The Contra Costa Pulse Summer 2024 Edition

Antioch High Junior Wins Youth of the Year Award See Pg. 11

Community News, Youth Voices

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Summer 2024

County Opens Supportive Housing Complex for Unhoused, Disabled Adults

ANA TELLEZ-WITRAGO

“This project connects people in desperate need with quality housing and services to improve their health,” Supervisor John Gioia said at a press conference July 13 for the opening of a permanent supportive housing complex in San Pablo.

BY ANA TELLEZ-WITRAGO

C

ontra Costa County is set to launch a significant initiative in its ongoing battle against homelessness with the opening of El Portal Place, a permanent supportive housing complex slated to welcome chronically homeless residents — people who are disabled and have been unhoused for more than a year — and their pets.

Located at 2555 El Portal Drive in San Pablo, the complex will offer 54 microunit apartments tailored to homeless adults whom the county's coordinated entry system has already identified and selected due to their need for wraparound services.

"This project connects people in desperate need with quality housing and services to improve their health," said Contra Costa County Supervisor John Gioia, whose district encompasses San Pablo, at a press conference for the July

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13 grand opening.

This is the county's first facility explicitly designed to support individuals meeting federal chronic homelessness criteria. These people frequently encounter difficulties maintaining independent permanent housing due to disabilities and prolonged homelessness.

Residents are expected to move into their new housing in November.

Each unit has amenities such as air conditioning and heating, a kitchenette, an accessible bathroom and a workspace.

The facility also has communal spaces, including a community room, courtyard and dog park.

Hope Solutions, in partnership with the county health department, will oversee round-the-clock wrap-around services, offering financial and employment assistance, healthcare navigation, and support for mental health and substance abuse issues.

The complex will accommodate pets, and several units are designed

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for couples. "This project exemplifies equity and promotes improved health outcomes for our residents," said Gioia.

He acknowledged strong collaboration with the city of San Pablo and continued support from Gov. Gavin Newsom.

San Pablo Mayor Patricia Ponce also highlighted the collaborative effort that transformed a once-vacant building and lot into this permanent supportive housing facility, emphasizing the significant role played by the state, county, city and construction teams.

“Every partnership, collaboration, and innovative solution is critical as we navigate this profound challenge," said Anna Roth, chief executive officer of Contra Costa Health.

El Portal Place follows the successful establishment of Delta Landing in Pittsburg in 2022, making it the second Homekey facility in Contra Costa County. "We are mindful of those relying on projects like this to regain the opportunity to live their fullest lives,"

In Pictures: ‘Bringing People Together’: Hercules Dance Studio Hosts First Production See Pg. 8

Roth said.

Funding for El Portal Place totals $21.2 million, with $5.2 million coming from Contra Costa's Measure X, a 1/2-cent sales tax approved by county voters in 2020, and an additional $16 million grant from the California Homekey program According to the county's latest pointin-time survey, conducted in January, an estimated 2,843 people experienced homelessness on a given night, reflecting a 19% increase from the previous year.

During the same period, the county has expanded its daily capacity of temporary and permanent housing beds by 26%. As tenants prepare to move in later this year, El Portal Place symbolizes hope, stability and progress in the ongoing effort to combat homelessness. Like the once-vacant building that is now repurposed, this project offers individuals not only a home but also a place to rebuild their lives and give themselves new purpose. •

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Summer 2024

Panel Discusses Building Bridges in a Time of Increased Hate and Polarization

BY MICHAEL J. FITZGERALD AND DANIELLE PARENTEAU-DECKER

A

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Staff Publisher Malcolm Marshall Editor Danielle Parenteau-Decker

Contributors Michael J. Fitzgerald America Leon Joe Porrello Samantha Kennedy Anushka Devanathan Ana Tellez-Witargo Denis Perez-Bravo Joseph Marshall Ximena Loeza

Advisors Vernon Whitmore Sandy Close Michael J. Fitzgerald

The Contra Costa Pulse is a community media project founded by New America Media, focusing on local and health news coverage in West and East Contra Costa County.

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panel of community activists, organizers and journalists on May 28 discussed how to build bridges among people and groups in this era of polarization and hate.

The discussion was part of the Contra Costa Pulse’s Stop the Hate series about groups and individuals working to lessen tensions and prevent hate incidents and crimes.

The panel met via Zoom for an informal, freewheeling conversation about division and unity across California.

“We are hosting this community discussion to hear from young people about how racism, hate speech and intolerance have impacted them, their families and their communities,” Pulse publisher Malcolm Marshall said. Getting ideas on how to bring people together across racial lines was also a major motive for the gathering.

Panelists discussed how current events, including the Israel-Hamas war, have stoked hate in their communities.

“The Israel-Hamas conflict has just brought up so much — just like a different kind of world of hate,” said Jazmin Alvarado Villegas, news editor of The Collegian, the student newspaper at Fresno State.

Samira Hassan, a community activist, poet and aspiring journalist in the City Heights area of San Diego, said Islamophobia has become “a common issue” in her community.

Fe Aguilar, a writer for Voices of

Monterey Bay, described an “incident of Islamophobia” in which a white man allegedly harassed and assaulted two “visibly Muslim” girls under 21 who had written “Free Gaza” on a sand dune on which people often write messages.

“The one he specifically assaulted and put his hands on was 13 years old,” she said. And the man has accused the girls of “lying, even though it’s on video” and called them “Hamas supporters, terrorist supporters.”

“It was just really awful to see the way that he tried to demonize them and paint himself, a grown man who’s at least 40 years old, as a victim,” she said.

Aguilar also said her hometown of Salinas is “so isolated” with a population that is 90% Mexican, which drives prejudice.

“We’re very ignorant about other cultures. People are extremely racist, even to other Mexicans — if you’re Indigenous Mexican, other Mexicans will be just awful to them,” she said. “They still speak their languages, which is incredible, and they’re targeted for that. They’re called names. They’re called awful things, like the most racist things.”

Alvarado Villegas said there are parts of Fresno where “people look at you weird” if you speak Spanish or have brown skin, and “it’s always been like that.”

Ana Tellez-Witrago of Richmond and Carmen Gonzalez of Los Angeles said hate from politicians has given credence to hate among regular people.

Gonzalez, a reporter for Boyle Heights Beat, said her community is still feeling the effects of the 2022 incident in which three L.A. City Council members and a union leader were caught on leaked audio

saying racist and otherwise disparaging things about Black, Indigenous, Armenian, Jewish and gay people.

One of those four people still holds their position of power: council member Kevin de León.

“Even President Joe Biden said that he should resign, and he didn’t,” Gonzalez said. “Since he didn’t step down, he was removed from all the committees.”

That meant that “this poor, low-income community didn’t have representation,” she continued, referring to Boyle Heights, which de León represents.

She connected the scandal to an incident in which someone told her mother, who only speaks Spanish, to speak English “because we’re in America.”

“When you have representatives that allows this type of conversations to happen and speak so freely like this and then don’t take accountability, then you have this,” Gonzalez said.

Tellez-Witrago said the political climate makes her worry most for LGBTQ+ people and immigrants.

Tellez-Witrago, a Pulse reporter, pointed to the hundreds of pieces of antiLGBTQ+ legislation introduced or passed across the U.S. “And with that has come an increase in hate crimes towards them” as well as “violence that has happened towards our trans community because of folks that have a national platform” to spread hate.

Even living in a diverse community, she said she fears that the anti-immigrant rhetoric she hears in political campaigns — coupled with a lack of resources — will create a feeling among people that “we can’t share anymore.”

Other panelists also spoke about how See Hate, pg. 6

San Pablo to Spend More on Controversial ‘Cop Campus’

BY SAMANTHA KENNEDY

O

pposition to San Pablo’s approved multi-million police headquarters and training facility has led to a few protests, but there was barely a peep when the San Pablo City Council approved another chunk of money for the site.

