Oakland Post, week of March 22 - 28, 2023

Oakland Tech Girls Basketball Team

Wins CIF Division 1 Girls’ Championship

By Carla Thomas

Hundreds of fans packed into the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento on Friday, March 10 for the California Interstate Federation (CIF) Division 1 Girls Basketball Championship between Oakland Technical High School and Santiago High from Corona near Riverside.

Oakland Tech’s Bulldogs clearly also wanted the championship more, although their game was more of a struggle for three quarters. They were down one point at the end of the first quarter, up by seven points at the half and at the end of the third quarter. But in the fourth, the team poured it on, outscoring Santiago 23-7. The final score was 75-52.

“It’s history, we made history and we never lost,” said senior guard Erin Sellers who scored 14 points with one assist. “I think it’s

really because everyone said we couldn’t. They said we couldn’t play with a D-1 team, but not only did we play with them, we blew most of them out, and we got it done.”

“It means everything,” said senior guard Mari Somvichian who scored seven points and had two assists. “I mean, to come in as a freshman and literally never lose a playoff game, is crazy. We’ve won three — well, I would say two and a half.”

(In 2020, the team was scheduled to play in their state championship game, but the day before the game, the CIF shut down all athletics because of the pandemic.)

“We’ve literally never lost, and to go out our senior year, our last game being a Division-1 State Championship, you really could

Virtual Murrell Writes— Memoirs of a Black Panther: In Pursuit of America’s Promise

Oakland Post

“Where there is no vision, the people perish...” Proverbs 29:18 postnewsgroup.com

Weekly Edition. March 22 - 28, 2023

Attorney General’s Office Denies Helping Holy Names University Sell Campus, Contrary to HNU’s Claims

Hawk also dismissed the City of Oakland’s offer to help maintain HNU as a center of higher education. “At this point it is unclear to HNU how the City of Oakland can assist with the process of achieving the objectives of obtaining the highest and best use of the HNU property for public good, particularly when HNU’s efforts to date have been in cooperation with the AG’s office,” she said.

HNU absolutely may consider entering into an agreement with a successor educational institution and continue to operate with an educational purpose and mission. While my office cannot require HNU to do this, neither can we prevent them from doing so: The decision is HNU’s and HNU’s alone.”

renters during the pandemic, Tuesday, March 21 at Oakland City Hall. Photo by Ken Epstein

Oakland. Across the state an estimated 600,000 people owe $2.1 billion in back rent, according to researchers.

In Los Angeles city and county, about 200,000 people owe more than half a billion dollars in unpaid rent, according to the website Cal Matters.

In Alameda County, 32,900 households owe $125 million in unpaid rent, according to the National Equity Atlas. Thousands of Bay Area tenants are facing eviction, according to tenant advocates.

By Ken Epstein

Holy Names University in Oakland continues to be not transparent or truthful with the public and Oakland officials in its claims that HNU is acting with the approval and guidance of the office of California Attorney General Rob Bonta to sell the 60-acre campus in the Oakland hills for high-end residential development when the campus permanently closes, currently scheduled for the end of the current semester in May.

However, in a strongly worded denial, Venus D. Johnson, Chief Deputy Attorney General in AG Bonta’s wrote in a March 17 letter to Oakland officials, “While HNU has kept the Attorney General’s Office apprised as to its efforts to secure a successor educational institution, our office has not provided HNU with direction, approval or guidance with regard to these efforts.”

“Any assertion to the contrary is inaccurate,” Johnson wrote.

Several HNU students and an Oakland City Councilmember spoke this week about the potential for maintaining HNU as an institution of higher education on the “Education Today” program aired on radio station KPFA FM94.1.”

“There are a lot of unanswered questions: how did we get to this place?” Asked Aniya Bankston, chair of the HNU Black Student Union (BSU) and a pre-nursing student.

“There’s a very confusing time on campus, (and) anxiety is super high” among the students, she said.

Kiara Evans, a member of HNU student government and the also a BSU member, said she and other student leaders met with the HNU Board of Trustees, which she was disappointed to see was all white.

“They were very nonchalant,” said Evans. “Whatever we said, they just brushed us off. They didn’t really want to hear from us, and it’s pretty sad and disappointing that these people are in charge of our education. They’ve never even gotten to know us.”

Pro-Tenant Groups, Landlords Mobilize Over City Eviction Moratorium

By Ken Epstein

Landlords held a protest this week at an Oakland City Council meeting calling for an end to the city’s eviction moratorium protection, one of the strongest in the state, which was enacted to protect renters during the pandemic.

At the landlord rally Tuesday afternoon in City Hall lobby before the council meeting, led by former mayoral candidate Seneca Scott, landlords and landlord organizations demanded council members end the city’s eviction moratorium. Former City Councilmember Loren Taylor spoke at the rally.

calling for its gradual phasing out were several pro-tenant organizations. Oakland Rising put out a call on social media for tenant supporters to attend the council meeting to speak in favor of renter protections.

“It’s time to amplify our voices and urge our council members to retain the local moratorium ordinance that helps protect tenants against unjust evictions … Join us in standing together on behalf of those needing reliable shelter from potential displacement,” according to the Oakland Rising statement.

At the same time, small landlords say they are threatened with foreclosure as they are unable to collect rents or recoup unpaid rent owed by tenants over the last two or three years.

At this week’s Rules & Legislation Committee meeting of the Oakland City Council, Council President Nikki Fortunato Bas and Councilmember Dan Kalb were expected to schedule legislation to phase out the moratorium.

The legislation would be heard at the April 11 meeting of the Community and Economic Development Committee, which could send it to the full council for a first reading on April 18, and a second and final reading on May 2.

In a recent letter to City of Oakland officials, Jeanine Hawk, HNU’s vice president for finance and administration, claimed that the university has been working closely with Bonta’s office and that the university’s decision to sell the property to the highest bidder is based on and guided by discussions with the Attorney General’s Office.

“HNU has been in constant communication with the California Attorney General’s office regarding the manner of ensuring that any transfer of its property satisfies the requirements of California law,” Hawk said.

Further, she alleged that “discussions with the Attorney General’s office have resulted in an effort to market the property both through a real estate broker (Mike Taquino at CBRE) and through our continued communications with potential successor universities.”

“Specifically, although HNU has reported to you that this office has told HNU that it must sell to the highest bidder and that we have provided HNU with direction related to its marketing efforts, the Attorney General’s Office has done neither of these things,” according to Johnson’s letter.

Johnson emphasized that under the law the decision whether to sell the property is up to the HNU Board of Trustees. “A nonprofit corporation only needs approval from its board of directors to sell or transfer all or substantially all of its assets under terms the board deems is in the best interests of the corporation,” she said.

Johnson added that there are no legal reasons why HNU cannot work with a Historically Black College or University (HBCU) or other educational institution to maintain the campus as a center for higher education.

City Councilmember Janani Ramashandran, who represents the area that includes the HNU campus, said she is working with other city leaders “to see this site used for higher education … not to follow the path of building luxury housing.”

“I’m cautiously optimistic,” she said. “It comes down to the will of the Holy Names board (to negotiate)” and some of the proposals for educational uses for the property.

“There’s a lot of data out there that speaks to the hundreds of millions of dollars that are outstanding in terms of unpaid rent, just in Oakland, not to mention the damage of property … destroying property, and we can’t remove them. It’s time to end this eviction moratorium,” said Derek Barnes of the East Bay Rental Housing Association (EBRHA).

Defending the moratorium or

Meanwhile, as these eviction protections wind down in cities across the Bay Area and the state, the Oakland City Council has prepared a proposal to gradually phase out its moratorium, while seeking to respond to the needs of both landlords and tenants. Almost 60% of Oakland residents are renters.

The problem of how to handle the fallout in the wake of the moratorium is huge and not confined to

This proposed ordinance would end the moratorium in phases “in order to help avoid a surge of evictions leading to an increase in homelessness, and allowing property owners to proceed with urgent evictions,” according to a press statement.

If approved, the timeline would be:

May 1 – Aug. 31, 2023 – transition period - certain evictions allowed.

• Sept. 1, 2023 - eviction moratorium ends.

• July 1, 2024 - rent increase moratorium ends.

James Ira Dancy, 65

He attended Lafayette Elementary School, Lowell Jr. High School and Skyline High School. Dancy also attended Laney College.

He was a kind gentle soul who enjoyed talking to people. He was known for remembering everyone he met. He remembered birthdays and made sure to extend his good wishes. He inquired after the health of acquaintances and family members alike.

He traveled all over downtown and West Oakland where he was a fixture at his favorite spot at Mc Donald’s.

