Volume 53 No. 12: December 26, 2019 - January 3, 2020

2019 YEAR IN REVIEW

ADVOCATE Volume 53 No. 12: December 26, 2019 - January 3, 2020

The California

Fresno’s African American Community Newspaper

Dezie Woods-Jones, BWOPA Founder September 30, 2019 issue

Dr. Malik Simba, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, African American Program/Department of History, CSUF July 26, 2019 issue

Thomas-Whit Ellis, African American Theatre, CSUF March/April, 2019 Issue

Eimear O’Farrell, Ed.D. Superintendent, Clovis Unified School District May 31, 2019 Black Grad Issue

Dr. Joseph L. Castro, President California State University, Fresno May 31, 2019 Black Grad issue

The interviews and articles represented on this page can be read in their entirety by visiting The California Advocate Newspaper Facebook page and locating the issue date mentioned within caption.

As we begin a new year and a new decade we are thankful for the continued involvement of these community leaders and their dedication to Fresno’s Black community. Fresno is especially grateful and blessed to have the continued existence of the Advocate Newspaper to continue to be an independent voice for the Black community since 1967.

To purchase and receive an actual copy of any of these historic issues, represented on this page, reach out to our Fresno offices. We look forward to the Black community having a very successful new year and we thank all of our readers for your support this past year.

Happy New Year, from the Advocate staff.

Bob Nelson, Superintendent Fresno Unified School District May 31, 2019 Black Grad issue

David Kingsby, Obituary Fresno Entrepreneur, Promoter, Businessman, July 26, 2019 issue

Bothem Jean ‘His Life Story’ September 30, 2019 issue

Volume 53 ~ No 12 ~ December 26, 2019-January 3, 2020

Gaston Middle School student athlete La’Nigha Brown (Right) ‘Makes The Boys Team’ October 25, 2019 issue

Chef Paul, Owner, Chef Paul’s Cafe November 29, 2019 Issue

Notable Advocate Interviews And Articles Of 2019

Andrew Hall, Fresno Police Chief November 29, 2019 Issue

National Champions, Fresno Edison Pee Wee team and parents November 29, 2019 issue

Janice Sumler, Take A Stand/ Juneteenth May 31, 2019 Issue

THE CALIFORNIA ADVOCATE

Yolanda Randles, Executive Director, West Fresno Resource Center July 26, 2019 Issue

P.O. Box 11826 • Fresno, CA 93775 www.caladvocate.com

Dean Woods, Champion Team Captain Alzheimers Association Sept. 30, 2019 issue

Margaret Mims Fresno County Sheriff-Coroner March - April, 2019 issue

Congressman Elijah Cummings, ‘First Black to Lie in State’ October 25, 2019 issue

CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED

PRESORTED STANDARD U.S. POSTAGE PAID FRESNO, CA PERMIT NO.35

Page A2

The California Advocate December 26, 2019 - January 3, 2020

New Jersey Seminary to Pay $27 Million in Reparations for Ties to Slavery

BY STACY M. BROWN, NNPA NEWSWIRE CORRESPONDENT @STACYBROWNMEDIA NNPA NEWSWIRE —

“The Seminary’s ties to slavery are a part of our story,” Barnes stated. “It is important to acknowledge that our founders were entangled with slavery and could not envision a fully integrated society. We did not want to shy away from the uncomfortable part of

our history and the difficult conversations that revealing the truth would produce.” M. Craig Barnes, president of the Seminary, stated.

The Princeton Theological Seminary, in Princeton, NJ, has set aside $27 million to pay reparations for its ties to slavery.

Among the institutions of higher education, the more than two-hundred-year-old Seminary joined Rutgers and Princeton Uni-

Family of Black Doctors Has Social Media Buzzing

versities to publicly disclose their ties to the slave trade.

However, neither Rutgers nor Princeton have pledged reparations.

The Seminary recently began a study of its history with the enslavement of African Americans after three Black seminarians launched a petition calling for reparations.

“These payments are an act of

repentance,” M. Craig Barnes, president of the Seminary, said in a statement. “We are committed to telling the truth,” Barnes said.

Although he noted that the Seminary never owned slaves, it was complicit in the slave trade.

Barnes said Princeton Theological Seminary benefitted from the slave economy when it invested in Southern banks. They also re(CONTINUED ON PAGE B6)

Serena Williams Builds Schools in Jamaica, Africa

School in Trelawny Parish, Jamaica.

Williams, who has won a total of 39 Tennis Grand Slams – inWhile many deepcluding Doubles titles, pocketed philanthrohas also built grade “Our dad, Dr. Herbert Oye (fourth from left), is a Nigerian immigrant. Upon mov- pists and celebrities schools in Uganda, Keing to the United States, he attended medical school and has worked tirelessly to nya, and Zimbabwe. build his own Vascular Surgery practice,” the young physicians wrote in a state- will write checks to support worthy causes, Williams built the ment on Facebook.

Tennis megastar SerMarsh Elementary

BY STACY M. BROWN, NNPA degree at the University of ena Williams routinely through a partnership NEWSWIRE SENIOR CORRESPONDENT North Texas Health Science goes the extra mile. with the nonprofit @STACYBROWNMEDIA Center, according to his official In a recently reHelping Hands JamaiDr. Herbert Oye is a Board biography. leased video, Williams ca, while the schools in Certified Endovascular and His General Surgery residence donned a pair of jeans, Africa were in conVascular Surgeon, specializing was performed at Wyckoff Heights junction with Build in invasive and non-invasive Medical Center in Brooklyn, NY, workboats, a hardhat and went to work on Africa. treatment of vascular diseases. an affiliate of Albert Einstein Salt Marsh Elementary It’s part of the misDr. Oye received his medical (CONTINUED ON PAGE B6)

BY STACY M. BROWN, NNPA NEWSWIRE SENIOR CORRESPONDENT @STACYBROWNMEDIA

sion of Williams’ Serena Williams Fund and her other charitable efforts, which include the Serena Williams

(CONTINUED ON PAGE B6)

Call us @ (559) 268-0941 to subscribe. Also, see our Facebook page,

The California Advocate Newspaper@ facebook.com

Page A3

The California Advocate December 26, 2019 - JanuaryDecember 3, 2020 26, 2019- January 3, 2020 The California Advocate

Page A3

Page A4

The California Advocate December 26, 2019 - January 3, 2020

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays!

Friends, As we enter this holiday season, I am frequently reminded of how blessed we are to call Fresno home.

From my family to yours, I want to wish you a wonderful and safe holiday season with friends and loved ones.

God bless you and our city,

JerryDyer.org PAID FOR BY JERRY DYER FOR MAYOR 2020 ¡ FPPC ID # 1418924

How families find joy in seeing a black Santa at Christmas Page A5

The California Advocate December 26, 2019 - JanuaryDecember 3, 2020 26, 2019- January 3, 2020 The California Advocate

Page A5

BY ANNA STURLA, CNN

The first time Vivian Walker met a Santa the same color as she is, she was 41.

“My first time, in the flesh,” Walker said. “I’d seen him in pictures, but I’d never in the flesh seen a black Santa.”

Walker grew up seeing a photo of a black Santa at her little brother’s day care, and wishing she could meet him. When she had a baby in early 2012, Walker said she wanted to make sure her little boy got his chance.

She drove eight hours round-trip from Cleveland to Detroit so she and her baby could meet their first black Santa.

“Oh my God, it felt empowering,” Walker said. “We both got to see it at the same time. It was unbelievable.”

Walker, 48, now runs Black Santa Directory, a Facebook group she started in late 2016. The group has almost 1,900 members who alert each other to events featuring Santas of color, or pool resources to create their own.

A middle school counselor by day, Walker runs the group with Dr. Jihan Woods, 36, a Dallas psychiatrist who launched a Find Black Santa app in 2018.

“We know that children start to become aware of race in first or second grade,” Woods said. “So these small things that parents can do to be more intentional about what they expose their kids to can really build their kid’s development.”

LOOKING FOR SANTA When Barbara Mullen was 8, she watched her father put on a red suit to give gifts to children in transitional housing in San Francisco.

