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Publisher’s Commentary By Wallace J. Allen

LeBron James’ gift to the children of Akron, Ohio is a template for what wealthy folk can do to help America benefit from the potential that is unlocked when our children are supported in their quest for excellence!  Educating children in grade school and guaranteeing their college tuition/education is really a gift to America.  It also lifts our vision beyond the typical distractions that haunt Black Americans and empowers our children with education and hero images that look like them! 

I encourage other affluent people who are concerned with America’s mistreatment of the Black descendants of the enslaved Africans who built the wealth of America; to replace protest with pro-activism!

I have supported the NFL Players kneeling in protest of police shootings of Black People and would support the protest now, were it not for King James’ royal proclamation and commitment. His action has set a new standard for activism by prosperous people.

I suggest that the NFL players who really want to make a difference, redirect their energy from protesting during the National Anthem to pro-action with their paychecks! Affluent Black men dedicating money towards educating our less fortunate will make a powerful impact. Affluent Black men supporting businesses that create job opportunities for our disenfranchised will make a powerful impact!

Kneeling has made a powerful noise that has not only been compromised by haters, but also threatens the income of those who choose to kneel in protest.  I suggest that we encourage our concerned NFL players to protect their source of income by rejecting protest and to demonstrate pro-action by investing in strengthening the Black Family and community. Stay Woke!    

EMPIRE NEWS NETWORK (ENN)—ANAHEIM, CA— More than 4,500 students from 48 Anaheim elementary schools participated in the second year of Happiest Class on Earth. The program, which will run over a 10-year period, encourages sixth-graders to give back to their schools and communities by completing a service project, earning tickets to visit the Disneyland Resort as a class.

Through their participation in the program this year, students collected cans of food, planted trees and recycled bottles, just to name a few of their efforts.

Assistant Principal Suzanne Nichols from Thomas Edison Elementary School noted, “Because of the hard work and dedication of the students through Happiest Class on Earth, many people have been positively impacted by the community service!”

Thomas Burrell, President of BFAA, will be the “EMPIRE TALKS BACK” (ETB) guest this Sunday. ETB, hosted by Wallace Allen, WssNews Publisher, is broadcast each Sunday at 10:00 AM on KCAA 1050-AM, 102.3 FM and 106.5 FM.  ETB streams live video via http://www.kcaaradio.com

By Tom Charlier, Commercial Appeal

(EMPIRE NEWS NETWORK (ENN)— Black farmers, whose numbers already have dwindled precipitously over the past century, face new hardships after suffering poor crop yields last year because they were sold “fake” soybean seeds, an association alleges in a lawsuit.

Leaders of the Memphis-based Black Farmers and Agriculturalists Association have filed a class-action lawsuit against Stine Seed, the nation’s largest independent seed-producer, accusing the Adel, Iowa, firm of targeting African-Americans for sales of defective seeds.

The suit alleges that black farmers who attended the 67th Annual Mid-South Farm & Gin Show in Memphis last year bought more than $100,000 worth of “certified” seeds. But the lawsuit alleges the seeds were switched for inferior ones at a warehouse near Sledge, Miss.

Stine, in a statement, strongly denied the allegations and said it would mount a vigorous defense against the “meritless” lawsuit.

The lawsuit is the latest action by the BFAA, which also has represented some of the African-American farmers claiming widespread discriminatory practices by the Department of Agriculture.

Following an initial class-action lawsuit against the USDA, nearly 16,000 growers had collected settlements totaling $1.06 billion by 2011. Congress has appropriated $1.2 billion to pay for a second wave of settlements.

You may hear more about this case on Sunday, August 5 as Thomas Burrell, President of BFAA, discusses the lawsuit on ‘Empire Talks Back’ with Wallace Allen at 10 a.m. on KCAA 1050-AM, 02.3 FM and 106.5 FM. Listen onine at www.kcaaradio.com.

Lou Coleman-Yeboah

By Lou Coleman-Yeboah

(EMPIRE NEWS NETWORK (ENN)—That’s right! Your rejection of the gospel will be inexcusable. You have heard the gospel. Your unbelief is not out of ignorance, but out of rebellion against God and against His Word. I tell you, you are just like Israel, who knew the truth, but chose not to obey it. You are guilty before God just as Israel was and deserving of divine wrath. This is the essence of [Romans 1:18-32]. For God says, “All the daylong I have stretched out My hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.” [Romans 10:21]. It’s not that God just displays His truth in the heavens, it comes home. It’s received. We get it, but we suppress it, that’s why the apostle Paul said that every mouth will be shut on that day because there is no defense against this [Romans 3:19]. You know it, yet you suppress it. You are created in the image of God, yet you are ungodly. You have the law of God written on your heart, yet you are unrighteous.

