Volume 2 • Issue 14

July 13, 2020

TBAR Home Delivers Papers To These ZIP CODES 95008 95032 95037 95051 95118 95119 95123 95124 95125 95126 95128

Morgan Hill to Continue Outdoor Dining

Dear Community Partners

We write to provide our weekly update related to the County’s COVID-19 response efforts. The California Department of Public Health accepted our variance attestation, and the County’s new Risk Reduction Order goes into effect today, Monday, July 13. However, before any business can operate under this new Order, they must submit

updated Social Distancing Protocols at www. covid19prepared.org. See the press release on this subject. Please help us reach community business leaders and encourage them to get their protocols filed. Helpful information can be found at our new business resource page at www.sccgov.org/ cv19business. Public Health staff will be available by phone to

support businesses in creating their protocols at the COVID-19 Business Call Center at (408) 9615500. The Order includes several sector-specific mandatory directives relating to Construction; Personal Care Services; Outdoor Dining; Food Facilities; Outdoor Pools; Gyms and Fitness Centers; [Continued on Page 6]

If it takes a village to raise a child, it also takes a community to protect and nurture local businesses. That’s the lesson Ladera Grill’s owner Dan McCranie was reminded of last week when armed

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agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms visited his Morgan Hill restaurant to instruct McCranie and other local restaurant owners to shut down their patio dining operations. [Continued on Page 3]

July 13, 2020

When and Where

RCC Virtual Networking Thursday, July 23, 2020 6:00 - 7:00 PM Minority Owned Business Publisher: Brigitte Jones Brigitte@thebayareareview.com Graphic Design Director: Amanda McElroy Graphics@thebayareareview.com Editor at Large: Pearl Baeni Editor - public Affairs Liaison: Pamela Gustava Curry Photographer: Andy Nguyen http://intramuralaffairs.wixsite.com/andyphoto

TBAR welcomes letters to the Editor Please limit content to 200 words or less. Submissions are subject to scrutiny for content and grammar but all effort will be made to retain intended meaning of such letters. Anonymous letters will not be printed. Articles so published reflect the views of the authors - not necessarily those of The Bay Area Review. All submissions become the property of Triple e Media Group, LLC and cannot be acknowledged.

Location: ONLINE using Zoom Fees/Admission: FREE! Space is limited.

Register: https://business.rainbowchamber.org/events/details/rcc-virtual-networking-thursdayjuly-23rd-129?range=125

Non-Members, please use the code ZOOM GUEST for free admission.

Be prepared to talk about your business as we break out into small groups on zoom! * We will have virtual mixers/events every fourth Thursday of the month *

July 13, 2020

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Morgan Hill News

Morgan Hill to Continue Outdoor Dining Amid the COVID-19 crisis, the order left only confusion and dismay -confusion as to why some restaurants were allowed to provide patio dining in other areas of the county while others weren’t, and dismay that one of a restaurant’s few remaining economic lifelines might be snapped. “After the visit from ATF, I stayed up until almost 3 a.m. searching for any information I could find to figure out why we were being threatened with citations,” McCranie recalls. “There was no information anywhere indicating we had been violating any state orders.” Fortunately, McCranie was not alone. He reached out to a constellation of fellow business owners, local media, and government officials,

who joined forces to shine a big spotlight on the problem and bring about a quick resolution, not just for McCranie’s own restaurant but for businesses in the entire county. Today, the state approved Santa Clara County’s plans to reopen many more businesses, including outdoor dining at restaurants. To all those who stepped up to take action, McCranie has two important words: Thank you! “The whole community had our back,” says McCranie. “Our city government, from Mayor Rich Constantine and City Manager Christina Turner to City Attorney Donald Larkin and Police Chief Shane Palsgrove, sprang into action.” The city’s efforts were quickly taken up by the county, thanks to Santa Clara County CEO Jeff Smith and former County Counsel Ann Ravel. McCranie would also like to thank a group that often comes under some fire: the media. “We would have Screenshot from Video Surveillance at Ladera Grill when the Alcoholic gotten nowhere if Beverage Control abruptly entered, not for the people ordering a cease of operations. who shared our

story not just locally but nationwide -- reporters for newspapers, radio, and TV.” About Ladera Grill and Dan McCranie Dan McCranie is an established member of Silicon Valley. He is currently a Chairman of the Board for NexGen Power Systems, based out of Syracuse, NY and Santa Clara, California. McCranie is the former chairman of multiple public technology companies, including Freescale Semiconductor, ON Semiconductor, Actel Corporation, Virage Logic, Xicor Corporation, and Seeq Technology. He has also served as board director for Cypress Semiconductor, Mentor Graphics, and advisor to Renascia, an independent financial advisory firm focusing on the global technology industry. Dan has over 40 years of

