L.A Focus On The Word December 2016

VOLUME >>

XXII

•

ISSUE

W W W. L A F O C U S N E W S PA P E R . C O M

12•

DECEMBER

L.A. FOCUS

L A F O C U S N E W S PA P E R

PAGE 22

CHURCH NEWS: Blake Re-Elected Presiding Bishop PAGE 15

ENTERTAINMENT: Halle Berry Turns Entrepeneur At 50 PAGE 20

SEE PAGE 10

SAVING GRACE Landing the lead in the Lifetime movie Surviving Compton: Dre, >> Suge and Michel’le wasn’t something that Rhyon Nicole Brown thought was in the cards for her. Upon getting the script, Brown felt that being able to replicate the infamous high-pitched voice of Michel’le would be a challenge that casting wouldn’t be able to overlook...

THROUGH THE STORM: Star Parker From Addict To Activist

2016

PAGE

30

<<

contents

L.A. Focus Publication

December 2016

Left: Inglewood Mayor James Butts joins Snoop Dogg at the rapper’s 3rd annual turkey giveway at the Fabulous Forum; Middle: CNN Contributor and Special Needs Network founder Areva Martin receives L’Oreal’s Women of Worth Award; Diana Ross Receives Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama. Others receiving medals included Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Michael Jordan, Robert Redford, Tom Hanks, Cecily Tyson, Ellen DeGeneres and Robert DeNiro.

Commentary The Black Church Must Speak Truth to Trump’s

5 From The Editor Power

Upfront

7 Head to Head 8 Headlines From Africa 9 Upfront Extra Feature Story 10 Money Matters 13 Biz News Briefs

As Enrollment Rises, Obamacare Hangs In The Balance of A Trump Presidency;Community Agencies Spread Holiday Cheer to Needy

Ready Or Not, Here Trump Comes

Implementing California’s Controversial Propositions Could be Game Changing

Bridging The Great Trump Divide

Hollywood Wage Gap Persists for Black Actors

Radio One Inc. Changes Its Name; Mixed Chicks Launches New Line; Spike Lee Sued

On The Money Tyler Perry’s Midas Touch

15

Inside Hollywood

Halle Berry Celebrates 50 With Launch of Lingerie Line; Forest Whitaker Joins Johnny Depp

staff

Publisher/Editor-In-Chief Editorial Coordinator

Lisa Collins Antracia Moorings

One On One Octavia Spencer

Photographer Advertising Editorial Assistant

Dawn Strozier, Ashley Reynolds, Emma Gannon Ian Foxx, Rickey Brown Kisha Smith Leatha Davis Jinoye Henry

L.A. Focus–On the Word, is published monthly.

Address all correspondence to: L.A. Focus, 333 W. Florence Ave., Suite C333 Inglewood, CA 90301 • (310) 677-6011 Fax: (310) 677-2338 Subscription rates $25.00 per year.

Copyright, January 1995 by L.A. Focus :uscripts/photographs are not accepted, nor shall any responsibility for them be assumed.

Sweetie Pie

16 Calendar/Around LA Red Carpet Style Behind The Beauty 18 Eye On Gospel Saving Grace 19 30 20Through The Storm Church News 22 First Lady Files 23 Pastor Profile 24 From The Pulpit 25 With Drini Marie

Soul Train Awards

Tamela Mann: One Way To The Top; Kenny Lattimore Releases Christmas Album

Star Parker: From Addict to Activist

Blake Re-Elected Presiding Bishop; Thompson Appointed to Civilian Oversight Commission; Broadous To Be Installed at Calvary Pacoima

Robin Aaron—Renewed Mind Ministry

With Nichol Goff

Rhyon Nicole Brown

Grammy winning gospel sensation Anthony Brown will be in Los Angeles to help usher in the New Year at Faithful Central’s Annual Praise Party on December 31.

Pastor John Cager—Ward AME Church

Pastor Anthony Thompson - Uplift Christian Fellowship

advisory board Napoleon Brandford Pastor Beverly

Contributors

27 Finding Your Pretty 28 In Good Taste

Crawford Marc T. Little

Siebert, Brandford, Shank & Co. Bible Enrichment Fellowship International Church Law Offices of Marc T. Little

honorary advisors Bishop Charles Blake Bishop Noel Jones Paradise Baptist Church Dr. Aaron D. Iverson Southern MBC Rev. Xavier L. Thompson F. A.M.E. Church Dr. Cecil Murray Faithful Central Bible Church Bishop Kenneth C. Ulmer Mt. Moriah Baptist Church Rev. Melvin Wade Mt. Zion MBC Rev. E.V. Hill II West Angeles C.O.G.I.C.

City of Refuge

Cover Design: Ups

cale Media Gro up

Commentary

Mark Whitlock Guest Columnist

“The Black Church Must Speak Truth to Trump’s Power” hite evangelical church leaders outperformed the Black Church in speaking truth to power to motivate church members to campaign, fundraise, and vote. On Election Day, exit polls indicated that 81 percent of white evangelicals voted for Trump. Yet, many Blacks elected not to vote. The President Elect owes nothing to the Black church or the Black community. (The president elect at the date of this writing, had not appointed any Blacks). This is a great opportunity for the Black Church to speak truth to Trump’s power.

The term, “speaking truth to power” is often said by Black preachers to describe taking a political stance and speaking out against political oligarchies, oppressive systems of government, poorly-designed public policies and racist politicians. Black communities expect to see Black clergy prominently featured on nightly national and local news, headline newspaper articles, distributing yard signs and standing for social justice. Yet, this was rarely seen in the 2016 election.

The truth is Black Church leadership was conspicuously absent.

Rev. John Cager, pastor of Ward AME Church said, “There is no monolithic Black Church.” Like society, Black churches vary along the spectrum from liberal to conservative. Most Black churches are filled with Republicans, Democrats, liberals, conservatives, straight, gay, and mostly older people. Young people are spiritual, but not religious. Millennials in general don’t belong to a church. The Black Church my mother grew up in does not exist.

Historically, the Black Church was the bedrock of the social justice movement. It was made up of the voices of Nate Turner, Richard Allen, and Martin L. King, and the courage of Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth and Fannie Lou Hammer. The African Methodist Episcopal (AME), African Methodist Episcopal Zion (AMEZ), Christian Methodist Episcopal (CME), Progressive Baptist, and Church of God in Christ (COGIC) churches were sacred Black churches to meet, organize, and decide on political agendas. The Black Church was the moral and social institution of America.

Leslie D. Callahan, writes in The Black Church in Trump’s America: Refuge and Resistance, “If Christians en masse could validate that guy in 2016, then the bankruptcy of the American church as a moral and social institution has been determined.”

W

From the Editor

Many Black churches have abandoned social justice and the members don’t seem to care. The Black Church is divided about how Islamophobia, gun control, homophobia; and sexism has been operationalized. We are still picking and choosing leaders based on the practice of land. Frederick Douglas says, “We must demonstrate and elucidate the difference between the Christianity of this land and the Christianity of Christ.” Trump and Clinton were slinging hate like crack in the eighties. This was not the first presidential election filled with hate and racial rants.

Racism within U.S. institutions, law and culture is no different today than going back to the 17th century, but in the 20th century, the deliberate racially-coded language began in 1968 by the Richard Nixon campaign. Nixon ran on "law and order," getting "welfare bums" off welfare and opposition to busing. In 1977, Jimmy Carter used busing and ethnic purity to desegregate schools. In 1989, we witnessed George H. Bush's outrageous linkage of politician Michael Dukakis to racially-based incidents and policy. In 1992, Bill Clinton’s bid for president included publicly criticizing Sister Souljah, social justice rapper of racism and anti-police statements. Presidential politics uses the practice of land to elect men who call themselves Christians. The Black Church cannot afford to practice Christianity of land, but must practice the Christianity of Christ.

The Black Church must practice love and hope. The Sunday after the presidential election Christ Our Redeemer AME Church was filled to capacity. We had tens of white visitors looking for love and hope. Love is the high esteem which God has for all people and the high regard which they, in turn, should have for God and other people.

The Black Church must resolve to love Muslims, Mexicans, women, gays, atheists and millennials. Hope does not rise from the individual's desires or wishes, but from God. Hope is the confident expectation that the Black Church will teach on voter education, new methods of civic engagement (much like Black Lives Matter), how lobby representatives can eliminate the Electoral Colleges, and learn to speak truth to Trump’s power through social media.

Mark Whitlock is senior pastor of the Irvine-based Church Our Redeemer AME and Executive Director of the USC Cecil Murray Center for Community Engagement.

LISA COLLINS Publisher

Post-Election Afterthoughts

F

We should instead use the power of our vote to support and elect whichever party that best serves our interests. I am convinced that this is what Congressman William Clay of Missouri had in mind when the CBC was formed in 1971. Congressman Clay, who I had the honor of knowing, was bold, astute and showed amazing insight when he declared, and I quote, “Black people have no permanent friends, no permanent enemies, just permanent interests.”

After writing that letter, Johnson met with the President-Elect Trump and joined a growing chorus of personalities—including Oprah— urging that we give him a chance.

In many respects, I agree with Trump when he asked black Americans ‘what do we have to lose?”

In this month’s cover story which examines the racial divide that appears to have been unearthed in this election, remind us of just how far we’ve come…just how much we’ve accomplished.

No matter who is president, our destinies remain our choice. And with every adversity comes opportunity.

In the words of one of my favorite quotes from the famed actress, Ethel Waters, “Ourgreatest eloquence, the pith of the joy and sorrow in our unbreakable hearts, comeswhen we lift up our faces and talk to God, person to person. Ours is the truest dignity of man, the dignity of the undefeated.”

And now—in the midst of what is another holiday season—I congratulate Bishop Blake on his re-election as Presiding Bishop and encourage you to read the inspiring stories of Star Parker (page 21) and Rhyon Nicole Brown (page 30). L.A. Focus is expanding its beauty section and has welcomed two columnists, Drini Marie and Nichol Goff (page 28), so be sure to check them out.

Finally, have a wonderful and safe holiday season, never forgetting the reason for the season.

Keep the faith.

L.A. Focus/December 2016

ollowing the shocking results of last month’s election, BET founder Bob Johnson penned an open letter to Black America. In it, he offered some profound and thoughtful observations on how blacks should move forward. Words, I felt, bear repeating for those who did not read them. So here is some of what he had to say: How should Black American voters respond to the tectonic political rift and the stress of a permanently divided nation that the election of Donald J. Trump have laid bare? This national and irrational divisiveness, if left unanswered, could render African-Americans a declining voice in the increasingly zero-sum game of the electoral process that is today’s American political system and I fear that of the future.

In my opinion, for far too long, African-Americans have failed to draw upon and exercise our historically unified voting clout and bloc to become “the balance of power” between the two parties before deciding to support or oppose either party based solely on our unique and special interests.

The times demand that we take the necessary and urgent steps to address this reality. Here are my thoughts as to how African-American voters should proceed: Based on the outcome of this election, if we feel a need to protest and raise our voices to draw attention to both our fears and concerns, we should do so. However, as the leaders of the civil rights movement did, so effectively, we should protest with peaceful confrontation and in full recognition that the greatest strength of this country is the peaceful transfer of power and governance based on free and open elections.

This governance is regulated by the checks and balances and the separation of powers enshrined by the rule of law of the U.S. Constitution. Most importantly, as a minority population, we want the assurances that a peaceful transfer of power will be sustained when the President or political party that we support comes to power.

We are required to challenge and to demand that all candidates or parties in pursuit of our vote, whether they are Republican, Democrat or Independent, explain in comprehensive terms what they propose to do for us to make our lives better.

Remember, the most precious and powerful asset we possess in this democracy is the right to vote in favor of or against those who seek to govern us. Let us not give away that right; let us make them earn our vote!

Finally, and this is most critical, it is time for Black American voters to return to a political ideology and an engagement strategy with the two-party system that was proposed to us almost 45 years ago at the founding of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC). Why shouldn’t we, as Black voters, reject the notion that we are locked into one party which undoubtedly limits and dilutes our voting power?

5

Davis Elen Advertising • City of Refuge• Refuel • Baptist Ministers Conference • IMMS • Southern MBC • Allied IM • Greater Zion Church Family • Dakota Communications • Mt. Moriah Baptist Church • California Black Media • FAME Corporation • LaGrant Communications • First AME • Bridgestreet • Christ Second Baptist Church • LAPD • Harvest International • California Endowment • Bible Enrichment Fellowship International • Covered California • One Church LA • County Supervisor Mark Ridley Thomas • Mt. Zion MBC • Children’s Defense Fund • Crenshaw Christian Center • Brand New Day HMO • Holman UMC • 1 Plus One Management, Inc • Mt. Sinai Baptist Church • People’s Independent Church of Christ • Toyota • New Mt. Pleasant MBC • Metro • Weller Street Baptist Church • Siebert Brandford Shank • Resurrection Church LA • State Farm • Peace Apostolic • Vermont Slauson Economic Development Corp • Paradise Baptist Church • Uncle Darrow’s • Antioch Church of Long Beach • Union Bank • Jacobs’s Ladder • RCA Inspirational • Unity Christian Fellowship • Motown Gospel • West Angeles COGIC • NHS • DIvine Deliverance Ministries • NID • Praises of Zion • Pasadena Playhouse • Love &

Happy holidays from our family to yours!

Many thanks for your continued support —the staff at L.A. Focus Unity • Cerritos Center for Performing Arts • Atherton Baptist Church • Center Theater Group • Mt. Tabor MBC • Bishop T.D. Jakes Ministries • NNPA • Christ Our Redeemer AME Church • Williams Tax & Financial • Trinity Baptist Church • City On The Hill • Bob Blake & Associates • First Church of God Center of Hope • Harbor Comprehensive • Greater Ebenezer Baptist Church • Pleasant Hill Baptist Church • Ebony Reportory Theatre • Citizens of Zion Baptist Church • Holy Chapel Baptist Church • Collins Chiropractic • New Antioch COGIC • Kimber & Kimber • New Pleasant Hill • Ethnic Print Media • New Shady Grove • It Is Done Communications • Miracle Temple Church of God Pentecostal • Community Coalition • Tree of Life MBC • Danielle Ashley Group • Crusade Christian Center • SIEIU • Victory Institutional Baptist Church • Word of Life Christian Bookstore • Crusade Christian Center • Peachez Entertainment • Bethel AME • California Board of Equalization • Lifeline Fellowship Chiristian Center • IPC • The Liberty Church • Liberty Baptist Church • National Action Network • Bethesda Temple Church Apostolic Faith •Park Windsor Baptist Church • House of Winston • Macedonia Baptist Church • Angeles Funeral Home • Miracle Center Apostolic Church • FICWFM • Church of Jesus Christ International • Ivie McNeill & Wyatt • Congregational Church of Christian Fellowship • Mt. Calvary Baptist Church • Martin & Martin • AMEN L.A. • Christ The Good Shepherd • Bethehem Temple Church • Price Chapel AME • St. Mark MBC • The Stop Church • Erica Campbell • The First Saint John Bible Church • California Mentor • Arise Christian Center • True Friendship Baptist Church • Morning Star MBC • Bethlehem Church • Spirit of Zion Christian Fellowship• Gospel Memorial COGIC• Great Public Schools•Earl Cole• Refuel•

UpFront As Enrollment Rises, Obamacare Hangs In The Balance of a Trump Presidency

S

hould President-elect Donald Trump stay true to any of his campaign promises, the Affordable Care Act (ACA)—which has helped a reported 20 million uninsured Americans gain new health insurance—would be repealed if not completely done away with.

In 2010, President Barack Obama made history with the passing of the Affordable Care Act (dubbed Obamacare) that put in place comprehensive health insurance reforms to improve access, affordability and quality health care for Americans. Overall, the law has resulted in the lowest uninsured rate ever recorded in America’s history–9.1 percent down from 16 percent.

If Trump is successful in overturning the law, those millions of newly-insured Americans (more than three million African Americans) are not only at risk of losing access to healthcare, but his actions could reverse the course back to health disparities in the U.S. with a less equitable and patient-centered healthcare system.

Even for many in healthcare like Wayne Lipton, CEO of Concierge Choice Physicians, the 'promise to repeal Obamacare' is a political and social nightmare. Said Lipton, “The total end of Obamacare would impact the extension of Medicaid programs in states, take away healthcare from millions of people, and put the burden of uncovered services back on hospitals and providers, and the states that support some of this cost.

There has been almost no alternative solution that was proposed that did not hurt millions of people."

Trump and the GOP have stated their proposed new plan will ensure people don’t lose coverage. However, they have not specified any alternatives that would protect the millions of people who now depend on the ACA. The L.A. Times

reported that more than 80% of these new consumers receive government subsidies to offset the cost of their premiums. About 11 million get commercial health plans through HealthCare.gov and other state-based insurance such as Covered California that was created through the act. Moreover, a significant number of Americans who have low incomes rely on Medicaid and that benefit expanded in 31 states after the new law went into effect.

Amid what has been characterized as an energetic transition to the White House, Trump has stated he sees areas of Obamacare that he unquestionably plans to amend, opting instead for private healthcare savings accounts. He has also pointed to keeping parts of the law that ban insurance providers from discrimination based on pre-existing conditions like cancer or other severe illnesses.

He has, however, also promised to eliminate the individual mandate requiring all to have coverage. It is —according to health care expert Erik Shannon— a

W

Contributor

ASHLEY REYNOLDS

Editor In Chief

Fannie Upshaw (323) 755-6646.

Homeless Housing Placement Agency: Requests for services increase greatly during the holiday season. Donations are gladly accepted for toy and clothing for children, canned and non-perishable items. The agency is located at 1644 Wilshire Blvd. Suite 103, Los Angeles 90017. Call (213) 484-2150.

Minority AIDS Project: This organization reaches out to its HIV clients by proving food, transportation and nursing referrals. This holiday they would be more than grateful to accept donations of toys, infant clothing and food. You can drop off donations at 5147 W. Jefferson Blvd., Los Angeles 90016 Call: Thea Williams (323) 936-4949 Project Angel Tree: Prison Fellowship Los Angeles reaches out for children with incarcerated parents getting churches and other groups to purchase gifts for them. For information on how you can help, contact (800) 55-ANGEL (2-6435) Watts-Willowbrook Boys & Girls Club: The Watts-Willowbrook Boys & Girls Club feeds the hungry, as well as donates clothing and toys. They remain open during the holidays to kids for different activities and field trips. To volunteer your time, call the WattsWillowbrook Boys & Girls Club, 1339 120th St., LA 90059, Call Les Jones at (323) 567-2278.

