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
whom they suppress. —Fredrick
Douglass (1849)The new ProtectBlackHistory.org initiative will distribute Black history materials and other resources in communities facing hostility toward teaching Black history in local school systems.
Black History Month News
This bill addresses a wide range of policies and issues regarding policing practices and law enforcement accountability. It increases accountability for law enforcement misconduct, restricts the use of certain policing practices, enhances transparency and data collection, and establishes best practices and training requirements. The bill enhances existing enforcement mechanisms to remedy violations by law enforcement. Among other things, it does the following: lowers the criminal intent standard—from willful to knowing or reckless—to
convict a law enforcement officer for misconduct in a federal prosecution, limits qualified immunity as a defense to liability in a private civil action against a law enforcement officer, and grants administrative subpoena power to the Department of Justice (DOJ) in pattern-or-practice investigations. It establishes a framework to prevent and remedy racial profiling by law enforcement at the federal, state, and local levels. It also limits the unnecessary use of force and restricts the use of no-knock warrants, chokeholds, and carotid holds.
The bill creates a national registry—the National Police Misconduct Registry—to compile data on complaints and records of police misconduct. It also establishes new reporting requirements, including on the use of force, officer misconduct, and routine policing practices (e.g., stops and searches). Finally, it directs DOJ to create uniform accreditation standards for law enforcement agencies and requires law enforcement officers to complete training on racial profiling, implicit bias, and the duty to intervene when another officer uses excessive force.
The killing of Tyre Nichols at the hands of Memphis police has sparked increased demands for police reform nationwide.
By Peter WhiteOn January 27, Memphis police released about an hour of the 20 hours of surveillance and body-cam footage they collected of Tyre Nichols’ fatal encounter with members of the Scorpion Squad, a special 40-member violent crime task force.
The video shows police kicking Nichols in the head and beating him for three minutes. He was pepper sprayed and struck with a baton as he pleaded for them to stop.
That same night, about 200 protesters marched onto the Interstate 55 bridge shutting down all four lanes for about three hours. A smaller group held a candlelight vigil in a Memphis park while others gathered in churches to honor the 28-year
old father, FedEx worker, avid skateboarder and photographer. Demonstrations were also held in Washington D.C., New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston and several other cities.
Call for police reform grow
louder “We want a disbandment of every special task force,” said Amber Sherman, a local Black Lives Matter organizer. She told the New York Times that the police have long used such units “to over-criminalize low-income, poor Black neighborhoods and to terrorize citizens. We want that ended,” she said.
Community activists also called for an end to pretextual traffic stops, where police stop motorists for minor infractions
WASHINGTON, Feb. 6, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Black Cultural Information Trust, Inc. has launched the Protect Black History Initiative. This program, available at ProtectBlackHistory. org, will provide Black history resources and materials to local communities and organizations in need of support. Communities across the country are faced with hostility toward the teaching of Black history in school. While books are removed from school bookshelves, we're distributing books and other resources in local communities.
National Black Cultural Information Trust, Inc. (PRNewsfoto/National Black Cultural Information Trust)
The new ProtectBlackHistory. org initiative will distribute Black history materials to local communities where needed.
Local community groups, organizations, and religious institutions can enroll online to participate. NBCI Trust, Inc. is partnering with local Blackowned bookstores and other organizations to distribute materials. Current partners
like a broken tail light and then search cars for drugs and weapons. The strategy, called “hot spot policing,” focuses on urban areas where crime is most likely to occur.
Memphis grassroots groups want the city to pass a data transparency ordinance to hold police accountable for misconduct and excessive use of force. They also called for the end of unmarked cars and plainsclothes officers patrolling Memphis neighborhoods. They want all city personnel on the scene the night Nichols was beaten, identified and their records released. Lastly, they want Memphis PD to stop traffic enforcement altogether.
Two of their demands, disbanding the Scorpion Squad and charging the officers who beat Tyre Nichols, have already been met. Another officer and three EMTs who did nothing to help Nichols after he was beaten have also been fired.
Protesters in Memphis, meanwhile, have continued demonstrating.
Remembering Tyre
Last Saturday a group gathered in front of the courthouse and then marched past the Shelby County Criminal Justice Center. They stopped at an intersection and blocked traffic for a couple of hours.
on page 4
include DARE Books and Kizzy's Books & More, two Florida-based Black-owned bookstores. The Protect Black History Initiative is a project of the National Black Cultural Information Trust, Inc. Our mission is to provide information, resources, and tools that uplift the collective freedom of Black communities while also correcting cultural misinformation. The Protect Black History Initiative will include free online Black history seminars, panel discussions, and children's storytimes.
Through the Protect Black History Initiative, we strive to continue the legacy of Dr. Carter G. Woodson and other great ancestors that came before us by working to make Black History resources and materials accessible in local communities across the country. Dr. Woodson once stated, "Those who have no record of what their forebears have accomplished lose the inspiration which comes from the teaching of biography and history." We are determined to protect Black history for
future generations, so they can continue to be inspired by the achievements of their ancestors to reach new heights.
"We have to do more than lament. We have to organize. Pushing back on the dangerous anti-Black erasure of our history is imperative. We hope that through the Protect Black History Initiative, we help fill the gaps where needed," said Jessica Ann Mitchell Aiwuyor, founder of the National Black Cultural Information Trust, Inc.
NBCI Trust encourages other organizations, businesses, and individuals to partner or donate to expand the program's reach. For more information on how to become involved, email outreach@nbcit.org. To enroll or contribute to the Protect Black History Initiative, visit ProtectBlackHistory.org.
The National Black Cultural Information Trust is a PanAfrican initiative that shares cultural information, stories, and resources that uplift the collective freedom of Black communities while correcting cultural misinformation.
Black Maternal Mortality Rate in 2021 was 68.9 deaths per 100,000 (approximately 2,480 women)
Black Maternal Mortality
Rate in 2021 was 68.9 deaths per 100,000 (approximately 2,480 women)
ORLANDO, Fla., Jan. 19, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- With the overall U.S. maternal mortality rate (MMR) on the rise, the data behind the African American community paints an even more devastating picture, where the CDC and October 2022 GAO report that the Black Maternal Mortality Rate in 2021 was 68.9 deaths per 100,000 (approximately 2,480 women) compared to 26.1 per 100,000 (about 940 women).
WHYS™ (We Hear You, Sister!) is a growing online database and community of 124+ passionate ob-gyn physicians who practice across 29 states in the US, where 88% are boardcertified. “Countless black lives could be saved if women of color knew where to find an ob-gyn that could better understand their challenges.
The crisis extends past the data, where a direct relationship between these unnecessary deaths and racial concordance has been identified. Black patients often complain that their concerns are not heard nor respected when being seen by a doctor outside of their race, creating a divide between the doctor patient relationship, ultimately preventing the best possible care.
To affect change, Dr. Linda Burke and an online group of 748+ Black ob-gyn female physicians rallied, but attempts to obtain seats on professional decision-making committees proved futile leading Dr. Burke to create WHYS™ (We Hear You, Sister!), a resource that would address the challenges patients face in connecting with a doctor that they could relate to and bring a more positive outcome to some of the doctor patient exchanges.
WHYS™ (We Hear You,
Sister!) is a growing online database and community of 124+ passionate ob-gyn physicians who practice across 29 states in the US, where 88% are boardcertified. "Countless black lives could be saved if women of color knew where to find an ob-gyn that could better understand their challenges," states Dr. Burke who has been moved by many stories shared by her colleagues about the uphill battle. "The ability to use my network to build this resource in an attempt to make a difference in the lives of others drives me daily, and my greatest hope is that WHYS™ grows to be a trusted community for all in need," shares Dr. Burke. WHYS™ officially launches in February 2023 in celebration of Black History Month and Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler's birthday.
To learn more about Dr. Linda Burke and the WHYS movement, contact Dr. Linda Burke, MD MS, FACOG
DoctorLindaOnline@gmail. com
earnings demonstrate what a community can do for students and the future when they work together.
Indian Springs High School graduated 342 students in the Class of 2022 who can boast about their combined total of $3,125,000 in scholarships and grants, including more than $360,000 in military scholarships and enlistment bonuses.
Cajon High School’s 583 graduates, which included International Baccalaureate (IB) students, earned $1,950,999 in scholarships and grants, with $440,000 coming from military scholarships and enlistment bonuses. Another SBCUSD IB school, Arroyo Valley High School, proudly graduated 555 students, with 70.6 percent of them earning scholarships and grants totalling $1,459,690.