He will be missed.

Dancy leaves behind to mourn him brothers, Rick Dancy, Frank Dancy Jr., Austin Dancy, Randy Dancy, Darrell Dancy, and Rhamon Dancy; sister Lafrances Dancy; sisters-in-law Ana Dancy, Patti Dancy, Beverly Dancy and a host of nieces, nephews, cousins and friends.

Services will be held at his home church, Antioch Missionary Baptist Church, located on the corner of 14th and Filbert Street, Oakland, California on April 10, 2023 at 11:00 a.m.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta.

Jeanine Hawk, HNU’s vice president for finance.

Chief Deputy Attorney General Venus D. Johnson

Oakland District 4 Councilmember Janani Ramachandran

The Oakland Tech Girls basketball champions roster is as follows: #1, Guard Jada Williams; #2 Forward Taliyah Logwood; #3 Guard Erin Sellers; #4 Sarai White; #5 Forward Jhai Johnson; #10 Guard Jala Williams; #11 Forward Terri’A Russell; #15 Tiana Grace; #21 Guard and Team Captain Mari Somvichian; #22 Zhanea Clemons; #24 Guard Jordan Taylor; #30 Guard Nia Hunter, #33 Guard Natane Chambers-Wright, #40 Center Marticia Pollard, #44 Forward Sophia Askew-Goncalves Continued on page 11

James Ira Dancy, known as a West Oakland treasure and historian, passed away on March 18, 2023. He was 65.

Dancy was born to Frank and Dorothy Dancy in Oakland on April 10, 1957.

Pres. Biden Visits California Community Devastated by Lunar New Year Gun Violence

firearms.”

The Executive Order aims to hold the gun industry accountable by providing the public and policymakers with more information regarding federally licensed firearms dealers who are violating the law.

Pres. Biden Appoints ‘Activist Entrepreneur’ Kerman Maddox to Trade Advisory Body

By McKenzie Jackson California Black Media

Last summer, the White House offered Southern California small business owner Kerman Maddox a unique opportunity to serve on a national committee set up to advise President Joe Biden’s administration on educational matters.

The Los Angeles resident declined.

Maddox, who is also a communications specialist — most recently a member of Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass’ transition team — felt he did not have enough expertise in the educational space.

Then, this month, the right opportunity came for Maddox to take his expertise, passion and ambition to Washington. The White House appointed Maddox, along with 14 others, to serve on the United States Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations.

“I’m an African American male. I’m a small business owner. There is nothing in my background that ever would have indicated this was even in the realm of possibilities,” he stated. “I am going to do the best to represent other African American small business owners. When you get an opportunity like this, you want to do a good job —

not embarrass folks.”

Maddox, president and majority owner of K&R Hospitality and managing partner of Dakota Communications, had said he would be interested in serving on any commission that dealt with United States’ commerce, small business, trade or other related fields if a position became available.

Maddox, who was once appointed to serve on the Executive Committee of the Democratic National Committee by former President Barack Obama, says he is excited about his new role.

The other new advisory body appointees are Revathi Advaithi, Manish Bapna, Timothy Michael Broas, Thomas M. Conway, Erica R.H. Fuchs, Marlon E. Kimpson, Ryan LeGrand, Sean M. O’Brien, Javier Saade, Shonda Yvette Scott, Elizabeth Shuler, Nina SzlosbergLandis, and Wendell P. Weeks.

Along with the other appointees, Maddox will provide policy advice to U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, who spearheads American trade policy across the globe.

The new committee members were recommended by Tai’s office and appointed by Biden. They make up one of several advisory

committees established by Congress to ensure U.S. trade policy and trade negotiating objectives adequately reflect American public and private sector interests.

In a March 10 statement announcing the appointees, Tai said she looked forward to working with the new appointees.

“Developing a worker-centered trade agenda means bringing together a range of perspectives and backgrounds to design and implement our policies,” she stated. “The Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations is an important forum to guide USTR’s work and ensure that the benefits of trade are equitably distributed across our economy and to all people. President Biden has nominated a diverse group of men and women that will help us carry out his vision for sustainable, inclusive and durable trade policy in 2023 and beyond.”

Maddox wants to align with the trade agenda set by the Biden administration. He also has his own objectives he aims to rally for.

“Number one, I’m really going to play a space as a small business guy to see if we can get small businesspeople to export products

Continued on page 8

By Maxim Elramsisy California Black Media

On his trip to California

last week, President Biden first stopped in San Diego to meet with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. The heads of state have formed a strategic alliance to scale up military technology intended to protect interests in the China Sea, an important trade route.

Biden then traveled up the coast to Monterey Park approximately seven miles east of downtown Los Angeles where he met with families of the victims of the mass shooting at Star Dance Studio, where 11 people were killed and nine injured during a Lunar New Year celebration on Jan. 21.

“I’m here on behalf of the American people, to mourn with you, to pray with you, to let you know you are loved and not alone,” Biden said in the gymna-

sium of a Boys & Girls Club half a mile from the site of the shooting.

“I know what it’s like to get that call. I know what it’s like to lose a loved one so suddenly. It’s like losing a piece of your soul.”

Biden announced an executive order to enhance background checks on firearm buyers.

“My executive order directs my attorney general to take every lawful action possible to move us as close as we can to universal background checks without new legislation,” Biden said.

“The executive order also expands public awareness red flag laws,” Biden continued. “So more parents, teachers, police officers, health providers and counselors know how to flag for the court that someone is exhibiting violent tendencies, threatening classmates or experiencing suicidal thoughts that make them a danger to themselves or others and temporarily remove that person’s access to

“The president is directing the attorney general to publicly release, to the fullest extent permissible by law, ATF records from the inspection of firearms dealers cited for violation of federal firearm laws. This information will empower the public and policymakers to better understand the problem, and then improve our laws to hold rogue gun dealers accountable,” the White House said in a statement.

The president has called on the Federal Trade Commission to perform “an independent government study that analyzes and exposes how gun manufacturers aggressively market firearms to civilians, especially minors, including by using military imagery.”

In addition, the Executive Order addresses federal law enforcement’s reporting of ballistics data, and the implementation of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA). That law was passed in 2022 after a man with racist ideology killed 10 Black people and injured three at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York. Soon after that incident, an 18-year-old lone gunman killed 21 and injured 17 at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.

“None of this absolves Congress of the responsibility of acting to pass universal background checks, eliminate gun manufac-

Continued on page 9

President Joe Biden speaks in Monterey Park, California about gun violence on March 14, 2023. He spoke with the families of victims of a mass shooting at the Star Dance Studio on Lunar New Year that occurred less than a mile from where the President spoke. Photo by Maxim Elramsisy, California Black Media.

President Joe Biden and Kerman Maddox. Courtesy photo.

COMMENTARY: Make Banks Make Good on Their Pledge to End Fossil Fuel Financing

By Ben Jealous

ConocoPhillips needs more than the disastrous approval it won from the Biden administration last week to proceed with its Willow oil drilling project on Alaska’s North Slope. It needs $8 to $10 billion to build 199 wells, hundreds of miles of road and pipelines, a processing plant, and an airstrip on 499 acres that are vital to caribou, migratory birds and indigenous people.

While President Biden cer-

tainly could have stopped Willow, so can the financial institutions helping create it. Willow is just the most recent example of banks’ complicity in preserving fossil fuel extraction through a continuing flow of money to Big Oil and Gas

— all despite pledging a year ago to pursue the net zero carbon emissions we need to save the planet.

That’s why I joined activists from Third Act Tuesday on a block in Washington to protest among the offices of banking giants Bank

of America, Chase, Citibank, and Wells Fargo in our nation’s capital. Third Act is a group founded by environmentalist and author Bill McKibben to bring together Americans over 60 to campaign for a sustainable planet. While I’m still too young to join, I was part of demonstrations they organized at bank branches across the country.

We were there to call out these “dirty” banks’ practices and their unacceptable costs — both immediate and long-term. Right now, any money that goes to Willow and fossil fuel projects like it, is money that won’t be invested in a clean economy, particularly in fledgling companies that are finding sustainable ways to power the planet. It’s those jobs that Alaskans and their descendants really need.

Longer term, the banks’ lending will weaken the impact of an historic $370 billion investment our country will make in the next decade on green technology and alternatives to oil and gas. As those investments pay off, there will be less and less demand for oil coming from projects like Willow. But the supply will remain steady (for 30 years in Willow’s case). So, gas will be cheaper for the holdouts who continue to use it, making it even harder to push them to make the switch.

