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When Sidney and Essie Herndon welcomed their firstborn child in the spring before America entered World War II, they gave the glory to God and began pouring their love and attention into raising little Sidney in the small town they called home.

What the young couple may not have realized is that their son would usher in an extraordinary family legacy. That he would make history and distinguish himself as an outstanding leader and advocate, remarkable innovator, fount of soft-spoken wisdom, and exemplar of Black dignity and achievement before it was commonly recognized and celebrated.

Sidney Frederick Herndon was born March 30, 1941 in Broken Bow, Oklahoma. He was known as a precocious child who was always ready to accept the most adult responsibilities — a standing in life that was encapsulated in his parents’ decision to move west while Sidney was a student at Bing High School in Ada, Oklahoma: hardly old enough to possess a license, the teenager drove what had become a very large family most of the way to California.

The Herndons put down roots in San Bernardino, where Sidney — the eldest of 11 children — graduated from San Bernardino High School in 1957. He began studying to become a psychiatric technician immediately following high school, starting a lifelong career in mental health that began at Patton State Hospital and led to a decade at Camarillo State Hospital, where he became nursing coordinator; and then spent five years as program director, and then spent five years as program director for acute psychiatric patients at Metropolitan State Hospital in Norwalk. Along the way, he earned degrees from Antioch University and the University of the Pacific.

In the summer of 1980, at the age of 39, Sidney became the first African-American in California history named executive director of a state mental hospital — when he assumed the post on an acting basis at Metropolitan. On December 22 of that year, he was named executive director of Atascadero State Hospital, a 1,263-bed facility in San Luis Obispo County. Each hospital he led achieved accreditation.

After retiring from the State of California, Sidney moved to the Midwest and served as deputy director of hospital services in the State of Ohio.

Sidney’s approach to serving people with mental illness and supporting their caregivers was captured in remarks he gave to the San Bernardino Sun newspaper in 1980 — as he advocated for more community-based psychiatric clinics to treat mental illness at earlier stages and possibly prevent hospitalizations.

“State hospitals have a stigma about them,” he said, “and what I would like to do is take it (treatment) into the community and normalize it.”

Outside of his historic career and phenomenal record of professional and community leadership, Sidney never lost sight of what always meant most to him: family. While he was living in Oxnard, his parents entrusted him with caring for two teenage siblings — Willie and Ruben — eager to learn the ways of the world from their older brother.

Fatherhood came naturally to him, and his 1962 marriage to Gayle Cole was blessed with two children, Tina and Eric. He married Caroline Rotherman in [YEAR], a union that brought Timothy, Catherine and Elizabeth into their loving family.

Sidney enjoyed traveling with his family, especially trips to campgrounds with his children. He was a master of the motor home, and once took his parents on a memorable road trip to their Oklahoma hometown to visit relatives and reminisce.

After retiring from the State of Ohio, Sidney and his wife of 15 years, Hazel Simonette Herndon, lived in Trinidad before moving to Corona, California at the end of 2019.

Throughout his life, Sidney modeled a quiet strength and generous spirit that influenced, motivated, and sustained countless people and touched generations of lives.

After his father’s passing, Sidney took his role as family patriarch to heart: he was known to never miss a major function or moment in the lives of his loved ones. He took every occasion as an opportunity to exemplify the values he held dear: Put family at the center. Act with kindness. Be present for one another’s sake. Thoughtfully show what it really means to take care of each other. Lead quietly and confidently with intelligence and grace. Never lose sight of how valuable your mere presence can be for the people you love and who love you.

He was preceded in death by his beloved parents Sidney and Essie; and brothers Brent Astaire Herndon, Freddie Lee Herndon, Willie Cullen Herndon, Ruben Coleman Herndon, and Jerry Lyn Herndon.

Beyond his children and wife Hazel, Sidney is survived by his brothers Myles Edward Herndon and Byron Duryea Herndon (Regina); sisters Beverly Ann Martin, Evelyn Margie Tahiru, and Ida Ruth Martin (George). He will be remembered by a host of nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends who looked to Sidney as a role model, mentor, and style icon — and his memory will be loved and treasured forever.