(Photo by
Every year, San Bernardino City Unified School District (SBCUSD) high schools assist seniors in preparing portfolios that will help them apply for and obtain college scholarships. For most seniors, that task is complete and soon they will begin participating in mock interviews so they are able to put their best foot forward during the actual scholarship interviews that happen later in the school year. Additionally, the two nonprofit organizations that coordinate and fund scholarships specifically for SBCUSD students—San Bernardino Community Scholarship
Association and Making Hope Happen Foundation—have begun coordinating with high school scholarship counselors for the next scholarship application window.
Based on the fact SBCUSD students in the Class of 2022 earned more than $11 million in scholarships and grants, including adult students from Inland Career Education Center (ICEC) and students from the District’s alternative high schools, these efforts appear successful.
Although past performance is no guarantee of future success, the Class of 2022 scholarship
DaQuan Lawrence to Coordinate Student and Young Leader Outreach
With 327 graduates in the Class of 2022, San Gorgonio High School secured $2,046,734 in scholarships, including $619,200 in military scholarships and enlistment bonuses.
A full 100 percent of Middle College High School’s 59 graduates earned scholarships totalling $900,000.
Of Pacific High School’s 239 graduates in the Class of 2022, 162 earned $800,278 in scholarships, including military scholarships and enlistment bonuses. And 78 of 232 San Bernardino High School graduates earned $694,412.
SBCUSD’s continuation high schools also boasted scholarship recipients, with 20 San Andreas High School and 19 Sierra High School graduates in the Class of 2022 earning $13,050 and $26,618, respectively.
Seven of ICEC’s 109 adult
high school diploma and GED graduates earned a combined $14,819 in scholarships.
“I’m proud to say that the vast majority of the non-military scholarship dollars are the direct result of efforts by our District and our local community,” said Ginger Ontiveros. “Local businesses, charities, and individuals have donated time and money to the Making Hope Happen Foundation and the San Bernardino Community Scholarship Association—two nonprofits geared specifically to support SBCUSD students—just to make sure our students have a chance at success.”
Community Scholarship Association members were responsible for 313 graduates in SBCUSD’s Class of 2022 receiving a total of 364 scholarships totaling $283,447.
“The Scholarship Association awards scholarships only to SBCUSD graduates. Charter school and private school students are not eligible for these scholarships,” said longtime Association member and former SBCUSD high school counselor Blythe Anderson. “Many of our Board members are former District employees or scholarship recipients, so it’s important to us that we support students in our schools.”
For more information or to donate to the Making Hope Happen Foundation, visit https:// makinghope.org/. To create your own scholarship or donate to one of the many existing Associationmanaged scholarships, contact Susan Zavala, Communications/ Community Relations Department Secretary I, at susan. zavala@sbcusd.k12.ca.us.
IBW Taps Global Human Rights Activist to Organize for Black World Conference...continued
of the great gatherings of Black people in this century.”
RIVERSIDE, CA---January
DaQuan LawrenceNew York, NY, Feb 3, 2023
— Dr. Ron Daniels, President of the Institute of the Black World 21st Century (IBW) announced today that DaQuan Lawrence, a Graduate student in African Studies at Howard University, will be in charge of outreach to university/college students and community based young leaders to participate in State of the Black World Conference V. Organized around the theme Global Africans Rising, Empowerment, Reparations and Healing, Mr. Lawrence’s major task is to connect with student government associations, Black Studies Programs and cultural centers at Historically Black Colleges and Universities and other institutions of higher education to encourage students to organize contingents to participate in the Conference. He will also connect with community based organizations around the country to send contingents of young leaders. Dr. Daniels has also asked Mr. Lawrence to identify young leaders who can serve as resource persons for the eight major issue areas for deliberation at the Conference and facilitate the Student and Young Leaders Caucus.
In addition to working on completing his doctoral degree in African Studies at Howard
University, Mr. Lawrence works as a research analyst at a D.C.based public policy research organization and is also graduate assistant in the Center for African Studies at Howard. He has experience working on human rights research and international public policy in the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Indonesia, Liberia and South Africa. He coleads Strong Men Overcoming Obstacles Through Hard-work, (SMOOTH) Inc., which is a mentoring, social skills and professional development and community service nonprofit for young Black men, founded at Morgan State University, with sections at Temple University and Coppin State University.
DaQuan is an alumnus of Morgan State University and Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies and serves as the Local Coordinator for the Banneker City (D.C) chapter of the Pan African Federalist Movement. Lawrence also contributes to The Hilltop at Howard University and The Afro American Newspapers, the oldest Black collegiate, and oldest Black family-owned newspapers in America, respectively.
In accepting the offer to work on State of the Black World Conference V, DaQaun said: “I am honored to work with IBW and Dr. Ron Daniels in working to fulfill the goals of State of the Black World Conference V. I have followed Dr. Daniels’ work for a long time and am eager to assist IBW to make the Conference one
Dr. Ron Daniels concluded, “We expect Black people from across Black America and the Pan African world to participate in this global conference. We in IBW are thrilled to have someone with the vision, skill and commitment that Brother DaQuan brings to the table to lead our efforts to engage student and young leaders. His efforts
will help to ensure that State of the Black World Conference will be cross-generational in character.”
The State of the Black World Conference will convene, April 19-23 at the Baltimore Convention Center. The Hilton Inner Harbor is the headquarters hotel. Persons seeking further information can visit the website www.ibw21.org or call 1-888.774.2921
31, 2023--- Unity is key when it comes to anything community based. On Saturday, February 11, 2023, at 10 a.m. the Adrian Dell & Carmen Roberts Foundation (ADCR) will be hosting the 43rd Annual Riverside Black History Parade. The theme this year is “Inland Empire, moving forward in unity.”
Per usual, the day will start off with the parade kicking off at 10 a.m. which starts at Riverside City College making its way downtown ending at 13th and Main Street in Downtown Riverside by the courthouse. Immediately following the
parade, is the expo which will go on from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. and will feature live performances, award winning food, unique vendors, and so much more! The grand marshal for this year will be Riverside Unified School District Superintendent, Renee Hill. Prior to the weekend of the parade, the Kickoff Reception will be held on Saturday, February 4 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Central Middle School in Riverside, California. For more information on the parade and other ADCR events, visit www.adcrfoundation.org.
The news surrounding the tragic death of Tyre Nichols on the heels of mass murders in California cast a veil of solemnity on the advent of Black History Month. These events touch everyone in our nation and illustrate that our work to advance human dignity and realize the equality for which we all strive is still a glimmer on the horizon. But it is and always has been achievable.
I’ve always professed that I am a work in progress. So are you. And so is our country. In recognition of Black History Month, let’s commit to doing our part to help our nation come together as the great nation we aspire to be. That includes actions
we can take in our workplaces, as well as in our everyday lives. I will never tire of saying that when we help others, when we offer them an opportunity to have their voices heard, then we very much help ourselves. We build community. And that makes us stronger and better, whether it is at work, in our neighborhoods, or as citizens of our aspiring nation. Helping others is a tangible way for us to come together and to build a more perfect nation, community, and workplace.
Black History Month remains a powerful symbolic celebration and a time for acknowledgement, reflection, and inspiration. The national 2023 Black History Month theme, “Black
Resistance,” explores how African Americans have addressed historic and ongoing disadvantage and oppression, as evidenced by recent events. But disadvantage and oppression transcend overt instances of violence. They interpenetrate our everyday practices, our beliefs, social relations, and incidents that reveal hierarchies and social structures that preserve inequities. Please understand that we can help mitigate that through our own intentional, positive actions. Despite an inequitable social system, African Americans have found viable ways to survive, advance, and thrive.
Black Americans have nurtured and protected their physical and intellectual autonomy through innovation, lobbying, litigation, and legislation—and, yes, by helping each other as a community. These efforts have fueled perseverance and hope.
Black resistance strategies have served as a model for every other social movement in our country.
We all have learned from their leadership in this area. And our nation has benefitted from those
efforts by progressing towards a more equitable society, even though we still have a way to go.
Collectively celebrating Black History Month is one way the Census Bureau achieves our mission and vision. Consider the mission of our Office of Equal Employment Opportunity, Diversity and Inclusion (EEODI): “To engage and support the Census Bureau workforce through proactive education, upholding statutory requirements to prevent unlawful discrimination, and fostering a sense of belonging. Through our vision, we strive to be an inclusive and equitable work environment, empowering employees to be their best selves and make innovative contributions to the agency. We will serve as catalysts for change and build a model EEO program where all employees count.” I couldn’t have said it better myself.
I encourage all of you to become involved and do all that you can to foster an environment where we all are recognized for our abilities and valued for our contributions.
“Moves the Inland Empire Forward in Unity”
California Volunteers, Office of the Governor seeks applicants passionate about fighting climate change for paid service positions in local communities across the state
Californians to take meaningful action to protect their homes, health and communities against the harshest impacts of climate change. The program is led by California Volunteers, Office of the Governor.
