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Vol. 62 No. 14
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Thursday, April 7, 2022
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Serving San Diego County’s African & African American Communities 62 Years
PUBLIC HEALTH ORDER & Covid-19 Updates
Lessons Republicans can learn from Ukraine Dr. Warren Editorial
SEE PG. 12
Covid-19 cases in southeast Johnnie B. Gibson, R.I.P.
SEE PAGE 3
REMEMBERING MLK, Jr. 54 years later SEE PAGE 8
SEE PAGE 9
11,494
18,009
17,254
19,659
14,424
9,315
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SOURCE: County of San Diego a/o 4/2/22
San Diegan Patricia Bevelyn Honored by People’s Association of Justice Advocates
Voice & Viewpoint Newswire
Photo: AP/Patrick Semansky
BIDEN PROPOSES ELIMINATING
‘FAMILY GLITCH’ IN AFFORDABLE CARE ACT
By Stacy M. Brown . NNPA Newswire Sr. National Correspondent President Joe Biden said he wants to expand access to health care, and he’s doing so by proposing a change to the Affordable Care Act to allow more people eligibility for premium tax credits. Under the President’s plan, families would receive tax credits
if the cost of their coverage exceeds more than 10 percent of their incomes. The U.S. Treasury Department said the change would allow 200,000 uninsured individuals to gain coverage while more than 1 million others would realize lower
premium payments. “Thanks to the landmark American Rescue Plan, ACA premiums are at an all-time low, while enrollment is at an all-time high,” the administration said in a Fact Sheet ahead of a formal announcement at the White House with former President Barack Obama. See ELIMINATING page 2
Shane Harris, the President and Founder of the People’s Association of Justice Advocates, honored Patricia Bevelyn, a Southeastern San Diego community leader, this past week on March 31, the last day of Women’s History Month. Ms. Bevelyn was recognized for her role and leadership both within the County of San Diego’s Health and Human Services Agency, where she worked for over 20 years, and within the communities of Southeastern San Diego. Ms. Bevelyn rose quickly to leadership in the County’s Child Welfare Services, becoming the department’s head of the Central Region, where she presided over all social workers within a region that spans Southeastern San Diego to City Heights. Her leadership within the County and out-
Patricia Bevelyn, pictured here with Shane Harris, President of the People’s Association of Justice Advocates. Thursday, March 31, 2022, Ms. Bevelyn was presented with the “Key to the Movement”, the organization’s highest honor, before an audience of 40 people at the People’s Association of Justice Advocates headquarters in Southeastern San Diego. Photo: Courtesy of People’s Association of Justice Advocates.
side of the County on foster care and, specifically, her advocacy for Black families on the topic of disproportionality are exemplary. Currently, 20% of the county’s 2500 foster youth are African American. “Ms. Bevelyn’s work inside and outside of the County has been impactful. She has
paved a way for real change when it comes to dealing with the disparate impacts black children face when entering the foster care system. She has championed robust ideas and even policies pertaining to the prevention of African American children entering the foster care system. See HONORED page 2
National Park Service Underground Railroad Lists Site with San Diego Connection By Helen O’Field
The Huntoon-Van Rensalier Underground Railroad memorial in Paterson, New Jersey was designated as an historic site by the National Park Service’s National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom on March 29, 2022. Dolores Van Rensalier-Warren,, whose African American great grandfather was a “conductor” at the Underground Railroad site in the 1860’s, is pictured above, Photos: Courtesy of Dolores Van Rensalier-Warren
San Diegan Dolores Van Rensalier got the word on Mar. 29, 2022, from the National Park Service (NPS): The historic site she fought for had been added to the National Underground R ai lro ad Net work to Freedom after years of effort. Historic preservation requires endurance and dedication.
Van Rensalier’s biracial personal history had led her to discover in Paterson, New Jersey, her free black grandfather, William P. Van Rensalier, who was a “conductor/engineer” on the Underground Railroad. He collaborated with his close white friend and employer, the abolitionist Josiah Huntoon, a wealthy coffee and spice merchant, whose
mill was a haven for escaped slaves. This biracial effort, so typical of the 19th century Abolitionist Movement, ultimately helped hundreds to gain freedom from enslavement. Thanks to descendants like Dolores Van Rensalier and her foundation, the two men are memorialized in perpetuity. To
honor her remarkable ancestry, Van Rensalier formed the non-profit HuntoonVan Rensalier Underground Railroad Foundation through which she raised $277,000 to hire famed black sculptor Edward Joseph Dwight, Jr. (He was the first African American admitted to the Air Force training program for NASA astronauts in addition to his award-winning art works.) See RAILROAD page 2
Justice for Addicted, Mentally Ill in CA’s New CARE Court By Aldon Thomas Stiles California Black Media
Over the last two months, Gov. Gavin Newsom has met with some of the state’s counties to promote CARE Court. CARE Court – the acronym stands for Community, Assistance, Recovery and Empowerment – is a mental health framework the state created to help people who are suffering from mental
illness and Substance Use Disorder by providing alternatives to arrests and jail if they have run-ins with the law.
Newsom announced the initiative at a press conference in San Jose last month. At the event, the governor said the new statewide initiative will receive funding from his administration’s multiyear mental health budget proposal totaling nearly $10 billion per year in behavioral
health programs and services. “CARE Court is about meeting people where they are and acting with compassion to support the thousands of Californians living on our streets with severe mental health and substance use disorders,” said Newsom. “We are taking action to break the pattern that leaves people without hope and cycling repeatedly through homelessness and incarcera-
tion. This is a new approach to stabilize people with the hardest-to-treat behavioral health conditions.”
Some counties in various parts of the state already have similar programs called collaborative courts focusing on specific problem-solving solutions for offenders have already been established in a number of counties across the state. See JUSTICE page 2
Photo: Courtesy of CBM
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