A reappropriation of $76,000 in unspent American Rescue Plan Act funds for facility technological expenses and a $729,000 furniture package was unanimously approved at the July 10 meeting as part of the project’s $44 million price tag. The ARPA funding is leftover from a 2022 allocation for broadband, fiber and wireless infrastructure projects.

The San Pablo City Council did not plan to discuss the funding, instead placing the item on the consent calendar for a single vote without discussion among council members.

“I think you don’t want to hear from the community anymore,” said Janet Pottier, the only speaker during public comment for the consent calendar. “I think it was your fear of the people who come now and then that they were going to disrupt the meeting, but that is their right and they should have enough time to know

(about actions being taken).”

Council members Abel Pineda and Elizabeth Pabon-Alvarado appeared hesitant before voting to support the funding.

“It maybe would have been good to also include this in a future meeting,” said Pineda.

San Pablo City Council meetings are regularly scheduled for the first and third Mondays of each month at 6 p.m., but the special meeting, which was primarily for a housing policy workshop and advertised by the city of San Pablo as such, took place at 5 p.m. on a Wednesday.

As recently as July 1, local activists have organized events to protest the construction of the facility that they call a “cop campus” — a two-story, 42,000-square-foot facility with a 20-lane gun range that is planned to double as a regional training facility — and have criticized its cost, potential harm on residents and lack of transparency of the project and police department.

Two years after building a new police headquarters and training facility, plans for the new regional training facility were released in 2021, showing nearly $30 million in funding from bonds and community support, according to a 2021 public safety survey of 300 residents.

Reporting by Bay City News showed that respondents were not entirely representative of San Pablo’s population, including an underrepresentation of Hispanic residents.

Those polled in the 2021 public safety survey largely opposed the ongoing Defund the Police movement, which looked to shift funds from police departments to other services and acted as some of the foundation for opposition to San Pablo’s police facility.

“Cop Cities are a push to militarize the police department and arm and train police on how to repress our communities,” a May press release put out by the Anti-Police Terror Project to oppose San Pablo’s facility said. “Basically creating military bases for the police.

Historically, police do not keep us safe, yet there are Sixty-nine cop cities being built across the USA.” Despite criticism, supporters say the project will boost the local economy by attracting outside agencies to city businesses during training, create workforce opportunities for Contra Costa College students, and support mental health services already provided by the county.

Construction is expected to be completed in 2025. •

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Summer 2024

Gun Violence Needs ‘Public Health Approach’ INTERVIEW • DR. JOSEPH MARSHALL

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ditor’s note: The U.S. surgeon general in June declared gun violence a public health crisis, urging action on policy, research and mental health resources for victims of gun violence to address the escalating epidemic.

Dr. Garen Wintemute at UC Davis is an emergency medicine physician and director of the Violence Prevention Research Program and its Firearm Violence Research Center. He discussed the surgeon general’s report with Dr. Joseph Marshall and the Street Soldiers Radio team June 30 on 106.1 KMEL. The interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

Dr. Joseph Marshall: What is the significance of this report, specifically saying gun violence is a public health problem?

Dr. Garen Wintemute: The smartest thing that was ever said about violence being a public health problem came from the head of the CDC, Dr. David Satcher, 30 years ago, when he said: If violence isn't a health problem, then why are all these people dying from it? It's just that simple. What matters is that the highestranking physician in the country has said what we've all known and lived. But it matters when the person at the top says that this is a problem of a specific type, and why a public health problem.

Why that matters is we have lots of experience in dealing with public health problems. And a lot of that experience is transferable to gun violence.

JM: It happens so often that how many tears can you shed, right? Would you say that people are becoming numb? Is that what you've seen?

GW: That is not what I've seen. People haven't given up. It's not that people don't care. People aren't sure what to do. They don't know what works. What they see is their friends, neighbors, loved ones, dying or being injured, whether by homicide or suicide. It touches them in their neighborhoods. More than half of adults in the United States have a direct personal experience with gun violence.

Watching Sideshows Could Become a Crime in Antioch

BY SAMANTHA KENNEDY

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PHOTO BY CHIP VINCENT ON UNSPLASH

It's everybody's problem.

JM: How much does it take for something to be named a public health crisis? It seems obvious gun violence is killing folks like crazy, so why does it take so long?

GW: Researchers were publishing articles calling gun violence a public health problem in the 1970s. It has taken us 50 years for the surgeon general to call firearm violence a public health problem.

For 50 years, we haven't, at the policy level, been willing to acknowledge the obvious. Because once you acknowledge the obvious, you have to do something about it, or, one hopes you'll do something about it, which, again, is what the surgeon general's report is trying to drum up some impetus for. Without question, politics has played a role in this not being acknowledged sooner.

JM: When you say certain steps can be taken because this is now declared a public health problem, you intimated that we know how to deal with public health problem, therefore we should put some of these steps into place.

What could some of those things be?

GW: Firearms have become the leading cause of death for children and adults.

That has happened for two reasons.

One is that the rate of death from gun violence among children and youth has been going up for a decade. But the main reason is that what was the No. 1 cause of death, motor vehicle death, has plummeted. That happened in large part because, 60 years ago, we took on motor vehicle death as a public health problem, and we implemented a bunch of strategies. Some of them worked great; some of them didn't work so well. But 60 years later, motor vehicle deaths are a mere fraction of what they were. We deliberately chose, until now, not to take that approach with firearm violence, and we're paying the price.

One of the things at the top of the list is community-based or hospital-based violence interrupter programs. A lot of violence is retaliatory. A lot of violence arises from a relatively small number of people in any community. If you know who those people are, it's possible to interrupt the cycle of violence. We've been seeing success on this front for 30 years now.

Identifying the people most at risk and doing something to reduce their risk works. It's true for homicide. It's true for infectious diseases. It's true for motor vehicles. It's the public health approach.

JM: And maybe a report like this will See Guns, pg. 6

onths after rejecting a similar ordinance due to concerns about abuse of police discretion, the Antioch City Council on June 25 moved forward with an ordinance that would criminalize spectators, organizers and advertisers of sideshows. Council members say a solution for the more frequent, more dangerous sideshows outweighs criticisms.

The ordinance would mean those found guilty of spectating, organizing or advertising a sideshow could be fined $1,000, jailed for six months or both.

Council passed the first reading of the ordinance 4-0 at the meeting, with council member Tamisha Torres-Walker absent. Another vote, expected in July, is required to make the ordinance official.

If that happens, it would go into effect 30 days later.

“Let’s not let perfection be the enemy of progress,” said Mayor Lamar Hernandez-Thorpe, who previously called an ordinance targeting spectators punitive but was in favor of both draft ordinances presented at the meeting.

Previously proposed ordinances targeting sideshow participants, including spectators, have been rejected by council members for being too broad and not being strong enough, according to the accompanying staff report.

Council members at the Nov. 14 meeting last year directed staff not to criminalize spectators in a proposed ordinance and instead focus on organizers and advertisers. Council failed to adopt that ordinance in March because they felt it wasn’t enough to have a meaningful impact on sideshow activity.

In an attempt to move along an issue that has been delayed due to flipflopping stances, two ordinances were presented to council members June 25 — one including the criminalization of spectators and one not.

Language criminalizing spectators has been central to criticism by residents and some council members, with many critics believing “spectator” was too broadly defined and meant officer discretion could be abused to target bystanders trapped by sideshows.

The ordinance currently defines “spectator” as “any individual who is present at an illegal motor vehicle sideshow, speed contest, or exhibition of speed, or at a location where preparations are being made for such activities for the purpose of viewing, observing, watching or witnessing the event.”

Council member Michael Barbanica, a retired police officer, disagreed with the idea that police officers would be unable to tell the difference between active participants and those simply trapped by the sideshow activity.