New Exec Director for Vermont Slauson Economic Development Corporation The Board of Directors of the Vermont Slauson Economic Development Corporation (VSEDC) – a leader in local development and provider of Economic, Community and small business development – recently announced Joseph “Joe” T. Rouzan III as the new Executive Director.

According to VSDEC representatives, Rouzan assumes the position after the loss of its founder and Executive Director Marva Smith Battle-Bey in April of this year.

“After a thorough and deliberate selection process, the Board of Directors is delighted that Joe will lead VSEDC as we navigate through the evolving and expanding needs for economic and small business development solutions in South Los Angeles,” said, Bill Holland, Board Vice President.

Rouzan most recently held the position of Director for the City of Los Angeles Business Source program overseeing 9 Business Source Centers throughout Los Angeles and operating a 4.5M annual budget.

"I want to thank the VSEDC Board for allowing me to serve as the organization's Executive Director. This is a bitter sweet point in my life, as well as my professional career.” Said Rouzan. “There will never be another Marva Smith Battle-Bey, but I do plan to lead this organization in a fashion that will make her proud by creating economic and career opportunities throughout Los Angeles, particularly South L.A."

Dorothy Height to Be Honored With Comemorative U.S. Postage Stamp The 40th stamp in the Black Heritage series will honor civil rights icon, Dorothy Height. Height, who led the National Council of Negro Women for over four decades as its fourth president, is the 15th black woman to be honored with a U.S. stamp.

Height, seen as one of the most influential leaders of the 20th Century, is credited with helping to improve conditions for black domestic workers, organizing voter registration in the South and scholarship programs for student civil rights workers, while also winning grants to provide vocational training and assist women in opening businesses.

The Black Heritage stamp series is the longest-running collection in U.S. history since its inception in 1978 with a stamp featuring Harriet Tubman. The series pays tribute to black leaders, sports figures, entertainers and legends central to black history. The stamp featuring Height will be available in 2017.

L.A. Focus/December 2016

Department of Public Social Service's (DPSS) Adopt-A-Family Program: This program assists lowincome families with toys, clothes and food during the holidays. Those who want to help fill out a sponsor form no later than Dec. 13 and coordinators match you with the perfect family, providing a family name as well as their phone number, address, children's ages, clothing & shoe sizes, preferred colors and any particular "wish list" they have, though sponsors decide what they will give. Gift baskets, grocery gift cards, meals and gifts are all appropriate. For more information call (213) 744-4348 or e-mail dpssvolunteers@dpss.lacounty.gov Foundation for the Junior Blind: The emphasis of this organization is on instilling confidence to the blind and visually impaired through recreation and activities. You can help out by donating holiday gifts that include: new musical toys, CD, school supplies board games.

5300 Angeles Vista Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90043. Contact: Debbie McBeth (323) 295-4555 ext. 267.

His Sheltering Arms: You can help brighten the lives of disadvantaged women and children in assisting this worthwhile group. Donate toy, toiletries, food, clothing, and money that will go to families in need. The facility is located at 11101 S. Main St., Los Angeles. Call

GERALD BELL

move that would mean a return to underwriting based on pre-existing conditions.

Such changes, he said, “will increase the number of uninsured, which will impact all providers, but especially hospitals that have seen their disproportionate share hospital reimbursements cut.

Health plans that offer insurance products through state health insurance exchanges may see a very near-term impact. There's a risk that healthy individuals looking to buy insurance through state exchanges may opt out of the current enrollment process because they assume a President Trump will waive any penalties for not having health insurance. If this becomes a trend, then health plans will be insuring populations that are less healthy than they assumed when they set their premiums."

Prior to Obamacare, it could have been extremely difficult to buy insurance if a consumer already had a health problem. An insurance company could have determined that a patient diagnosed with arthritis, depression, or even allergies is not qualified for coverage. They might have agreed to offer a policy, but not one that covers the specific illness or care needed. Further, the insurer might have presented a comprehensive policy, but at a price that would have been incredibly unaffordable. Trump’s transition website is suggesting he may develop a special and separate insurance market just for people who are sick.

Since Obama’s ACA passed it resulted in more than 500,000 AfricanAmerican young adults gaining health insurance. And the nearly 8 million African Americans with private health insurance now have access to preventive services like mammograms, diabetes screening, depression screening or flu shots with no copay or deductible.

In the post-election days of Trump’s Obamacare continued to page 26

Community Agencies Spead Holiday Cheer to Needy

ith the last month of the year comes that last rush to buy gifts to put under the Christmas tree.

Last year consumers spent $59.5 billion and they are projected to spend $68.4 billion this year, according to a Forrester Research Inc. report. But while we’re running around looking for that perfect something for our loved ones, it’s important to extend that spirit of giving to those in need.

Whether it’s your time or money, there are countless ways to donate this holiday season. Toy, food and clothing giveaways are an annual tradition for many churches and local businesses while city council members do all they can to assist in providing referrals to those in need. If you are in need this holiday season or you want to help others in need, listed below are just some of the worthwhile programs you can tap into: 2AIDS Service Center: This organization aims to provide services for those living with AIDS and HIV. They will be hosting a food drive where they will give away food vouchers to those in need. The public can drop of gift certificates for food from any major grocery store or non-perishable food items at 65 N. Raymond Ave, Suite 240 Pasadena 91103. For more information, call Anthony Guthmiller (626) 441-8495 ext. 11

News Briefs

7

Get Ready: Here Trump Comes

T

he day after one of the greatterical, unfair, demonic Trump: I Hate to est political upsets in world Say I Told You So -- characterization of him by history, I dug out my July Actually, I Really you and others who, by 2016 exchange with "David," an doing this, malign many Don't Mind Ohio left-wing retired law professor soon-to-be Trump-voting whom I once considered my best friend. He Americans, who feel they're working harder wrote: "Larry, and longer and making less money as a "Donald Trump — the screaming, the result of the policies of the last eight years. red face, the slashing hand gestures, the "When he gets elected, go to the nearest repeated appeals to familial blood spilled mirror — you played a large role in it. by outsiders, the vow to deport 3 percent of "I've been doing this a long time. I have the American population. a much better handle "The demonization of our present leaders on how much of as stupid, as weak, as corrupt, as criminals, America feels and as traitors, as not citizens, as not thinks than you do.

Christians. The mischaracterization of our You think you do, but country as broken, as suffering, as crushed you don't. underfoot by foreign forces.

"I've seen the "The assertion that only he can save us ... Trump phenomenon "This is unique to American politics, Larry. divide friends and But the world has seen this before. families. I never really "If you can't see it after last night's thought it would happen Larry Elder speech I am afraid you will never see it. between you and me.

"You have spent your entire career deny"But this is the first time I truly feel ing that racism still exists. You were wrong. insulted, demeaned and caricatured by you Racism is a powerful force, a dark and — simply because I see things differently. I tempting lure that can be used by a fanati- have many, many left-wing friends. I live in cal leader to frighten and manipulate mul- California. Honestly, how many conservatitudes. Now you have a raving lunatic tive friends do you have? I bet the answer is racist as the Republican nominee. What — after this letter — none. will you do? Will you continue to support "Larry" him? Will you stay silent? You are a man of David's response: great influence, and I have faith in you to "These kinds of divisions are inevitable do the right thing and help to save our when people are presented with choices that country. are this momentous. Americans faced a My response: "David, similar choice in the 1850s, Germany in the "Name one time I 'denied that racism 1930s. I told you before that Trump is a catstill exists'! One. I've never written such a egorically different candidate. He is not a thing, said such a thing, or believed such a (John) McCain, or a (Mitt) Romney, or a thing. It is beyond insulting.

George or Jeb Bush, men with whom I dis"Not only does racism still exist in agree but who are honorable, decent people, America, but bigotry does. And you are an and none of whom support Trump. Trump example of it. You're bigoted against conser- is a demagogue and a racist. He openly vatives, against people who believe the gov- admires dictators like Kim Jong Un and ernment is too big, against people, like my Vladimir Putin, and if the report regarding father, who grew up in the Jim Crow South his keeping the book of Hitler's speeches at during the Great Depression, who believed his bedside is accurate, then him as well. He that racism, sexism and whatever 'isms' openly appeals to violence and has expressyou want to put forth are no longer major ly vowed to imprison his principal political forces in America. opponent if he wins and has implicitly "By making such an asinine statement called for her to be assassinated if he loses. you reduce yourself to the subterranean He rejects the Western alliance of democratlevel of credibility you claim Trump pos- ic nations in favor of doing business with sesses. the Russian kleptocracy.

"After that I need not—and won't— "I am not deceived as to Trump's popurespond to anything else you said in your larity. You are right that many people adore email.

Trump. I had hoped you were not one of "But I will say this. Get used to it. You them. His level of support does not change just heard the next president of the United his essential character; it is what makes States. He's going to get elected. And it will him dangerous. I deeply mourn our friendbe, in no small measure, because of the hysElder continued to page 26

Headlines From Africa Angola: Angolan officials banned a demonstration scheduled to the appointment of Isabel dos Santos, —the daughter of Angola’s President José Eduardo dos Santos—as the head of the national oil company. With assets totaling $3.2 billion, the 43-year-old businesswoman is reported to be Africa’s richest women with 25% shares in the country’s main mobile telecommunication company Unitel as well as the BIC bank, the largest private bank in Angola. The appointment was for dos Santos to turn around the struggling company, which was reeling from the fall in global oil prices.

L.A. Focus/December 2016

Ivory Coast: An Ivory Coast court has ruled that former first lady Simone Gbagbo will be tried in absentia for crimes against humanity after she and her defense team refused to appear. Gbagbo's husband, former president Laurent Gbagbo— now being tried at the Hague—refused to concede defeat in 2010 elections and step down. The ensuing conflict killed at least 3000 civilians. Simone Gbagbo is accused of helping to orchestrate killings and attacks against supporters of her husband’s opponent. In a separate trial last year, she was sentenced to 20 years in prison for undermining state security and organizing armed gangs—crimes for which she maintained her innocence.

Congo: A United Nations envoy urged stakeholders in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s electoral process to do more to help insure the country is able to hold peaceful elections. Last month, the DRC’s Constitutional Court granted a petition of the National Electoral Commission to postpone the elections to 2018. Opposition leaders have warned that the nation will face civil war if president Joseph Kabila does not step down when his mandate ends.

Central African Republic: Members of the Fulani ethnic group (nomadic herders) were hunted down and massacred during violence that killed 85 civilians last month. In a statement, the UN’s top adviser on the prevention of genocide, said militia fighters reportedly singled out Fulani in the town of Bria, carrying out house-to-house searches, killing, looting and abducting residents. In addition to the dead, another 76 people were wounded and nearly 11,000 displaced by the violence, which spread to the town of Bambari.

8

Eritrea: President Afwerki of Eritrea demanded that the underlying causes of the flood of refugees leaving his coun-

race yourselves for the very well be former Alaska Trump cabinet picks. Brace yourself for Gov. Sarah Palin, whose claim Donald Trump’s The president-elect’s to fame was serving as John choices to help run the govMcCain’s running mate in ‘cabinet of ernment range from very bad 2008 and accusing Obama of deplorables to much worse and together “palling around with terrorform a “cabinet of deplorables.” ists.” If Palin does not get the job, former The most recent choice, and one of the Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer could. Brewer most controversial to date, was Trump’s disrespected Obama by waving her finger selection of former Brietbart.com presi- in his face and trashed Latinos by saying dent Steve Bannon as chief strategist and they don’t vote. senior counselor.

One of Trump’s possibilities for secreBannon is a white tary of state is former House Speaker supremacist who ped- Newt Gingrich, who has a long history of dled racism and miso- bigoted remarks. Gingrich accused gyny at Breitbart, President Obama of engaging in “Kenyan, and is down with the anti-colonial behavior,” said bilingual edualt-right, a movement cation teaches “the language of living in a espousing white na- ghetto,” and claimed blacks fail to accumutionalism and anti- late wealth because of their “habits.”

Semitism. The an- Another person vying for the job is Sen. David A. Love nouncement comes as Bob Corker of Tennessee, who was cited Trump also tapped RNC chair Reince for a racist ad in his 2006 campaign Priebus as White House chief of staff, against Harold Ford Jr. The ad featured a viewed as a more establishment pick. stereotyped “dumb blonde” who talked Bannon is bad, and his promotion is about meeting Ford “at the Playboy alarming, but he is by no means alone in party,” winked and said to the camera, what may shape up to become the most “Harold — call me.” Even Republicans cringeworthy cabinet in modern history. denounced the commercial as racist, which Think of all of the nut jobs, the unhinged says a lot. surrogates and water carriers who stood Under consideration for homeland by the most outrageous — the most security are recently-ousted Maricopa deplorable — presidential candidate in County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who was modern history. recently charged with criminal contempt Consider Senator Jeff Sessions, an in federal court for failing to detain susAlabama good ol’ boy under consideration pected undocumented immigrants; and for defense secretary, homeland security Milwaukee County sheriff, David Clarke, secretary and attorney general, and the who has compared Black Lives Matter to first senator to endorse Trump. Aside from ISIS and has called for the protests his uncanny resemblance to the Keebler against Trump to be “quelled.” elf, Sessions was denied a federal judgeThen there’s Dr. Ben Carson, who is on ship because of his racism. A longtime foe the short list for the Departments of of civil rights, Sessions falsely prosecuted Education and Health and Human black activists for voter fraud as a U.S. Services. Among his many outrageous attorney. He reportedly called an assistant statements during his primary run for U.S. attorney “boy,” called the NAACP and president, Carson said that a Muslim ACLU “Communist-inspired” and “un- should not become president. Also a candiAmerican,” and referred to a white civil- date for HHS are Florida Gov. Rick Scott, rights lawyer as “a disgrace to his race.” who “oversaw the largest Medicare fraud Two other top candidates to implement in the nation’s history” as a healthcare Trump’s “law and order” policy as attorney executive, and former Louisiana Gov. general include former New York City Bobby Jindal, who left his state in a finanMayor Rudy Giuliani, who was responsi- cial disaster and is a “lightweight,” accordble for a police brutality epidemic during ing to Trump himself. his tenure, and New Jersey Gov. Chris Former UN ambassador John Bolton, a Christie, whose two associates are headed top choice for secretary of state, is all for to federal prison for conspiracy in the bombing Iran and a war in the Middle Bridgegate traffic tie-up scandal, and who East. And a contender for E.P.A. adminishas a 21 percent approval rating in his trator is Myron Ebell, a director at the home state.

Competitive Enterprise Institute and a The next secretary of the interior may Love continued to page 26

B

A look at current news from the continent of Africa try,while attributing a large part of the problem to “human trafficking”.

Gambia: Voters go to the polls on December 1 in an election opposition activists say is their best chance yet to oust autocratic President Yahya Jammeh, who took power through a military coup in 1994. Human rights organizations have long criticized Jammeh’s government for the frequent use of torture, arbitrary detention and the intimidation of journalists by members of the security forces.

Liberia: The EPA has warned that more critical infrastructure could be rendered un-usable within the next three to five years if immediate actions are not taken to tackle the sea erosion in Liberia’s coastal counties. Thus far, 674 households have been displaced and additional 30,000 families stand the risk of being affected, if no urgent action is taken to remedy the situation.

Niger: An American drone base—considered strategically important in the fight against Islamists in western and northern Africa—has taken up operations near the city of Agadez.

Nigeria: President Buhari has been called on to take extreme measures to curb corruption on the part of elected officials. Senators and House members have reportedly pocketed huge sums of money over the last decade as reported by a member who was ousted after exposing alleged fraud. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo called the parliament “a den of corruption” controlled by “a gang of unarmed robbers”.

Senegal: Senegal has recently become only the second country in the world which will introduce a new national digital currency, eCFA. The digital currency will be blockchain based and will be legal tender.

South Africa: Researchers began inoculating thousands of volunteers in the latest—and, some say, most promising—effort to develop a vaccine that prevents HIV. “If this study shows efficacy . . . this would be a tectonic, historic event for HIV,” said Nelson L. Michael, director of the U.S. Military HIV Research Program. Should the vaccine prove to be 50 percent to 60 percent effective, experts say, that would be sufficient for drugmakers Sanofi Pasteur and GSK to begin licensing negotiations with the government of South Africa, where 1 in 5 people are infected.

Implementing California’s Controversial Propositions Could Be Game Changing

O

f the 17 State propositions that made California’s November election ballot last month, twelve were approved and five were defeated. From repealing the death penalty to regulating prescription drug prices, voters were challenged to weigh in on some major game changers– leaving proponents and policy makers with the task of proving they know what’s best for Californians. Some of the measures come with environmentaland even financial implications that many are expecting will reshape and realign communities across the state. Here’s how:

Proposition 51: $9 Billion School Bond Authorization It was the first statewide initiative on the ballot that awarded California K-12 schools, community colleges, state colleges and universities with a $9 billion bond to improve and repair facilities. The funds will be allocated as follows: •$3 billion in new K-12 construction •$3 billion in repairs for K-12 schools •$2 billion for community college facilities •$500 million for K-12 vocational facilities •$500 million for charter school facilities According to Legislative Analysts the bonds will cost the state’s day-to-day operating budget about $500 million a year for the next 35 years meaning that California taxpayers will ultimately pay back $17.6 billion. While many schools could use the upgrade, the measure locks in the state’s existing school-facilities funding system which critics argue favors large, affluent districts. According to a finance director in the governor’s office, “Money is spent on a first-come, first-serve basis, which prioritizes districts that submit applications the quickest, not the low-income neighborhoods that may need the money more.”

Proposition 56: Cigarette Tax Increase Now that the state tobacco tax will increase $2 per pack (including e-cigarettes, cigars, and smokeless tobacco), supporters of the measure are hopeful the hike will reduce smoking overall and particularly deter young smokers away from cigarettes. It’s been reported, however, that of the $1.4 billion a year Proposition

56 is expected to raise from the tax, only 13 percent would go to the state's tobacco cessation programs. This includes: prevention and treatment of dental diseases, tobacco-use prevention, heart and lung diseases research and school programs about tobacco-use. The majority of the tax money would go to the state's Medi-Cal health care program for low-income residents. This measure requires a dealer and a wholesaler to file a return with the State Board of Equalization showing the number of cigarettes in their inventory and would require a licensed cigarette distributor to file a return with the board and pay a cigarette tax rate to be deposited in the Cigarette and Tobacco Products Surtax Fund. Tobacco companies are committing to monitoring closely where the tax funds end up because of concern that insurance companies and hospitals will benefit the most.