By Mark Kennedy | Associated Press

Cicely Tyson, the pioneering Black actor who gained an Oscar nomination for her role as the sharecropper’s wife in “Sounder,” won a Tony Award in 2013 at age 88 and touched TV viewers’ hearts in “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman,” succumbed on Thursday, January 28 at the age of 96.

Tyson’s death was announced by her family, via her manager Larry Thompson, who did not immediately provide additional details.

“With heavy heart, the family of Miss Cicely Tyson announces her peaceful transition this afternoon. At this time, please allow the family their privacy,” according to a statement issued through Thompson.

A one-time model, Tyson began her screen career with bit parts but gained fame in the early 1970s when Black women were finally starting to get starring roles. Tyson refused to take parts simply for the paycheck, remaining choosey.

“I’m very selective as I’ve been my whole career about what I do. Unfortunately, I’m not the kind of person who works only for money. It has to have some real substance for me to do it,” she told The Associated Press in 2013.

Tributes from Broadway and Hollywood poured in, including from Broadway star Tracie Thomas, who thanked her for paving the way. “A queen and a trailblazer indeed,” she wrote on Twitter. Former co-star Marlee Matlin wrote: “She was a consummate pro and all class.” Director Kenny Leon added: “God bless the greatest and the tallest tree.”

Tyson’s memoir, “Just As I Am,” was published this week.

Besides her Oscar nomination, she won two Emmys for playing the 110-year-old former slave in the 1974 television drama “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman.” A new generation of moviegoers saw her in the 2011 hit “The Help.”

In 2018, she was given an honorary Oscar statuette at the annual Governors Awards. “I come from lowly status. I grew up in an area that was called the slums at the time,” Tyson said at the time. “I still cannot imagine that I have met with presidents, kings, queens. How did I get here? I marvel at it.”

Writing in “Blacks in American Film and Television,” Donald Bogle described Tyson as “a striking figure: slender and intense with near-perfect bone structure, magnificent smooth skin, dark penetrating eyes, and a regal air that made her seem a woman of convictions and commitment. (Audiences) sensed… her power and range.”

“Sounder,” based on the William H. Hunter novel, was the film that confirmed her stardom in 1972. Tyson was cast as the Depression-era loving wife of a sharecropper (Paul Winfield) who is confined in jail for stealing a piece of meat for his family. She is forced to care for their children and attend to the crops.

The New York Times reviewer wrote: “She passes all of her easy beauty by to give us, at long last, some sense of the profound beauty of millions of Black women.”

Her performance evoked rave reviews, and Tyson won an Academy Award nomination as best actress of 1972.

In an interview on the Turner Classic Movies cable channel, she recalled that she had been asked to test for a smaller role in the film and said she wanted to play the mother, Rebecca. She was told, “You’re too young, you’re too pretty, you’re too sexy, you’re too this, you’re too that, and I said, `I am an actress.’”

In 2013, at the age of 88, Tyson won the Tony for best leading actress in a play for the revival of Horton Foote’s “The Trip to Bountiful.” It was the actor’s first time back on Broadway in three decades and she refused to turn meekly away when the teleprompter told to finish her acceptance speech.

“`Please wrap it up,’ it says. Well, that’s exactly what you did with me: You wrapped me up in your arms after 30 years,” she told the crowd. She had prepared no speech (“I think it’s presumptuous,” she told the AP later. “I burned up half my time wondering what I was going to say.”)

She reprised her winning role in the play for a Lifetime Television movie, which was screened at the White House. She returned to Broadway in 2015 opposite James Earl Jones for a revival of “The Gin Game.”

Her fame transcended all media. Wendell Pierce took to Twitter to praise Tyson as an actor “who captured the power and grace of Black women in America” and Gabrielle Union said “we have lost a visionary, a leader, a lover an author, an icon and one of the most talented actresses the world has ever seen.” Neil deGrasse Tyson called her “a force of nature unto herself” and Shonda Rhimes said “her power and grace will be with us forever.”

