Vol. 50 No. 50
April 2, 2020 -April 8, 2020
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 words or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they suppress. —Fredrick Douglass (1849)
COVID-19 The Worst Is Yet To Come, Medical Experts Tell Reporters At Ethnic Media Services Briefing by Ethnic Media Services
Sunita Sohrabji, EMS Staff Reporter
Publisher’s Corner Publisher of The San Bernardino AMERICAN News
Email: sbamericannews@gmail.com
Clifton Harris Editor in Chief
Civil Rights Leader and MLK Aide Joseph Lowery Dies at 98 The Associated Press and former AP writer ERRIN HAINES Published: 29 March 2020
Civil rights leader the Rev. Joseph E. Lowery speaks at an event in Atlanta announcing state lawmakers from around the county have formed an alliance they say will combat restrictive voting laws, Aug. 14, 2013. Lowery, a veteran civil rights leader who helped the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and fought against racial discrimination, died Friday, March 27, 2020, a family statement said. He was 98. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)
Dr. Turner-Lloveras (above) is an assistant Professor of Medicine at Harbor-UCLA/David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California Los Angeles at Harbor-UCLA. SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — The United States, currently leading the world in the number of people infected with coronavirus, is at the crest of fully experiencing the pandemic, a panel of medical experts and community health advocates told reporters March 27. The U.S. has registered more than 136,000 infections and approximately 2,400 deaths, according to March 26 data from the World Health Organization. The telebriefing — organized by Ethnic Media Services and sponsored by the Blue Shield of California Foundation — featured two physicians speaking from the front lines of the global health crisis: Tung Nguyen of the University of California, San Francisco, and Daniel TurnerLloveras of the Harbor UCLA Medical Clinic. A large percentage of the immigrant community relies on public health facilities, Turner-
Lloveras said, but fear to seek care because of the new public charge rule the Trump administration rolled out Feb. 23. The rule says immigrants who seek any form of federal public aid could be denied permanent status in the U.S. About 43% of undocumented immigrants have no health insurance, said Turner-Lloveras. “We cannot contain a virus outbreak by providing care to only some of the population. We cannot successfully contain an outbreak if there are those among us who are afraid to seek care,” he said. Public health innovator Rishi Manchanda, founder of HealthBegins, said the pandemic disproportionately affects immigrants and people of color. Psychiatrist Sampat Shivangi, currently serving on the Trump administration’s Council for Mental Health and Substance Abuse, spoke about the
psychological effect of selfisolation and the possible surge in substance abuse. Veteran activist Manju Kulkarni, executive director of the Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council (A3PCON), briefed reporters on the rise of hate crimes against the Asian American community in the wake of the pandemic, and said she has “never seen doctors so scared by an infection. We could be looking at a million infections by next week and four million by next month.” The virus is deadly: 15 to 45 of every 1,000 infected people will die of a COVID-19 related illness, Nugyen said, noting that the elderly are particularly vulnerable. No vaccine exists for the disease, and the U.S. is still 12-18 months away from developing one. No cure exists, said medical experts on the panel, cautioning against spreading misinformation about
using hydroxychloroquine, a malaria drug President Trump has touted as a possible cure for coronavirus-afflicted people. “You need to just stay home,” Nguyen stressed. The most effective methods to steer clear of the virus are social isolation and avoiding touching objects and surfaces. For communities of color and immigrants, who tend to live in multigenerational households, it’s imperative that people who must leave the household for work wash up and change clothes afterward, before engaging with their families again. The virus may be in the air for up to three hours. It can live on cardboard for up to 24 hours and on plastic and steel for 72 hours, the UCSF physician said. New York City is currently experiencing the worst of the pandemic, Turner-Lloveras said, (continued on page 4)
How The Coronavirus Crisis Is forcing School Districts to Bridge The Digital Divide Joe W. Bowers Jr. | California Black Media
