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By Aldon Thomas Stiles | California Black Media

The Rev. Dr. Lawrence E. Van Hook, pastor of Community Church in Oakland, says when COVID-19 vaccinations were first released late last year he did not want to get the shot.

“As African Americans, we have a healthy distrust of the government based on our history,” said Van Hook.

But after some soul searching, there was a shift in his spirit, says Van Hook. It led to a change of his heart.

“It came to me through God’s visitation of the holy spirit that not only do I need to get vaccinated, but I need to become an ambassador in the community where we live work and worship. So that’s how my journey began.”

A little over a year ago, Van Hook joined hands with 38 other Black pastors from around California and formed the African American Community Empowerment Council (AACEC). With help from the state, members began setting up testing and vaccination sites at their churches.

“It is an initiative led by African American pastors, realizing that we need to pay special attention to our community – an affirmative action plan, if you please — for Black Californians who are understandably skeptical and don’t want to get vaccinated,” Van Hook said.

“Our healing, our hope, come through vaccination,” he continued. “That is how we will push past this pandemic in a healthy way to get to our new normal.

Now, ahead of the holidays Van Hook and other pastors are encouraging Black Californians to get vaccinated and tested before traveling and getting together with relatives.

“A majority of the cases and deaths are among those who are unvaccinated,” said Van Hook. “For those of us who have been waiting to see what was in it, what it was all about, we now have over a year of vaccinations and nobody’s eyes have fallen out. No bug has been placed in us where we can be tracked. There are so many stories we have heard in social media.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that Black people in the United States are being hospitalized for COVID-19 2.6 times more than Whites. According to the agency’s website, Black people are also dying of COVID-19 at nearly twice the rate of White mortalities.

During the thick of the pandemic, the AACEC website says the pastors “stepped up” responding to a call to action by Gov. Gavin Newsom, who asked all Californians to deploy every resource available to them to confront and defeat the deadly virus.

“Through this effort, testing of at-risk, underrepresented, and under-resourced African Americans, and all community members appearing for a test, will be phased across the state beginning in Alameda County and extending in regular intervals to encompass San Francisco, Sacramento, Solano, Contra Costa, San Joaquin, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Gabriel, and San Diego counties,” the AACEC website reads.

There are now also testing sites in San Bernardino County. Vaccination sites are located in Oakland, Pasadena, Sacramento and San Francisco.

Across the country, another organization called Choose Healthy Life (CHL) has similarly united Black religious leaders to battle COVID-19, opting to focus on tackling misinformation and increasing vaccination rates.

Black clergy members and civil rights leaders such as the Rev. Al Sharpton and the Rev. Calvin O. Butts III, Pastor of Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York, are leading the charge for this program.

“Covid-19 has exposed health disparities, and more disturbingly, the impact of misinformation among our own people.  But I have looked beyond the horizon of today’s headlines. After 750,000 deaths in America and more than 5 million worldwide, the pendulum is beginning to swing —and Choose Healthy Life is at the vanguard of that change,” Sharpton said.

CHL spokesperson Judy Klym detailed the program’s scope.

“After launching CHL in 50 churches in five major cities in January 2021, the program’s expansion has led to more than 50,000 members of the public being educated and empowered,” she said. “Through this collaborative effort, more than 6 million people have been impacted. Choose Healthy Life now has 120 participating churches in 13 states.”

Klym cited the new omicron variant as part of the reason for the urgency of this program’s implementation.

“As the threat from COVID continues with the emergence of the Omicron variant, the ongoing nature of the pandemic seems inevitable. CHL is rising to meet the challenge by building a sustainable infrastructure to help Black communities throughout the pandemic and future health crises,” Klym stated.

Debra Fraser-Howze, founder of CHL, says the Black church’s involvement in the COVID-19 fight is critical.

 “The Black church and clergy have been a steadfast center of strength and leadership during so many of our crises and struggles in the past. Now, through the Choose Healthy Life Action Plan, they are once again leading the way by ensuring that Black communities are better informed and safer throughout the pandemic,” she said.

Van Hook says when vaccination began at his church earlier this year on Resurrection Sunday, he drew a parallel.

“Vaccinations equal resurrection. Both of them give life as opposed to the death that this invisible, deadly virus has ministered all over the world,” he said.

MORENO VALLEY, CA— Riverside County Board of Education Member and nonprofit leader is launching his campaign for the newly formed 60th Assembly district. The new 60th Assembly District includes the cities of Moreno Valley, Perris, Hemet, and San Jacinto and the unincorporated areas of Mead Valley, Good Hope, Nuevo, and East Hemet.