“We want to channel the energy of those passionate about fighting climate change into paid service to help communities address this existential threat,” said California Chief Service Officer Josh Fryday. “Our California Climate Action Corps Fellows are doing critical work, engaging community members and inspiring us to do more.”
Action Corps Fellows will serve from Sept. 18, 2023, to Aug. 15, 2024, in communities throughout the state. Summer fellows will serve 300 hours from June 5 to Aug. 4, 2023.
From 2021 through 2022, the California Climate Action Corp Fellowship achieved the following:
147,072 trees planted, maintained, or given away.
1.6 million pounds of food or organic waste diverted from landfills.
1 million pounds of recovered food distributed to people in need.
(SACRAMENTO, CA, 2/6/2023) – The California chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR-CA), along with Senator Cortese (SD-15), today announced the introduction of SB309: Religious Accommodations in Local and State Correctional and Detention Facilities.
California Climate Action Corps Fellows and volunteers celebrate during Community Climate Action Day - San Jose in September 2022 where they participated in tree plantings, composting, canvassing neighborhoods and brush clearing. Spanish: Miembros de California Climate Action Corps y voluntarios celebran durante un Día de Acción Climática – San José en septiembre de 2022, donde participaron plantando árboles, en proyectos de compostaje, distribución de información a la comunidad y limpia de maleza.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. –
California Volunteers, Office of the Governor wants champions of climate action to apply for the California Climate Action Corps paid service program which began recruitment today.
“Tackling the climate crisis takes partners at all levels, and the California Climate Action Corps is mobilizing energized Californians all across our state to drive climate action in ways never seen before,” said Governor Gavin Newsom. “California’s climate action is just getting started, and it starts with you. Together, we’ll achieve the climate-friendly future all Californians deserve.”
California Climate Action Corps Fellows mobilize their communities through climate volunteer engagement, climate action and education service
projects focused on urban greening, wildfire resiliency, and organic waste and edible food recovery.
“There is incredible power in service and our California Climate Action Corps gives fellows the opportunity to harness that power to directly address the impacts of climate change,” said First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom. “The Governor and I are exceedingly grateful to those who answer the call to serve their communities, and we are excited to see them take meaningful action on behalf of our state and our planet.”
Governor Newsom launched California Climate Action Corps as the nation’s first state-level climate service corps with the mission of empowering
As AmeriCorps California members, fellows earn $30,000 for serving 1,700 hours over 11 months, plus qualify for $10,000 in education awards to pay down student debt or use towards college.
A summer fellowship is also recruiting for two-month positions which pay $5,294, plus a $1,374 education award.
2023-24 California Climate
17,770 volunteers engaged for 54,220 hours of climate action.
52,002 people engaged through climate-related education and outreach.
172 acres, 85 sites, and 36 homes/structures treated for climate resiliency. Go to ClimateActionCorps. ca.gov to learn more and apply.
Governor
SACRAMENTO – As millions of California families experience soaring gas utility bills, Governor Gavin Newsom took action today urging the federal government to investigate the recent price spike affecting the Western U.S. and highlighted the state’s action to provide relief to Californians.
In a letter to the federal agency responsible for regulating wholesale natural gas, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the Governor requested that the agency “immediately focus its investigatory resources on assessing whether market manipulation, anticompetitive behavior, or other anomalous activities are driving these ongoing elevated prices in the western gas markets.”
Additionally, millions of Californians will soon see relief from high utility bills – with credits of $90 to $120 showing up on gas and electric bills as soon as next month.
On Thursday, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) voted to accelerate the California Climate Credit to help California families with high gas bills. The $90-$120 credit will be applied to residential utility customer bills starting in March for customers of PG&E, Southern California Edison, San Diego Gas & Electric, and Southern California Gas Company. Customers of Bear Valley, Liberty, PacifiCorp, and Southwest Gas will also receive an accelerated credit of varying amounts.
Tomorrow, the CPUC and the California Energy Commission will host an en banc hearing to examine the causes and impacts of the recent spike in natural gas prices.
“Millions of California families are opening their utility bills to sticker shock – and we’re taking action now to provide relief to help with those high gas bills,” said Governor Newsom. “We know this provides only temporary relief from soaring bills. That’s why I’m asking the federal government to use its full authority to investigate the spike in natural gas prices and take any necessary enforcement actions. We’re going to get to the bottom of this because Californians deserve to know what’s behind these exorbitant bills.”
Manager Nazeehah Khan said:
The bill, introduced by Senator Cortese and sponsored by CAIRCA, aims to create a statewide policy ensuring the right to religious clothing, grooming, and headwear for individuals held in local and state correctional and detention facilities.
In a statement, CAIR-CA CEO Hussam Ayloush said:
“Individuals who have been detained or incarcerated deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. At the very least, the Constitution guarantees them the right to exercise their faith. CAIR’s civil rights attorneys regularly receive complaints from Muslims in correctional and detention facilities, who are often denied the right to wear the hijab and other forms of religious clothing and grooming.
“We would like to thank Senator Cortese for introducing the religious accommodations bill on a state level. This bill will proactively protect the religious rights of not just Muslims, but also our Sikh and Jewish neighbors and other religious minorities.”
In a statement, CAIR-CA Policy & Government Affairs
“At the heart of ensuring civil rights is recognizing a person’s humanity. Whether you are Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Sikh, or a member of any other faith, the ability to practice your faith is essential to the rehabilitation process. We thank Senator Cortese for his leadership in recognizing the value of religious expression for all and we look forward to working with the Senator’s office to make this bill a reality in California.”
Over the last decade, CAIRCA has represented incarcerated Muslim women across the state who have had their hijabs forcibly removed and denied religious headwear and clothing accommodations. While CAIRCA has been successful in advocating for policy changes within individual counties, such as Long Beach, Orange County, and Santa Clara, this bill would provide the opportunity to address the issue proactively by implementing a uniform policy across California for both state and local detention facilities.
SEE: How CAIR-LA, Local Chaplain Maria Khani, and Shura Council Helped Improve Meals for Incarcerated Muslims During Ramadan CAIR-CA is a chapter of CAIR, America’s largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance understanding of Islam, protect civil rights, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.
Atiya Jordan
(Image:Instagram /@blakksmoke / Screenshot)
For Blakk Tatted, the owner and visionary behind the groundbreaking Blakk Smoke hookah brand: Plan A always had to work. He leveraged his resilience and grit to lead him to where he is today, attracting $1.2 million in under nine hours.
Some may call him an overnight success thanks to his loyal customer base. The New Orleans native believes just that.
“My journey wasn’t overnight,” Tatted said, according to a July interview with Zenger News.
“I look at myself as an overnight success, which is not a bad thing. That is a blessing because none of us would choose to wait 10 to 20 years if we had the option. We put in the work for years, waiting for that one day and that one moment to hit.”
The 33-year-old music artist and entrepreneur is celebrated in his hometown as the “New Orleans Dip King.” The crown brought a large following on Instagram and Facebook as he captured viewers with his viral comedic skits, dip moves, and showcasing of business products.
“Things today are far beyond what I could’ve imagined or even prayed for,” Tatted said in an interview for Authority Magazine, of his early mistakes and failures.
“The reason grit and resilience [led] to my success is because I was adamant about not giving up. I never created a Plan B because Plan A had to work.”
The fame would establish a fan base that would provide ongoing support to his business endeavors all the way. Tatted grew tired of putting money in major corporations’ pockets, so he launched Blakk Smoke,
a passion-turned-multimilliondollar hookah brand offering premium, real fruit-infused hookahs and accessories to the masses. With this brand, Tatted has created a remedy. According to the brand’s website, hookah lovers can enjoy the countless flavors without the “lightheadedness, headaches, and scratchy throats” attributed to tobacco and nicotine.
“I hated that despite never smoking anything else, I was still getting horrible side effects from smoking hookah with nicotine/ tobacco,” Tatted recalled in the magazine interview.
“This made me passionate to create a healthier alternative to smoking hookah without the option of having to inhale nicotine and tobacco. That’s where I can honestly say it started for me.”
That’s right — Blakk Smoke has zero tobacco and zero nicotine in its products. He is also proud to have released a line of on-the-go hookah pens earlier this year. The portable pens come in several flavors, including blueberry mint, sweet bubble gum, tropical fruit, and more.
Tatted’s milestone is no easy feat, but he credits the overflowing sales to his intentional connection with his customer base.
“My trigger point is to connect with people, genuinely build a bond and connect because today, you have internet cousins and people you talk to more on social media than your own family,” Tatted said, per Zenger News.
“If you connect with your audience and show people you care and are humble, and appreciate their support, then the support and sales will come. It makes them feel an obligation to support you. It’s like, I’m buying from my cousin right now,” he continued.
From launching his portable pens to smashing athletic sponsorships, Blakk Tatted is only looking forward. Even celebrities are backing the revolutionary product.