To determine if a suspected sideshow spectator committed a violation, the proposed ordinance language says circumstances including time of day, if the individual drove or was otherwise transported to the area and their conduct “in relation to any individual or group present at the scene” would be considered.

Wilson agreed that “spectator” was too broadly defined but felt it was necessary to move forward with the See Antioch, pg. 6

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Summer 2024

Richmond Celebrates a Decade of Pride

Cesar Zepeda, left, is the first openly gay man on the Richmond City Council and a founding member of Richmond Rainbow Pride, which this June hosted its 10th annual celebration and first Pride parade.

STORY AND PHOTOS • DENIS PEREZ-BRAVO

T

he local LGBTQ+ community and allies celebrated the 10th annual Richmond Rainbow Pride event June 2 with the city’s first Pride Parade.

People marched from Nicholl Park to Civic Center Plaza with colorful banners, bubbles, music and bikes.

Then, they congregated at the stairs of City Hall where pride flags waved in the front of the main doors.

“Even during the pandemic we did online pride because we were not going to let anything stop us,” Richmond Rainbow Pride co-founder Jamin Pursell said. He also expressed his admiration for co-founder Cesar Zepeda, a former RRP president and now the first openly gay male Richmond City Council member.

“Thank you all for being here today, 10 years later.

And I hope that we get to build another 10 years and 10 years from that,” Zepeda said. “Let’s not leave anyone out. Let’s uplift each other as much as we can.”

Before a lineup of performers, the pride flag was raised as attendees cheered. Afterwards came a blessing from the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, an LGBTQI organization mirroring nun-hood practices.

Around the Civic Center Plaza an array of organizations had tables displaying their services. And taqueria Tacos El Chino served Mexican dishes like ceviche, tacos and tortas.

Richmond Rainbow Pride was formed in 2014 when community members voiced their support for Jovanka Beckles, the first openly gay person on Richmond City

Members and allies of the LGBTQ+ community congregated at Civic Center Plaza after the June 2 parade.

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Council, after repeated verbal attacks targeted her for her sexual orientation.

“It was not always fun to stand up for who I am and standing up for my community,” said Beckles, now an AC transit board member.

The community support led to the first Richmond Rainbow Pride event in 2015.

“In 2014, after four years of seeing folks come up with their homophobic language and vitriolic language and hate speech, the community came out and said, OK, we’ve had enough,” Beckles said. “But in celebrating pride in Richmond, y’all, it really shows who we are as a community. And we are beautiful. We are resilient, we are brave and courageous.” •

Community organizations such as Urban Tilth staffed booths at the Pride celebration displaying their services.

Community News, Youth Voices

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Summer 2024

AC Transit board member Jovanka Beckles faced "homophobic language and vitriolic language and hate speech" as the first openly gay Richmond City Council member.

Community support for Jovanka Beckles led to the creation of Richmond Rainbow Pride in 2014 and its first Pride celebration in 2015.

Richmond's first openly gay male and female City Council members — Cesar Zepeda, left, and Jovanka Beckles, right — shared the stage and addressed the crowd.

"We are beautiful. We are resilient. We are brave and courageous," said Jovanka Beckles.

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Summer 2024

This Teacher Changed How I See Government, History and My Future COMMENTARY • AMERICA LEON

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istory courses had always seemed so bland to me — my inability to memorize dates and events made World History and AP United States History borderline unbearable stressors during high school. And the years I spent in middle school writing research papers for history competitions were not something I particularly enjoyed.

So, throughout high school, I turned to the sciences and visualized a STEM-focused future for myself, spending my summers doing research internships and the school year in science-related clubs. Eventually, I decided I wanted to pursue a career in medicine. “I want to be a doctor,” I insisted. I repeated that statement to every teacher when they asked about my future career goals. My aspiration received praise and excitement.

Pursuing a career in STEM meant I was smart. It meant job security. It meant success. This rigid vision of my future shifted when I entered my AP Government class during my senior year of high school.

Mr. Gagen had worked at Making Waves Academy for 15 years, teaching both of my older siblings before me. My siblings spoke about his class fondly, but still, I felt unsure of what to expect and feared it would be another overwhelming, tedious and dull history course. I anticipated that the content of the course itself would be dense, and I braced myself for the extensive reading, writing and testing it would entail. AP courses revolved around preparing for the AP exam, meaning memorization, which was not my strong suit, was imperative to doing well.

But the structure of the course and the way Mr. Gagen guided us through every concept and unit was unique. While we learned about the structure of the U.S. government, read Supreme Court case briefs, and developed an understanding of politics, Mr. Gagen

(

Learning to analyze Supreme Court cases in a real-world context had a significant impact on the author. (Photo by Claire Anderson on Unsplash)

emphasized that the content we learned in this course went beyond trying to perform well on an exam. We were entering adulthood, and in 2024, we would all be voting in a presidential election for the first time.

Throughout the year, he encouraged peer collaboration through various exercises that allowed us to understand how different governmental and political systems functioned. He used personal anecdotes to help us understand the significance of political participation, the value of our vote, and some of our most fundamental rights. He encouraged us to be critical of politicians and the longstanding systems and barriers perpetuating voter suppression. He facilitated class discussions that enabled us to analyze Supreme Court cases, historical events and additional AP Government concepts in the context of real-world issues. He hosted guest speakers, including a Freedom Rider who recounted their contribution to one of the most significant non-violent civil rights movements in history.

In the wake of immense political turmoil and global

Antioch...

Guns...

Continued from page 3

Continued from page 2

ordinance.

Council member Lori Ogorchock had different criticisms of the ordinance, suggesting harsher penalties for violators such as increasing fines and impounding cars as evidence to prevent further sideshow activity. Ogorchock mentioned the San Joaquin County Sheriff ’s Department’s seizure of vehicles — nearly 90 cars — at a Stockton sideshow in February.

Her attempt to include harsher penalties failed due to additional research that would prolong the ordinance’s adoption.

• Voices, Youth

spur more of that.

Community Media

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Fillmoe Mike: What do you have to say to people that say guns don't kill people; stupid people with guns kill people?

GW: I've heard that statement in one form or another my entire career.

Technology makes a difference.

Americans are not a uniquely violent society. If you look at our rates of interpersonal violence, and you compare them to other wealthy industrialized countries, we're right in the middle.

If you look at homicide, we are off the charts. The difference is not that we are more violent; it's that we have unique access to a technology that changes the outcome of violence.

I ask myself of people who do a lot of violence and who see violence as a way to solve problems: How many other ways to solve problems do they know? What did they learn growing up at home? What did they learn in school? What did they learn from their peers? Did they learn how to negotiate? Did they learn how to walk away with their head held up?

Or did they basically learn one way to solve a problem? So part of the approach is to teach people other ways to solve problems. •

crises, the Supreme Court overturning landmark cases and depriving women of their bodily autonomy, and other authorities banning books and ethnic studies, among other blatant attempts at taking away some of our most fundamental rights, an understanding of government and politics is critical. Despite my prior disinterest in history, with the guidance of Mr. Gagen, I realized how valuable political knowledge and historical awareness are to dismantling oppressive governmental systems and advocating for one’s rights.

At the end of the year, I was pleased to find out that I had passed the AP exam and earned an A in the class. But beyond academics, the enthusiasm and wealth of knowledge with which Mr. Gagen approached teaching introduced me to a side of learning previously unbeknownst to me, fostering my interest in political philosophy and social justice, motivating me to pursue a career in civil rights law, and transforming history from an unbearable stressor into a fascinating avenue for creating change and imagining a more just future. •

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Summer 2024

‘License to Hate’: Political Leaders, Misinformation Key Contributors to Bigotry, Veteran Journalist Says

BY JOE PORRELLO

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ditor’s note: The Eradicate Hate Global Summit began in 2021 in response to the mass shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue. Last year, The CC Pulse was there for the first time in service of our Stop the Hate coverage.