strategic semiconductor experience and a vast network of connections in the Bay Area. Consistently considered one of the top restaurants in Silicon Valley, Ladera Grill strives to provide the best restaurant experience you have ever had. Ladera Grill resides in the historic Skeels Building on Monterey and Third Street in downtown Morgan Hill. The building was originally a residential hotel and restaurant operated by Harry and Cynthia Skeels from 1925 to 1948. In 1926, the Skeels welcomed Swedish Crown Prince Gustav Adolph and his wife Crown Princess Louise, who were in town to dedicate the new 106-acre Sveadal resort in nearby Uvas Canyon. After a formal procession down Monterey Road, the royal couple checked in to the Skeels Hotel and warmly greeted the crowd of more than 500 local

Dan McCranie, Owner of Ladera Grill

citizens from the balcony of their second-story room. In 1992, the historic hotel was completely rebuilt as a mixed-use building with apartments upstairs and a modern commercial/restaurant space on the ground floor. The Morgan Hill Historical Society retained the building’s original flagpole, which has been reinstalled on the roof of the new building.

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July 13, 2020

Parents Helping Parents Coming Soon!

Back-To-School Conversation with Dr. Mary Ann Dewan, Santa Clara County Superintendent of Schools Monday, July 20, 12:00pm

Interested in knowing the Back-to-School plan for this fall? Join PHP staff as County Superintendent, Dr. Mary Ann Dewan answers FAQs from families raising children with special needs about how returning to school will be different this year as a result of COVID-19. Questions will be asked by PHP staff based on what we’re hearing from you this summer. The webinar will be conducted in English with closed captioning in English, Spanish, and Vietnamese. Dear Families: Hello everyone-I hope everyone had a nice weekend. With back to school about a month away, we know parents have many questions on what to expect. As you will see below, on July 20, PHP is very excited to host Dr. Mary Ann Dewan, the Santa Clara County Superintendent of Schools for an informative discussion on what to expect in the new school year. I also want to thank all of you that have been Zooming with us since March-many of these meetings have been added to PHP’s E-Library along with many other educational videos. We are very grateful so many of you have been checking out these videos. Last quarter we saw three times the number of minutes watched year over year! There are now 274 E-Learning videos in 5 languages available here. If there is anything PHP can do for you, please let us know by calling us at 408-727-5775 or by email at info@php.com. As we approach the midpoints in summer vacation, I hope you and your family are able to carve out some time for fun despite challenging circumstances. All my very best wishes, - Maria Daane, Executive Director

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Low-Cost Internet Service The Santa Clara County Office of Education (SCCOE) is working directly with a number of internet companies to provide internet service to families in need. You can find out if you qualify by visiting EveryoneOn, a nonprofit dedicated to creating social and economic opportunity by connecting low-income families to affordable internet service and computers, and delivering digital skills training. Information is available in English, Spanish and Vietnamese.

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July 13, 2020

Public Health

Dear Community Partners [Continued From Page 1] Gatherings; Recreational and Athletic Activities; Lodging Facilities (Including Hotels and Motels); Public Transit; and Agriculture. The sector-specific directive for Childcare, Summer Camps, and Children’s Activities is coming soon. A list and links to all of the directives can be found here. Please note: The directive for Gatherings has been updated in light of the recent uptick in COVID-19 cases and hospitalization. The original order would have allowed indoor gatherings of up to 20. However, the new directive on gatherings prohibits all indoor gatherings. The order still allows outdoor gatherings of up to 60 people, following social distancing guidelines. Our County is at a critical moment. Right now, the numbers we are seeing are going in the wrong direction. Hospitalizations have been climbing each day. Cases are on the rise as well. In the last two weeks, nearly 2,000 people have been diagnosed with COVID-19 in Santa Clara County. More data can be found through the Public Health Department’s Data Dashboards. Please help us remind the community that current trends are concerning, this virus

will be with us for quite some time, and we must change the way we live and do business to prevent us from infecting one another. Personal responsibility for making choices that minimize risk for self and community will be critical to Santa Clara County’s ability to keep our community safe. The safest thing for all of us to do continues to be staying at home and minimizing interactions with people outside our own households as much as possible. Residents age 70 and older, as well as other vulnerable individuals, should only go out for essential needs. Going forward, residents should follow these core principals to minimize the risk to themselves and others: • Outdoors are generally safer than indoors. • The greater the distance one can put between themselves and others the better. • Interact in person with as few people and for as short a length of time as possible.