The numbers are almost impossible to comprehend.
More than 3,500 people, as of Monday evening, have died from the massive earthquakes and aftershocks that struck Turkey and Syria. Two earthquakes measuring 7.8 and 7.5 were followed by aftershocks in frigid winter weather. The impact could be felt as far away as Lebanon, Jordan, Israel and Egypt.
Here is a harrowing video of one of the aftershocks and its aftermath caught on live TV.: https://www.reuters.com/ video/watch/dramatic-footageshows-turkey-quake-liveid759968217?chan=8gwsyvzx
The sound alone is frightening.
According to Reuters, the reporter in the video, Yuksel Akalan, said, “As we were heading to the rubble to (film) search and rescue efforts, there were two consecutive aftershocks with a loud noise, and the building you are seeing on my left was brought down to earth. There was a lot of dust. A local resident is coming and he is covered in dust.”
Akalan then met a woman running from the other direction with her children. He lifted the woman’s daughter and then tried to calm her.
The video is just a snapshot of the nightmare.
There are reports of nearly 80 aftershocks, and many of those fortunate enough to survive are left sleeping outside in freezing temperatures.
Khalil Ashawi, a photojournalist based in Syria, told CNN, “It’s a disaster.
Paramedics and firefighters are trying to help, but unfortunately, there is too much for them to deal with. They can’t handle it all.
Entire families have been killed.
Seven to eight people from the same family, all gone. These are the sort of situations I am seeing and hearing about today. It is freezing at the moment, and there are so many people sleeping in the streets right now because they have no homes to go to.
Why was this quake so deadly?
The Washington Post’s
Credit: Shutterstock
Carolyn Y. Johnson wrote, “The grim death toll is a result of several factors: the sheer size of the quake; the fact that it struck relatively close to the surface; and its proximity to where people live. Monday’s quake originated just about 11 miles below the surface. That means the seismic waves did not have to travel far before they reached buildings and people on the surface, leading to more intense shaking.”
Johnson’s story goes into exceptional detail about why this earthquake was so destructive. It’s an example of some of the excellent explanatory journalism that helped us better understand what happened.
The Wall Street Journal’s Eric Niiler and Nidhi Subbaraman write, “How the Turkey-Syria Earthquake Occurred: Behind the Science of the Catastrophe.”
The Associated Press’ Mehmet Guzel, Ghaith Alsayed and Suzan Fraser — reporting from Adana, Turkey — noted, “The quake piled more misery on a
region that has seen tremendous suffering over the past decade. On the Syrian side, the area is divided between governmentheld territory and the country’s last opposition-held enclave, which is surrounded by Russianbacked government forces. Turkey, meanwhile, is home to millions of refugees from the civil war.”
They added, “In the rebel-held enclave, hundreds of families remained trapped in rubble, the opposition emergency organization known as the White Helmets said in a statement. The area is packed with some 4 million people displaced from other parts of the country by the war. Many of them live in buildings that are already wrecked from past bombardments.”
More superb work
Check out this impressive visual journalism in The New York Times from Pablo Robles, Agnes Chang, Josh Holder and Lauren Leatherby.
The piece shows detailed maps of the earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria. In addition, there are haunting before and after photos of areas badly damaged by the earthquake. For example, one photo shows the immaculate Yeni Mosque in June 2020. Then next to it, the Yeni Mosque today, looking like a crumpled sand castle on a dirty, dusty beach.
Also, the Times has “After the Quake: Photos From Turkey and Syria.”
Both pieces are powerful journalism that show the impact of this devastating disaster.
So is this piece from The Washington Post’s Adam Taylor, Joe Snell, Olivier Laurent and Lauren Tierney: “Maps, photos and videos show earthquake’s widespread destruction.”
Creating a new methodology for real-time cyber security monitoring
the Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) that have garnered multiple awards, including the USDA Office of Procurement and Property Management HUBZone — Historically Underutilized Business Zone — Contractor of the Year.
U2opia Lab Partnership
“ORNL will help us become one of the premier organizations in the country in cyber space. Special thanks to the scientists at ORNL, as well as the Small Business Office at ORNL and DOE headquarters. They deserve special recognition for being our champions,” said Smith.
U2OPIA Technology (MWBE) Cyber Security Firm Licenses Two Federal Labs Technologies...continued
UT-Battelle manages ORNL for the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States. The Office of Science is working to address
some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit energy. gov/science.
For more information on U2opia Technology, please contact us using U2opiatech.com
Tyre Nichols Almost Made it Home...continued from page 1
About 50 skateboarders also gathered in front of the National Civil Rights Museum to honor Tyre Nichols. Nichols was a regular at Tobey Skate Park. Cameron Blakely regularly skates there and said Nichols was “laid back” but a skilled skateboarder who was always trying new moves. He spraypainted “Justice for Tyre Nichols” on his board.
“Tyre ripped. He was actually doing stuff, and that’s why I want to keep it going. Just in case people forget and they don’t talk about him, there it is on my board,” Blakely said.
Last Saturday afternoon in Nashville about 100 demonstrators gathered in the grass behind City Hall. Members of the Black Nashville Assembly passed out petitions containing the same five demands protesters in Memphis want. They held an hour-long vigil including a ceremony honoring past victims of police violence and wellknown civil rights leaders who have died.
Longtime activist Theeda Murphy started to name them and as she called out “Ashay” — a Yoruba term for amen — someone spilled a bit of water on the ground for each one. Then the crowd started in, adding people like Fred Hampton, Eric Garner, Briana Taylor, Sandra Bland, Emmett Till, Nat Turner, Bell Hooks, Andrew Young, Ella Baker, Thurgood Marshall, Billie Holliday, Mohamed Ali, W.E.B Du Bois, Ida B. Wells, Harriet Tubman, James Baldwin, and Frederick Douglas. That went on for several minutes.
‘We need the police. We don’t need the killing.’
Local pastor-activist Howard Jones talked about civilian Community Oversight Boards (COB), noting Memphis and Nashville have them.
from the hardware, is invisible to malware, and is resilient to internet service interruption. Heartbeat offers efficiency, scalability, and flexibility by implementing a data collection process with low computational requirements, is fast, and uses mechanisms that are present in almost all modern computing systems.
ORNL’s technologies are integrated into U2opia’s anomaly detection system to deliver advanced security capabilities with an artificial intelligenceinformed visualization tool. The software can be deployed quickly with no added hardware and limited human engagement.
(Black PR Wire) -- U2opia
Technology, a consortium of technology and administrative executives with extensive experience in both industry and defense, has exclusively licensed a package of two technologies from the Department of Energy (DOE) and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) that offers a new method for advanced cyber security monitoring in realtime.
“Identifying and quickly responding to attempted cyber security attacks is an urgent need across government and industry,” said Susan Hubbard, Deputy for Science and Technology at ORNL. “ORNL’s leadership in cyber resilience has led to the development of two powerful tools that will enable a more secure business environment.”
The licensing package pairs two technologies developed in ORNL’s Cyber Resilience and Intelligence Division: Situ, a system for identifying and visualizing suspicious behavior from streaming cyber security data, and Heartbeat, a system that collects power trace measurements directly from the hardware to identify changes.
U2opia Leadership U2opia, a woman-, minorityand disabled veteran-led company, led by Maurice Singleton III, the Chief Executive Officer, and Chaired by Joaneane Smith. Over the last 23 years, Smith’s information technology solutions company, GCS, based just outside of New Orleans, in Harvey Louisiana, has successfully executed multiple assignments on behalf of the U.S. Navy, Army, Air Force,
One product, developed by a team led by John Goodall, combines anomaly detection and data visualization to provide a distributed, scalable, streaming platform for discovering and explaining suspicious behavior to enhance situation awareness. Situ helps network operators discover and understand events that would otherwise go undetected. It reduces huge volumes of network data to a manageable number of events to be examined. This powerful tool is currently used at ORNL to detect abnormal cyber events.
The other product, developed by a team led by Stacy Prowell, detects attacks by focusing on the physical behavior of the device being protected. The Heartbeat system collects power trace measurements directly
“With these new protocols that are unknown to ‘bad actors,’ it is our intention to improve the online security of SharedServices and Cloud computing with proprietary software.” said Maurice Singleton III, the Founder of the consortium.
The data visualization development team includes Kelly Huffer, Joel Reed and Dave Richardson. The technology was supported by funding through ORNL’s Lab Directed Research and Development program, the Department of Defense, DOE and DHS. Heartbeat was supported through the lab’s Technology Innovation Program.
For more information about ORNL’s intellectual property in information technology and communications, email ORNL Partnerships or call 865-5741051.
traffic stop,” Jones said. He said reform is long overdue and until police understand that they work for the community there will be no progress.
