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The Valley’s
Volume 35 Number 51
Serving the San Fernando Valley for Over 35 Years
Observer Group Newspapers of Southern California
Election 2020 Update:
All California Black Caucus Members Hold Strong Leads in Races Joe W. Bowers Jr. California Black Media Election Day 2020 is behind us, and a winner for President of the United States has not been decided. As predicted, California voted overwhelming for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and they will be receiving the state’s 55 electoral votes. Also, as predicted, counting the votes in battleground states will take time to determine a state winner. There are seven battleground states that will determine the next President and right now Joe Biden is leading in four of those states (Arizona, Nevada, Wisconsin, Michigan). President Trump is leading in three (Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania). If the trends hold in the battleground states, Joe Biden is on course to collect at least 270 electoral votes and will be the next President. But, nothing is certain until all votes have been counted and all lawsuits that Trump is likely to initiate have been resolved. In California elections, a ballot postmarked by Nov. 3 has up to 17 days later to be counted. Counties have until December 3 to certify contests for office. The vote counts in State District contests involving African American incumbents show that they have all ei-
ther won or are winning their contests. In some of our local races Former San Francisco Dist. Att. George Gascon leads 53.8% of the vote to 46.1% over incumbentLA County District. Atty. Jackie Lacey as of press time Wednesday morning. La county also voted to pass County Measure J with 57.08% of the vote. In the Congressional races – Barbara Lee, (Democrat – Congressional District 13), Karen Bass (Democrat – Congressional District 37 Los Angeles) and Maxine Waters (Democrat – Congressional District 43 Los Angeles) have been declared winners. State Sen. Steve Bradford (Democrat35th Senate District) won his contest. In Assembly races, declared Legislative Black Caucus winners include: Kevin McCarty (Democrat – Assembly District 9), Chris Holden (Democrat – Assembly District 41), Sydney Kamlager (Democrat – Assembly District 54),
and Autumn Burke (Democrat – Assembly District 62). Assemblymembers currently leading in their contests by double digits are Jim Cooper (Democrat – Assembly District 9), Reggie Jones Sawyer (Democrat – Assembly District 59) and Mike Gipson (Democrat – Assembly District 64). However, the percentages of votes counted at this time are not enough to project that those three state legislators will be re-elected in their districts. State Sen. Holly Mitchell (Democrat – 30th Senate District) was not up for re-election, but she was running for a seat on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. She is currently leading in her contest against Los Angeles City Councilman Herb Wesson. If she wins, there will have to be a special election to find a replacement to complete her term in the State Senate.
ELECTION 2020: For Black People, Criminal Justice a Top Priority
“If the President were re-elected, we should expect a Department of Justice that throws its resources at left-wing groups but will frequently disregard the threat from right-wing terror,” said Nora V. Demleitner, the lead author of, “Sentencing Law and Policy.” (Photo: iStockphoto / NNPA)
By Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent Election rhetoric around the criminal justice issue continues to change though there seems to be a broad agreement between both presidential candidates that criminal justice reform is overdue. President Donald Trump continues to counter occasional talk of reform with law-and-order rhetoric, which focuses on various left-wing groups he calls Antifa and on the Black Lives Matter Movement. Trump has accused both groups of inciting riots. The president also has brought back the divisive antiimmigrant rhetoric from 2016. He smeared Mexican immigrants as rapists, murderers, and drug traffickers, noted Nora V. Demleitner, the lead author of “Sentencing Law and Policy.” She also serves as editor of the Federal Sentencing Reporter and a board member of the Prison Policy Initiative and the Collateral Consequences Resource Center. Demleitner serves on the Albermarle County, Virginia, prosecutor’s citizen advisory committee and is a Roy L. Steinheimer Jr. Professor of Law at Washington and Lee University in Virginia. “There seems to be much less traction for [Trump’s] claims … empirical support is absent as immigrants are substantially less crime-prone than US citizens,” Demleitner remarked.