Two weeks ago, Gov. Newsom announced that Californians should not count on schools reopening before summer break. Most school districts had already announced that their campuses would be closed for two to four weeks to support the containment of the Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19). Prior to most schools “terminating classroom instruction”, Newsom issued an executive order ensuring that teachers would be paid during school closures and that districts would receive their regular funding as long as the school district districts delivered “high quality educational opportunities through distance learning or independent study.” Distance learning as defined by State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond is “simply when the teacher and the
student are in two different locations.” Over 8000 educators statewide participated in a webinar conducted by Thurmond to go over guidance the California Department of Education issued to all school districts detailing how they can provide distance learning opportunities for students including those with disabilities and English learners. As school districts assess the Coronavirus crisis, most have been preparing as if they will not reopen classrooms for the rest of the school year. They are developing distance learning plans, trying to duplicate online the lessons they originally prepared to deliver in their classrooms. Online distance learning is feasible because, when California adopted the Common Core State Standards, students had to be
Photo Fortune school staff hand out chrome books and free lunch to parents that need them March 23, 2020. computer literate and know how to type in order to take state tests. Low tech school districts and charter schools transitioned to
using high tech learning tools and bought devices like Chromebooks and iPads, loaded (continued on page 2)
ATLANTA (AP) — The Rev. Joseph E. Lowery, a veteran civil rights leader who helped the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and fought against racial discrimination, died Friday, a family statement said. He was 98. A charismatic and fiery preacher, Lowery led the SCLC for two decades — restoring the organization’s financial stability and pressuring businesses not to trade with South Africa’s apartheid-era regime — before retiring in 1997. Lowery, considered the dean of civil rights veterans, lived to celebrate a November 2008 milestone that few of his movement colleagues thought they would ever witness — the election of an African American president. Presidential Medal of Freedom 2009 At an emotional victory celebration for President-elect Barack Obama in Atlanta, Lowery said, “America tonight is in the process of being born again.” An early and enthusiastic supporter of Obama over thenDemocratic opponent Hillary Clinton, Lowery also gave the benediction at Obama’s inauguration. “We thank you for the empowering of thy servant, our 44th president, to inspire our nation to believe that, yes, we can work together to achieve a more perfect union,” he said. In 2009, Obama awarded Lowery the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor. In a statement Saturday, Obama said Lowery “changed the face of America.” “He carried the baton longer and surer than almost anybody. It falls to the rest of us now to pick it up and never stop moving forward until we finish what he started — that journey to justice,” he said. Obama said he and his wife, Michelle, were grateful for Lowery’s “personal and spiritual support he offered us from the early days of our campaign ... and for the friendship and counsel he provided ever since.”
Iraq War Critic In another high-profile moment, Lowery drew a standing ovation at the 2006 funeral of King’s widow, Coretta Scott King, when he criticized the war in Iraq, saying, “For war, billions more, but no more for the poor.” The comment also drew head shakes from then-President George Bush and his father, former president George H.W. Bush, who were seated behind the pulpit. Christian Faith Lowery’s involvement in civil rights grew naturally out of his Christian faith. He often preached that racial discrimination in housing, employment and health care was at odds with fundamental Christian values such as human worth and the brotherhood of man. “I’ve never felt your ministry should be totally devoted to making a heavenly home. I thought it should also be devoted to making your home here heavenly,” he once said. Lowery remained active in fighting issues such as war, poverty and racism long after retiring, and survived prostate cancer and throat surgery after he beat Jim Crow. Tributes from leaders “We have lost a stalwart of the Civil Rights Movement, and I have lost a friend and mentor,” House Majority Whip, U.S. Rep. James E. Clyburn, in a statement Saturday. “His wit and candor inspired my generation to use civil disobedience to move the needle on ‘liberty and justice for all.’ It was his life’s work and his was a life well lived.” Former President Bill Clinton remembered walking with Lowery across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, on the 35th anniversary of Bloody Sunday. “Our country has lost a brave, visionary leader in the struggle for justice and a champion of its promise, still unrealized, of equality for all Americans. Throughout his long good life, Joe Lowery’s commitment to (continued on page 3)