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Rare anti-slavery booklet acquired by U.Va by Zinie Chen RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — The University of Virginia has acquired a rare first edition of an 1829 anti-slavery manifesto that was considered a rallying cry for black Americans and a major threat to Southern leaders, who worked vigorously to ban it. The copy of abolitionist David Walker's "Appeal in Four Articles; Together With a Preamble to the Coloured Citizens of the World, But in Particular, and Very Expressly to Those of the United States of America" is one of seven known to still exist. The pamphlet is on display at U.Va.'s Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library. A private endowment for U.Va.'s special collections recently acquired it from a New Jersey rare-book dealer for $95,000, university officials said Thursday. "Scholars have rightly termed the Appeal a declaration of independence for black Americans and linked it to the long tradition of political dissent and pamphleteering, as well as to the beginnings of American abolitionism," said Deborah McDowell, director of U.Va.'s Carter G. Woodson Institute for AfricanAmerican and African Studies. In the 76-page, 8?-inch-by-5-inch pamphlet, Walker urged slaves to rise up against their owners, and argued for the abolition of slavery on moral and Christian theological grounds. "It really was the very first document in the United States to call for the immediate, uncompensated abolition of slavery," said Harry L. Watson, director of the University of North Carolina's Center for the Study of the American South. A free black man's direct incitement to slave revolt was "highly explosive and highly illegal," Watson said. "Now, I ask you, had you not rather be killed than to be a slave to a tyrant, who takes the life of your mother, wife, and dear little children?" Walker wrote. "Look upon your mother, wife and children, and answer God Almighty; and believe this, that it is no more harm for you to kill a man, who is trying to kill you, than it is for you to take a drink of water when thirsty; in fact, the man who will stand still and let another murder him, is worse than an infidel, and, if he has common sense, ought not to be pitied." Walker was born in Wilmington, N.C., to a slave father and a free mother. He moved to Boston during the 1820s and ran a secondhand clothing store patronized by free black sailors. It's believed that the "Appeal" was sewn into their garments' linings and smuggled into the South, Watson said. "They'd stop at ports such as Richmond,
Serena Williams has a serious health condition
Petersburg, Charleston, and Wilmington," Watson said. "Then they'd slip out into the black community and locate people who knew how to read and slip them this pamphlet. Of course, the pamphlets were discovered, and there was widespread panic in state governments." The tract's circulation alarmed slaveowners and Southern politicians, and cash rewards were offered for Walker's death. The pamphlet was a major factor behind the passage of legislation aimed at controlling slaves and free blacks, including laws penalizing anyone who taught black people how to read as well as banning the distribution of anti-slavery writings. "Appeal in Four Articles" also singled out the third president and Declaration of Independence author Thomas Jefferson, who died three years before the pamphlet's initial publication. Walker criticized Jefferson's assertion that black people were inferior to whites, and said that such statements posed a threat to true American democracy. "I say that unless we refute Mr. Jefferson's arguments respecting us, we will only establish them," Walker wrote. Walker published two subsequent editions of the "Appeal in Four Articles," but died suddenly in 1830. Some thought he was a victim of poisoning, but other scholars say he succumbed to tuberculosis. Many of the pamphlet's ideas endured, and its themes were carried forward by abolitionists and 20th-century civil-rights leaders alike.
Council President Young joins San Diego Police Capt. Lawrence McKinney and officers from MidCity Division in recognizing Teci Mayo, manager of the President John Adams Manor apartments, for successfully completing all three phases of the Crime Free Multi-Housing Program. Mayo is
The good news is that they found it, they discovered it. Serena Williams had a blood clot in her lung, and had a procedure done for it last week. And then on Monday, according to her spokesperson, she had to go back to the hospital for an emergency procedure to remove a hematoma. This May 7, 2010, file photo shows Serena Williams reacting during her semifinal tennis match against Serbia's Jelena Jankovic at the Italian Open tennis tournament in Rome. Serena Williams underwent "emergency treatment" Monday, Feb. 28, 2011, days after doctors discovered a blood clot in her lungs, People magazine reported. “Tough day,’’ Williams wrote on her Twitter account about midnight Pacific on Tuesday. This is a big deal. Williams had a major medical issue. But she also avoids what could have been a disaster: If she had taken the court for, say Wimbledon, with an undetected blood clot in her lungs, it is possible she could have just dropped right there. It is manageable from here, and presumably she’s now on blood thinners, and will be for six months or so. But that presents its own problems, as far as her tennis career. While on blood thinners, in theory, if she cuts herself diving for a ball or something, she will bleed and bleed, with her body unable to stop it without immediate medical help. If her health is stabilized, and the immediate danger avoided, you still wonder how much more we will see of her on the tennis court the way we know her. She is 29 now, the start of old age in tennis. To be honest, she has rarely kept herself in the best of shape. And now this. She is being monitored. People Magazine reported that Williams was
seen several times in recent days at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. The funny thing, and so typical of Williams, is that she also was seen at red carpet Academy Award parties, apparently looking fabulous. She hasn’t played on tour since July, when she won Wimbledon. After that, she suffered a mysterious foot injury. She has given conflicting explanations for what happened, and even whether her foot surgery was absolutely necessary. But last summer, she told USA Today that she had stepped on broken glass at a restaurant in Germany, cutting tendons in her foot. In that story, she said the surgery wasn’t mandatory, but only to avoid having a “drooping toe.’’ Now she has been out for eight months. Throughout her career, Williams, and to a lesser extent her sister, Venus, has been the face of American tennis, and also of women’s sports. She has been her sport’s most polarizing figure, with an incredible mix of highs and lows. She has been a role model to young girls, maybe the best example in the history of sport of a strong woman. I once suggested that she would be the perfect new model for Miss America, strong, smart, athletic, beautiful and not the size 0 dangerously promoted as the ideal to girls in magazines, movies and TV. She has been an amazing story of a black girl who grew up in the tough town of Compton, Calif., and dominated a sport historically made up of wealthy white people. At the same time, she has clearly thrown matches in less important tournaments, made promises to play and then not kept them. And she also made worldwide news at the U.S. Open in 2009 when she foot-faulted then went into an fbomb-laced tirade of threats against the line judge who called it.
one of dozens of other mangers trained to address safety concerns and prevent nuisance-related activity at rental properties throughout San Diego.
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The People's Produce Project Fridays: 2 p.m. - 6 p.m. 606 Euclid, between Guymon & Market San Diego, CA 92102
Interview with N. Diane Moss, CEO, Project New Village and Market Manager 606 Euclid Avenue (just north of Market Street) Fridays, 2:00pm - 6:00pm Haywood: How would you describe the Peoples' Produce Certified Farmers' Market? Moss: An outdoor community gathering place in Southeastern San Diego, where you can _buy and sample fresh fruit and vegetables, grown safely and locally, usually pick within 48 hours; eat good tasting prepared foods; buy homemade and imported items; _access free health and - fitness activities; participate in learning activities, like workshops on "How to grow food in containers". Haywood: How does this market benefit the community? Moss: The benefits the market are many include the health benefits from having access to the freshest produce; opportunities to participate in physical fitness activities, healing and relaxation activities; heal health screening and health promotion; the entrepreneurial benefits including opportunities for community residents to sell their homemade and imported items at the market; and the learning and sharing opportunities around growing, selling and preparing food in our neighborhoods. Also participants in WIC, CalFresh / food stamps, and SSI can double their money by enrolling in the Fresh Fund Matching program at the market; they can up to $20.00 free every month to buy produce at the market. Haywood: Is there anything else you want the community to know about the Peoples' Produce Certified Farmers' Market Moss This market is a community project. There are many partners and supporters involved with establishing the People's Produce Farmers' market including City Council President Tony Young, Supervisor Ron Roberts, County Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA), and UCSD / Network For A Healthy California. (Full list of partners on our web site: projectnewvillage.org) The current sponsors and funders for the market include: San Ysidro Health Center (Community Wellness Partner); Jacobs Center for Neighborhood Innovation (Community Resource Partner); and grants from the Neighborhood Unity Foundation, California HealthCare Foundation, and Alliance; HealthCare Foundation.