Mullin said that for her, seeing an African American Santa means children, particularly boys, can see themselves in a loving, caring figure.

“Yes, there’s a naughty and a nice list, but it’s really about your

This is why we eat black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day

BY STEPHANIE TOONE, THE ATLANTA JOURNALCONSTITUTION

character,” Mullen said. “It’s like what Martin Luther King said. It’s about the content of your character, not the color of your skin.”

Mullen, 36, now organizes her sorority chapter’s annual Christmas event in Providence, Rhode Island. While Santa is the main draw, the chapter uses the event to connect black, Latino and immigrant families to local health and community organizations.

She lends her collection of figurines and plates featuring black Santas, taking time from being an educator and a trustee of Rhode Island’s Board of Education to make gift bags.

The $10 photo fee pays for the sorority’s community fair, but such an event is expensive to organize.

“It’s a lot of Google spreadsheets,” Mullen said. “A lot of what you see in the mall (with Santa events), that is a lot of money.”

PLAYING THE PART While there are professionalSantas, the cost of hiring them means (Continued on page B7)

green color, represent a financially prosperous new year.

New Year’s Eve may traditionally include a glass of champagne and/or a kiss with a special someone, but come New Year’s Day, the traditions all encompass what’s on the menu.

Specifically in the South, eating a bowl of black-eyed peas and collard greens has become the standard on New Year’s Day. Many celebrating the new year might just be going along with the offered dishes without the context.A few culinary experts have some clues how this tradition came to be.

According to celebrated Southern food researcher John Egerton in his book “Southern Food: At Home, On the Road, In History,” black-eyed peas are associated with a “mystical and mythical power to bring good luck.”

According to a report by Southern Living, the black-eyed peas have that lucky reputation reaching all the way back to 500 A.D. as a part of the Jewish holiday Rosh Hashanah, which is the Jewish New Year.

Linda Pelaccio, who hosts culinary radio show “A Taste of the Past,” told USA Today that peas and other lentils are associated with the holiday. Eating them along with collards, with their

BLACK-EYED PEAS IN THE SOUTH

Though its roots do not stem from the South, eating black-eyed peas in particular dishes has become a Southern tradition, Pelaccio said. Black-eyed peas are served with rice in the traditional Southern U.S. dish called “Hoppin’ John” for New Year’s Eve. Or, the peas can be part of a soup. In Italy, lentils mix with pork for a lucky dish. That tradition of eating the peas with rice is of African origin, and it became popular in the South later, especially in the Carolinas.

OTHER BLACK-EYED PEAS COMBOS

Black-eyed peas with corn bread represents gold, according to Southern Living. Stew your blackeyed peas with tomatoes and they become a symbol of wealth and health.

One unusual but common New Year’s Day black-eyed peas tradition involves putting actual money in the dish. Some add to their “luck” by cooking their pot of peas with a penny or dime inside.

Whoever gets the bowl with the coin in it, according to legend, has the best luck for the new year.

7 Inspirational Quotes From Black Celebrity Women To Help You Level Up In 2020

ALICIA KEYS It’s a new year, which means it’s time to dust off those goals you didn’t complete in 2019 and get to securing the bag. Or maybe you want to manifest your dream job, or dream mate.

Whatever the goal, it may require some extra internal motivation to get you there.

ESSENCE spoke with so many powerful and inspirational women last year, each speaking their truths while speaking their minds.

Whether it was sharing how they fell in love with someone else, or themselves, each woman gave an entire word fit for a preacher on Sunday morning.

To help us get right in 2020, here are our favorite inspirational quotes from ESSENCE interviews. We hope they bless you because they surely blessed us.

NUMBER 1 LIZZO ON BEING AUTHENTICALLY HERSELF “Sometimes the label ‘unapologetic’ bothers me

REGINA KING

TRACEE ELLIS ROSS

because it can be loaded, because it means we have to apologize for something in the first place. I’m not ignorant to the fact that we had to have a demeanor of lowering ourselves culturally just to exist. But I’m trying to shake up the narrative about how we’re supposed to act.”

NUMBER 2 ALICIA KEYS ON MOTHERHOOD “Becoming a wife and a mother, specifically a mother, really taught me so much. I remember clearly wanting to remove the negative energy around me quickly...Doing it for this new soul made sense to me. And then that evolved into realizing that if it’s not really feeling like the right thing for me…if it’s not feeling really good, I’m not going to do that. I used to say yes to everything.

I think I started to learn about boundaries for myself and creating space for myself and allowing there

ISSA RAE

to be an ending. I started to understand the difference of, like, if it’s flowing, it’s flowing. If it’s not flowing, go back tomorrow. It’s okay. You don’t have to force it.”

NUMBER 3 ISSA RAE ON BEING BEAUTIFUL “My parents helped me and they hurt me...I was surrounded by beautiful dark people. And then middle school hit, and I was like, ‘Oh, they think I’m ugly.’ They think I’m big. They think I’m unattractive. I went back to my mom like, ‘What the f—k?!

Y’all lied to me my whole life. What is this?!...Learning that early on made me realize there’s no point in valuing the physical, because it wasn’t going to get me anywhere.”

LIZZO

portant to marry somebody that you respect. It’s important to marry somebody who is your equal, and to marry and be with somebody who wants you to win as much as you want them to win...My husband is my teammate. If we are going to win this game together, he has to be strong and he has to be OK with me being strong. I do not want a weak player on my team, nor does he.”

NUMBER 5 TRACEE ELLIS ROSS ON COMING INTO HER OWN “As Diana Ross’s child, you wonder whether you will become anything in your own right. So it was a really big moment to go from being on the cover of ESSENCE with my mom to having my own cover.

Now I’ve had three on my own and one with my mom.

NUMBER 4 That’s crazy! I feel a little MICHELLE OBAMA ON humbled by that, knowing PICKING THE RIGHT I have truly filled my own SPOUSE shoes—and maybe even “That’s why it’s so im- had to buy a couple of new

REGINA HALL pairs at times. There are people who have no idea that my worth is not based on my mom or what I look like. There’s a wholeness to me that I cherish.”

NUMBER 6 REGINA HALL ON HAVING A SISTER CIRCLE “They showed up when they knew I couldn’t and that’s what life requires,” Hall said of her friends last February at ESSENCE’s Black Women in Hollywood awards. “I couldn’t even have this moment if I didn’t have the people who have been in my life enabling me to sustain the times that have been difficult, that have been doubtful, the heartbreaks.”

NUMBER 7 REGINA KING ON FINDING ALLIES “No one who’s in a position of success has gotten there without someone giving them a shot,” she explained to ESSENCE last October.

Page A6

The California Advocate December 26, 2019 - January 3, 2020

Black Mothers Get Less Treatment For Postpartum Depression Than Other Moms

BY NINA FELDMAN, WHYY AND ANERI PATTANI, THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER Stephanie Lee remembers the period after her son Santeno Adams was born. “It was so rough, like I was a mess, I was crying,” Lee says. “I just felt like nobody understood me.” In-home therapy helped her learn to make time for herself. (Kimberly Paynter/ WHYY) Portia Smith’s most vivid memories of her daughter’s first year are of tears. Not the baby’s. Her own.

“I would just hold her and cry all day,” Smith said.

At 18, Smith was caring for two children, 4-year-old Kelaiah and newborn Nelly, with little help from the partner in her abusive relationship. The circumstances were difficult, but she knew the tears were more than that.

“I really didn’t have a connection for her,” said Smith, now a motivational speaker and mother of three living in Philadelphia. “I didn’t even want to breastfeed because I didn’t want that closeness with her.”

The emotions were overwhelming, but Smith couldn’t bring herself to ask for help.

“You’re afraid to say it because you think the next step is [for the authorities] to take your children away from you,” she said. “You’re young and you’re African American, so it’s like [people are thinking], ‘She’s going to be a bad mom.’”

Smith’s concern was echoed by several black women interviewed for this story. Maternal health experts said some black women choose to struggle on their own rather than seek care and risk Nationally, postpartum depression affects 1 in 7 mothers. Medical guidelines recommend counseling for all women experiencing postpartum depression, and many women also find relief by taking general antidepressants, such as fluoxetine (Prozac) and sertraline (Zoloft).

