.

President Joe Biden nominated eight individuals for U.S. Attorney across the country, including nominees for the District of Columbia and Maryland.

(Photo: iStockphoto / NNPA)

Seven of President Biden’s eight nominations are individuals of color.

The nominations also include Clifford D. Johnson

and Zachary A. Myers for United States Attorney in the Northern and Southern districts, respectively, of Indiana.

According to a White House spokesperson, both nominees would be the first Black U.S. Attorneys for their respective districts if confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

“These individuals – many of whom are historic firsts – were chosen for their devotion to enforcing the law, their professionalism, their experience and credentials in this field,” the White House said in a statement.

“Their dedication to pursuing equal justice for all, and their commitment to the independence of the Department of Justice” also swayed the President, officials stated.

“The President has launched a comprehensive effort to take on the uptick in gun crime that has been taking place for the last 18 months – putting more cops on the beat, supporting community prevention programs, and cracking down on illegal gun trafficking,” White House officials continued.

“Confirming U.S. Attorneys as the chief federal law enforcement officers in their district is important for these efforts.”

Civil Rights Legend Dies at 86 Continued from page A1

Activist and teacher Zellie Imani was among many others mourning the passing of Moses.

“We have lost one of the most courageous organizers of our time,” Imani wrote on Twitter.

“As a field organizer for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Bob Moses was the architect of the Mississippi Freedom Project, the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, and the Algebra Project,” Imani declared.

When people would ask what they should do, Moses asked them what they thought; filmmaker Ava DuVernay offered in a quote she credited to political activist Tom Hayden.

“At meetings, he usually sat in the back and spoke last,” DuVernay noted.

“He slept on floors, wore overalls, shared the risks, took the blows.”

DuVernay said Moses dug deep.

“You need to know about this genius, Bob Moses,” comedian Bill Cosby asserted, urging people to start with Moses’ book, “Radical Equations.”

Imani Perry, the Hughes Rogers Professor of African American Studies at Princeton University, called Moses her model for organizing.

“Principled, intellectual, humble, deliberate, willing to work with all who come, never berating but consistently challenging,” Perry stated.

“Fun loving, kind, and a reflective teacher,” she concluded.

Bob Moses and Julian Bond, “Fifty Years After Freedom Summer and the Civil Rights Act of 1964” 2/26/14. Visit millercenter.org / Miller Center / Wikimedia Commons)

NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson told the New York Times that Moses exemplified putting community interests above ego and personal interest.

“If you look at his work, he was always pushing local leadership first,” Johnson exclaimed.

Born on Jan. 23, 1935, in Harlem, New York, Moses

became a schoolteacher. He later moved to Mississippi and quickly organized civil rights activists to counter actions by the Ku Klux Klan and other hate groups.

Despite the violence that African Americans routinely faced when trying to vote, Moses helped register thousands of voters.

He trained countless organizers inside the walls of so-called freedom schools to carry out the mission of civil rights.

During one encounter with White supremacists, Moses suffered a severe head injury that required nine stitches.

While bloodied, bruised, and nearly unconscious, Moses led a group to a Mississippi courthouse to register them to vote.

When he was 73, Moses told CNN he did not vote for a president in three decades until 2008 for President Barack Obama.

“I don’t do politics, but I made sure to vote this time,” Moses said. “Obama is the first person I really felt moved to vote for.”

CNN noted that “Obama called Moses a hero of his, Moses recalled, recounting to an Obama rally he attended where the former President discovered he was in the audience.”

Moses is survived by his wife, Janet, and children Maisha, Omo, Taba, and Malika.

Thursday, July 29, 2021

Entertainment

The Valley’s News Observer A3

Leon Bridges Shares His Evolution to ‘Gold-Diggers Sound’

By RAGAN CLARK Associated Press “Gold-Diggers Sound” is an apropos name for the third studio album of an artist who struck it rich six years ago with his debut LP. Leon Bridges' music quickly earned him recognition.

“Coming Home” was nominated for Best R&B album at the 2015 Grammys. Three years later, his sophomore album's “Bet Ain't Worth the Hand” landed him his first Grammy win.

The fame that came next was an adjustment for Bridges. He lost his anonymity and felt isolated _ an experience he details in the song “Blue Mesas.”

“When you take an insecure person and put them in a limelight, it's a little hard to deal with that sometimes, you know?” he said in an interview this week.

The story behind the album's name, though, is literal – Gold-Diggers is the name of the hotel where Bridges wrote and recorded his new material.

“I have been working and kind of digging and searching for the right sound over the course of two years,” Bridges said.

He wanted an R&B album “grounded with organic elements” and Gold-Diggers was “the perfect place to house all of this music.”

Bridges held a Grammys party there in 2019 and after connecting with the space, decided he wanted the album experience to be immersive – he started a residency at the hotel, brought in collaborators and got to work.

As the musicians would jam and improvise, he sang melodies and phrases over top, gradually shaping each song.

For some, he had a specific artist in mind, like Sade when he was writing “Magnolias.” But for most, he says he was just “doing me.”

“I didn't necessarily have an idea of what the concept would be on some of them,” said Bridges.

But he knew he didn't want to replicate the sound of his last two albums. He says it was a conscious decision to stay unpredictable. He calls growth and change inevitable.

“With each album, I want to continue reinventing myself as an artist,” he said.

In “Coming Home,” the influences of gospel music

are pervasive. In “Good Thing,” Bridges leans on a more retro sound.

“When I first came in the game with `Coming Home,' I was immediately pigeonholed and placed in a box,” says Bridges.

The shift away from spiritual tracks correlated with his relationship with religion. While songs like “River” from his first album are rooted in Christian symbolism, songs from “Gold-Diggers Sound,” like “Sho Nuff” are playfully sensual.

“I was apprehensive at that time, writing those songs out of fear of not being accepted,” said Bridges. “Currently, like, I don't really know what my relationship with God is anymore and I think there's still some of those gospel undertones in the music, but it's more so liberating to just make the music that I want.”

Breaking out of the box is something he knows may have alienated some fans. But for any of the fans he lost, there were plenty he gained.

“Throughout my career, I've always been scrutinized for my music being essentially whitewashed,” he said. “But I can see via social media that there's more Black people engaging in and supporting the music.”

Bridges says it was initially “off putting” for him to hear criticism of his music, but he doesn't think about it anymore. Rap and hip-hop culture are so inundated in the mainstream that even a Young Thug concert can have predominately white fans, he points out.

heading and looking forward to the part of the process he enjoys the most – performing.

“Writing is such a tedious and challenging thing,” he said. “The last step of getting on the stage and witnessing this, like, collective effervescence in the crowd and putting out the energy and then getting it back, it's a beautiful thing.”