Background on Hildred Pepper, Jr. Hildred Pepper, Jr. is the Director of Purchasing and Contracting for the City of San Diego. As such, he is responsible for centralized procurement activities of the eighth largest city in the United States. These activities include strategic sourcing, sealed bidding, construction and consultant contracts to fully support the City of San Diego's purchasing/contracting annual budget of over $1.2 billion. He manages a staff of over 40 procurement and logistics professionals, and holds professional certifications as a Certified Purchasing Manager, Certified Professional Contracts Manager, Certified Public Purchasing Officer and Certified Public Purchasing Buyer. Hildred Pepper is the current chair of the San Diego chapter of the California Association of Public Purchasing Officers. Prior to San Diego, Hildred managed the contracting and procurement functions for the Detroit Public Schools and Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. In addition, he held an unlimited Contracting Officer designation while an officer in the United States Air Force.
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When God Hands You Something, You Can’t Hand it Back I grew up as a God-fearing youngster in a time when Black Americans included God in everything they did. Not only that, but they made Him a priority and put Him first and foremost. Black slaves that couldn’t speak the language of their owners prayed and believed that someday He would deliver them from the gridlocks of slavery in the South. Apparently, God heard this prayer—without a march or a sit-in, without the media, without radio, or the press, but through the moaning and groaning and prayers of Black people. Compare the time of slavery to the time of segregation. During slavery, no one got paid; you had to work from sun up to sun down, and were treated less than the domestic animals. The slave was referred to not by his name but a number, and could be sold and separated from his family at will. He could only go where the master told him. He slept in desolate quarters unfit for the animals. Compare that to living in segregated communities but going to and fro whenever you wish, working for whomever you wish as long as they were white or black groups. Your primary areas of freedom were among black people. Would you rather be segregated in the 1950 or enslaved the way we were in 1850 a hundred years before? I’m sure that no one would have to think about it. Even the slave would take segregation over slavery any day. It was prayer that delivered us from the gridlocks of slavery. We didn’t raise our hand against the master; we didn’t strike and refuse to go to the field. God heard our prayers. When God gives us a responsibility, we cannot hand it back. Yet we are doing just that today. I am sure our foreparents are turning over in their graves when they revisit us in the spirit and see how we are defiling the temple of God with drugs and other ungodly things.
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EDITORIAL And moreover, I am sure they are so displeased when we are not taking on the responsibility of teaching our children to fear God— our children that have been born free from both slavery and segregation. If God can get Black Americans out of slavery, it was a small thing to get us a little integration which. So when God hands us something, we had better get a clear understanding of what we are to do with it and get about the business of doing it. We cannot hand it back. If we as black Americans can rise from the ashes of slavery, we should not be spiraling downward to the bottom of all races as we have ended up where have today. Apparently, we are not praying enough or how our great-grandparents prayed. We’re not working hard enough. We say we have the faith, but faith without works is dead. Are we dead? Did we forget our way? Is that the reason why we are buried at the bottom? Ask yourself why God can deliver us from the ashes of slavery and yet we are doing so poorly today? There is something wrong with wither the messenger of the church or the member of the church. When God hands us something, we would do well to never hand it back. Until next week, Willie Morrow
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SDUSD Offers Free Resources To Licensed Construction Contractors Of All Tiers San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) has opportunities for local small and underutilized businesses to participate in its construction projects. Licensed trades sought will include acoustical, carpentry, concrete, demolition, doors/window work, electrical, flashing/sheet metal, flooring, grading, HVAC, laborer, landscape, painting, piping/plumbing, etc. Supplies may be needed too. Be informed. The following projects will be bid soon: Bid/Contract Title
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Point Loma High School: Weight Room
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Sessions Elementary School: Parking Lot & Student Drop-Off/Pick-Up Upgrades $1 -$5 Million
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Hoover High School : Sports Facilities Upgrade
Over $10 Million
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Contact Alma Bañuelos at abanuelossandi.net or 858-573-5852 to get on SDUSD's database today! We'll send bid notices, a quarterly newsletter and contracting information to you at no cost. We can also help to increase your visibility in SDUSD's construction contracting environment.
Small and emerging businesses are highly encouraged to make use of these free services! Para mãs información en español, haga favor de comunicarse con Alma al 858-573-5852.
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A National African-American Museum Wants Your History The National Museum of African American History and Culture at the Smithsonian Institution seeks historical artifacts from black families for its 2015 opening.
OMNILOGUE© - “All of us communicating with each other, so that we all come to a collective understanding, so that we all work toward the same goal.” ©
They’ve Done It Again! Last week I started this column by saying, "San Diego's African American Community is being left behind." And, as if God heard my lament, I recently learned of another instance where the "underserved" communities of San Diego are being overlooked and disregarded in city contracting The City of San Diego put out a Request for Proposals (RFP) known as the Energy Efficiency Residential Retrofit Program (EERRP - RFP #10011132-11-W). The EERRP RFP was released on November 24, 2010 and the original deadline was December 23, 2010. Under a barrage of questions regarding the release of the RFP, the submission period was extended until January 13, 2011. What's wrong with this process? Everything! Let's start with the timeline of this RFP. Why was such an important city contract released during the holiday period. Moreover, this isn't just a garden variety contract. It is San Diego's first serious foray into the 'Green Movement' and it involves about $12 million dollars of city and federal matching funds. 2,500 homeowners stand to gain energy efficient products and services to low-income homes. And, the economic upshot is this RFP creates jobs, potentially for people returning from prison, and a long term, sustainable foothold in the emerging Green Movement. Why then, would such a important RFP be let out in such a manner? Something is rotten in the cotton and the light must be turned on to expose this unacceptable practice of exclusion of our communities in the use of tax payer funds. Simply put, this process must be stopped and stopped right now!