In March, the Food and Drug Administration approved the first drug specifically for the treatment of postpartum depression, which can include extreme sadness, anxiety and exhaustion that may interfere with a woman’s ability to care for herself or her family. The

mood disorder can begin in pregnancy and last for months after childbirth.

But those advances help only if women’s needs are identified in the first place — a particular challenge for women of color and low-income mothers, as they are several times more likely to suffer from postpartum mental illness but less likely to receive treatment than other mothers.

The consequences of untreated postpartum depression can be serious. A report from nine maternal mortality review committees in the United States found that mental health problems, ranging from depression to substance use or trauma, went unidentified in many cases and were a contributing factor in pregnancy-related deaths. Although rare, deaths of new mothers by suicide have also been reported across the country.

Babies can suffer too, struggling to form a secure attachment with their mothers and increasing their risk of developing behavioral issues and cognitive impairments.

‘I WAS LYING TO YOU’ For many women of color, the fear of child welfare services comes from seeing real incidents in their community, said Ayesha Uqdah, a community health worker who conducts home visits for pregnant and postpartum women in Philadelphia through the nonprofit Maternity Care Coalition.

News reports in several states and studies at the national lev-

el have found that child welfare workers deem black mothers unfit at a higher rate than they do white mothers, even when controlling for factors like education and poverty.

During home visits, Uqdah asks clients the 10 questions on the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale survey, one of the most commonly used tools to identify women at risk. The survey asks women to rate things like how often they’ve laughed or whether they had trouble sleeping in the past week. The answers are tallied for a score out of 30, and anyone who scores above 10 is referred for a formal clinical assessment.

Uqdah remembered conducting the survey with one pregnant client, who scored a 22. The woman decided not to go for the mental health services Uqdah recommended.

A week after having her baby, the same woman’s answers netted her a score of zero: perfect mental health.

“I knew there was something going on,” Uqdah said. “But our job isn’t to push our clients to do something they’re not comfortable doing.”

About a month later, the woman broke down and told Uqdah, “I was lying to you. I really did need services, but I didn’t want to admit it to you or myself.”

The woman’s first child had been taken into child welfare custody and ended up with her grandfather, Uqdah said. The young

mother didn’t want that to happen again.

April McNeal , a community health worker with the Maternity Care Coalition, made visits to Stephanie Lee’s home while Lee was pregnant with and after she gave birth to son Santeno Adams.

After testing Lee for postpartum depression, McNeal recommended she take advantage of the coalition’s free, in-home therapy.

“You don’t have to tell anybody,” McNeal says about the program.

“They’re not coming here with their therapist super hat — it just looks like, oh, my girlfriend is coming over, and lo and behold, they’re giving you therapy.”(Kimberly Paynter/WHYY) SCREENING TOOLS DON’T SERVE EVERYONE WELL Another hurdle for women of color comes from the tools clinicians use to screen for postpartum depression.

The tools were developed based on mostly white research participants, said Alfiee Breland-Noble, an associate professor of psychiatry at Georgetown University Medical Center. Often those screening tools are less relevant for women of color.

Research shows that different cultures talk about mental illness in different ways. African Americans are less likely to use the term depression, but they may say they don’t feel like themselves, Breland(Continued on page B7)

Private, online therapy could be best choice when help is needed

BY CANDACE J. SEMIEN, Williams, who is the own- during which a therapeutic JOZEF, SYNDICATE REPORTER er of The Chrysalis Center, relationship is established @JOZEFSYNDICATE LLC, is one of 300 licensed to help resolve symptoms

From her virtual private practice in Baton Rouge, Shameka Mitchell Williams (SW) helps people who are overwhelmed and emotionally exhausted. Her focus is singular: help them recover from pernicious experiences and toxic relationships. “I hold space for people who are hurt and confused to talk about what that relationship or marriage is really like without any judgment about how they should feel,” she says.

A graduate of Louisiana State University and Washington University in St. Louis, Williams is a licensed clinical social worker who practices in Louisiana and Texas. She says she believes in the importance of helping her clients understand how their thinking shapes their experience and also how they are influenced by societal systems.

therapists in Louisiana who offers online video counseling according to the Psychology Today database.

This Pensiri: A Talk with Shameka Mitchell Williams explores online video therapy, who can benefit from it, and why.

As a therapist with more than a decade of experience in community-based programs, schools, psychiatric hospitals, and correctional facilities, you’ve seen mental health professionals expand their services from in-person counseling to teletherapy and now to online video therapy. How should we be defining therapy and who can practice or treat people with therapeutic needs?

SW: Therapy is a specialized, systematic, formal interaction between a mental health professional and a client (an individual, couple, family, or group)

of mental disorder, psychosocial stress, relationship problems, and/or difficulties coping in the social environment. It is also to help the client achieve specified goals for well-being. The term “therapy” is used interchangeably with counseling.

While many therapists provide both therapy and counseling, not every counselor is qualified to provide therapy.

The term “counselor” is often applied to highly trained mental health, education, or legal professionals, but it is also used for volunteers with minimal training and for paid workers who provide guidance and structure in group settings (as in camp and dorm hall counselors).

Is virtual or online therapy a growing service among practitioners? When did it begin?

SW: Online therapy is definitely a growing service. It may have first begun

taking shape as early as the 1960s, and it began growing as most people know it today in the early 2000s.

Earlier names for it included teletherapy and telemental health care since clinicians started offering sessions by telephone before beginning to utilize email, chats, and video. Today, many clinicians offer a mix of in-person and online services, and some offer online services exclusively. There even exists an International Society for Mental Health Online, which formed in 1997.

How can we tell if we need or could benefit from therapy? (in general)

SW: If you are experiencing distressing changes in your normal mood or functioning that are present more days than not for a period of at least two weeks, you may want to consider consulting with a professional. It can be good to start with talking to a medical professional to rule out any physiological reasons for the changes.

Should there be some type of diagnosis or referral to seek therapy?

SW: You don’t need to have a diagnosed mental disorder to benefit from therapy. If you are simply feeling overwhelmed with (Continued on page B6)

Page A7

The California Advocate December 26, 2019 - JanuaryDecember 3, 2020 26, 2019- January 3, 2020 The California Advocate

Page A7

Page A8

The California Advocate December 26, 2019 - January 3, 2020

THE CALIFORNIA ADVOCATE Section December, 26th, 2019–January 3, 2020 “Your Black Local News Source”

B

They Did It: 2019 National Champions

UPDATE: Another ‘First’ In Fresno History

Edison Tigers Pee Wee Youth Football Team Wins 2019 National Championship Game In Ohio ADVOCATE EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

The Edison Tigers Pee Wee Football team met with the California Advocate Newspaper Vice President, Doris Ellenwood to share their victory as the 2019 National Pee Wee Football Champions.

It is important to point out that the Edison Tigers Pee Wee Football team were never on the radar to play in the Pee Wee Football Championship game in Canton Ohio, but their dominating performance caught the eye of a regional representative who asked the Tigers to participate in the Pee Wee Football Championship game in Canton Ohio. But first the Tigers would have to win against their regional opponent in Sacramento California. The team that was supposed to play the Tigers in Sacramento lost their game, resulting in the Tigers getting an automatic bid to Canton Ohio.

On December 9, 2019 the Tigers traveled to Canton Ohio to play in the Pee Wee Football Hall of Fame championship game. One by one the Tigers defeated their opponents as they fought their

way to the playoff game. Montana 260, Connecticut Nightmare, 32-8, and the playoff game with the Pittsburgh Bulldogs, defeating the Bulldogs, 20-12 for the title of 2019 Pee Wee Football National Champions.

Talking with the team I could hear the pride in their voices as they spoke about their experience playing in the championship game. The team was asked to share their experience playing in the championship game.

Quotes from the team: Israel Trevino, “Hard, Challenging, but most of it was fun because we got to travel to places.”

Irving Zeno III, “It felt good because we got to go in the NFL locker-room.”