“Woe to you Chorazin and Bethsaida, for if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it shall be more tolerable on the Day of Judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you [Matthew 11:21-22] because to disobey God’s commands is a spiritual and eternal death. You see, the more evidence you have of Christ’s reality, the more severe your judgment for not repenting. Your doom will be more miserable than the pagans. I tell you it would have been better for you to have never known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to you.” There is no excuse for unbelief. There is never an excuse for unbelief!

When you stand before the judgment seat in the last day, God will not judge you on the basis of what you did not know but on the basis of what has been revealed to you. Just imagine standing before God and trying to make excuses for your stubborn disobedience of His Word. What will be your excuse? Have you not heard? Indeed you have [Romans 1:19-23]! For the righteousness of God has been revealed to everyone through nature [Psalms 19]. You have no excuse. Your conscience knows the righteousness of God as you see God in nature. You have “heard” of God’s righteousness. How dreadful it will be to be without excuse! [2 Thess. 1:7-9].  

The end of the matter: Fear God [revere and worship Him, knowing that He is] and keep His commandments, for this is the whole of man [the full, original purpose of his creation, the object of God’s providence, the root of character, the foundation of all happiness, the adjustment to all inharmonious circumstances and conditions under the sun] and the whole [duty] for every man.

I tell you Paul certainly does not tell us what we want to hear, but rather what we need to hear. The Bible does not sugar coat the message, but tells it in a straightforward fashion. There is no fine print hidden at the end of the Bible. This truth is made known in large print at the beginning. I would remind you; this teaching is placed at the very beginning of the book of Romans. Paul does not hold back this news until the end because it is so unpalatable. Rather, he front-loads the subject of divine wrath at the very outset of the book of Romans. This mention of divine anger against sin is very direct, emphatic, and even abrupt. The apostle makes no apologies. There is no attempt to tone down this reality that threatens all who are without the gospel. This is the sheer, unvarnished truth from God coming through the pen of the apostle Paul.

^“But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it. See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil; In that I command thee this day to love the Lordthy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the Lordthy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it.But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them;I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it… [Deuteronomy 30:14-20]

Kelli Cluqué and Alfredo Cruz. Photo by Robert A. Whitehead/CSUSB

 (EMPIRE NEWS NETWORK (ENN)— SAN BERBARDINO, CA— The College of Arts and Letters at California State University, San Bernardino has hired two widely recognized media experts to manage the university’s Coyote Radio and Advertising: Alfredo Cruz and Kelli Cluqué.

Cruz is a recent general manager for KVCR TV, KVCR FM, and for the First Nations Experience television network. During his earlier career, Cruz was president and chief executive officer of jazz station KUVO in Denver, and station manager at KRTU in San Antonio.

Cluqué is the recent associate program director and air personality at KCAL FM/KOLA in Redlands. Cluqué has more than 50,000 hours of live, on-air experience. She has managed broadcast facilities in Corpus Christi, Texas; Chico, California; San Diego, California; and in the Inland Empire, where she has managed KCAL FM, KCXX and KATY.

School receives funding for the 16th consecutive year

(EMPIRE NEWS NETWORK (ENN)— LOMA LINDA, CA —- Loma Linda University School of Dentistry was awarded for the 16th consecutive year $298,848 in federal funding by the Health Resources and Services Administration’s Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program Part F, to provide community-based HIV/AIDS training for dentistry, international dentistry and dental hygiene students. 

“We’re extremely proud of the funding we have received the past 16years,” said Eun-Hwi Euni Cho, DDS, Director of Educational Assessment at the School of Dentistry. “It’s important that we educate our students to look beyond just a patient’s mouth, but treat the whole person, and this Grant provides another training opportunity to do that with our medically-compromised patients.”

According to Cho, who is also the Program Director of the Grant, 20 percent of HIV positive patients don’t even know they have the infection. In fact, 45-50,000 new infections occur every year in the U.S. The funding supports clinical training, oral health services for patients with unmet needs and the development of innovative models in dental care for people living with HIV/AIDS. 

Students are required to participate in eight hours of training over the course of two days. Their studies include take-home case studies, mini-lectures, classroom role play and live patient interviews. 