The City of San Diego received over $3 million dollars in Energy Efficiency Community Block Grant (EECBG) funds to administer a program targeting between 2,000 and 2,500 low-income households and create jobs for individuals residing in communities with high unemployment. President Barack Obama has ---championed the weatherization program as one of the Recovery Act's key job creation measures. The Recovery Act guarantees that weatherization workers are paid prevailing wage- $14.81 and $18.35 per hour, and have access to benefits. The Southeast San Diego Center For Energy Conservation (SSCEC) has monitored the implementation of this program and has serious concerns about the City's Purchasing and Contracting Departments ability to administer this program effectively. Our review raises the question as to whether the City's proposal request matches City Council directives regarding the implementation of this program. We call on the City Auditor to examine these problems and make a determination as to the appropriate agency to administer this program. We are facing one of the coldest winters on record. Low-income households spend 14 percent of their income on energy compared with 3.5 percent of other American households. Unemployment in low-income communities is almost double that of the national average and continuing to rise. We need to make these programs work for the people they were designed for - people in our communities. Something is rotten in the cotton and it stinks to high heaven. Contact: Carl DeMaio, 619-236-6655, carldemaio@sandiego.gov City Auditor, Edward Luna, 619533-3165 cityauditor@sandiego.gov Council President Anthony Young, 619-236-6644, anthonyyoung@sandiego.gov
By Jacqueline Trescott The National Museum of African American History and Culture at the Smithsonian Institution seeks historical artifacts from black families for its 2015 opening. When Lonnie G. Bunch III outlines plans for the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the historian can barely sit still. This is a buoyant man on the move, overseeing the design for what could be the last major building on the National Mall; urging citizens to bring their family mementos out of the attic; deciding which stories out of more than 400 years of American history should be told; and preaching the necessity of this enterprise. "This is a museum about African-American life, and African-American life is a lens on what it means to be an American. And we talk about how this is everyone's story. And anyone I can get in front of ends up understanding our purpose," says Bunch, 58, a native of New Jersey, and a specialist in 19th-century American history. His professional career has been steeped in museum building and expansion, including the California African American Museum in Los Angeles and the Chicago Historical Society. Bunch was the supervising curator at the National Museum of American History from 1989 to 1992 and returned to the Smithsonian in 2005 to build the new museum. Now he's the founding director of a high-profile project in Washington that everyone is watching closely. In his office in D.C., Bunch describes the status of the critical elements needed for the museum to open in late 2015. He walks over to a refined museum model, designed by Freelon Adjaye Bond and SmithGroup. On a 5-acre site, directly in the shadow of the Washington Monument, the building will have three coronas of shining metals, and the exterior walls will reflect some of the signature styles of New Orleans and Charleston, S.C., ironworkers. The proposed design has been condensed from an original model. "Now it sits on the earth as a pristine jewel box," says Bunch, reviewing all the details that will make it a destination. The fundraising for the $500 million project, authorized by Congress in 2003 as part of the Smithsonian Institution complex, has progressed beyond projections, despite the recession. That status
“Cleanliness is next to Godliness”
prompts a huge smile from the bearded and bespectacled Bunch. "My thought was that the fundraising would pick up after we had drawings and a model. But we had $70 million before the drawings," says Bunch. Congress has pledged half of the goal, with $125 million in the 2012 budget and $85 million penciled in for the next year. The challenge with building a museum from scratch is developing the content and collecting the artifacts. All along, Bunch has said he wanted several large objects, not only to be showstoppers but also to reflect the work, achievements, joys and tragedies of black life. The museum was given an original railroad car, divided into colored and white sections. Bunch also has his eye on a slave cabin. In 2009, the family of Emmett Till, the 14-year-old boy killed in Mississippi in 1955, gave the museum his original coffin. (In 2005 Till's body was exhumed for a federal investigation into the crime, and the body was reburied in a new casket.) The photographs of the slain boy lying in an open casket in publications like Jet magazine became a pivotal rallying cry for the modern civil rights movement. Also on the museum's wish list is an airplane flown by the Tuskegee Airmen, the famed black fliers of World War II. The collection has been built through "Save Our African American Treasures" sponsoring workshops around the country, where the public brings articles to be inspected, donations of collections and the spontaneous "over the transom" inquiry. Additional unexpected exposure happened recently when Bunch received a BET Honor, the first to be given to a person from the museum world. And a cache of 700 garments and 300 accessories from the defunct Black Fashion Museum was donated by Joyce Bailey, the daughter of the museum's founder, Lois Alexander Lane. The subjects to be emphasized in the National Museum of African American History and Culture continue to evolve, Bunch says, and the materials will be a strong guide. So far, the museum will cover slavery, segregation, the civil rights movement, and sports and entertainment; it will also establish a Center for African American Media Arts. "We have about 10,000 artifacts -- and we need 20,000 more," he explains. He wants to tell the rich experience of men and women in the military .
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LOGAN TEMPLE AME ZION CHURCH AWARD BANQUET Logan Temple A.M.E. Zion Church held its 59th Annual Candlelight Award Banquet at the Lafayette Hotel’s Mississippi Room, February 26, 2011. This year’s theme “Faith, Hope & Love”, from I Corinthians 13:13 NIV, “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” The members along with family and friends were dressed in their finest; this was truly a gala affair. Each year members are recognized for their various achievements. Gabriel & Gloria Hendricks were the Master and Mistress of Ceremonies; throughout the evening they blended humor with the theme while touching on different facts about Black History. The celebration started with the singing of the Black National Anthem. Simba Webb welcomed everyone to this year’s celebration. Jazz Artist Daniel Jackson and Mrs. Lila Brown entertained the crowd with various jazz renditions. Rev. Daniel Webb gave the invocation and blessing. We feasted on the Lafayette’s Grand Buffet, which was enjoyed by all. Seated at the head table were Rev. & Mrs. Daniel (Bridget) Webb; Rev. & Mrs. William (Suzanne) Brown, Mr. & Rev. Elvin (Gloria) Pouncey, Mrs. Lila Brown and Mr. Reginald Smith.
Zion’s Future, children from Logan Temple, gave a rendition of “The Wiz”. Sevena Brooks presented a special presentation to the “75 Plus Club”; members of the Church’s congregation who are seventy-five plus years young. Each member was presented with a certificate and a carnation in recognition of their milestone and service to the Church. The Steward’s Award was presented by Nathan Brooks. This award is given in recognition of long and faithful service; this year’s recipient was Mr. Edward Hune. Mr. Daniel Jackson and Mrs. Lila Brown delighted the audience with additional jazz renditions. The Trustee’s Award was presented by Horace Wickliffe. This award is given in recognition of exceptional service to the Church and community, this year’s recipient was Mrs. Carol Robinson. The Daughters of Destiny, six young ladies, delighted the audience with a praise dance.
The Pastor’s Cup was presented by Nathan Brooks. This award is given in recognition of outstanding support of the Church’s programs this year, this year’s recipient was Mrs. Joann Smith. The Chairperson, Brenda Herndon gave reflections and called Mrs. Mary Spann to the floor to demonstrate “the Electric Slide” and invited other to join in. Rev. Webb gave
closing remarks. The closing song was “God Be With You”. Rev. William Brown, Pastor of Winston Chapel A.M.E. Zion Church gave the benediction.