Proposition 57: Sentencing parole reform Making it easier for convicted felons of non-violent crimes to gain parole, the passing of Proposition 57 allows for more opportunities for criminals to earn credits for good behavior and educational achievements. The Governor Jerry Brown supported measure will also affect the fate of many juvenile offenders. This means judges will now rule whether or not to charge juveniles as young as 14 years old in adult court and will strip the decision making away from prosecutors. Parole reform will reshape the state's criminal justice system and offer a new chance at prison release for thousands of prisoners.

The most controversial parts of Proposition 57 involve the prospect of parole for felons who have not been convicted of one of California's designated

Contributors

"violent" crimes. The ballot measure's assertion that new parole eligibility would be limited to "nonviolent felons" has raised question about the definition of “violent” and that some prisoners convicted of sexual assault crimes may now be eligible for parole. The state Board of Prison Hearings have the responsibility of listening to state prison officials who are crafting policies for the good-behavior allowances for those serving a wide variety of sentences to earn.

Proposition 58: Bilingual education in public schools English-only curriculum for non-native English speakers will no longer be the norm. The measure requires schools to utilize bilingual education and allows students to take non-English classes without parental waivers. Students will have the opportunity to take classes both from English speakers and those instructors who speak their native language. With this mandate to make bilingual instruction accessible, local school districts will be required to identify in their annual K12 Local Control and Accountability Plans the instructional methods they will offer to help ensure all students become proficient in English as rapidly as possible. Further it will require schools to offer a structured English immersion program to English learners. Schools can also adopt other language instruction methods based on research and input from stakeholders vested in education.

At the district level, the measure also encourages that additional input come from educators, parents and the community so that equal voice is offered in improving outcomes for students.

L.A. Focus/December 2016

Proposition 64: Legalization of marijuana and hemp Perhaps the most talked about measure on the ballot, the passing of prop 64 made the recreational use of marijuana legal to those 21 years and older. The measure also created two new taxes for marijuana usage: the cultivation of the drug and taxing on its actual retail price.

Revenues from the marijuana tax are intended for safety enforcement, youth educational initiatives, and programs surrounding potential environmental damage caused by illegal marijuana production.

Those selling marijuana without a license will be penalized with a six-month jail sentence, and/or a $500 fine and individuals caught with possession under the age of 21 will be required to receive drugrelated counseling. Passing the measure means law enforcement will still have their work cut out for them. They insist that recreational drug use is a public health and safety concern including teen drug abuse and impaired driving. In addition, law enforcers will need to determine prosecutorial tools for those driving under the influence of marijuana and for enforc-

ing retailer advertising restrictions. “I think it’s the beginning of the end of the war on marijuana in the United States,” said Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom. “I think it will have repercussions internationally.”

GERALD BELL & ASHLEY REYNOLDS

9

A

s the dust settled from what was one of the most sensational and polarizing elections in modern American history—and Donald Trump declared the victor, what had become crystal clear for many was the emergence of “two Americas” and in an alarming number of cases, the division was along racial lines.

In Pennsylvania, three students were suspended for chanting “white power” and “build that wall” while parading the halls with Trump signs.

The words “Black lives don't matter and neither does your votes” were spray painted on a wall in Durham, North Carolina, while swastika found painted on a baseball dugout in upstate New York, read “Make America White Again.”

A handout found on many college campuses encouraged whites people to openly embrace their white identity. “Love who you are,” one flyer at a college in Ohio stated, “white people have the right to exist as white people. BE WHITE.” A Massachusetts man received three letters warning that his community had “zero tolerance for black people.”

“We have reclaimed our country back by selecting Trump,” one note read, “and you are now messing up everything.” The final letter warned, “We have just cleared the white house of niggers! Do not bring niggers in our neighborhood...”

A West Virginia county official was removed from her position after posting a Facebook message referring to First Lady Michelle Obama as an "ape in heels", while praising Melania Trump.

And right here in Los Angeles, authorities are looking for the source of a series of threatening letters sent to mosques throughout California.

“Even as we extend our congratulations to President-Elect Donald J. Trump, the NAACP, as America’s oldest and largest civil rights organization, must bluntly note that the 2016 campaign has regularized racism, standardized anti-Semitism, de-exceptionalized xenophobia and mainstreamed misogyny,” stated NAACP National President and CEO Cornell William Brooks.

Many credit the rise in overt racism to Trump’s divisive rhetoric coupled with his stand against political correctness. It didn’t help that Trump—who won the white working class by an unprecedented margin—was embraced by white nationalists and white supremacist groups, leading some in the media to coin Trumps victory as part of “a white backlash.”

Richard Cohen, the president of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), said. “White supremacists are celebrating, and it’s

LISA COLLINS Staff Writer their time, the way they see it.”

An online survey of teachers found that more than half had seen an increase in hostile speech during the campaign.

Trump’s response to the surge in hate crimes on the part of his supporters has been one of surprise, while accusing the press of overplaying the incidents "If it helps,” Trump told on a recent appearance on CBS' "60 Minutes," I will say this, and I will say right to the cameras: Stop it."

“Mr. Trump claims he’s surprised his election has unleashed a barrage of hate across the country,” said Cohen. “He shouldn’t be.

It’s the predictable result of the campaign he waged. Rather than feign surprise, Mr. Trump should take responsibility for what’s occurring, forcefully reject hate and bigotry, reach out to the communities he’s injured, and follow his words with actions to heal the wounds his words have opened.”

The SPLC documented 867 bias-related incidents in just the 10 days following the presidential election. Among them were multiple reports of black children being told to ride in the back of school buses; the words “Trump Nation” and “Whites Only” being painted on a church with a large immigrant population; and a gay man being pulled from his car and beaten by an assailant who said the “president says we can kill all you faggots now.”

The violence has not totally been one-sided. A man was reportedly beaten for having voted for Trump and more than a few incidents of people berating Trump supporters have been reported.

In his victory acceptance, Trump said it was time for America to bind the wounds of division, stating, “To all Republicans and Democrats and independents across this nation, I say it is time for us to come together as one united people. I pledge to every citizen of our land that I will be president for all Americans, and this is so important to me."

Many like Cohen want to hold him to that pledge.

“President-elect Trump’s first commitment to the American people was to be a president for ‘all Americans’ and to ‘bind the wounds of division’ in our country,” Cohen continues. “He needs to make good on that pledge by taking decisive action.”

The NAACP agreed, with Cornell calling on Trump to speak and act with the moral clarity necessary to silence the dog-whistle racial politics that have characterized recent months and have left many of our fellow citizens snarling at one another in anger and even whimpering in fear.

But for those like Larry Elder, things will only change as

WHITE SUPREMACISTS ARE CELEBRATING, AND IT’S THEIR TIME, THE WAY THEY SEE IT.MR. TRUMP CLAIMS HE’S SURPRISED HIS ELECTION HAS UNLEASHED A BARRAGE OF HATE ACROSS THE COUNTRY. HE SHOULDN’T BE.”

”

that spirit throughout this transition, and I certainly hope that's how his presidency has a chance to begin."

So what else might be in store under a Trump presidency? Obamacare is addressed in our Upfront story on page 7. Here’s what some experts had to say on other key concerns.

Finances Steven Gattuso, Assistant Professor of Economics/Finance, Canisius College "The Trump campaign proposals included significant income tax rate cuts, which would benefit consumers in the short run by putting more money directly in their pocket. This would also have the negative effect of raising the federal budget deficit and national debt–not good in the long run. So far, the bond market has anticipated what might be done based on Trump's campaign platform. He has done something that has been very difficult for the Federal Reserve to accomplish: raise inflation expectations. This has caused the yields on government bonds to rise quickly and, with them, mortgage rates. So, for those intending to make a home purchase, this might be time because as mortgage rates rise, the house you are considering becomes more expensive to purchase through higher monthly payments."

On interest rates: “The Fed has the separate nonpartisan priorities of price stability and full employment, and they may be getting ready for their second rate hike in two years next month, which would affect your credit card and automobile loan rates even before a new president takes office. From there, much will depend on the fiscal policies of the administration and their impact on the economy. The bad news about interest rate increases is good news for the nation's savers and retirees.

Should rates rise, these groups would see a boost to their income that they most likely haven't seen in about eight years."

Budget Deficit/Economy David Drumm, Real Estate and Energy Attorney "To the extent tax cuts are put in effect and combined with 'feel-good' spending policies on things like border walls and creating obsolete, inefficient factory jobs that the market economy does not want, we risk an increase in the federal budget deficit, when debt-to-GDP ratios are already at all-time highs. Weakening the U.S. federal treasury will also inevitably weaken the U.S. economy because the debt rating on government bonds will deteriorate and we will have to apply more of our GDP to interest on the national debt.”

Jobs and the Economy Former U.S. Senator Tim Hutchinson "Expect in the first six months of a Trump administration to see withdrawal from the Trans Pacific Partnership and efforts to renegotiate NAFTA. Expect a major bi-partisan infrastructure bill targeting highways, bridges and airports. Expect a significant tax reform bill that will lower the corporate tax rate and incentivize repatriation with a 10 percent tax rate. Finally, expect a more relaxed regulatory environment for business."

Gun Control Second Amendment Expert Bill Mateja "The Second Amendment is going to enjoy even more vitality under a Trump presidency, whether it be in using the Second Amendment as a litmus test for selecting federal judges or in emboldening the Justice Department to not reflexively defend the constitutionality of gun statutes that defy common sense, such as the interstate handgun ban. Trump will likely be the Second Amendment's new Charlton Heston."

Immigration Immigration Attorney James Prappas "Trump will rely less on executive action. Congress will become more involved. The EB-5 program–which allows a foreigner to obtain U.S. residency through a green card if that individual invests $500,000 or $1 million - will remain and could be expanded to create more U.S. jobs. Mexican companies will establish U.S. operations to increase exports due to the favorable exchange rate. This will increase demand for U.S. work visas.

There will be a rise in naturalization applications because of Trump's victory, the Republican Congress, and the upcoming $45 filing fee increase on Dec. 23 from $595 to $640 per person."

Michael Neifach, a recognized leader on immigration,

visa and border security "While immigration enforcement efforts targeting criminals will remain a priority in the new administration, expect there will be a renewed focus on enforcement of existing immigration laws in the workplace. That may include expanded use of E-Verify. Under current federal law, E-Verify is voluntary to employers except that it is mandatory by executive order for federal government contractors. Expect the new administration to encourage more employers to us E-Verify under existing law, as well as ways to work with Congress in expanding mandatory use of E-Verify."

Energy Rich Hart, Professor Emeritus of Economics, Miami University "Trump is going to end this war on fossil fuel. Energy is one of the largest costs in the production of manufactured goods, second only to labor. If we can bring the cost of production down, I think it could help bring some of this manufacturing back home."

Climate Change Michelle Pautz, Associate Professor, Political Science, University of Dayton "Simply put, there is still a great deal of uncertainty regarding environmental policy under the Trump administration. During the campaign, little was said about the environment other than climate change is a hoax, despite an international consensus of scientists who conclude the contrary, and that the EPA should be done away with. Getting rid of a federal agency would require congressional action and for decades, Congress has tasked the EPA with implementing a multitude of environmental laws. It is unlikely that the Trump administration will see the death of the EPA. What remains to be seen, however, is how the president elect will use his executive powers to influence the work of the EPA and other agencies with oversight of the nation's environment."

Corporate Governance Attorney Richard Cino "Given his campaign rhetoric, however, it seems quite possible that President Trump will prompt Congress to repeal all or portions of the DFA. Among its many provisions, the Dodd Frank Act of 2010 empowered the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) to develop entirely new whistleblower regulations which provide a framework for employees of publicly-traded companies to report alleged violations of the securities laws directly to the SEC. Now in its fifth year, the SEC's whistleblower program has triggered numerous investigations of publicly traded companies and has also enabled many employee whistleblowers to file claims in federal court. A repeal of the DFA's SEC whistleblower program may signal a sudden death for these types of claims lodged against Corporate America."

L.A. Focus/December 2016

Trump takes office and makes moves that will improve the lives of Americans.

“How are you going to unite when some people want the government to spend money on abortion and some people don’t? Some people think rich people should pay more taxes and some people don’t. Some people feel the climate change is as big against the country as terrorism and some people don’t. The country has never been together and never will be together because we have too many issues that divide us. We disagree about abortion, same sex marriage, taxes, whether there should be more common sense gun control laws. As long as Donald Trump makes people prosperous, they will overlook some of the stupid things he said, the critically incorrect things he said, and the things he does that irritate people.”

“Let’s give him a shot,” urged BET founder and billionaire Bob Johnson, who met with Trump last month after having supported Hillary Clinton. “Let’s give him the benefit of the doubt; see if we can find common ground.”

In an open letter before the meeting, Johnson had written: " Why shouldn’t we, as Black voters, reject the notion that we are locked into one party which undoubtedly limits and dilutes our voting power? We should, instead, use the power of our vote to support and elect whichever party that best serves our interests.

“Black Americans should have no permanent friends, and no permanent enemies, just permanent interests."

The fear, Elder says, “comes from the paranoia that the Democrats have put in the minds of people—especially people of color—for a long time. Republicans are racist. They said that about Ronald Reagan. They said that about George Bush. They said that about George W. Bush and of course the same thing about Donald Trump.

So it's standard operating procedure for Democrats.

“Donald Trump at some campaign stops referred to “my African-American folk” and some people thought it was condescending. That’s just hypersensitivity, so I’m not quite sure why Black people don’t like him, other than other Black so-called leaders have called him a racist and people are just repeating it.”

According to Elder, what Trump tapped into was a whole lot of anger in this country about how bad the economy has been and a frustration that both parties were catering to minorities, LGBT, immigrants and the poor at the expense of the middle class.

Can he deliver is the question being raised by Rev. Al Sharpton.

“He’s got a lot he has to deal with,” Sharpton said.

“He promised a wall, he promised jobs…he’s gonna have to deliver for his crowd while he fights our crowd. His crowd will turn on him within three months. He can’t deliver half of what he said, I guarantee it.”

But for those like Larry Elder, lower taxes is a start.

“The combination of Trump’s lowering taxis and cutting down regulations will mean that we are going to have a 4% GDP rather than a 2% GDP. That might not sound like very much,” explains Elder, “but the average has been 3% and Obama’s has been 2% and the difference between three percent and two percent is a million jobs each year.”

For Attorney Marc Little, the ability for Trump to make up to three—perhaps even four — Supreme Court picks was a key factor is his support, with particular regard to the protection of religious freedom.

According to Brian Lauten, an appellate attorney who has argued in front of the Supreme Court, Trump's ability to nominate staunch conservatives to openings on the court will result in a “lurch to the right”, a move many fear could jeopardize Roe v. Wade and same sex marriages. (Trump, however, has already said that the same sex question had already been decided and that he’s okay with it as the law of the land).

While not good news for many Black leaders, Bob Johnson stressed in his open letter, “This is not the last election in America. Elections at every level of government – federal, state and local – will continue to take place. Our job now is to continue to mobilize in these elections whenever and wherever they occur. We should, as before, educate and inform our voting community about the critical social and economic issues that impact our families, our community and this nation.”

“We all want what's best for this country,” President Obama stated the morning after the election. “That's what I heard in Mr. Trump's remarks last night. That's what I heard when I spoke to him directly...That's what the country needs. A sense of unity, a sense of inclusion, a respect for our institutions, our way of life, rule of law, and a respect for each other. I hope that he maintains

11

MoneyMatters Hollywood’s Wage Gap Persists for Black Actors Black actors bring in the ratings but aren’t bringing in the bacon as compared to their white counterparts according to a recently released report published in Newsweek Magazine.

“We’re still a white, white business and a white, white world in terms of power, but we’re not a white, white country,” Women and Hollywood founder Melissa Silverstein told Time Magazine earlier this year.

The highest paid actors on TV— Kaley Cuoco, Jim Parsons and Johnny Galecki—comprise the cast of CBS’ top rated sitcom, “The Big Bang Theory” and earn an estimated $1 million an episode each. The popular sitcom is now in its 10th season and though it has been sliding somewhat in the ratings, it still manages to pull in an average 20 million viewers per episode.

Lauren Graham, and Alexis Bledel, the stars of Netflix’s Gilmore Girls revival—which premiere last month—reportedly received $750,000 for each of the four mini-series installments. Netflix was also shelling out $300,000 at movie stars Drew Barrymore, Emma Stone and Jonah Hill to take on series roles while black actors are only receiving a fraction of that amount.

Perhaps the biggest exception is Dwayne Johnson, who ranked fourth on Variety Magazine’s list of Hollywood’s top TV actors with a whopping $400,000 fee per episode for HBO’s Ballers, a half hour series about pro football players and the people who manage their business affairs.

Most other actors of color don’t get anywhere near that amount. Lowest paid is Gina Rodriguez, whose role in Jane the Virgin won her the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Comedy in 2015, over multi-time Emmy winner and fellow nominee Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Yet Rodriguez, according to Variety ’s data, earns $60,000 an episode, while Louis-Dreyfus earns more than quadruple that figure: $250,000 an episode.

While ABC’s hit series, Black-ish drew Emmy Awards nominations for both Anthony Anderson and Tracee Ellis Ross, the two earned significantly less than the stars of other sitcoms like Modern Family, The Middle and Last Man Standing.

Anderson gets $100,000 an episode, while Ross’ is reportedly paid $80,000. Comparatively, The Middle ’s Patricia Heaton and Standing’s Tim Allen all earn $250,000 an episode.

“It's a very complex situation when you think about what are black women making in comparison to white women,” actress Rosario Dawson has said.

The salaries for drama actors also revealed a big gap when one contrasts the $750,000 per episode earned by Gilmore Girls’ Graham and Bledel and the highest-paid black dramatic actors: Viola Davis, the Emmy Award-winning star of How to Get Away with Murder, and Kerry Washington, the Emmy-nominated star of Scandal. Both Davis and Rhimes, who play key roles on Shonda Rhimes’ Thursday night lineup, along with Grey’s Anatomy, each earn $250,000 per episode. That while Grey’s Anatomy star Ellen Pompeo commands $400,000.