More than 2,000 dental, hygiene and international students at Loma Linda University School of Dentistry have received this valuable training to treat community patients who are HIV positive. 

“The Loma Linda University School of Dentistry is a world-class learning institution, which is why they have been selected to receive federal funding through the Community Based Dental Program for 16 consecutive years,” said U.S. Congressional Representative Pete Aguilar, who represents California’s 31st Congressional District. “I’m glad that this funding is coming to the Inland Empire, and that it will give our dental students experience working with patients who live with HIV/AIDS while also providing a specialized treatment option for members of our community who deal with these tragic diseases.” 

Patients are currently seen at the SAC Health System – Norton, but next month will transfer to SAC Health System – San Bernardino. According to Cho, patients travel from the Los Angeles, Orange County and Palm Springs areas for treatment. Many of the patients also willingly allow Loma Linda University School of Dentistry students to treat them in the clinic, and work with them in the classroom.

“It’s great to see that our patients understand that we are doing something at the front end to deliver better healthcare, by training future dental professionals,” Cho said. 

Student feedback over the years has shown that their knowledge, skills and attitudes have improved when it comes to helping patients, and according to Cho, has helped to reduce the stigma of HIV/AIDS. 

The funding supports the school’s initiatives for the next five years, while once a year the institution will apply as a non-competitor to maintain funding. 

For more information on Loma Linda University School of Dentistry, visit their website online.

(EMPIRE NEWS NETWORK (ENN)- SAN BERNARDINO, CA— San Bernardino County Superintendent Ted Alejandre and the San Bernardino County Literacy Partners are encouraging the public to join the Footsteps2Brilliance (F2B) 5-Million Words Summer Reading Challenge 2018.

The Summer Reading Challenge runs until Sept. 7 with a goal for children to read 5-million words during the summer months. F2B is part of the San Bernardino County’s Vision2Read Initiative, a collective impact model involving multiple agencies working collaboratively to increase literacy rates among children and families. 

F2B is an innovative early learning mobile technology platform that provides free access to early literacy activities to all families with children birth through pre-kindergarten who reside in San Bernardino County. Families with children aged 0 to 5 can download the app at https://bit.ly/2OdbXRj.

Reading participation will be recognized at the end of the summer challenge. Additional summer reading programs and resources are available through the San Bernardino County Library and can be found at www.sbclib.org.

Enter the San Bernardino County Library Reading Program 2018 to win prizes and earn tickets for a grand prize opportunity drawing.

Join County Superintendent Alejandre and the San Bernardino County Literacy partners to raise the bar for literacy and get involved with the 5-Million Words Reading Challenge today.

About San Bernardino Countywide Vision2Read:

Vision2Read is a collective impact initiative involving government, education, health care, public safety, business and labor, community and faith-based leaders, and parents and families. Vision2Read support the San Bernardino Countywide Vision and its regional educational goal of supporting the success of every child from cradle to career. It is designed to help improve literacy throughout San Bernardino County by connecting people to literacy programs. www.vision2read.com.

About San Bernardino Countywide Literacy Partnership:

The San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools (SBCSS), San Bernardino County Preschool Services, Children’s Fund, and First 5 San Bernardino are partnering to deliver the F2B program for free to all children ages 0-5 who reside in San Bernardino County. 

About Footsteps2Brilliance: 

Footsteps2Brilliance, Inc. is the breakthrough early learning platform that accelerates early achievement by uniting the power of mobile gaming technology with the latest in cognitive research. F2B provides enticing, interactive, 24/7 learning experiences that digitally link school and home to give students the edge they need for success in school today and the world tomorrow. This transformative literacy program supports the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Students and enables San Bernardino to become a Model Innovation County. www.footsteps2brilliance.com.

Subheadline: Online Tool Allows Families to Look Up Home School

(EMPIRE NEWS NETWORK (ENN)——SAN BERNARDINO, CA-The 2018–2019 school year begins Monday, August 6. For many families, that means thinking about how to enroll their child in school. The San Bernardino City Unified School District (SBCUSD) is making that a little easier by offering elementary school students’ multiple options to enroll.

Students who attended an SBCUSD school during the 2017–2018 school year and are remaining in the District do not need to re-enroll. School records will be transferred to the appropriate grade and school.

For families who are new to the SBCUSD community and need to register their children, the District offers two options beginning Monday, July 23. Families of elementary school students may enroll directly at the child’s home school or they may visit the new Welcoming Resource Center, 781A W. Second Street in San Bernardino. The center is open weekdays between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. For more information or for directions, call the Center at (909) 889-7576.