The situation got even more dire with the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and the shadow of doubt it unfairly cast on other regional banks. Banks of that size have been vital to the growth of the clean economy. For example, Silicon Valley reportedly financed 60% of community solar energy projects in which property owners

jointly construct a solar facility to power their neighborhoods.

The consequence of the turmoil has been to concentrate even more power in the biggest banks.

Bank of America, for example, took in close to $15 billion in new deposits in a matter of days after Silicon Valley was taken over by federal regulators. That makes it even more imperative that we hold these banks to their pledges not to fund new fossil fuel projects (HSBC, Europe’s biggest bank, is keeping that promise). Third Act has suggestions that most people can take to be part of that accountability — cut up credit cards issued by the banks and move deposits out of them, not into them. When more and more people do that, they will be strengthening the case of a small group of the banks’ investors who have begun introducing resolutions at shareholder meetings calling for an end to fossil fuel financing.

Throughout our country’s history, it’s been profitable to consider certain people and places as disposable. We know where continuing that unjust path will lead — to a planet that’s too polluted and too hot to be livable. We’ve passed the time when financial institutions can postpone an end to their investment in the climate’s demise. It’s time these dirty banks put their money somewhere else.

How the Crack Cocaine Epidemic Led to Mass Sex Exploitation of Black People PART 3

The

Case Against SB357: Black, Vulnerable and Trafficked

the Black community.

What was unknown at the time was how highly addictive this form of cocaine would be and how harmful the ensuing impact on the Black family when the addicted Black mother was no longer a haven of safety for her children.

The form made it easy to mass produce and distribute, opening the market to anyone and everyone, including many Black men who viewed selling crack as their way out of poverty.

These two factors — addicted Black women and drug-dealing Black men — would lead to the street exploitation for sex as we know it today.

Encouraged to try it free initially, most poor, Black women in the 1980s used crack cocaine in a social setting with friends. When the free samples disappeared the drug dealer offered to supply the women crack in exchange for allowing him to sell their bodies to sex buyers.

The increase in the supply of women willing to exchange sex for crack — a.k.a. the “sex for crack barter system” — caused the price of sex to decrease and at the same time increased the demand for sex because more buyers could afford it.

Books about Black Women’s Body Image by Various Authors

c.2023, various publishers, $26.99$29.00, various page counts

By Tanya Dennis and Vanessa Russell

Although California Senate

Bill 357 was intended to alleviate arrests of willing sex workers under anti-loitering laws, it opened up a Pandora’s box loophole that hinders the ability of law enforcement to halt human trafficking, especially of young Black and

Brown girls. This segment continues to explore the history that led to this latest form of exploitation in Oakland.

It was 1980: The beginning of the end for the Black family and Black community as we knew it.

Crack cocaine was introduced to the United States that year and it rendered unparalleled devas-

tation on Black folks. Crack is a solid smokable form of cocaine made by boiling baking soda, cocaine, and water into a rock that crackles when smoked.

The tremendous high — especially when first smoked — and the low cost brought temporary relief to the repeatedly and relentlessly traumatized members of

By Terri Schlichenmeyer

The last two apps you downloaded were for diets. Ugh.

Friends say that you’re perfect but you’d like to lose your flabby arms, your thick thighs, and a few inches from your belly. You imagine what you’d be like if you were a size 6. You wonder if you could wear skinny boots again. But before you download another app, read these books about Black women’s health and body image...

There’s not just one, but at least two books out this spring that ask if it isn’t time for Black women to reclaim positive self-images about their bodies.

“It’s Always Been Ours” by eating disorder specialist Jessica Wilson (Go Hachette, $29.00), looks at the politics of Black women’s bodies. You don’t need to be told that this isn’t a new thing but the true history of Black women and the harm such negativity has done may still surprise you; Wilson also pulls in the works of novelists, friends, influencers, and others to get the best, most interesting look at the subject. If you want a call to action, this is it.

Along those lines, author Chrissy King says that body liberation is what Black women should strive for, and in “The Body Liberation Project” (Penguin Random House, $28.00), she offers ways to achieve body freedom. What sets her book apart from the Wilson book is less history, more personal tales and thought-provoking question-pages to get readers thinking about how they’ve been thinking about their bodies. Again, there could be surprises in what you learn about yourself.

With these books, King and

$5.

This sex-for-crack barter system resulted in a dramatic increase in sexually transmitted diseases including HIV and AIDS, both of which are disproportionately represented among Black people.

Wilson advocate for the individual as well as for all Black women and if it feels difficult for you to pick between these two books, then don’t. Read them together or concurrently and you’ll be happier.

But okay, you love your body. Your legs, your arms, your shoulders and hair and smile — so how do you keep all that gorgeousness healthy? You can start with “Black Women’s Wellness” by Melody T. McCloud, MD (Sounds True, $26.99) and learn. Indeed, even if you’re feeling well and looking great, this book explains how to keep yourself that way, starting with what healthy looks like for a Black woman. From there, McCloud touches upon things like cancer, HIV, heart disease and diabetes before moving on to reproductive health, sex, relationships and mental health. It’s written in real language and everything is in simple, easy-to-understand, authentic terms created for grownups.

Beware that “Black Women’s Wellness” isn’t a replacement for your doctor or clinic, but it’s a nice question-answerer and a good launching point for knowing your body.

If these three books aren’t exactly what you’re looking for, be sure to ask your favorite librarian or bookseller. Admittedly, there aren’t a lot of modern, new books out there about body image for women of color, but a bookish person can help you find what you need. They’ll be able to put the book in your beautiful hands, your soft arms, for your gorgeous eyes.

There’s no app for that.

Black family which then all but collapsed under this latest social attack that had started with chattel slavery, followed by Jim Crow, redlining, school segregation, food deserts, et. al.

The desperation of the women to get their hit of crack made them willing to endure any form of abuse and treatment from buyers during sex, including unprotected and violent sex.

It also pushed desperate Black women onto the street to pursue sex buyers, flagging down cars and willing to have sex anywhere actively and desperately. Street prostitution grew and buyers were able to buy oral sex for as little as

It also resulted in unplanned pregnancies by unknown fathers, which then resulted in children born addicted to crack who were immediately placed in the foster care system where they were often abused and/or neglected.

For his part, the Black man who engaged in the mass production and distribution of crack was often killed by gun violence while fighting over drug territory or incarcerated for long periods of time as use and sales and distribution of crack carried longer sentences than powdered cocaine.

Crack unleashed an entire chain of new trauma upon the

Exploitation was and is at the root of the crack cocaine epidemic. It is the latest weapon used to prey upon Black people since the beginning of our time in the United States.

The sex industry and legislation like SB357 have only increased harm to Black people who have been historically oppressed with racist laws and epidemics including crack. More must be done to restore the Black community.

Tanya Dennis serves on the Board of Oakland Frontline Healers (OFH) and series co-author Vanessa Russell of “Love Never Fails Us” and member of OFH.

Westley (“Wess”) Watende Omari Moore: Maryland’s First Black Governor

By Tamara Shiloh

Wess Moore (born 1978) has taken his own place in the history of American politics. He is Maryland’s first Black governor in its 246-year history and the third Black person elected governor of a U.S. state since Reconstruction.

“It’s humbling because this is the state of Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass and Thurgood Marshall,” Moore, a Takoma Park, Maryland native, told USA Today. “It shows that progress requires work, but it is possible as long as we’re willing to grow together.”

Moore described Election night in 2022 as “a celebration,” although he was “soaking in the moment,” thinking of his maternal grandmother, Winell Thomas, who died five days before the election.

Thomas helped raise Moore after his father, a broadcast journalist bearing the same name, died. About his grandmother’s faith in his future, Moore said: “If you had asked her when I was young if there was a chance this could have happened, she would have said yes.”

“Lucky Medicine” by Lester W. Thompson

By Edward Henderson California Black Media

Last year, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the state’s #CaliforniansForAll College Corps program which has so far provided $10,000 grants to some 6,500 low-income college students as a stipend in exchange for their community service work.

But earlier on, Moore would have disagreed. After his father’s death, Moore’s family relocated to the Bronx to live with his grandparents. Life without his father was difficult; he felt as if he didn’t fit anywhere.

Thomas enrolled Moore in an elite prep school at age 6. But coming home to the Bronx after being with wealthy classmates made him feel out of place. He’d become angry. Later, about age 11, he became truant and was placed in a squad car and arrested for tagging walls with graffiti. Moore told the MinnPost that his mother, Joy Moore, then “begged her parents to take out a loan against their house so she could send [me] to a military boarding school.”