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Malcolm X’s Daughter Arraigned On Felony Charges NEW YORK - Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown has just announced that Malikah Shabazz, the youngest daughter of slain activist Malcolm X, was arraigned last night in Queens Criminal Court on charges of stealing tens of thousands of dollars from the 70-year-old widow of one of her father’s bodyguards, in part, by stealing the woman’s personal identification information. Shabazz, who has been wanted on the charges since October 16, 2009, was arrested two weeks ago at her residence in Mars Hills (Madison County), North Carolina. She waived extradition. District Attorney Brown said, “The defendant is alleged to have preyed upon the trusting nature of a once close family friend to steal more than $55,000 from her. The charges are serious and if true represent a betrayal of their friendship.” The District Attorney identified the defendant as Malikah Shabazz, 44. Shabazz was arraigned last night before Queens Criminal Court Judge Michael Yavinsky on a criminal complaint charging her with third-degree grand larceny, third-degree criminal possession of stolen property, second-degree forgery, second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument, first-degree identity theft, first-degree falsifying business records, firstdegree scheme to defraud and third-degree unlawful possession of personal identification information. Shabazz, who faces up to seven years in prison if convicted, was ordered held on $100,000 bail and to return to court on March 15, 2011. District Attorney Brown said that, according to the
criminal charges, Queens resident Khaula Bakr, the widow of a bodyguard who was with the slain civil rights leader when he was assassinated at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem on February 21, 1965, and a longtime family friend, received a letter from Wells Fargo Bank informing her that she had a credit account with them that was past due in the amount of $28,789.38. Transactions on the account included charges to Bell South, Bank of America, GE, Lowe’s Capital One, Discover Card, Midnight Velvet, AT&T and Wells Fargo. Ms. Bakr, who never opened such an account nor authorized anyone else to do so in her name, ran three credit reports on herself and discovered that the reports listed her address as 2514 Louisa Street in Columbia, South Carolina, an address allegedly belonging to Malikah Shabazz. It is further alleged that two additional credit card accounts were discovered in Ms. Bakr’s name coupled with Shabazz’s then South Carolina address. Records allegedly listed amounts of $8,382.84 and $18,712.06 being owed on the accounts. In addition, a third credit card account allegedly doing business as “All Day and All Night Markets” listed Ms. Bakr’s name and Shabazz as an authorized user. Account records contained a letter allegedly from Ms. Bakr with her signature, as well as Shabazz as a co-signer of the letter, requesting a reissue of credit cards and checks with a new account and pin number. Finally, it is alleged that Shabazz obtained Ms. Bakr’s personal identification information under the pre-
text of needing the information for paperwork involving a child care power of attorney. After Ms. Bakr provided the information, she allegedly never received any child care documents from Shabazz. The investigation was conducted by Detective Richard Providence, of the New York City Police Department’s Special Frauds Squad, under the supervision of Lieutenant Christopher Flanagan and Deputy Inspector Gregory Antonsen, under the command of Chief Jeremiah Quinlan, Commanding Officer of the Special Investigations Division.
Senior Assistant District Attorney Neil F. Gitin, of the District Attorney’s Economic Crimes Bureau, is prosecuting the case under the supervision of Gregory Pavlides, Bureau Chief, and Christina Hanophy, Deputy Bureau Chief, and the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney Peter Crusco and Deputy Executive Assistant District Attorney Linda Cantoni of the Investigations Division. It should be noted that a criminal complaint is merely an accusation and that a defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Aretha Franklin Talks Return To Stage, Weight Loss, and New Diet Changes NEW YORK (February 16, 2011) - Aretha Franklin, who says she's back at "150 percent," is planning to return to the stage in May for her first post-surgery performance. The Grammy Award-winning singer will also release an album that month with Wal-Mart Stores Inc. More personally, she's working on losing more weight from her frame, which is noticeably slimmer since her December surgery. "I want to not only maintain the weight I am at now, but better it, by one dress size," the Queen of Soul said Wednesday in a phone interview with The Associated Press. The 68-year-old Franklin underwent surgery for an undisclosed ailment in December. She calls it "more than minor surgery." At the time, word spread that her situation was dire, and she received a multitude of prayers and well wishes from fans. She dismissed reports that had her on her death bed: "You can't stop people from saying whatever it is they're going to say; you have no control over that." Since her surgery, Franklin has been working out and walking on a track three times a week for at least a mile. But she said her biggest health change has been in her diet: She's given up her beloved chitterlings, pigs' feet and ham hocks in favor of a Whole Foods-type diet, and she hopes to get down to a size 16. "They're off my diet. They just really don't fit with Whole Foods," she said. "I had it for enough years that I don't miss it. You can't con-
tinue to eat things that are not good for you." She acknowledges that after she resumes performing, it'll be hard to eat diet foods. "When you come off (a high-energy concert), a carrot or some celery just isn't going to work," she said. "I've gotta do a fresh fruit thing ... and come up with some tasty and satisfying recipes that are going to work for me after concerts." Franklin, who canceled several performances last year because of illness, has set her first concert since surgery on May 28 at the Seneca Niagara Casino in Buffalo, N.Y., and is set to release her long-awaited album, "Aretha: A Woman Falling Out of Love," the first week of May. R. Kelly is one of the album's songwriters. "It's definitely going to take the boomers back ... but it's also contemporary with respect to other writers and production," she said. Franklin was feted by the Grammys this week, as the show opened with a tribute to her featuring Christina Aguilera, Jennifer Hudson, Florence Welch, Martina McBride and Yolanda Adams. Franklin herself hadn't sang for a month which she believes was her longest time between singing - as she convalesced at home. She had to sing four or five times a day to get her voice back where it was, but she said it's "right on the money." Franklin recently attended a Detroit Pistons game with the Rev. Jesse Jackson and said Wednesday that she was at a boat show lounging on a luxurious boat - and she planned to purchase it afterward.
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The 5 Most Overlooked Pop Albums of the Decade - Pt. 3 Jonathan Harris – Columnist
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March 5, 2011 – There are an innumerable amount of albums released every year that fly under the radar. For one reason or another, albums that one would think should become a huge success and make an impact, simply do not. With that vast number of albums taken into consideration, this list was whittled down to include only artists whose previous efforts or efforts since, have been highly successful and for some reason or another suffered a career anomaly with these albums. Now, No. 3: No. 3 - Whitney Houston’s ‘Just Whitney’ – Released in 2002, ‘Just Whitney’ is Houston’s fifth studio album. Despite being the highest opening week debut of her career, at the time, ‘Just Whitney’ was slammed by critics and to date has failed to sell even 1 million copies in the US – not quite the multiplatinum success of her previous album ‘My Love Is Your Love’ just four years earlier. ‘Just Whitney’ was the first album released by Houston since her name began to be associated more in the press with her marital troubles, shocking weight loss and accusations of drug use, than her nearly unparalleled singing abilities. All of the controversy aside, ‘Just Whitney’ is an incredible album; it couples Houston’s incredible vocal range with a rebellious and focused tone, giving the album an edge not heard in her work before or since.