PITTSBURGH — Hate will persist as long as public officials are not held accountable, according to awardwinning journalist Jeff Pegues, chief national affairs and justice correspondent for CBS News.

Pegues offered this observation and a host of others about hate and hate crimes while speaking at the Eradicate Hate Global Summit in Pittsburgh last September.

The journalist has covered many tragic events rooted in bigotry over roughly three decades. His on-theground reporting helped earned him three Emmys and an award for excellence from the Society of Professional Journalists. He has also written several books, including “Black and Blue,” which highlights the divide between law enforcement and Black Americans.

“As someone who spent his adult life observing people, covering really difficult stories, someone who’s lived all over the world, I’ve seen a lot, and most of it has been good,” he said. He lived on three continents by the time he was a teenager, learning quickly, as he says, that America is not just baseball and cartoons.

Pegues’ parents were activists living in the U.S. South during the Jim Crow era. The stories of what they endured resonated with their son. His grandmother’s cousin was friends with Rosa Parks. As a 16-year-old Morehouse University student, his father protested with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Things have not changed that much, says Pegues. He compared current issues with hate speech and violent racism to what his parents went through prior to the civil rights movement.

“How is it that we’ve come so far but still have so far to go? How is it that, in some ways, history is repeating itself?” he said. “I saw some people standing outside a synagogue. They were proudly holding up swastikas; they didn’t have their faces covered. How in the world is this happening in this day in age that people think it’s OK to do that?”

Sixty years goes by faster than one might think, said Pegues.

“For some, it might seem like 100 years ago, but it’s not, and it’s still fresh in the minds of millions of Americans: the stories of the evils of slavery, the heroes of the civil rights struggle, the survivors of the Holocaust.”

Bold bigotry is happening nationwide, said Pegues.

“More people need to be talking about it — and we as journalists need to be doing more about it,” he said. “To change what has become a culture of hate among some communities across the globe and here in the U.S., we’re all going to have to roll up our sleeves; we’re going to have to work hard to change this narrative.”

CBS News correspondent Jeff Pegues was one of the keynote speakers at the third annual Eradicate Hate Global Summit.

(Screenshot captured by Danielle Parenteau-Decker / The CC Pulse)

According to Pegues, emails from the U.S. Department of Justice often go unanswered at CBS. “And a lot of those emails from the DOJ pertain to hate crimes,” he said. “While you watch TV and you see all these hate crimes, there are many more happening across the country — some of which do not get reported.”

According to FBI hate crime data, 11,288 single-bias incidents involving 13,278 victims were recorded in 2022. Over half of the incidents were race-based and over half of offenders were white.

“What we’ve seen throughout the history of this country is that you have this hate in the community and it grows, and it can lead to violence,” said Pegues.

He pointed to a cycle that begins with hate crime massacres leading to similar attacks being carried out by “copycats.” These add “perverse fuel to those already filled with a combination of rage, hate, and access to high-power firearms.”

For bigotry-based violence and extremism to decrease, Pegues says accurate reporting must be done on hate crimes as well as the people creating and enforcing laws.

“It’s going to take a continued march forward to get the truth out, to make sure that misinformation doesn’t run rampant,” he said.

Holding public officials accountable, Pegues says, is the reason he became a journalist in the first place.

“What I like to tell people… is when you see me coming, you know it’s not a good sign,” he said, referring to potential interviewees. “I observe these politicians and law enforcement, and what I see is the kind of thing I haven’t seen before in my 30-year career: people just blatantly lying about what’s going on and not being held accountable.”

Pegues says many government officials try to help themselves by attacking or trying to diminish certain institutions.

“We’ve seen politicians doing their best to spread misinformation and what has become clear to me is the strategy behind it: They want to stir people up; they want to get people to look away from the real problems,” he said. “We have to do better, all of us, but especially the politicians who take what I think is the easy road to victory by dividing people or intentionally turning back the clock.”

Part of the reason for rising hate, Pegues believes,

is government officials misinterpreting the First Amendment.

“People have been given a license to hate because some political leaders have said, ‘Hey, it’s wrong to be politically correct… just say what’s on your mind’. While that sounds like freedom of speech, it’s actually a lack of respect for others,” he said.

The part voters play in the reduction of hate is critical.

“If you want to see a change in hate crimes going down rather than up, this presidential season that’s upcoming, think about that. Think about what leaders locally, leaders on school boards, leaders in Congress, leaders in the oval office are saying,” he said.

Voters need to be given accurate information on candidates and issues, Pegues says, something not often the case.

“What concerns me is that there’s still too many people — and some of them really intelligent people — who take this misinformation and they ingest it, and you can’t say anything to change their minds,” he said.

According to Pegues, overcoming hate crimes begins with proper leadership.

“Unless you have people at the top, at all levels talking about these issues as they are, then we’ll continue to see these numbers go in the wrong direction,” he said.

Focusing on what binds us together, Pegues noted, will enable change for the better.

“This country has always been a melting pot where people come together from different cultural backgrounds and change things, innovate,” he said. “No matter where you come from… the thing we all share is that desire for our families to do better, for generations of our family to progress.”

This resource is supported in whole or in part by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the California State Library in partnership with the California Department of Social Services and the California Commission on Asian and Pacific Islander American Affairs as part of the Stop the Hate program. To report a hate incident or hate crime and get support, go to cavshate.org. •

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‘Bringing People Together’: Herecules Dance Studio Hosts First Production

LGNDS Studios dancers perform in “Dance to the Future” at De Anza High on May 19.

STORY AND PHOTOS JOE PORRELLO

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s a 10-year-old dancer, Connor Cu became inspired by studios he went to and performers he met. As a 25-year-old, he is now inspiring and guiding other young dancers at his Hercules-based studio, LGNDS, which stands for Learn, Grow, Nurture, Dance, Seek.

“There aren’t a ton of hip-hop studios in this area, so it’s nice to be able to provide that service,” he said.

Opening LGNDS with 12 members in July of 2022, the studio now has 85 dancers. On May 19, Cu — with the help of his family — presented his first stage production. Outgrowing its usual performing space at LGNDS, which allows a maximum 100 occupants, the show held at De Anza High drew over 250 attendees.

“This is a milestone… It’s kind of surreal,” said Cu’s mother, Bernadette Todd, who chose and purchased

costumes for the performance. “I don’t know how we got here, but we’re so happy for all the support.” The show, titled Dance to the Future — an ode to the popular movie trilogy “Back to the Future” — featured children of all ages performing to music from varying decades.

Accompanying the 13 dances were video compilations from different movies and music videos, as well as a woven-in storyline that sees a young Marty McFly go back in time seeking dance skills to gain confidence asking a girl to the school dance. Cu’s father, Jeff Todd, wrote the show’s script and played Doc Brown — who helps McFly travel to the past and back again.

Todd’s son Riley played a school bully that picked on a few attendance members, including Golden State Warriors TV announcer Kelenna Azuibuke. Jeff and Bernadette Todd co-own the Hercules tea shop where Azuibuke launched a gourmet cornbread line earlier this year.

LGNDS Studios owner Connor Cu speaks about his teaching journey after the show, thanking those in attendance for supporting him and his dancers.

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“It’s really a family affair,” said Bernadette Todd.

That familial feel extended to the dancers’ parents, who switched off volunteering at the show between the first and second performance of the one-and-a-half-hour acts.

“It takes a village,” she said. “It couldn’t be done without the parents.”

Some parents, including Bernadette, even surprised their kids by putting on their own 1990s-themed dance.

Following the show, video was shown of the timeline from Cu ordering the first LGNDS storefront banner and initially seeing the location’s unfinished interior to a packed room of practicing young dancers in a fully equipped studio.

Cu noted the camaraderie in his line of work is what most fulfills him.