Money Matters continued to page 26

On the Money Tyler Perry’s Midas Touch Tyler Perry’s “Boo! A Madea Halloween” edged out Tom Cruise’s “Jack Reacher” and Ben Affleck’s “The Accountant”, making him one of just three directors (including Steven Spielberg) to have nine films open at over $20 million in revenues. Despite the success, Perry—who also helped turn around Oprah Winfrey’s OWN network with a slate of hit shows including “The Haves & Have Nots” —still has challenges getting his films in white neighborhoods.

“I think the numbers could have been bigger had people who are in the white suburbs had the option to go to their own theaters to see it,” Perry told The Wrap.

Boo! A Madea Halloween” is the third-highest-grossing opening for a Madea film. Provided below is a listing of Perry’s films ranked from highest to lowest grosses.

•Madea Goes To Jail $90,508,336 •Madea’s Witness Protection $65,653,242 •Madea’s Family Reunion $63,257,940 •Why Did I Get Married Too? $60,095,852 •Why Did I Get Married? $55,204,525 •Madea’s Big Happy Family $53,345,287 •A Madea Christmas $52,543,354 •Temptation $51,733,921 •Diary of A Mad Black Woman $50,633,099 •Meet The Browns $41,975,388 •The Family That Preys $37,105,289 •Good Deeds $35,025,791 •Daddy’s Little Girls $31,366,978 •The Single Mom’s Club $15,973,881 •Peeples $ 9,177,065

Biz NewsBriefs

L.A. Focus/December 2016

Radio One Inc. Changes Its Name

12

Come January 1, Radio One, Inc.—the nation’s largest African Americanowned media company with 55 radio stations in 16 markets, a TV network and a variety of digital properties —will be known as Urban One Inc. Its individual divisions — Radio One, TV One and Interactive One — will keep their names in what CEO Alfred Liggins has described as a repositioning of the company from an image standpoint.

“It really reflects more of the fact that the company is a multimedia entity targeting African-Americans and

leveraging black culture to help brands and advertisers grow their business with this community,” Liggins said.

The Silver Spring-based media company is 50% nonradio having diversified its offerings for some time.The company's second-biggest revenue generator, TV One, made up 42% of its net revenue.

In a bid to further diversify, Radio One invested millions in the MGM National Harbor Casino & Resort overlooking the Potomac River, which celebrates its grand opening this month, while in 2014, it acquired Global Grind, the website founded by Russell Simmons.

Mixed Chicks Launches New Line L.A. based hair company, Mixed Chicks, has announced the expansion of brand with an all new collection of curl defining and styling products.

“We’ve embraced a variety of textures to help solve special haircare woes,” said co-founder Kim Etheredge, of the line that started by expressing targeting women of mixed heritage. “Our new products can help anyone achieve the styles they want using the techniques they love.”

The new line features six unique products: a Coil, Kink

& Curl Styling Cream, Slick Styling Tamer pomade, Conditioning Cleansing Co-Wash, Curl Sculptor, Daily Hair Dress, and a no flake defining gel. Mixed Chicks’ newest products debuted online and in select retailers nationwide late last month.

Spike Lee Sued For Not Paying Union Contributions Filmmaker Spike Lee and his Forty Acres and a Mule Filmworks and Black Butterfly Productions are being sued by the directors of three union benefit plans who maintain that he didn’t make sufficient health and pension contributions.

“Despite multiple demands, Black Butterfly has failed to pay the claims... Black Butterfly refuses, and continues to refuse, to pay the amounts due for unpaid contributions disclosed by the audit,” the lawsuit says.

The plaintiffs manage plans for the American Federal of Musicians, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Studio Transportation Drivers. They are seeking all unpaid damages, interest, audit costs and legal fees.

L.A. Focus presents 12 Days of Christmas Give away

(December 13th – December 24, 2016) Like, follow, or tweet us for a chance to win tickets to “Motown The Musical” @ the Pantages Theater

#LAFOCUS #12daysofchristmas #LAF12DaysofChristmas

Follow: @Lafocusnews

Like: @L.A.Focus

Check out our socialm edia for m ore details and get in the holiday spirit.

INSIDE HO L LY W OOD with Neily Dickerson I love hearing people's life stories and I recently had the opportunity to chat with iconic hair stylist, Kenneth Walker. His life adventure has been an excellent one of stick-to-itiveness that should be celebrated.

Last month, I reviewed the critically-acclaimed movie, Loving, and a couple of weeks later was asked to interview the head hair stylist on the film who just happened to be Mr. Kenneth Walker.

With a career that spans over 40 years Walker has made it his business to make sure the expected look and image of his given client, project, & assignment is achieved.

Kenneth began his career at Flavio Beauty School in Leimert Park, where he made $225.00 a month. A quick study with great skill, he allowed himself to learn every facet of cosmetology,

but concentrated on black hair. Be it the press n’ curl, perm, pin curl, finger wave or natural styles, he made it his business to take care of his client's hair, making sure the hair enhanced their overall presentation.

With this type of direction and focus it’s easy to understand why he has been the lead in creating images for several movie projects that concentrate on black hair and why he was specifically selected to lead the hair department for the movie Loving.

It takes someone who is able to bring the total look to life and Mr. Walker’s says, "My goal was to represent where she (Mildred Loving played by Ruth Negga) was throughout the film. His styling of her covered the transition from city life in Washington D.C. to country life in Virginia and how she looked..”

As he watches today’s hair trends he says, “as women evolve I want them to be true to themselves. Find the best people to help you achieve the look you want. Don’t forget your heritage, celebrate yourself and take care of your hair.”

By the time we finished talking I was encouraged and had an extra bounce in my step.

His final words where, "It’s so important that we take care of what we have.

Our natural hair is nappy and that’s okay.

Celebrate & take care of who you are!”

OctaviaSpencer

DUE IN THEATERS THIS MONTH

Rogue One: Star Wars December 16

Collateral Beauty December 16

HOLLYWOOD BUZZ

Halle Berry Celebrates Her Age With Lingerie Line Halle Berry, who turned 50 earlier this year—shared some pretty big news on Instagram last month. Turns out she’s finally launching that lingerie line she had hinted about. The announcement of the line, dubbed Scandale!—came with a somewhat racy photo of the star.

“The big FIVE OH,” she wrote in the post, “has taught me to be FEARLESS! I’m about to launch a lingerie line at 50,” she continued. “Here’s what I know for sure… it’s never too early or too late to do what EVER makes you happy.”

“This is lingerie for real women,” Berry writes on the site. “We have real curves, real colors, and real needs. We deserve lingerie that lives up to us.

This is beautiful lingerie that’s practical, functional, and so comfortable you’ll never want to take it off. And you don’t have to!

Because this is lingerie you can stay in, play in, live allday-every-day in.”

No word yet on when or where the lingerie will be available, but we’ll be sure to keep you updated as the story unfolds. Speaking of things it’s never too late to do, Berry made a special appearance on one of Bruno Mars’ tracks off his new hit album, 24K Magic, singing on a tune called “Calling All My Lovelies” with the Grammy winning singer-songwriter.

The release of her latest film, Kidnap, which was scheduled for release this month, has been rescheduled for March 10, 2017. In the high-speed

Q&A

Hidden Figures December 25

Fences December 25

thriller, Berry plays a mother who will stop at nothing to get her child back after he is abducted before her eyes during a day at the park.

$1.4 million a night in some venues.

West remained hospitalized through Thanksgiving holidays with no word on when he would be released.

Kenye West Holding The Bag For $30 Million?

Kanye West’s cancellation of the remainder of his sold-out Saint Pablo tour could leave the rapper holding the bag for somewhere in the neighborhood of $30 million. While according to Bloomberg.com, West and all of the concert venues are covered by insurance in the event of natural disasters, the rapper instead cancelled the tour without explanation after ranting on stage about Beyonce and his broken relationship with Jay-Z, how he wished blacks would stop complaining about racism and how he would have voted for Trump.

West’s motherin-law Kris Jenner attributed the outburst, cancellation and the rapper’s hospitalization to exhaustion, t e l l i n g reporters, “He’s had a grueling tour and it’s been a grind, so he just needs to rest.”

F u l l refunds were available to those holding tickets to the concerts— the sales of which topped

Forest Whitaker To Joins Johnny Depp Oscar-winning actor Forest Whitaker has been cast as journalist Randall Sullivan in the forthcoming thriller, Labyrinth, about the investigation surrounding the murders of Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G. Johnny Depp will play LAPD detective Russell Poole, who was assigned to the case. The film is based on Sullivan’s 2003 novel, LAbryinth: A Detective Investigates the Murders of Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G., the Implication of Death Row Records’ Suge Knight, and the Origins of the Los Angeles Police Scandal. Also cast in the film are Neil Brown Jr. and Rockmond Dunbar. In other casting news, Angela Bassett has joined the cast of Marvel’s Black Panther as the mother of T’Challa, aka Black Panther (played by Chadwick Boseman). She will join Michael B. Jordan, Forest Whitaker, Lupita Nyong’o, and Florence Kasumba in the cast.

Don’t get too excited though.

The movie is not set for release until 2018…Nia Long has signed on for a recurring role on the current third season of Empire. In the meantime, she will star opposite Idina Menzel in Lifetime’s remake of the 1988 film, Beaches, which starred Bette Midler and Barbara Hershey. The TV film, which is set to premiere on January 21, follows the ups and downs of a lifelong friendship that develops after two young girls meet on the Venice boardwalk.

Name: Octavia Spencer Hometown: Montgomery, AL Big Break: The Help (2011) Other Notable Roles: The Divergent Series Fruitvale Station, Black or White, Get on Up Current Project: Hidden Figures Octavia Spencer knows what it’s like to be typecasted. In the early points of her career, the Oscar winning actress found herself mostly acquiring the role of a nurse — 16 times to be exact. Spencer has since moved on to playing more fulfilling characters. This month, she’s set to portray NASA pioneer Dorothy Vaughn in Hidden Figures alongside Taraji P. Henson and Janelle Monae, which highlights the black women who had an intricate part in NASA’s Friendship 7 mission.

Q: Did you know anything about Dorothy Vaughn’s historical significance before you got the role?

A: There will be some people who think that this is some sort of conjecture. I thought it was fiction.

When I found out it was true, it hurt me to the core that they were left out of the retelling of history.

Q: How do you feel about their stories finally being celebrated?

A: It’s an embarrassment these women were omitted from the annals of history. These women were at the backbone of the program. I’m excited because the world will finally know these names.

Q: Acting just seems so effortless for you. Have you always wanted to do this professionally?

A: My mom taught us that we could do or be anything we dared to dream. Being a part of a large family is like a little society; those who fight to the top of the heap. We relied on each other and still do. They never discouraged me or told me to get a proper job.

Q: Did your 2012 Oscar win for The Help help to define your suceess?

A: My idea of success is not Oscars. Am I glad I have that little trinket? Yes I am. But, the minute I got my first professional check I was successful, [because] somebody’s paying me to act.

Q: Do you feel a sort of responsibility when choosing roles that represent all women of color?

A: I only choose parts that resonate with me, and that will allow for me to grow as a person. I hope that they resonate with people, and that people learn from them as I have, but I can’t make choices based off what everyone else will think.

Q: Is every character you play a fragment of your actual personality?

A: My job as an actor is to always ground a character into reality. If you watch a film and you think, ‘oh, she’s just playing herself,’ then I’ve done my job.

Q: What types of roles are you looking to play in the future?

A: I’ve yet to play anyone who remotely resembles me. I’m carefree. I don’t have kids. I’m more of a romantic comedy and trying to find love [type].

Brooks Wilson, son of the legendary Jackie Wilson, performs at the Annual Heroes and Legends Ball

Calendar of events

Ongoing Free Yoga Class With Kali Sampson (Saturdays on the Macy’s Bridge) Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Mall 10am – 11am 3650 W. Martin L. King Jr. Blvd Information: (323) 290-6636 baldwinhillscrenshawplaza.com 18th Annual Downtown On Ice (Through January 19) Outdoor skating rink featuring a variety of free activities and live music. Open daily • (Times vary) $9 – Admission; $4 – Skate Rental 532 South Olive Street Contact: (213) 847-5970 pershingsquareicerink.com

Friday, December 2 Power 106 Cali Christmas with Ice Cube, G-Eazy, 2 Chainz, and more 7:30 pm • $45–$200 The Forum 3900 W Manchester Blvd www.fabulousforum.com

Saturday, December 3 In Concert: George Benson 9pm • $58-$98 Saban Theater 8440 Wilshire Blvd Beverly Hills Contact: (323) 655-0111 www.sabantheater.com Gifts of the Season Workshop Decorate and personalize a book bag (Supplies provided)

2pm California Afro American Museum 600 State Drive – Exposition Park RSVP: (213) 744-2024 www.caamuseum.org Port of Los Angeles hosts Holidays

By The Sea + L.A. Harbor Holiday Afloat Parade Featuring ballet & glee club performances, light show, movies, boat parade, arts & crafts (Through Dec. 21) 6pm-9pm • Free www.portoflosangeles.org

Sunday, December 4 Free Flu Clinic 10am-Noon Holman United Methodist Church 3320 W. Adams Blvd Information: (323) 731-7285 On Stage: ChoirChoir!

Cast includes Eric Dawkins, Moriah Johnson, Tia P., Dayna Dooley; and local church choirs 4PM • $40 - $75 Wilshire Ebell Theatre 4400 Wilshire Blvd Contact: (310) 637-8400 Jacklightsyproductions.com

Tuesday, December 6 In Concert: Mary J Blige and Maxwell $55 - 475 • 7pm The Forum 3900 W. Manchester Blvd Information: (310) 330-7300 Fabulousforum.com International Fellowship of

Churches Annual Prophetic Minister's Conference Theme: "Who is the Real Christian" 7:30 p.m. Nightly Southside Christian Palace 11243 S. Vermont Avenue, Contact: (323) 754-3141

Thursday, December 8 Jazz For The Soul: Joy To The World 6:30pm Holman United Methodist Church 3320 W. Adams Blvd Information: (323) 731-7285

Friday, December 9 Brotherhood Crusade Pioneer of Achievement Award Dinner Honoring Chris Paul 7pm; Dinner: 8pm • $500 Beverly Hilton Hotel 9876 Wilshire Blvd.

Information: (323) 846-1649 www.brotherhoodcrusade.org

In Concert: Sinbad 9pm • $38-$58 Saban Theater 8440 Wilshire Blvd Beverly Hills Contact: (323) 655-0111 www.sabantheater.com Atherton Baptist Church Christmas Celebration 7pm • $25-$45 Double Tree by Hilton Hotel 21333 Hawthorne Blvd Torrance www.athertonbc.org In Concert: Melba Moore (Through Sat, Dec 10) 8:30pm • $30 - $50 Catalina Bar & Grill 6725 W. Sunset Blvd www.catalinajazzclub.com

Saturday, Dec. 10 In Concert: Colors of

EvENT SPOTLIGHT Friday, December 16 In Concert: Dave Koz Christmas Tour With Jonathan Butler, Kenny Lattimore and Ashford & Simpson’s Valerie Simpson (Through Saturday) 8pm • $55–$100 Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts 12700 Center Court Drive Contact: (562) 916-8500 www.cerritoscenter.com

L.A. Focus/December 2016

Gabby Douglas poses on the red carpet at the Country Music Awards last month.

16

e ttle risqu gets a li ards. n o s n e H w .

Music A Taraji P merican at the A

in her baby bump Ciara shows off ite wh d an k ac bl ed this sophistocat ds. ar Aw ic erican Mus dress at the Am

Keri Hilso n made ch ic look ea the L.A. p sy at remiere o f “Almost Christma s”

Kimberly Elise dressed for the season in red at the L.A. premiere of “Almost Christmas”

Newly divorced Phaedra Parks sported a whole new look with the return of Bravo’s “Real Housewives of Atlanta”

Christmas With Peabo Bryson, Melissa Manchester, Ruben Studdard, Oleta Adams and John Secada 8pm • $55–$100 Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts 12700 Center Court Drive Contact: (562) 916-8500 www.cerritoscenter.com In Concert: Snoop Dogg Featuring Too $hort, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, DJ Quik, Warren G & more 7:30pm • $42 - $240 Microsoft Theater 777 Chick Hearn Court Contact: (213) 763-6020 www.microsofttheater.com 5th Annual Black Businesswomen Rock!