Caleb Thompson, “It felt great, because we got to have a professional locker.”

William Nutt, “It felt good because I actually felt like an NFL player. It was cold, but we stayed warm running” Melvin Collins, “It felt good because it was my first time on an airplane, now I can say that I’ve been to a different State”

Joseph McCoy, “It felt great, we got to travel to Los Angeles, Denver and to Cleaved Ohio then drive to Canton to play the best to be the best.”

Asante Melendez, “It felt good when we stepped on the field, it was nothing but confidence in your heart.”

Glen Young, “It felt good because we had a professional locker-room.”

While in Canton the team visited the LeBron James School, where they got to see all of LeBron James shoes on the wall and a photo of LeBron and his wife and quotes by LeBron James. They also went to the Football Hall of Fame where they got to see how big the players hands are, how big their muscles are, the first football gear. There was also a gaming area where you could play Madden 20. They got to see pictures of Walton Payton, Jim Brown, and Ray Lewis. They also got to see the first football and old cleats.

After visiting the Hall of Fame, they got something to eat at the Golden Correll Restaurant and later had a snowball fight.

Black Women Reign at Beauty Pageants

BY LAURA M. HOLSON When Zozibini Tunzi of South Africa was named Miss Universe on Sunday, her crowning signified a milestone: the first year that four of the major beauty pageants had simultaneously awarded the top prize to a black woman.

Pageants have long been criticized for their antiquated beauty standards and, in many cases, outright racism or gender stereotyping. Last year, the Miss America Organization announced it would scrap both the swimsuit and evening gown portions of the competition.

And while black women have been winners in the past — notably Vanessa Williams, who in 1984 was the first black woman to be named Miss America — they have never been as successful as this year.

Supporters of the women — Ms. Tunzi, Cheslie Kryst (this year’s Miss USA), Kaliegh Garris (Miss Teen USA) and Nia Franklin (Miss America) — say the recognition sends a powerful message that today’s beauty standards are evolving beyond Barbie-lite, or an era when contestants were prized solely for smooth hair, light skin color and thin lips.

“Finally the universe is giving value to black skin,” read

an Instagram post from Leila Lopes, a former Miss Angola who was crowned Miss Universe in 2011. Oprah also praised Ms. Tunzi for her leadership. But perhaps the new Miss Universe put it best in her closing address on Sunday night.

“I grew up in a world where a woman who looks like me, with my kind of skin and my kind of hair, was never considered beautiful,” she told the rapt crowd. “I think it is time that stops today. I want children to look at me and see my face. And I want them to see their faces reflected in mine.”

Hilary Levey Friedman, a visiting professor of education at Brown University who is writing a book about beauty pageants, said a new definition of what it means to be a pageant winner was being embraced in this era when questions of equality and inclusion are increasingly urgent.

“The idea of what we think is beautiful has expanded,” she said. “Skin color. Body type.

Curly hair. If you look at all this year’s winners, they look like themselves.”

This is a far cry from 1968, when women protested outside the Miss America pageant in Atlantic City. Throwing gir-

dles, bras and false eyelashes, they denounced the fact that the pageant had not had a black finalist since its inception in 1921. That night, black women participated in their own pageant several blocks away.

Saundra Williams was crowned Black Miss America at that event, telling The New York Times: “With my title, I can show black women that they too are beautiful, even though they have large noses and thick lips. There is a need to keep saying this over and over because for so long none of us believed it.”

Since then, pageant standards have slowly evolved, even as the events’ purpose has increasingly been called into question. Black women have also continued to remain severely underrepresented in corporate America and Congress.

Dr. Levey Friedman, who is white and whose mother, Pamela Eldred, was named Miss America for 1970, said that in researching her coming book, “Here She Comes: The Tarnished Reign of the Beauty Pageant in America,” she found that the number of women of color participating in beauty pageants was on the rise.

Cheslie Kryst Miss USA

Zozibini Tunzi Miss Universe

Nia Franklin Miss America

Kaliegh Garris Miss Teen USA

Page B2

The California Advocate December 26, 2019 - January 3, 2020

Page B3

The California Advocate December 26, 2019 - January December 3, 2020 26, 2019- January 3, 2020 The California Advocate

Page B3

COMMENTARY Let Us Revisit The Thanksgiving Holiday:

“CUSTER DIED FOR YOUR SINS”

THE CALIFORNIA ADVOCATE NEWSPAPER EXCLUSIVE EDITORIAL: At Fresno State, I help my students to understand the mid-19th century “Custer Died for Your Sins” Vine Deloria, Jr.’s book title is appropriate for any Thanksgiving because in his manifesto, Deloria makes salient points regarding the “pilgrims’ pride,” which killed Indians as “witches,” and the 1637 Pequot War, in which the Puritans and their Mohegan allies “massacred” almost entire Pequot villages and sold the survivors into slavery. Everyone knows the Trojan Horse story and Cassandra’s words “Beware of Greeks Bearing Gifts.” The gifts the Puritans gave their Indian enemies were blankets soiled with smallpox viruses.

Yes, arguably the Puritans initiated germ warfare. Maybe this dirge onslaught is what Susan Sontag meant when she said “The White race is the cancer of human history.” Or what the authors meant who entitled their book concerning this history as, Who’s the Savage?.

Thanksgiving was a strange interlude to the genocidal blitz which would soon follow.

Thus, on a cold evening in November 1973, while doing doctoral work at the University of Minnesota and needing a break from long hours of reading legal history texts, I decided to walked down to the “Little Red School House” which, at that time, was the Twin Cities headquarters of the American Indian Movement (AIM). That evening AIM activists had invited the Black nationalist Stokely Carmichael to be the keynote speaker.

Joining him on stage were AIM leaders Russell Banks and Dennis Means. Carmichael’s speech theme could have been entitled “This is the Red Man’s Land,” referring to the Pilgrims and their descendants’ conquest, via genocide, of North

America. As Carmichael critiqued the upcoming Thanksgiving, and in between war whoops and war bonnets, the Native-American audience kept up the titled refrain, adding over and over shouting, “We should have poisoned the Pilgrims instead of bringing them food.” As I looked around at the chanting, dancing, and war whooping attendees, I imagined that I was witnessing individuals from such nations as the Crow, Arikara, Winnego, Ponca, Potawatomi, Ute, Sac, Creek, Chippewa, Pawnee, Arapaho, Cheyenne, Sioux, Kiowa, and many others , including the Seminoles. I knew of these nations because I was studying customary law under the great E. Adamson Hoebel, who authored the renowned scholarly work, The Cheyenne Way. I mentioned the Seminoles last because Native-American history is driven by their relationships with other Indian nations, with the White invading immigrant colonialists, and especially with the African slaves and plantation culture.

The term Seminole means run-away Creeks. As Seminoles migrated into the Florida everglades, they encountered run-a-way African slaves. This “swamp” meeting became a turning point in the development of the cross-cultural group labeled “Black Indians.”

The foremost historian of Black Indians, William Loren Katz observed that “Europeans forcefully entered the African blood stream, but Native Americans and African Americans merged by choice, invitation, and love.” Katz notes that by the 1920s almost a third of Black Americans had Indian blood. In fact, my mother, Maymie Bell Hogue, according to my sister, Deborah D. Hogue, who is a retired librarian and the keeper of our family’s oral history genealogy, was probably a descendant of the Cherokee nation. Most readers know that Alice Walker, in her magnum opus, Temple of My

Familiar, had Suwelo require his daughter, Fanny, to research and read on Black Indians and asked her what she had learned. Fanny answered, “They opened a door inside of me . . . my heart starts to expand with the absolute feeling of bravery, or love or audacity . . .I become a light, and that light enters me . . .I radiate this expanded light.

Happiness.” However, for most Americans celebrating Thanksgiving, the history of Black Indians, as the great Black historian, Carter G. Woodson, explained is “one of the longest unwritten chapters in the history of the United States.”

In the era of the first Thanksgiving, there appeared in the Massachusetts colony a Wampanoag Black Indian named Paul Cuffee.