By age 13, Moore was enrolled in Valley Forge Military Academy and College. The experience pushed him to put his life back on track. He worked as an intern for then-Baltimore Mayor Kurt Schmoke and later graduated from Johns Hopkins University. Moore earned a Rhodes Scholarship, which led him to earn his master’s in international relations

from Wolfson College at Oxford.

In 2005, Moore deployed to Afghanistan as a captain with the 82nd Airborne Division, tasked to lead soldiers in combat. On returning, he served as a White House Fellow.

“My mother and grandmother believed in me and sacrificed for me,” Moore told USA Today about the encouragement he received from family. “That election moment was a testament to that sacrifice.”

There’s an imposter syndrome with children of color, Moore says, where “you’re waiting for someone to tap you on the shoulder and say, ‘Hey, how’d you get in here?’”

Moore wants every child of color to know that “they are never in a room because of someone’s benevolence, kindness or social experiment. They’re in that room because they belong there.”

An intimate narrative about finding meaning in a volatile age, Wess Moore’s “The Work: Searching for a Life that Matters” will inspire readers to see how we can each find our own path to purpose and help create a better world.

By Terri Schlichenmeyer

It didn’t arrive in a package.

It wasn’t wrapped in fancy paper. It didn’t arrive with cake or candles. And yet, the gift you got, that thing that someone gave you was better than anything that could’ve come in a pretty box. It was bigger than you ever expected. As in the new memoir, “Lucky Medicine” by Lester W. Thompson, the gift was a life-changer.

Born and raised in Indianapolis, Lester Thompson grew up with “rules” that his Southern-born parents instilled in him all his life. Even though Jim Crow racism wasn’t entrenched in the North like it was in the South, such rules were “the frame of reference.”

And that lent mystery to a very curious relationship Thompson’s father had with a white Jewish man, Mr. Goodman. Cal Thompson cut Goodman’s hair in the privacy of Goodman’s home; Thompson sometimes accompanied his father there, but he never fully understood the friendship between the two men. He says “It didn’t occur to me to wonder...”

When he was thirteen, he

learned the truth: he was named after Goodman, who was his father’s closest friend. Furthermore, Goodman was Thompson’s godfather and he’d made a vow to pay for Thompson’s entire college education.

That he was going to be a doctor someday was another thing Thompson had known all his life. His father, an authoritarian alcoholic, never left any room to question it. And so, after high school graduation, Thompson headed to IU in Bloomington, Indiana.

It was an eye-opener, in many ways.

An only child, Thompson had to learn how to share. He had to learn to live with white people next door, and how to study for classes that seemed impossible to ace. He fell in love, and fell again. And he watched the world change as the Civil Rights Movement began.

“I will never know what prompted Mr. Goodman to make his gift,” Thompson says. “But in the end, I suppose, all that matters is that he did.”

Sometimes, change can come with a big ka-BOOM. Other times, it sneaks in the back door and

tiative that addresses “societal challenges” by creating a generation of civic-minded leaders from low-income families. Its programs focus on challenges facing California like climate resilience and economic inequality.

According to the governor’s office, Black and Latino students have the highest rates of student loan default and owe an estimated $147 billion in college loan debt.

In Long Beach, Project Opti-

sits quietly. That mixture’s what you get with this unique memoir, “Lucky Medicine.”

Unique because while racism figures into author Lester W. Thompson’s story, it’s not a very big part, considering the mid-lastcentury setting. The Movement is barely a blip on the radar; only a handful of troubles with white people are mentioned, and they’re not belabored. So, racism is in this book, but only at whisper-level.

Instead, Thompson focuses on his relatively insulated life, his parents and friends, his studies, and the mysterious, still-unsolved relationship his father had with Goodman. And that’s where this story glows: Thompson’s tale is nostalgic and mundane. It’s not overly dramatic. It doesn’t shout or beg for attention. It’s just warm and happily, wonderfully, ordinary.

Be aware before you share this book with an elder that there are four-letter words in here and a rather eyebrow-raising, too-muchinformation bedroom scene inside. If you can handle that, though, “Lucky Medicine” is a one-of-akind gift.

CEO and cofounder, Project Optimism is a nonprofit that supports equitable access to nature and environmental justice education to elementary school-aged children within the Long Beach Unified School District. It focuses on mentorship, empowerment, uniting community engagement (including food insecurity) and personal development.

“We are big on mentoring the mentor,” said Pruitt. “Every intern

Nearly a year after the paidservice program was announced, the governor’s office is praising its impact on communities and the lives of the students who participate in it.

“The program has proven to be a transformative experience for both students and the organizations where they work,” said San-

dy Close, director of Ethnic Media Services, who recently moderated a press briefing to inform the public about the program’s contribution and some of the challenges it has faced.

The event, co-hosted by California Black Media, featured stakeholders representing all aspects of the program talking about their experiences.

“I feel like I’ve gone from being a student who once desperately needed a safe space to learn to being the trusted adult who can provide students with a natural learning environment where they each have a deep sense of belonging, knowing they are seen, heard, sup-

ported and valued,” said Emilio Ruiz, a 24-year-old student pursuing his teaching certification.

Ruiz shared his experiences as a College Corps fellow. He said his upbringing as a child of divorced parents — constantly moving, experiencing financial distress and witnessing domestic abuse — spurred his desire for a safe space to learn and grow.

College Corps, Ruiz says, gave him an opportunity to receive his education without the added stress of taking on financial aid debt. Moreover, he gained practical experience while doing serviceoriented work in his community. College Corps is a state ini-

mism, currently hosts two College Corps fellows from CSU Long Beach (CSULB). Both are first generation college students. One is undocumented.

According to Ishmael Pruitt,

and employee gets mentored by me, one of the other directors, or someone from our board. So, they get direct coaching and support beyond their role working with us.”

Maryland Governor Wess Moore

Lester W. Thompson

Dr. Allison Briscoe-Smith is diversity lead of Student Life at the University of Washington.

c.2023, Well House Books, Indiana University Press, $24.00, 196 pages

Co-founder and CEO of Project Optimism (projectoptimism.org) Ishmael Pruitt is working directly with two fellows from the College Corps programs in the L.A. Area.

Josh Fryday serves as California’s Chief Service Officer within the Office of Gov. Gavin Newsom to lead service, volunteer, and civic engagement efforts throughout California.

College Corps...

Continued from page 5

Beth Manke is a program lead at CSULB. She matches College Corps students with the non-profit organizations they are assigned to for the program. Manke currently supervises 50 undergraduate students, completing 450 hours of work for 27 different organizations.

“We envision the service they are completing as internships. These are experiences that have proven to be quite transformative for our students,” said Manke. “We honor and draw on the students’ cultural backgrounds by acknowledging their life experiences and how they shape their academic success and well-being.”

The briefing also focused on the challenges students are facing on college campuses post-pandemic and how College Corps can help alleviate some of those issues.

Dr. Allison Briscoe-Smith, a clinical psychologist and Diversity Lead of Student Life at the University of Washington spoke about some of the mental health challenges students are facing and avenues for healing.

“Anxiety is a leading factor for folks on college campuses,” said Dr. Briscoe-Smith. “There was an escalation for students with mental health challenges pre-pandemic. We are finding we are anticipating beating levels of worsening mental

health on campus. Many clinicians are hearing challenges of hopelessness, purposelessness, and isolation. Finding purpose through service is something that can be very helpful. The skills that you’re learning and to be able to see yourself in the folks that you serve is an amazing opportunity for transformation and connection.”

Josh Fryday, California’s Chief Service Officer, introduced the College Corps program a year ago and closed the event with remarks about the hope service can provide.

“When it comes to creating and fostering hope, what we know is that it’s so much more than creating a belief. It’s about action. It’s about a plan. It’s about having a real path for change. That’s what people are looking for. We are seeing the impact in the first nine months. It gives me hope, the governor hope, and we know it’s going to bring hope to our entire state for many years to come.”

Eighty percent of students in the Corps are self-identified students of color and 70% are Pell grant recipients. Five hundred undocumented dreamers throughout the state of California participate in the program.

For more information on College Corps and applying to be a fellow, visit California Volunteers (https://www.californiavolunteers.ca.gov/californiansforallcollege-corps-for-college-students/).

Continued from page 2

overseas — whether it is technology or manufacturing or retail or professional services,” he noted.

“Number two, figure out a way to rein in climate change. What can we do to get people to understand that it is real and what should we be doing by the way of trade polices to combat the escalation of global warming and climate change?”

Maddox received a call from the White House late last year inquiring whether he would be interested in joining the committee. He jumped at the opportunity. In January, he learned his position on the panel was finalized.