He believes artists like Lil Nas X and Lizzo are redefining the boundaries of Black art that is accepted within the Black community.

“You know, guys like Daniel Caesar, he was kind of on the forefront of that, and it's really beautiful to see artists who don't really fit the mold of what's popular being embraced,” he said.

As for Bridges, he's content in the direction he's

Prosecutors Air More Claims in R. Kelly Case Involving a Boy

By JENNIFER PELTZ Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) – Federal prosecutors in R. Kelly's sex trafficking case say he had sexual contact with an underage boy in addition to girls, and the government wants jurors in his upcoming sex trafficking trial to hear those claims.

Prosecutors aired a wide-ranging raft of additional allegations _ but not new charges _ against the R&B star in a court filing Friday. Jury selection is due to start Aug. 9 in a New York federal court for Kelly, who denies ever abusing anyone.

A message was sent Saturday to his lawyers about the additional allegations.

The Grammy Award-winning singer is charged with leading what prosecutors call a criminal enterprise of managers, bodyguards and other employees who allegedly helped him recruit women and girls for sex and pornography and to exercise a lot of control over them.

The charges involve six different women and girls, who aren't named in court filings.

Now, prosecutors would also like jurors to hear about more than a dozen other people whom the government alleges that Kelly sexually or physically abused, threatened or otherwise mistreated.

Among them, the government says, was a 17-yearold boy and aspiring musician whom Kelly met at a McDonald's in December 2006 and later invited to his

Family of James Brown Settles 15-year Battle Over His Estate

By MEG KINNARD Associated Press COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) – The family of entertainer James Brown has reached a settlement ending a 15-year battle over the late singer's estate, according to an attorney involved in the mediation.

David Black, an attorney representing Brown's estate, confirmed to The Associated Press on Friday that the agreement was reached July 9. Details of the settlement were not disclosed.

Legal wrangling over the Godfather of Soul's estate has been ongoing since his death at the age of 73 on Christmas Day 2006.

The performer's death touched off years of bizarre headlines, beginning with Tomi Rae Hynie – a former partner who claimed to be Brown's wife – being locked out of his 60-acre (24-hectare) estate, while photographers captured her sobbing and shaking its iron gates, begging to be let in.

More than a dozen lawsuits have been filed over the years by people trying to lay claim to what's left, which courts have estimated to be worth anything from $5 million to more than $100 million.

Brown was renowned for hundreds of iconic musical works including hits like “I Feel Good” and “A Man's World,” and was known around the world for his flashy performances and dynamic stage presence. But years of drug problems and financial mismanagement caused his estate to dwindle.

Last year, the South Carolina Supreme Court ruled that Hynie had not been legally married to him and therefore did not have a right to his multimillion-dollar estate.

Justices also ordered a circuit court to “promptly proceed with the probate of Brown's estate in accordance with his estate plan,” which outlined creation of a trust that would use his music royalties to fund educational expenses for children in South Carolina and Georgia.

Chicago studio. After asking the boy what he would do to make it in the music business, Kelly propositioned and had sexual contact with him while he was still underage, according to prosecutors' court filing.

And when Kelly was about to go on trial on child pornography charges in Chicago in 2008, the same youth told the singer he had access to a juror, and Kelly asked him to contact the juror and vouch he was a “good guy,'' prosecutors wrote.

The filing doesn't say whether the youth did so. Kelly was acquitted in that case.

The boy also introduced Kelly to a 16- or 17-year-old male friend, with whom prosecutors say the singer began a sexual relationship several years later. Kelly also filmed the two youths in sexual encounters with other people, including some of Kelly's girlfriends, according to the filing.

Prosecutors wrote that the accounts of the boys and others would help show that the actual charges “were not isolated events and were part of a larger pattern.''

The multiplatinum-selling singer, born Robert Sylvester Kelly, is known for work including the 1996 hit “I Believe I Can Fly” and the cult classic “Trapped in the Closet,'' a multi-part tale of sexual betrayal and intrigue.

Kelly's sex life has drawn scrutiny since the 1990s, and he currently is also facing sex-related charges in Illinois and Minnesota. He has pleaded not guilty.

Legal Notices

A4

The Valley’s News Observer

PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE

NOTICE OF PETITION TO ADMINISTER ESTATE OF JULIA POUNDS CASE NUMBER: 21STPB06665 To all heirs, beneficiaries, creditors, contingent creditors, and persons who may otherwise be interested in the will or estate, or both, of JULIA POUNDS A PETITION FOR PROBATE has been filed by EDWARD POUNDS in the Superior Court of California, County of LOS ANGELES 111 N. Hill Street, Los Angeles, Ca. 90012 Branch Name: Metro THE PETITION FOR PROBATE requests that EDWARD POUNDS be appointedt as personal representative to administer the estate of the decedent.

THE PETITION requests authority to administer the estate under the independent Administration of Estates Act. (This authority will allow the personal representative to

take many actions without obtaining court approval.

Before taking certain very important actions, however, the personal representative will be required to give notice to interested persons unless they have waived notice or consented to the proposed action.) The independent administration authority will be granted unless an interested person files an objection to the petition and shows good cause why the court should not grant the authority.

A HEARING on the petition will be held in this court as follows: Date: Aug 12, 2021 Time: 8:30 a.m. Dept: Room: located at 1215 Truxtun Ave., Bakersfield, Ca. 93301 IF YOU OBJECT to the granting of the petition, you should appear at the hearing and state your objections or file written objections with the court before the hearing. Your appearance may be in person or by

your attorney.

IF YOU ARE A CREDITOR or a contingent creditor of the deceased, you must file your claim with the court and mail a copy to the personal representative appointed by the court within four months from the date of first issuance of letters as provided on Probate Code section 9100. The time for filing claims will not expire before four months from the hearing date noticed above.

YOU MAY EXAMINE the file kept by the court. If you are a person interested in the estate, you may file with the court a Request for Special Notice (for DE-154) of the filing of an inventory and appraisal of estate assets or of any petition or account as provided in Probate code section 1250.

A request for Special Notice form is available from the court clerk.

Petitioner: The Law Offices of Young & Nichols 1901 Truxtun Avenue Bakersfield, Ca. 93301

PUBLIC NOTICE Telephone: (661) 861-7911

LOS ANGELES NEWS OBSERVER (Y&N) PUB: July 15, 22, 29, 2021

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME CASE NUMBER 21SMCP00303 Superior Court of the State of California, for the county of Los Angeles, 1725 Main St., Santa Monica, CA 90405 Branch Name: Santa Monica Courthouse PETITION OF: ANDREA HOONG MORGAN FOR CHANGE OF NAME TO ALL INTERESTED PERSONS: Petitioner: ANDREA HOONG MORGAN for a decree changing names as follows: Present name ANDREA HOONG MORGAN CATHERINE SOOMIN CHUN

Thursday, July 29, 2021

PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE

Filed a petition with this court Proposed name ANDREA HOONG MORGAN-CHUN CATHERINE SOOMIN MORGAN-CHUN THE COURT ORDERS: that all persons interested in this matter appear before this court at the hearing indicated below to show cause, if any, why the petition for change of name should not be granted. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file a written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted if no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing.