Cuffee became the first Pan-Africanist when, with his own money and ship, the Traveller, he transported three-dozen American-born Africans back to their homeland in West Africa in the area of presentday Sierra Leone. This attempt to retreat from America, or what the Nation of Islam calls “Babylon,” was a realization that death and destruction would follow the White man as he advanced across this continent. Referring to those advances, Thomas Jefferson said it best when commenting the wars of genocide upon the Native American Indian: “We would never stop pursuing them with war while one remained on the face of the earth.”

Jefferson could have been answering the dilemma posed by another “founding father,” James Madison, who queried, “Next to the case of the black race within our bosom, that of the red on our borders is the problem most baffling in the policy of our country.“ As Indians fought and retreated to fight another day, African slaves also fought slave rebellions and also retreated. Both the Red Man and the Red Woman as with the Black Man and the Black Woman retreated into the bush and formed “Maroon Societies.” The largest were in Brazil,

By Dr, Malik Simba, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, African Studies Program/Department of History, California State University, Fresno but hundreds existed throughout the American South. Maroon societies were warrior societies determined to maintain their freedom.

They recreated Black Indian culture of food, dance, music, and war chant. One such chant went as such: “Black man rejoice, White man won’t come here, And if he does, The Devil will take him off.”

Seminoles, as run-away “bush Negroes,” Maroons accepted Angola/bozal slaves and Indians from such nations as the Alabama, Hitchiti, Yuchii, Muskogee, and many others. As one scholar of this experience noted, “The Indian may have depended upon Africans farmers for their survival.” I think this observation was short-sighted because Indians brought with them to the Maroons cultural survival devices all their own.

A series of wars fought in the 1830s by the American immigrant colonialist invaders sought to destroy these Maroon societies, especially in the Florida territory.

President Trump’s favorite American president, Andrew Jackson, was like Trump, a land speculator and was also a slaveholder and an “Indian killer.” Jackson was the archetypical mid-19th century White American as is number forty-five today. The gender issue exploded and ignited the second Seminole war when slave-catchers, plying their dangerous business near a Maroon society, kidnapped the Black wife of the powerful Seminole leader, Osceola. Some suggest that this love story is mythic history, but it is retentive. However, most historians agree that these wars were agitated for by Ameri(Continued on Page B5)

Hate Crimes Demand More Action

BY MARC H. MORIAL, PRESIDENT AND CEO OF THE NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE.

“If this incident was motivated by hate, which news reports indicate, then this is another incident in a long line of violent incidents targeting the Jewish community.

This hatred is a disease and right now we are experiencing an epidemic. Leaders must lead and call out hate wherever and whenever it rears its ugly head – regardless of politics. This is about principle.” — Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO and National Director, Anti-Defamation League For the third time in just over a year, the nation is reeling in the face of a deadly mass shooting that appears to have been motivated by anti-Semitism.

Earlier this week, a man and woman killed a police detective near a Jersey City cemetery and then stormed a nearby Jewish market, shooting and killing three people there. The two were killed in a subsequent shootout with police.

The suspects have been linked to a religious sect that includes factions designated as anti-Semitic hate groups. In the stolen van they were driving, investigators found a note that contained anti-Semitic and anti-police sentiments. Similar sentiments were found in social media posts linked to the suspects.

TERRIFYING TREND In April of this year, a gunman opened fire in a San Diego synagogue on the last day of Passover, killing a 60-year-old woman and wounding three other people, including a rabbi and an 8-year-old girl.

Shortly before the attack, the gunman posted an anti-Semitic and racist manifesto

on social media, citing conspiracy theories, expressing admiration for the gunmen who perpetrated the anti-Muslim killings at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Six months earlier, in Pittsburgh, 11 people were killed at the Tree of Life Synagogue.

That shooter, too, deeply enmeshed in antiSemitic conspiracy theories on social media.

These acts are part of a horrifying threeyear trend that has coincided with a spike in course and heated racial rhetoric in political discourse.

It is one that demands action on several fronts, including gun policy, moderation of social media terms of service, and a sweeping reexamination of racial and religious intolerance.

Congressional response to the emails has been almost nonexistent.

HIGHER THAN RECORDED Meanwhile, personal attacks motivated by bias or prejudice reached a 16-year high last year, according to the FBI. More than 4,300 attacks on people, motivated by racial or religious hatred, were recorded by the FBI. State and local police forces are not required to report hate crimes to the F.B.I., and as many as half the victims of hate crimes never file a report, so the actual number of hate-fueled assaults is significantly higher than the official record.

LOVE AND PROTECT Lately it seems that the atrocities and outrages of racism and intolerance are falling too fast and too frequently to respond appropriately.

But we must not lose sight of our ideals as Americans – as brothers and sisters and parents and neighbors – to love and protect one another.

Let your elected representatives know that these incidents call for responsible gun reform, holding social media companies accountable for dissemination of hate speech, and a moderation of their public rhetoric.

And join us in our prayers for the victims and their families.

RISE OF VIOLENCE As a child of the Civil Rights Movement and the leader of the nation’s largest racial justice organization, I have witnessed the recent rise of white nationalism with equal parts dismay and a sickening sense of familiarity.

Our nation’s history is sullied with racial and religious intolerance and violence. What has sustained us, as famously expressed by Martin Luther King, Jr., is that “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.

In this particular period of history, the arc seems especially long. Leaked emails recently revealed that one of the president’s closest advisors, Stephen Miller, has cited and promoted white nationalist ideologies and MARC MORIAL IS PRESIDENT AND CEO OF THE conspiracy theories about “White genocide,” NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE. THE POST HATE the criminality of immigrants, and the reviled CRIMES DEMAND MORE ACTION APPEARED eugenics movement.

FIRST ON DAYTONA TIMES.

Page B4

The California Advocate December 26, 2019 - January 3, 2020

California Advocate’s

Saints Rest Baptist Church “TrendsettersGo”

Saints Community Church

SERVICE TIMES Sunday School

9:15 am

Sunday Morning Worship

10:45 am

Wednesday Prayer Meeting Wednesday Bible Study

11:00 am & 7:00 pm.

12:00 pm & 7:00pm

1550 E. Rev. Chester E. Riggins Ave. Fresno p: (559) 237-5551 f: (559)237-0133 • e: office@saintrest.org • w: www.sainttrest.org

Pastor D.J. Criner

Sunday

Sunday School 9:30 a.m.

Evening Worship 6:00 p.m.

Wednesday: Bible Study 6:15 p.m.

3740 Ashlan Ave. Fresno. • p:(559) 222-9819 f: (559) 2227-2954 • e: admin@saintscommunity.org

Dr. B.E. McAlister, Pastor Tina McAliarwe

Rising Star Missionary

St. Matthew BAPTIST CHURCH Reaching the lost and the Upchurch with the preaching of the Word of God.

BAPTIST CHURCH, FRESNO

‘Join us in Embracing God’s Presence, Experiencing God’s Power, and Equipping to fulfill God’s Purpose’

SERVICE, MEETING AND TIMES Saturday Sunday

Choir, usher and mission meeting Call for times and events

SERVICE TIMES

9:00 am Sunday School 10:00 am Church service Tuesday 6:00 pm Men meeting Wednesday 5:30pm Night bible study

Contact: Reverend Lawrence Chisom (559) 250-3116

Deacon Winroe

(559) 284-9828

1808 S. Crystal Ave. Fresno

Deacon Brewer

(559) 377-3252

Mrs. Gerry Chisom (559) 430-9539

West Fresno Christian Center

Sunday Morning Prayer Sunday Morning Bible Study Sunday Morning Worship Tuesday Prayer & Bible Study

Pastor B. T. Lewis II & Lady Latisha Lewis

Bethel Church of Christ (Holiness) USA

“An old church, with a new beginning”

Sunday School 9:30AM Sunday Worship 11:00AM Tuesday Bible Study 7:00PM Friday Night Prayer 6:00PM

SERVICE TIMES

Sunday Sunday School Sunday Morning Worship Thursday Bible Study

Email: jeparkssr@gmail.com

Phone: (559) 233-3273 Fax: (559) 455-0746 2120 S. Thorne Avenue, Fresno, CA 93706