Conference & Expo 2016 For established and aspiring women in business, & anyone seeking growth and access to resources and business opportunities $49 - $55 • 9am - 4pm Renaissance Hotel 9620 Airport Blvd www.BlackBusinessWome nRock.com

Highlander Auditorium 850 N. San Antonio Ave Upland Tickets: (951) 317-2155 www.affordablemusicproductions.com Education Town Hall— South Los Angeles Features: Childcare, Lunch Raffle & Door Prizes 11am – 2pm • Free Watts Labor Community Action Committee 800 E. 11th Place RSVP: (323) 546-4705 Marina Del Rey Holiday Boat Parade & Fireworks Free • 5:55pm – 6pm: Fireworks Show 6pm – 8pm: 54th Annual Boat Parade Burton Chace Park 13650 Mindanao Way http://mdrboatparade.org Councilman Marqueece Harris-Dawson & City of L.A. Hosts “A Winter Wonderland Holiday Event” at Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza Features: snow sledding, food trucks, live music, photo booth, S’mores bar, giveaways and more Noon – 4pm • Free 3650 W. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd

Info: (323) 290-6636 www.baldwinhillscrenshawplaza.com Wonderful Christ With Virtuous Women Speaker: Judge Mablean West Angeles COGIC Crystal Room 3045 Crenshaw Blvd 8:30am – Noon • $35 Info: (323) 733-8300 Sylvia Reid

Sunday, December 11 Pastor Appreciation Day for Rev. Reuben & Sister Joyce Ford Guest Speaker: Lisa Collins First AME Santa Monica 3PM • Free 1823 Michigan Avenue Santa Monica Contact: (310) 450-0331 Afrolicious Hair & Beauty Expo Hair convention featuring natural hair care, techniques and styles 11am – 5pm • $5 - $400 Info: (424) 262-AFRO L.A. Convention Center 1201 S. Figueroa Street AfroliciousHairAffair.com

$25–$125 Staples Center 1111 S. Figueroa Street Tickets: (888) 929-7849 www.disneyonice.com

9pm • $48-$78 Saban Theater 8440 Wilshire Blvd Beverly Hills Contact: (323) 655-0111

Friday, December 16

Special Needs Network hosts 8th Annual Christmas Care Exchange + Toy Give-Away Brunch with Santa 9AM – 4PM • Free (Registration required) 5300 Angeles Vista Blvd Contacts: (323) 291-7100 www.snnla.org

On Stage: "Hot Chocolate Nutcracker" presented by The Debbie Allen’s Dance Academy (Through Sat., Dec. 17) Fri: 7:30pm•Sat: 1PM/7PM $34–$125 Dorothy Chandler Pavillion 135 North Grand Avenue Contact: (310) 972-8550 http://www.musiccenter.org /hotchocolate Greater Zion Church Family Christmas Gala 7:00pm • $65 for adults, $30 children Torrance Marriott Hotel 3635 Fashion Way Info: (310) 639-5535 www.greaterzionchurchfamily.com

Saturday, December 17 Boxing: Bernard “The Executioner” Hopkins Vs. Joe Smith Jr. 3pm • $25–$205 The Forum 3900 W Manchester Blvd www.fabulousforum.com

Wednesday, December 21 In Concert: Sweet Honey In The Rock 8pm•$37-$97 Walt Disney Concert Hall 111 South Grand Ave www.laphil.com

Saturday, December 24 57th Annual L.A. County Holiday Celebration Features music ensembles, choirs & dance companies from around the city 3pm–6pm • Free (first come, first seated) Music Center Dorothy Chandler Pavilion 135 N. Grand Avenue Contact: (213) 972-3099 www.lacountyarts.org

around los angeles

In Concert: Mary Wilson & the Supremes, Eddie Holman, The Original Tymes & The Clovers 7PM

Thursday, December 15

Disney On Ice: Worlds of Enchantment (Thru Sun., December 18)

Freda Payne shows she’s still got it as she hits the red carpet at the Annual Heroes and Legends Ball

15th Annual Kwanzaa Heritage Festival & Block Parade (Thru January 1) Candle lighting, live music, drum circle, authentic crafts & food court 10am–7pm • Free Leimert Park Village 4330 Degnan Blvd Contact: (323) 789-0580 www.kwanzaaheritage.org

Friday, December 30 In Concert: War 8pm • $37.50–$52.50 (with dinner $30 more) Grove of Anaheim 2200 E. Katella Avenue Tickets: (714) 712-2700 www.citynationalgroveofanaheim.com

Sunday, January 1 Annual Prayer Bowl Preaching Lineup includes Pastors Jamal Bryant, Melvin Wade, Miquail Broadus, Michael Fisher and Wayne Chaney Host: Pastor Xavier Thompson Free • 9am Mt. Moriah MBC 4269 S. Figueroa Street Information: (323) 8461950

In Concert: Tower of Power

d wife, Latanya Samuel L. Jackson an nual NAACP An th 26 arrive at the month.

Theatre Awards last

Valerie Ashford and Jayne Kennedy pose together at the An nual Heroes & Legends Ball

L.A. Focus/December 2016

L.A. Ruth Negga attends ”. ing ov “L of e ier em Pr

Monday, December 26

17

Re d Carpet Style

OMAROSA MARIGAULT dazzles in a blue sparkly full length gown laced up on the sides.

ELISE NEAL In an all-white long-sleeve jumpsuit with a long train andsexy cutouts on the side

Talk about a wild red carpet. The stars showed off their eclectic styles as they arrived in Las Vegas for the Soul Train Awards last month.

JILL SCOTT TAMAR BRAXTON In a 70â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s retro style floral print In an elegant one-shoulder maxi dress and matching gown with a bedazzled bodice headpiece and a high slit up the front

ERYKAH BADU Is killing it in her one-of-a-kindlemon inspired gown by Ralph and Russo

Eye On Gospel One Way To The Top Grammy Award® Nominee Tamela Mann debuted her "God Provides" music video on Today.com last month following her electric, up-tempo, full-band performance of "One Way" on Today on NBC. Written and produced by Kirk Franklin, the No. 1 single "God Provides" is the sophomore single from Tamela's Billboard chart-topping No. 1 album One Way. Tamela set a historic personal and industry record as the first Gospel lead artist in Billboard Gospel radio chart history to score three consecutive No. 1's from an album with the release of Best Days. The string of hits includes "Take Me To The King," "I Can Only Imagine," and "This Place." Tamela and husband and business partner, actor David Mann, star in It's A Mann's World and Mann & Wife (Bounce TV), both in production on third seasons.

Tamela's fourth solo studio album One Way is available online and in stores..

Vashawn M i t c h e l l Celebrates Milestone

Congratulations to Vashawn Mitchell who celebrated his first #1 debut on Billboard’s Top

Gospel Albums chart with the release of Secret Place: Live In South Africa, soars to the top spot on this week’s Billboard Top Gospel Chart.

Mitchell’s passion for equipping the next generation of worshippers is evident on his seventh album. Energized by the first single, “Joy,” which is climbing at radio, Secret Place: Live In South Africa, connects with audiences around the globe as Mitchell to toured Africa in September, and kicked off the domestic leg of the “Secret Place Tour” last month in Chicago.

“Last year, I heard God say, ‘Record and release this next project in South Africa’ and in that moment I knew I had no choice to obey Him. What I didn’t know was where the road ahead of “yes” would take me and my team,” said VaShawn. “Having this project debut at number 1 is an incredible honor and is a sign of the plans God had for this body of work … let’s keep inviting the world to experience the secret place.”

Kenny Lattimore Shows Gospel Roots With New Christmas CD Kenny Lattimore had made his first foray into the holiday genre with the release of A Kenny Lattimore Christmas. The multi-talented crooner has been beloved by audiences since his debut Grammy-nominated hit "For You" and has remained a mainstay in R&B music. With A Kenny Lattimore Christmas, he offers timeless music for the holidays and blends Christmas classics and creative originals.

Working with multiple Grammy Award winner Aaron Lindsey on production, the partnership delivers brilliant creativity in making well-known standards Lattimore’s own. “We were able to talk conceptually about lyrics and the purpose of the songs,” said Lattimore. “He is the kind of producer that allows an artist to fly… be in their most comfortable place of creativity and expression.”

A Kenny Lattimore Christmas offers renditions of beloved classics “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas,” a modern R&B interpretation of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,” a jazz-leaning “I’ll Be Home for

Christmas” and an ethereal version of “O Holy Night.”

Lattimore’s offering is a perfect complement to any holiday collection.

Showing range, Lattimore explains, “‘O Holy Night’ is my favorite Christmas song of all time, and I wanted it to sound like an aria ... while Aaron helped me bring R&B /Soul to ‘God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,’ I feel like this album gave me the ability to cross genres from Jazz, R&B, Classical and Gospel to show my versatility as a vocalist.”

Lattimore co-wrote the six original songs. His gospel roots are palpable on “We Want To See You,” a soaring and powerful song about seeking Jesus, who is the ultimate reason for the season, as well as “I Cry Holy,” which Lattimore sings with genuine emotion. With “I Cry Holy,” Lattimore explained he “wanted to tell the Christmas story in a way that would evoke seeing Christ after His birth and understanding the significance of that moment.” moment.”

Briefly: The Grammy® Award-nominated gospel trio, The Rance Allen Group, has debuted at No. 7 on Billboard Magazine’s Top Gospel Albums sales chart with its 25th album Live From San Francisco. “The theme really is to be encouraged in a very kind of depressed time,” says Rance Allen who sees parallels between today’s social climate and that of when his group was formed during the Civil Rights and Vietnam eras. “It’s a time of unusual stress with all of the killings going on, the political mess that’s going on and there’s just so many people who have just moved away from trusting God and believing in Jesus Christ. Our job of encouraging and uplifting will never be done. We’ll have to keep working on this until the Lord comes to take us home.”…Finally, for years, Allegro Nevella toured with her sister, Yolanda Adams, and other top artists including Kirk Franklin, Donnie McClurkin, Anthony Evans and Smokie Norful. Now the artist is releasing a new single entitled “Alright.” The single, distributed by eOne, is available on iTunes, EMusic and Amazon.

20

L.A. Focus/December 2016

Through the Storm Star Parker: Former Addict Turns Activist isit the Facebook page of political activist Star Parker and there’s no denying she’s a dedicated Black Conservative Christian. A significant number of posts loudly voice her opposition to Planned Parenthood’s agenda, she advocates hard for religious freedom, defends the Republican Party and fights passionately against poverty.

Parker, 60, is the founder and president of the Center for Urban Renewal and Education (CURE), a public policy think tank that promotes market-based solutions to fight poverty. She’s a successful business woman, bestselling author, and an in-demand syndicated columnist. Her commitment to policy issues, the Christian faith and professional achievements are all a direct result of her having survived a debauched life of sex, crime, multiple abortions and welfare abuse.

For years, and on various platforms, Parker has openly told the story of how as early as age twelve–while going through her rebellious tomboy phase–she ran the streets of East St. Louis beating up people with thugs who mentored her in breaking and entering and armed robbery. This was the period after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. where anger and tensions were high among blacks around the country. It was also Parker’s first exposure to institutional racism, and she found that reason enough to join in the violence and mayhem with her peers.

“Anything that was dared I did,” reveals Parker who was raised by non-Christian career-driven parents.

S h e

V

Part Time Clerical Position

Local church is seeking a highly skilled, clerical professional for office support. Hours are Monday-Friday. Pay will be commensurate with experience. Interview by appointment only.

• Minimum of three year’s experience.

• Must be computer literate and proficient in Microsoft Office, Excel, PowerPoint and Word Publisher.

• Strong verbal/written communications skills is a MUST! • Ability to work well with others, a self-starter and fast learner.

Send resume, with salary history by mail or email to: faithinsp@aol.com Faith Inspirational M.B.C. 357 E. Palmer St • Compton, CA 90221 Attn: Selection Committee

rarely saw her father who was in the Air Force and her mother was always working to help make ends meet.

“We were wild and I was the middle child so I was evenwilder than the wild ones,” she said.

By the time Parker, born Larstella Irby, reached her late teens she’d gone from breaking into homes and robbing liquor stores to becoming sexually active with multiple male partners. When her family moved to Mount Holly, New Jersey, there she met and dated an older White military officer who pressured her into sex. That was a point when Parker’s pleasure seeking course shifted direction.

After graduating from high school she took a job as a record store clerk and saved up $300 to fund her relocation to Los Angeles, and her glamourous pipedream of dancing on Don Cornelius’ Soul Train. “…rather than living the criminal lifestyle I started living the sexual life,” says Parker who made the trek across country by stealing her brother’s car and convincing two friends to journey with her.

Basking in the life of an L.A. based party girl, Parker got pregnant and used a girlfriend's medical welfare sticker to pay for her abortion. “A few months later I got pregnant again and went on welfare for two months to collect some money, then had another abortion,” she describes in an interview with Christianity Today.

Parker shared that when a worker at the clinic asked, "Weren't you just here?" she started to feel empty and convicted about undergoing three abortions within four years all paid for with government funds. After a fourth abortion she made up in her mind she could no longer justify continuously killing her offspring. Although by this time she was well equipped at working the system, Parker recalls the simple question that went through her mind and changed her life, “I just said [to myself] ‘what are you doing?’”

On her fifth pregnancy, Parker chose not to abort and gave birth to her first baby girl, Angel, while continuing to accept welfare. She sought employment but wanted to be paid off the books so she could keep the government funds coming into her household. When she applied for a job at a Christian-owned advertising firm, Parker was denied an opportunity because she was told they only hire Christians. “I was like, what? I challenged them and they challenged me back telling me my lifestyle was unacceptable to God. I got out of there…”

It wasn’t long after that encounter that Parker found herself in a worship service at Crenshaw Christian Center, at the invitation of the ad firm owners. “I went over there, I heard the Gospel and it was eye opening,” she recalls. A feeling of peace came over her during that experience and she decided to became a follower of Jesus Christ.

With her life on an entirely new path, Parker thought it would be a good move to enroll in college at Woodberry University and pursue a degree in marketing and international business. After graduating she went into business and founded a Christian social magazine called NFTA (No Forsaking the Assembling) based on

GERALD BELL Contributor

“

You look back once you get saved and it's like the Lord shows you what could have happened to you.” She continues, “I didn’t get scared, I got thankful that He would pull me out.”

”

Hebrews 10:25. The publication promoted Christian events happening in the L.A. area but also dealt with controversial issues like abortion and homosexuality.

Her business fell victim to the Rodney King verdict riots of 1992, but that created an opportunity for Parker to be heard on talk radio about the poverty and rampant crime in LA’s African-American community.

“The riots opened the door for me to say, look! This city did not burn down because of white people. The city burned down because we got problems that are systemic and we have not addressed them as a community of people,” remembers Parker who went on to emerge as black community voice on the college lecture circuit. Her voice got even louder when making television appearances on the Oprah Winfrey Show, Politically Incorrect and several cable network news programs.

Parkers roots in social activism and reform continue to deepen. Alongside her advocacy work at CURE, she coleads Black Community News, a conservative Christian news and opinion blog that many of her Facebook posts direct followers to. "One of the first steps out of poverty is self-government,” Parker tells CNSNews.com.

“Understanding that each and every one of us has an obligation to each other and to the Lord to be self-sufficient and to be responsible with the choices that we make."

In 2010, she was an unsuccessful Republican nominee for the United States House of Representatives in California's 37th District. This outcome for Parker resulted in her continuing to fight for the challenges she faced on her personal journey. She speaks to audiences of young women about her crime-filled past and how it was met with abortions, welfare dependency, armed robbery arrest and a failed marriage.

“I know people who died in that same lifestyle,” Parker exclaims. “But you don’t know it while you are living it. You look back once you get saved and it's like the Lord shows you what could have happened to you.”

She continues, “I didn’t get scared, I got thankful that He would pull me out and so that’s why you see passion because it's like gosh Lord! There really is a special [something] to me.”

ChurchNews Blake Re-Elected Presiding Bishop of Church Of God In Christ

T

he General Assembly, the Legislative Body of the Church of God in Christ, has re-elected Bishop Charles E. Blake, Sr. to the Office of Presiding Bishop during its 109th Holy Convocation held last month in St. Louis. As leader of the church's Executive Branch, he is responsible for the day-today operations of the nearly 6.5 million-member church.

"Serving as Presiding Bishop of the Church of God in Christ is an incredible honor,” said Blake, of the fifth largest Protestant religious denomination in the United States with churches in 83 countries worldwide “Thank you for re-electing me as your leader. This is the greatest church in the world. I am looking forward to serving this great denomination as its leader during the next quadrennial and continuing to make a meaningful global impact."

2016 General Assembly delegates elected two new members—Bishops Darrell Hines (Milwaukee) and Matthew Williams (Tampa)— to the General Board, with 10 returning incumbents, including Bishop J. Drew Sheard, Bishop Jerry W. Macklin, Bishop Sedgwick Daniels, and Bishop George D. McKinney.

Thompson Appointed to Civilian Oversight Commission Xavier Thompson, senior pastor of the Southern/St. Paul Church and president of the Baptist Minister’s Conference of Southern California has been appointed to serve on the first ever Civilian Oversight Commission for the Sheriff’s Department, with a mandate to promote transparency in law enforcement and restore public trust.

Thompson is one of just nine members appointed to the commission.

Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, principal author of the motion that created the Commission, said, “Civilians must play a critical role in holding law enforcement to the highest standards of constitutional policing. This Commission will bring new ideas to the forefront, establish new discourse, and bring new urgency in finding solutions.”

Sheriff Jim McDonnell embraced the Commission, saying, “I anticipate that our working relationship will be very much a partnership.”

“I’m honored to have been selected and excited to serve on this historic commission” Thompson said. “I believe my contribution can be of value in these difficult times, particularly on issues such as racial profiling and police brutality.”

Broadous To Be Installed Senior Pastor At Calvary Baptist in Pacoima Bishop Miquail Broadous is set to be installed on Sunday, December 11 as senior pastor of the Calvary Baptist Church in Pacoima, a church pastored by his father, the late William T. Broadous until his death in May. Describing it as a milestone moment for him, Broadous said, “I’m taking on the leadership of legendary leaders—standing on their shoulders. I grew up in the church and my grandfather organized the church. After he went home to be with the Lord, my Dad took over and pastored there for 34 years, so I’m continuing the legacy.