“We want the police. We need the police and police are needed in Memphis. But we don’t need the killing. We don’t need the police to be the judge, jury, and executioner. We have to stop that,” Jones said.
When members of the Memphis special violent crime squad stopped and dragged him from his car, Tyre Nichols was on his way back from taking photos of the sunset at a local park. They beat and pepper-sprayed him while he was on the ground, and at one point Nichols broke free and ran for his life.
He was almost home when a member of the Scorpion Squad tackled him. Other officers arrived and then they kicked and pummeled Nichols on the street corner, just 100 yards from the apartment where he lived with his mom and stepdad. He called out for his mother three times before he lost consciousness.
Two EMTs on the scene called for an ambulance but offered Nichols no help for 19 minutes except to prop him back up against a police car. They have been fired. Several police stood around Nichols’ collapsed body. One cop can be heard on video bragging about the “haymakers” he landed on Nichols, who was finally transported to St. Francis Hospital 32 minutes after the beating stopped. He died three days later.
Nashville has had special flex units deployed in high crime neighborhoods in the past that led to two killings during traffic stops. One unit has since been disbanded but there is another one, the Titans unit that worries him. He has a meeting scheduled with the police chief and the Nashville COB February 23 to talk about police reform.
“We have to do better in Nashville, in Memphis, all over the country because too many people are being killed during a
Nichols family attorney Ben Crump likened his death to the Rodney King beating in Los Angles in 1991. At Nichols funeral February 1, Vice-president Kamala Harris called for the swift passage of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. Rev. Al Sharpton called out the five black police officers charged in Nichols’ death and invoked Martin Luther King Jr., who was killed in Memphis in 1968.
“In the city that Dr. King lost his life … you beat a brother to death,” Sharpton said.
“You don’t stand up to thugs in the street becoming thugs yourself. You don’t fight gangs by becoming five armed men against an unarmed man. That ain’t the police, that’s punks,” he said.
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After all that has been done and said [ U.S. Apology for Slavery, Jim Crow, July 29, 2008], “Our nation still has need of tears! Tears for all those lynched, maimed, whipped, shamed, and debased by our history of race hatred. Our country has need of tears for those who suffered and for those at whose hands they suffered.” [Albert Raboteau -Author, Slave Religion].
Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. For some reason veteran hor/thr director M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense) has decided to put a lot of bad juju vibes out into the world.
If you’re curious, read on.
It’s an unusual premise, but so what. Four strangers (Dave Bautista, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Abby Quinn, Rupert Grint) think really bad things will happen. They feel they’ve been called to stop catastrophes, natural disasters, carnage—and are convinced their mission is noble beyond reproach: “… the most important job in the history of the world.” The only way to stop the impending apocalypse is to ask a couple (Ben Aldridge, Jonathan Groff), who have a child (Kristen Cui), to make a huge life-or-death sacrifice. The messengers of gloom beg, plead and manipulate. Says one: “I don’t have a scar, but if you look inside, you will see that my heart is broken.” So what?
The confrontation occurs in a remote wooded area in Pennsylvania. The menacing quartet knocks on the door of what is called a “cabin,” but looks more like a fancy wooden structure that would rent for a fortune in Bucks County. The married twosome is gay, which is about as forward thinking as the multicultural cast of interlopers. The casting doesn’t feel necessarily exploitative, more like a reflection of life.
However, the script, by Shyamalan, Steve Desmond and Michael Sherman, does over extract from the male/
of Africans who died in the transatlantic slave trade. Mourn for those black bodies that were subject to unconscionable white enslavement, violence, and oppression. Mourn for those who lived through forms of carnage, mutilation, rape, castration, and injustice that will forever mark the profound ethical failure of this country. For we have not properly mourned nor repented past atrocities afflicted upon us as a people of color. Clearly, a trauma of this magnitude in the life of a people must be acknowledged and mourned before celebration can take place.
male subplot with way too many flashbacks. Background sequences include apprehensive parents, a gay bashing incident and the loving adoption of their Asian daughter. None of it adds much depth to the story, and the frequent lookbacks don’t reveal anything an audience couldn’t already fathom. Also, if this film had stayed in the moment and chronologically developed the narrative bit-by-bit, minuteby-minute, it might have sustained momentum for a full 1h 40m (editor Noemi Katharina Preiswerk). It does not. For horror fans hunting for the newest realm, forget it. Life here on earth is all you get. For sci-fi fans hoping for incredible special effects, a gigantic water plume is the only visual device of interest, and that’s an old trick. There is tension. There is bloodshed. Not like that in a gory slasher film. More in a generic thriller way dotted with repulsion as characters fight for their lives or bite the dust like champs.
It’s noticeable that the camera lens likes to be intrusive, especially in the opening scenes. Closeups on the little girl as she collects grasshoppers and a stranger who approaches her are from mid forehead to chin. It’s an odd device that doesn’t draw you into the characters. It’s just invasive enough to make you notice the technique.
Interiors and exteriors (production design Naaman Marshall), cinematography (Jarin Blaschke, The Northman and Lowell A. Meyer, Servant), costumes (Caroline Duncan) and
props (Robbie Duncan) don’t’ stand out. If anything, Herdis Stefansdóttir’s heavy bass musical score drones in a way that sounds like a whale dying and it is effective.
As the two dads, Aldridge and Groff have the toughest roles, trying to pull the audience into their plight, standing strong and wavering at moments like any human would who is in shock.
Aldridge has the meatier role and manages to add texture to the dad character whose history of trauma carries the most emotional weight. The four strangers are played by actors who largely don’t distinguish themselves.
Except Bautista, who gets the most screen time and seems a bit deeper than the rest. But he was far more impressive in Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.
Why would any responsible parent put their impressionable kid in a sadistic movie were people are mutilated in front of a little girl? Even if the actress was sheltered from the gruesome stuff, just partially knowing what the film is about has got to be weird for her psyche. She’s a tiny, undeveloped person, how is she
Although the Senate acknowledged “the fundamental injustice, cruelty, brutality, and inhumanity of slavery” and apologized to African Americans, on behalf of the people of the United States, for the wrongs committed against them and their ancestors who suffered under slavery; and although the House of Representatives had passed a similar measure the previous year, Congress could not resolve the two apologies because of differing views on how the resolution would be used in any discussion of reparations. The Senate version was insistent that an apology would not endorse any future claims. The House could not agree. Significantly, the office of the president of the United States has never issued an apology. For a nation that can’t even agree on an apology, there is “The Need of Tears,” because the United States has never given an unconditional apology for slavery.” [Theodore R. Johnson III].
Mourn for the millions
Mourn for the black people who were never meant to be included within the ideal norms of American democracy, yet forced themselves to dream as they faced nightmares, to continue breathing as they were suffocating from the stench of black bodies lynched and burned alive, and who forced themselves to stay alive when suicide would have been easier. [George Yancy]
And just as Jews refuse to forget Hitler’s Germany, we black Americans must refuse to forget the often-unspeakable atrocities we endured. Even after slavery was abolished, and the Emancipation Proclamation had been passed, prejudice amongst us was and is very prevalent. So, “What to the Slave is [Black History Month]. [Black History Month] is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn.” [Paraphrasing Douglass 1952]. I’m not a fan about Black History Month. February 1st everybody running their black history ads telling you little factual tidbit about black history. Come March 1st, no more stories, no more conversation. I tell you, “The Need for Tears!”
Series Premiere: February 15, 2023
Format: Documentary Series, 4 x 45-min episodes
"There are so many stories to be told in regard to the Black experience globally. I think that it's important to tell the stories now because we can and haven't always been able to. Even though there's a lot more work to do, we're at a place now where we have the ability and the opportunity to tell stories that have been forgotten as well as the stories that are part of our everyday lives, and what a gift that is. It's a testament to standing on the shoulders of all of those that came before us that didn't have the opportunities that we have but were part of carving out the path for all of us to get to where we are today. African Queens is in honor of that." -
Jada Pinkett SmithWatch & Link to Trailer
Download Key Art
Hear more from Executive Producer Jada Pinkett Smith on Tudum.com
Synopsis: From Executive Producer Jada Pinkett Smith comes a new documentary series exploring the lives of prominent and iconic African Queens. The first season will cover the life of Njinga, the complex, captivating, and fearless 17th century warrior queen of Ndongo and Matamba, in modern day Angola. The nation’s first female ruler, Njinga earned a reputation for her blend of political and diplomatic skill with military prowess and became an icon of resistance.
Narrated by Jada Pinkett Smith
Executive Producers: Jada Pinkett Smith, Miguel Melendez, Terence Carter and Sahara Bushue for Westbrook Studios; Jane Root, Maxine Watson and Ben Goold for Nutopia.
