Vol. 51 No. 4
May 14, 2020 -May 20, 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)
Little Richard, One of the Most Influential Founding Fathers of Rock n’ Roll, Dies at 87
Publisher’s Corner Publisher of The San Bernardino AMERICAN News
Email: sbamericannews@gmail.com
Clifton Harris Editor in Chief
Passing of NOBLE Founding Member Mitchell Ware National News
By Lauren Victoria Burke, NNPA Newswire Contributor
Judge Mitchell Ware, NOBLE Founder
Richard Wayne Penniman, better known as Little Richard, was one of the most influential singer songwriters in popular music. He was one of the founders of Rock n’ Roll in the 1950s and one of the most memorable performers in rock history. Little Richard was born in 1932 in Macon, Georgia. “Tutti Frutti” (1955), one of Richard’s signature songs, became a hit reaching the No. 2 on the Billboard chart. Another hit, “Long Tall Sally” (1956), hit No. 1 on Billboard. “Tutti Frutti” was added to the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress in 2010 and cited for its “unique vocalizing over the irresistible beat announced a new era in music”. Two of his songs,”Tutti Frutti” and “Good Golly, Miss Molly” were listed on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. Little Richard’s music was covered by several artists thereafter and his influence included The Beatles, who opened for Little Richard as he toured Europe in 1962. He also advised Paul McCartney on his distinctive vocalizations. Little Richard influenced Otis Redding, James Brown, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, John Lennon and Cliff Richard and those influences
frequently showed up in their music. Legend has it that James Brown came up with the Famous Flames debut hit, “Please, Please, Please”, after Richard had written the words down on a napkin. Redding started his professional career with Little Richard’s band, The Upsetters. Bob Dylan performed covers of Little Richard’s songs on piano during a high school talent show with his rock and roll group, the Golden Chords. In 1959, Dylan wrote in his yearbook under “Ambition”: “to join Little Richard.” Many Rock critics noted the similarities between Prince’s androgynous look and vocal style to Little Richard. In 1963, Richard agreed to assist a failing tour effort by The Everly Brothers, Bo Diddley and The Rolling Stones and was given his own TV special after the tour ended. Little Richard received all the honors possible in music. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as part of its first group of legendary inductees in 1986. He was also inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Little Richard is the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Recording Academy and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Rhythm and Blues
Foundation. In 2015, Richard received a Rhapsody & Rhythm Award from the National Museum of African American Music for his key role in the formation of popular music genres and helping to bring an end to the racial divide on the music charts and in concert in the mid-1950s changing American culture significantly. At the suggestion of Lloyd Price, Little Richard sent a demo to Price’s label, Specialty Records, in 1955. Producer Robert “Bumps” Blackwell, who worked at Specialty Records, thought Little Richard was Specialty’s answer to Ray Charles, but was told by Little Richard he was a fan of the sound of Fats Domino. In 1955, he recorded “Tutti Frutti” in three takes and it was released as a single in November 1955. Penniman’s performances, like most early rock and roll shows, resulted in integrated audience reaction during an era of strict segregation in the South. On tours that included groups of music stars, Little Richard and other artists such as Fats Domino and Chuck Berry would allow audiences Black and white to enter buildings via the same door but sit in separate places — but everyone would dance. Vocal supremacist groups such as the North Alabama White Citizens Council warned that rock
and roll “brings the races together.” The universal popularity of Little Richard killed the myth that black performers could not successfully perform at white-only venues. Little Richard’s high-energy performances while playing the piano included dancing on top of the piano, running on and off the stage and throwing souvenirs to the audience. He also dressed flamboyantly onstage. Some of what is taken for granted now in popular music was invented by Little Richard. Little Richard was ranked eighth on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time and Rolling Stone listed three of Little Richard’s recordings, “The Girl Can’t Help It”, “Long Tall Sally” and “Tutti Frutti”, on their 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Little Richard was the third of 12 children of Leva Mae and Charles Penniman. His father was a church deacon and his mother was a member of Macon’s New Hope Baptist Church. Lauren Victoria Burke is an independent journalist for NNPA and the host of the podcast BURKEFILE. She is also a political strategist as Principal of Win Digital Media LLC. She may be contacted at LBurke007@gmail.com and on twitter at @LVBurke
On the Front Lines of “Reopen America” Trumpers, conspiracists and anti-vaxxers attack shelter-in-place orders: “I can’t just work, work, work and watch By Steve Appleford