Parents of middle and high school students should register at their child’s home school. Parents can determine their child’s home school by calling Facilities Planning & Development at (909) 388-6100 or by visiting http://apps.schoolsitelocator.com/?districtcode=43985 and entering their home address.

“The Welcoming Resource Center has come from the collaborative efforts of our parents, District staff, and the community. SBCUSD is excited to provide our families an additional option for elementary school enrollment,” said Enrollment & Placement Services Assistant Director Leonard Buckner. “Additional services offered at the Welcoming Resource Center include k through 12 transfers, language assessment, GATE assessment, resources for homeless or foster youth, and family engagement.”

Alize` Ross

(EMPIRE NEWS NETWORK (ENN)—FONTANA, CA—The San Bernardino Pastors United have been continuing to show support to the Ross family. The family is still recovering from the quadruple shooting on June 21, 2018 in San Bernardino. The home-going services for Alize’ Ross is scheduled for Friday, July 27 at 11 a.m. at Loveland Church located at 17977 Merrill Avenue in Fontana.

Mr. Alfred Ross Jr. and Solomon Johnson survived the attack and will be in attendance. Special arrangements for clergy and dignitaries have been made. Please send any well wishes to McKay’s Mortuary at 16918 Baseline Ave, Fontana, CA 92336. This shooting cries out for justice! Assemblymember Reyes, Congress Pete Aguilar, Mayor Warren, Pastor Gwen Rodgers, Jose Gonzales, Senator Leyva offices have confirmed attendance.

We thank everyone for being a part of this healing process for the family.

On October 19, 1997, a baby named Alize’ D Ross was born in the City of San Bernardino, CA., to his parents Alfred Ross, Jr., and Tamara Harper. Alize’ was a true blessing to his family because at birth Alize’  weighed 2 pounds 3 oz. The doctors didn’t say much due to his size; but God answered prayers and gave Alize’ to the family to have fun and a bond. Alize’ loved traveling and would not allow his grandparents to leave town without him.  He played football growing up in the Snoop Dog Football League as a youth, and also played for San Bernardino High School Football team where he also graduated. Alize’ began working and volunteered at the Family Focus Center for Children. He joined The Way World Outreach Church in November of 2017 where he accepted Christ as his Lord and Savior. Alize’ was preceded death by his grandmother Patricia Harper, and grandfather Cleveland Banks, and is survived by his father Alfred Ross, Jr., of San Bernardino, CA and mother, Tamara Harper of Fontana, CA; sisters Monnasha Harper, Las Vegas, NV, Jazzmeen Williams, Javiona Tuton, Titianna Ross and Audaiece Ross; brothers, Alfred Ross III, Amaze Ross, Brandon Simms Jr.; grandparents, Alfred Ross Sr., and Darlene Ross, great grandparents, Juana Hatch; Great, grandparents Edward and Almeada Smith, and a host of uncles, aunties, nieces, nephews and friends.

By Linden Beckford Jr.

(EMPIRE NEWS NETWORK (ENN)— LOMA LINDA, CA— On Monday, July 16, there was a fantastic program held at L.A. 84 Foundation entitled, “Athletes for Impact Awards”. The event was hosted by Claudia Jordan.

Several top athletes received honors, which included: Dr. John Carlos, who was the Inaugural Legacy Award Honoree and Wyomia Tyus (1964 and 1968 Olympic Track/Field runner) received an ASI Special Recognition Award. Other honorees consisted of Michael Bennett (NFL Philadelphia Eagles), Etan Thomas (Retired Professional NBA Player), Maya Moore (WNBA Minnesota Lynx), Laila Ali (Undefeated Boxing Champion/daughter of Muhammad Ali and Ibtihaj Muhammad (U.S.Olympic Fencer).

Dr. John Carlos truly showed us that he is the same warrior he was when he stood on the world stage with his comrades Tommie Smith and Peter Norman of Australia. This coming October will make 50 years since the courageous stand was taken in Mexico City. When one looks at Michael Bennett taking a knee like Colin Kaepernick, it is clear that these athletes are taking a page out of the book. In closing, this Writer would encourage present and future athletes to make their voices heard.

Ibihaj Muhammad made her voice while competing for the United States in the United States in the 2016 Olympics. She competed in fencing as a Black woman, as well as a Muslim. As African Americans, it is critical that we forge forward with our actions positively. When we do, the world will continue to hear the words written by James Weldon Johnson, “Lift Every Voice and Sing!”