In the 1974 television drama “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman,” based on a novel by Ernest J. Gaines, Tyson is seen aging from a young woman in slavery to a 110-year-old who campaigned for the civil rights movement of the 1960s.

In the touching climax, she laboriously walks up to a “whites only” water fountain and takes a drink as white officers look on.

“It’s important that they see and hear history from Miss Jane’s point of view,” Tyson told The New York Times. “And I think they will be more ready to accept it from her than from someone younger”

New Yorker film critic Pauline Kael offered her praise: “She’s an actress, all right, and as tough-minded and honorable in her methods as any we’ve got.”

At the Emmy Awards, “Pittman” won multiple awards, including two honors for Tyson, best lead actress in a drama and best actress in a special.

“People ask me what I prefer doing — film, stage, television? I say, ‘I would have done “Jane Pittman” in the basement or in a storefront.’ It’s the role that determines where I go,” she told the AP.

Tyson made her movie debut in the late 1950s with small roles in such films as “Odds Against Tomorrow,” “The Last Angry Man,” and “The Comedians.” She played the romantic interest to Sammy Davis Jr.’s jazz musician in “A Man Called Adam.”

She gained wider notice with a recurring role in the 1963 drama series “East Side, West Side,” which starred George C. Scott as a social worker. Tyson played his secretary, making her the first Black woman to have a continuing role in a dramatic television series.

She played a role in the 1968 drama “The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter” that was hailed by a reviewer as “an absolute embodiment of the slogan ‘Black is beautiful.’” In “Roots,” the 1977 miniseries that became one of the biggest events in TV history, she played Binta, mother of the protagonist, Kunta Kinte, played by LeVar Burton.

She also appeared on Broadway in the 1960s in “The Cool World,” “Tiger, Tiger Burning Bright” and other plays. Off-Broadway, she appeared with such future stars as Maya Angelou, Godfrey Cambridge and James Earl Jones in a 1961 production of French playwright Jean Genet’s “The Blacks.”

She won a Drama Desk award in 1962 for a role in the off-Broadway “Moon on a Rainbow Shawl.”

After her “Sounder” and “Miss Jane Pittman” successes, Tyson continued to seek TV roles that had messages, and she succeeded with “Roots” and “King” (about Martin Luther King) and “The Rosa Parks Story.”

She complained to an interviewer: “We Black actresses have played so many prostitutes and drug addicts and house maids, always negative. I won’t play that kind of characterless role any more, even if I have to go back to starving.”

She continued with such films as “The Blue Bird,” “Concorde — Airport ’79,” “Fried Green Tomatoes,” “The Grass Harp” and Tyler Perry’s “Diary of a Mad Black Woman.”

She won a supporting actress Emmy in 1994 for “Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All.” She was nominated for Emmys several other times, including for “Roots,” “King,” “The Marva Collins Story” “Sweet Justice” and “A Lesson Before Dying.”

In recent years, she was part of a panel discussion for “Cherish the Day,” an eight-episode OWN anthology series created and produced by Ava DuVernay. She played the mother of Viola Davis on the long-running “How to Get Away with Murder.”

Tyson’s parents moved from the island of Nevis in the Caribbean to New York, where Cicely (her name was spelled early on as Cecily and Sicely) was born in 1924, the youngest of three children. When her parents separated, her mother went on welfare. At 9 Cicely sold shopping bags on the streets of East Harlem.

When she graduated from high school, she found work as a secretary at the Red Cross. Her striking looks prompted friends to advise her to take up modeling and that led to acting schools, theater, movies and television.

“My mother told me I could no longer live in her house because I was determined to be an actress,” she told an interviewer in 1990. “I said `OK,’ and I moved out.”

Tyson was married once, to jazz great Miles Davis. The wedding was held in 1981 at Bill Cosby’s home in Massachusetts, attended by show business notables. They divorced in 1988.