Writers: Peres Owino and NneNne Iwuji
Production Companies: Westbrook Studios, Nutopia
Link to: www.netflix.com/ AfricanQueens
supposed to process the plot?
Someday when Kristen Cui sees this film as an adult, she might want to ask her parents: “What the ---- were you thinking?”
The common denominator for most movies is a protagonist fighting an antagonist or evil until there is a winner. If audiences are expecting that clear distinction or a fitting, cataclysmic climax in this existential film about choosing between family or humanity, think again. The footage leads to a disappointing ending, though one not nearly as egregious as that in the source book, Paul Tremblay’s horror novel A Cabin at the End of the World.
Shyamalan fans will follow him off a cliff, into a tsunami or a cabin in the woods. Why? He takes them there because he can. Not because he should.
In theaters February 3rd.
Trailer: https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=0wiBHEACNHs
Visit NNPA News Wire
Earlier this week, a couple of related items in my social media feed serendipitously arrived one after the other. First were the results of a survey that asked more than 1,000 academic, business, and political leaders asked to evaluate thirty-two global risks over the next two years and the next ten years. Climate change and its effects dominated the list. [i] Second, a realtor friend posted: “I officially have my first client specifically moving to Detroit because of Global Warming… I’ve been telling you guys!” Indeed, experts and activists have been telling us. More extreme storms, droughts, ecosystem collapse, climate-forced migration: we are all going to see the impacts of climate change— and probably sooner than we expect. Climate change threatens the very viability of Earth as a habitable planet. In the face of the largest problem humanity has ever faced, how do we respond? What should our government be doing? Our community? Our churches? Our families? It can be an overwhelming question to ponder. Many of us make small changes, say a prayer, and then put it out of our mind. To engage more deeply could be disastrous to our mental health. Already, the American Psychological Association is wrestling with a huge growth in “climate anxiety” and “climate grief.” [ii] It is in this moment that a need for Climate Hope has emerged. The United Church of Christ is not new to the climate and environmental arena. UCC ministers actually coined the phrase “environmental racism” and played a leading role in kickstarting the environmental justice movement in the 1980s. More recently, the UCC ran
a Climate Hope Cards Art Contest. Over 900 young artists from forty-four states plus DC drew, colored, and painted about climate hope, environmental justice, and protecting the Earth. [iii] Especially for the youngest generations, having hope for a livable climate is essential. For better or worse, they will see the results of the choices we all make now. Soon, the UCC will launch its Climate Hope Cards Advocacy Campaign. People from around the country will make the decision that fighting for climate and environmental justice is worth the trouble. They will push our elected leaders to do what’s needed to fight pollution and ensure that we have a safe planet. They will find hope working together to build the future we need. We cannot do it alone and we can’t do it without hope. As organizer and educator Mariame Kaba likes to say, “Hope is a Discipline.” [iv] Hope does not always come easy. It takes work. When you’re ready, pick up your tools and join the work.
i Chart: The Largest Risks Faced by the World | Statista.
ii Is climate grief something new? (apa.org).
iii “Love” the overall winner in Climate Hope Cards youth art contest - United Church of Christ (ucc.org).
iv Recently immortalized on Sunrise Movement merch: “Hope is a Discipline” – Sunrise Movement.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Andy Wells-Bean is the Environmental Justice Fellow for the United Church of Christ.
Charlene Muhammad | California Black Media
original music.
of Black maternal health in the United States as “medical apartheid.”
During their discussion, the panelists amplified the main themes of Birthing Justice as they made the case that encouragement, resources, and support are necessary, along with improved medical care, to transform the maternal care system.
Dr. LaTanya Hines, an OB/ GYN and member of the Association of Black Women’s Physicians (ABWP) said she was an unapologetic and proud advocate for Black women.
“Nobody should die in pregnancy,” she said.
A spokesperson for OpenAI, which owns ChatGPT, said the company “made ChatGPT available as a research preview to learn from real-world use, which we believe is a critical part of developing and deploying capable, safe AI systems.”
The technology in ChatGPT’s large language model, GPT 3.5 uses data from the internet to predict the best possible response to a query. It can piece together vast chunks of data to create a response that is not a repetition from a singular site or source, but rather fragments from the whole dataset which, together, make a unique answer –a critical difference from a search engine’s function.
(Courtesy Photo Black Women for Wellness)
Birthing Justice film screening with community partners and advocates (l-r) Pastor Thembekila Smart (SCLC), Adjoa Jones (Outreach & Engagement African American Infant/ Maternal Mortality Prevention Initiative, Debbie Allen (Tribe Midwifery), Leigh Purry (Blue Shield), Khefri Riley (Frontline Doulas), Dr. LaTanya Hines (Association of Black Women’s Physicians), Gloria Davis (Girls Club of Los Angeles), Denise Pines (Executive Producer), Gabrielle Brown (Black Women for Wellness) legislatures, policy makers, with healthcare institutions, the lived experience of people who are coming into the screenings so they actually have the real data, and we can use that to make the case for some of the actions we want to see happen,” she said.
April Valentine, 31, planned to celebrate her new birth with family and friends, but instead her loved ones found themselves in front of Centinela Hospital in Inglewood on Jan. 28, protesting her death.
Valentine’s family alleges that she complained about leg pain for hours during the birth of her child on Jan.10, but was ignored and neglected by her caretakers at the medical center that specializes in maternal care.
Valentine, pregnant with her first child, died that day.
Her plight is only one episode, advocates say, in what is an escalating crisis affecting Black women during pregnancy throughout California and across the country
Recently, a group of advocates collaborated to bring awareness to the Black maternal and infant health crisis with a free screening of the film "Birthing Justice: Every Woman Deserves A Beautiful Birth Story” at The Miracle Theater in Inglewood. A panel discussion complemented the feature-length documentary.
Birthing Justice covers the issues underpinning – and helping to fuel -- the maternal health crisis within the African American community and articulates best practices to enhance birthing equity for all women, especially Black women. The audience completed a preliminary survey online prior to viewing the film, and later filled out a post survey online.
Denise Pines, the executive producer of Birthing Justice and co-founder of Women In The Room Productions, talked about the “the goal of this survey.”
“We probably will end up having a hundred screenings, and we want to share with
The event was sponsored by African American Infant/ Maternal Mortality (AAIMM), Girls Club-Los Angeles, Southern Christian Leadership (SCLC)-Southern California, Charles Drew University, Black Maternal Health Center of Excellence, Children’s Institute, and Black Women for Wellness (BWW).
Pines recommended supporting and volunteering with the organizations that do the much-needed work to address pregnancy-related deaths of Black mothers and babies and to get better outcomes overall.
The filmmakers explored what they are calling a “national epidemic” in four regions: Washington, D.C., Augusta, GA, and several areas in Missouri, and California. They interviewed women affected by current policies -- birthing moms and healthcare professionals, as well as birthing advocates, activists and policy makers at the forefront of advancing policy change.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Black women were three times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause than White women. Multiple factors contributed to these disparities, such as variation in quality healthcare, underlying chronic conditions, structural racism, and implicit biases.
Birthing Justice strongly noted that the high mortality rates among Black women are
Senior resident of Rancho Cucamonga and president of the VIP Seniors Club at the Rancho Cucamonga Senior Center regarding his experience and call for attention regarding Medicare Advantage coverage.
Dear Editor,
Coming out of the pandemic, healthy habits and prioritizing care are front mind for the retired population more than ever before.
I am thankful that my Medicare Advantage plan gives me the care I need to properly address my health issues and prevent further problems. Since I am blind in one eye, it is very important I have quality vision insurance. My plan gives me great coverage for my eye treatments, prescription medications, and screenings all at a minimal cost. Not only does my Medicare Advantage plan give me the vision coverage I need, but they integrate hearing and dental coverage into it as well. That way, I get all the
not due to their genetic makeup, what they ate, how they behaved, nor any bad habits placed them in this situation. When compared to poor White women with less education, Black women had worse death rates. Black women are unable to buy or educate themselves out of being a statistic when it comes to pregnancyrelated deaths. The cause is not race, but racism.
Women In The Room Productions has partnered with the National Birth Equity Collaborative (NBEC), one of the leading policy organizations in the country, to support legislation and public education they believe will make a difference. One such policy change is the Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act of 2021, which is comprised of 12 i bills addressing various dimensions of the Black maternal health crisis.
One of the bill’s sponsors, U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-IL14) appeared in the film.
Pastor Thembekila Smart, Executive Director, Women of Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Southern California Chapter moderated the fourperson panel in Inglewood and kicked off the discussion with her own birthing stories, ranging from an emergency c-section with her second child during which the doctor asked her husband ‘if one must be saved, who would it be: his wife or his son? Her third birth was in her 24th week and her son was hardly one pound. Both babies survived and are now thriving young men, Smart shared.
