SB American News Week Ending 3/23

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THE SAN BERNARDINO

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AMERICAN

“A Man In Debt is So Far A Slave” -R.W. Emerson

NEWSPAPER A Community Newspaper Serving San Bernardino, Riverside & Los Angeles Counties

March 17, 2022 Thursday Edition

Volume 52 No. 48 Mailing: P.O. Box 837, Victorville, CA 92393

Office: (909) 889-7677

Email: Mary @Sb-American.com

Website: www.SB-American.com

Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what people will submit to and you have found out the exact amount of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them and these will continue till they have resisted either with words or blows or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance those of whom they suppress. —Fredrick Douglass (1849)

2020 Census Called ‘Worse Undercount’ in Decades as Bureau Misses Millions of Blacks and Hispanics

Editorial Highlights from the desk of

Clifton Harris

A short narrative about black women and police brutality

NNPA NEWSWIRE — The bureau estimated that the 2020 census incorrectly counted 18.8 million residents, double-counting some, wrongly including others, and missing others entirely, even as it came extremely close to reaching an accurate count of the overall population. By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent

The Census population count determines how many representatives each state has in Congress for the next decade. According to many experts, the COVID-19 pandemic and an administration that displayed a complete disregard for ensuring accuracy led to a consequential undercount in the number of Black, Hispanic, and Native American residents during the 2020 U.S. Census. Further, Census officials admit that they overcounted white and Asian residents. The bureau reported the overall population as 323.2 million. “The undercounting of Black, Latino, Indigenous and other communities of color rob us of the opportunity to be the directors of our fate, reducing our representation and limiting our power while depriving policymakers of the information they need to make informed decisions about where the next

hospital will be built or where the next school should be located,” said Damon Hewitt, the president and executive director of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. “In addition, the undercount exacerbates underfunding of our communities because Census data is used as the basis for hundreds of billions of dollars of federal, state, and local appropriations each year,” Hewitt said. The Census population count determines how many representatives each state has in Congress for the next decade. It also decides how much federal funding communities receive for roads, schools, housing, and social programs. Hundreds of billions of dollars are at stake each time the census occurs. Robert L. Santos, the bureau’s

director, displayed little regard for the undercount of minorities. He said the 2020 results were consistent with recent censuses. “This is notable, given the unprecedented challenges of 2020,” Santos said in a statement. “But the results also include some limitations — the 2020 census undercounted many of the same population groups we have historically undercounted, and it overcounted others.” “We remain proud of the job we accomplished in the face of immense challenges,” Mr. Santos said. “And we are ready to work with the stakeholders and the public to leverage this enormously valuable resource fully.” Terri Ann Lowenthal, a leading expert on the census and consultant to governments and others with a stake in the count,

told the New York Times that the results were “troubling but not entirely surprising.” “Overall, the results are less accurate than in 2010,” she said. The bureau estimated that the 2020 census incorrectly counted 18.8 million residents, doublecounting some, wrongly including others, and missing others entirely, even as it came extremely close to reaching an accurate count of the overall population. The Times reported that the “estimates released on Thursday — in essence, a statistical adjustment of totals made public last year — are based on an examination of federal records and an extensive survey in which the bureau interviewed residents in some 10,000 census blocks — the smallest unit used in census continued on page7

Make Room, Gas and Food: Insurance Payments Might Go Up, Too Tanu Henry | California Black Media

As gas and food prices continue to shoot up at a rapid clip, Californians might be hit with sticker shock from another bill that skyrockets later this year: their health insurance premiums. According to officials at Covered California, monthly

premiums for insurance coverage could jump by as much as 100% -- or an average of about $70 -- for more than 2 million Californians if federal government subsidies provided by the American Rescue Plan are allowed to expire at the end of 2022.

An estimated total of 14 million Americans could be affected by the price increase. “The American Plan built on the Affordable Care Act and provided more financial help than ever before to help people get covered and stay covered largely in response to the pandemic,” said Peter V. Lee, former Executive Director of Covered California. Lee was speaking during a press briefing held earlier this month to inform the public about what he sees as an impending crisis if the federal government does not take action. As a sidenote during that virtual meeting, Lee announced that he was stepping down

from Covered California. In February, the agency’s Board of Directors announced Jessica A lt ma n, for mer Commonwealth Insurance Commissioner of Pennsylvania, as Covered California’s new Chief Executive Off icer. Lee said funds the federal government currently provides to states to help lower health care premiums for Americans led to record numbers in enrollment across the country, including about 1.8 million new signups in California. The largest increases in enrollment in Califor nia continued on page 2

This narrative is from chapter 5 of a book called police brutality and white supremacy by Etan Thomas. My daughter Imani walked into my office while I was preparing to interview Chickesia Clemons, I was watching YouTube clips from her case as well as news coverage. Imani asked, Daddy, what are you watching and why are the police beating this girl like this? I took a deep breath, told her to sit down and watch with me. I explained that a waitress called the police on Clemons because they had a dispute, and this is what occurred when police arrived at the Waffle House. Imani was angered by what she saw; the image of a white police officer abusing someone who looked just a little older than her. On the video all you could hear was screaming; get off here! Why are you doing this to her! Police slammed her head to the ground and her top came off exposing her. One cop looked like he was intentionally trying to break her arm, and you could hear Clemons yell, what are you doing? The response was I'll break your arm that's what I'm about do, while another officer appeared to have his knee in her stomach. Then we watched the YouTube clip of Clement speaking for the first time since the event took place in saying I can't eat I can't sleep I'm constantly crying. This was followed by an attorney Benjamin Crump breaking down what happened. Imani looked at

me with tears in her eyes and asked, why would they do that to her? I told her I didn't know but was preparing to find out. We talked about different cases, from Sandra Bland to Breonna Taylor. I introduced to Imani to SayHerName and its mission. The more we researched, the more frustrated and Imani got. We found that black women are often overlooked when it comes to conversations, media coverage, and outrage about police terrorism. We discovered that most people killed by police get little to no attention from national media outlets; We only hear about a select few. And black women are four more likely to be killed by police than other women, according to Washington Post database of deadly police shootings. According to FiveThirtyEight; Women account for less than 4% of fatal police shootings but almost 20% of them are black, even though black women make up only around 13% of women in EU S. Since 2015, at least 51 black women have been killed. Half of those women have gotten some national media attention within 60 days of their death however the coverage is limited overall Cases that did spark national news coverage like those of Brianna Taylor and Ma’Khia Bryant are the exception we also read opinions such as that of Alex continued on page 2

MISSION STATEMENT Clifton Harris /Editor in Chief Investigative Reporter sbamericannews@gmail.com Mary Martin-Harris / Editor Legal /Display Advertising (909) 889-7677 Clifton B. Harris / Audio Engineering Editor Digital Online Banner Advertising (909) 889-7677 The San Bernardino American News was established May 6, 1969. A legally adjudicated newspaper of general circulation on September 30, 1971, case number 15313 by the Superior Court of San Bernardino County. The San Bernardino AMERICAN News subscription rate is $59.00 per year. The San Bernardino AMERICAN News is committed to serving its readers by presenting news unbiased and objective, trusting in the mature judgment of the readers and, in so doing, strive to achieve a united community. News releases appearing in the San Bernardino AMERICAN News do not necessarily express the policy nor the opinion of the publishers. The San Bernardino AMERICAN News reserves the right to edit or rewrite all news releases.


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