New Beginnings Community BAPTIST CHURCH MEETING AT

e: bethelchurch2119@att.net

Westside Church of God

“All age groups are encouraged to attend. Youth and children’s classes are available

“Gather. Grow. Go.” Fresno Pacific University

1717 S. Chestnut Ave. Fresno • www.nbcbc.org • (559) 369-3538

SERVICE TIMES

Sunday SundayWorship 9:00 am Tuesday F.A.T. Bible Studies Dinner 5:45 pm 1424 W. California Ave., Fresno

Dr. Paul Lawrence Binion II

p:(559) 237-1444 • e: officewscog@yahoo,cim

Bethesda Churches

Everlasting Love Ministries

LOCATIONS, ADDRESSES AND SERVICE TIMES

“We love you where you are to where God wants to take you”

SOUTHEAST

SUNDAY 10:00am Children’s Activities Available 407 S Clovis Ave., Fresno (Clovis & Huntington)

CENTRAL

SUNDAY 8:15am, 11:00am, 6:00pm Children’s Activities each service 11:00am Youth Activities 3723 E Dakota Ave., Fresno (Dakota & Millbrook)

RIVERPARK

SUNDAY 10:00am Children’s Activities Available 81 E Pinedale., Fresno (Pinedale & Blackstone)

SERVICE TIMES

Sunday Morning 10:30am Wednesday 6:30pm Bible Study Rev. Dr. Angulus Wilson D. Pastor Wilson, Malcolm Sr. Pastor C.

and Lady Audrey Scott

2503 W. Shaw Ave #103., Fresno • (559) 283-8992 everlastinglove.ministries7@yahoo.com

ANEW Pearly Grove

Pastor Tobias Brookins

p: (559) 225-1672 e:frontdesk@thebethesdachurches.com

Power House Institutional COGIC Much Prayer Much Power No Prayer No Power

BAPTIST CHURCH Sunday Morning 9:00 am Sunday Morning Service at 10:00 am Wednesday Prayer & Bible Study at 6:00 pm Pastor Charles

Rev. Dr. Dickersen Name goes here Sr. Pastor

1927 S Van Ness Ave Fresno, California, CA 93721 (559) 266-1420

Fellowship Missionary

BAPTIST CHURCH

“Reaching the Unsaved uncharted for Christ”

Pastor Richard L. Daniels

SERVICE TIMES Sunday

Breakfast 8:00 am Sunday School 9:30am Worship 10:45 am Children’s Church 10:45 am Nursery 10:30 am Saturday Bread of Life Panty 2nd & 4th Saturday FREE Clothes Closet 2nd & 4th Wednesday 12:00 pm and 6:30 pm

2529 E. Belmont Ave. • Fresno • (559) 441-1661 elloshipmbc@sbcglobal.net • Office hours 9:00am-2:00pm

9:30 am 11:00 am 6:30 pm

2119 S. Eunice. Fresno • p: (559) 266-3483

Pastor Darell Jones and Lady Schyienell Jones

Sunday Morning Life Groups at 9:00 am Sunday Morning Service at 10:00 am Wednesday Corporate Prayer & Bible Study at 6:00 pm Super Saturday (1rst Saturday)at 10:00 am Rev. Dr. Angulus Wilson D. Wilson, Sr. Pastor

8:30am 9:00am 10:30am 6:30pm

1104 Collins Ave. - (559) 442-190 e:risingstarfresno@hotmail.com web:risingstarfresno.org

“I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, which mad heaven and earth.”

Psalm 121:1-2

Pastor James E. Parks and Lady Gwendolyn Parks

SERVICES

Morning Worship 8:00 a.m.. & 10:30 a.m.

SCHEDULE

Sunday School 9:00AM Reg. Service 10:30 AM Wednesday Choir Rehersal 5:30 PM Bible Study 6:30 PM Pastor Duane McAlister & 1st Lady Beverly McAlister

1615 :N” Street P.O. Box 11398 Fresno , CA 93773

First Union Missionary David J. Keener, Sr. Pastor First Lady

Nichole Keener Princess

Payton Keener

BAPTIST CHURCH

SERVICE TIMES

Discipleship ClassesSunday 9:30 AM Morning Worship Service -Sunday 11:00 AM

Mid Week Manna-Wednesday 6:00 PM

2304 E Street Fresno, CA 93706

Black News Channel In ‘The Red Zone’ Ready for Launch

Page B5

The California Advocate December 26, 2019 - January December 3, 2020 26, 2019- January 3, 2020 The California Advocate

BY STACY M. BROWN, NNPA NEWSWIRE SENIOR CORRESPONDENT @STACYBROWNMEDIA

As the historic launch on January 6, 2020, of the Black News Channel (BNC) approaches, officials can count members of Congress among those eagerly anticipating the new platform.

Congresswoman Karen Bass (D-Calif.), the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus and Congresswoman Yvette Clarke, the chair of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, joined a gathering of BNC officials, anchors, and other guests at a reception on December 3 in Washington, D.C., to toast the launch of the network.

“This has been long in the making,” said BNC’s Vice President of Community Affairs and former Tallahassee, Florida Mayor John Marks.

“When you see what we’ve done and what we’re going to do, it will knock your socks off,” Marks stated.

Bass called the fledgling channel a necessity for African Americans and others who seek a different perspective than what’s available through other news outlets.

“Right now, we have a lot of opinion in the news,” Bass stated.

“There are 54 members of the Congressional Black Caucus who want to be a part

of this because you don’t see us, and you don’t hear about us [through mainstream news],” she said.

With a partnership with the National Newspaper Publishers Association’s Black-owned newspapers and media companies, the BNC expects to fast become the top destination for all who want to consume African American news in print, on television and mobile devices.

An independent network that’s minority-owned and operated, BNC will be the nation’s only provider of 24/7 news programming dedicated to covering the unique perspective of African American communities.

The channel is the endeavor of the network’s visionaries and co-founders, Chairman J.C. Watts, Jr. and CEO Bob Brillante.

“I remember going to West Africa with a bipartisan delegation that included Democrat William Jefferson,” said Watts, the former Republican congressman out of Oklahoma.

“We saw the little huts and where they kept African people at the door of no return to never see Africa again. But we also saw clinics, doctors, the building of hospitals, lawyers, and others.

“And [Jefferson] went home and told his 90-yearold granddad that we saw doctors and lawyers and the building of hospitals.

And, his 90-year-old granddad said, ‘I knew there was more.’

“That is the mission of the Black News Channel.

There’s more to the African American community than what we see,” Watts stated.

During the December 3 reception, Watts participated in a fireside chat with Clarke and Waldo McMillan, the vice president of Legislative Affairs at Charter Communications.

“We don’t have as many opportunities to view ourselves and to have our narratives authentically portrayed through those who have similar experiences,” Clarke stated during the engaging chat before nearly 200 guests.

“What’s significant about the BNC is that it will be a reflection of people of African descent. In my district, I have people from around the world, the [African] continent, the Caribbean, South and Central America.

“They’re all seeking knowledge and a viewpoint and lens that speak from their experience. So, I’m excited about this,” Clarke stated.

Watts noted that the BNC would be culturally specific.

“Rarely do you hear anyone on any network today talking about Sickle Cell Disease, which is a disease that primarily impacts African Americans,” Watts stated.

“And, when we talk about

BNC Chairman JC Watts (PHOTO: CHERYL BROWNLEE)

being culturally specific, we just had Thanksgiving.

By and large, when we’re talking about Thanksgiving dinner, African Americans are talking about cornbread dressing and sweet potato pie.

“By and large, white people talk about stuffing and pumpkin pie. That doesn’t mean we can’t interchange those dishes, but culturally specific to us would be sweet potato pie and cornbread dressing. We have different cultures, different meals.

“But, it’s a lot of things like that we never hear or see in mainstream media when it comes to African American culture.”