“We did not have any idea that our birthing experience would go this way,” said' Smart, who described the current state
Dr. Hines addressed the importance of OB/GYN care, stressing the need to start conversations with patients from their first visit about planning their pregnancies. She said their vital statistics are also critical -- making sure that their blood pressure, blood sugar and weight were well controlled before they got pregnant so that their birthing experience is healthy and safe.
“I am going to work with you, and we will have a shared decision-making plan,” Hines emphasized. “The goal of giving more to your patients because they need more, and if we happen to give little more than what they need, it’s okay.”
Debbie Allen, Founder of Tribe Midwifery, said women should not assume that medical establishments will give them the care they are supposed to receive.
“Demand it,” she said. “There are so many layers as to why we get the care that we get, but until those things change, we have to take responsibility to make sure we get the care we deserve,” Allen advised. Allen said women should ask questions, involve their partners, and treat childbirth like planning a wedding.
Leigh Purry is Senior Manager of Community Health, Blue Shield of California’s Health Transformation Lab.
“This film will shine light on the critical issue of saving lives and this film will help ensure that every pregnant and birthing person's voice is heard,” said Purry.
“This film will help ensure that people have access and receive all the support they need to feel safe and cared for. Racism exists and it exists in healthcare,” she added.
For more information about the movement to ensure Birthing Justice for Black mothers and their families, and to find a film screening in your area, visit BirthingJustice.com.
Maxim Elramsisy | California Black Media
So, a romantically inclined individual, for example, looking for a unique way to show affection to a love interest could instruct ChatGPT to “make a list of some one-of-a-kind Valentine’s Day gifts.” A search engine would return an index of links to websites with words matching that query, along with sponsored results/advertisements. ChatGPT, on the other hand, would reply with a list of gifts that, together, would represent, statistically, the most likely gifts to appear in your search. This method of AI-assisted brainstorming is one of the greatest strengths of ChatGPT.
With some very specific instructions, the software application could also write a Valentine's Day song, heartfelt letter or poem for our lovestruck friend. The program's ability to generate original text could be
useful here. The lyrics or poetry it spits out will not be plagiarized. The program can write jingles for advertisements, cover letters for prospective employees, or scripts for cold calls. It can write a story in Shakespearian prose, or it can take paragraphs from a college physiology textbook and explain it at a 4th grade level. Although the potential for this technology is mindblowing, it has some very distinct and important drawbacks especially at a time when the proliferation of disinformation and misinformation has become a pressing national concern. For one, as a predictive text generator, it is not very good at math. As of now, it cannot correctly answer some simple questions and it can generate some blatantly false information and convey it with confidence. Since the text is generated by AI itself, there is no source material to which the intelligence it gathers can be attributed.
According to the Frequently asked questions page, “ChatGPT will occasionally make up facts or “hallucinate” outputs. If you find an answer is unrelated, please provide that feedback by using the ‘Thumbs Down’ button.”
If the data that trains the AI is biased or not representative, then its results will have many of the same biases.
The machine learning algorithms in ChatGPT allow it to learn, expanding its data with each successive use. It makes sense, then, that OpenAI
SACRAMENTO, Calif. —
Covered California is reminding Californians that they still have an opportunity to sign up for quality health insurance and get financial help to lower the cost of their monthly premiums even though open enrollment ended on Jan. 31. Every year, Covered California allows people who have experienced a significant life event to sign up for coverage during special enrollment.
“Californians can still protect themselves and their families with quality health insurance for the rest of the year, if they have had a major change in their lives,” said Jessica Altman, executive director of Covered California.
“If you have recently lost your coverage, gotten married, had a baby, or have been affected by California’s winter storms, visit CoveredCA.com to check out what plans are available to you.”
Special-Enrollment Period for California’s Winter Storms
they can still get financial help to make it easier to afford a quality health insurance plan,” Altman said. “Californians come together when disaster strikes, and one way we can help our friends and neighbors is by making sure they have the access to the care that they need.”
Additional Qualifying Life Events
Covered California also released a new television ad, entitled “Life Takes a Turn,” to illustrate some of the most common reasons that someone would be eligible for special enrollment, such as losing health coverage, getting married, having a baby, permanently moving to California, or moving within California.
In addition, there are qualifying life events that are available due to the public health emergency and the Inflation Reduction Act:
preventative measures I need to ensure I am not unaware of any surprise ailments. On top of all of that, for my busy weeks running the VIP Club at the senior center, I have utilized the prescription covered through my Medicare Advantage plan. It’s convenient and easy –and so beneficial to those who cannot drive!
I hope California’s lawmakers continue to support this program in 2023, so that seniors like me can keep their health care that is quality and affordable.
Sincerely,
David Tucker - President of the VIP Seniors Clubthat use data to predict -- as you’ve more than likely seen in your Google search bar -- the next characters you will type.
In response to the recent historic winter storms in California and the state of emergency declared by Gov. Gavin Newsom, Covered California created a new qualifying life event for those who were affected. Californians have 60 days from the date the state of emergency was declared — or through March 5, 2023 — to sign up for coverage.
In December, OpenAI, a San Francisco-based artificial intelligence (AI) research lab, released a free, publicly available version of their AI-based bot called ChatGPT. The “GPT” stands for Generative Pre-training Transformer.
Transformers are programs, originally invented by Google,
Since the summer of 2021, a series of new AI-based products have exponentially advanced internet technology. Applications like Lensa takes pictures uploaded by a user, extracts (or learns) information about the person’s appearance, then creates its own images of the person.
AI music generators like Amper Music work in a similar way, learning from available music databases then creating
Consumers who sign up will benefit from the lower costs now available due to the increased and expanded financial help provided by the Inflation Reduction Act.
Right now, more than nine out of every 10 Covered California enrollees qualify for financial help because of the expanded and increased subsidies, and more than two-thirds of consumers are able to get comprehensive coverage for less than $10 a month.
“The storms disrupted the lives of thousands of people across the state, and we want to make sure that those affected know that
· You or a family member have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
· You have a household income under 150 percent of the federal poverty level, which is less than $20,385 for an individual and $41,625 for a family of four. Eligible consumers in this income bracket would qualify for a Silver 94 plan, the best coverage available through Covered California, at no cost.
A full list of qualifying life events can be found here: https:// www.coveredca.com/specialenrollment/
Consumers can apply for a health plan, or make changes to their current plan, if they have experienced one of these qualifying life events, usually within the last 60 days.
For more information about Covered California, please visit www.CoveredCA.com.
oppression and inequity in Long Beach, says a lack of culturally competent services is a major barrier for Asian immigrants.
resources for practical support.
Last September, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill (AB) 257 into law. Supporters of the legislation, authored by Assemblymember Chris Holden (D-Pasadena), hailed it for its promise to provide a minimum wage and improve working conditions for fast food workers.
But late last month, the future of AB 257 -- also known as “the Fast Act” or “the Fast Food Recovery Act” -- came into question. California Secretary of State Shirley N. Weber’s office announced that a referendum seeking to overturn the law had gathered enough signatures to be placed on the November ballot.
“To qualify for the ballot,” the Secretary of State’s office wrote, “the referendum needed 623,212 valid petition signatures, which is equal to five percent of the total votes cast for governor in the November 2018 General Election.
When AB 257 passed last year along party lines, it authorized the establishment of the Fast Food Accountability and Standards Recovery Act or FAST Recovery Act. The bill established the Fast Food Council within the Department of Industrial Relations, to be
composed of 10 members to be appointed by the Governor, the Speaker of the Assembly, and the Senate Rules Committee. According to the bill’s language, the purpose of the council is to establish “sector-wide minimum standards on wages (up to $22/ hour in 2023 with capped annual increases), working hours, and other working conditions related to the health, safety, and welfare of, and supplying the necessary cost of proper living to, fast food restaurant workers, as well as effecting interagency coordination and prompt agency responses in this regard.” The act prohibits retaliation against fast-food workers for making certain workplace complaints.
Opponents of AB 257, led by a coalition called Save Local Restaurants, gathered more than 1 million signatures on a referendum petition. 712,000 of them were deemed to be valid by Weber’s office putting the referendum on the Nov. 5, 2024, ballot. The Los Angeles Times published an article telling the stories of 14 voters who say they were misled by canvassers collecting signatures for the referendum. Many of them said that information was withheld
from them about the nature of the campaign and were simply told it would support fast food workers.
But the laws’ opponents insist that their challenge to AB 257 is widely supported.
“California voters have made clear that they want a say on whether they must shoulder the burden of higher prices and job losses caused by the FAST Act,” said Save Local Restaurants in their press release. “This legislation singles out the quick service restaurant industry by establishing an unelected council to control labor policy, which would cause a sharp increase in food costs and push many Californians, particularly in disenfranchised communities, to the breaking point.”