“More than dancing, I just care about community and bringing people together; dance is just a vessel,” he said.•

The “Mini Disco” takes center stage for a throwback dance performance with kids dressed as characters from 1977’s “Saturday Night Fever.”

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Over 100 kids took the stage May 19 at De Anza High, as additional dancers Cu teaches at other studios and four members of the Golden State Warriors Junior Jam Squad, not pictured, also performed.

No two dances were alike in Dance To The Future, as each evoked a different generational vibe.

LGNDS Studios dancers take one last bow after their second and final performance of “Dance To The Future” on May 19.

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Antioch High Junior Wins Youth of the Year Award

BY JOE PORRELLO

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ifita Grewe — already student body president as a junior at Antioch High and a four-sport athlete — won the Antioch Youth of the Year Award in February.

Known to most as “Fita,” Grewe moved to Antioch from East Palo Alto in 2016 after being born in Texas.

She joined the basketball team in sixth grade, something she points to as part of the root of her success. One of her coaches then, Ashley Garcia, is now Antioch High’s physical education teacher. She still coaches Grewe in basketball and flag football as well.

Grewe credits Garcia with inspiring her to play other sports.

“It kind of drove me to be more active and stay active, and now I just love the game of basketball, the game of football, the game of softball, and the game of volleyball,” said Grewe.

A power forward and center, she said basketball is her favorite sport to play. When it comes to watching, she puts football above the rest and is an avid San Francisco 49ers fan.

Her involvement with student government, she noted, also stems from a coach on her middle school basketball team, Nick Wisely — who is now a leadership teacher and head softball coach at Antioch High.

“He really saw the potential in me,” Grewe said. “I knew a lot of the kids in school, and I just felt like I was a natural-born leader, so being able to put my characteristics into use is always a good thing.”

Despite her self-confidence, Grewe doesn’t take the award for granted.

“I definitely feel like it’s an honor,” she said. “The happiness it brought me was great, and it was kind of a

Port Chicago 50 Exonerated on 80th Anniversary of Disaster That Killed 320

BY TONY HICKS | BAY CITY NEWS

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n the 80th anniversary of the Port Chicago disaster, the U.S. Navy on July 17 exonerated the 50 African American sailors convicted of mutiny after they refused to load explosives onto ships following explosions that killed 320 men.

The Navy also exonerated the 208 men who initially refused, then went back to work loading explosives, but were convicted of disobeying orders.

“Today’s announcement marks the end of a long and arduous journey for these Black sailors and their

COURTESY OF FIFITA GREWE

Fifita Grewe, second from left, is Antioch’s 2024 Youth of the Year. She is a junior at Antioch High where she plays four sports and is student body president.

blessing because I’ve been through so much at home.”

Losing two grandparents between 2020 and 2021, Grewe also lost some of her inspiration when she stopped receiving their frequent phone calls expressing how proud of her they were.

“That was a setback for me because I also looked up to them; they were the best people I’ve ever met in my life,” she said. “Not being able to receive those calls kind of made me not want to do anything anymore.”

But now, Grewe uses the memory of her grandparents as motivation.

She is further driven by her parents, her mother from American Samoa and her father from Tonga.

“Hearing them tell me their story about growing up

and not having certain things that I have kind of just pushed me to be a good kid, do what I can in school, and strive for success,” said Grewe. “A lot of kids don’t get this opportunity.”

With another year of high school left, she says the challenge of trying to win the award again is something she looks forward to.

“What I’m going to try to do is make our school a better place, a safer place for kids that they can enjoy coming to, and just continue to be the person that I am,” Grewe said.

After Antioch High, her plan is to go to college and major in kinesiology, play basketball at the next level, and pursue a career in sports medicine. •

families, who fought for a nation that denied them equal justice under law,” President Joe Biden said in a statement. “May we all remember their courage, sacrifice, and service to our nation.”

Port Chicago was at the northern tip of the former Concord Naval Weapons Station, a busy hub during World War II in the Pacific against Japan.

Sailors were loading the S.S. E.A. Bryan cargo ship when unsafe conditions led to it and another ship exploding on July 17, 1944, killing 320 men — twothirds of them African American — and wounding another 400. The explosion also destroyed a train and flattened the town of Port Chicago.

The cause of the blast, which was powerful enough to be felt as far away as San Francisco, was never determined.

The dangerous task loading of weapons was done exclusively by African American sailors at the base and was supervised by white commanders, who frequently pushed sailors to work harder. The disaster accounted for about a quarter of all African American deaths in World War II. The 50 African American sailors were convicted of mutiny after refusing to go back to loading ammunition at nearby Mare Island in Vallejo in the weeks after the disaster, while white commanders were granted leave.

The Black sailors were also tasked with cleaning up the aftermath of the explosion.

The Navy said each of the sailors were sentenced to a dishonorable discharge, 15 years confinement with hard labor and total forfeitures of their pay.

During subsequent reviews of the general court martial, the dishonorable discharges were suspended and the period of confinement was reduced from 15 years to 17 to 29 months. One conviction was also set aside for mental incompetency. The Navy said by January 1946, nearly all the sailors were released and given the opportunity to finish their contracts.

“After nearly a decade fighting for justice for the Port Chicago 50, I commend the U.S. Navy and thank Navy Secretary (Carlos) Del Toro for exonerating these heroes and President Biden for his support,” said Congressman Mark DeSaulnier, D-Walnut Creek. “Today our nation stands one step closer to fulfilling its founding promise of equality and justice for all.”

The sailors were represented during their appeal by future Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall, for whom the East Bay Regional Park District named its nearby still-to-be-developed park on the former Navy base. Marshall was lead counsel for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

The Navy closed the base in 1999.

Though all 50 were convicted and sentenced to prison, Marshall’s campaign was widely credited with President Harry Truman’s decision to end segregation in the armed forces in 1948.

“This is a monumental day for justice and for the families of the Port Chicago 50,” said Congresswoman Barbara Lee, D-Oakland. “I appreciate the Secretary of the Navy taking this crucial action to exonerate these courageous men who were unjustly court-martialed by the Navy following the explosion at Port Chicago. On the 80th anniversary of this tragic event, it’s fitting that these men are not only exonerated, but honored for their service to this country.”

The 80th anniversary was commemorated with Port Chicago Weekend, a four-day festival of music, art, cuisine, theater, exhibits and entertainment in various Bay Area cities. For more information, go to https:// portchicagoweekend.org/.

Copyright © 2024 Bay City News, Inc. All rights reserved.

Republication, rebroadcast or redistribution without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. Bay City News is a 24/7 news service covering the greater Bay Area. •

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Contra Costa MLB Retiree Fighting for Full Pension STORY AND PHOTOS BY JOE PORRELLO

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former Major League Baseball player who grew up and still lives in Richmond has been fighting for years for money he believes he earned from the league and its Players’ Association.

Les Cain, who played for the Detroit Tigers in the late 1960s and early 1970s, says he is just shy of a mark that would mean huge pension payouts. The rules say 172 days of major league playing time constitutes a full season. Four full seasons makes a player eligible for a full pension.

Cain is 43 days short, or so says the MLBPA. He says his service time should be higher.

He gets a baseball-related settlement that pays him $111 per week and annual gratuity checks of S8,000. He estimates his pension would total around $1.5 million.

Cain, 76, grew up honing his skills in Richmond and throughout the East Bay. “I was just a kid who loved sports and went to the park all the time,” he said. “I fell in love with the game because of what it meant… purity, congregation and fanaticism.”

Raised on Cypress Avenue and attending elementary school at what is now Kennedy High, he learned the basics of baseball from his father, who played in the Negro Leagues.

He played at Raimondi Park — now home of the Oakland Ballers — as well as Nicholl Park.

Cain’s future as a southpaw was determined long before he stepped on a pitcher's mound. When he was an infant, his right arm was severely burned by hot grease.