• Consistent use of face coverings must become the new normal. Over the weekend, Dr. Sara Cody released a video statement encouraging residents to follow these guidelines and their importance to our collective public health. You can share the video with your constituents at this YouTube link. Pop-up Testing Locations and times for the Week of July 13 The pop-up testing program operated by Santa Clara Valley Medical Center continues to provide free diagnostic COVID-19 testing around the County. Nasal swab testing is free for everyone—no health insurance or doctor’s note is required. No appointment is needed; anyone can simply stop by to get tested. A list of popup locations can be found online here. As always, residents can find a testing location across the County at http://www.sccfreetest. org or by calling 2-1-1.

• County of Santa Clara Service Center – Auditorium: 1555 Berger Dr., San José, CA - Tuesday, July 14 through Friday, July 17 from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. • Independence High School – C Commons: 617 North Jackson Avenue, San José - Tuesday, July 14 through Friday, July 17 from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. • South County Annex (formerly Del Buono Elementary): 9300 Wren Avenue, Gilroy - Tuesday, July 14 through Friday, July 17 from 1:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. - Saturday, July 18 from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Large Healthcare System Testing Dashboard Launched The County published a new online dashboard tracking COVID-19 testing by large healthcare systems and their clinics, including the County of Santa Clara Health System, Kaiser Permanente, Palo Alto Medical Foundation/Sutter Health, El Camino Health, Stanford Healthcare, and HCA Healthcare, which includes Regional Medical Center of San Jose and Good Samaritan Hospital. The dashboard shows the rate and number of tests performed by these systems in the past week. A June 10 Health Order required all

large healthcare systems in Santa Clara County to offer COVID-19 testing to specific individuals covered by their systems. Many of these large healthcare systems were already making testing available to their patients, but the order requires testing of those who are symptomatic, contacts of known cases, and front-line workers. All large healthcare systems in the county need to provide this level of care to those they serve. We are heartened to see that healthcare systems are starting to provide increased testing, but more work is ahead. Statewide Testing Challenges and Prioritization As more states begin to scale their testing capabilities, new constraints are materializing within the supply chain. Simultaneously laboratories are becoming overwhelmed with high numbers of specimens, slowing down processing timelines. These delays may present significant challenges in the ability to care for people in the hospital where testing helps make appropriate treatment decisions and the ability to appropriately isolate those who are sick in order to box in the virus and cut transmission rates. Due to these new limitations, the California Department of Public Health is recommending that laboratories prioritize the processing of

July 13, 2020 specimens of individuals who are COVID-19 symptomatic and those who are hospitalized or in long-term care facilities. Additionally, specimens of patients in institutional settings, including prisons and jails, should be prioritized in order to timely implement appropriate interventions to mitigate the spread of the virus within the facility. Nonprofit Facility Testing As part of the County of Santa Clara’s COVID-19 CommunityBased Testing program, the Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits is teaming up with Valley Medical Center to test asymptomatic employees of nonprofit worksites or members of other invited groups (e.g., employees of two employers). This service is completely free, does not require a doctor’s note or insurance. No IDs are required. Appointments are not required, but they are asking employers to organize their employees (or members of other invited groups) so that about 150 employees can be tested at each event.

They are especially interested in providing the testing service to large non-profit organizations whose staff work directly with members of the public. Testing events targeted to an organization’s clients/ program participants may also be considered. Testing is conducted from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., with about an hour to an hour and a half on each end for set up and tear down. Interested nonprofits should contact Chris Cheung (Chrissy) at Chris.Cheung@phd. sccgov.org. Employers or hosts are asked to provide the following: • An indoor room of about 1,200 square feet with air conditioning. • A restroom that our staff can use. • Access to electrical power. • At least four tables (6 ft. or longer) and six to eight chairs. • A room or space where staff can take a break. • Two to three staff from the employer to set up and coordinate. Santa Clara County Live Public Health