The referendum means that the law is suspended until the November 2024 election when voters will decide whether to repeal it.
Holden, who is a former franchise owner said he believes AB 257 would protect both owners and employees – if those opposing the law allow it to work.
“Given, the final version of the bill removed many expressed
concerns of subpoena power and joint-liability. While, strengthening the over-site role of the legislature, providing for equal Sector Council representation and adding a sunset clause to evaluate effectiveness. As a result, this first in the nation worker protection bill is worthy to become law in California,” Holden said when Newsom signed the law last year.
Labor advocates believe the legislation could create a precedent in the U.S for negotiating workplace standards, which would, in turn, revolutionize the collective bargaining process.
However, the coalition of businesses opposing the law feel it would leave businesses with higher labor costs and hiked-up food prices.
According to the nonpartisan Fair Political Practices Commission, fast-food corporations and business trade groups including In-NOut, Chipotle, Chick-Fil-A, McDonald’s, Starbucks and the National Restaurant Association donated millions to support the referendum effort.
“The FAST Act is bad policy that threatens not only quick service restaurants, but the independents operating in the same neighborhoods,” National Restaurant Association Executive Vice President for Public Affairs Sean Kennedy said in a press release. “There is no way that the regulations passed by this unelected council would not damage the state’s restaurant industry, harm its workforce, and leave diners paying the bill. We’re pleased that Californians will get the chance to exercise their constitutional right to vote on this law and will continue to support the operators, small business owners, and workers that make the restaurant industry so important to our customers’ lives.”
The recent mass shootings in California put a tragic spotlight on the isolation and invisibility of many immigrant elders in the state.
By Peter WhiteA makeshift memorial outside Star Ballroom Dance Studio in Monterey Park where 11 people were killed in one of two mass shootings in California.)
Both shooters in the two mass killings in Monterey Park and Half Moon Bay, California were Chinese and neither fit the profile of a mass killer. Both were over 65.
“Is it any surprise that within our communities there are people, elders who have been made invisible, treated not even as human beings, who feel isolated and yes, experience mental health issues like any other community?” asked Helen Zia, an author and activist.
Zia was one of five speakers at a Feb. 3 EMS virtual briefing who shared perspectives about the isolation and invisibility of immigrant elders spotlighted by the tragedies, and a call to action for the rest of society.
For her latest book, “Last Boat Out of Shanghai,” Zia interviewed a few hundred Asian seniors about their lives – first as refugees, and later as exiled immigrants. “So many have gone through war, starvation, civil war,
great trauma, witnessed terrible, terrible things,” Zia said. Many had never told their stories before, even to their grown children. When asked why, they said because they didn’t think anybody wanted to hear.
Author and activist Helen Zia on the many hidden traumas carried by immigrants in the US.
The recent killings triggered memories that many immigrants have tried to forget, and the news brought panic and fear. Perfectly understandable, Zia says.
Working into their ‘golden years’
“Why are people still working in their seventies?” asked Rita Medina, Deputy Director of State Policy and Advocacy at the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights Los Angeles (CHIRLA), referring to the Latino and Asian farm workers spotlighted in Half Moon Bay.
Medina says many older farmworkers continue to work “into what should be their
golden years” because they have to. “It’s a large number of folks we’re talking about.”
The 2019 American Community Survey estimated there are about 17,000 undocumented seniors in California who can’t collect social security. Estimates put the number of undocumented farmworkers at around half of the roughly 162,000 who work in the state.
CHIRLA knows domestic workers, farm workers, street vendors, and construction workers who have waited more than a decade to adjust their immigration status. Since many have worked “under the table” or had low-wage social security jobs, Medina says SSI benefits for many wouldn’t be enough to sustain them even if they got green cards.
“They continue to be undocumented. Some of them are alone here in this country, and their bodies are physically breaking down because of the work that they’re doing. Knee problems from bending in construction, back problems from working as a domestic worker,” Medina said.
California recently passed a health care law that will provide medical insurance to everybody in California regardless of their status. That is good news but it doesn’t start until 2025.
Linda Yoon, Co-founder of the Yellow Chair Collective, which provides culturally responsive Asian American therapy, says seniors are overlooked by the mental healthcare profession. Hidden traumas Laura Som is a Cambodian
The stigma of mental health
Dr. Brett Sevilla is a clinical psychiatrist and medical director of the Asian Pacific Counseling and Treatment Centers (APCTC) which serves predominantly monolingual Asian immigrant families in Southern California.
Sevilla said families who have members with mental illness often consider it shameful and will first try to contain the problem and keep the person at home.
“If they eventually do see a psychiatrist, the person is often severely impaired, angry about being accused of being crazy, and the family is exhausted. Medications may be rejected or not taken consistently, as Western medication is believed to be too strong or even a cause of mental illness.”
Sevilla’s agency overcame these barriers by locating their offices in Asian enclaves, placing staff in local schools, providing culturally affirming services in the client’s native language, and linking families to community
A decade ago, Linda Yoon, co-founder of the Yellow Chair Collective providing culturally appropriate therapy to Asian Americans in Los Angeles, fell into working with seniors at a Korean housing complex.
“One of the tasks that I was given was doing assessments, wellness checks, for every single resident.” Yoon said.
She said a lot of the residents were older women who lived alone and they would talk to her about their traumas, all the challenges they were going through, and things they just never shared with their children.
“And a lot of them end up kind of crying, really sharing something and then also feeling embarrassed because I was such a young worker that they were sharing something so intimate. There was just so much hidden trauma, isolation and loneliness that I was able to witness,” Yoon said. She often complains with colleagues that children and families get the lion’s share of resources and they could use more—it’s part of the stigma of being invisible seniors.
Chinese refugee who came to Los Angeles when she was 10-yearsold along with thousands of other Cambodians escaping the Pol Pot regime.
“Long Beach has the largest Cambodian population in the nation. Many of these refugees experienced extreme violence and trauma during the genocide. Many had and have PTSD, including myself,” Som said.
As she grew up, Som watched the mental health of the elders in her community deteriorate “from the aftermath of wars, extreme violence and neglect by the mainstream community. Some of the symptoms of these traumas are hatred, violence, rage, and depression. Little has been done to shield young children from it,” she said.
Degreed in biochemistry, Som founded the Maye Center in Cambodia Town in Long Beach to provide culturally appropriate therapies for mental health wellness for refugees and immigrants.
Noting her community ended gerrymandering in Long Beach, Som says Cambodian seniors don’t speak English but overcame their fear and organized for the good of everyone. Transforming trauma into activism overcomes fear, especially when community initiatives are successful, Som says.
“And so for us, we break the stigma by saying seniors are relevant.”
Laura Som of the MAYE Center for healing of survivors of trauma, systemic racism,
Commentary: ChatGPT, Software Created in Calif Lab, to Change Way We Learn and Live... continued from page 7 would allow the public to use it for free. The more it is used, the greater the data it can draw upon to improve its responses. The engineers who created the technology perhaps could not have envisioned all of the ways the technology could be used, for better or for worse. In this iteration, engineers are explicitly requesting that improper results be flagged.
One of the first companies to invest in OpenAI was Microsoft. The technology giant increased its investment to $10 billion, hoping that the ChatGPT could, perhaps, enable valuable features for their existing software like Microsoft Office Personal Assistant, or incorporate text generation into their Bing search engine, which has been dominated byGoogle.
Media companies struggling to create content as they cut their workforce have pounced on the opportunity to have AI generated content with mixed results.
Technology website CNET allowed AI to write stories, but the experiment backfired when users pointed out inaccuracies within the generated content. Currently, the programs have no capacity to distinguish truth from lies or good sources from bad ones.
Educators around the country are grappling with how to use the technology, or to coexist with it.
The New York City Department of Education has banned the technology outright, fearing
that it would enable cheating and circumvent tools that teachers may usto use to check for plagiarism. School districts in Los Angeles, Oakland and Seattle similarly have banned the use of OpenAI tools.
Some teachers see an opportunity. Cherie Shields, a high school English teacher, found that the bot could help her with evaluating and generating feedback for her students. It can also write test questions and study guides based on submitted text.
The information on the internet, as we all know, is imperfect. So, while ChatGPT allows for greater creation and dissemination of misinformation, it can also perpetuate biases.
The pace of technological innovation is faster than that of regulation, so many tech companies have to self-regulate. ChatGPT is trained to refuse to create content that is hateful, offensive, triggering, or could lead to violence, but there are ways around these safeguards and hackers/bad actors will be looking to exploit these vulnerabilities.
OpenAI has already announced the next iteration of their large language model, GPT4, which is expected to be smarter than GPT3.5. Semafor reports that OpenAI is also reportedly working on a mobile app version of ChatGPT to be released in the coming weeks.