“The church has been around for continued to page 26

Amen L.A. (Affirming Ministry Enlightening Nations) 1455 W. 94th St. Los Angeles, CA 90047 (323) 229-9351 • www.amenla.org Rev. Dr. DiAnn L. Johnson Sunday Morning Worship: 9:30am-10:30am PTP / Preach the word- Teach the word - practice the word

Bethel AME Church of Los Angeles 7900 South Western Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90047 (323) 750-3240 • www.bethelamela.org Rev. Kelvin T. Calloway Early Worship: 7:45 am Morning Worship: 10:45am Mid-week “Hour of Power” (Wed): noon

Bethel Missionary Baptist Church of South L.A. 10905 S. Compton Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90059 (323) 566.5286 Pastor Reginald A. Pope Sunday School: 9:30am Morning Worship: 8am • 11am Children’s Church: 11am (2nd/4th Sundays) Evangelism Training/Bible Study/Independent Prayer: (Mon): 7:29pm Mobile Prayer/Bible Study: (Wed) 11am Book by Book Bible Study (Wed.): 6:30pm Bethesda Temple Church Apostolic Faith 4909 Crenshaw Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90043 (323) 299-2591 Interim Pastor Robert Lockett Sunday School: 9:40am Morning Worship: 11am Evening Worship: 6pm Bible Study (Wed): 7pm Prayer (Sat): 7am Evening Prayer (Mon.): 6:30pm

Crenshaw Christian Center 7901 South Vermont, Los Angeles, CA 90044 (323) 758-3777 • F: (323)565-4231 • www.faithdome.org Rev. Frederick Price Jr. Sunday Service: 10am Bible Study (Tue): 11am & 7pm Tue. Night Kidz Unlocked: 7pm Tue. Night Bible Study (Teens): 7pm Alcohol & Drug Abuse Program (Wed): 7pm Intercessory Prayer (Wed.): 7:30pm Prayer & Praise (Thurs.): 6:30pm First AME Church (FAME) 2270 South Harvard Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90018 (323) 735-1251 • F: (323) 735-3353 • www.famechurch.org Pastor J. Edgar Boyd, Senior Pastor/CEO Sunday School: 10am Worship: 8am, 10am, Noon Teen Church (2nd Sundays):Noon,Allen House Wed. Prayer Service: Noon Wed. Bible Study: 7pm Radio: 10:30am on KJLH-102.3FM First AME is the oldest Black Church in the City Grace Temple Baptist Church 7017 South Gramercy Place, Los Angeles, CA 90047 (323) 971-8192 Bishop Miquail M. Broadous Sr., Senior Pastor Sunday School: 9am Morning Worship: 10:00am Wednesday Worship: 6:45pm E-Mail: gtbcla@gmail.com Grace United Methodist Church 4112 West Slauson Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90043 (323) 294-6653 • F: (323) 294-8753 • graceumc1@earthlink.net Rev. Pastor Paul A. Hill • www.graceumcla.com Early Morning Worship: 7:45am Sunday School: 9:45am Morning Worship: 10:45am Wed. Bible Study: Noon & 7pm Fri. Alcoholic Anonymous: 7pm Tues. Prayer Fellowship: 6:30pm Super Seniors (Thurs/Bi-Monthly): 10:30am Follow us on Facebook

Bethlehem Temple Church, INC. 958 East 52nd Street Los Angeles, CA 90011 (323) 232-8429 www.bethlehemtemplela.org Pastor Elder Gentry Richardson, Jr. Sunday: Christian Education: 9am Morning Worship: 11am PYPU (youth services): 4:30pm Evening Worship: 6pm (5pm 5th Sun.) Monday Prayer Revival: 7pm Wednesday Ministerial/Teacher’s Prep. Class: Noon; Bible Class: 7:45pm

Greater Ebenezer Baptist Church 5300 S. Denker Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90062 (323) 759-4996 Dr. Solomon Drake

Bryant Temple AME Church 2525 W. Vernon Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90008 (323) 293-6201 • F: (323) 293-0082 Pastor Dwain Jackson

Holman United Methodist Church 3320 W. Adams Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90018 (323) 731-7285 • F: (323) 731-2609 • www.holmanumc.com Rev. Kelvin Sauls

Sunday School: 10am Early Worship: 8am Morning Worship: 10:30 am Bible Study (Tues): Noontime Pastor’s Bible Study( Tues): 7pm

Christ The Good Shepherd Episcopal Church 3303 W. Vernon Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90008 (323) 295-4139 • F: (323) 295-4681 Rev. Joseph Oloimooja Sunday School: 10am Early Worship: 8am Morning Worship: 10am Mon. Centering Prayer/Meditation: 6:30pm Mon. Overeaters Anonymous: 7pm Wed. Bible Study & Eucharist: 7pm Wed. Alcoholic Anonymous: 7:pm E: cgshepherd4041@sbcglobal.net Congregational Church of Christian Fellowship 2085 S. Hobart Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90018 Phone: (323) 731-8869 • F: (323) 731-0851 • www.cccf-ucc.org Pastor James K. McKnight Sun. Early Worship: 8am Prayer Meeting: 10:30am Morning Worship: 11am Wed. Afternoon Bible Study: 1pm Wed. Prayer Meeting: 6pm Wed. Evening Bible Study: 7pm View Pastor McKnight’s Sermons on YouTube

Early Worship: 8am Sunday School: 9:30am Mid-Morning Worship: 11am Radio-KALI 900AM: Sun. 11-Noon, 7-8pm KTYM 1460AM Sundays: 5:30pm Bible Study (Tues, Wed & Thurs): 7pm

Sunday School: 8:00, 9:45 & 11am Jazz for Soul 2nd & 4th Thur: 6:30 pm Early Worship: 8am Morning Worship: 11am Bible Study (Thurs.): Noon Sun. Radio: KJLH 102.3FM: 11am E: Holman@holmanumc.com Liberty Baptist Church 1500 West 51st Place, Los Angeles, CA 90062 (323) 295-3866 • F: (323) 295-0366 • E: LBCwim@aol.com Rev. Terry Lovell Brown Sr. Sunday Church School: 9am Morning Worship: 10:30am & 12:30pm Wed. Bible Study: noon & 6:30pm Prayer Meeting: 6pm Follow us on Twitter @dacrossculture www.thecrossculture.org McCarty Memorial Christian Church 4101 West Adams Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90018 (323) 731-4131 Pastor Edward Anderson Sunday School: 9:30am Morning Worship: 10:45am Bible Study: Noon, Tuesdays

Miracle Center Apostolic Church 2638 S. Western Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90018 (323) 735-5121 or 735-5122 Dr. Roy S. Petitt • Sunday School: 9:30am Sunday Worship: 8am, 11am & 6pm Tues. Prayer & Bible Class: Noon Rights of Passage: 7pm Wed. Bible Study: 8pm Thurs. Prayer/Bible Class: Noon Fri. Faith Seminar: 8pm Radio KTYM-1460AM: (M-Fri.) 8am - 8:15am

One Church International 614 N. La Brea Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90036 (818) 763-4521 • www.onechurchla.org Sr. Pastor Toure’ Roberts

Mt. Moriah Baptist Church of LA, Inc. 4269 S. Figueroa St. Los Angeles, CA 90037 (323) 846-1950 Rev. Melvin V. Wade, Sr.

Paradise Baptist Church 5100 S. Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90037 (323) 231-4366 Dr. Aaron Iverson

Sunday School: 8:15am Morning Worship: 9:45am Evening Worship: 6:30pm Mid-Week Worship (Wed): 7pm Bible Study (Wed.): 8pm

Mt. Sinai Missionary Baptist Church of Los Angeles 3669 W. 54th St. Los Angeles, CA 90043 • (323) 291-1121

F: (323) 291-1133 • office@sinai.church • www.sinai.church Pastor George E. Hurtt, Pastor-Teacher Sunday Worship: 8am, 11am Discipleship Hour (Sun): 9:37am Noonday Prayer (Mon): Noon Noonday Bible Study (Tue): 12:00pm Tuesday Night in the Truth: 7:15pm Email: office@sinai.church •www.sinai.church Our Goal: To win more Christians & develop better Christians to the glory of God. (Matt. 28:18-20) Mt. Tabor Missionary Baptist Church 6614 S. Western Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90047 (323) 753-3189 • F: (323) 753-1018 • www.mttabormbc.org Dr. Ticey M. Brown, D. Min. Pastor/Teacher Early Morning Worship: 8am Sunday School: 9:30am Mid Morning Worship: 11am Tues. Bible Study: 10am & 7pm Meeting/Bible Study: 6:30pm–8pm First Sun. Communion: 8am & 11 am Baptism First Sunday

Sunday Worship: 9am, 11am & 1pm Wednesday Midweek Service: 8pm www.Channel1Live.tv—View live streaming

Pastor’s Bible Class & Sunday School: 8am Morning Worship: 9:30am Tues. Prayer: 7pm Tues. Bible Study: 8pm

Park Windsor Baptist Church 1842 W. 108th St. Los Angeles, CA 90047 (323) 756-3966 • RevTerrellTaylor@sbcglobal.net Rev. Terrell Taylor Morning Worship: 8am & 11am Bible Study Wednesday: Noon & 7pm Communion: 1st Sunday at 8am & 11am

People’s Independent Church of Christ 5856 West Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90043 • (323) 296-5776 Bishop Craig A. Worsham, Sr. Pastor Sundays: Morning Worship: 8am & 11am Wednesday Bible Study & Mid Week Worship: Noon & 7pm Prayer Meeting: 6:30pm

“You can end your search for a friendly church” Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church 1300 E. 50th Street Los Angeles, CA 90011 (323) 235-2103 • F: (323) 235-3177 • www.mtzionla.org Dr. Edward V. Hill, II, Pastor Sunday Intercessory Prayer: 9:15am Morning Worship: 9:30am Children’s Church: 9:30am Sunday School: 11:30am Baptism: 2nd Sun. & Lord’s Supper: 1st. Sun. Tues. Pastor’s Bible Study: 6:30pm Wed. Noon-day Prayer: Noon New Antioch Church of God in Christ 7826 So. Vermont Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90044 (323) 778-7965 Elder Jeffrey M. Lewis Sunday Early Morning Worship: 8am Sunday School: 9:30 am Morning Worship: 11am Tuesday Prayer and Bible Band: 11am Wednesday Bible Study: 7:30pm Wednesday in the Word: 7:30pm

New Mt. Calvary Baptist Church 402 E. El Segundo Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90061 (310)324-0644 • F: (310) 769-1287 Rev. Sonja Dawson, Senior Pastor • Rev. Lonnie Dawson, Sr., Founder (1962 - 2010)

New Pleasant Hill Missionary Baptist Church 9537 South Vermont Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90044 (323) 755-1130 or 755-1139 • F: (323)755-8961 Rev. Melvin Hill, Pastor Worship Services: 8am & 11am Sunday School: 9:30am Prayer Meeting(WED): 6:30pm Bible Study(WED): 7pm & Noon The Church where “It pays to be nice”.

www.pleasanthillbaptistchurch.org Praises of Zion Baptist Church (“Praise City” 8222 So. San Pedro Street, Los Angeles, CA 90003 (323) 750-1033 • F: (323) 750-5458 • www.pozlive.com Dr. J. Benjamin Hardwick, Sr. Pastor Early Morning Worship: 6:45am Educational Hour: 9:15am Mid-Morning Worship: 10:45am Wed. Bible Study: Noon & 7pm Sunday Broadcast: 7pm

Price Chapel AME Church 4000 W. Slauson Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90043 (323) 296-2406 • pricechapel@sbcglobal.net Rev. Benjamin Hollins Sunday Worship Service: 10am Sunday School: 8:30am Power Lunch Bible Study (Wed): 11am Praise & Worship Bible Study (Wed): 6:30pm

St. Mark Missionary Baptist Church 5017 S. Compton Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90011 (323) 231-1040 • stmarkmbcofla.org Rev. Dr. Lovely Haynes Sunday Morning Worship: 8am & 11am Sunday School: 9:30am Mon-Wed: Prayer Bible Study: 6pm - 6:55 pm Mon. Night Bible Study: 7pm Tue Choir Rehersal Wednesday Prayer: Noon Wed. Exposition of Sunday School Lesson: 7pm • Wed. Prayer Meeting: 7pm Thurs. Evangelism: 7pm (enrollment required)

Robin Aaron Renewed Mind Ministry When Robin Aaron and her husband Thomas joined Renewed Mind Ministry, they had no idea that he would be pastoring the church some months later. Her husband, who had pastored years earlier believed that chapter of his life to be over and being a first lady was the last thing on Robin’s mind, “but” Aaron said, “God had a different plan” and he was installed in April.

Just as quickly, the Howard University Alum — who holds Master’s Degree in Education and works with Los Angeles Unified School District as a district administrator for the Division of Special Education—has made the adjustment.

“I like being a first lady. I’m a behind the scenes person, so I’ve had to step out of my comfort zone. But it’s a small family church and everyone is so comfortable and while I do feel I need to have a role in the church, but I don’t need the praise and accolades.

As first lady, the mother of four (Thomas, Elijah, Joshua, and Khloe) has devoted herself to developing the children’s ministry and enriching the lives of children through Sunday School, and other outreach programs the Renewed Mind Ministry supports.

“The most challenging thing is having the time to do all the things I want to do. I’m trying to give 100% everywhere and it’s hard, but I enjoy the challenge of collaborating with people to come up with new ways to grow the church. Being a first lady to me means showing people —churched and unchurched—by example what it means to love and serve the Lord.”

St. Matthew Tabernacle of Praise “The S.T.O.P.” 3770 Santa Rosalia Dr. Baldwin Hills, CA 90008 (323) 291-1115 • F: (323) 293-0471 Rev. C.Barry Greene, Pastor Morning Worship: 8am Church School Hour: 10:15am Tuesday Hour of Power: 7pm www.thechurchstop.org E: thechurchstop@yahoo.com pastorcbgreene@aol.com Southern Saint Paul Church 4678 West Adams Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90016 (323) 731-2703 • F: (323) 737-5202 • smbcla@gmail.com Rev. Xavier L. Thompson, Sr. Pastor L.I.F.E. Groups Sundays: 8:00am Saint Paul Campus:9:00am Baptism & Communion (First Sunday): 5pm Word Wednesday: 6:45pm “One Church For All Generations”

Trinity Baptist Church 2040 West Jefferson Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90018 (323) 735-0044 • F: (323) 735-0219 Rev. Alvin Tunstill, Jr Sunday Worship: 7:30 & 10:30am Sunday Church School: 9am Radio Broadcast KJLH FM: 9am Wed. Prayer & Bible Study: Noon-7pm www.trinitybaptistchurchofla.org UpLift Christian Fellowship 4745 W. Slauson Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90056 (310) 927-3476 Pastor Anthony Thompson Sunday Worship: 10am Bible Study Wednesday: 7pm

Weller Street Baptist Church 129 S. Gless St, Los Angeles, CA 90033 (323) 261-0949 • F: (323)264-6601 • www.wellerstreetlive.com Pastor K.W. Tulloss Sunday School: 8am Sunday Morning Worship: 9am Tues. Bible Study: 6:45pm www.wellerstreetlive.com “We have not walked this way before” Joshua 3:1-6

L.A. Focus/December 2016

Morning Worship: 7:30am & 10:45am Sunday School: 9:45am Wed. Prayer/Bible Study: Noon Pastor’s Bible Study: 7pm

Pleasant Hill Baptist Church 2009 W. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90062 (323) 293-6448 • F: (323) 293-6605 Dr. Sylvester Washington Sunday School: 8am Morning Worship: 10am Tues. Bible Study: 11am Wed. Evangelism Class: 6:30pm First Sun. Holy Communion Service: 4pm

First Lady Files

23

West Angeles Church of God In Christ 3045 Crenshaw Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90016 (323) 733-8300 Bishop Charles E. Blake

Peace Apostolic Church 21224 Figueroa Street, Carson, CA 90745 (310) 212-5673 Suff. Bishop Howard A. Swancy

Sunday School: 8am & 10:30am Early Worship: 8am Morning Worship: 11am Evening Worship (North Campus): 7pm Wed. Mid-Week Worship: 7pm Sun. Radio Broadcast KJLH 102.3FM: 10am www.westa.tv Lifeline Fellowship Christian Center 2556 N. Lake Ave., Altadena, CA 91001 (626) 797-3585 • F: (626) 797-3233 • www.lifelinefcc.org Pastor Charles D. Dorsey Sunday School: 9am Early Worship (Glory Prayer): 8am Morning Worship: 10:30am Evening Worship (1st & 2nd Sun.): 5pm Wed. Bible Study: 7pm

In Carson

Judson Baptist Church 451 E. 223rd St, Carson, CA 90745 (310) 834-2630 • F: (310) 513-0943 • www.judsonbc.net Dr. Johnny V. Baylor, Pastor/Teacher

Sunday Worship Service: 9:30am Children’s Church (Except 5th Sun): 9:30am 2nd & 4th Sun. Speak Life Youth Ministry: 12:30pm Wed. Bible Study: Noon Streaming live at judsonbclive.net

Sunday School: 10am Morning Worship: 11:45am Evening Worship: 6:30pm Wed. Noon Day Bible Class: 12:30pm Wed. Bible Class: 7:30pm Resurrection Church L.A. 1135 East Janis St. Carson, CA 90746 Office Address: 1143 East Janis St. Carson, 90746 (310) 626-4864 • www.resurrectionchurchla.org Pastor Joseph Carlos Robinson Service times: 8am, 10am, 12:15pm Communion: every 5th Sunday Tuesday Bible Class: 7:30pm

Citizens of Zion Missionary Baptist Church In Compton 12930 No. Lime Ave., Compton, CA 90221 (310) 638-0536 • F: (323) 636-2080 • www.citizensofzion.org Rev. Bobby Newman, Jr., Senior Pastor; Rev. B.T. Newman, Pastor (Pastor Emeritus) Sunday School: 9am Morning Service: 10:45am Wed. Mid-Week Bible Study: 7pm

Greater Zion Church Family 2408 North Wilmington Avenue, Compton, CA 90222 (310) 639-5535 • E: GreaterZionCF@gmail.com Reverend Michael J. Fisher & Dr. W. Jerome Fisher, Pastor Emeritus Sunday Morning Worship: 9am, 11am & 5pm Wed. Bible Studies: Noon-7pm www.greaterzionchurchfamily.com

Holy Chapel Baptist Church 1016 East Rosecrans Ave. Compton, CA 90220 (310) 537-3149 Rev. George L. Thomas Early Morning Worship: 7:30am Sunday School: 9:45 & 10:15am Mid Morning Worship: 10:45 am 1st. Sun. Holy Communion: 7:30 & 10:45 am Sat. Broadcast KTYM 1460AM: 10-11pm Wed. Mid-Week Prayer & Bible Study: 7pm

Love and Unity Christian Fellowship 1840 S. Wilmington Ave, P.O. Box 5449, Compton 90220 (310) 604-5900 Fax: (310) 604-5915 Dr. Ron C Hill Sunday Morning Worship: 8am & 11:30am Sunday Evening Worship: 6:30pm Bible Studies: Wed. 7:30pm & Sat. 9am Food for Your Soul Radio & Television Ministry: KTYM 1460AM: Mon - Fri. 6:30am Church Channel: Tues. 5:30pm & Fri. 2:30pm

Pastor Profile: John Edward Cager III Church: Ward AME Church Hometown: Cleveland, Ohio Education: Fuller Seminary How Long at church: 20 months Family: Married 23 years to wife Kinette, two adult children, 5-year-old granddaughter Chaser You were doing well at Second AME and Ward was facing some pretty significant challenges when you got the appointment—what were your thoughts on moving and how are things going?

I was saddened to leave Second AME because we had done so much work and I didn’t get a chance to finish the program that I had started there but the opportunity to bring healing and wholeness to one of our historical churches like Ward was a challenge I could not refuse.

When I got here, the church was facing foreclosure and needed to heal from a number of different traumas that had been afflicted through some bad pastoral assignments. I found people who had been taken advantage of and misused. But God had preserved them to the point that I could come in and bring a healing spirit and within the 20 months that I have been here I have seen the spirit of God manifest itself so much.

Does Ward still have standing as one of the city’s leading historical churches?

Ward had established a history in over 115 years of being a church that had been active in the community. Spiritually, politically and in an every area of black Los Angeles life, Ward had been a major actor.

Many remember Maxine Waters when she was a member here. She started the Ricky Ross investigation at Ward. In 1987, after seven homeless people froze to death, the City Council reached out for people to do

something and Ward opened up its sanctuary and started hosting people nightly. That started what is now called the city’s Shelter project. I determined that Ward had gotten away from that spirit of doing ministry to the least, the lost and the left behind, so the first program I brought in as the new pastor at Ward was to reinstate the winter shelter program. We are going to open up our doors to 150 homeless people nightly from the beginning of December to the end of February and we've asked each of the church’s auxiliaries to focus on helping others. We are determined that our healing comes from spreading the power of the Holy Spirit to those who need it.

