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
November 10, 2022 Thursday Edition
Volume 53 No. 30 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)
Artworks Capturing Political Chaos Rejected by Billboard Companies
A series of lawsuits, verdicts, and settlements, against San Bernardino County Children & Family Services raises alarms – Part 3
By Ben Jealous
What is happening to foster children while under the care of San Bernardino County Children & Family Services that led to lawsuits being filed?
Art can be a powerful tool for social change. Sometimes that threatens people in power. Right now, some of America’s greatest artists are contributing their time and creative talents to remind voters in Georgia what is at stake in this year’s elections. And a couple of national billboard companies are refusing to let People For the American Way share some of those images with voters. The Georgia billboards are part of a multimedia campaign to remind voters—especially Black men—why Republican candidates Brian Kemp and Herschel Walker are the wrong choices in this election. Georgia is ground zero for attacks on our democracy by MAGA extremists with agendas calculated to stop progress. The billboard campaign is designed to expose hard truths to voters in a way that makes these attacks real—and motivates people to vote. “As artists, we can create art that addresses the ills of systems that devastate the fabric
of our families, our communities, and our nation,” says renowned multimedia artist Carrie Mae Weems. “Artistic expression can inspire people to channel their energy into voting for a better future for everyone.” The billboard campaign is also part of a broader long-term project to engage artists in making political and social change. As a longtime civil rights leader, I know that there is a long lineage of artists whose music, poetry, spoken word, and visual arts have helped energize our great social justice movements. Weems and other artists participating in this campaign have taken their place in that honorable history. They include Victoria Cassinova, Shepard Fairey, Alyson Shotz, Deborah Kass, and Cleon Peterson. Shotz, whose art depicts the attack on the U.S. Capitol by people trying to prevent a peaceful transfer of power after Trump lost the 2020 election, notes that art played a crucial role in the national mobilization to defeat fascism in
the 1940s. “Now this task is upon us again, to fight the power of authoritarians and conspiracists, racists and nativists and fearmongers,” she says. “It falls to us, We the People, to save democracy, through our actions, through our art, through our votes.” Art can speak to our hearts. That’s part of its power to provoke thought, emotion, and action. And that is why censorship is often a weapon wielded by those who fear art’s motivating power. “The personal and political chaos in our world is a direct result of the violence against human beings in the name of power,” says Peterson, whose art installations depicting white supremacist gun violence and attacks on reproductive choice were rejected by billboard owners. “The art for these billboards depicts the rawness and the terror of those struggles and I hope it’s enough to move the people of Georgia to action in this midterm election.” Kass contributed an installation
that includes the faces of five farright Supreme Court justices—a clear reminder that the courts and all the rights that depend on a fair and independent judiciary to uphold them—are at stake in this election. People For the American Way will use billboards and social media to bring the censored artwork to Georgia voters and to people around the country who care about the issues that are at stake in this year’s elections. There is no doubt that art expressing the harsh realities people face in their daily lives can be jarring. But that is no reason to turn away. “There’s a short line between the intense reactions to the art depictions and the urgency that we carry to the ballot box,” says my colleague Svante Myrick, executive director of People For the American Way. “If this artwork offends you, wait to see what happens if you don’t vote.” Ben Jealous serves as president of People For the American Way and Professor of the Practice at the University of Pennsylvania. A New York Times best-selling author, his next book “Never Forget Our People Were Always Free” will be published by Harper Collins in January 2023. The post COMMENTARY: Artworks Capturing Political Chaos Rejected by Billboard Companies first appeared on Post News Group. This article originally appeared in Post News Group.