Tyson was never hard to spot. She tried to say no to wearing a terrifically large hat to Aretha Franklin’s 2018 funeral, only to be overruled by her designer. The hat would become a viral highlight.

“I never thought in my career that I would be upstaged by a hat! And I did not want to wear it,” Tyson said later. “I said, ‘I can’t wear that hat, I will be blocking the view of the people behind me, they won’t be able to see and they’ll call me all kinds of names.’ He just looked at me and said, ‘Put the hat on.’”

She came around, telling the AP she thought of the hat as homage to Franklin’s appearance at Obama’s inauguration.

AP National Writer Hillel Italie contributed to this report.

By Lou Yeboah

“I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land.” [Martin Luther King, Jr.]. God has chosen us out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession. The LORD did not set his affection on us and chose us, because we were more numerous than other peoples, for we were the fewest of all peoples. But because the LORD loved us and is keeping the oath He swore to our forefathers that He brought out with a mighty hand and redeemed from the land of slavery. [Deuteronomy 7:6-8]. We have been elected. He chose us. Let that continue to encourage you and give you confidence that He will keep you until the end.

Yes, we are the peculiar people of God; all His own, closest to His affections, under His protection, the recipients of all needed. I tell you, don’t you worry about a thing, because God got you! I’m reminded of when the Children of Israel who had come to what seemed like the end of their journey on the banks of Jordan, Moses told them to go on ahead. They began to wonder what would happen to them next, and the Lord said tell them… “Be strong and of a good courage, do not fear, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD your God, He is the One who goes with you; He will not fail you, nor forsake you… [Deuteronomy 31:6]. My people, “I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land.”  We are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of God’s possession.” [1 Peter 2:9].

Therefore, “Do not think its strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. [1 Peter 4:12-14]. For we’ve come “Out of Africa” now into the wilderness.  But God has promised to be with us every step of the way.  I tell you, don’t you worry about a thing, God got you!

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?  As it is written: “… we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.  For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. [Romans 8:31-39].

Take this confident assurance forward with you through whatever trial or hazard besets you, and faithfully prepare to cross the Jordan, into the land that Christ has giving unto us as He promised to Moses.  From the wilderness and the Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, to the Great Sea in the west shall be our territory. Moving forward knowing that no one shall be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As God was with Moses, so He will be with you; For He said, “I will not fail you or forsake you.  Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to act in accordance with all the law that His servant Moses commanded us, Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, so that you may be successful wherever you go.  [Joshua 1:1-11]. For, He said, “Today I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, so they will know that I will be with you just as I was with Moses. [Joshua 3:7-8].

I tell you, having monuments to God’s faithfulness that we can look back on can encourage our faith for the future. [Joshua chapter 4]. Even when it seems like we’re not making any progress, the Lord’s command is: “FORWARD MARCH!” [Exodus 14].  

Advancing with confidence to that promised inheritance as we celebrate Black History Month!

“Lift every voice and sing, Till earth and heaven ring, ring with the harmonies of Liberty. Let our rejoicing rise, high as the listening skies, let it resound loud as the rolling sea. Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us. Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us. Facing the rising sun of our new day begun. Let us march on till victory is won..” [Lift Every Voice and Sing – often called “The Black National Anthem” – was written as a poem by NAACP leader James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938) and then set to music by his brother John Rosamond Johnson (1873-1954) in 1899.]

SAN BERNARDINO, CA— Berdoo is a powerful new film that follows the challenging lives of students in the San Bernardino City Unified School District (SBCUSD). It is a film that shares the stories of multiple students and their moving struggles surrounding school.

Berdoo ’s official, virtual premiere is Friday, January 29 at 5:30 p.m. The online watch party will include a live question-and-answer session and will include a special message from both SBCUSD and the creator of Berdoo.

Whether you live in San Bernardino or not, we invite everyone to view this documentary that paints a moving picture of struggle, perseverance, and hope. And, most importantly, Berdoo will give you a closer glimpse at some of the special people in SBCUSD who have dedicated their careers to education and their lives to making Berdoo, as we lovingly know this city, a better place for children.

