The Black Woman that flipped the State of Georgia from “Red” To “Blue”: See Page A5
Advocate The California
Volume 54 - No. 25 January 14, 2021
Fresno’s African American Community Newspaper
Most Whites Considered MLK
Advocate Feature Interview:
The most dangerous
NEGRO in America The FBI’s secret memos show an agency obsessed with ‘neutralizing’ MLK
(CNN) — Yale Historian Beverly Gage recently uncovered the first copy of an unredacted “anonymous” FBI letter sent to Martin Luther King Jr. telling him to kill himself. There are dozens of such menacing memos and letters held in the U.S. archives that detail the FBI’s systematic plot to “neutralize” the civil rights leader. In retrospect it may be horrifying to know that the government had such a plan, but historians say the plot did have an upside. FBI wiretaps have “given us the most powerful and persuasive source of all for seeing how utterly selfless Martin Luther King was,” as a civil rights leader, according to a leading civil rights scholar. “You see him being intensely self-critical. King really and truly believed that he was there to be of service to others. This was not a man with any egomaniacal joy of being a famous person, or being a leader,” said Pulitzer Prizewinning scholar David Garrow in a recent interview with CNN. Hoping to prove the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was under the influence of Communists, the FBI kept the civil rights leader under constant surveillance. The agency’s hidden tape recorders turned up almost nothing about communism. But they did reveal embarrassing details about King’s sex life – details the FBI was able to use against him. The almost fanatical zeal with which the FBI
Joseph I. Castro
New CSUF Chancellor
By Craig Reid -
Dr. Joseph I. Castro is only the first California native and Mexican American to be named Chancellor of the massive California State University (CSU) system.
On November 19, 2020 the CALIFORNIA ADVOCATE conducted it’s last interview with Dr. Castro while he was still President of California State University, Fresno.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. receives the Nobel Peace Prize
pursued King is disclosed in tens of thousands of FBI memos from the 1960s. The FBI paper trail spells out in detail the government agency’s concerted efforts to derail King’s efforts on behalf of the civil rights movement. The FBI’s interest in King intensified after the March on Washington in August 1963, when King delivered his “I have a dream speech,” which many historians consider the most important speech of the 20th century. After the (Continued on page A4)
Race double standard clear in rioters’ Capitol insurrection
By AARON MORRISON-AP Black Lives Matter protests, 2020: Overwhelming force from law enforcement in dozens of cities. Chemical dispersants. Rubber bullets and handto-hand combat with largely peaceful crowds and some unruly vandals and looters. More than 14,000 arrests. The U.S. Capitol, Jan. 6, 2021: Barely more than a few dozen arrests. Several weapons seized, improvised explosive devices found. Members of a wilding mob escorted from the premises, some not even in White rioters freely beat police officers with American handcuffs. The key difference? The first flag on the steps of the U.S. capital on January 6, 2021. set of protesters were overwhelmingly Black Americans outgoing President Donald halls of power on Capitol Hill and their allies. The second Trump’s baseless claims of by the insurrectionist mob on group was overwhelmingly election fraud. Wednesday represents one of white Americans who support The violent breaching of the the plainest displays of a racial (Continued on page B4)
The Educational and overall societal trailblazer will be sorely missed in these parts. Dr. Castro has brought a Central Valley perspective to the Chancellor post of America’s largest four-year public university system. He oversees over 484,000 students, 26,000 faculty, and more than 25,000 staff on 23 campuses, and eight off campus centers. Advocate: During this Pandemic what do you view as the crucial socio-economicpolitical challenges facing Blacks students, Black faculty, Black classified staff, and Black part-time employees in the CSU system?
Castro: The pandemic has revealed more clearly and exacerbated the inequities that exist in our society, particularly among underserved communities that have been disproportionately affected by the virus itself as well as the socio-economic ramifications. In times like these, it is critical that we collectively redouble our efforts to address the challenges our African American friends and neighbors are facing in our Valley and across the nation. For example, we must leverage the expertise of our campus community on critically important topics such as health disparities in communities of color, air- and waterquality issues that are often exacerbated in lower-income neighborhoods, eviction rates among low-income tenants and the level of educational access, to name a few. I also urge our entire community to support more African American youth to attend a college and/or university as this will help to increase economic opportunities for them and their families, and help to further elevate our region. I am confident that Fresno State and the California State University system will continue to support such efforts in the years ahead. Advocate: Dr. Castro, you are the grandson of Mexican immigrants, the son of a single mother, the first in the family to graduate from a university, and now the first Mexican American chancellor in the history of the nation’s largest public university system. What have been your keys navigating (Continued on page A6)
Volume 54 ~ No 45 Januarey 14th, 2021
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