In songs like ‘Tell Me No’ she defiantly sings lines like, “Tell me no and I’ll show you I can, tell me no and I’ll dig my feet right in, tell me no, just tell me that I can’t win, come on I’m sure I’ll prove you wrong come on an go, tell me no.” On ‘Unashamed’ Houston remains unapologetic about any controversy, singing, “Unashamed of the life I lead, unashamed of the strength of my knees, the choices I’ve made, the love that I’ve saved, the things I have done, my belief in the one.” Though recorded while making some of her most unflattering headlines, and at least in part to address them, Houston does not to get lost in self reference (the ultra up tempo first single ‘Watchulookinat’ not withstanding). Tracks like the pro-pampering yourself, perfectly R&B, ‘One of Those Days’ and ‘My Love’ are easy to relate and tap your foot to. Houston also lets her voice soar brilliantly all over the album, particularly on ‘You Light Up My Life’ and ‘Try It On My Own’. Ultimately ‘Just Whitney’, like so many other good albums, fell victim to the artist’s image in the media at the time of its release, instead of being taken on its own merit. Houston’s latest album, 2009’s ‘I Turn to You’, was released to rave reviews and became her fourth album to debut at number one. In the summer of 2010 Houston wrapped up her 50 date ‘Nothing but Love’ world tour. Standout Tracks: Watchulookinat, Tell Me No, Love That Man, Unashamed
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History thru youths eyes As I read through the many stories and articles about black history I discovered lots of interesting facts that I was not aware of and noticed many of the things are not taught in school. Having our first black president is inspiring to me because it shows that we can become whatever we want to be and its especially nice to see people in the White House that look like me and my family. It was interesting to learn about slavery and what my ancestors had to go through and why we celebrate juneteenth. I was surprised about all the great black leaders we have like Martin Luther King Jr, Malcolm X, Booker T. Washington, Sojourner Truth Minister Farrakhan and a whole bunch nore. In the Monitor I learned about different events in history that if it wasn't for some of our famous leaders we might still have to deal with segregation, slavery, lynching, being sprayed with fire hoses and lots of other horrible things. There is so much information to learn and I think all kids need to be educated about our history and make sure they vote when they are old enough. I learned that the Monitor is a good source of information but I also know that you can get a lot of information from your elders too. Kamryn L Carter
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The History of Women’s March’s History Month In 1911 in Europe, March 8 was first celebrated as International Women's Day. In many European nations, as well as in the United States, women's rights was a political hot topic. Woman suffrage — winning the vote — was a priority of many women's organizations. Women (and men) wrote books on the contributions of women to history. But with the economic depression of the 1930s which hit on both sides of the Atlantic, and then World War II, women's rights went out of fashion. In the 1950s and 1960s, after Betty Friedan pointed to the "problem that has no name" — the boredom and isolation of the middle-class housewife who often gave up intellectual and professional aspirations — the women's movement began to revive. With "women's liberation" in the 1960s, interest in women's issues and women's history blossomed. By the 1970s, there was a growing sense by many women that "history" as taught in school — and especially in grade school and high school — was incomplete with attending to "her story" as well. In the United States, calls for inclusion of black Americans and Native Americans helped some women realize that women were invisible in most history courses. And so in the 1970s many universities began to include the fields of women's history and the broader field of women's studies. In 1978 in California, the Education Task Force of the Sonoma County Commission on the Status of Women began a "Women's History Week" celebration. The week was chosen to coincide with International Women's Day, March 8. The response was positive. Schools began to host their own Women's History Week programs. The next year, leaders from the California group shared their project at a Women's History Institute at Sarah Lawrence College. Other participants not only determined to begin their own local Women's History Week projects, but agreed to support an effort to have Congress declare a national Women's History Week. Three years later, the United States Congress passed a resolution establishing National Women's History Week. Co-sponsors of the resolution, demonstrating bipartisan support, were Senator Orrin Hatch, a Republican from Utah, and
Representative Barbara Mikulski, a Democrat from Maryland. This recognition encouraged even wider participation in Women's History Week. Schools focused for that week on special projects and exhibitions honoring women in history. Organizations sponsored talks on women's history. The National Women's History Project began distributing materials specifically designed to support Women's History Week, as well as materials to enhance the teaching of history through the year, to include notable women and women's experience. In 1987, at the request of the National Women's History Project, Congress expanded the week to a
month, and the U.S. Congress has issued a resolution every year since then, with wide support, for Women's History Month. The U.S. President has issued each year a proclamation of Women's History Month. To further extend the inclusion of women's history in the history curriculum (and in everyday consciousness of history), the President's Commission on the Celebration of Women in History in America met through the 1990s. One result has been the effort towards establishing a National Museum of Women's History for the Washington, DC, area, where it would join other museums such as the American History Museum. The purpose of Women's History Month is to
increase consciousness and knowledge of women's history: to take one month of the year to remember the contributions of notable and ordinary women, in hopes that the day will soon come when it's impossible to teach or learn history without remembering these contributions. As the Women's History Guide at About, I focus on women's history 365 days a year. To honor this special month, I encourage you to explore this site, learning more about one important aspect of the history of all people. Women's history isn't just for women, although many women find that studying women's history helps them realize that women's place is everywhere.
San Diego Monitor Retrospect
RODNEY KING March 3RD 1992 The beating of Rodney King 20 years ago Thursday marked the end of a 100-mph car chase and the beginning of a chain of events that would forever change Los Angeles, its police department and the racial conversation in the United States. King, then a 25-year-old convicted robber on parole, admittedly had a few drinks under his belt as he headed home from a friend's house. When he spotted a police car following him, he panicked, thinking he would be sent back to prison. So he took off. "I had a job to go to that Monday, and I knew I was on parole, and I knew I wasn't supposed to be drinking, and I'm like, 'Oh my God,' " King told CNN in a recent interview. Realizing he couldn't outrun police but knowing what they were likely to do to him when they caught him, King said he looked for a public place to stop. "I saw all those apartments over there, so I said, 'I'm gonna stop right there. If it goes down, somebody will see it.' " It did go down. Four police officers, all of them white, struck King more than 50 times with their wood batons and shocked him with an electric stun gun. " 'We are going to kill you, n****r,' " King said police shouted as they beat him. The officers denied using racial slurs. King was right in his expectation of a beating, but his hope of having a witness was fulfilled in a big way. Not only did somebody see it, somebody videotaped it -- still a novelty in 1991, before people had cell phone cameras. The video showed a large lump of a man floundering on the ground, surrounded by a dozen or more police officers, four of whom were beating him relentlessly with nightsticks. One officer's swings slow down as he appears worn out by his nonstop flailing. King
20 YEARS LATER was beaten nearly to death. Three surgeons operated on him for five hours that morning. The dramatic video of the episode appeared on national TV two days later. At last, blacks in L.A. -- and no doubt in other parts of the country -- had evidence to document the police brutality many had known but most of America had always denied or tolerated. "We finally caught the Loch Ness Monster with a camcorder," King attorney Milton Grimes said. Four LAPD officers -- Theodore Briseno, Laurence Powell, Timothy Wind and Sgt. Stacey Koon -- were indicted on charges of assault with a deadly weapon and excessive use of force by a police officer. In April 1992, after a three-month trial in the predominantly white suburb of Simi Valley, three of the officers were acquitted of all charges. But the jury, which had no black members, was deadlocked on one charge of
excessive force against Powell. A mistrial was declared on that charge. Powell's attorney, Michael Stone, said the unedited video worked against King and helped prove the officers' case. "Most of the nation only saw a few snippets where it's the most violent. They didn't
see him get up and run at Powell," Stone said. "In a use-of-force case, if the officers do what they're trained to do, how can you find them guilty of a crime? And the jury understood that." Still, black Los Angeles exploded in outrage. Rioters rampaged through the streets, looting businesses, torching buildings and attacking people who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. On the third day of rioting, King emerged from seclusion to make a plea that echoes to this day: "People, I just want to say, can we all get along?" he said. "Can we get along?" By the time it was over, 55 people were dead, more than 2,000 were hurt, and property damage exceeded $1 billion. We finally caught the Loch Ness Monster with a camcorder. Continued on page 23
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Have We Found The God Hormone? Dr. Grady P. Anderson, Jr., MD Last week I wrote the article summarizing the CD that I had downloaded from I-Tunes by Dr. Russell Blaylock, MD The Truth About Aspartame. Did see the Dr. Oz show on Wednesday where he spent half of the show with 700pound women. This week continues the Aspartame article. Now Aspartame is not a natural sugar but one that is manufactured in a laboratory. Your body can only work with natural sugars. It is these natural or organic sugars you’re your body needs. In order for your body to function at optimal levels of health it is necessary for your body to secrete the hormone Insulin. The cells of Islets of Langerhans of your pancreas secrete this hormone. This hormone is combined with other hormones and enzymes that are produced in the liver and stored in the gall bladder until your body receives a message via the blood stream to empty the gall bladder into the duodenum It has been shown that single cell organisms contain Insulin, so if single celled organisms had insulin then it must have been around for millions to billions of years. It has been postulated that the function of Insulin is to regulate the organisms’ life span. Mother nature or God has used genetics and chemistry of this single
cell organism to make multicell life forms of which we are. Therefore it might be said that insulin is the God hormone because too much of it and you will become sick at a result of excess sugar and could die. This is known as hyperglycemia. The treatment is to give insulin. The problem is that if you cannot make enough of your own insulin. As a result, you will have to be given insulin from another organism, which carries with it the problem of an allergic reaction. As a result you, as the patient, have to keep taking increasing amounts of insulin over time. This is known as Insulin Resistance I know your doctor may have mentioned this to you. It is now known insulin resistance is the cause of all of the diseases of aging or to better it put it growing old is a disease. This would mean that such diseases: as heart disease, osteoporosis soften or weakening of the bones, obesity, diabetes, cancer and all of the autoimmune diseases are symptoms of a much greater problem. That problem is that our bodies are not getting the correct amount of nutrients needed to keep us functioning normally. Now getting back to the 700-pound women if you were able to watch her story further on online you would have seen her driving from a fast food outlet with a can of diet soda in her hand. Now I ask you is the problem the fast food or is it the Diet Soda? Not one time did Dr. Oz mention diet soda? For additional information please go to Dr. Ronald Rosedale, MD web site.