His Little League nickname seemed to come from the kitchen too: “Sugar” for his sweet demeanor. But he was willing to get physical. “I would always defend myself and my friends,” he said.

Cain learned that life was not always sweet from his parents who endured racism and poor job opportunities in Texas and Arkansas long before the Civil Rights movement. Cain’s father, Ell, was stationed at Camp Roberts in San Luis Obispo. In the late 1940s, Ell moved the family to Richmond because he found better employment at Port Chicago in Concord.

“Richmond was booming because of the shipyards,” Cain said.

His parents warned him of the potential troubles of life as a Black person in the U.S. They taught him “not to hate.” Cain says he first experienced “true racism” on

Les Cain, second from left, and other then-Detroit Tigers.

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Les Cain, who played Major League Baseball for the Detroit Tigers, grew up in Richmond and still calls the city home.

a family trip to see his father play in Kansas City. A gas station attendant refused to let them use the restroom because of the color of their skin.

Instead of getting upset, Cain’s parents told him, “That guy is miserable. Don’t be like him.”

That trip, for the first time, let Cain see his father play professionally and lace a double while thousands cheered.

Another person he emulated, plus competed with and often got mistaken for, was his older brother, Ell Jr. — one of five siblings — who also signed with the Tigers.

Ell Jr. never made the big leagues, getting as far as Spring Training with the San Francisco Giants.

“He was one hell of an athlete,” said Cain.

He was also friends with Richmond’s Pumpsie Green, the first Black player for the Boston Red Sox, the last team to integrate.

Cain experienced segregation on the field himself playing for the Richmond Leopards, a youth team that played other local Black rosters. “Little League didn’t want Black players,” he said.

At just 14, he began playing semi-pro Legion Ball.

At El Cerrito High, Cain struck out 20 batters over 10 innings as a junior, and threw a no-hitter and a two-hit shutout within one week as a senior.

After he graduated in 1966, Cain and his 100-mileper-hour fastball were drafted 74th overall in the fourth round of the second MLB draft.

He says he remembers Tigers scouts coming to his home to speak with him and his parents about a contract “like it was yesterday.”

His mother was not pleased with Cain's options to start his professional career: playing Double-A ball with the Montgomery Rebels or the Florida State League Daytona Beach Islanders. Around that time, Montgomery was the scene of Black activists being murdered and rampant Ku Klux Klan activity. Cain says Northeast Florida was not much better.

“It didn’t matter what my mother said; I was a fullfledged employee of the Detroit Tigers,” he said.

Eventually, he played for both teams, often staying with Black families while his teammates stayed in “whites-only” hotels.

At 19, he pitched against players like Mickey Mantle and threw a no-hitter in which eventual Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson made the final out. That same season, Cain played at Rickwood Field, the oldest professional ballpark in the country.

After less than two years in the minors, Cain was called up to the big leagues.

Cain had been one of youngest players on the Leopards and his Legion squad, then became the youngest Tiger invited to spring training in 1968, a year after the team finished one game out of the American League pennant race.

His MLB debut came April 28 at Tiger Stadium against the New York Yankees, and Cain was more than ready to live out his childhood dream. Though those dreams did not include fighting for the pension he says he’s earned. •

Les Cain threw a no-hitter in Double-A — Reggie Jackson made the last out — just as he had done as a high school senior.

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Harris Gains Black, Latino, AAPI Support as Biden Steps Down

BY SUNITA SOHRABJI | ETHNIC MEDIA SERVICES

A

fter three weeks of intense pressure from members of his own party to step down, President Joe Biden announced July 21 that he would not seek re-election and immediately endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris.

“It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President,” said Biden in a statement. “While it has been my intention to seek re-election, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and focus entirely on fulfilling my duties as president for the remainder of my term,” he said.

About an hour later, Harris, the first Black, South Asian and female Vice President, said she would seek the nomination. In a speech last week at the APIAVote Presidential Hall, Harris said: “This is the most existential, consequential, and important election of our lifetime.” She roundly condemned Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump, who may now be her opponent.

Biden’s Legacy Both the Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus immediately endorsed Harris. Shekar Narasimhan, co-founder and chair of the powerful AAPI Victory Fund told Ethnic Media Services as news was breaking that his organization firmly endorses Harris. “We will work very hard to make sure she is the nominee,” he said. “Both for the legacy of Biden and for the sake of keeping the large Democratic coalition intact, it would be political malpractice for us not to nominate her.”

“Kamala Harris inherits the apparatus of the campaign. She is the logical nominee.”

Explaining the process, Narasimhan said Harris — and other Democrats who wish to step in to the race — would have to get a minimum of 300 pledged and signed delegates by Aug. 1. The nominee would then be announced Aug. 6. “The real surprise will be the vice presidential pick,” he said The Democratic National Convention begins Aug. 19 in Chicago, Illinois.

Carole Porter, used to ride the bus from the Berkeley flatlands up to Thousand Oaks Elementary School in the early 1970s. The two have been close friends ever since.

“Kamala is absolutely the right person for this job. She has worked so hard to get here and will break that last glass barrier.”

Porter has supported Harris since 2004, when she

‘My Mother and Grandmother Constantly Inspire Our Family’ COMMENTARY • ANUSHKA DEVANATHAN

M

y mother is my inspiration. She isn’t just an inspiration for me; she is a role model for my entire family. Growing up in India, she spent most of her childhood traveling across the country for her father’s job. When she graduated from college, she continued to travel and explore the globe before marrying my father and settling down in California. In my opinion, moving around so much at a young age gave my mother one of her best qualities, her strength.

Everyone in our family relies on our mother, but sometimes, it’s easy to forget how much pressure that puts on her, carrying the load of an entire family. Nevertheless, she never lets that stop her and always puts her best effort into everything she does. Another admirable trait of my mom is her reliability. No matter what, I can

President Joe Biden with Vice President Kamala Harris. (White House photo)

campaigned on the streets of San Francisco, using a foldup ironing board on which to place flyers in her run for the District Attorney’s office. “I knew, even back then, that there would be a path for her to get here,” she said.

“Kamala is not only going to re-energize the base.

She’s going to bring more people in: Gen Zs, the working class, women, among others. She is lifting us all up,” said Porter.

“I’m here to support the best person for this job, and that is Kamala Devi Harris,” said Porter. “I’ll do whatever she needs me to do to get her to where she deserves to be.”

Race Shakes Up Political science professor Karthick Ramakrishnan, founder of AAPI Data, told Ethnic Media Services that there has been a high level of dissatisfaction by Democrats and Republicans for their party’s nominees.

“Biden’s debate performance put Democrats in a deeper deficit, although that was not reflected in polling numbers. But it was starting to look like a landslide for Trump.”

“This completely shakes up the race. It’s likely more of a toss up now, and a real danger for Trump,” said Ramakrishnan. Trump has called his now apparent opponent “crazy,” and “nuts.” Minutes after Biden dropped out, Trump’s campaign launched into an attack on Harris.

Ramakrishnan noted that California Governor Gavin Newsom and Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer have both stated they will not run. The wild card is former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro, he said, adding that Latinos have felt a lack of visibility within this administration. Castro was one of the earliest to call for Biden to step down.

electric campaigner, and is the strongest candidate to defeat Donald Trump,” said Castro on X/Twitter, shortly after the announcement.

Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Arizona, would make a good vice presidential pick said Ramakrishnan, noting that the husband of former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, permanently disabled after an assassination attempt, is one of the strongest advocates for gun control.

Robert Camacho, a Latino elected delegate from California’s CD11, had mixed emotions about Biden stepping down. He and his husband Tim Miller spent a day with Biden last month when he came to the San Francisco Bay Area, and also met the President at the White House on June 15, 2022 when he signed an executive order protecting LGBTQ+ rights.