Briefings The Public Health Department continues to provide Santa Clara County residents with informational updates each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 10:00 a.m. on its Facebook Page. This week’s briefings included: • An Update on the Shelter in Place Order: County staff provided updates on the new Health Officer Risk Reduction Order and talked about how younger people are coping with the new protocols of COVID-19 and being socially distanced from friends. • Q & A about the New July 13, 2020 Health Order: County staff discussed some of the activities and businesses that may resume and shared more details on what risk reduction means and the responsibility of businesses, as well as every community member in helping to slow the spread of COVID19 transmissions in Santa Clara County. (Also available in Spanish). • Details about Personal Care Services Directive: County staff discussed the Personal Care Services Directive that goes into effect on Monday, July 13. This directive includes hair salons, barber shops, and other similar business. There is

Page 7

Public Health also an explanation about the Social Distance Protocol that ALL businesses must file as we move into another phase of operating during this pandemic. (Also available in Spanish and Vietnamese). Pandemic Scam Alerts The FBI has seen a spike in fraudulent unemployment insurance claims filed using stolen identities. Residents across the country have been victimized by criminal actors impersonating the victims and using the victims’ stolen identities to submit fraudulent unemployment insurance claims online. Many victims of identity theft related to unemployment insurance claims do not know they have been targeted until they try to file a claim for unemployment insurance benefits, receive a notification from the state unemployment insurance agency, receive an IRS Form 1099-G showing the benefits collected from unemployment insurance, or get notified by their employer that a claim has been filed while the victim is still employed. California Governor’s

Office of Emergency Services (OES) has also released a warning about scammers exploiting California’s COVID-19 Contact Tracing Program. OES offers these tips: • Real contact tracers won’t ask you for money. - Only scammers insist on payment by gift card, money transfer, or cryptocurrency. • Contact tracing doesn’t require your bank account or credit card number. -Never share account information with anybody who contacts you asking for it. • Legitimate contact tracers will never ask for your Social Security number. -Never give any part of your Social Security number to anyone who contacts you. • Your immigration status doesn’t matter for contact tracing, so real tracers won’t ask. -If they do, you can bet it’s a scam. • Do not click on a link in a text or email. -Doing so can download malware onto your device.

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Page 8

July 13, 2020

California Health Update

County Data Monitoring California is monitoring COVID-19 closely in each local community and keeping the public informed. We’re teaming up with counties to fight it with every tool we have: current local data, testing, contact tracing, infection control, emergency supplies, containment measures, and more. Counties should be ready to restore limitations if outbreaks increase. The State Public Health Officer may take action if needed. Effective July 13, 2020, ALL counties must close indoor operations in these sectors: • Dine-in restaurants • Wineries and tasting rooms • Movie theaters • Family entertainment centers (for example: bowling alleys, miniature golf, batting cages and arcades)

• Zoos and museums • Cardrooms Additionally, bars, brewpubs, breweries, and pubs must close all operations both indoor and outdoor statewide, unless they are offering sit-down, outdoor dinein meals. Alcohol can only be sold in the same transaction as a meal. Counties that have remained on the County Monitoring List for 3 consecutive days will be required to shut down the following industries or activities unless they can be modified to operate outside or by pick-up. • Fitness centers • Worship services • Protests • Offices for nonessential sectors • Personal care services, like nail salons, body waxing and tattoo parlors • Hair salons and barbershops • Malls The following

Statewide COVID-19 Hotline:

833-422-4255 (833-4CA-4ALL) The statewide call center will be open 7 days a week: 8:00 am to 8:00 pm Monday – Friday, Pacific Daylight Time. Saturday and Sunday 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Pacific Daylight Time. This new COVID-19 information line is a part of our ongoing effort to provide reliable, trusted information and support. Additionally, Californians can call their local 211 which are available 24 hours a day. We urge Californians to do the following: 1) If you’re looking for general information about state COVID-19 resources: use covid19.ca.gov or call 833-422-4255 2) If you’re looking for community services and support: Call 211 3) If you’re looking for medicine and medical attention: Call your healthcare provider or pharmacy If it’s an emergency: Call 911

counties have remained on the County Monitoring List for 3 consecutive days: • Colusa County • Contra Costa County • Fresno County • Glenn County • Imperial County • Kings County • Los Angeles County • Madera County • Marin County • Merced County • Monterey County

• Napa County • Orange County • Placer County • Riverside County • Sacramento County • San Benito County • San Bernardino County • San Diego County • San Joaquin County • Santa Barbara County • Solano County • Sonoma County • Stanislaus County • Sutter County

• Tulare County • Yolo County • Yuba County • Ventura County The State Public Health Officer may take additional action if needed. For more information and to view updates, go to COVID19.CA.GOV or follow the CA news on Facebook or Twitter @CAgovernor.