Maddox now has a lot of homework to do on trade policy before the group meets in April. Tai’s office is introducing the new com-

mittee members to trade experts.

“I’m trying to quickly study to get up on this,” Maddox noted.

Maddox founded Dakota Communications, the marketing, public relations and public affairs consulting firm, in 1996. In 2010, he started K&R Hospitality, a food and beverage concession business.

He had a role in Obama’s historic 2008 campaign and was part of Biden’s presidential campaign 12 years later. Maddox worked as an aide and advisor to past L.A. mayors Tom Bradley and Antonio Villaraigosa and for Bass when she was in Congress.

He was also an adjunct professor of Political Science at USC and a full-time Political Science professor for the L.A. Community College District. Maddox has several honors from community service organizations and radio and

television awards under his belt.

Maddox described himself as an “activist entrepreneur.”

“I do a lot of community stuff,” he said. “I’m very active in my church, but I’m also a businessman. I’m interested in making money, but I’m also interested in hiring as many people that look like me as possible. I’m interested in growing my business and bringing people along at the same time.”

Due to his business experience, Maddox brings a breadth of viewpoints to the commission.

“I have a unique perspective to talk about professional service businesses and how that works and discuss retail, food, and beverage concussion-oriented businesses,” he explained. “One is people, food, merchandising, quality standards, and more. The other is professional services — you are brainstorm-

ing and creating.”

Maddox will meet with other committee members via video conference, but expects to also assemble with the group in Washington, D.C.

He said being involved with Obama’s initial presidential run was his greatest professional experience. However, having the chance to pitch Biden, who Maddox has met before, trade policy insights is a close second.

“There is nothing in my background that would indicate I would be talking to the president, let alone advising the president,” Maddox declared. “If I can make it, anyone can make it. I’m a pretty regular guy that worked his way up.”

Kerman Maddox...

Florence Agnes Blackburn

September 29, 1936 – February 28, 2023

A few of her other passions included cultivating her backyard garden where she grew a large variety of vegetables, plants, flowers and herbs. Here she also hosted her friends on Thursday nights, enjoying her homemade wine and famous gumbo. She loved traveling to the islands and especially to Texas, spending time with her four great-grandchildren, telling them scary stories while they would laugh, act scared, run and hide.

Ms. Florence Agnes Blackburn was born Sept. 29, 1936 in Houston Texas. She went on to be with the Lord God on Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023. She was the youngest of four children born to Mr. Percy H. Amos Sr. and Mrs. Brunella Mullone Amos.

Florence A. Blackburn a.k.a. “Florencia” was a woman of faith and many talents. She was baptized at St. Nicholas Catholic Church and School, the first Black parish located in Houston Texas.

While her family’s roots are firmly in the Cane River Creole community of Louisiana, she knew California to be home since 1942. Her parents owned and operated the first African American service station in Berkeley, California. It was there where she learned about automobiles, learning to drive by 14 years old.

When her parents moved to Anchorage, Alaska in 1952; Florence stayed in California with her siblings, Percy Amos Jr., Yvonne A. Miller and Lucille R. Amos. She attended Lafayette Elementary School, Hoover Jr. High, Holy Names High School and San Francisco State University where she majored in Biological Science.

Upon graduation she enjoyed a long career as a histologist at Highland Hospital, Oakland, California from 1959 to 1980. Florence continued her education earning additional degrees from the College of Alameda and a Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of

California in Berkeley 1999.

Everyone has dreams, and for Florence that dream involved fashion. She opened her boutique on Grand Avenue in Oakland. It was there she was able to pursue one of her many passions bringing her garments to life and “Florencia” was born!!

Later in life she went on to hold several positions for the City of Oakland including Litter Enforcement Officer, where she enjoyed working to discover who had dumped their property illegally. When Oakland closed that department, she worked as a library assistant at the MLK Branch before transferring to West Oakland Public Library and retiring in 2018. The library had been her second home among all those books.

Lady Blackburn was initiated into the Knights of St. Peter Claver in 2005, originally part of Court #121 St. Andrews-St. Joseph Catholic Church before transferring to St. Columba Court #127.

Making St. Columba her home, she served as a eucharistic minister, member of the Hope for Haiti Ministry, as well as on the scholarship committee. Ever the social butterfly, Florence enjoyed Wednesday morning church service and the Haiti White Party where she got to show off her amazing fashions. She was also a member of the Creole Heritage Center at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana, which is celebrating its Silver Jubilee.

She was preceded in death by her parents Mr. and Mrs. Percy H. Amos Sr.; older brother Percy H. Amos Jr. and her nephew Kendrick “Jerry” Miller. She is survived by her sisters Yvonne A. Miller and Lucille R. Cole; her two children, Sheila R. Payne and Dino G. Blackburn, grandchildren Pamela P. Palmer, Stephen F. Payne, Mikaela D. Blackburn, and greatgrandchildren Kyra R. Payne, Kruze Z. Payne, Olivia S. Palmer and Grant W. Palmer and the many nieces and nephews who loved her. She will be greatly missed by family and friends.

Florencia (GG), Forever our Guardian Angel!!

Memorial Service

Saturday, March 25, 2023

11:30 a.m.

St. Columba Catholic Church 6401 San Pablo Ave. Oakland, California 94608

Celebrant Father Aidan McAleenan

Final resting place St. Augustine Catholic Church Cemetery, Natchez, Louisiana

To be determined!!

Zoom link Funeral Mass for Ms. Florence Blackburn:

Time: Mar. 25, 2023, 12 p.m.

Pacific Time (US and Canada)

Join the Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84373

171098?pwd=NU9Qa2dtSDV0T

2dTVXRlOVdvWlA5dz09

Meeting ID: 843 7317 1098

Passcode: 1898

Dial by your location

+1 669 444 9171 US

Meeting ID: 843 7317 1098

Passcode: 1898

CITY OF OAKLAND REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP) FOR Cannabis Workforce Certification and On the Job Training Programs

Contract Amount: $241,071.40 Terms: 12 months

Project Description: The City is seeking an organization to develop:

(i) an equity employee certification training program to establish a pipeline of qualified prospective employees for the regulated cannabis marketplace; and

(ii) an on-the-job training referral program for equity employees at Oakland cannabis businesses, particularly cannabis manufacturers and equity-owned businesses.

Pre-Proposal Meeting: Thursday, March 30, 2023, 10:00 A.M. Pacific Time

Join Zoom Meeting link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89184386894

Proposal Submittal Deadline: Submittals are due no later than May 2, 2023 by 2:00 P.M. via iSupplier. Please log on to iSupplier to submit your proposal online before the 2:00 P.M. deadline. Please register in iSupplier at least seven days prior to submittal to avoid last minute complications. In addition, please submit an email copy of the proposal to the Greg Minor, at gminor@oaklandca.gov. Questions regarding online submittal through iSupplier must be directed to isupplier@oaklandca.gov to the attention of Carmen Rotaru.

NOTE: (1) Proposals not received at the above location by the stated deadline will be returned unopened; (2) If using a courier service, please secure guaranteed delivery to the required location and time as noted above.

Reminders:

• All who wish to participate in this RFP must register (at least 5 days prior to submittal due date) through iSupplier at (https://www.oaklandca.gov/services/register-withisupplier) to avoid last minute submittal complications and receive addenda/ updates on this RFP.

• Did not receive and invitation? Start Early with iSupplier registration. Upon completion of registration, send an email to iSupplier@oaklandca.gov listing “RFP for Automobile subrogation” as the subject and advise of an invitation to the RFP. DWES will add your business to the RFP invitation.

• Experiencing bumps when registering? Send email to isupplier@oaklandca.gov or advise DWES support staff that you need HELP to expedite registration for this RFP!

• The

• Please read Contract Boilerplate and Insurance Requirements (Schedule Q) in preparation for your success.

Contacts for Answers to Questions Regarding:

1. For answers to written emailed questions, send to: Carmen Rotaru via email at Crotaru@oaklandca.gov (510) 238-2139.

2. For iSupplier registration support, contact: isupplier@oaklandca.gov

3. Project Manager: Greg Minor via email at gminor@oaklandca.gov Asha Reed, City Clerk and Clerk of the City Council, (Friday, March 24, 2023) The City Council reserves the right to reject all proposals.

COMMENTARY: The Historical

Indictment Party in New York City and the 1st Presidential Mugshot

By Emil Guillermo

I’m still in Manhattan, performing in Oakland resident Ishmael Reed’s off-Broadway play now at Theater for the New City.

I’m not a New York tourist, I’m more like a working resident. Acting like a New Yorker.

