SB American News Week Ending 3/13

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Vol. 49 No. 46

March 7, 2019 - March 13, 2019

This publication is a Certified DBE/ SBE / MBE in the State of California CUCP #43264 Metro File #7074 & State of Texas File #802505971 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)

NAACP Makes Public New Documents About 2020 Census Preparations NAACP Published: 04 March 2019

Publisher’s Corner Email: sbamericannews@gmail.com Clifton Harris Editor in Chief Publisher of The San Bernardino AMERICAN News

Brother of Man Killed by Police Calls for Calif. to Prosecute JOHN ROGERS, Associated Press Published: 03 March 2019

Stevante Clark, the brother of Stephon Clark who was killed by police last year, speaks during a news conference at the Genesis Church in Sacramento, Calif., Sunday, March 3, 2019. Clark's comments followed Saturday's announcement by Sacramento District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert that the two officers who shot and killed Stephon Clark will not be charged in the shooting. (AP Photo/ Randall Benton)

A census is a survey that records the population of an area, as well as certain information about that population, such as age, sex, or income. Photograph courtesy U.S. Census Bureau, Public Information Office The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is making public previously withheld documents about the 2020 Census, revealing alarming deficiencies in the federal government’s preparations and budgeting for the decennial headcount. The NAACP, together with the NAACP Connecticut State Conference and the NAACP Boston Branch, obtained these records as part of a settlement agreement following a suit brought federal court against the U.S. Department of Commerce, which houses the Census Bureau. The Census Bureau had previously failed to disclose the records pursuant to requests under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). “We remain committed to promoting full transparency in census preparations, particularly in light of the ways insufficient outreach can harm communities of color,” said NAACP General Counsel Brad Berry. The quality of census data is central to civil rights issues from voting rights to the distribution of federal fund-

ing. The newly-disclosed documents include briefings for senior members of the Department of Commerce and records presented to oversight and decision-making bodies within the Census Bureau. The documents also include information about the Bureau’s spending on advertising, its budgeting process, and its partnerships with outside groups to promote census participation. By releasing these records, we hope to make the public aware of how the Bureau’s current 2020 plans can possibly hurt our communities severely and hamper the census’s vital role in American democracy,” said Scot X. Esdaile, President of the NAACP Connecticut State Conference. The records confirm that the 2020 Census is at grave risk of going off course. For example: The count of currently deployed military servicemembers may be jeopardized as the Department of Defense will not report data on them to the Bureau under new guidance. This could affect roughly 15% of all overseas military personnel. The Bureau?is

thus “in jeopardy of not having the information necessary to count those who are deployed overseas in the communities in which they live, placing the 2020 Census at risk.” The Census Bureau intends to reduce its field staff drastically. The planned staff of enumerators—field employees who visit homes in person to count the residents—will be reduced to 400,000, down from the 600,000 the Bureau planned to hire for the 2010 Census. For address canvassing, which updates the Bureau’s indispensable address list, the Bureau plans to hire 43,500 employees, compared to 160,000 planned in 2010. Chronic underfunding over the course of the decade, including during the recent 35-day shutdown, has negatively affected preparations for the 2020 Census according to internal Census Bureau documents. “The understaffing and underfunding of the 2020 Census remain a source of serious concern,” said Casey Gilfoil, a law student intern in the Yale Law School Rule of Law Clinic, which

represents the plaintiffs. “The Bureau cannot continue to ignore the risks of relying on insufficiently-tested procedures for a once-in-a-decade event such as the census.” In June 2017, the NAACP and its affiliates filed a FOIA request seeking internal documents about plans for the 2020 Census. When the Bureau failed to disclose these records, the NAACP brought suit, NAACP v. U.S. Department of Commerce, No. 3:17cv-01682-WWE (D. Conn. filed Oct. 5, 2017). These documents were released as part of an agreement in partial settlement of the litigation, approved earlier this month by Senior U.S. District Judge Warren Eginton. The NAACP, Prince George’s County NAACP, Prince George’s County, and two individual plaintiffs also filed a lawsuit in March 2018 alleging that the federal government’s failure to prepare sufficiently for the 2020 Census violates its constitutional obligations. That lawsuit is separate from the FOIA litigation that led to the release of these documents.