Congressman Filner Announces Black Contractors Association of San Diego to Receive $1 Million for BCA YouthBuild Washington, D.C. – Congressman Bob Filner announced today that the Black Contractors Association of San Diego, Inc. has been awarded a competitive grant totaling $1,099,968 for their BCA YouthBuild program by the U.S. Department of Labor. “I’m proud to announce that the BCA YouthBuild program was selected for this million dollar competitive grant,” said Congressman Filner. “This program not only gives their young participants training in construction trades, it also makes sure they are prepared for the workforce by teaching them essential computer programs, green building techniques and how to be successful in finding and keeping a job.” The Department of Labor’s YouthBuild program assists out-of-school youth in obtaining their diplomas or GEDs while providing occupational training in the construction industry. The Labor Department has administered YouthBuild since 2006, awarding its first grants in 2007. In that time, more than 13,000 young people have participated in programs in 44 states and the District of Columbia. YouthBuild participants include individuals who have been in the juvenile justice system, youth aging out of foster care, high school dropouts and others. In addition to receiving academic and occupational skills training, young people develop leadership skills and participate in community service opportunities. According to the Black Contractors Association, BCA YouthBuild will provide participants with the opportunity to take part in traditional construction trades as well as training in either Solar Installation or Green Building Careers and will also offer the Home Builders Institute (HBI), and the Pre-Apprenticeship Certificate Training (PACT). BCA will utilize a Workforce Training Resource Lab which is outfitted with computers, internet, blue print reading software, CASAS, Plato, Aleks, WorkKeys, and a Learning Lab Specialist to assist students. All BCA YouthBuild staff are trained in a counseling method that assists participants to “talk themselves into change” and helps youth avoid negative behaviors. The Black Contractors Association is located at 6125 Imperial Way in San Diego, which is in California’s 51st Congressional District, represented by Congressman Filner.
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The Real Problem with Network Marketing and Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) It never ceases to amaze me the extreme polar views on the topic of network marketing and MLM. Some people are passionate about it in the extreme, and there are even top celebrity authors like Robert Allen, Mark Victor Hansen, and Robert Kiyosaki doing it and advocating it. Yet, in many circles, you might as well declare yourself a leper as admit to being in network marketing. So, what is the problem with MLM and network marketing? Maybe it's the pyramid structure? But you can't really take issue with the tiered compensation structure—almost every large sales organization in the world has that. Salespeople get commission, and sales managers get overrides or bonuses on top of that, and sales directors on top of that, and VPs on top of that. Or maybe it's the fact that you have to pay to participate in it? But that can't be it—that's a standard franchising model. And I assure you, the franchise fee of most traditional franchises dwarf the sign-up cost of any MLM program by comparison. Now certainly, there are illegal pyramid, or "Ponzi", schemes. This is where the money is all being made off of signing up other people, with little or no real product ever being delivered. But in spite of whatever perceptions people may have, the fact is that Amway, Excel, Meleleuca, PrePaid Legal, USANA, and many others have sold millions upon millions of dollars of products to happy customers, many of whom are NOT also reps. So, there may be a perception problem here, but if so, the perception is out of line with the reality. But surely the bad reputation MLM'ers has some more basis in fact than the occasional illegal pyramid scheme? The real problem with MLM is not MLM itself, but some of the people it attracts. Network marketing is just a business model, and it really amounts to "micro-franchising". Its upside is that it has a very low cost of entry, with the potential for exceptional revenue, and there are those who achieve that. But those same things that make it attractive make it attractive to many who are NOT really qualified or prepared to become business owners. The salient characteristics of MLM make it attractive to
people who: * have not done well in their business or profession and have little money saved up to invest * have no previous experience owning or running a business * have no previous experience in sales * have little or no experience developing business relationships other than that of employer/employee/co-worker * are not satisfied with their current level of income * have unrealistic expectations of the amount of work involved compared to the revenue realized Don't get me wrong—I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with any of these things, or that this describes even a majority of network marketers— only that it describes a disproportionate number of network marketers, and that many of them never do anything about it. As a result, many network marketers end up: * over-selling the opportunity * inappropriately discussing business in social situations * coming across as desperate * over-focused on new recruits and neglecting existing customers as a result * being either inaccurate or deceptive when talking about their business Again, I'm certainly not saying that this describes a majority of network marketers, but it does describe enough of them to tarnish the reputation of the rest. To pre-judge someone based on the basis of a small minority of people in that group is horribly unfair, but we must realize that most prejudices have some basis in reality, even if it has been distorted. So what's the solution? There's a first time for everything. And network marketing/MLM is a great opportunity for people to have their first business, their first sales role, etc. My point is this—recognize it for what it is: it's a business, and you are a business owner. And if you've never owned a business before, if you've never done sales before, if you've never networked before, you need to learn about how to do so, not just from the network marketing/MLM experts, but from established experts in those fields.
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By Tayrai Howard On Friday, February 24th, a dedication ceremony and concert were held in honor of musical Legend Hollis Gentry. The O’Farrell Community School Auditorium officially became the Hollis Gentry Auditorium. Mary Skrabucha of “Say San Diego” told reporters the idea was born at the Hollis Gentry Memorial services and she approached the San Diego Unified School Board requesting information on the procedure for renaming a building. She said Hollis Gentry was a former Student at O’Farrell Community School. The process took a year of paperwork, procedures, signatures and the O’Farrell School Board vote of approval. On January 25, 2011, at 6:25pm, the Board of Education approved the naming of the auditorium. Ms. Skrabucha said she had been meeting with family members for approximately 8 months. The event Master of Ceremonies was Larry Himmel from News 8 televsion and featured local musicians organized by Ronnie Stewart to perform throughout the evening. Representing Council President of the Fourth District was Roosevelt Williams III with a Proclamation delivered to the Gentry family. O’Farrell Principal John Dean told the audience that music was flourishing at O’Farrell with the addition of music into neighboring elementary schools. The dedication ceremony and concert also established a Musical Scholarship Fund by the Gentry family to help O’Farrell’s Music department, counseling, and to honor the legacy of Hollis Gentry. Students who have a financial need will be evaluated through onsite teachers and the Gentry family.