Kanye West’s Donda Academy Closes Following Rapper’s Controversial Remarks By A.R. Shaw | Atlanta Daily World
Grammy Award Winning Artist Kanye West Brings ‘Sunday Service’ to New Birth Missionary Baptist Church. (Photo by: atlantadailyworld.com) Kanye West continues to face backlash for his views following controversial remarks. His Donda Academy recently announced that it will close for the 2022-23 school year. D o n d a A c a d e m y, a n unaccredited Christian school in Simi Valley, California, has about
100 students and tuition is $15,000 a year per student. Before students could enroll, parents had to sign a non-dislosure agreement. Students wore school uniforms designed by Balenciaga and the Yeezy brand. The school began to be impacted by Kanye’s words and actions. During the controversial
interview with “Drink Champs,” Kanye said, I can say anti-Semitic s—- and Adidas cannot drop me.” Along with his controversial remarks on “Drink Champs,” he also tweeted, “I’m a bit sleepy tonight but when I wake up I’m going death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE.” Kanye would apologize days later during an interview with Piers Morgan by saying, “I will say I’m sorry for the people that I hurt with the ‘Death Con’ — the confusion that I caused,” the artist formerly known as Kanye West told Piers Morgan on his TalkTV show. “I feel like I caused hurt and confusion. And I’m sorry for the families of the people that had nothing to do with the trauma that I have been through, and that I
used my platform, where you say hurt people hurt people, and I was hurt.” After several companies discontinued their relationship with Kanye, Donda Academy’s basketball team was removed from a tournament. On Oct. 26, the school’s principal, Jason Angell, reportedly emailed students’ parents, “Our leadership team will be working diligently to assist all families during this transition, ensuring that every scholar has what they need to succeed in their next community in a prompt and gracious manner.” The post Kanye West’s Donda Academy Closes Following Rapper’s Controversial Remarks appeared first on Atlanta Daily World.
Gail Fry Contributor
Credit: Shutterstock Currently, the San Bernardino American News is informed of at least four lawsuits where there are allegations of physical and sexual abuse of foster children being covered up that resulted in settlements and a jury verdict (now under appeal) of more than $10 million, with a fourth lawsuit going to trial. The plaintiffs all point to the San Bernardino County Department of Children and Family Services as being responsible for failing to protect the children. The Department of Children and Family Services mission statement is, “Children and Family Services (CFS) protects endangered children, preserves, and strengthens their families, and develops alternative family settings. Services mandated by law and regulations will be provided in the least intrusive manner with a family centered focus. This mission is accomplished in collaboration with the family, a wide variety of public and private agencies and members of the community.” The Goal of CFS is: “…to keep the child at home when it is safe. If it is determined that the child is at risk, the goal is then to develop an alternative plan as quickly as possible.” The County of San Bernardino reached settlements in two of the lawsuits totaling more than $7.5 million, and one lawsuit resulting in a federal jury awarding $2.5 million to a former social worker turned whistleblower, all cases involving Child and Family Services. The County of San Bernardino recently announced its appeal of the $2.5M jury verdict. In response to the San Bernardino American News’ question of whether the County of San Bernardino planned to review or make any changes at CFS as a result of the two civil settlements, and the jury verdict involving CFS, SBC Public Information Officer David Wert responded, “Children
and Family Services policy is consistent with applicable laws and other regulations, and always has been. CFS continues to hire staff at all levels on a continuous basis.” These four lawsuits as well as the California State Attorney General’s announcement of an investigation in 2016, and detailed in numerous SBC Grand Jury Reports, appear to indicate serious issues at CFS, the county’s agency responsible for ensuring the safety of foster children. Former San Bernardino County Social Worker Eric Bahra, turned whistleblower, informed his supervisors at Children and Family Services of systemic failures that caused 54 foster children to be placed in the home of a known abuser and after Bahra and San Bernardino County Sheriff Detective Michelle Brand witnessed the interview of a foster child victim, Bahra identified the abuser and the 54 foster child victims and gave the list to Brand. (source: https://provider.kareo. com/eric-bahra). The lawsuits allege CFS failures As previously reported by The San Bernardino American News, the first in a series of lawsuits was filed in federal court on December 14, 2016, by SBC Social Worker and whistleblower, Eric Bahra, and named the County of San Bernardino, San Bernardino County Department of Children and Family Services (CFS) and its employees, Kristine Burgamy and Nickola Hackett. Court documents claim when Bahra realized and reported CFS’ failures to monitor, data errors, and the systemic failures caused 54 foster children to be placed in the unlicensed foster home of a known serial child molester, Leonardo Rodriguez, the county covered up the abuse, and retaliated against him. In an interview with the San Bernardino American News, Attorney Charles Bonner confirmed Rodriguez was never continued on page 2