The film was available for viewing on YouTube over the holidays and was viewed over 7,000 times. It has received an incredible response from the community and local organizations.

About Berdoo

Named for the moniker that locals use to refer to their city, Berdoo was inspired by research conducted at the Loma Linda University School of Public Health. The creator of the film, Nishita Matangi, and her team collaborated with the San Bernardino City Unified School District to look into the barriers to attendance among high school students in the school district. While gathering data, through interviews and focus groups, they heard the stories of resilience in both the students and the community as a whole. These stories weren’t reflected by the data and headlines they saw while conducting background research on San Bernardino. They knew the stories needed to be shared and conversations about a film began.

Matangi pitched Berdoo for a project in a program she was attending at Harvard Medical School called Media and Medicine. She then continued the production as part of the practicum requirements for her master’s degree in Public Health at LLUSPH. It was important to her to create a space for the community to share their own stories, so she made sure everyone involved in the project (from the crew to the interviewees) were from San Bernardino.

The film seeks to highlight some of the struggles students face while growing up in San Bernardino, but showcase the programs and people from the school district that are trying to address those struggles. It also highlights the resilience of the community and the people that are a part of it. Throughout the years, and no matter the economic situation, the San Bernardino City Unified School District has continued to be a resource for the community. Approximately two thirds of the San Bernardino population is impacted by the school district in one way or another.

Why Berdoo :

“I was inspired by the people and their intriguing experiences and realized my initial negative introduction through data and articles didn’t reflect the true sense of the community. It was important to me that this story be told by people from Berdoo, from the crew to the interviewees,” said Matangi.

Every person has a story that deals with barriers within this community. Take the story of Minessotta Vikings running back Alexander Mattison, whose family didn’t always have a place to call home, and who saw friends struggle to keep up with school while working and helping raise their siblings. He found hope through his family, friends, and the teachers that invested in him; teachers like Mr. Hinkleman, who invested in Alex on the field, in the classroom, and beyond.

Watch the premiere at https://www.facebook.com/BerdooFilm/

What you can do to help:

The most impactful way anyone can help out Berdoo is by sharing the content and supporting the Patreon.

• Visit our website at https://berdoofilm.com to watch the trailer and learn more about the project and how to get involved.
• Join our Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/berdoofilm
• Donate or volunteer your time by visiting https://makinghope.org/berdoo/

Producer Bio:

Nishita Matangi has her Masters in Public Health and runs her own health communications consulting business She takes on projects like Berdoo to create platforms for community voices and to make public health information accessible and relatable. While researching chronic absenteeism among San Bernardino City Unified School District high school students, the stories she and her team heard during focus groups and interviews inspired her to share the stories of resilience in the community. She pitched the idea for Berdoo for a post-graduate program, “Media and Medicine” at Harvard Medical School. Over a year later, she hopes the film will shed a positive light on the resilient community.

The Board of Supervisors today announced that all San Bernardino County residents ages 65 and over are now eligible to be vaccinated against COVID-19.  

“We know that our seniors are the most vulnerable to serious illness and death if they contract COVID-19 and we want to get them vaccinated as quickly as possible,” said Board of Supervisors Chairman
Curt Hagman. “We ask the community for patience as we continue to receive doses from the State of California to serve our senior population and as we continue to vaccinate health care workers.”

Vaccine supplies from the State are scarce, so appointments are limited. County residents 65 and over can make appointments through https://sbcovid19.com/vaccine/. Seniors can also sign up for email and text notifications to receive alerts about vaccination opportunities and other vaccination news through the “65+ Vaccine Notification Sign Up” link at https://sbcovid19.com/vaccine/.

Those who need assistance with appointments or signing up for notifications can call the COVID-19 hotline from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday at (909) 387-3911.