NOTICE OF HEARING Date: Sept 10, 2021 Time: 8:30 a.m.

Dept: K The address of the court is: Same as noted above.

A copy of this Order to Show Cause shall be published at least once a week for four successive weeks prior to the date set for hearing on the petition in the following newspaper of general circulation, printed in this county: LOS ANGELES NEWS OBSERVER Date: June 30, 2021 Hon. Lawrence Cho COURT COMMISSIONER Marcos (Last Name Not Legible) DEPUTY Petitioner: Andrea Hoong Morgan 1610 Marine St. Santa Monica, Ca. 90405 Phone: (310) 570-0087 E-Mail Address: amorganchun@ gmail.com LOS ANGELES NEWS OBSERVER (E) PUB: July 15, 22, 29, Aug 5, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT

PUBLIC NOTICE FILE NO: 2021 153643 The following person(s) is (are) doing business as: DAM ELECTRICAL at 332 Orange Grove Ave., San Fernando, Ca. 91340 Mailing Address: Same County: LA REGISTERED OWNERS(S): DANIEL ANGELO MONTANTES, 332 Orange Grove Ave., San Fernando, Ca. 91340 The business is conducted by: an Individual SIGNED: DANIEL ANGELO MONTANTES, Owner The date registrant started to transact business under the fictitious business name or names listed above: 6/2021 This statement filed with the County Clerk of Los Angeles County on: July 7, 2021 DEAN C. LOGAN, Los Angeles County Clerk By: (No Signature), Deputy NOTICE: IN ACCORDANCE WITH

PUBLIC NOTICE SUBDIVISION (a) OF SECTION 17920, A FICTITIOUS NAME STATEMENT GENERALLY EXPIRES ST THE END IOF FIVE YEARS FROM THE DATE OF WHICH IT WAS FILED IN THE OFFICE OF THE COUNTY CLERK EXCEPT, AS PROVIDED IN SUBDIVISION (b) OF SECTION 17920, WHERE IT EXPIRES 40 DAYS AFTER ANY CHANGE IN THE FACTS SET FORTH IN THE STATEMENT PURSUANT TO SECTION 17913 OTHER THAN A CHANGE IN THE RESIDENCE ADDRESS OF A REGISTERED OWNER. A NEW FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT MUST BE FILED BEFORE THE EXPIRATION. EFFECTIVE JANUARY 1, 2014, THE FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT MUST BE ACCOMPANIED BY THE AFFIDAVIT OF IDENTITY FORM. This statement expires on July 7, 2026 LOS ANGELES BAY NEWS OBSERVER (E) PUB: July 15, 22, 29, Aug 5, 2021

EDD Takes Further Action to Speed Unemployment Benefit Payments SACRAMENTO (July 22nd, 2021) —The Employment Development Department (EDD) today announced that it will begin paying unemployment insurance claimants who certified for benefits and already received at least one week of benefits in the past, but whose payments have now been pending for at least two weeks.

This new conditional payment program, which is consistent with recent federal guidance from the U.S. Department of Labor, benefits people with a continued claim who previously had at least one payment but then went into a pending status for more than two weeks. This pending status occurs for many reasons, such as a claimant’s answer to a biweekly certification question that triggered the need for an eligibility interview.

“We know many claimants who cleared fraud filters and verified identity have been waiting too long for payment,” said EDD Director Rita Saenz. “In response,

we are launching a new program that will help many Californians get benefits faster.”

The Department will begin sending notices this week to claimants who will benefit from this pay-now policy.

Payments will be reaching claimant accounts starting July 23, 2021 and over the following weeks. While the Department determines eligibility, claimants should continue to certify for benefits if they remain unemployed or working reduced hours. The fastest way to certify is through UI online. EDD will continue to pay conditional benefits so long as claimants continue to certify.

Claimants who are paid conditionally under this new program must still be found eligible for unemployment benefits. The Department will be sending notices to these claimants to explain this requirement. Claimants should still participate in any eligibility interview and answer any questions from the Department regarding eligibility.

Due to the unprecedented increase in claims during the pandemic, including the rise in new claims after the end of the benefit year, the Department is now scheduled weeks out for eligibility interviews with some claimants.

Today’s move helps ensure the Department continues to pay claimants who already cleared fraud filters and identity verification and certified they are eligible for benefits.

Any benefit paid during EDD’s eligibility review will be an overpayment if the Department later determines the person did not meet eligibility requirements. An overpayment can be waived if the claimant demonstrates a financial hardship and the overpayment was not the claimant’s fault or due to fraud. While there is no ability to opt-out of the conditional payment program according to federal guidance, claimants can stop certifying for benefits if they no longer want to receive benefits.

Further updates and information about the

conditional payment program will be posted on the Claim Status webpage.

EDD has taken a number of steps to improve customer service and speed payments this year. The Department is making multi-million dollar investments in multi-lingual services and launching programs to help staff research and resolve issues more quickly. Other actions the Department has taken to improve the customer experience include: running the call center 12 hours a day, seven days a week; calling customers directly from the remote virtual call center to seek clarifying information and resolve claims; and allowing callers to hold their place “in line” at the call center, eliminating the need to wait on hold. Through these and other efforts the Department has paid over $45 billion in benefits this year.

International Day of Women of African Descent Continued from A1

vocalists, and dancers. The group consisted of Nikki Campbell, Panama, Aura Vasquez, Colombia, Nadia Calmet, Peru, Dorsay Dujon, Brazil, Kati Hernandez, Cuba. An enthusiastic crowd gathered outside of KAOS Network, on the People’s Street Plaza for an afternoon of spirit filled, Spiritual drumming, singing, chanting, poetry reading and spoken word performances to educate and engage the audience about the importance of the day. The program also honored and featured Melissa Shepherd, Author/Educator, Janise Miller, Writer/Poet and Dr. Amina Humphrey, Artivist. Dr. Amir Whitaker (Director/ Founder of Project Knucklehead) wore multiple hats- he served as Master of Ceremonies, sound engineer, musician, photographer, and videographer.

The Leimert Park Art Walk is an event that branches out to include culture, art, music, food, and community.

