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AMERICAN
“A Man In Debt is So Far A Slave” -Emerson
NEWSPAPER A Community Newspaper Serving San Bernardino, Riverside & Los Angeles Counties
July 22, 2021 Thursday Edition
Volume 52 No. 14 Mailing: P.O. Box 837, Victorville, CA 92393
Office: (909) 889-7677
Email: Mary @Sb-American.com
Website: www.SB-American.com
Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what people will submit to and you have found out the exact amount of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them and these will continue till they have resisted either with words or blows or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance those of whom they suppress. —Fredrick Douglass (1849)
IN MEMORIAM: Hip Hop Icon Biz Markie Dies at 57 NNPA NEWSWIRE — Nicknamed “The Clown Prince of Hip Hop,” Biz was born Marcel Theo Hall in Harlem, across the then Triboro Bridge from Queens, the New York City borough where he would cut his teeth collaborating with MCs and DJs like Big Daddy Kane, Marley Marl, and Roxanne Shanté. By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent
Biz Markie, the rapper, producer, and actor whose hits included “Just a Friend” and “Nobody Beats the Biz,” has died at the age of 57. Hip Hop has lost another legend. Biz Markie, the rapper, producer, and actor whose hits included “Just a Friend” and “Nobody Beats the Biz,” has died at the age of 57. Nicknamed “The Clown Prince of Hip Hop,” Biz was born Marcel Theo Hall in Harlem, across the then Triboro Bridge from Queens, the New York City borough where he would cut his teeth collaborating with MCs and DJs like Big Daddy Kane, Marley Marl, and Roxanne Shanté. Biz also made his mark in Man hat tan at clubs, where he quickly became the center of attention. He rose to fame with the Juice Crew, working day and night with the famed DJ Mr. Magic,
who helped Biz hone his skills as a beatboxer and become one of the most influential figures in music. Biz’s death follows that of other icons in 2021 like DMX, Prince Markie Dee, Shock G, and Whodini’s Ecstasy. “My close friend Biz Markie is gone at 57,” hip hop star and actor Ice T wrote on Twitter. “We shared a tour bus, our very 1st tour ‘The Dope Jam Tour.’ We were all so young and hype.” NBA Hall of Famer Earvin Magic Johnson wrote, “RIP to my friend and music legend Biz Markie. A DJ, rapper, and producer, Biz Markie really knew how to rock a party. Cookie and I will never forget when he came to our 25th-anniversary
event in Europe and kept everyone on the dance floor.” And Questlove paid tribute with a lengthy post of many examples of what he learned from Biz. “Biz built me man,” Questlove wrote. “In my early, early stages, it was Biz who taught me the real places to cop records. Biz taught me what cities had good digging. Biz taught me where to collect 45s. Biz taught me where to collect 8track tapes. Biz ‘tried’ to get me into Star Wars action figure collecting. Biz taught me where in Tokyo I should go to collect vintage iron-on decals.” Q u e s t l ove c o n t i n u e d : “This cat was one in a million. He taught me a lot. I’m
using all of the education he taught me. We will miss him.” Not only did Biz find acclaim in music, but his unique talent also earned him a successful television and film career. Biz appeared in films like “Men in Black II,” “SpongeBob S q u a r e P a n t s ,” “ B l a c kish,” and the fun children’s show, “Yo Gabba Gabba!” In 2014, Biz revealed in a nationally televised interview that he had Type 2 diabetes and declared his will to live while revealing that he had lost 140 pounds. “I’m going to be Biz Markie until I die,” he asserted in a later interview. “Even after I die, I’m going to be Biz Markie.”
Reparations Task Force Agrees It Needs the Ideas, Input of Black Californians
Reparations Task Force Agrees It Needs the Ideas, Input of Black Californians...continued discussions, Grills added. The intent, she said, would be to involve Black Californians from varying backgrounds. “Black folks exist in an ecosystem and the system includes a diverse, cultural base of people, social class, education levels, etc.,” said Grills. “So how do we make sure that those people are impacted. They need to be at the table.” Through news coverage, Grills also suggested the National Association of Black Journalists could play a role in keeping the ongoing discourse about reparations “in the forefront and minds” of the Black community. Lisa Holder, Esq. a nationally recognized trial attorney and task force member, emphasized that the proposal she prepared was not “in conflict” with Grills’ outreach plan and that her proposal offered a framework within which the task force can draw up its strategy to move forward. Holder told fellow task force members that she and Grills are on the same page. “This plan, for a lack of a better word, is in alignment with the blueprint we just saw (presented by Grills),” Holder clarified. “Grills focuses a little bit more on the details of how we can implement the community engagement plan. This outline I put together is a little bit broader and more of a concept.” The meeting’s other seven participants were task force chair Kamilah V. Moore, a Los Angelesbased attorney, reparations scholar and activist; vice-chair Dr. Amos Brown, a civil rights leader and respected Bay Area pastor whose journey to leadership started under the tutelage of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr in the 1960s; Sen. Steven Bradford (D-Gardena); Assemblymember Reginald Jones-Sawyer (D-Los Angeles); San Diego Councilmember Monica Montgomery Steppe; Dr. Jovan Scott Lewis, chair of the Department of Geography at the University of California Berkeley;
and Attorney Don Tamaki, Esq. is an attorney best known for his role in the Supreme Court case of Korematsu v. the United States. Tamaki overturned the conviction of Fred Korematsu who refused to be taken into custody during the imprisonment of Japanese Americans in World War II. A f ter hea r i ng G r ills’ presentation, Brown raised concerns about transparency. He also said that other groups around the state should have an opportunity to present a plan for community engagement. “What will we do around this state without our giving due diligence to announce to everybody, that you can present a plan, too?” Brown asked. “Whether it’s northern, central California, whatever. We talk about transparency, but if we are going to be about it, then we should be about it.” The task force voted 8-0 to consider both Holder’s and Grills’ community engagement plans. Brown opposed the motion and abstained, withholding his vote. Bradford said he favored a “blending” of the two proposals. Both Grills and Bradford suggested that the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies at UCLA and the Mervyn Dymally African American Political and Economic Institute at California State University Dominguez Hills could assist in facilitating the statewide listening sessions, possibly through the California Department of Justice. Both academic research institutes are located in Southern California. Steppe expressed confidence in her colleagues and the process. “The (Black) community is going to play a huge role in getting whatever we present across the finish line,” she promised. The task force also agreed to move public comments during the meeting from the end to the beginning of the sessions. Public comments will also expand from two minutes to three, Moore announced.
Antonio Ray Harvey | California Black Media
On July 9, California’s Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans held its second meeting in a series of 10. During the Zoom conference, the group’s nine members shared differing views on how to best
get Black Californians involved in their deliberations. But they all agreed on one key point: having voices and ideas of African Americans across the state influence their conversations would be the best approach to successfully accomplish their
work. “A lot of things that’s important is we as a task force not let ourselves operate in a vacuum,” said Dr. Cheryl Grills, a member of the task force and professor at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. “Not to assume that the public comments that happen at the end of our meetings are adequate to represent the community voice.” Grills delivered a presentation titled “A Community Engagement St r at eg y for Ta sk force Consideration.” In it, she put forth a plan to get Black Californians involved. Grills suggested the task
force hosts “listening sessions” across the state since it only has limited time to assess California’s role in slavery and Jim Crow discrimination -- and follow that work up with developing resolutions to compensate African Americans for past and ongoing racebased injustices. Regions in the southern, northern, and central part of the state (where many Black farmers reside) should be involved in the process, said Grills. The “listening sessions would go beyond” formal task force meetings and would not infringe upon scheduled continued in next 2 columns
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