Also coming soon to accommodate all vaccination tiers, especially those individuals 65 and older, are a variety of new options for county residents to receive the vaccine to compliment the sites already in place.  These include mobile vaccination units to serve residents with travel challenges, including seniors and residents in the most remote areas of the 20,000-square-mile county, community-based vaccination sites similar to the many county testing sites, through partnerships with local clinics and healthcare providers. In addition, a super-site for vaccinations will be announced soon.

Vaccinations for County residents 65 and over are available within Phase 1A of the Vaccination Roadmap, which includes all front-line health care workers. Appointments are available with equal priority to both populations.

By Lou Yeboah

You always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you.” [Acts 7:51].  Tell me, if you refuse to obey the law of the land, what will happen to you? You will be punished! Then what do you think will happen when you refuse to obey My Laws? When those in authority command you to do something, you do it, and rightly so, because the Word of God tells you in [Romans 13:1-2] “Obey the government, for God is the One who has put it there.  Now since I am sovereignty over all things and persons, tell me, what do you think will happen when you refuse to obey My laws and commands?

I will tell you want will happen. “If you refuse to obey My laws and commands and break the covenant I have made with you, I will punish you. I will bring disaster on you—incurable diseases and fevers that will make you blind and cause your life to waste away. I will turn against you, so that you will be defeated, and those who hate you will rule over you; you will be so terrified that you will run when no one is chasing you.

“If even after all of this you still do not obey me, I will increase your punishment seven times.  I will break your stubborn pride; there will be no rain, and your land will be dry and as hard as iron. “If you still continue to resist me and refuse to obey me, I will again increase your punishment seven times. I will send dangerous animals among you, and they will kill your children, destroy your livestock, and leave so few of you that your roads will be deserted.

“If after all of this you still do not listen to me, but continue to defy me, then I will turn on you and punish you seven times harder than before. I will bring war on you to punish you for breaking our covenant.  I will cut off your food supply, so that ten women will need only one oven to bake all the bread they have. They will ration it out, and when you have eaten it all, you will still be hungry.

“If after all of this you still continue to defy me and refuse to obey me,  then in my anger I will turn on you and again make your punishment seven times worse than before. I will destroy your places of worship on the hills, tear down your incense altars, and throw your dead bodies on your fallen idols. I will make those of you who are in exile so terrified that the sound of a leaf blowing in the wind will make you run. You will run as if you were being pursued in battle, and you will fall when there is no enemy near you.  You will die in exile, swallowed up by the land of your enemies.  The few of you who survive in the land of your enemies will waste away because of your own sin and the sin of your ancestors.”  [Leviticus 26:14-46]

Lesson for Life — Take God At His Word.

What more does God have to do to get your attention, for you to take Him at His Word and do what He wants you to do? If you do not repent and surrender your life unto the Lord, if you don’t get right with God, you are going to Hell! Fear who can cast both soul and body into hell” [Luke 12:4–5]. For God says, He will send His anger against you; He will judge you according to your ways, and He will repay you for all your abominations. For His eye will not spare you, nor will He have pity..” [Ezekiel 7:2-9].

I tell you a day of trouble is near [Isaiah 22:5]. I hear, and my body trembles; my lips quiver at the sound; rottenness enters into my bones; my legs tremble beneath me. [Habakkuk 3:16]. The Bible reveals that the worst, most indescribably terrifying time in the entire history of this planet is soon to occur. What are you waiting for?

From the very beginning, God has shown patience, grace and mercy towards us. But there will comes a time when His patience will run out. [Romans 2:4–5? 2 Peter 3:8–10]. Right now He is offering relief from His judgment for the repentant. Don’t wait! Don’t delay! The whole Bible story leads to a day when God will deal with all sin fully, finally, and forever. This will be the day of wrath, when God will recompense every evil and bring to judgment every sin.

You are given a second chance by God, do not waste time to cease the opportunity and act on it immediately!

“And the Lord God of their fathers sent warnings to them by His messengers, rising up early and sending them, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place. But they mocked the messengers of God, despised His words, and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, till there was no remedy.” [2 Chronicles 36:15-20].