The Art Walk was held along 43rd Place and Degnan Blvd, from 2:00-8:00pm. Attendees enjoyed engaging children’s activities. Several known and emerging artists had their crafts on display throughout the day. Additional activities of the day featured an international vendor marketplace and the popular Leimert Park Drum circle. The Art Walk has showcased a variety of music genres in the past-Pop, Jazz, R&B, Hip-Hop and Spoken Word.

On a related note, Save the date for the South Central Innervisions, An Afro Latinx Futurism. July 31, 2021, 12pm-8pm at Mercado La Paloma. Visit www. innervisionsla.com for more information.

Ben Caldwell and Nikki Campbell. (Ricky Richardson Photo)

Queens of the Afro Diaspora Participants and Honorees. (Ricky Richardson photo)

Delta Variant is 83% of all U.S. COVID Cases Continued from A1

She said the snapshot provides a glimpse into just how bad the pandemic remains in African American neighborhoods.

“We see the disparity starting to close, but not because Black people are dying less, it’s because White people are dying more,” Dr. Hilton remarked.

“Between February and March, 58,000 White Americans died of COVID, and it’s largely because of the ‘I don’t want to wear a mask,’ crowd.”

Dr. Hilton concluded that all should strongly consider getting vaccinated, and everyone should continue wearing masks.

“People are dying today, and they are likely leaving behind orphans,” Dr. Hilton determined.

“We know that one in nine Black children were

On July 3, the CDC noted that the delta variant accounted for about half of U.S. COVID cases. That number has dramatically increased. (Photo: iStockphoto / NNPA)

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already likely to see foster care in their lifetime. Because of COVID, imagine how many now if we are not taking it seriously and not getting vaccinated? It is not worth the risk. We have an agent, an intervention that has been proven safe, and it works.”

Dr. Hilton concluded: “Look at the studies. We have 77 percent of people saying that they are not fully back to being themselves after they have experienced COVID. “They have brain fog and other problems. It is not worth the risk, especially when we think about how the Delta variant has shown to be more contagious and more transmissible for our younger generation. We are setting ourselves up for a crisis.”

Features

Thursday, July 29, 2021

The Valley’s News Observer A5

With a Diagnosis at Last,

Black Women with ADHD Start Healing

By Claire Sibonney KHN Miche Aaron has always been a high achiever. The 29-year-old is in her third year of a planetary sciences doctoral program at Johns Hopkins University, where she researches minerals found on Mars. She’s a former NASA space grant scholar and hopes to become an astronaut one day.

But last year, Aaron was barely keeping it together — missing classes, late on assignments and struggling to explain that she understood the required material to pass her qualifying exams. Her academic adviser warned that if she didn’t get professional help she would flunk.

“I simply thought I was a lazy student and I needed to try harder,” Aaron said, wiping the tears behind her thick, black-framed glasses.

Then she was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and it all made sense.

For many Black women like Aaron, finally having that answer comes with both relief and grief after years of suffering and being misunderstood. Already subject to unique discrimination at the intersection of gender and race, Black girls with ADHD often remain undiagnosed because their symptoms are mischaracterized. Signs of inattentiveness or impulsivity, two main features of the disorder, could be mistaken for laziness or defiance. And the longer these girls aren’t diagnosed and treated, the more their problems are likely to worsen as they grow into adults.

While the 2016 National Survey of Children’s Health showed that 6.1 million children ages 2 to 17 in the United States have received a diagnosis for ADHD at some point, millions more adults are estimated to have it, too — either having grown up with a diagnosis or being diagnosed later in life, if at all.

ADHD doesn’t discriminate by gender or race, but white boys are still more likely to be diagnosed and treated for the condition than anyone else. Experts and advocates say this leads to an inequity in care that hurts girls of any background and children of color of any gender.

Over the past few decades, mental health experts and researchers have started to understand how ADHD manifests differently depending on gender, as girls with the condition tend to seem more inattentive and forgetful while boys tend to seem more hyperactive and disruptive.

The reasons Black children and ethnic minorities are overlooked range from racial bias in schools and lack of access to care, to stigma and distrust of educators and health providers based on past discrimination.

Paul Morgan, director of the Center for Educational Disparities Research at Penn State, is the lead author of multiple studies showing that the disparities in school start early. By kindergarten, Black children in the U.S. are 70% less likely to receive an ADHD diagnosis than otherwise similar white children.

A 2016 study found that by 10th grade white children are nearly twice as likely to receive a diagnosis for ADHD as Black children. Lead author Dr. Tumaini Rucker Coker, head of general pediatrics at Seattle Children’s Hospital and a top researcher at its Center for Child Health, Behavior

and Development, said that, while her study didn’t look at underdiagnosis of Black girls, federal Education Department data shows telling signs of racial and gender discrimination in diagnosing ADHD: Black girls are six times as likely to be suspended from school as white girls.

Behavior as common as talking back in class could have wildly different consequences, depending on how it’s interpreted, Coker explained. For Black girls, it’s often viewed as “intimidation” of a teacher.

“When there’s ‘bad behavior’ and you’re a white girl, you get all the benefit of the doubt,” Coker said. “On the opposite spectrum, you get zero benefit of the doubt as a Black girl.”

Over time, studies have shown that ADHD, especially in girls, can lead to increased rates of anxiety and depression, risky behavior, drug use, self-harm and suicide attempts.

Researchers and therapists said they are especially worried about those undiagnosed or undertreated.

Being diagnosed and treated, on the other hand, has many upsides. Medication and therapy, and even behavioral training for parents of patients, have proven to be highly effective in managing ADHD. However, access to such resources depends not only on a diagnosis, but also trust and buy-in from families.

Rene Brooks, who lives outside Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, was diagnosed three times — twice as a child, when her school tested her without parental permission.

Her mother rejected the idea of her daughter, who is Black, being labeled, distrusting a system she feared wanted to “drug up minority children.”

The third time Brooks was diagnosed, she was 25 and on the brink of losing her job at one of the biggest insurers in the state because she couldn’t keep up with the workload.

After starting medication, 18 years after her first diagnosis, she said her brain felt like it “switched on” and she was able to be more productive than she ever imagined possible.

Still, as a Black woman with ADHD, Brooks felt alone. “It’s very isolating to sit at that intersection because no one’s there, or so we thought,” she said.

She started a blog called “Black Girl, Lost Keys,” which educates and empowers Black women with ADHD, and created Unicorn Squad, Black People of Marginalized Genders With ADHD, a private support group on Facebook with more than 2,200 members who share the feelings that come with the diagnosis.

Aaron said finding the Facebook group and talking with other Black women with ADHD during the weekly virtual meetings made it easier to accept her diagnosis.