Erik Rodriguez: “Let it be heard! Let it be heard! Let it be heeeeard!” All photos by Steve Appleford The skies above downtown Los Angeles were smogless and blue on May 1, as a parade of truckers rolled their massive cabs past City Hall, blasting their air horns at up to 152 decibels. The ground shook and a crowd of protesters carrying signs and American flags
cheered every ear-shattering honk. And no one was more energized than Erik Rodriguez, marching along the sidewalk in dreadlocks, D’Artagnan mustache and goatee, raising a megaphone. As the trucks roared once again,
he shouted into the mic: “Let it be heard! Let it be heard! Let it be heeeeard!” Rodriguez, 35, was the unlikely organizer behind a May Day protest against California’s shelter-in-place order and the mandated shutdown of all nonessential business in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. He’s normally disengaged from politics, is only an occasional voter, and still hasn’t filled out his U.S. Census form. But he still managed to gather a crowd of several hundred on the steps of City Hall, and an accompanying long line of protesters in cars and big trucks, circling for hours with horns blaring. Clad in a black cowboy hat and sleeveless denim jacket, Rodriguez wore no mask or gloves, and practiced none of the
recommended social distancing protections as he stopped to shake hands and chat with demonstrators. “I eat well, drink a lot of water, exercise and nothing in my world has changed,” he said with an upbeat air of invulnerability, a tattoo of Leonardo da Vinci’s spreadeagled “Vitruvian Man” on his right bicep. That Rodriguez, who lives a county away in Anaheim, found himself the instigator behind L.A.’s largest protest yet against the coronavirus shutdown was the accidental result of a single Facebook post three weeks earlier. He’d merely stated online that he’d like to see a peaceful demonstration soon, “because something needs to happen,” and within 24 hours got 161 shares. Rodriguez had watched friends (continued on page 3)
The National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE) extends heartfelt condolences to the family of Judge Mitchell Ware, who passed away April 19, 2020 of natural causes. NOBLE Founder Ware was a trailblazer in the policing profession serving as one of Illinois' first black state troopers. He would go on to earn a law degree from DePaul University College of Law, start his own private practice, lead the Chicago Police Department as Deputy Superintendent, before serving as a judge on the Circuit Court of Cook County. An athlete, scholar, journalist, public servant, and attorney, Founder Ware was instrumental in developing the groundbreaking principles that would guide
NOBLE. His experience as a patrol officer and state narcotics agent was not lost on him as he rose to become Superintendent of the Illinois Bureau of Investigation and Deputy Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department. Recognized as a national leader in criminal justice and law enforcement, Mitchell Ware would join others in 1976 to help found NOBLE. He continued to help guide NOBLE serving as the organization's General Counsel and Chicago chapter president. A memorial service for Mitchell Ware was held on Wednesday, May 6, 2020. To extend words of condolences to the family of Founder Ware, you may visit https://judgemitchellware.com
Georgia Man Ahmaud Arbery, Shot and Killed — Jogging While Black By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior Correspondent @StacyBrownMedia
Add jogging while Black to the ever-growing list of reasons African Americans continue to be shot down senselessly by armed White men, supposedly under the color of law. Twenty-five-year-old Georgia resident Ahmaud Arbery was shot and killed while jogging after a former police officer and his son chased him down because they “thought he looked like the suspect in a recent string of break-ins.” The incident took place two months ago but has come to light after Civil Rights Attorney Lee Merritt and Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper, appeared on CNN this week to call for justice. Cooper said police originally told her that her son was involved in a burglary. They claimed that there was a confrontation between Arbery and the homeowner and a struggle over a gun. The incident took place in Brunswick, a southeast coastal town in Glynn County that’s less
than five hours from Atlanta. So far, there have been no charges filed against the former officer, Gregory McMichael, and his son, Travis McMichael. CNN and other media have reached out to the McMichael’s for comment but were told they wouldn’t comment because of “an ongoing investigation.” Reportedly, two district attorneys have recused themselves over possible conflicts of interest, one of whom wrote that Travis McMichael acted out of self-defense, and their actions fell within Georgia’s citizen arrest laws. “The decision to rely on the citizen’s arrest statute is really a recent invention, prior to that they just simply said it was selfdefense,” Merritt told CNN, adding that the men are trying to use the law to say they were trying to stop a crime. “According to that law, you actually have to be observing the crime or be in the immediate (continued on page 2)