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Sagon Penn 24 Years Later March 31st 1987
Sagon Penn committed suicide with an overdose of alcohol and Benadryl in his mother's Spring Valley apartment July 4, 2002. He was 40. Following his acquittal of the murder and manslaughter charges after he shot and killed one San Diego police officer and wounding a second, Penn lived a troubled life. He arrested several times in the 1990s on charges such as fighting and domestic violence. Because of his high-profile trial, each arrest resurrected the incendiary story that divided the city between those who thought a cop killer went free and those who believed he stood up to racist police department that regularly targeted San Diego's minority communities. ORIGINAL STORY FROM GENETIC DISORDER #12 The case of Sagon Penn could be best described as Rodney King turned inside out. On March 31, 1985, Penn, then 23, was driving a pickup truck with his brother and some passengers riding in the truck bed along 65th Street in Encanto. As he passed two policemen in separate cars, Officer Donovan Jacobs flipped a U-turn while radioing the other officer, Tom Riggs saying, "I'm going to stop that truckload of Crips." The two officers pulled Penn over, and Jacobs approached the driver's side as Riggs stood near the passenger door. "What's up, blood?" Jacobs said before asking Penn for his license. Penn handed him his entire wallet. Jacobs then demanded he take his license out of the wallet. Penn handed it back, asking what the problem was. A struggle ensued with Jacob grabbing Penn, who tried to back away, and the two began to struggle. Jacobs began hitting Penn with his baton, but Penn was able to block most of the blows with his arms. Riggs joined in the struggle, hitting and kicking Penn while trying to keep the crowd from closing in. Jacobs ended up on Penn's chest, hitting him with closed fists while Riggs kicked and hit him with his baton. Somehow Penn was able to grab Jacob's .38, firing a shot into his neck. The gathering crowd scattered thinking the officer had killed Penn. In a taped 9-1-1 call, Penn's brother could be heard screaming, "They're shootin' my brother!" The second shot ripped through the sole of one of Riggs' boots. The third his thigh and the fourth hit him in the abdomen, severing his abdominal aorta. Penn jumped up and fired two more shots into Riggs' patrol car, wounding Sarah Pina-Ruiz, a civilian participating in a police ride-along. (It would come out later that Pina-Ruiz was a "police groupie," with hints of her having an affair with Riggs. Both were married at the time.) Penn jumped in Riggs' patrol car to escape as police sirens began screaming through the Encanto neighborhood, running over Riggs' body in his escape. Thirty minutes later after the shooting, Penn surrendered. One cop was dead, another wounded. The case instantly polarized San Diego: Was he a vicious cop killer or a victim of racist police brutality? Before the upcoming trial, the police played hardball. A mini martial law was set up in the neighborhood where the shooting occurred. Notes were destroyed from witness interviews, paraphrasing
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quotes that supposedly were never said. Evidence about Jacobs' attitude toward minorities was withheld until it was too late to present it to the jury, which included a transcript from his 1979 police academy training, documenting a counseling session after a class titled "Protecting Rights and Dignity," where it was reported that Jacobs felt it okay to use "professional profanity" and derogatory slurs toward minorities. An academic supervisor warned Jacobs "Unless you show some considerable change or at least some more consideration for others and can change your behavior...we don't want you because you are going to do nothing but create problems for yourself, for the public and for the department." During his first trial, the jury acquitted Penn of the murder and voluntary manslaughter of Riggs and the assaults on Jacobs and Pina-Ruiz. The district attorney had other plans and filed different charges against him. On June 10, 1987, a jury found Sagon Penn not guilty again. After a month of deliberations, Penn was found not guilty of the attempted voluntary manslaughter for the shooting of Jacobs, but deadlocked 11-1 in favor of acquittal of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Riggs. District Attorney Ed Miller, who lost his job several years later trying to convict Dale Akiki on charges of Satanic ritual abuse at a Lemon Grove church dropped the rest of the charges, making Penn a free man. The case didn't appear with the not guilty verdict. Judge J. Morgan Lester blasted the police department, saying it was obvious excessive force was used and officers lied on the stand, along with tampered with evidence. Supporters of Penn also claimed that police were harassing them. Michael Riggs, brother of slain officer Tom Riggs, spoke out, blaming his brother's death of Jacobs. The Riggs family supported Penn's prosecution in both trials, but Michael was angry that, in his opinion, Jacobs created the situation where his brother was killed and then used him as a scapegoat since Jacob first claimed Riggs started the fight when the opposite was true. After the trial, Penn changed his name, but officers still knew who they were dealing with his later run-ins with the law.
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Just Keeping It Real With Angela Harris Relationship Conversations Take Responsibility for your actions. Stop passing the buck! I happened to watch the Oprah Winfrey Show with Iyanla Vanzant. The thing that struck me the most and was so glaring was Iyanla’s inability to state plainly, “she blew it”. She failed to simply say I was full of myself. My ego got ahead of myself. I thought I was all that and a bag of chips with some Louisiana hot sauce poured on top. See we tend to be forgiving when we’re simply honest with ourselves and others. It’s no wonder she got ahead of self, she was catapulted into instant stardom, making millions of dollars, and the world was at her feet. She couldn’t go anywhere without being recognized and without someone asking her for relationship advice. I get that. I can sympathize with that. Having said that, the flip side is what we got, which was excuses and everyone else was to blame. Of course we got the occasional, “Okay I was crazy”. But we got more of this; Oprah never told her she liked her. Oprah didn’t tell her she wasn’t ready. Oprah didn’t understand her hearing from God and her threat that somebody really “big”, even though she knew who that really big was and didn’t divulge it, was willing to give her a show if Oprah didn’t because God told her it was her anointed time and not the appointed time, whatever that meant, didn’t actually mean she was threatening her. Oprah should have known she didn’t want to leave and her actually wanting a show now, didn’t mean she wasn’t willing to wait. Really? It seemed ironic to me that the Iyanla, who was given Oprah’s stage and audience and allowed to run the show, even though the likes of Suzie Orman and Dr. Phil, nor anyone had ever been given that privilege, couldn’t see how special that was and what an absolute honor it was. She actually stated, “I thought you wanted the work and not the person”. Really? Here is someone who kept saying, I didn’t know any better, I came from the Bronx, on welfare, never had anything, I didn’t understand because I came from the back woods. Yet this same, woman with lack of understanding, was giving relationship advice, writing book after book, making millions of dollars, knew she made 1.5 million in three months on Oprah and within one year and some months more she made over 3 million, yet the possibility of a show that paid her 1 million was more enticing? Really? She knew how to do the math, so clearly the money wasn’t the issue because she settled for less than what she could make on Oprah. What Iyanla couldn’t or wouldn’t admit was that she had failed to be loyal. The very woman who gave her, her enormous start, had her on her show more than twenty times in one year, told her she wanted to give her a show, just right now wouldn’t work, but they were working on it, she allowed someone to come in who hadn’t invested a dime, time, or anything, flip her mind and entice her. What Iyanla also failed to admit had it not been for her exposure on Oprah, and Oprah graciously giving her, her show twenty times out of the year, is what made her the relationship expert to the world. Loyalty, what a forgotten phenomena? Iyanla is no different from many of us. We are not willing to take responsibility for our choices. Example - You have a child by a man who has other children and doesn’t take care of them and yet you’re mad that he doesn’t take care of the one you had. What was going to make you different? Be honest you are mad at yourself because you slept with a man who wasn’t responsible – your choice, not his fault. Man after man has mistreated you. While that may be a reality you must take responsibility for the fact that you allowed them to mistreat you. You must find value in yourself and demand that you be treated a certain way or tell them to hit the road. If I don’t have to take responsibility for my actions why should anyone else? Makes one wonder whether the advice given was really sound and helpful, if the person giving the advice didn’t live by their very own advice. I say before any of us give advice we must first follow this principle; physician heal thy self, then, heal others.