They also commiserate about the all-too-common racialized slights known as microaggressions that she and others face — whether it’s being dismissed for showing emotion as an “angry Black woman” or having to fight for accommodations at school or being doubted at pharmacies when trying to fill prescriptions for stimulants that treat ADHD under the assumption they’re addicts trying to misuse the controlled substances, sold under brand names such as Adderall, Concerta and Ritalin.

Dr. Loucresie Rupert, a child-adolescent psychiatrist, adult ADHD coach and mental health advocate in Winona,

Minnesota, also blogs about her personal experience with ADHD. She recognized her symptoms during medical school — problems studying, missing appointments, forgetting to pay bills — and was officially diagnosed during her medical residency, after failing a two-day-long licensing exam. The latter was a wake-up call. “I’ve never failed at anything in my life,” said Rupert.

As a Black woman, Rupert understands why her Black female patients are so grateful to find her. It’s hard enough to find a local psychiatrist who is covered by one’s insurance and specializes in ADHD, let alone a Black female psychiatrist who has ADHD herself.

Rupert said she, too, sees a Black female psychiatrist, who shares some of the same experiences and sensitivities, which makes a big difference. “It’s taken my healing and my ability to function to the next level, because you don’t have to explain as many things.” For example, when discussing police brutality, she said, “I don’t have to spell out how exhausted or tired or traumatized I am.”

Coker and Morgan agreed that culturally and

linguistically sensitive screenings are key to getting more people diagnosed. Also critical: culturally relevant groups like the Unicorn Squad.

A year and a half after being diagnosed with ADHD, Aaron said the treatment she’s received, including medication, therapy and strategies for learning and organization, has changed her life. She has since found out she also has dyslexia and a language processing disorder, two learning disabilities that commonly occur with ADHD. Far from flunking out, she’s now thriving academically and publishing her research on Martian minerals. She wants to help other Black women going through similar struggles, just as Brooks’ Unicorn Squad helped her.

“When you start receiving treatment, the biggest impact is to your self-esteem, because you’re no longer concerned that you’re just lazy, or that you’re just unmotivated,” said Brooks. “You know this is a problem, and problems have solutions, whereas character flaws do not.”

With hopes of being of being an astronaut someday, Miché Aaron is studying planetary sciences at Johns Hopkins University. She struggled in the doctoral program until she was diagnosed with ADHD but is now thriving academically. (WILL KIRK / JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY)

Schools on Track for Safe Reopening

By Manny Otiko California Black Media California Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond says school districts across the state are prepared to open safely in the fall even as COVID-19 cases surge in California and around the country. The new spike in COVID-19 positive rates across the state are driven by infections involving the more contagious Delta variant.

Thurmond was speaking online at a recent Safe Schools for All seminar featuring several California education experts. On the call, Thurmond gave parents a preview of what they will likely face when their children return to class in the fall.

He mentioned that he visited Camarena Elementary School in the Chula Vista Elementary School District and that the school opened July 21 successfully implementing the new mask requirements. About 900 of the 1000-member student body were present, he said. “Everyone was wearing a mask,” he said. “Everyone was following protocol.”

On Friday, Thurmond visited a summer learning program at Monte Vista Elementary School in Los Angeles County.

“The CDC and the California Department of Public Health have already provided guidance that even as case

rate. As of July 19, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said 4% of vaccinated people in California are Black. African Americans account for 6% of California’s population.

Vaccines are now available for children aged 12 to 18. Thurmond also added that while many parents have complained about distance learning, some African American parents say they prefer it because their children don’t have to deal with bullying or harassment.

rates increase, if everyone is wearing a mask and everyone who can get a vaccine gets one, we can keep our schools open safely,” Thurmond said.

Thurmond also said that vaccines were vital to returning to normal. He also reminded African Americans to make sure to get the vaccines. However, he noted that the Black community was lagging behind the vaccination

One of the featured speakers at the online seminar was Dr. Naomi Bardach, Safe Schools for All team lead.

She gave a presentation on some important facts to know about the coronavirus and how it affects children. Bardach reminded parents that scientists and medical professionals had gathered a lot more information about the coronavirus since it first hit America more than a year ago. In 2020, schools closed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus and children transitioned to distance learning conducted mainly through online classes.

However, Bardach said parents have noticed that there are some downsides to this form of instruction. She said parents have observed that their children are experiencing

emotional issues such as depression and sleeplessness.

Some children are missing the social interaction of being in school.

Bardach also said medical research has shown that children are less likely to catch the coronavirus than older people. According to her, most children contract the disease from a close relative, not from fellow students or school personnel. However, there are things that adults can do to reduce the spread of the virus among children.

“Vaccines for adults are key to prevention in kids,” she said. “Vaccines mean kids can return to the things they enjoy.” Schools plan to return to in-class education with a host of new weapons to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

According to Bardach, some of the methods the schools will use to contain the virus are testing, masks, ventilation and increased sanitation. “Masks are very effective in preventing transmission,” she said. There are several ways to get vaccinated, such as at-school sites, health departments and pharmacies. Schools also offer testing. The state has provided schools with $5 million to pay for rapid testing.

Another recommendation to reduce the spread of the coronavirus is to make sure sick children remain at home, said Bardach.

The Movement for Justice Will Not Be Deterred

OUR VOICES

By Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr.

The Reverend Jesse Louis Jackson, Sr., one of America’s foremost civil rights, religious and political figures.

The right-wing majority on the Supreme Court just undercut the Voting Rights Act again. Having gutted the section that required pre-approval of state voting laws to protect the rights of minorities to vote in Shelby v.

Holder, Republican-appointed justices now have castrated the backup clause — Section 2 — which bans racial discrimination in election practices in Brnovich v. DNC. The result will open the floodgates even further to the wave of partisan laws that Republicans are pushing in states across the country to suppress the votes of African Americans and other people of color. The right-wing justices continue their assault on the meaning and power of the Voting Rights Act, a triumph of the civil rights movement that Justice Elena Kagan, writing in dissent, noted represents the “best in America.” The reaction against the civil rights movement continues.

Every movement for equal justice under the law in this country has been met with a brutal reaction. When reformers tried to limit the spread of slavery into new states coming into the republic, the slave states seceded, launching the Civil War, the deadliest war in American history. After losing the war, when the federal government

began reconstruction to free the slaves and guarantee equal political and economic rights to all, the reaction was brutal, with lynching and terrorism — led by the Ku Klux Klan and others — spreading to suppress the newly freed slaves. In the end, segregation — America’s version of apartheid — spread through the South and the hope of the civil rights amendments was crushed. Now, after the civil rights movement, the Voting Rights Act and the election of Barack Obama, the reaction has been fierce.