In 2018, Trump signed the First Step Act, which he said addressed outdated, failed policies long overdue for reform. The legislation eliminated the three-strikes life sentencing provision for some offenses and expanded judges’ discretion in nonviolent crimes’ sentencing. It also led to some commutations, including Alice Johnson, who served more than 20 years for a nonviolent drug offense. “Even though President Trump’s pardons and commutations have been largely politically motivated, the Bureau of Prisons has seen a large decrease, due largely to changes in drug sentences that preceded his presidency and COVID-19 related increases,” Demleitner responded. While Democratic Nominee Joe Biden has received loud criticism for his role in a 1990s crime bill that devastated African Americans, he has met with families of Black victims of police brutality like George Floyd. Biden has called for a federal ban on police chokeholds, a new federal police oversight commission, new national standards for when and how police use force, more mandatory data collection from local law enforcement, and more power for the Department of Justice to investigate local police departments, among other changes. And, as noted by Politico, despite a bipartisan push to reduce the United States’ highest-in-the-world incarceration rate, the prison population decreased only slightly in 2018 to 1.5
million, the most recent year for which data is available. “If the President were re-elected, we should expect a Department of Justice that throws its resources at left-wing groups but will frequently disregard the threat from right-wing terror,” said Demleitner. “Much of it will be business as usual, with a focus on immigration prosecutions, drug cases, and healthcare and antitrust prosecutions. There would also likely be more conflict between progressive big-city prosecutors and their local US attorneys and between so-called sanctuary cities and the federal government.” Should Biden win, Demleitner believes America could expect a slew of politically motivated pardons and commutations before Trump leaves office. Whether the Senate will try to push through Trump’s slate of US Sentencing Commission members is unclear. “They might prove an obstacle for any federal sentencing reform a President Biden wants to see happen. An example here is the final equalization of crack and powder cocaine sentences, which is supported by the science but apparently not politics,” Demleitner said. For a Biden presidency, much of the change expected could come in funding to the states. It could take the form of mental health and addiction treatment funding or funding for certain types of police training, such as de-escalation. “The Civil Rights Division should be expected to begin to investigate select police departments around the country and push for consent decrees and federal oversight, as was happening during the Obama administration. These changes would contribute to greater racial equity,” Demleitner further noted. “Gun regulation has to be at the forefront of the Biden administration as well though that area will create the strongest backlash,” the professor continued. “Yet there is sizeable national agreement on some restrictions and those may be the fastest areas in which to get an agreement, though much of that will hinge on which party gains the Senate majority. There are also countless smaller rules that the current justice department changed. According to Demleitner, many of those, such as guidelines on prosecuting cases, need to be rolled back. “Assessment of the racial impact of these rules needs to be done,” Demleitner added. “The new administration has to tackle broader issues, such as what a vibrant and non-politicized pardon/commutation regime should look like. “Biden’s agenda is long, but still it isn’t comprehensive. Since prosecutors run the Department of Justice, it will be essential for non-prosecutor voices to be heard. Reform cannot be limited to drug cases only. It’s important to remember that the part of the criminal justice system the president controls is unique and only a slice of the entire criminal justice system. Funding and DOJ oversight, as well as the involvement of other agencies, such as Housing, Education, and Health, will be crucial in criminal justice reform.”
Free!