ATTENTION COMMUNITY! Is anyone in the Bay Area looking for a very practical way to help others during this time? I work at Cristo Rey San Jose Jesuit High School in East San Jose. We serve all low income - primarily Latino- students. Since the shelter-in-place started, we have been distributing food to our families every Tuesday. As this shelter-in-place continues, our families have indicated growing food insecurities as many have lost their jobs. The ask...if you would like to help us make sure our families have enough food on their tables, we could use more food to supplement our current program. Next time you go to the grocery store or order online, would you consider buying a second bag of potatoes or another jar of peanut butter for our families? I would be happy to arrange a physically distant pick-up and make sure the food makes it directly to our families! I would be happy to answer more questions if you have any! -Linda Nguyen Ed.D. Educational Leadership for Social Justice, Student | LMU M.A. Theological Studies, 2017 | LMU B.A. Business Administration, 2013 | LMU 310 619 8647

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July 13, 2020

Op Ed

Opinion: The Shameful “Black Lives” Hypocrisy of Uber, Lyft and Other Gig Companies Cherri Murphy | Special to California Black Media Partners We are the workers who power the core of your businesses and we write in response to your recent comments on the Black Lives Matter movement. Your statements have included various platitudes about your commitment to racial justice and the Black community. We are not fooled. Your lip service in support of Black Lives is hollow, created by well-paid public relations teams, and absent of any promise of real change. Lyft has been my primary source of income for the past three years and I’ve driven over 12,000 rides. A survey by the University of California Santa Cruz suggests 70% of rideshare drivers are African Americans and other People of Color, 50% are immigrants, and, because of company greed, only 31% say they could find $400 in an emergency. Racial justice is economic justice. The

conditions that make police killings of Black people possible and inevitable are the same conditions that make the exploitation of Black and Brown workers possible and inevitable. We reject your attempts to separate racial justice from economic justice and we see it as an attempt to dodge your responsibility for the exploitation of your Black and Brown workers everyday. This fight is not only about police killings and terror — it is about every institution that exploits and abuses Black and Brown people in this country. When it comes to exploiting Black and brown people, you and your companies are experts. At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, gig workers were faced with a devil’s choice: Continue working despite a deadly virus or risk losing the roof over our heads. When we attempted to secure

Cherry Murphy, Activist

masks, hand sanitizer, paid sick time off, unemployment wages, and other protective measures we found obstacles, opaque processes, and hand wringing. We had to turn to outside organizations — and each other — for safety during the pandemic. Where were you then? The Black gig workers who have been on the frontlines of this pandemic have been the hardest hit economically and the most likely to die from the virus, yet your companies have done nothing to ensure our welfare. There are stories of drivers who have lost their lives, yet your companies once again, were nowhere to be found. Where were you then? Even before the

COVID-19 pandemic, Black gig workers already faced discrimination and abuse on the job. Black gig workers already had no protection from racist consumers who file false complaints and do not tip. Black gig workers already found less support and more discrimination from staff meant to “support” us. Black gig workers already were subject to more policing and harassment from law enforcement on the job everyday. Where were you then Then, as now, you were stealing from your workers. You pay us starvation wages while you and your executives return to million dollar homes that you built off our backs. You deny us workers’ compensation and disability insurance if we are injured and you refuse to provide protection

from discrimination and retaliation. We work late-night hours, weekends, and holidays away from our families for no overtime pay. You increase rideshare prices in predominately Black and Brown neighborhoods. Today, until November, Californians will hear from the real experts — the drivers. We believe from the very depth of our beings that there will be no peace until there is justice. If you respect Black lives, as your corporate statements so proudly declare, you will respect Black voices and listen to your workers when they say that enough is enough. All labor has dignity. All labor has worth. We demand that you respect ours.

About the Author: Cherri Murphy is a Lyft Driver and social justice activist.

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July 13, 2020

From B-Ball to Hardball

Golden State Warriors’ Draymond Green Takes Defense Skills to New Arena: Politics Antonio Ray Harvey | California Black Media Draymond Green, 30, who has won three National Basketball Association (NBA) Championships with the San Francisco-based Golden State Warriors, is known to be an agitator on the court. Now, the three-time NBA All-Defensive

First Team selection has mounted an attack off the hardwood in another arena: Politics. Green is speaking out, online and off, expressing his displeasure for Assembly Bill (AB) 1998, the “Dental Practice Act,” which is authored by Assemblymember Evan

Draymond Green speaking at a May 2016 press conference. Photo by Antonia Ray Harvey.