Gwendolyn Lorraine Dowdy-Rodgers Honored by State Legislature as 2019 Woman of the Year State/Government News

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The brother of a black man shot to death by police said Sunday he wants to see the officers who fired the fatal bullets held accountable Stevante Clark called on California's attorney general to prosecute them after the local district attorney declined to do so. He told reporters his family was devastated, first by his brother Stephon's killing last March as he held a cellphone, and again Saturday when Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert announced the officers would not be charged. "Our lives are suffering, our hearts are shattered, my family is in agony ever since the callous murder of my brother in my grandmother's backyard," the soft-spoken Clark told a news conference attended by his family and friends. "I would like for the attorney general to prosecute the officers," he added. "I want justice and accountability." Earlier Sunday the family's attorney, Ben Crump, said on the Rev. Al Sharpton's MSNBC program that state Attorney General Xavier Becerra is expected to release the findings of his own investigation into the shooting on March 18. That's the anniversary of Clark's death, and Crump said he anticipates a large protest at the state Capitol that day. There have been several in Sacramento since the shooting. In announcing that Officers Terrance Mercadal and Jared Robinet would not be charged, Schubert said prosecutors who reviewed video footage and other evidence determined they were telling the truth when they said they thought the cellphone Stephon Clark was holding was a gun. Schubert also said physical evidence revealed Clark was the vandalism suspect they were looking for who had just broken three vehicle windows and an elderly man's sliding glass patio door before climbing a fence to reach his grandparents' backyard. She said the 22-year-old had been going through a troubled

time in the days leading up to the shooting. The mother of his two children had recently filed a domestic abuse complaint against him that could have put him in jail, Schubert said, adding he'd been researching suicide websites. Among them, she said, were those that suggested using a tranquilizer that was found in his body. His brother complained that revealing that information was an attempt to blame his brother for getting killed. "No matter what he did on the 16th and the 17th doesn't determine what happened on the 18th," he said. "All of these things are irrelevant." "Stephon, it was like he was killed again," he continued. "Literally she ran his name through the dirt." Schubert, who called the shooting a tragedy, repeatedly apologized for raising the personal details during her hour-long presentation on Saturday. "I can't tell ultimately what was going on in his mind," she said. "He was in a state of despair and he was impaired, and that may have affected his judgment." Stevante Clark said his family plans to mark the upcoming anniversary of his brother's death with a weekend honoring his life that will begin on March 15 and conclude on March 18. He called on the community to remain peaceful. "Everything that's peaceful that's done, we support it," he said, adding the family's ultimate goal is to change laws to limit police shootings and to hold police departments more accountable. Police officials and Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg have said that since the shooting the department has increased training, limited foot pursuits like those in the Clark case and committed to quickly releasing videos of officer-involved shootings. Clark said he appreciates all of that. "But at the end of the day Stephon is not here with us," he said.

Our Values, Mission, & Vision Statement Assemblymember Eloise Gómez Reyes and Gwendolyn Lorraine Dowdy-Rodgers San Bernardino – On Tuesday, March 5th, Assemblymember Eloise Gómez Reyes honored Gwendolyn Lorraine DowdyRodgers of San Bernardino as the 2019 Assembly District 47 Woman

of the Year. Organized by the Legislative Women’s Caucus, the Woman of the Year award recognizes women from all over the state for accomplishments in their respective fields and for their dedi-

Assemblymembers and Gwendolyn Lorraine Dowdy-Rodgers cation to improving the lives of others in conjunction with Women’s History Month. Gwendolyn Lorraine DowdyRodgers, a long-time noted speaker, assistant pastor, board

of education member, and founder of the Young Women’s Empowerment Foundation was selected to receive this years’ Woman of (continued on page 3)

Our Values: Treat all people with care, respect, honor, and dignity. Tell it as it is with love, truth and integrity. Promote the interests of advertisers and sponsors along their strategic interest for the betterment of the community and beyond. Speak truth to power. Our Mission: To continuously improve communication between all people of the world. Our Vision: To be the best community newspaper in our region and the nation. Provider of: A voice for the poor, the underserved, those that are marginalized, Positive and edifying news about people, places and businesses. Keep San Bernardino, Riverside, and Los Angeles Counties informed about global trends while retaining the consciousness of local events and processes. Memberships and Associations: The San Bernardino American Newspaper is a member of the California Newspaper Publishers Association, National Newspaper Association and addociated with California Black Media.


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