While the church took some serious body blows with the scandal, the members who remained faithful did not let the bad things that happened to their church affect their faith in God. How did it affect membership in terms of numbers?

The church saw a membership exodus in the period right before I got to Ward.

What are you doing to counter balance what has happened?

I made sure we made a commitment to transparency.

Members can actually go on Ward’s website and see the audit reports. We believe that when people see what is happening and have confidence that the right thing is happening with the financial resources, they will continue to trust the church with those resources. In that same fashion, we don’t do things of secret.

We have all the required church meetings and make sure members give their input. By being participatory they become stakeholders, not just people who come and sing and shout on Sundays and leave.

How many of the members who have exited have come back?

Probably 15-20% of those who have left have returned, but that is not our focus. When I walked into that church the average age of the congregation was 67 and the focus is not to ignore our older members but to make the church multi-generational, so we have to make the church hospitable and friendly to younger people. The issue we have in the black churches, in general, is a divide between the millennials, so our focus is not so much recapturing lost members but bringing in new members.

How has that been working for you?

That’s actually been working as we have seen a number of new faces. In 2017 we want to add 100 new families.

We know people over the age 50 normally don’t leave their churches unless there has been trauma or they’ve moved, so we’re focusing on those under 50 who are unchurched using the tools of technology—text messages, Facebook and social media. We understand that millennials have run their lives on a 2 ½ X 6 inch telephone screen. If that’s the way we need to get church to them, Ward is getting ready to do that.

How is that reflected in your services?

We are changing the way we do service. There are times in our services where we’ll stop and encourage our members to post selfies of themselves in church and send the pictures to their friends via text messages. We have members who will Facebook live or periscope the service. Some of the people in my generation don’t understand it and we tell them its okay, you don’t have to participate, but let the folks who understand it participate. Sometimes we’ll offer a social media class for our older members to get comfortable with technology as well, but too many of us have fallen in love with the church of our youth when we need to focus on the church of our times.

What was the motivation behind this change?

We looked at what’s working in churches that are growing—those churches bringing in millennials. When God gives inspirations, he doesn’t give inspiration for one person to use at one church in one region. We're not doing it enough in some of our churches, but there are people who are taking advantage of the new technologies to grow their churches.

What was church like for you growing up?

I am the grandson of a preacher who pastored for 62 years. The church I grew up in was in walking distance of my house. Did I want to go to church? Of course, not, but because my grandmother was the first lady and my mother was the choir director and Sunday school superintendent, if the church was open, I was there.

When did you know you were going to be a pastor?

My grandfather told me that I was going to be a preacher at 14. I did not believe him, but at 26 years old, I had an encounter with a gentleman by the name of Cecil Murray who said my grandfather was right. And when the Holy Spirit came, it came with such power and authority that I did not question it and have not looked back. That’s been 27 years.

Pastor continued to page 26

From the Pulpit: Uplift Christian Fellowship

W

hat makes God pick up the phone?

What pulls us away from our lives of mass distractions? What draws our attention from lesser pursuits and preoccupations of life? What makes heavens’ host stand at attention?

Prayer moves the hand of heaven and the heart of God. Prayer shifts realities.

Prayer shifts the atmosphere in our favor.

When we pray it awakens heaven and hell.

Sometimes God brings events in our lives that force us to pray—uncertain circumstances that come into our midst to get our attention. The results of this past election season have been unsettling, unnerving, and off-setting for many. The good news is that there is still a place where we can find calm in the storm. God is a fixed nexus when the variables around us are shifting.

When we are not so sure about what’s happening around us, He is an anchor in the time of a storm. He is the anchor for our soul. He is our anchor of hope.

If we deliberately, sincerely, and humbly seek His face, the Bible says He will hear us and will restore and heal our land.

Prayer needs to be our top priority as a nation. Prayer is seeking His face in the midst of uncertain times, a shifting culture and a sinful world.

The Bible points us back to God posthaste and says this is your top priority, your first directive, and should be your total preoccupation. All faces bombarding heaven in worship and all knees on the ground.

We are to seek a God who hears and answers our prayer when we call. We can get some divine directives today. We can receive some insider trading from heaven.

We can get the clear commands of scripture from the director and orchestrator of all

The City of Refuge 14527 S. San Pedro Street, Gardena, CA 90248 (310) 516-1433 Bishop Noel Jones

events.

Second Chronicles 7:14 gives us four imperatives of prayer.

1. The Right Patriarchal Relationship “If my people who are called by my name” Action hinges on the condition of duty.

Change is activated on a two-letter word.

The atmosphere shifts and realities are regulated and floodgate are unhinged by the word “if.”

The Bibles says that God has come into relationship with us and has given us His name. That also means we are made in His image. We are image bearers. God says because you have my name and my image and you are in relationship with me, you then are accountable to Me. Many of us don’t want any accountability to a Holy God who demands an answer. We want to make our own idol gods and have others co-sign our sin.

If we bear the name the Jesus; if you believe and trust in the name Jesus; we have to give an account to Him for how we have lived our lives. We will have to give an account to whom we have pledged allegiance to in this lifetime.

We have to be found in right relationship with the right Father—to be found in the right family and follow the right patriarch—the true and living God who is the God of heaven and earth and the maker of all things.

2. The Right Posture….will humble themselves We have to humble ourselves before a holy and just God. Whenever we act and live in a fashion that is against God’s Word, it is a purely an act of pride. Our pride shows up in the fact that we have believed in our hearts that we don’t need God. Instead of

In Gardena

Morning Worship: 8am & 11am Evening Worship: 6pm Bible Study (Wed): Noon & 7pm BET/Fresh Oil (Wed): 7am

Atherton Baptist Church 2627 W. 116th Street Hawthorne,CA 90250 (323) 757-3113 • www.athertonbc.org F: 323-757-8772 • athertonbaptist@sbcglobal.net Pastor Larry Weaver

“Can I have Your Undivided Attention?”

God giving us a manual to live by, the Bible, we say, ‘no thank you, God. I’ll take it from here. I’ll make up my own.’

Essentially we create God in our own image.

We fashion a golden calf-like idol god who has to answer to our shrine of selfishness, instead of the real, true and living God of the Bible.

3. The Right Plan-The Right Perspective …and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways Prayer is communicating and communing with God— talking to God with a posture that He is King, God and Lord over our lives. The good news is that God loves to hear from us. He’s waiting to pick up the phone.

Have you called Him lately? Are you in constant contact with Him? He’s waiting on your call. His line is never busy. Just call Him up and tell Him what you want.

Pray! This should be the first and final directive in the Christians’ life. Prayer should be the final arbitrator in any court of discussion—the last punctuation point of any debate. Pontification about our current state of affairs and any affairs for that matter should be punctuated with the conviction of prayer.

God has left messages for all of us to call! Give Him a call back

Pastor Anthony Thompson

Faithful Central Bible Church 321 N. Eucalyptus Ave. Inglewood, CA 90301 (310) 330-8000 • F: (310) 330-8035 Bishop Kenneth C. Ulmer, Ph.D. Senior Pastor/Teacher Services at The Tabernacle: Sunday Services: 7am & 10am Wed. Mid-Week Service: 7pm The Tabernacle is located at 321 N. Eucalyptus Ave., Inglewood

In Hawthorne

Sunday Morning Worship: 8am & 11am Sunday Bible Enrichment Class: 9:45am Mon.-Thurs. Bible Study: 7pm Wednesday Bible Study: 12:30pm & 7pm

Victory Institutional Baptist Church 4712 West El Segundo Blvd., Hawthorne, CA 90250 (310) 263-7073 • www.vibconline.com Pastor Richard Williams, III Sunday Morning Worship: 9am Sunday Evening Worship: 6pm Wed. Mid-Week Worship: 7pm Bible Study Tuesday: Noon & 7pm

Crusade Christian Faith Center 801 S. La Brea Avenue, Inglewood, CA 90301 (310) 330-8535 Bishop Virgil D. Patterson Sr. Wed. Mid-Week Service: 7pm Sunday School: 9am Sunday Worship: 10:30am

True Friendship Missionary Baptist Church 7901 South Van Ness Ave. Inglewood, CA 90305 (323) 750-7304 Rev. James A. Perkins Sunday School: 9:30am Early Worship: 8am Morning Worship: 10:45am Bible Adventure Hour (Tues): 6pm Bible Study (Tues): 7pm Bible Study (Thurs): Noon First Church of God Center of Hope 9550 Crenshaw Blvd., Inglewood, CA 90305 • (323) 7571804 www.go2Hope.com Pastor Geremy L. Dixon Morning Worship: 8am & 11am Wed. Mid-Week Service: Noon Wed. Teaching Ministry: 7pm 1st Sunday Communion 5th Sunday Baptism

Jacob’s Ladder Community Fellowship, inc.

1152 E. Hyde Park Blvd., Inglewood, CA 90303 (866) 330-1702 • F: (310) 674-0760 Watchman/Shepherd Dr. Robert T. Douglas Sr. Sunday School: 10am Morning Services: 11:45am Evening Service: 7pm Wed. Lock & Load Prayer: 7pm Wed. Bible Study: 7:30pm 3rd Friday Youth Night: 7:30pm KYTYM 1460AM (Sunday): 11:30am www.jacobladderschurch.com New Mount Pleasant Missionary Baptist Church 434 S. Grevillea, Inglewood CA 90301 (310) 673-6250 Office • (310) 673-2153 Rev. Dr. Phillip A. Lewis, D. D., D. Th., Senior Pastor Sunday School: 9:30am Early Worship: 8am Morning Worship: 11am First Sunday Evening Worship: 5pm Mid-Week Bible Study Wed.: 7pm Radio: KTYM 1460 AM Saturdays at 8pm & Mondays at 7pm

Want to get the word out about your church services?

CALL TODAY Affordable rates Prime exposure

Ask for Leatha (310) 677-6011

L.A. Focus/December 2016

In Inglewood Bible Enrichment Fellowship International 400 E. Kelso, Inglewood, CA 90301 (310) 330-4700 • www.bamcm.org Dr. Beverly “BAM” Crawford Morning Worship: 9:30am Tues. Bible Study: 7:30pm Wed. Mid-Week Prayer: 5am, Noon & 7pm Wednesday Pathway: 7pm Thurs Bible Study: 10am Sat Marriage & Family Prayer: 7:30am

today because He wants to Hear from You. It’s been well said that, no man stands taller than when they are on their knees!

Remember that the Devil trembles at the weakest saint who is on their knees. Why not call today? Right now is a mighty good time.

4. The Right Promise- God's Promise …. then I will hear from Heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. Now My eyes will open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place.

God says that when you have met the preceding conditions with a conviction of prayer then He can activate the blessings of the covenant together. After you pray, God says I can now authorize the blessing of the relationship. Because you’ve obeyed the Father and we’ve talked; because you are now accountable to the One who made you and sent His Son to die for you. My eyes are open, my ears are attentive and my heart receptive to prayer in this place.

Philippians 4:6 says “Be anxious for nothing but with thanksgiving make your request made known unto God and the peace that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

25

In Irvine

Christ Our Redeemer AME Church 45 Tesla, Irvine, CA 92618 (949) 955-0014 • F:(949) 955-0021 • www.corchurch.org Pastor Mark E. Whitlock, II

Sunday Worship: 8am, 10:30am New Generation Praise Service: 10:30am Sun. Bible Univ.: 9:30am Tues. Interactive Bible Study: 7pm Wed. Pastor's Bible Study: Noon, 7pm Thurs. Bible Study: 7pm Fri. Singles Bible Study (1st Fri): 7pm

In Long Beach

Antioch Church of Long Beach 1535 Gundry Ave. Long Beach, CA 90813 (562) 591-8778 • F: (562) 599-6048 Pastor Wayne Chaney Jr. Worship Services: 8am, 9:30am, 11:30am Tuesday Youth BibleStudy: 8am, 9:30am, 11:30am WednesdayBible Study: Noon

Christ Second Baptist Church 1471 Martin Luther King, Jr., Ave. Long Beach, CA 90813 (562) 599-3421 • Fax: (562) 599-6175 • www.csbclb.org Rev. Welton Pleasant II, Senior Pastor Sunday School: 8:30am Sunday Worship Service: 9:40am Wed. Bible Study: 7pm Wed Youth & Young Adult Ministry: 7pm

Gospel Memorial Church of God In Christ 1480 Atlantic Ave. Long Beach, CA 90813 (562) 599-7389 • F: 562-599-5779 • gospelmemorial@aol.com Bishop Joe L. Ealy Sunday School: 9:30am Sunday Worship: 11am Evening Worship: 6:30pm Wed. Intercessory Prayer: 7pm Wed. Pastoral teaching adults: 7:30pm Wed. Youth Ministry Boot-Camp; Youth Bible Study: 7pm & Choir Rehearsal: 7:30pm

Pastor continued from page 22 What do you believe to be your biggest strength in ministry?

I have a particular calling to empower people who are not operating at their best, but have the capacity to operate at a higher level particularly those who are in ministry and doing public service jobs.

I have a ministry to encourage them to continue doing what they are doing and also to learn how to do it better and pass the gifts on.

Is there a core theme in your sermons?

Yes, and that theme is put down the negativity and embrace the positivity, because Jesus was crucified on a plus sign, not a minus sign. Our motto here at Ward is no meanness, no messiness, just excellence in the sight of God. What do you hope to accomplish at Ward AME? To make it successful is to see a rebirth and this is what I hope for all of our churches—an environment where our young people are thirsting to come and engage with the Holy Spirit. If I can continue to make that happen here at Ward, I would have done what the Lord has required.

Do you intend to become more political in your outreach?

I’ll say this. We must also understand that ministry is not about coming in on Sunday, getting our shouts on and everybody driving away in Mercedes or Rolls Royce. Prophetic ministry is about speaking truth to power. If we do not continue to position ourselves to tell Pharaoh to let our people go; to tell Nathan he was wrong in sleeping with that married man’s wife; or to hold our leadership accountable, we are not doing our jobs.

Grant AME Church of Long Beach 1129 Alamitos Ave. Long Beach, CA 90813 • (562) 437-1567 grantamelb@aol.com • www.grantamelb.org Rev. Michael W. Eagle, Sr.

In Pasadena

Bethlehem Church 1550 North Fair Oaks Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91103 (626) 794-5211 • F: (626) 794-6592 Pastor Christopher A. Bourne Sunday School: 9am Sunday Worship: 10am Tuesday Bible Study: 7pm Mid-day Worship Thursday: Noon

Sun. Worship Experience: 10:45am 3rd Sun. Healing & Annointing: 10:45am Wed. Bible Study: Noon & 6pm Mothers of Murdered Youth & Children Were all receive a little attention, affection and love.

New Philadelphia A.M.E. Church 6380 S. Orange Avenue, Long Beach, Ca 90805 (562)422-9300•F: (562) 422-9400 Pastor Darryl E. Walker, Senior Pastor 1st & 5th Sunday Worship: 9am Sunday School/New Member Classes:8am Live Streaming on NuPhilly AppNuPhilly website: 9am 2nd thru 4th Sunday Worship:7:30 am &10:00am•Sunday School New Member Classes: 9am Live Streaming on the NuPhilly App/website: 7:30am Pastor’s Bible Study: Wednesday Eve 7pm Mid-Week Bible Study: Thursday 12:00 noon

Family of Faith Christian Center 345 E. Carson Street, Long Beach, CA 90807 (562) 595-1222 • F: (562) 595-1444 Pastor: Sherman A. Gordon, E.D. Min Sunday School: 9:00 AM Early Worship: 7:30 AM Morning Worship: 10:00 Am Bible Study: Every Wednesday 12 (Noon) & 7:00 PM Radio: 7:00 PM (1st & 3rd Sunday) Station: KJLH

In Monrovia

Second Baptist Church 925 S. Shamrock Avenue • P.O. Box 479, Monrovia, CA 91017 (626) 358-2136 • F: (626) 303-2477 Bishop W.M. Larue Dillard, Phd. Sunday Worship: 7:45am, 10:45am, 4:45pm Ministry Worship to Children/Youth Sunday: 9:45am - 10:45am Prayer/Academy of Biblical Studies (Wed): 10:45am - 6:45pm www.second-baptistchurch.com

Money Matters continued from page 13

www.bethelemchurchpasadena.org Morning Star Missionary Baptist Church 980 Rio Grande Street, Pasadena, CA 91104 *Mailing Address: 1416 N. Mentor Ave. Pasadena, 91104 (626) 794-4875 • F: (626) 794-7815 Pastor W. Harrison Trotter Sunday School: 8:30am Sunday Worship: 10am Bible Study Wednesday: 7pm Intercessory Prayer (Fourth Wed.): 7pm Christians Uniting To Make A Difference -Eph. 4:13

Spirit of Zion Fellowship Church 10853 Victory Blvd. North Hollywood, CA 91601 (805) 517-1907 • www.mtzionla.org Pastor E.V. Hill II

In Van Nuys

Sunday Worship: 1pm Children's Church: 1pm

In Westchester Arise Christian Center 6949 La Tijera Blvd. Suite C, Westchester, CA 90045 (310)568-8445•F: (310) 568-8430 • Arisechristiancenter.com Pastor Ron Taylor Morning Worship: 9am & 11:15am Bible Study Wednesday: 7pm Intercessory Prayer Tuesday : 7pm Intercessory Prayer Sunday: 8am - 8:45am Intercessory Prayer Thursday: 11:30pm - 12:30pm

David Love continued from page 8 leading climate change skeptic.

Behold the deplorables. We knew Trump wasn’t right, and the list of crazy and corrupt folks he wants to fill his cabinet confirm that. But for the fact that this is some serious business — and these extreme, dangerous individuals will run the government and implement painful policies — all of this sounds like a practical joke. But now, with the characters about to populate the Trump White House, we might have to laugh just to keep from crying.

“The only thing that separates women of color from anyone else is opportunity,” Davis said during her 2015 Emmy Awards acceptance speech.

In fact, most striking are the salaries earned by Empire stars Taraji P. Henson and Terrence Howard, the highest-rated drama on television. They were reported to take home around $175,000 an episode— less than the stars of some dramas with half the ratings. Worse still, their onscreen sons, Trai Byers, Jussie Smollett and Bryshere Y. Gray (all relatively Kamala Harris continued from page 6 unknown before signing onto the Fox’s top vic tory over Hillary Clinton more than rated hit drama) were paid just $20,000 300,000 people selected and enrolled in per episode according to the Variety plans through the Affordable Care Act. report.