That’s not to say I’m brash or rude, but when it comes to whether or not there’s protests over the possibility of an impending Trump indictment, most New Yorkers seem more concerned with when the cold weather is going away, not when Trump is going away, or with any repeat of Jan. 6.

And if anyone wants to “take back the government” in the name of Donald Trump, I’d like to see them take on the NYPD.

I’m actually still quite immersed as an actor in Ishmael Reed’s “The Conductor.” In Reed’s play, a fictional Indian despot’s actions impact Indian Americans who face a wave of xenophobia and are forced to flee to Canada on an “underground railroad.”

Hence, the need for a “conductor.”

Turns out everyone who is feeling some heat may need to flee the U.S.

“The Conductor” runs through March 26. Get tickets so see in person or live-streamed here:

https://theaterforthenewcity. net/shows/the-conductor-2023/

Reed wasn’t so prescient to include the possibility of a Trump indictment (or four) in a storyline but I now wonder if the twiceimpeached former president of the United States will soon need a “conductor.”

To get to Canada? After all that he’s said about Justin Trudeau?

I was thinking out loud on this issue with Asian American Studies Professor Daniel Phil Gonzales on www.amok.com (Episode 489/481).

We go straight to wondering if Trump will get convicted for any of the cases that are brewing. From minor to major, they include the hush money/Stormy Daniels/falsifying of documents case in New

Biden Visits CA Community...

Continued from page 2

turers immunity from liability.

I am determined, once again, to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines,” Biden told the Monterey Park audience.

Congresswoman Judy Chu (DCA-28), a former mayor of Monterey Park, Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis (1st District), and Sen. Alex Padilla spoke at the event preceding the president. Several members of Monterey Park’s local government and City Council attended the event.

As part of his broader strategy to tackle gun violence, Biden announced an initiative to improve federal support for survivors, victims’ and survivors’ families,

York; the voter fraud and possible racketeering case in Georgia; the Mar-a-Lago stolen presidential documents case; and possible federal charges connected to the Jan. 6 insurrection.

If Trump is ensnared in any or all of them, would he even have the courage of a Martha Stewart to don a matching orange jumpsuit? Or does he just flat out leave the country?

Gonzales says he leaves. But to where?

I think Trump has his Putin parachute ready under his left arm. And under his right arm, there’s his North Korean parachute fashioned together with love letters from Kim Jong Un.

Ah, a former president in exile because he dared to be president again?

That’s the narrative the Republicans are drumming up, as if all this is simply a political “witch hunt.” We won’t know till we see any official charges.

Republicans can opine about the legal process, but it’s another thing to intimidate the New York DA with threats of congressional investigations.

What’s worse is that law-andorder Republicans can’t see their blind spot when it comes to the respect for the rule of law when their own fearful leader is the possible perp.

Trump’s reaction was simply to go off half-cocked, not even knowing what the charges are. But most appalling is his “go to”—the call for violence.

“Protest, protest, protest,” Trump wrote in his social media posts over the weekend, prompting calls for “civil war” among his base. Trump respects the law so much, his best response to a possible indictment in New York is to throw a dictator’s tantrum.

This is a man who doesn’t understand American democracy and didn’t deserve to be president even once.

And it’s not just the GOP leaders under Trump’s spell, but even some in our communities still supporting the twice-impeached for-

first responders to gun violence, and communities affected by gun violence.

“We need to provide more mental health support for grief and trauma. And more financial assistance when a family loses the sole breadwinner or when a business has to shut down for a lengthy shooting investigation,” Biden said.

The Executive Order calls for Congress to prevent the proliferation of firearms undetectable by metal detectors by making permanent the Undetectable Firearms Act of 1988, which is currently set to expire in December 2023.

Biden also acknowledged Brandon Tsay, who disarmed the shooter, thwarting a second attack at his family’s dance studio in Alhambra. Tsay, who was Biden’s

mer pres. When it comes to Asian Americans running for president, Nikki Haley is still mum. But there’s one presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy, the anti-woke Indian American rushing to Trump’s defense.

“This will mark a dark moment in American history and will undermine public trust in our electoral system itself,” Ramaswamy said, undermining a standing criminal investigation by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

We should all be rooting for Bragg, a Harvard College and Harvard Law graduate who grew up in Harlem and knows what it’s like to be stopped by police for no good reason other than one’s race. Bragg has said his prosecutors will not be intimidated.

If Bragg’s indictment comes down this week or next, Trump will be treated both like a former president, and a common criminal. No man is above some kind of perp walk, right?

That’s never happened before in history. Will it make him more popular? That’s Chris Rock’s spin. But no democracy-loving American I know would ever vote for an indicted outlaw for president.

And once Bragg lights the wick, it should clear the way for Fulton County, Georgia DA Fani Willis, another African American with a keen sense of justice, to explode on the scene.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has decried all the politics and said he just wants to see equal justice for all. What a hoot.

We all do, especially those of us in the BIPOC community, where equal justice is too often hard to come by. Ask Tyre Nichols’ family in Memphis.

Me? I can’t wait to see the first presidential mug shot.

NOTE: I will talk about this column and other matters on “Emil Amok’s Takeout,” my micro-talk show. Occasionally Live @2p Pacific. Livestream on Facebook; my YouTube channel; and Twitter. Catch the recordings on www. amok.com.

guest at his State of the Union Address this year, met the president as he arrived at Los Angeles International Airport.

Biden’s trip comes as gun violence deaths (including all causes) are trending higher in the first three months of 2023 than the recent high in 2022, according to The Gun Violence Archive, an independent data collection and research group.

“I led the fight to ban them in 1994. The 10 years that law was in place, mass shootings went down. My Republican friends let it expire, and mass shootings tripled since then,” Biden said. “Let’s finish the job, ban assault weapons. Ban them again. Do it now. Enough. Do something. Do something big.”

Re-Fueling Jet Magazine Where Everyone Can Be ‘Beauty of the Week’

By Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire

Remember “Beauty of the Week,” Jet magazine’s famous page 43, which featured Black women college students, actors, nurses, and everyday girls in swimsuits?

Now, anyone can be a beauty of the week or even grace the cover as the iconic publication re-sets digitally and where readers and fans can go to myjetstory.com and upload their photos and create a personalized Jet cover.

“Everybody has a Jet story,” Daylon Goff, the president of Jet, said during a 30-minute interview on the National Newspaper Publishers Association daily show, Let It Be Known.

“I’m always rocking Jet merchandise, and when someone finds out what I do for a living, they immediately give me their Jet story. Unprompted.”

For Goff, that’s all the fuel he needed to help in what he calls the re-set of Jet.

“It’s super exciting for me to be able to take this on,” Goff insisted.

“When you hear ‘Beauty of the Week,’ you don’t have to even say Jet beauty of the week. It’s synonymous. I get those conversations from both men and women at least three times a week.”

Founded in 1951 by John H. Johnson, Jet proved a mainstay in primarily Black households across America.

Like Ebony, founded six years earlier, Jet chronicled Black life in America and provided a lens into the African American community that mainstream media either ignored or misrepresented.

Goff recalled the disturbing but necessary images Jet published in 1955 of Emmett Till’s body after he was lynched and tortured.

Biden Issues Another Executive Order Seeking to Curb Gun Violence

“We had to be bold because you have that full ownership and understanding of the significance of that story,” Goff related.

“Jet was to the Emmett Till story what Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook live was to George Floyd. It started a movement. It wasn’t like little Black boys and men weren’t getting killed in Mississippi in 1955, but when you saw it on those pages, you felt you had to do something.

“The same way when you saw on social media George Floyd’s murder, you had to do something about it because it wasn’t as if before that moment, Black men weren’t getting killed by the police.”

While Jet told real stories about real people, most readers began with page 43.

With the re-set, Goff said one shouldn’t expect an immediate return of the Beauty of the Week.

“It was relatable and owned by our community,” Goff explained.

“The Beauty of the Week was a college student at Fayetteville, a nurse, secretary, or actress. Relatable people that we all thought were attainable. But how can we be relevant to our audience in a world that’s different and the way we consume information and get information?”

For instance, Goff wondered what would happen if Rihanna were chosen as the first beauty.

“Then Lizzo fans could say, what about her? And if we choose Lizzo, RuPaul could say, what about me?” Goff stated.

“People would have every right to say that Jet is saying ‘I’m not beautiful.’”

Indeed, Jet was social media before Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

Going viral in pre-social media

days meant being on the cover of Jet.

Goff, whose background is brand marketing, understands that the Jet re-set is a challenging assignment.

But he’s thrilled to take it on.

“I call this being re-fueled by Jet. We can be relevant to our audience in a world that’s different, and the way we consume information and get information is different,” he stated.