Thursday, November 5, 2020
Pregnant Woman Pushes Labor Aside to Cast Vote
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) – A pregnant Florida woman didn’t let labor stop her from casting her vote in the presidential election, refusing to go to the hospital until she filled out her ballot. Officials with the Orange County Supervisor of Elections said the woman was already in labor when she arrived at the polling site with her husband Tuesday afternoon, news outlets reported. Elections employee Karen Briceno Gonzalez said the husband asked for a ballot for his wife and later told the staff that she was in the car, in labor and refusing to go to the hospital until she was able to vote. Briceno Gonzalez said she rushed outside to give the woman her ballot and check her ID. The staffer thought the woman would fill it out later, but while doing some controlled Lamaze breathing, the woman filled the ballot out right away. Elections clerk Eileen Deliz said the couple never mentioned why the woman waited until she was in labor to cast her vote. “Maybe she wanted to come in-person at one point and that’s why she was waiting, who knows. But she wouldn’t go to the hospital until she voted,” Deliz said. Deliz said the unexpected incident delivered a bunch of smiles to the election workers. “We are very, very busy, but when something like that happens it just makes our day,” Deliz said. “Every election cycle brings us a great little story.” Officials said the woman’s husband later drove her to an Orlando hospital.
Canceled 2021 Rose Parade
PASADENA, Calif. (AP) – The 2021 Rose Parade is canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic, but viewers will still get a show with a two-hour television special on New Year’s Day, organizers said. The Tournament of Roses Association said in a Thursday news release that the TV special will include “live-to-tape musical and marching band performances, heartwarming segments related to the Rose Parade, celebrity guest appearances,” and highlights from past Rose Bowl football games. And of course there will be “spectacular floats from years past,” as well as a behind-the-scenes look into the making of flower-laden displays that are the trademark of the parade, the release said. The Pasadena, California, association said in July that it was canceling the 132nd parade because of the risk of spreading COVID-19 infections among its huge audience and participants. The Rose Bowl college football game that traditionally follows the parade is still scheduled for New Year’s Day. Since its inception in 1891, the parade has only not occurred during the wartime years of 1942, 1943 and 1945, the association said. Thousands of spectators normally jam the 5-mile (8-kilometer) parade route through Pasadena, some camping out overnight on sidewalks to ensure a good view.
School Mural Slavery Depiction
CANTON, Ohio (AP) – Officials in an Ohio school district have placed a temporary cover over a historical mural at a high school after concerns were raised about its depiction of slavery. A black and red banner reading “Champions are made ... and success is tradition” now covers the mural at McKinley High School’s downtown campus in the Canton City Schools district, the Akron Beacon Journal reported. Administrators decided in September to conceal the northern portion of the 195-foot-long mural that encircles the school’s food court and meeting area after at least one person voiced concerns during the last school year. One section of the “Highlights of American History” mural, which illustrates U.S. history until the middle of World War II, shows a white man with a whip lunging toward a shirtless Black man whose hands are bound to a pillar. Superintendent Jeff Talbert said in a statement that the covering is a temporary remedy until the district can host a communitywide “true conversation” about whether the mural remains appropriate . “As the school year began, our leadership team determined that the highly charged climate around social injustice and the marginalization of certain groups within our school and city communities elevated the immediate need to cover up parts of the mural that have been deemed offensive and inappropriate,” wrote Talbert, who took over as superintendent in August. The art deco mural dedicated in 1943 contains more than 350 historical figures, beginning with Christopher Columbus in the 1490s and extending to the United States emerging from the Depression and entering the Second World War. The artist, Timken High School student Frank Marchione, who spent two years painting the mural, died in 2012 at age 90. His son, David Marchione, said removing the mural his father painted because it shows the oppression of slavery would be a mistake akin to removing artwork that shows the crucifixion of Christ. “The reason (the crucifixion) is depicted so much is because it is the thing that shows the triumph of Christ above the cruelty of humanity,” David Marchione said. He noted that an illustration to the right of the slavery image shows President Abraham Lincoln issuing the Emancipation Proclamation. “The idea that slavery is depicted and people are undergoing the suffering of slavery is an example of the triumph of the United States as a self-transforming society and the triumph of the African American people over the oppression of slavery,” he said. By not acknowledging the horrors of slavery, people cannot truly understand the triumphs of civil rights activists such as Martin Luther King Jr., Marchione said. He said rather than hiding the depiction of slavery, educators should use it as a teaching tool.