“I am running to make sure that we have a true fighter representing our district to ensure that we have the resources that we need and deserve. Our communities have been neglected for far too long,” said Corey Jackson.

Corey A. Jackson, MSW was elected to the Riverside County Board of Education in 2020 and represents portions of the cities of Riverside, Moreno Valley, Perris, and the unincorporated community of Mead Valley. Corey Jackson is a local nonprofit and civil rights leader who is one of the leading social justice advocates in the region. He currently serves as the founder and Chief Executive Officer of SBX Youth and Family Services whose mission is to break the cycle of poverty and violence through mentoring, education, and community organizing. Mr. Jackson continues to serve his community as the Political Action Chair of the Riverside NAACP and serves as Youth Minister at the Moreno Valley Church of Christ.

As a leader in the California Democratic Party, Corey serves as the Chair of the California Democratic Party Black Caucus which is the largest caucus in the party. He also serves as a state executive committee member and an elected member of the Riverside County Democratic Central Committee.

The Rev. Amos C. Brown is vice-chair and the senior member serving on the nine-member California Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans.

Brown, 80, says he is “extremely pleased” with what the committee has accomplished after four meetings.

The task force held its fifth and final two-day meeting session of 2021 on Tuesday, Dec. 7 and Wednesday, Dec. 8. As written in Assembly Bill (AB) 3121, the group has until 2023 to present a set of recommendations to the state for consideration.

“The task force has been extremely focused and substantive. We have some of the best minds – people who know the history, psychology, and sociology of the pressure Black folks in this country have felt,” Brown told California Black Media.

The task force was created after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB 3121 into law in September 2020. California Secretary of State Shirley N. Weber authored the bill while she served in the State Assembly representing the 79th District in San Diego.

The law calls for the state to set up a task force to study slavery, Jim Crow segregation and other injustices African Americans have faced historically in California and across the United States.

The group will then recommend appropriate ways to educate the Californians about reparations and propose ways to compensate descendants of enslaved people based on the task force’s findings.

The members of the task force come from diverse professional backgrounds. So far, the panel has heard testimony from a range of experts and witnesses, including descendants and representatives of people or families the government denied justice in the past, as well as historians, economists and academics.

“We’re about balance, inclusion, and stating the case precisely so that it doesn’t face paralysis of analysis or become just another study,” Brown said. “We have had too many studies of Black folks in the past. Now is the time to show us that we are serious about being one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

According to Brown, African Americans in his hometown of San Francisco, need to overcome decades of psychological damage imposed by racism, discrimination and unfair government policies, including some urban renewal programs that hurt Black families more than they helped.

On Nov. 22, Brown joined, actor Danny Glover, other local Black leaders, and members of the San Francisco Reparations Committee, to ask the city to donate the historic Fillmore Heritage Center to the African American community.

Many have referred to the Fillmore neighborhood as the “Harlem of the West” in the 1940s, Brown said. By 1945, over 30,000 Black Americans lived in the historic area.

Today, around 6% of San Francisco’s population of nearly 875,000 people are Black or mixed-race African Americans.

“San Francisco City leaders have a moral obligation to right the racist wrongs that destroyed that culture and that community and allow the Fillmore Heritage Center to live up to the full meaning of its name,” Glover said in a statement.

In 2007, the center became a venue for Jazz and Blues, reminiscent of the culture and Fillmore night clubs that attracted musical greats Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Billie Holiday, and others.

Last May, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to appoint a 15-member African American Reparations Advisory Committee.

“That building, that land, represents the disenfranchisement, redlining of Black folks in this town, and the redevelopment agency not being fair,” Brown said. “The Fillmore, 12 blocks, itself was the hub of Black entertainment, Black culture, Black businesses and Black life. You just can’t wipe out our history or our heritage.”

Born in Jackson, Mississippi in 1941, Brown says he was delivering JET magazine when the popular weekly published graphic photos of 14-year-old Emmett Till murdered by a White racist mob in August1955 in Money, Mississippi, a rural area known for the cultivation of cotton. The lynching of Till ignited the civil rights movement.

“Emmett and I were the same age,” Brown said. “When I picked up a copy (of Jet magazine), I saw that mutilated head. It horrified me. I remember it vividly.”

Brown first arrived in the city of San Francisco in 1956 with Medgar Evers, who was a state official of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) chapter in Mississippi.

Evers brought the 15-year-old Brown to the Bay Area to attend the NAACP’s national convention where he first met Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. A year before, Brown had started the NAACP’s first youth council.

Brown later studied under King at Morehouse College in Atlanta.

