Broadway’s Neon Lights Shine with 10 New Black Plays, Musicals
Space Jam 2 Landed in Leimert Park for a Special Screening
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The Valley’s
Volume 36 Number 38
Serving the San Fernando Valley for Over 36 Years
Observer Group Newspapers of Southern California
South Los Angeles InnerVision:
An AfroLatinx Futurism
Richard Montoya and Xochitl (Ricky Richardson Photo)
By Ricky Richardson Contributing Writer Los Angeles- Esperanza Community Housing presented South Central InnverVision: An AfroLatinx Futurism, on Saturday, July 31, 2021, at Mercado La Paloma, from 12 noon to 8pm. South Central InnerVision: An AfroLatinx Futurism was an all-day community driven engaging and immersive pop-up arts, music, and dance festival. Participants were able to explore the Black/Latin Imagination! La Plaza and the Porch: Freedom Dreaming Exhibition, Repurposing Historical & Current Cultural Community Spaces within a Liberatory and Speculative.
relaxing and supported environment. The program got under way with DJ Broso on deck,
Cease and Desist: Continued on page A8
Union Pushes Back on New State Vaccine Requirement
Aldon Thomas Stiles California Black Media The California Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 1000 has delivered a cease-and-desist letter to the California Department of Human Resources (CalHR) opposing Gov. Gavin Newsom’s new vaccine requirement for state employees. The letter addressed to Paul Starkey, Deputy Director of Human Resources for CalHR, reads, “This letter serves as a demand to meet and confer and as a formal objection to the implementation deadline until the meet and confer process is completed.” SEIU 1000 is the largest public sector union in the state with nearly 100,000 members and one of the largest in the country, according to the organization’s website. The governor announced the policy during a press conference on July 26. He said all state employees and health care workers will either have to test regularly
for COVID-19 or provide evidence that they’ve been vaccinated by August 2, 2021. Gov. Newsom says that the new requirement is a way to bolster efforts to vaccinate more Californians. “We are now dealing with a pandemic of the unvaccinated, and it’s going to take renewed efforts to protect Californians from the dangerous Delta variant,” Newsom said. “As the state’s largest employer, we are leading by example and requiring all state and health care workers to show proof of vaccination or be tested regularly, and we are encouraging local governments and businesses to do the same,” he continued. Following the governor’s announcement, Health and Human Services Secretary Mark Ghaly said the COVID-19 Delta variant as well as vaccine disinformation are justifications for the measure. “California has administered more vaccines than
any other state, with 75 % of those eligible having gotten at least one dose, and we were weeks ahead of meeting President Biden’s 70% goal. But we must do more to fight disinformation and encourage vaccine-hesitant communities and individuals,” Ghaly said. “The Delta variant is up to 60 % more infectious than the Alpha strain but many times more infectious than the original COVID-19 strain. If you have been waiting to get vaccinated, now is the time,” Ghaly continued. Newsom reassured Californians that vaccines are not dangerous and are the way forward for the state. “Vaccines are safe – they protect our family, those who truly can’t get vaccinated, our children and our economy. Vaccines are the way we end this pandemic,” Newsom said. However, the safety of the vaccine is not the union’s chief concern, according to the letter. The letter claims that the lack of communication between the state and SEIU prior to the implementation Continued on page A2
Sec. of State Shirley Weber Urges All Californians to Vote in Upcoming Recall Election Antonio Ray Harvey California Black Media California Secretary of State Shirley Weber says all registered Californians should vote in the special election to recall California Gov. Gavin Newsom. It is scheduled for Sept. 14. “This is an extremely important election,” said Weber, who said she comes from a family of sharecroppers in
Arkansas. Her family migrated to California when she was three years old. “My grandparents on my father’s side never had a chance to vote because they died before 1965 when the Voting Rights Act was passed,” she said. “We understand why it’s important to vote but we also understand what happens to communities when they don’t vote. We have to understand the positives of voting and also the negative impacts of not voting.” Weber is California’s first African American Secretary of State and the fifth Black person to serve as a constitutional officer in the state’s 170-year history. She said working as president of the San Diego Board of Education and serving four terms in the state Assembly after that showed her how elected officials can dismiss communities when they know that they don’t vote. Weber was speaking at a news briefing organized by Ethnic Media Services last week. During the virtual news conference, Weber shared details of how her office has been planning for the special elections, including making sure that every Californian will be mailed a ballot. Counties across the state will start sending them out in mid-August. On the day of the special election, Weber said, polls will open at 7 pm and close at 8 pm.
(shutterstock photo)
Voters will also be able to track their ballots via email or text messages by registering at wheresmyballot.sos.cagov.