Wild Card Julian Castro “Kamala Harris has been an excellent Vice President, an

The LGBTQ+ Vote “I feel like someone has attacked my family member,” he said, weeping as he spoke. “In Biden, I saw a man that gave his all in trying to make our lives better. He is and will always be a true leader.”

“It was heartbreaking for me to see the President go through the media attacks. We have had presidents with disabilities who served us well,” said Camacho, referring to Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who served four terms, though afflicted with polio. “This was really disrespectful,” he said.

Camacho serves on the DNC’s Finance Committee, and has volunteered with the White House’s Office of Public Engagement’s outreach to the Latino community.

He dismissed media chatter about Hispanics reportedly turning to Trump, saying polls consisting of not more than 2,000 people could not accurately represent a voting population of 14 million people.

Camacho said he will now firmly throw his support behind Harris. •

trust my mom to do something, and even if she can’t, I know beforehand, so I’m never left hanging. She juggles her job as a software engineer and her role as a mother and is always there to support our family without ever missing a beat.

What I look up to my mother most for is her talent to blend her roles as my mom and my best friend. She always fulfills her responsibilities, but when it’s time to have fun, she completely embraces the moment. My mom believes in balance, which is especially important for our family. Whenever we gather as a family, my mom sets the mood and always makes everyone feel comfortable.

I think she gets that balance from her mother.

My maternal grandmother grew up in an old-fashioned household. She had five other siblings, three of which were her brothers. Her parents believed that their sons would bring success and prosperity to their home, compared with their daughters who were supposed to marry quickly and not focus on education. Despite these challenges, my grandmother became the first person in their family to go to college. She earned herself a gold medal in a Bachelor of Science in biology, and was the top of her university, before getting married.

My grandmother is also a wonderful cook and is experienced in making traditional Indian dishes. Food always brings people together, and our family is no exception. A single meal made by my grandmother helps our family remember the importance of family dining, which is sometimes overlooked in the rush of our daily life.

During our family visits to India, my grandmother en-

sures to take us to Indian weddings and other traditional gatherings. As a child, I enjoyed these times immensely.

I would get to wear a fancy dress and jewelry and dine on Indian delicacies. Having a major sweet tooth, I enjoy traditional Indian sweets like Kaju Katlis, Jalebi and Gulab Jamun. Another popular dish often served at weddings is Biryani, which is made with Basmati rice and flavored with different spices, like turmeric, cardamom, and more. It is traditionally made with mutton and can be made with chicken as well.

Growing older taught me to appreciate these gatherings for another reason. My grandmother used these moments to provide us with opportunities to connect with our extended family. Living in America means that we are distanced from the rest of our extended family who live in India, which makes these celebrations vital for connecting with not only family, but our roots and culture My mother and grandmother constantly inspire our family. When times get tough, they provide us with confidence and motivation, letting us know that we are powerful.

Their combined belief in us as a family has guided us through challenges in the past and will continue to in the future.

Looking back on my family, I was reminded of how much my mother and grandmother do to keep us together. It is not easy taking care of this family, but their hard work shows their dedication to it. With their combined efforts and support, they truly are the rocks of our family. •

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Residents in Bay Point Advocate to Reopen a Local Park Closed 20 Years Ago

BY XIMENA LOEZA, EL TIMPANO

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ichole Orsonio, 45-year-old lifelong resident of Shore Acres, stands in front of the sprawling and overgrown greenery that was once a neighborhood park. She remembers what it looked like when she was a child: Crisp green lawn, a trickling creek running through the middle, a simple playground and a long metal slide that ran down the tall hill where she raced her siblings. Today, Pacifica Park is abandoned, unkept and littered with trash. It has been closed for 20 years.

Shore Acres is part of the unincorporated Bay Point, a predominantly Latino community where the median household income is about 35% lower than the county average. The nearest park is a mile away, and residents have turned to school grounds during off hours or trespassing onto the now fenced-off Pacifica Park for outdoor space.

After two decades with a shuttered public park, Shore Acres residents have started taking action. A petition appeared in December 2023 on Change. org and now has about 200 signatures.

It asks the local school district, which owns the park lands, to either come up with an agreement for shared use of the school grounds outside of school hours, or to work with the local park district to reopen Pacifica Park. The Ambrose Park District oversees parks in Bay Point along with their facilities and programs.

Eduardo Torres is an Ambrose Park District Board Member and Northern California Regional Coordinator for Tenants Together, a statewide coalition dedicated to protecting tenant rights and advocating for affordable housing.

He agreed to help residents through the process of reopening a public green space in Shore Acres.

The Mount Diablo Unified School District owns the abandoned park, which is located behind Riverview Middle School. The school district was leasing Pacifica Park to the Ambrose Park District for only a dollar a year until 2005, when the park district decided to stop leasing the space and close the park because of increased gang violence and

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Summer 2024

SoulFest Makes Triumphant Debut in Pittsburg

BY MALCOLM MARSHALL

A

A man lets his child play on a mound of sand along a pathway in what used to be Pacifica Park in Shore Acres, California on Thursday, April 11, 2024. Credit: Hiram Alejandro Durán for El Tímpano/CatchLight Local/Report for America corps member

vandalism, recalls Debra Mason, a board member of the Mount Diablo Unified School Board and a lifetime Shore Acres resident.

Torres has asked the Mount Diablo Unified School District about reopening Pacific Park. The next step is for the school district to conduct land assessments to see if it is still usable for recreation, he says. If it is usable, the residents can approach the Ambrose Park District Board about redeveloping the land as a park again.

“We would drive by it, and it looked like nobody was taking care of it. It just kept getting worse and worse every time,” Orsonio says. “It was just broken concrete, a lump of nothing.”

The closest park to Shore Acres is Lynbrook Community Park, one of the largest in Bay Point, where locals come for soccer practice, the recently updated playground, and bike rides. The park can get incredibly crowded, nearby residents say.

Maria Vasquez, a 68-year-old Bay Point resident, lives within a few blocks of Lynbrook and frequents with her young granddaughter. She’s noticed

how many of the children who play at Lynbrook come from Shore Acres.

“Families from many different neighborhoods come to this park, and children of all ages,” Vasquez says in Spanish.

Fernando Mendoza, 45-year-old Bay Point resident, is also frustrated by the crowding at Lynbrook. He hopes Pacifica Park can reopen. “This community is too big, and it needs it,” Mendoza says in Spanish.

Oscar Pamay, 48, lives in Shore Acres and visits the park with his two children multiple times a week. His son practices soccer most days at the park during soccer season. As he watches his daughter roll around on her pink scooter, he talks about how important parks like this are to his family.

“I live in a small space with my two children and my wife, so I enjoy being able to take my daughter away from her tablet to run around outside,” Pamay says.

This article was originally published

by El Timpano on May 10. It has been republished with permission. •

new tradition was born this summer in Pittsburg. Billed as a celebration of music, unity and positive energy, the inaugural SoulFest brought together a vibrant tapestry of music, vendors and community for a Juneteenth celebration for East County’s African American residents.

The brainchild of a collective called The Village and held at the Pittsburg Youth Development Center, SoulFest featured a dynamic lineup of live music, including gospel, funk and R&B performances. Highlights included sets by We R One Band, a Frankie Beverly and Maze tribute band, and rapper Suga-T who was joined by a DJ and a live band. A number of local performers took to the stage, filling the air with soulful classics that had the crowd feeling good and even got a few out of their seats to dance.

“Mr. [Willie] Moffett [Jr.] and Nina [Homes] decided that they wanted to start something that could last,” said Alexus Christian, small business and expo coordinator for the Youth Development Center, referring to two of her colleagues; Moffett is the center’s president. “It’s unique to Pittsburg.”

More than just music, SoulFest also showcased a Black business expo, highlighting the entrepreneurial spirit of the local community. Local vendors from throughout the county such as Lady J’s Soul Food added to the festive atmosphere, treating attendees to an array of culinary delights with soul food, of course, Caribbean food and barbecue.