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Carrol Waymon
“WHEN THE PEOPLE ARE UNSLEEPING, THE REVOLUTON WILL COME”-P-2 March 3, 2011 - This continues our discussion on the general topic of the basis of Revolutions, as we like to say with emphasis on the anger of “The People” as opposed to those in power and who the people define and perceive as “The Oppressors”. Now we’re talking about ordinary people and their lives and not the theory of Revolutions as we read about them in history books and official governmental papers. ANGER IN TWO COMMUNITIES We’re thinking right now of the anger that is building up in so many of our big cities, around how the police treat certain groups, such as the young Black and Brown males, while most of the elected officials and others in authority give lip service to how they don’t approve of the police behavior but do little to nothing to stop or even address the problems caused by the police actions. And this is happening more and more to female of color as well. Daily the national media tell us about this problem as if this simmering below- the surface -anger is accepted by these populations as “the expected and natural behavior of these officers and the city officials and other elected politicians.” The truth of the matter is just the opposite: these targeted youth and their families, on the one hand, are angry most of the time because they see these officials getting salary raises all the time and making speeches at election time about how great their cities are and how much money is coming into their cities from the State and national governments, but are doing little to nothing to address these simmering problems. And on the other hand, these angry groups also include the parents of these targeted youth and other affected community groups who also feel helpless to change the behavior of either the police officers or the elected or appointed officials. POLICE BEATING UP YOUTH And these two named groups are most likely to be described as belonging to Black or Brown “gangs”. But these gang members make up but a small percentage of those Black and Brown youth we’re talking about here. Why? Because the police beat up Black and Brown youth who are not and never has been a gang member. AND all members of these two communities know this all to well. It’s still all too true that the parents of these two groups still worry that their young sons may not come back home at night when they go out to ANY kind of social or other youth affair, alone or with other youth, without being stopped for some “official reason” by police. And here is the worst and mot dangerous elements of this “quiet community war” : first, in many of these communities, these Black and Brown parents and other adults are now resigned to the fact that they are helpless to stop this silent and often hidden war waged by the cities against their communities and their youth and have just given up trying to
openly change things for the better; AND worse still is the fact that the white establishment “across town” also read about and see the news about how the police and other officials treat these “colored youth across town” and only a few of these white officials or white organizations or white influential citizens dare raise their voices to speak out against these practices. INSTITUTIONALIZED WHITE COMMUNITY FEARS OF BLACK AND BROWN YOUTH This silence on the part of “white citizens in white communities” is an institutionalized response of long standing on matters relating to Blacks for this reason: historically, for over two hundred years whites have been told they have to be “protected from black males.” So hence the organized and institutionalized separate living communities, so that whites may be separated and protected from the “black and brown males.” Today this practice and the related myth and fear are all institutionalized and are all expressed in their silence of not speaking out about the equally institutionalized practice of protecting the “Police gangs”” beating up and locking up millions of young Black and Brown males in our urban cities In, say a few decades, these victims persons will have all the know-how to start a new revolution: These victims of today will be joined by the millions of other equally “angry different populations” of these peoples of color and other angry white youth and angry white oppressed adults who may awake in a few decades with all the physical material tools and new technology and spark a new revolution to free themselves from the ever present conditions of official oppression they suffer presently. So until next week, remember: IT HAS ALREADY BEEN OVER A HALF CENTURY SINCE OUR SOCIAL REVOLUTION OF THE 50’S AND 60’S AND 70’S. IT JUST COULD BE TIME FOR ANOTHER.
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D I R E C T O RY Linda Vista Second Baptist Church 2706 Korink Avenue, San Diego, CA 92111 Tel. (858) 277-4008 / Fax (858) 277-8441 Email: second-baptist@sbcglobal.net “Welcome to Praise City” Weekly Order of Service Sunday: Early Morning Worship Power Hour Mid-day Worship
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KING Continued from page 14 --Rodney King attorney Milton Grimes, on the 1991 beating Nearly a year later, the four officers were tried in federal court on civil rights charges. This trial would be very different from the first: It took place in Los Angeles, two African-Americans were picked for the jury and King actually testified this time. "There was no way in the world that any jury would acquit all of the defendants again," Stone, the defense attorney, told CNN. King's own testimony may have hurt the federal case, as he hedged on whether police had used racial slurs during the beating. King recently told CNN that slurs definitely were uttered, but he said he vacillated on the stand because his mother had advised him to avoid talking about race. Ultimately, Koon and Powell were found guilty, while Briseno and Wind were acquitted. "It was like, .. I just hope we just get one. I hope we just get one on that," King said. "If we get one, we're good. So to get the two, I was really happy." "We got half-justice," his attorney, Grimes, growled, but the verdicts and the 30-month sentences seemed to satisfy the community. There was no unrest. One more trial awaited: Rodney King's lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles. This time, there was only one AfricanAmerican on the jury, and she was a force to be reckoned with. "Half of them had no sympathy whatsoever," Cynthia Kelly told CNN, referring to her fellow jurors. "They did not care at all. They just didn't care. Like, 'He broke the law. He deserved what he got.' " If the [police] officers do what they're trained to do, how can you find them guilty of a crime? And the jury understood that. "I told them they were crazy!" she recalled.
March 5, 2011 - Page 23 "It was about justice for what happened to him. No one deserves to get beat like that." Eventually, the other jurors came around, and King was awarded $3.8 million in damages. It was finally over. But the aftereffects continue to this day. King sometimes still wears a protective vest in response to a fear of reprisal and some genuine threats. And he's had several more run-ins with the law, including a 90-day jail stint in 1996 for a hit-and-run involving his wife at the time. 2001: King arrested three times in six weeks 2003: King arrested after domestic dispute 2007: King involved in shooting People wonder why he kept getting into trouble. "The trouble that they see me in is a part of my life that I'm working on," he said, acknowledging a long-standing problem with alcohol. In 2008, he appeared on VH1's "Celebrity Rehab" reality show. But despite those troubles -- not to mention frequent nightmares and the fact that he's spent virtually all of his share of the $3.8 million -- King says he is happy. He's a grandfather now, and he's engaged to marry a special woman who has returned from his past -Cynthia Kelly. "She's a nice, friendly person," he said. Things have changed at the LAPD, too. The upper ranks are much more diverse. Changes also have been made -- sometimes under court order -- in the way certain neighborhoods are patrolled and in how complaints are handled. "The main impact that the Rodney King case had is that it accelerated change," journalist Lou Cannon said. "It's not tenable any longer in the United States of America for a police force of a major city to govern without having the community being a part of that governance." Whether society itself has sufficiently changed is a question for every generation to consider.
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