Thursday, August 5, 2021
Alabama State, Drake State Receive NASA Minority Grants
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) – Two Alabama colleges are among six nationally that have been awarded grants by NASA to expand minority engineering programs and research. Alabama State University in Montgomery and J.F. Drake State Technical College in Huntsville are part of a program totaling $7 million under NASA’s Minority University Research and Education Project. Historically Black Alabama State said it would receive $1.2 million over three years. The money will allow the school to provide additional research opportunities for students in collaboration with other institutions. Michelle Foster, chair of Alabama State’s math and computer science department, said it was important to increase diversity in high tech fields. “For minority students, the numbers speak for themselves. Data tells us that only two percent nationwide of minority students have degrees in or are employed in engineering and physics,” she said in a statement. Others school receiving grants include the University of Massachusetts, Florida A&M University, Navajo Technical College in New Mexico and Texas A&M University.
Racetrack Promoter Sorry for Announcer’s Racist Rant
Contra-Tiemp (Ricky Richardson Photo)
Spiritual and creative energy permeated throughout Mercado La Paloma parking lot. People were invited to eat, celebrate, imagine, experience, heal, reflect, love, and enjoy in a
Free!
Weber said the recall election ballot will ask two questions: Do the voters want to recall Newsom, and if so, who do they want to replace the governor. If 50% or more of voters cast no votes on the first question, Newsom stays on as governor. If 50% or more say yes, then he will be recalled and replaced by one of 46 candidates on the ballot who has the most votes. Weber said planning the special election has been challenging, but her team has been effective and thorough. “What I inherited in the Secretary of State’s office is a group of people who really know elections,” Weber told California Black Media. “I’ve just been in awe of what they do. They have a system and they have it down pact. The last election was a good training ground for them to deal with absentee ballots, ballot boxes, and things that we’ve known would work but could never implement because people we’re hesitant about it. That is one thing that I know for sure that takes place in the Secretary of State Office: We know elections.” Along with its elections duties and to safeguard the state’s official documents, including the constitution and Great Seal, and the state archives, the Secretary of State office also registers businesses, commissions notaries public, and manages state ballot initiatives. Each of California’s 58 counties oversees its own elections but Weber’s office sets the stage and regulations Continued on page A2
FAIRMONT, Minn. (AP) – An auto racing announcer in southern Minnesota is out for the rest of the season following a racist rant he made during a side gig in Iowa last month – and the Minnesota track promoter who supported him is now apologizing. Fairmont Raceway promoter Jon McCorkell, in southern Minnesota, said he’s sorry for comments he made in support of longtime announcer Lon Oelke. Oelke was fired from his side gig at an Iowa racetrack last month after he complained about people who refuse to stand for the national anthem to take a stand against racial inequity. McCorkell initially defended Oelke and said he would support him at Fairmont. But now he says he’s learned a lot about the issues behind the protest. The raceway said Oelke will take a leave of absence for the rest of the season, the Star Tribune reported. “I realize that I cannot take back or fix what I said, but I would like to say I was wrong and I am sorry for the comments that I made last week,” McCorkell said in a statement released by the raceway. “I have talked to many people on these issues over the last few days,” McCorkell said. “I learned a lot about what some of the underlying deeper issues are for a lot of people. “I guess I have learned that you cannot always just look at things from your own perspective. Sometimes you have to keep an open mind and to try to look at what things are like from someone else’s perspective.” The Fairmont track also canceled its Friday night race card, saying recent rains made the track unsuitable for racing. Earlier this month, Oelke was announcing a race at the Kossuth County Speedway in Algona, Iowa, when he said he wanted to make “a public service announcement.” He went on to complain about people who take a knee or won’t stand for the national anthem. “I’ve got four words for you: Find a different country if you won’t do it,” he said. “Get the hell out of Dodge.” He also criticized the NFL’s plans to play “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” often called the Black national anthem, before games this season. He said his remarks were “for those folks, I guess the darker-toned skin color, I’ll just say, Blacks. They want a different national anthem and the NFL is thinking about doing it. I just say shut the TVs off and let them play in front of nobody.” McCorkell initially supported Oelke, saying the announcer would get a standing ovation the next time he was in Fairmont, a city of 10,000 residents 130 miles (210 kilometers) southwest of the Twin Cities. But last Friday, there was no ovation or special recognition of Oelke.
African Heritage and History Curriculum Bill Signed into Law
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) – Public schools in Rhode Island are now required to teach a comprehensive African American history and heritage curriculum under legislation signed into law Friday by Gov. Daniel McKee. “The inclusion of African heritage and history in Rhode Island curricula is long overdue,” the Democratic governor said in a statement. “I hope that Rhode Island will lead the nation in the effort to educate our young people on a full scope of history, including teaching students about events that took place right where they live.” The curriculum was developed by Rhode Island historical and academic institutions. The ceremonial bill signing took place at the Old Brick School House in Providence, a building that dates to 1769, and in 1828 became a city-supported school for Black children. “Knowing this truth is essential to a united society and I am very happy that these lessons will finally be presented to our students, and adults as well, so that they may go forth into the world truly knowing the many parts of our society that work for everyone and that sadly, currently there are still too many remaining caught in a cycle of intolerance and injustice,” state Rep. Anastasia Williams, D-Providence, said in a statement.