“I also have to be relevant to an audience in a way that Ebony isn’t cannibalized. And we can do that. If we compare Ebony and Jet to iconic television characters, Ebony is Claire Huxtable, and Jet is Martin [Lawrence]. They both speak to the Black experience but in a different way.”

The key, Goff said, is figuring out how to keep Jet around for the next 70 or so years.

Basketball legend Charles Barkley still refers to Jet as the Black ‘bible,” Goff said, but the challenge is to ensure that a younger generation connects with the publication.

“Talking to 20 and 25-yearolds, I’m sometimes surprised that they are familiar with Jet,” Goff said.

“People never threw away Jet. They put them in boxes, and I’m sure there’s a ton in someone’s attic. You just had to hold on to them. There’s a spark from the younger generation; for me, it’s about igniting that spark.

“The great part about the next generation is that they also grew up with this computer in their pocket and can find and search for knowledge. So, we need to ensure that our iconic brands remain for years.”

By Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire

As he visited Monterey Park, California, on Tuesday, President Joe Biden lamented that every few days in the United States, the country mourns a new mass shooting.

Biden argued that daily acts of gun violence, including community violence, domestic violence, suicide, and accidental shootings, may not always make the evening news.

Still, they cut lives short and leave survivors and their communities with long-lasting physical and mental wounds.

Before the President met with the families and victims of the Star Ballroom Dance Studio shooting on January 21, which killed 11 people and injured nine others, he signed an executive order to stop gun violence and make the country’s neighborhoods safer.

Also, the President told U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to ensure that the laws already in place about background checks are followed.

Biden also told Garland to

Kia, Hyundai Under Scrutiny From Attorneys General Over Lack of Vehicle Anti-Theft Devices

By Eli Walsh Bay City News

California Attorney General Rob Bonta and nearly two dozen other attorneys general sent a letter Monday to executives with Kia America and Hyundai Motor Company over concerns that the companies have failed to include anti-theft technology in their cars.

The attorneys general argued that Kia and its parent company, Hyundai, declined to include an anti-theft device called an engine immobilizer in their vehicles that use a mechanical key rather than a push-button ignition and were sold in the U.S. between 2011 and 2022.

Engine immobilizers were standard in 96 percent of other new cars by 2015, including the same Kia and Hyundai models the companies sold in Canada and Europe, according to the attorneys general,

but were only installed in 26 percent of Kia and Hyundai models in the U.S. that same year. As a result of the vehicles not coming with an engine immobilizer installed, thefts of Kia and Hyundai vehicles have skyrocketed in recent years. Some social media users have even posted videos demonstrating how to hotwire the vehicles using a USB cord.

The attorneys general noted that thefts of Hyundai and Kia vehicles in places like Milwaukee rose by 895 cars in 2020 to 6,970 cars in 2021, according to data from the Milwaukee Police Department.

California has seen a similar spike, according to Bonta, as thefts of Hyundai and Kia cars rose by 85 percent year-over-year in 2022

clarify that part of the law that says who has to do background checks because some gun dealers might not know that they fall under that part of the law.

“We cannot accept these facts as the enduring reality of life in America,” Biden asserted.

“Instead, we must together insist that we have had enough and that we will no longer allow the interests of the gun manufacturers to win out over the safety of our

violence interventions and prevention strategies.”

Biden has taken several steps that he hoped would stop the mass shootings that have become common in the United States. Administration officials said it’s up to Congress to act.

“Few policy ideas are more popular among the American people than universal background checks, but Congress refuses to act,” a senior administration official stated.

“This move will mean fewer guns will be sold without background checks, and therefore fewer guns will end up in the hands of felons and domestic abusers.”

Meanwhile, Biden called on his cabinet to act, including educating the public on “red flag” laws and addressing firearm thefts.

Already, the President was able to get the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act through Congress.

children and nation.”

He said his administration’s policy remains that executive departments and agencies would pursue “every legally available and appropriate action to reduce gun violence.”

“Through this whole-of-government approach, my administration has made historic progress to save lives,” the President asserted.

“My administration has taken action to keep guns out of dangerous hands and especially dangerous weapons off of our streets; hold gun traffickers and rogue gun dealers accountable; fund accountable, effective community policing; and invest in community

some 4 million vehicles in an effort to prevent thefts. Hyundai has also installed an engine immobilizer in all vehicles produced since November 2021.

According to the White House, this law gives communities new tools to fight gun violence, such as better background checks for people under the age of 21, money for extreme risk protection orders and other crisis interventions, and more mental health resources to help children who have been affected by gun violence heal from the grief and trauma it has caused.

“I continue to call on Congress to take additional action to reduce gun violence, including by banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, requiring background checks for all gun sales, requiring safe storage of firearms, funding my comprehensive Safer America Plan, and expanding community violence intervention and prevention strategies,” Biden continued.

“In the meantime, my administration will continue to do all that we can, within the existing authority, to make our communities safer.”

lic safety across the country.

and have made up 38 percent of all vehicle thefts in Berkeley since the start of 2023.

“Hyundai and Kia made a decision to forgo a standard safety feature that would help protect owners’ investments, and now their customers are paying the price,” Bonta said in a statement. “It’s time for Hyundai and Kia to take responsibility for their poor decision which is hurting American families and putting public safety at risk.”

The attorneys general also argued in their letter that the lack of engine immobilizers in certain Kia and Hyundai models is now affecting Kia and Hyundai owners who have not had their cars stolen, as some car insurance providers are denying new policies for the vehicles.

Hyundai said last month that it would release a software update to

The company said Monday that it has also provided more than 40,000 theft-preventing steering wheel lock devices to more than 370 local law enforcement agencies, as some affected Kia and Hyundai vehicles are not compatible with the software update.

“Hyundai is committed to the quality and integrity of our products and plans to continue supporting the communities affected by this theft issue,” the company said in a statement, adding that all Hyundai and Kia vehicles meet federal safety standards.

“We appreciate and share the interest in addressing the rise in thefts of these vehicles,” Hyundai said in its statement.

The attorneys general called the company’s efforts to prevent vehicle thefts “long overdue and still not enough,” and argued that the company has undermined pub-

“We urge you to do everything in your power to accelerate the implementation of the software upgrade and to provide free alternative protective measures for all those owners whose cars cannot support the software upgrade,” the attorneys general said in their letter.

Along with Bonta, the top prosecutors in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, the District of Columbia and the director of the Utah Division of Consumer Protection signed the letter.

Owners of Kia and Hyundai vehicles sold between 2011 and 2022 can visit https://www.hyundaiantitheft.com for information about the software update or the need for a physical anti-theft device.

Before the President met with the families and victims of the January 21 Star Ballroom Dance Studio shooting, which killed 11 people and injured nine others, he signed an executive order to stop gun violence and make the country’s neighborhoods safer.

Niagara Movement Democratic Club Celebrates 50th Anniversary

day.”

Celebrity guests included the legendary Black Panther Party leader, Bobby Seale and actor Richard Gant.

Murrell went on to explain that Black people were one-third of Oakland’s population, yet not one elected official of Oakland or Alameda County was Black.

By Carla Thomas

The Niagara Movement Democratic Club (NMDC) celebrated their 50th Anniversary at Geoffrey’s Inner Circle on Saturday, March 18. The event raised funds for the newly created non-bipartisan Niagara Movement Foundation co-founded by lobbyist-author Virtual T. Murrell the Honorable Elihu Harris, former Oakland mayor, and founding members Sandra Simpson Fontaine, the Honorable Leo Bazile, Anita Williams, Geoffrey Pete and Robert L. Harris.

Bishop Grady L. Harris provided the invocation and the Honorable Donald R. White served as master of ceremonies. The Honorable Dezie Woods-Jones provided a posthumous tribute to Anita Williams, a founding member of the NMDC, whose memorial was held earlier in that day. Founding member of the NMDC Attorney Sandra Simpson-Fontaine also spoke

of Anita Williams’ dedication and commitment. “She worked tirelessly to move our agenda forward,” said Simpson-Fontaine.

The event also celebrated the Honorable Willie L. Brown’s 89th

birthday. Brown was unable to attend due to covid, but his daughter Susan Brown accepted an award for him. Brown’s daughter also led the audience in singing the Stevie Wonder version of “Happy Birth-

Virtual Murrell, founder and founding president of the NMDC, provided the organization’s rich history of advocacy, comradery and being a training ground for over a dozen elected officials. Murrell explained how he, in 1973, along with his friends Leo Bazile, AC Taylor and Johnnie S. Harrison formed the organization in honor of W.E.B. DuBois and William Monroe Trotter’s “Niagara Movement” that began in 1905 to end racial discrimination, segregation and establish voting rights, and equal economic and educational opportunities for African Americans.