Health and Human Services Secretary Now in its third season, Empire has Sylvia M. Burwell said in a statement ironically gone head to head with The Big that, “The American people are demonBang Theory in the battle for the #1 slot on strating how much they continue to want Nielsen’s list, while remaining TV’s topand need the coverage the marketplace rated scripted. offers.”

In response to an essay written by A-list But Trump’s plans to alter or repeal star Jennifer Lawrence on the Hollywood’s Obamacare grew out of a collective cry gender pay gap last year, comedian Chris from Americans around the country who Rock remarked, “if she was black, she’d have seen their premiums go up and servreally have something to complain about.” ices decrease. People who were happy with what they had before Obamacare.

Larry Elder continued from page 8 There are many anxieties surrounding ship. But this is just the beginning of this the uncertain claims from Trump and the conflict, and the choices we make will GOP, whose strategy for a replaced define all of us." healthcare system has yet to be definiThis is, indeed, "just the beginning of tively outlined and made public. The this conflict" — the conflict between Trump transition website is offering limthose who denounced Trump as a racist ited and very generalized language about and a bigot and the American voters who their plans. Last month he selected Tom see him and his vision in a very different Price as his Secretary of Health and way. Deal with it.

Human Services, a man who is keen on Larry Elder is a best-selling author and replacing Obamacare and has been nationally syndicated radio talk-show spending a great deal of time on trying to host. To find out more about Larry Elder, determine how. or become an "Elderado," visit In the past he has proposed offering www.LarryElder.com. Follow Larry on age-adjusted tax credits for the purchase Twitter @larryelder. of individual and family health insurance

policies; offering grants to states to subsidize insurance for “high-risk populations”; allow insurers licensed in one state to sell policies to residents of others; and authorize business and professional groups to provide coverage to members through “association health plans.”

On January 20, 2017, the president-elect will be sworn in as the 45th President of the United States. In the meantime, there is still time to take advantage of the health insurance plans through the Affordable Care Act as current enrollment period runs through January for 2017 coverage. Open enrollment for private health coverage through Covered California ends on January 31, 2017.

Church News continued from page 22 61 years. My grandfather and father gave great leadership to it so we’re grieving my Dad’s passing but at the same time, we’re celebrating a new season.”

The church will celebrate his installation on both December 4 and 11 at 4PM at the church with special guests including Pastor Xavier Thompson as well as other pastors and preachers from around the city.

“The first Sunday is the Valley connection and the second Sunday, everyone will come.”

The appointment brings the number to three of the churches Broadous now pastors, including Grace Temple, which he has pastored for 20 years and Cedar Grove Missionary Baptist Church, the leadership of which he took on in February.

“This is what is so amazing about it. I’m able to pastor where my uncle pastored—and I’m able to pastor Calvary at the same time and Cedar Grove with the help of the Lord, a great staff and different service times.

“God wedded this all together,” he continued. “I didn’t know Cedar Grove was going to call me. I didn’t know my Dad was going to die. I didn’t put an application in for any of these positions. I’m being led by the Holy Spirit to continue each of these churches unique thumbprints and fill the need God called me to fill.”

Sweetie Pie

R

obbie Montgomery is “Sweetie Pie”, the straight talking, no nonsense founder of the landmark soul food restaurant at the heart of the OWN TV reality series, “Welcome To Sweetie Pie’s”.

A former Ikette and backup singer for the duo soul sensation ‘The Ike & Tina Turner Review’, Montgomery spent much of her time cooking when not on stage performing while on tour with the group, particularly as finding a welcoming restaurant could be difficult for African-Americans during the '60s.Then when a collapsed lung abruptly ended her singing career, Montgomery took her mother’s age-old soul food recipes and opened the restaurant known as Sweetie Pie’s.

The series follows the Montgomery family as they struggle with the

demands of expanding their familyowned business and creating a legacy to pass on to future generations, one soulful dish at a time.

Today, there are a string of restaurants bearing her name, including their most recent expansion to Inglewood at the corner of LaBrea and Regent, and with dishes like the one provided below, they’ve found their recipe for success.

Miss Robbie’s Un-fried Catfish Ingredients

Miss Robbie’s Un -fried Catfish 4 9 ounce catfi sh fillets 1/3 cup yellow cornmeal 3/4 teaspoon of seasoning salt 1/2 teaspoon gr anulated garlic powder 1/4 teaspoon gr ound black pepp er 1/4 teaspoon on ion powder 1/3 cup skim m ilk cooking spray

Instructions

L.A. Focus/December 2016

1. Preheat the ov en to 425 degree s F. Line a baking sheet with alum inum foil and coat with cookin spray. g 2. In a shallow di sh, stir together the cornmeal, ga lic, onion powde rr and pepper. D ip the catfish fillets in skim milk, th en place them into the cornmea mixture and co l at; place on th e greased baki sheet. ng 3. Coat the tops of the fillets with until wet. cooking spray 4. Bake for 15 minutes in the preheated oven the bottom rack on , or until fish is easily flaked with fork. a

27

Finding Your Pretty

Drini Marie Pro Makeup Artist & Licensed Esthetician www.EyeDreamOfDrini.com Drini@EyeDreamOfDrini.com 310-388-1355 Facebook: Facebook.com/makeupbydrini Instagram: @MissDrini Twitter: @MissDrini

Hi! My name is Drini and I am a professional freelance makeup artist and licensed esthetician based in Inglewood. I have been practicing makeup for 10 years and long before I became an esthetician I would always say that great makeup first starts with great skin. Imperfections can easily be concealed with the right product and a flick of the wrist, but what happens when the makeup comes off?

As a teenager, before I knew the effect a great skin care regimen would have on my skin, I would beg my mom to buy me the newest drugstore skincare products. I thought the commercials looked so cool with girls lathering cleanser and splashing water over their faces to remove their makeup. Even though I wasn’t wearing a lot of makeup at that age, I wanted to mimic the “experience” I saw on TV. As a result, I didn’t experience teenage acne like some of my peers. Some would argue that it was good genes, others would say it’s because I took care of my skin, either way, I encourage women--whether you inherited great skin or not--to take care of your skin every single day.

As you age, your skin cell renewal slows down, which leads to an unnecessary build up of dead skin. This is why I encourage women to get facials at least once a month. Facials can aid in getting rid of your accumulated dead skin through exfoliation and congestion

Offers dual efficiency with hydrating agents and a mattifying consistency that smoothes pores and preps skin for makeup application.

AvENE’ SOOTHING EYE CONTOUR CREAM A great eye cream that absorbs into skin and helps hydrate dry, puffy eyes and makes for a smooth highlight under eyes.

Google says that beauty is a combination of qualities, such as shape, color, or form, that pleases the aesthetic senses, especially the sight. But to me its so much more than that. A child of a beauty saleswoman that swore she'd never ‘solicit’, I found myself immersed in this billion dollar industry. I used to color my doll heads, and use a fine toothed comb dipped in water to simulate a “press & curl”. I went on to work for companies like L'Oréal and Namaste Laboratories before starting my own sales and marketing firm specializing in beauty. I joined a fraternity of people of color that fight daily to make sure we are represented on store shelves and that new manufacturers get the visibility they deserve.

It has truly become my passion to let women know they are beautiful in so many ways. Whether you are straight or curly, own hair or ‘enhancements’, braids or fro, make up or not, most if not all women have beauty care in their lives.

According to Eyelash magazine, the United States is the largest beauty industry at approximately 62 billion dollars annually. How and why do we spend so much on looking good when celebrities like Alicia Keys tell us we do not need anything to feel special? A man I know once said that even in times of war women still bought lipstick.

It is said that Cleopatra used mud and twigs to create the first rollers and berry stained lips for lipstick. It is also said that

removal. I encounter a lot of women who have dehydrated skin because they either don’t drink enough water, don’t moisturize daily or both.

Moisture for your skin is as important as water is for your body. Often times, your foundation, concealer and powder can end up looking caked on because your skin is dry and flaky. Remember that before you cover, conceal and set, you MUST cleanse, tone and moisturize.

In an effort to save money AND save face (pun intended) and for those who may not be able to afford an expert skin analysis, determining what type of skin you have is essential. Skin types fall into four categories: oily, dry, normal and combination. A greasy film often found on your forehead, cheeks and nose characterizes oily skin and for this skin type, a gentle cleanser is your best friend.

Dry skin is typically hard and flaky, usually on the forehead and around the nose, it feels like your face is going to crack when you smile. To remedy dry skin, serums and moisturizers are essential. For those with normal skin, typically soft and supple (oh how blessed you are) but be consistent in taking care of your skin.

Lastly, if you have combination skin, you’re most likely dry in some areas, oily in others and for you, you may have to target certain areas with concentrated products.

Bottom line, you only get one face and one first impression. So lights, camera, SKIN CHECK!

BEST BUY

YOU GOTTA TRY THIS CLINIQUE PEP-START

with Drini

FRESH SUGAR NOURISHING LIP BALM This lip balm is a MUST-HAVE for both day and night. You can use this during the day under your lipstick, lip stains or lipglosses to protect and hydrate lips. The moisturizing formula is infused with a sugar mint flavor for refreshment and wild mango butter to help protect and soften dry lips. Keep it on your nightstand to nourish and hydrate lips while you sleep.

in Ancient Greece and Rome the unibrow is a sign of intelligence. Surely Cleopatra felt special. But there is something fun about a new haircut or color, and a new shade of lipstick before going out. Do we need it? Probably not, but it's one part of being a girl/woman/lady that I just happen to love. And yes, I do have a beauty budget...

What's in your beauty bag? Hair, nails, makeup, tattooing, hair removal hair color, or permanent makeup?

How do you learn the latest techniques? Can you contour?

Should you? Where's the next class? Where's the next beauty event? Who does your hair? Are you in love? Or is it time for a change?

That's the journey, exploring how and why we make appearance decisions in America and abroad. I want to look at products and the companies that create them. The visionaries behind your favorite products have their fingers on your beauty pulse and they are eager to please. I want to study beauty and economic trends and their direct relationship. Together we'll talk about the products that create the trends and the trends that create the products. We’ll overcome our fears of change and embrace all the beautiful sides of ourselves. See you next month.

Behind The Beauty with Nichol Goff

L.A. FOCUS is expanding its beauty section COMING IN JANUARY Catch up on the latest cutting edge hair trends, styling techniques, tools, treatments and hair loss.

To showcase your style, or get exposure for your salon, retail outlet or product, call Kisha Smith at (310) 677-6011

10 Tips to Healthy Holiday Eating 5

1

2

3

4

6 7 8

Include vegetables and fruits to keep your plate balanced. One of the magical properties of fiber comes from its ability to aid in the weight loss process.

Fiber is a natural appetite suppressant. This is because it swells in your stomach, helping you to feel fuller longer while cutting your calorie intake. Fiber also carries waste out of the body. In doing so it carries with it unabsorbed molecules such as fat, carbohydrates, sugars and all their calories.

Eat until you are satisfied not full.

Don’t drink your calories.

Remember non-alcoholic beverages can be full of sugar and lots of calories.

Create your plate.

Create three sections on your dinner plate by drawing an imaginary line down the center and then another on one side half way down and across your plate. Fill the large section of your plate with nonstarchy vegetables such as salad, cabbage, or broccoli. In one of the smaller sections put starchy foods such as rice, macaroni and cheese or yams. The last

section is for meats such as chicken, roast, or meatloaf. Using this plate sectioning method your food can be piled to a thickness equaling the palm of your hand.

Take a healthy dish to the party.

To guarantee there’s something healthy on the menu, volunteer to bring it yourself. Preparing favorite dishes low in fat and calories will help promote healthy eating.

Make time to exercise!

Develop a regular exercise regime at the start of the holiday season. This will help you burn off the excess fat and calories you’ve consumed.

By all means, enjoy all this holiday season has to offer. So make sure to be smart and eat healthy. In the long run both your mind and body will thank you! Have a healthy holiday season!

Dawn Strozier, Personal Trainier / Nutrition Consultant Social Media: Instagram, Facebook and Twitter @dawnstrozier •310. 967.8111 or

9

10

L.A. Focus/December 2016

The holidays are here and it’s time to celebrate with family and friends! Unfortunately, for many of us the holiday season is also a time for over eating and weight gain. However, by implementing a few simple tips you can stay healthy, and enjoy the holidays without putting on the pounds: Don’t skip a meal before heading to the party.

Instead, eat a light snack, preferably vegetables which are high in fiber. This helps to curb your appetite before heading to the party. In this way you will be less tempted to overeat.

Space your meals out evenly throughout the day.

Eating meals more frequently keeps your metabolism up and moving throughout the day.

Watch your portion size.

Remember a portion size is equivalent to the palm of your hand or a clichéd fist. When choosing your carbohydrates combine a variety of three or more that totals one complete portion size.

Try not to eat too much of one type of food, no matter what that food is.

29

SavingGrace

L.A. Focus/November 2016

Landing the lead in the Lifetime movie Surviving Compton: Dre, Suge and Michel’le wasn’t something that Rhyon Nicole Brown thought was in the cards for her. Upon getting the script, Brown felt that being able to replicate the infamous high-pitched voice of Michel’le would be a challenge that casting wouldn’t be able to overlook. Brown recalls thinking that this could possibly be the last audition she’d go to. Little did she know, playing the role of Michel’le would validate her range as an actor, reaffirming that this is exactly what she was meant to do.

“I couldn’t have planned this,” says Brown the role. “My steps were truly ordered. Playing Michel’le, I proved a lot to myself. I had to step so far out of myself to play her.”

A life of abuse, both physical and substance related, ravaged Michel’le’s self esteem and led her to searching for love in all the wrong places — completely opposite from that of Brown’s. The young star and self-proclaimed “church girl” got her start in the industry at the age of four when she decided to follow in her older sister Ravaughn’s footsteps.

“I saw my sister play Dorothy, and I was like ‘whoa, that’s what I want to do,’” says Brown. “I got an agent, and from the time I was four I’ve been blessed doing what I want to do very consistently.”

Both siblings were part of Wendy Raquel Robinson’s Amazing Grace Conservatory, where they spent years being trained and groomed into disciplined entertainers.

“Wendy was invested in us,” says Brown of her mentor.

“She would say, ‘this wasn’t children’s theater. This is theater that just so happens to have children in it,’ so, she raised the bar. So, when I did go into auditions and jobs, being able to carry that over was just incredible.”

Brown’s hard work and dedication eventually paid off as she landed roles in rapper 50 Cent’s tell-all Get Rich or Die Trying and then ABC Family’s Lincoln Heights. Brown would go on to have the recurring role of Lizzie Sutton on Lincoln Heights for four years.

Brown didn’t count the show’s cancellation as a setback, and instead enrolled in USC’s film school to pursue her dream of working the behind the camera.

Putting acting aside while in college proved to be the hardest thing Brown had to to do. She was away from home, and suddenly in an environment where her faith in God wasn’t as accepted by her peers — leading to bullying and feelings displacement far too often.

“When I’m on set I know exactly where I’m supposed to be, and I thought when I went to college I had it all figured out — that I knew everything about myself and all that I was supposed to know about the world,” says Brown. “I met all of these different people from different places, and who had different beliefs than what I had.”

But individual growth and experiencing a slew of growing pains helped to

30

Rhyon Nicole Brown

remind Brown that she was exactly where she needed to be.

“I had to understand that when Jesus was here, he was alone a lot of the time,” reflects Brown. “Just because we believe in God doesn’t mean that every step of the way is going to be just this happy experience. And I started taking [the teasing] with a grain of salt.”

“One thing that I learned in college was that your relationship with God is about living your life the way that God wants you to live your life,” she continues. “And from that his light is going to shine, and then people will be drawn to you.”

That divine light Brown speaks of was manifested into her from an early age. The Brown family has been attending church since before she can remember. Her mother was a long-time member of New Hope, and the family has been calling Faithful Central Bible Church “home” since the actress was five.

“Going to church was very important to my parents,” says Brown. “At the end of the day I really believe that our relationship with God is all that we have.

Everything else can come and go, and I know that I wouldn’t be where I am today if it wasn’t for him, for a multitude of reasons.”

Brown believes that her desire to mimic the careers of Meryl Streep and Beyonce is one that could have only come from God. To be both a critically-acclaimed actress and a singing powerhouse is almost unheard of. Most people who pursue entertainment careers unfortunately give up before they even reach their destiny, but Brown’s dreams of becoming an established actor, singer and dancer won’t allow her to settle.

“I have these huge dreams and goals of what I want to do in the entertainment industry, and of how I want to use my celebrity to help people,” says Brown. “People laugh at me, and think it’s crazy when I say that.

Sometimes it’s a little disheartening when you share your vision with people and they don’t see it. But, I had to learn that God gives you your vision, and he doesn’t give it to anyone else.”

But knowing that her craving to succeed in the industry came directly from God motivates Brown to keep going.

“Normally, if people aren’t laughing at you for it or you don’t get some type of ‘ugh, you’re shooting a little high’ it might not be what God has for you,” Brown continues.

“Because, God is never going to bless you where you are.

You always have to reach and stretch to get to where he wants you to be. And it may be a little uncomfort-

able, and you might have to get there alone. But, God never blesses you in mediocrity.”

Recognizing her purpose is key in Brown’s career, but being a Christian in a world that feeds into secular programming and music has been yet another challenge for her. Brown has a clear view of the image and message she wants to portray with her talents, which ultimately has conflicted with what industry executives have in mind. Staying true to herself, Brown has been forced to leave lucrative deals on the table more often than she would have hoped.

“When I started my music career Interscope wanted to sign me,” Brown says. “But, the music that I was doing was not the representation of the light that I wanted people to see me in, so I decided not to sign with them.”

“Believing and knowing that there are greater things has been key for me in my career,” continues Brown. “If you rely on God there are going to be so many more doors that you can open.”

And while obeying God’s word has its benefits, doing so doesn’t always come easily to the triple threat. She, like everyone else, makes mistakes from time to time, but God’s grace is what keeps her on the right path.

“I say trust in him, I say believe in him no matter what, but we are human,” says Brown.

“And there are some decisions that we make in life that aren't necessarily in line with what it is he has planned for us. “‘Grace’ is us falling out of line, and God putting us back in line where he wants us to be. ‘Grace’ is God always keeping me, regardless of where and when I mess up.”