Across the country, Republican legislators have sought to make it harder for African Americans and other people of color to vote. The long lines that mark inner-city voting sites are a graphic demonstration of the success of those efforts, for many people can’t take the hours off from work to cast a ballot. In each era, the lawless reaction — and blatant violations of the Constitution — have been ratified by disgraceful decisions in the Supreme Court. The court ratified segregation in Plessy v. Ferguson, inventing the doctrine of separate but equal — a concept that existed only in the judge’s imaginations, not in the realities of any of the former slave states. Voter suppression following the civil rights movement was ratified in Shelby v. Holder and now in Brnovich vs. the DNC, that have essentially gutted the Voting Rights Act, the crown jewel of the civil rights

movement.

The so-called “conservative” justices on the Supreme Court are rewriting the laws passed by Congress to serve their own partisan purposes. Now the excuse is to limit voter fraud, even though there is no evidence of such fraud other than in the ravings of partisan politicians. This struggle will continue. Clearly, Republicans across the country have decided that rather than seeking to win the votes of African Americans and other peoples of color, they would rather pass measures to suppress their vote — from discriminatory changes in voting practices, to gerrymandering of districts, to (most dangerously) empowering Republican legislatures to overturn the results of an election. Once more people of conscience must stand up and organize to protect the right to vote and to counter those who would suppress it.

Once more, right-wing justices have written another shameful chapter of judicial ignominy that must simply be overturned. Once more Congress must act to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act to counter the brazen efforts of the court’s right wing to neuter it. Once more, those standing in the way of equality under the law will find that the movement for justice will not be deterred.

A6

Sports

The Valley’s News Observer

Thursday, July 29, 2021

Chargers Weekly-

Shawne Merriman Opens Up About the 2021 Version of the Chargers

By Cameron Buford whatsgoodinsports.com As the unofficial ambassador of the Chargers, I thought it would be interesting to hear his thoughts on this new version of the Chargers team, with the Chargers season a few short weeks away. I asked him to share his perspective on a few of their key players along with their new Head Coach. Shawne and I also discussed what he has been up to since his days playing in the NFL. The then-San Diego Chargers selected Shawne Merriman with the 12th pick of the 2005 NFL Draft. This 6’ 4” 264-pound linebacker wasted no time making his presence felt in the NFL. As a rookie, Merriman led the team in Sacks (10) that season while also leading the team in Tackles for Loss (10) during his rookie season. He was one of 1 of 10 Chargers players to be named to the Pro Bowl that season.

As a former linebacker, I figured Merriman would be among the best people to ask about the Chargers’ secondyear Linebacker Kenneth Murray, their 23rd pick of the first round of the recent NFL Draft. Though Murray will be playing with his new coaching staff in only his second season, Coach Brandon Staley has a history of putting defenders in the best situation to perform at their highest potential.

When asked about Kenneth Murray, his eyes lit up when he talked about the Chargers’ first-round pick of the 2020 NFL Draft. “Explosive as hell” is how Merriman initially described Murray. He added, “he is a guy, that every time you look up, he is around the football. No matter what sideline the ball goes to, he is always around the football. When he gets there, he is not trying to tackle guys and get them on the ground, he’s exploding through guys and finishing plays! What’s happens is, it feeds off to the rest of the defense!”

When speaking to Merriman, the NFL’s 2005 Defensive Rookie of the Year, I felt it would be interesting to hear his thoughts on the Chargers’ 5th year Running Back Austin Ekeler. So, I asked Shawne about defending Ekeler he responded by saying, “He can hurt in different ways of the game. Not just running the football, you got to worry about him coming out the backfield. On screens,

San Diego Chargers’ Shawne Merriman gets the crowd pumped up during introductions for the Chargers’ matchup against the Oakland Raiders prior to an NFL football game Sunday, Nov. 1, 2009 in San Diego. (AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi)

being one on one with a linebacker, if they spread him out, there’s a lot of ways Austin Ekeler can hurt you.”

Shawne continued by speaking on the versatility of Ekeler and how he schematically strengthens the offense.

“More importantly, I think that he provides options; you have some of these guys that are first and second down guys, and they’re running the ball, and you bring in a thirddown back. Well, Austin Ekeler, if they wanted to, they could keep him in the game for all three downs. That way they could keep the defense guessing.”

For several seasons of Keenan Allen’s career, he has been among the most overlooked, in addition to being the most underrated receiver in the NFL. For years, it’s been peculiar as to why many pundits continuously don’t have him ranked among the league’s elite receivers. That being said I wanted to hear from an All-Pro defender why this may be.

So, I asked Merriman about his thoughts on this, “Keenan is like art! His route running and his game is like art.” He then made a unique comparison when he compared his game to an Andy Warhol painting. “You ever see a picture on the wall, and you’re like why is this picture like $150,000, or a quarter of a million dollars and you’re like what’s up with this picture. That’s what Keenan is; his route running and what he does is art. So it’s not appreciated as much because he doesn’t do that Julio Jones do or DeAndre Hopkins, on one of these guys.”

You don’t have to be an art enthusiast to understand the comparison Merriman intended to make, as he elaborated on his statement by saying, “So that’s how I look at Keenan Allen’s game because it’s not flashy it’s just art.”

I would add that Allen’s consistency separates him from his peer group, coupled with the fact that he is not loud and braggadocios. When asked about new Chargers Head Coach Brandon Staley, Merriman said, “the first thing that I notice about him is his energy. His energy is very high, he is very direct, and he’s motivated! He’s younger, so you can hear the motivation in his voice. He’s a very work smarter, not harder type of dude. He knows if this team is healthy, their going to be a problem in the NFL, especially in this division. One thing I like about him is, he lets the players do them. I think they’re going to have a big year; more

importantly, they got a leader in Brandon Staley.”

Chargers fans will be allowed to attend training camp as the Los Angeles Chargers kick off their 2021 Training Camp, 9:00 am Wednesday, July 28th at Jack Hammett Sports Complex at 2750 Fairview Rd, Costa Mesa, CA 92626. Bolts fans can attend Training Camp by preregistering for their free tickets at chargers.com/camp. On July 31st, the Bolts will celebrate NFL Training Camp: Back Together Saturday, this will include a special giveaway for fans in attendance. Additionally, fans will enjoy expert commentary on practice from members of the Chargers radio broadcast team.

One of the things Shawne Merriman has been doing post-career is promoting his Lights Out Extreme Fighting events. After being shut down, just as the pandemic hit the globe last year, they will now be having their first event since, on Saturday, August 7th at the Commerce Casino (6131 Telegraph Rd., Commerce, CA., 90040). You can find more information on https://www.lightsoutxf.com/, you will see that tickets start at $65 – Cageside $175.