Watts also said it was important to acknowledge Charter Communications’ role in the launch of the BNC. “If someone thinks you can do this without distribution, it’s a pipedream. Charter came along and bought into our vision and under-

“CUSTER DIED FOR YOUR SINS” (CONTINUED FROM PAGE B3) can slaveholders attempting to destroy these Maroons and reacquire their run-away property. Hollywood, in 1951 and 1953, made two movies on the Seminole wars starring Gary Cooper and Rock Hudson. Both films chronicled the repeated efforts and defeats of the U.S. Army versus the Seminoles over a seven-year period. The first movie was entitled, Seminole while the second was Distant Drums. In 1837 General Jesup observed that “All is lost and principally by the influence of the negroes . . .the two races are identified in interests and feeling” and “should the Indians remain in this territory, the negroes among them will form a rallying

point for runaway negroes from the adjacent states.” Jesup’s quote confirms why Jackson, the titular leader of the planter class, spent so much of his White House years fighting, defeating, and signing peace treaties with the Black Indians.

These peace treaties and Jackson’s 1830s Indian Removal to Oklahoma Territory in the dead of winter created the infamous “trail of tears.” The Black Seminoles or “estelusti” reveal the complexity of Black versus Indian relations.

Within the “Five Civilized Tribes,” the Cherokees characterized their being “civilized” by owning Black slaves and cultivating cotton on plantations. Thus, for Jackson,

Page B5

the removal was, in part, to open Cherokee lands for White cotton planters. The Cherokees sued and the case of Worcester v. Georgia (1833), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in their favor with Chief Justice John Marshall speaking of the Cherokee with these oxymoronic words, they: “are domestic dependent nations.” Like the current president, Jackson said he would ignore that co-equal branch of our government. Jackson’s infamous words were “Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it.”

By the first decade of the 20th century, Indian Territory of Oklahoma became a killing field when oil was discovered on “the Red man’s land.” The famous white female historian Angie Debo chronicled the killings of Indians for their land. Dr. Debo named names of the prominent early Oklahoma “pioneers” of the state who committed micro-genocide to attain their landed wealth. Thus, Debo’s books were banned in all Oklahoma libraries for decades. Hollywood again made a celluloid version of these events in its 1959 film, The F.B.I. Story, starring James Stewart.

Of course, California history is replete with episodes of genocide.

Yes, genocide was an added feature of “Indian removal.” The infamous Colonel John Chivington said, “I have come to kill Indians, and I believe it is right and honorable to use any means under God’s heaven to kill Indians. . . kill and scalp all, big and little; nits make lice. . . .” In one particular year, during the 1850s and 1860s, the California State treasury paid out one million dollars in rewards for

stood where we were going,” Watts stated.

“They could have seen it as risky, and I suspect that someone sitting at the table said, ‘I’m not so sure,’ but they did it, and it made us real. Things have fallen into place. We have over 60 people employed in Tallahassee, and we have bureaus in New York, Atlanta, Washington, and other areas.”

Watts, who was a star quarterback in college and the Canadian Football League, then used a football analogy to describe where things currently stand with the BNC. “We’re in the Red Zone,” he stated. “We’re about to raise our hands [signaling a touchdown] on January 6, and I would not be sitting here with Congresswoman Clarke, had it not been for Charter Communications saying, ‘We believe in the Black News Channel vision.’

scalps of Modoc, Yahi, and other Californian Indians. Ishi, the last surviving Yahi, was fortunate in that UC Berkeley only studied him as a specimen. California Indian killers would have made Thomas Jefferson proud. Referencing this genocide, keynote speaker Stokely Carmichael asked his audience a fundamental question: “When was the last time you saw a bunch of Indians?” Even though Thomas Jefferson was referring to the Black Man within the bosom of the new nation, his observation on their horrific treatment could have been applied to the elimination of the Red Man. Jefferson said, “Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just.”

As Americans celebrate Thanksgiving-or is it N.F.L football on that same day, the history of Native Americans and their relationships with African slaves or Black Seminoles should not be forgotten, even as the litigation on Indian identity and tribal membership is contested today concerning “allotments, enrollment” and “blood quantum.”

This litigation attempts to define in modern law who is really an “Indian” and reveals the historical saga of America and its multiracialized nations (Red, Black, Brown, Yellow and White etc.). It also attempts to find reconciliation in a complex history of Black and Native American Indians who have had, at times, an inspirational, dialectical relationship. Last, even as the present-day Seminole leader, Kenneth Chambers said, “There is no black Seminoles,” it proves the old axion that all history of the past is dictated or defined by present day realities and interests.

The California Advocate

W.C.B.P.A. (West Coast Black Publishers The African American Newspaper of CentralAssociation) California N.N.P.A (National Newspaper Publisher’s Association) Mark Kimber Doris Ellenwood Lesly H. Kimber Pauline Kimber Taylor KImber Ken McCoy Marty Solis Whitney McPherson

1555 E Street • Fresno, CA 93706 • Publisher www.caladvocate.com •Vice President (559) 268-0941 • Founder Fax: (559) 268-0943 • Founder Email news stories to: • Communications Newsroom@caladvocate.com • Photo Journalist For Ad inquiries email to: • Photo Journalist Ads@caladvocate.com •Office Management

Page B6

The California Advocate December 26, 2019 - January 3, 2020

Private, online therapy Family of Black Doctors...

(Continued from page A6) Noble said.

It’s also more common for people in minority communities to experience mental illness as physical symptoms. Depression can show up as headaches, for example, or anxiety as gastrointestinal issues.

Studies evaluating screening tools used with low-income, African American mothers found they don’t catch as many women as they should. Researchers recommend lower cutoff scores for certain African American women in order to better identify women who needs help but may not be scoring high enough to trigger a follow-up under current guidelines.

Noticing that gap, the Maternity Care Coalition in Philadelphia tried something new.

In 2018, the nonprofit started a pilot program that pairs mothers with Drexel University graduate students training to be marriage and family counselors. The student counselors visit the women an hour a week and provide free in-home counseling for as many weeks as the women need. Last year, the program served 30 clients. This year, the organization plans to expand the program to multiple counties in the region and hire professional therapists.

It was a game changer for Stephanie Lee, a 39-year-old who had postpartum depression after the birth of her second child in 2017.

“It was so rough, like I was a mess, I was crying,” Lee said. “I just felt like nobody understood me.”

She felt shame asking for help and thought it made her look weak. Lee’s mother had already helped her raise her older son when Lee was a teenager, and many members of her family had raised multiple kids close in age.

“The black community don’t know postpartum,” Lee said.

“There’s this expectation on us as women of color that we have to be … superhero strong, that we’re not allowed to be vulnerable.”

But with in-home therapy, no one had to know Lee was seeking treatment.

The counselors helped Lee get back to work and learn how to make time for herself — even just a few minutes in the morning to say a prayer or do some positive affirmations.

“If this is the only time I have,” Lee said, “from the time I get the shower, the time to do my hair, quiet time to myself — use it. Just use it.”

BRINGING TREATMENT HOME It took Smith six months after daughter Nelly’s birth to work up the courage to see a doctor about her postpartum depression.

Even then, she encountered the typical barriers faced by new mothers: Therapy is expensive, wait times are long, and coordinating transportation and child care can be difficult, especially for someone struggling with depression.

But Smith was determined. She visited two different clinics until she found a good fit. After several months of therapy and medication, she began feeling better. Today, Smith and her three daughters go to weekly $5 movies and do their makeup together before big outings.

Other mothers never receive care. A recent study from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia found that only 1 in 10 women who screened positive for postpartum depression at the hospital’s urban medical practice sites sought any treatment within the following six months. A study examining three years’ worth of New Jersey Medicaid claims found white women THIS STORY WAS REPORTED AS A were nearly twice as likely to re- PARTNERSHIP THAT INCLUDES THE ceive treatment as were women of PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, WHYY, NPR AND KAISER HEALTH NEWS. color.

The Advocate is now accepting obituaries.

For more information call (559) 268-0941

(Continued from page A2) Medical Center.

Dr. Oye completed his fellowship training in advanced vascular and endovascular surgery at the Arizona Heart Institute in Phoenix, Arizona.

Perhaps, most impressive is that each of Dr. Oye’s four children followed in their father’s footsteps.

