THE SAN BERNARDINO
AMERICAN
“A Man In Debt is So Far A Slave” -R.W. Emerson
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NEWSPAPER A Community Newspaper Serving San Bernardino, Riverside & Los Angeles Counties
Volume 54 No. 27
October 19, 2023 Thursday Edition
Mailing: P.O. Box 837, Victorville, CA 92393 Office: (909) 889-7677 Email: Mary @Sb-American.com Clifton@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)
American Climate Corps and racial justice: Why Diana’s story stands out By Willy Blackmore Word in Black When the Biden administration announced the creation of the American Climate Corps last month, it was heralded as a huge victory for the environmental left in the United States. Here was an idea that was proposed as part of the Green New Deal, championed by the likes of Sen. Bernie Sanders during his 2016 presidential primary campaign, and continually advocated for by progressive climate organizations like the Sunrise Movement. But as we pointed out when the Corps was announced, the Biden plan was missing one key component of the proposals for a federal green jobs program that directly inspired it: a specific focus on racial justice. The response to the program has been massive, with 42,000 people submitting “interest forms,” which is more than twice the number of jobs that will be available in the initial cohort. About two-thirds of those people are between the ages of 18 and 35. And when President Biden picked up the phone to call one young American who expressed interest in joining the ACC, it became clear that the White House is indeed thinking about climate justice: he spoke with Diana, a young Black
The White House’s highlighting of Diana, a young Black woman from Atlanta, signals the administration’s commitment to climate justice. woman from Atlanta. In a video of the call posted Oct. 12 to the president’s social media accounts, Biden asks Diana not why she cares about climate
change or some similarly broad question, but something more pointed: “Why is environmental justice so important to you?” In this video posted on
President Biden’s Instagram account on Oct. 12, the president chats with Diana, a young Black woman from Atlanta, about climate justice. (Image courtesy screenshot/Instagram) As Diana explains in the video clip, she grew up in East Point and still lives on the south side of Atlanta, where there is a long history of heavy industry, and is now to numerous retail distribution centers — and the associated pollution. She says three people in her family have bronchitis, including herself, and her brother has asthma. Knowing that living alongside that pollution by no means made it easier to have respiratory issues pushed her toward wanting to work on climate issues, she said. With 42,000 people, there are going to be a variety of backgrounds and stories that led up to being interested in the ACC. But the fact that the White House picked Diana’s story to highlight is highly telling — and it’s now a young Black woman who is the public face of the American Climate Corps. Willy Blackmore is a freelance writer and editor covering food, culture, and the environment. He lives in Brooklyn.
The Lookout: What You Should Know About California’s New Gun Laws Tanu Henry and Antonio Ray Harvey | California Black Media
Sacramento, CA - Feb 1, 2023: Governor Gavin Newsom speaking at a Gun Safety Legislation Press Conference.( photo by Sheila Fitzgerald) Last month, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed new legislation enhancing gun safety measures, further solidifying California’s position as a national leader in implementing controls on the use and distribution of firearms. Joined by Attorney General Rob Bonta, lawmakers, gun safety advocates and gun wound survivors, Newsom introduced at a press conference several of the gun laws he signed. They included Senate Bill (SB) 2, authored by Sen. Anthony Portantino (D-Burbank), which reinforces the state’s public carry regulations; and SB 452, authored
by Sen. Catherine Blakespear (D-Encinitas), which mandates the use of microstamping on handgun cartridges to help trace guns used in crimes. SB2 imposes new restrictions for obtaining a concealedcarry weapons (CCW) permit. According to Portantino’s office, the law ensures licensees are lawabiding citizens over 21 years of age; establishes an appeal process for denied CCW licenses; introduces gun handling, loading, unloading and storage training requirements; and restricts locations where people can legally carry firearms.
When the Legislature passed SB 2, Newsom stated that people are less likely to die from gunshots in California. In 2022 alone, California’s gun death rate was 43% lower than the national average, according to the Centers of Disease Control (CDC). The Giffords Law Center also ranked the state number one in the U.S. for gun safety. “While radical judges continue to strip away our ability to keep people safe, California will keep fighting -- because gun safety laws work,” Newsom said in a Sept. 26 statement. 2/4
Newsom also signed bills introduced by California Legislative Black Caucus (CLBC) members Mike Gipson (D-Carson), Kevin McCarty (D-Sacramento) and Reggie Jones-Sawyer (D-Los Angeles). AB 1406 (McCarthy) gives the California Department of Justice the authority to postpone firearm delivery if additional time is required to do background checks. AB 1089 (Gipson) adds new regulations and guidelines for the ownership and operation of computer numeric control (CNC) milling machines, commonly used to manufacture “ghost guns.” AB 574 (JonesSawyer), which goes into effect in March 2025, requires gun dealers making any sale of a gun – or overseeing the transfer of ownership -- to confirm that both the buyer and seller “confirm possession of every firearm they own or possess.” AB 28, which is authored by Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel (D-Encino) was also on the list of gun legislation Newsom approved. The law enacts a first-in-the-nation effort to raise $160 million annually on the sale of bullets by imposing an 11% excise tax on gun vendors and gun manufacturers across the state. The revenue collected will be used to improve school safety, behavioral health and gun violence intervention. “How about a little damn continued in next 2 columns
The Lookout: What You Should Know About California’s New Gun Laws...continued accountability,” said Newsom at a press conference. “You’re selling a product, a leading product, a purveyor of death for our kids.” Gabriel shares the Governor’s perspective. “It’s shameful that gun manufacturers are reaping record profits at the same time that gun violence has become the leading cause of death for kids in the United States,” he said. AB 455, authored by Assemblymembers Sharon Quirk-Silva (D-Fullerton) and Diane Papan (D-San Mateo), keeps guns out of the hands of potentially dangerous individuals. 3/4 Two more public safety laws, Newsom signed deal with limiting ghost guns and the “relinquishment of firearms.” AB 725, authored by QuirkSilva and Papan, updates the definition of a firearm to include ghost gun parts. AB 732, authored by Assemblymember Mike Fong (D-Alhambra), simplifies the process for removing firearms from people who are prohibited from owning them. The same day Newsom signed the package of gun laws, the Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC), a non-profit focused on advancing gun rights, announced that it filed a complaint challenging some parts of SB 2. “SB2 restricts where persons with licenses to carry a concealed weapon may legally exercise their constitutional right to wear, carry, or transport firearms.
And it does so in ways that are fundamentally inconsistent with the Second Amendment and the Supreme Court’s decision in Bruen,” the complaint states. Three groups, Orange County Gun Owners, San Diego County Gun Owners, and California Gun Rights Foundation have joined FPC in the lawsuit. “With Gov. Newsom’s signing of SB2 today, California continues to exhibit its disdain for the rights of Californians, the U.S. Constitution, and the Supreme Court’s Bruen decision,” said Cody J. Wisniewski, FPC Action Foundation’s General Counsel and Vice President of Legal, and FPC’s counsel. “Unfortunately for California, and contrary to Governor Newsom’s misguided statements, the state does not have the power to unilaterally overrule individual rights and constitutional protections.” Bonta disagrees. He says gun safety laws protect people. 4/4 “Addressing gun violence is critical to protecting public safety; we cannot pretend that they are distinct problems,” said Bonta. “In California, we won’t settle for inaction when it comes to saving lives.” On Oct. 10, Newsom scored another win on gun control. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the California state law that bans guns with high-capacity, detachable magazines can remain in effect while California appeals a U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals September ruling that declared that law unconstitutional.
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