It was great to get a former NFL Pro Bowlers perspective on the potential of these young Chargers, along with his thoughts on the new Head Coach Brandon Staley’s. It was also great to hear how Merriman has transitioned with life after football. Kindly share your thoughts on Shawne Merriman and how these descriptions compare to your perspective on these Chargers. You can reach out to me on Twitter @whatsgoodnsport or shoot me an email at info@ whatsgoodinsports.com. I encourage you to forward any suggestions on what topics or angles about this new version of the Los Angeles Chargers you would like to see discussed this season.

Lastly, 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. On our Podcast, we have passionate banter about everything NFL while addressing current NBA topics, in addition to discussing multiple issues in and around the world of sports. Thank you, as always, for spending time with me and Making Our Voice, Your Choice!

Hanks heads a group that includes conference coaches and AD’s. “It’s goal,” said Kliakoff. “Is to recommend changes that will optimize the football program for CFP invitations and winning championships.” The group will send recommendations to the Commissioner and board members to be analyzed.

There is already a group in place that did the same for basketball that would increase NCAA tourney invitations.

This season the PAC-12 will play 83% of it game against Power 5 schools that includes non-conference games against Notre Dame, LSU, Ohio State, Michigan and Texas A&M. Shonna Brown is a newcomer to the PAC-12 staff.

She is Associate Commissioner. The Southern Miss grad has worked in Conference USA and The American East and has spent time in the Miami Dolphins organization.

Kliavkoff was excited to have her on board. “Her experience and knowledge will be invaluable.”

One of the latest entry’s to come in college sports where the NIL student-athlete can get paid for his likeness. that will bring alot of finance and influence into a young person’s life.

“The PAC-12 Network will be launching a new

licensing program to provide the student- athlete highlights and content to any company that working with any of our PAC-12 student athletes in connection with NIL. “ Kliavkoff also acknowledged the loss of former Bruin Head coach Terry Donohue who passed away in in June.

Donohue was the winningest coach in PAC-12 history.

It’s a New Vision for PAC-12

By Earl Heath Contributing Sports Writer Media from around the nation filled several rooms at the W Hotel in Hollywood for the annual PAC-12 football Media Day. There were many topics on the table to get to as we enter a somewhat post COVID era.

We are not completely out of the woods as cases have risen in California and around the nation.

It was new commissioner George Kliavkoff who took over in June had his first live barrage of media members.

COVID-19 is a major problem throughout the college sports West Coast.

“Through educational announcements and Public Service Announcements (PSA’s) we are advising everyone get vaccinated,” said Kliavkoff. “As a conference nine of our twelve schools are requiring all students to get vaccinated.”

The conference has safety protocols in place that includes regular testing for student-athletes, also if someone is unvaccinated and who is vaccinated and is symptomatic.

There’s a little over a month to the season’s first game, and according to the Conference two-thirds of the teams have had eighty percent of their players vaccinated. Those

teams are above 90%. “We’re very proud of that,” added Kliavkoff.

There have been rumbles on expansion including Texas and Oklahoma heading to the SEC. That would give them 16 teams and the ACC has 14 and the new Commissioner was ask, “How that would effect the Conference?” “It doesn’t, we’re still good with 12 teams. We are not looking to poach any team from any conference, but we would be foolish not to listen if someone called.”

Kliavkoff previously worked for MGM Resorts International as President of Entertainment and Sports. He was responsible for booking finance and marketing. That included more than 30 showrooms and theaters and event centers. MGM resorts is one of the largest resort centers in the world.

Kliavkoff will use all the resource’s that will help football and the conference be more visible around the country. He’ll be assisted by Merton Hanks the head of Football Operations for the Conference.

Hanks was a fifth-round draft pick by the San Francisco 49ers who was named to the Pro-Bowl four times and has a Super Bowl ring. He’s previously spent time working on Conference USA and was VP of operations for the NFL.

DeSean Jackson Host Youth Camp

DeSean Jackson takes time out with 10 year-old camper Christian Ricks. (Photo: Earl Heath)

By Earl Heath Contributing Sports Writer When DeSean Jackson signed with the Rams he not only will have a chance to help them on the field, he has reached out to help within the community.

The former Long Beach Poly standout and his Foundation recently hosted a one-day camp at Cal Lutheran University. He hosted nearly 200 youth ages 8 to 18 on speed and agility drills.

He is known as one of the fastest players in the NFL. “It’s about principles,” said the 14-year NFL veteran.

Principles can take you a long way in life whether you’re a professional, a doctor or a lawyer, they can apply to whatever you do in life.”

Jackson says one of the best things about his return to L.A. is his ability to be present and hands on with his teachings. He has the ability to look a kid in the eye to enforce his message.

As far as the Rams he spoke of newly signed QB Mathew Stafford. “I’m excited about him, he’s going to bring a lot to the table as a player and quarterback.”

Jackson has high hopes for the season and year in all.

This year’s Super Bowl will be played in Inglewood’s So- Fi Stadium.

“I am not trying to get a head of myself or the team, but can you imagine playing the Super Bowl in your hometown, just think what that would be like.”

Shonna Brown is a newcomer to the PAC-12 office.

The Southern Miss grad has spent time with the Miami Dolphins and Conference USA. (Photo: Earl Heath)

George Kliavkoff now heads the PAC-12 and has good ideas in mind. (Photo: Earl Heath)

Thursday, July 29, 2021

The Valley’s News Observer A7

Local

The Music Center Shines Spotlight on Life and Legacy of Alvin Ailey

By Ricky Richardson Contributing Writer (Los Angeles)- The Summer season is in full swing. Everyone can agree that the heat is on throughout the region. Hopefully, you are taking the precaution to stay cool by going to colling centers, the mall or using the cooling system provided by Mother Nature in parks, beaches, etc.

Another vibrant option for staying cool is Cinema Alfresco, Movies in the Park or Cinema After Dark. The Music Center is set to host an advance screening of a new AILEY Documentary on Jerry Moss Plaza illuminating the life and legacy of visionary artist Alvin Ailey.

This is a great opportunity to see a wonderful film alfresco, in a relaxing atmosphere, with a beautiful Los Angeles sunset,

framed artistically by the Downtown skyline at night.

The Music Center and Center Dance Arts will honor the performing arts center’s long-standing partnership with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, the revered dance company founded by Alvin Ailey, by hosting a free screening of the new AILEY film on Sunday, August 1, 2021, in advance of the films nationwide opening on August 6, 2021. A NEON release directed by Jamila Wignot and produced by Insignia Films. AILEY chronicles the life of artist, icon, and activist and was an official selection of the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. The free event begins at 7:30pm with a pre-screening introduction of the film featuring Jamila Wignot and Los Angeles Times writer Makeda Easter, followed by the screening at 8:00pm. The pre-screening talk will give Angelenos, and dance fans a behind-the-scenes look at the film, which runs 82 minutes.