David, Monique, Michelle, and Melissa Oye, each said they were inspired by their father and all have become doctors.

“Our dad, Dr. Herbert Oye, is a Nigerian immigrant. Upon moving to the United States, he attended medical school and has worked tirelessly to build his own Vascular Surgery practice,” the young physicians wrote in a statement on Facebook.

“Dad has since opened a hospital back in Nigeria and splits his time between the United States and Nigeria. We are all currently in the medical field as a second, third,

and fourth year medical student and a first year Internal Medicine Resident.”

Each are attending or have attended the West Virginia School of Medicine. Monique, the eldest of the family, graduated in 2018.

Michelle is in her fourth year, while Melissa is in her third year.

David, the only son of Dr. Oye, is in his second year.

Their success has social media buzzing.

“Sending congratulations to your amazing family of wonderful world citizens,” Kathryn Stollmeyer Wright, wrote on Facebook.

Another Facebook user, Patricia Combs, wrote: “Well done.

Congratulations for excellence in your drive, motivation, and ability to accomplish such great and momentous feat. You all are wonderful and blessed,” Combs stated.

Serena Williams Builds Schools (Continued from page A2) Venture, where the tennis champion seeks to boost the bottom line of individual companies.

“In 2014, I launched Serena Ventures with the mission of giving opportunities to founders across an array of industries. Serena Ventures invests in companies that embrace diverse leadership, individual empowerment, creativity, and opportunity,” Williams said in a statement posted on her organization’s website.

“Serena Ventures focuses on early-stage companies and allowing them to be heard. As we grow, we hope to mentor young founders and take burgeoning entrepreneurs to the next level,” she stated.

“Serena Ventures extends relationships, encourages collaboration among portfolio companies, and expands partnership opportunities across my vast network. Similar to many of the companies we have invested in, we are just getting started and are hoping to make a difference.”

Also, according to Charity Buzz, the Serena Williams Fund was established to promote equity; through education, gender, race, disability, or anything else that stands in the way of someone achieving their goals and living their best possible life.

“The mission of this charity is to

help the individuals or communities affected by to violence, and [to ensure] equal access to education,” Williams stated.

Knowing the value of creating strong partnerships with organizations with expertise in their fields, Williams counts as a Unicef Goodwill Ambassador. She has partnered with organizations such as Beyond the Boroughs Scholarship Fund, The Equal Justice Initiative, The Caliber Foundation, and Build Africa Schools.

Jessica Curney of Borgen Magazine reported that before each of her matches, Williams reads and writes affirmations out loud from her diary about wanting to help people, kids, and work in Africa.

“Through the Serena Williams Fund, Williams dedicates her offseason time improving access to education by building schools in underprivileged areas of the world,” Gurney reported.

“She has done extraordinary tasks using her own resources and through partnerships with the Serena Williams Fund and other foundations dedicated to providing and improving education for those in difficult conditions or developing countries.

Her active role has notably left a mark on those who have had their lives changed significantly through this act of kindness.”

Seminary to Pay Reparations

Call (559) 268-0941

(Continued from page A2) -ceived funds from donors who directly profited from slavery, and the founding fathers of the academy used slave labor.

Faculty leaders also once advocated for sending free Black people to Liberia.

“The Seminary’s ties to slavery are a part of our story,” Barnes stated. “It is important to acknowledge that our founders were entangled with slavery and could not envision a fully integrated society. We did not want to shy away from the uncomfortable part of our history and the difficult conversations that revealing the truth would produce.”

The Princeton Theological Seminary was the first Seminary founded by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in 1812. The establishment of The Theological Seminary at Princeton marked a turning point in American theological education, according to historians at the school.

The College of New Jersey, later known as Princeton University, was supportive of this plan, historians stated.

With fewer than a dozen students, in 1812, Archibald Alexander was the first— and for one year the only — professor at the Seminary. He was joined the following year by a second professor, Samuel Miller, who came to Princeton from the ministry of the Wall Street Church in New York.

John White, the dean of students and vice president of student relations, said in a statement that the reparations decision came after a lengthy historical audit and the formation of a task force to investigate the Seminary’s past.

“This is the beginning of the process of repair that will be ongoing,” White stated.

White served as chair of the task force, which included trustees, faculty, administrators, students, and alumni.

He noted that they took part in a deliberative process to provide opportunities for the campus community to discuss and respond to the audit report.

Black Santa Black Mothers Get Less at Christmas Treatment For Postpartum

Page B7

The California Advocate December 26, 2019 - January December 3, 2020 26, 2019- January 3, 2020 The California Advocate

(Continued from page A5) some events rely on volunteers to put on the red suit.

Melvin Rhoden Jr., a 44-year-old logistics manager in Queen Creek, Arizona, dressed as Santa for the first time this year at a fundraising event for a local boys’ empowerment organization. At first, the father of three said, he wasn’t sure how to play Santa.

“You have to get used to being dressed as Santa,” Rhoden said. “The kids are like, ‘Santa, Santa, Santa!’ But the adults’ joy -- that part right there brought the joy to me.”

He noticed that people weren’t asking for just a photo or two of Santa with their child, but parents and teenagers were piling in, too, excited for their first photo with Santa.

Rhoden said he became aware of Walker’s Black Santa Directory after a visitor told him he had driven from Las Vegas, about five hours away.

“From that Facebook page I have gotten some tips on how I can make myself better with regards to my outfit,” Rhoden said. “They gave me pointers on how to be next year.”

‘BLACK SANTA IS SANTA’ Walker said she has been unable to find public events featuring a black Santa in 10 states, including New Hampshire, Maine and Alaska, but that she sees progress in the roughly 300 events she’s counted on Black Santa Directory this year alone.

“There are way more Santas than I ever could have imagined,” Walker said.

She encourages families, regardless of race, to visit with black, Asian and Latino Santas, among others.

“Black Santa is Santa,” Walker said.

(Continued from page A6) what life is throwing at you, and your usual coping mechanisms are not working, you may benefit from having a therapist to help you identify and remove obstacles that are blocking the progress you’d like to make. An obstacle could be as simple as a negative thinking pattern that you do not recognize on your own.

What are signs that a person may need therapy?

SW: You could benefit from therapy if you find yourself: • Eating more or less than usual • Sleeping more or less than usual • Having unusual difficulty concentrating or focusing • Experiencing intrusive thoughts that are distressing • Worrying or feeling nervous more than usual • Withdrawing or isolating yourself from family and friends Are there any specific conditions or needs that someone would have that would make them a good candidate for online therapy over in-house therapy?

SW: People who suffer from mental health disorders that make going out in public difficult, such as agoraphobia

• People with limited physical mobility and those who do not drive or who have limited access to transportation • People who live far away from their nearest mental health professionals • Stay-at-home mothers with young children who would rather not arrange childcare and other caregivers who cannot be away for long periods of time • People who need/want a provider who is credentialed in a specialty, such as an intensive trauma-focused treatment, energy psychology, or perinatal/ postpartum mental health • People who would not seek in-person treatment due to fear of being recognized at/near a therapist’s office What are the pros of online therapy?

SW: Convenience, Efficacy, and Privacy. Research has found online therapy to be just as effective as traditional inperson therapy for many issues including depression and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

What are the cons?

SW: Online therapy is not appropriate for clients who are a danger to themselves or others (i.e., suicidal or homicidal) or for those whose mental health is seriously impaired as with psychosis, delusions, or uncon-

Page B7

trolled mania. Some elements of nonverbal communication will be missed when the client and therapist can only see each other from the cropped view of a screen. Confidentiality could become an issue if the therapist is not using HIPAA-secure software, sites, or apps or if clients are not careful with securing their own electronic devices.

Some insurance companies do not cover online therapy.

Williams admonishes anyone considering online video therapy to do additional research to make sure their potential therapist is qualified and licensed to provide the service they are seeking.

Online resources can be found at: https://thechrysalisctr.com PsychologyToday.com BetterHelp.com talkspace.com breakthrough.com

Subscribe to the Advocate and stay informed with your community.

Page B8

The California Advocate December 26, 2019 - January 3, 2020