Low (D-Campbell). Low’s district covers parts of the South Bay and Silicon Valley. Home to a number of tech companies, the area is more than 50% White and under 3% African American. Latinos account for about 17%. Last week, Green fired off a series of tweets directed at AB 1998 and Low. He tagged the politician in them. The NBA player went on the defense after Low made an indirect reference to him in a published report. “No Californian deserves to be harmed by substandard, profithungry care, regardless of whether they’re an NBA champion,” the politician said. Green took Low’s comment as a flagrant foul — aggressive contact, in this case, coming from

0

a politician against an opponent. Green shot back, telling Low his bill would hamper low-income communities’ access to dental products. “The only issue of profits here is you giving more to dentists, while, once again, underserved communities are shut out. Sounds like you’d prefer if I shut up and dribble @Evan_Low,” Green tweeted on July 10, the day Low’s comment surfaced in the media. AB 1998, the “Dental Practice Act,” if passed by the California Senate, would require dentists to conduct an in-person examination of their patients prior to approving a treatment plan for clear aligners or other orthodontics. The bill would also prohibit internet companies from offering direct-to-consumer products to Californians until legislation is passed that establishes parameters for how teleorthodontic companies may operate. Green’s political pushback against AB 1998 may be rooted in more than one stake the athlete

has in teledentistry. Green has a financial investment in the SmileDirectClub (SDC), a global leader in the online dental care industry. He also shares personal stories of how affordable direct-mail dental products helped him fix his teeth and regain his confidence while he was growing up. SDC markets nonprescription straightening aligners at discounted costs to correct teethpositioning problems. In September 2019, Forbes reported that Green started investing in SDC four years earlier in 2015 at a $150 million valuation. The financial publication also mentioned that Green could make 40 times more from his investment. SDC began trading publicly on Sept. 12, 2019, according to Forbes. On May 21, during a Business and Professions Committee hearing on AB 1998, Low opened up his presentation to the members of the committee with a salvo declaring that teledentistry and telehealth are “telecrap.” “This will disproportionately hurt

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July 13, 2020 communities of color; not basketball schedule. Californians, including everyone can go to healthBecause of “crooked African Americans. care providers,” Low said. teeth,” he wrote, smiling “Now, more than ever, “The reality is that subpar wasn’t a gesture of his for the African American treatment can do real many years. community needs as many harm, the risk is too high.” “After 7 years of options as possible to Green says he hiding my smile, I made a close the disparity gap for is standing up for decision that I was going oral health care. African disadvantaged African to finally fix my teeth Americans and other Americans who can’t again. Only this time I people of color have the afford to just drop into decided that I would try right to affordable, quality a dentist’s office to get invisible aligners. I came health care treatment,” x-rays and clearance across a tele-dentistry Huffman said. before they can purchase platform with licensed In his letter, Green said dental products they need dentists by the name of because Assemblymember from companies like SDC. SmileDirectClub,” Green Low’s constituents “Do you want them stated in the letter. are among the richest to tell them they’re not Green told recipients Californians, maybe worthy of a good smile? of his letter that the he is unaware how his They’re not worthy of California State National legislation might hurt poor confidence, employment Association for the Californians. opportunities, and so Advancement of Colored “If there is something many other benefits, a People (NAACP) and the I’m missing as to why you good smile brings? @ California Black Chamber would consider adopting Evan_Low,” Green of Commerce are all a bill that would take tweeted. opposed to AB 1998. away doctor discretion If approved, AB In March, California to subject a patient to 1998 would make it State NAACP President radiation, that would more difficult to access Alice Huffman asked the also limit access and teledentistry services by legislature to knock down significantly increase requiring an in-person any bill that would create the cost of dental care visit to a dentist. an obstacle to affordable then let’s set up a call Two days before dental care. to discuss,” he offered. Green’s Twitter rant, he Huffman said SDC’s “This is California. We’re sent a two-page letter teledentistry platform supposed to be leading on to several California for clear aligner therapy these issues. Instead, this politicians explaining the treatments has helped bill is a step in the wrong hardship he experienced more than 100,000 direction.” trying to get affordable dental care. In it, the athlete said his mother struggled to pay $7,000 for the metal braces he wore between his eighth and 12thgrade years. He also wrote that he broke his retainers when arrived at Michigan University and couldn’t leave to fix them because of Assemblymember Evan Low (D- Silicon Valley) on the floor California State Assembly June 10, 2020. the strict demands of his Photo by Antonia Ray Harvey.

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From B-Ball to Hardball