In 1961, he was arrested with King at a lunch counter sit-in and joined the Freedom Riders, a group of activists who protested segregation in the South.

“In 1960, before I joined the Freedom Riders, the NAACP Youth Council actually organized the first ‘sit-down protest’ in Oklahoma City in August 1958,” Brown said “The first sit-down movement did not start in Greensboro, North Carolina. It began in Oklahoma City, Wichita (Kansas), and Louisville (Kentucky) under the auspices of the Youth Council of the NAACP.”

Brown earned a Doctor of Theology from United Theological Seminary in Ohio and a Master of Theology from Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania.

Brown has been the Pastor of Third Baptist Church of San Francisco since 1976. From 1996 to 2001, he served on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. He is president of the San Francisco Branch of the NAACP and a member of the organization’s national board of directors.

Brown said he is monitoring reparation legislation and conversations across the country to see if proposals being put forward are in sync with California’s efforts.

“What I want to accomplish is: Black people being and knowing that something was done about their pain — that can be done in the state of California,” Brown said. “Things can never be perfect, but at least collectively people of conscious and good will can stand up and say, ‘this is what we must do to right this wrong.’”

RIALTO, CA— On Saturday, December 18, was the Smile America, Abdi Foundation annual toy drive at the Werner Elementary School in Rialto.

This event marks the 10-year anniversary of the foundation holding a toy drive to donate toys to children in the Rialto community. In these dire moments due to COVID, they had to double their request for toy donations from their sponsors.

They were able to donate more than 1000 toys and over 1000 meal bags to more than 300 families to help them celebrate Christmas as holy as possible. The foundation’s proud satisfaction is seeing the children smile with great excitement after getting their toy bags.

The Abdi Foundation would like to thank their sponsors Mayor Deborah Robertson, Rialto Fire Department, Children’s’ Fun, IEHPA, Fury Ontario Soccer, Emmanuel Praise Fellowship, Pal Charter Academy, Tires Less Schwab, Werner Elementary School, Operation New Hope, Rialto Democratic Club and a big thanks to their volunteers for their dedication and continuous support.

In loving memory of Abdi Mohamed, they are continuing his work and his dream for the community.

The love that was outpoured on social media this week for Dr. Margaret Hill was PRICELESS! She was a major influence and inspiration to many of all ages within the Inland Empire. Below are a few quotes and comments that were left across Facebook in remembrance of Dr. Hill.

Lea Michelle Cash: I am reading all the beautiful and loving tributes to our community Queen. I just can’t find words right now, it hurts too, too bad so thank God for photos. Like with many of you in our community, Dr. Hill and I took so many, many photos. As I go through my collection I stumbled on a few when she was sooooooo happy. We all were. Remember this day…..Just priceless.

Darrell Frye: I love you Dr. Hill — your legacy will forever live in my heart . I will honor you with my words and actions #wakandaforever

Eugene Weems: Dr. Margaret Hill I love you Beautiful. You always will be remembered, loved and honored. I will miss your Encouraging words and your Random calls to check up on me. Love You Kiss-Kiss.

Gwen Rodgers: I don’t know how to say goodbye right now because there are no words today or ever that can express the love and respect I have for my mentor, friend and community mother. So, I will simply say so long Queen Margaret Hill until we meet again. You were faithful to the end.

Troy McSwain: The McSwains and everyone at Beola’s are saddened at the passing of a lady that meant so so much to us. If you had the pleasure of meeting her then you know she was a very special lady loved by many. Lord you truly have an Angel… we will always love you Ms. Hill.

Bronique Martindale: Margaret Hill My Moma Hill. I’ve known this woman all my life . She was my mother’s Vice Principal in High School, but it goes so much farther than that. This woman supported everything I’d do. She encouraged my soul . Not many people can encourage the soul. I can’t believe she is no longer here with us physically. This was a woman that truly embodied the phrase an object in motion stays in motion . My heart is truly hurting. I do know that she instilled greatness in myself. I know that she instilled greatness in so many others. In speaking for my self I will continue to carry the mantle . I know there will be others that will do the same. I will continue to make you proud Mama Hill . I’m still in shock and disbelief. I just want to thank you for the matches time to turn them into flames. In casting away my flesh I can say I’m relieved to know that the sickness you fought can’t follow you into the gates of Heaven . Hallelujah !