Alvin Ailey was a trailblazing pioneer who found salvation through dance. AILEY traces the full contours of this brilliant and enigmatic man who search for truth in movement resulted in enduring choreography that centers on the Black experience with grace, strength and unparallel beauty. Director Jamila Wignot weaves together a resonant biography of an excusive visionary told through Ailey’s own words and features evocative archival footage and interviews with those who intimately knew him.

The film is directed by documentary filmmaker Jamila Wignot, based in New York. Her directing work includes two episodes of the Peabody, Emmy® and NAACP award-winning series The African-American: Many Rivers to Cross (PBS), hosted

by Henry Louis Gates and chronicling the five hundred year history of African Americans; Town Hall (co-directed with Sierra Pettingill), a featured length co-production with ITVS following Tea Party Activists determined to unseat Barack Obama; and for PBS’s American Experience Series, the Peabody Award-winning Triangle Fire and Emmy®-nominated Walt Whitman.

Sunday, August 1, 2021 7:30pm Film Introduction with Jamila Wignot

and Makeda Easter 8:00pm Film Screening Begins

Jamila Wignot (Courtesy Photo)

Jerry Moss Plaza at The Music Center

135 N. Grand Avenue Los Angeles, CA. 90012 Tickets are free, but guest must register in advance at https:// musiccenter.org/aileyfilm Attendance is limited to the first 400 registrants.

This is a free event open to all ages. No outside alcohol is permitted at the AILEY screening. For a list of prohibited items,

please visit The Music Center website. Masks are recommended outdoors for those not fully vaccinated. Please visit https:// musiccenter.org/safety for more information about The Music Center’s safety and security measures.

Please visit https://musiccenter.org/aileyfilm for more information.

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (Courtesy Photo)

Rep. Waters Meets with Secretary Yellen, Discusses Implementation of Rental Assistance

James Cannons Ordination Services Set for August 1st (Los Angeles, California)-The team behind HR1242’s emerging $10 Billion Initiative Campaign that you may have heard of as #Beyond400, is gaining some new credentials among its ranks. It’s most senior board member James Cannon (father of celebrity Nick Cannon) is being ordained as an Evangelist of the Gospel of Jesus Christ on Sunday August 1st, 6pm, at Loveland Church 917977 Merrill Ave in Fontana California. Prominent figures in the Black Church Community are expected to attend.

Behind the scenes, James has been largely responsible for the ongoing survival and success of HR-1242. It was he that encouraged his son Nick to provide the seed funding HR-1242 needed to survive through pandemic restrictions, and the trajectory of the bill’s potential continues to expand to this day as a result.

“Everyone who knows James knows that he’s already been a natural minister since forever so this formalization of his true vocation is definitely supported by all of us at #Beyond400” says Mark Gregory Dockery (Executive Director of Beyond400.org). “James is a natural motivator who is not afraid to tell the truth, and that’s one of the

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Chairwoman of the House Committee on Financial Services, met with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to discuss a variety of important issues including the implementation of emergency rental assistance.

“This morning, I met with Secretary Yellen to discuss my priorities and the many ways in which we can work together to ensure that our country is on a path to an equitable and just recovery,” said Congresswoman Maxine

Waters. “After securing $46.6 billion in emergency rental assistance to provide relief to families in need, I am focused on making sure that this money is distributed and implemented correctly. As this pandemic crisis continues to impact communities across this country, it is critical that we efficiently and effectively use each of the tools at our disposal to keep people housed, support struggling families, and strengthen our economy. I look forward to continuing my work with Secretary Yellen.”

biggest requirements to be an evangelist that advances The Kingdom of God so... this is not a degree-mill type situation - James really has the authentic charge.”

“James makes sure each meeting starts and stops with prayer and always brings topics back to God’s grace and provision. It’s hard to believe he’s not already a minister so this is good that he gets the official title now - this way he has to nominally wear what he naturally is” says #Beyond400 insider Marie Obieqwe. “It’s also very appropriate that someone as significant to #Beyond400 as James has been, is being ordained at this particular time in relation to our efforts for HR-1242. It just so happens that his ordination is happening around the same time we’re beginning our year long campaign to raise $10 Billion for HR-1242 Initiatives and monumentation through #Beyond400. So this is a very auspicious occasion for us.”

The proceedings will be officiated by Senior Pastor Dr. Charles Singleton, who will be supported by Dr. Greg Tatum, Pastor of Change Community Church.

A8

The Valley’s News Observer

Local

Thursday, July 29, 2021

Los Angeles County Returns $75 Million Land to Black Family

Nearly a century after the government allegedly used trickery and eminent domain to seize their valuable property, the family of Charles and Willa Bruce are finally receiving justice./Bruce Family

Bruce Family

By Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent Nearly a century after the government allegedly used trickery and eminent domain to seize their valuable property, the family of Charles and Willa Bruce are finally receiving justice.

Officials in Los Angeles County reportedly have decided to return the family’s Manhattan Beach property that estimates show might be worth as much as $75 million.

The beach resort once flourished while welcoming African American visitors in the 1920s – a time when Black people and other minorities weren’t allowed on white beaches.

The property famously took on the name “Bruce’s Beach.”

Meanwhile, descendants of Charles and Willa Bruce had fought for years to have the land returned to the family.

“It was a very important place because there was no other place along the coast of California where African Americans could actually go and enjoy the water,” Chief Duane Yellow Feather Shepard, the Bruce family historian, and spokesperson said in a local interview.

Regularly facing threats and intimidation tactics from the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacists, the Bruce family maintained their property and kept the resort open.

But in 1924, the city council cited eminent domain as a

reason to take the land, reportedly under the guise of building a park.

“However, the land remained untouched for years,” the Insider reported.

According to media reports, Willa and Charles Bruce fought back legally but received only $14,000 in compensation.

Now, city officials have placed the value of the property at $75 million.

“When I first realized that the county-owned the property that was once Willa and Charles Bruce’s Beach Lodge, I knew that returning it to the Bruce family was the right thing to do,” Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn told CBS Los Angeles in a statement.

“But this is the first time a government has done anything like this, and there were a lot of questions about how it would work.”

For the family and Shepard, there remains more work.

“Our next step will be, once we get that land restored to us, is to go after them for the restitution, for the loss of revenue for 96 years of our family from the business, the loss of generational wealth, and the punitive damages for their collusion with the Ku Klux Klan in disenfranchising our family,” Shepard remarked.