Workshops and activities rounded out the day, providing opportunities for attendees to learn, grow and connect with each other.

“This event was to provide the resources and education for our community as well,” said Christian.

Twelve small businesses were on hand — among them ones dedicated to health and wellness, education and fashion. Six workshops were held, including one about financial literacy and another on wills and trusts.

At the center of SoulFest was a sense of community and unity.

“The Pittsburg Youth Development Center already had its roots here, so we decided to reach out to other community organizations in partnership, to help make this a bigger event than what we originally planned,” said Christian.

Founded in 1946, Pittsburg Youth Development Center provides recreational and educational activities for the community including a variety of athletic and educational programs, as well as after school care. •

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Doulas Provide Much-Needed Tradition of Support to Birthing Parents

BY DANIELLE PARENTEAU-DECKER

P

regnancy is one of the most complex and paradoxical experiences a person can go through. It can result in something many people call the greatest joy of their lives: the birth of their child. But it can also be a scary, confusing and painful time that leaves the pregnant parent feeling ignored, misunderstood and mistreated — especially if that parent is Black or Indigenous — and that can be deadly.

So California has decided to try something new to help parents navigate that complexity and improve birth outcomes. Though, really, it’s not new at all.

Since Jan. 1, 2023, Medi-Cal has covered doula services for members while they are pregnant and for 12 months after their pregnancy has ended. A year and a half on, Ethnic Media Services hosted a state Department of Health Care Services worker and two doulas to discuss the benefit and why it’s needed.

“All Medi-Cal members are eligible to receive coordinated care from the start of the pregnancy through 12 months postpartum, which will help birthing individuals and their children navigate things like prenatal checkups during pregnancy, birth plans and mental health treatment like postpartum depression,” said Erica Holmes, who heads the DHCS Benefits Division.

A doula is a trained non-medical professional who “provides emotional, physical, and educational support to a [parent] who is expecting, is experiencing labor, or has recently given birth,” according to the American Pregnancy Association.

“I would liken it to a personal trainer but for childbirth,” said Kairis Chiaji, who has been a doula for 25 years. “So our job is to get to know you, get to know what your goals are for your body, for your baby, and help you come up with a plan and then help you remember that plan.”

Doula services are seen as nontraditional care because they are not a part of the typical medical approach to pregnancy and childbirth. But the two can coexist. And having a doula is traditional.

“It is an ancient practice,” Chiaji said. “It is actually the original way of supporting birth.”

Khefri Riley, a doula who has worked in the maternal and infant advocacy field for over 23 years put it into context.

Richmond Agrees to Plan to Make Point Molate a Park

BY SAMANATHA KENNEDY

G

ayle McLaughlin has considered the Point Molate question longer than anyone else on the Richmond City Council. In her first few months on the council in 2005, she was the sole vote against a study to move a Point Molate casino along and penned a commentary criticizing its viability. It’s a fight she’s seen through — it’s only taken 20 years.

McLaughlin and the rest of the Richmond City Council, barring an absent Vice Mayor Claudia Jimenez and council member Soheila Bana, voted voted 5-0 on July 12 to approve a letter of intent that would turn the

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Kairis Chiaji, who has been a doula for 25 years, says part of her job is to “help make sure the mama with melanin is going to be OK and that if she’s not OK, that somebody knows, that somebody does something about it.” (Screenshot captured by Danielle Parenteau-Decker / CC Pulse)

“When you think about doulas or birth workers, they really are coming from a historical lineage from the Black grandmother midwives or Indigenous midwives or midwifery, in general, so this is not some new thing,” she said. “This is actually rooted in traditional care of families. It is a community practice. It is healing work. It is radical. It is natural. It’s a cultural inheritance.”

Doulas help people navigate an aspect of the pregnancy process that is part of the norm but shouldn’t be.

“I know each and every one of you on this call can discuss a birth experience in your family or family lineage that you wish had gone differently,” Riley said, “that you wish were treated differently, that you wish you were heard and listened to, that your sister or mother, auntie had an experience that she wished were different.”

Riley said providing doula services as a Medi-Cal benefit is “rooted in reproductive justice” for all people but especially for Black and Indigenous parents “because that’s where the highest disparities lie.”

“It does not make any sense that a Black birthing person have to worry that they are three to five times more at risk of dying in childbirth in 2024,” she said.

“Institutional racism and structural racism has created this problem, and many of these deaths are preventable.”

Indeed, as Chiaji said, “our country and our state are in a maternal health crisis. There are injuries and losses that statistics say 80% of which are preventable.”

That number comes from an analysis by the Centers

for Disease Control and Prevention, which also found that 90% of deaths among Indigenous birthing parents were preventable and that nearly a third of the people who died in the period studied were Black.

So while the only requirement to be Chiaji’s client is that “you are pregnant and you are going to give birth,” one of her goals is to “help make sure the mama with melanin is going to be OK and that if she’s not OK, that somebody knows, that somebody does something about it.”

That attitude was inspired by a personal event.

Chiaji said she saw someone medicate her sister-in-law “without saying a word, and that woke up the advocate in me, and I knew from that moment on, never again, not on my shift.”

Part of a doula’s job is to help make sure their client understands what their doctor is telling them.

“The department wants to ensure every birthing individual is informed and can take control of their health journey,” Holmes said.

To help achieve the latter, a doula also helps ensure that the doctor listens to what the patient has to say.

“You do not have to feel afraid or alone, and your voice does not have to be silenced but uplifted and centered,” Riley said.

If you are pregnant and on Medi-Cal, you can consult DHCS’ Doula Directory, which lists providers by county along with their contact information, specialties, ethnicity, pronouns and languages spoken. •

81-acre site into parkland through a $40 million deal with the East Bay Regional Parks District. The district will also be responsible for Winehaven, which was at one time the largest winery in the world.

It’s a move that, she said in a press release, “sets the stage for an inspirational project.”

“Our time can now be focused on building something healthy and positive,” McLaughlin said at the meeting, “rather than having to fight back on projects that will bring harm with them.”

The $40 million will be paid largely with a $36 million state grant received by the EBRPD, which, according to McLaughlin, was made possible by state Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley. The California State Coastal Conservancy needs to authorize the distribution of those grant funds by Nov. 21.

“The acquisition of Point Molate, with its breathtaking views along San Francisco Bay,” Skinner said in a July 12 EBRPD press release, “continues the East Bay’s decadeslong mission to protect our bay shoreline.”

Before the proposed deal with EBRPD, the former naval fuel depot was the subject of yearslong legal battles, some of which will still be ongoing, and various projects that never came to be, including the Guidiville Rancheria of California’s proposed casino that McLaughlin initially fought against on the council and

SunCal’s 1,450 home housing development.

SunCal’s attempt to buy Point Molate was stopped by the Richmond City Council in 2022, where it was then sold to the Guidiville Rancheria of California, a federally recognized Indian tribe, and its partner, Upstream Inc., for $400. SunCal said Richmond breached its contract by blocking the sale and sued, a battle that is ongoing.

Tom Butt, who supported the SunCal deal while serving as mayor in 2022, echoed some of the same concerns about the deal with EBRPD that he had when the council blocked the sale to SunCal — millions lost due to legal battles.

Butt also writes in his e-forum newsletter that there is no plan or funding to save Winehaven or operate Point Molate as a park.

The city, Parks District and Point Molate Futures, LLC, which itself is owned by the Guidiville Rancheria tribe, need to sign the letter of intent, which they jointly negotiated. It was approved at EBRPD's July 16 meeting and is expected to be put on the California State Coastal Conservancy’s agenda at the beginning of September.

If approved, proceeds from the sale would go to the tribe as the deal also includes the city giving up its “50% share of sale proceeds,” according to a staff report. The deal is expected to be complete by the end of the year. •