“You’re standing on the shoulders of those that came before you,” said Murrell, founder and founding president of the Niagara Movement Democratic Club.

Murrell’s club made it their mission to encourage, support, and produce Black candidates to run for office. Their movement transformed the landscape of the city and county’s politics, resulting in the elected official representation of Black people in the region’s pol-

Virtual Murrell Writes—Memoirs of a Black Panther: In Pursuit of America’s Promise

to African American literature and the writings of Paul Lawrence Dunbar, Zora Neal Hurston, and James Baldwin was a game-changer. His professors became the prolific writers from the Black Renaissance and Abolitionist Movements rich with Black people characterizing the times from their own perspective. From W.E.B. DuBois to Ida B. Wells, Murrell was forever inspired by both domestic and international leaders of African nations such as Ghana and Senegal.

At Murrell’s book signing, many of his close friends were in attendance including Supervisor Nate Miley, Councilmember Kevin Jenkins, and former Oakland City Councilmember Leo Bazile. Murrell served as Bazile’s assistant between 1985 and 1992.

sent to war.

The student led protest was attended by 500 people with Murrell, Bobby Seale and other students, leading the way as The Soul Students Advisory Council, an organization they created to develop Black history and the Black Studies program.

As a Black Panther Party leader Murrell wore many hats within the Party as national distribution manager of the Black Panther Party’s newspaper. Murrell was often a spokesperson at multiple meetings for the Party’s Central Committee, where he advised members that there was no room for Black elitism in the Party and that the Black bourgeoise’s self-serving ways worked against the Party’s mission.

land and State Legislature, Alameda County Board of Supervisors; Mary King and Keith Carson, Alameda County Treasurer Don White, Oakland School Board representatives Sylvester Hodges, Alfreda Abbott, and Carol Tolbert, California Assemblymember Sandre Swanson, Judge Magistrate Geoffrey Carter, BART Board member, Margaret Pryor, and Peralta Community College Trustee William “Bill” Riley.

By Carla Thomas

“In Pursuit of America’s Promise: Memoirs, of a Black Panther,” by lobbyist-author Virtual Murrell, readers will journey through his years as a student activist mentored by Bobby Seale and later becoming a presidential campaign advisor to Jimmy Carter. Murrell says he wrote the book to share his life’s work to encourage others to tell their own stories and effect change in a world that requires Black people in particular to continue the legacy of achievement on the shoulders of “your ancestors before you.” His book was 11 years in the making.

On Sunday, March 19, at a book signing in the Oakland Hills, hosted by Dr. Brenda Thomas Pugh and Tillman Pugh, Murrell captured the attention of 30 guests as he spoke of the intertwined history of politics on the national and local levels.

“There came a time when as a student of political history I often wondered who the primary writers of African American history were,” said Murrell. “Upon research, I recognized that our history was written from the perspective of Anglo-Americans, which inspired me to write my own memoirs.”

For Murrell, being exposed

Guests of the book signing included civil rights icon, attorney John Burris and Dr. Roy Wilson, executive director of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Freedom Center who brought 4 students. Murrell advised the students that change takes place at the local level where policy making and creating begin. Voting and voter education were the most important touchpoints. Students at the non-voting age were tasked with organizing.

“Community organizing is one of the most powerful things you can do to promote change,” said Murrell, who with other student activists organized an anti-draft protest at the Merritt College Auditorium and felt strongly that a country (America) subjugating its African Americans to injustices and inequality, should not be drafted or

itics for the next 50 years. Out of the NMDC came political legends like Congresswoman Barbara Lee and the Honorable Elihu Harris, former mayor of Oakland. Harris joked that he trumped the Honorable Willie Brown by becoming a mayor first.

Historically, the NMDC was created at a time when political power and influence were wielded by conservative Republican William F. Knowland, publisher of the Oakland Tribune, and the former Senate Majority Leader. With the NMDC declaring political warfare on the status quo, the organization produced Oakland City Councilmembers; Wilson Riles Jr., Leo Bazile, and Dezie WoodsJones, Elihu Harris, Mayor of Oak

Fremont City Promotes District 6

Councilmember Teresa Cox to Role of Vice Mayor.

In addition to the founder and co-founders, founding members of the NMDC included Shirley Douglass, Edmund Atkins, Art Scott, Irene Scott-Murrell, Anita Wiliams, Al Roger’s, Wilson Riles Jr., Edna Tidwell, Esther Tidwell, Walter Edwards, Sandra Simpson Fontaine, Beverly Brown Spelman, Joyce Wilkerson, Barbara Lee, Michael Penn, William “Bill” Riley, Geoffrey Carter, and Elihu Harris.

Alameda County Board of Supervisors Chairman Nate Miley commended the NMDC with a resolution from the Board of Supervisors, and Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao presented a “Niagara

Oakland Tech Girls Basketball Team...

Continued from page 1

not write it better.”

to watch the games and cheer on his daughter, Jhai Johnson, who plays for Tech. He was beaming with pride after Tech sealed the victory.

Recently, Murrell and his colleagues founded the Niagara Movement Foundation. The organization was created to educate citizens and the next generation of leaders on public policy, public service, voting, and voter registration. “Education is key but voting and voter education is where informed voters make a difference in any political landscape,” said Murrell.

Just as Murrell’s radical days of the 60s and 70s, he has spent a lifetime working to improve the quality of life for African Americans “as we continue to seek political power through the power of voting and registering voters.”

For more information visit: www.VirtualMurrell.com

“It’s us. It’s not what the other team is doing,” said head coach Leroy Hurt about how his team accomplished their goal. “And I’m just so proud of these kids.

You guys just don’t know. It was an emotional roller coaster. Every game was a huge game…And to win Division 1—I didn’t see it coming. I just knew we were going to be a tough out. And if we lost, some team was going to have to come beat us.”

Oakland had the biggest and loudest contingent of fans, and at one point during the Oakland Tech game, the fans were doing their signature “O.T.” chant, and even got fans from Livermore — who were there to cheer on Granada High in a later game — to join in the chant.

Oakland Tech graduate and former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Josh Johnson sat courtside

“This is a proud father moment. This is a blessing from God to be able to watch your child play this game, and see her get this experience...But also, this is for Oakland, this is huge. So, to see us getting back to the prestige we belong to, this is what we deserve,” Johnson said.

Board of Education District 1 Director Benjamin (Sam) Davis was thrilled to attend. “I had such a blast, after a heavy week of work, to get to watch these two (Oakland High Boys Basketball team won the state championship the same night), top notch teams play from courtside was unforgettable… They were amazing wins. They extended the dynasty of our Bulldogs Girls team, so meaningful for seniors who won titles through the pandemic and brought it home yet again.”

Lobbyist/Author Virtual T. Murrell, Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price, Black Panther Party legend, Bobby Seale, and Post News Group publisher Paul Cobb. Photo by Carla Thomas.

Niagra Founder and Founding Members: On the far left is Supervisor Nate Miley, Former Councilmember Leo Bazile, Sandra SimpsonFontaine, behind her is Art Scott, Former Mayor Elihu Harris, Virtual Murrell and Former Peralta Trustee Bill Riley. Photo, Jonathan Fitness Jones

Mayor Sheng Thao congratulated Geoffrey Pete for his years of service as President of the Niagara Movement Democratic Club and as longtime business owner that deserves Oakland’s support. Photo by jonathanfitnessjones.

“Memoirs of a Black Panther: In Pursuit of America’s Promise,” written by lobbyist and author Virtual Murrell.

This is the first African American Women to hold this position in the 70-year history of Fremont. Teresa Cox is a former Ohlone College Trustee, She was elected District 6 Councilmember in 2020.

Photos: (top right) Teresa Cox behind new Placard (top left) Son David Cox Teresa Cox Daughter Jackie Cox (bottom left) Councilmember Desrie Campbell with Vice Mayor Teresa Cox. Photos by Auintard Henderson

All the late nights, homework till two. Challenging yourself at every turn. Believing in your abilities, your uniqueness, your strength. Inspiring those around you with your determination, faith and hope. Following your heart, and leading the way with passion and perseverance. Offering support, and accepting it, too, from your family, friends and community. Striving to make the world better. And knowing that your dreams will soon be within reach at UCLA .

Congratulations on being accepted to the #1 public university in the nation. Out of nearly 170,000 applicants, the most in the country, you stood out. And did Oakland proud. You’re a Bruin through and through. You belong here. And we can’t wait to welcome you.