Carolyn Tillman: …and now on to reward. We were so blessed and there is so much to be thankful for. She poured out her all for us. If you knew her, you know what I’m talking about. It’ll take centuries to figure out her magic. It will linger into eternity. What happy times we have to treasure. So many stories to share with each other after we cry our buckets of tears! For now, our sweet Ms. Margaret Hill is finally able to rest, shedding her earthly tent for an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. I’ll see my friend again, until then may she Rest In Peace.

Kim S. Scott: The village that molded me into the woman I am today stood on your shoulders. I was introduced to you through them at the tender age of 18 when I needed voices like yours and theirs the most and I am forever grateful! There are truly not enough words to describe just how powerful you are but even more importantly, how loving you were to each and every one of us. You made us all feel important and seen! Margaret Hill to say you will be missed is a complete understatement. I pray that we all pick up where you left and continue to run this race and fight the good fight, just like you taught us. Rest in Heaven!

Sending all my love and prayers to The Village and the City of San Bernardino!

Terrance Stone: This Angel has earned her wings Dr. Margaret you believed in me when nobody did… you are my hero and I love you.. you fought the good fight and one of the strongest people I know … a walking talking example of love and appreciation… If I had one wish it would be one more moment with you, one more conversation, one more hug from you … please watch over me from the heavens you will be missed you will be loved and you will never be forgotten. #EverybodyLoveMargaret

Gone from earth, but forever in our hearts!

SAN BERNARDINO, CA—- Dr. Margaret Hill, current member and past president of the Board of Education of the San Bernardino City Unified School District, passed away Sunday, December 19. She was 81 years old.

Dr. Hill was a passionate advocate for children and a dedicated educational leader, having served on the Board of Education faithfully since she was elected in 2011. She led the District as Board President in 2015-2017.

Prior to her election, Dr. Hill served as an assistant superintendent with the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools. She started her local education career in 1971 as a teacher before serving as vice principal at San Bernardino High School. Dr. Hill retired from SBCUSD in 2003 after serving 16 years as the principal of San Andreas High School.

Dr. Hill returned to work at the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools office in 2006, where she was assistant superintendent of Administrative Services until her second retirement July 2, 2012.

“Dr. Hill was loved for her warm heart and frequently encouraged educators to motivate kids with ‘more hugs than tugs.'” said SBCUSD Board President Dr. Scott Wyatt. “We are better because she led with strength, love, and compassion for everyone.  We will miss her every day.”

The district honored Dr. Hill by naming its boardroom, the Dr. Margaret Hill Community Room in 2019. She also received accolades from a multitude of organizations, which recognized her strength as a leader and her character as an example to others.

“Dr. Hill’s tireless, kind, and cheerful presence made her arguably the most admired leader in San Bernardino and among the greats statewide throughout the education community,” said SBCUSD Superintendent Doc Ervin. “She inspired me, and I am thankful to have worked with her here.”

No details are known yet about memorial services, but these will be shared when information becomes available.

YUCAIPA, CA— A scholarship established in memory of late Crafton Hills College (CHC) student Adam Yahel Diaz has received funding from a longtime supporter of education and the College.

Patricia Atherton and the CHC Foundation recently entered into an agreement to accept a $20,000 gift to help fund a memorial scholarship endowment established in Diaz’s memory after his 2015 death. The scholarship was created “to recognize the accomplishments and contributions” of Diaz who was just weeks away from graduating from CHC before he was killed from injuries sustained in a car accident. He was 26.

“I feel honored that I was able to do this,” said Atherton. “I can’t think of a better cause.”

Six years after Diaz’s death, his impact is still being felt around the entire Roadrunner community by those who loved him, including Atherton who took Diaz in when he needed a place to live.

Atherton said she first met Diaz when her daughter asked if he could live with them temporarily as he looked for a job and sustainable income. Four months had passed, and Diaz was presented with an ultimatum: either find a job and pay rent or go to school full-time.

“He decided to go to school even though he thought college ‘was for rich white kids with nothing to do,’” Atherton explained. “But he said that when he walked into a classroom (at CHC), he was hooked that very first day.”

Diaz had big plans for the future. Before his death, he had been accepted into the University of California, Berkeley and aspired to earn his Ph.D. in English literature and teach at the college level, all while serving his community as a priest in the Orthodox Christian Church. He died while on his way to attend Easter service on April 7, 2015.

Atherton hopes scholarships awarded through the memorial fund will make an impact on a student’s life. When asked what Diaz’s reaction would have been knowing the fund was established in his honor, Atherton said he would have been “very, very proud.”

“When he lived with us for those few years, he became my son in every way. I just want his memory to live on forever,” Atherton said, and said that prior to his death, Diaz had finally “found his spot in the world.”

“He would have been happy to know that someone else would be getting some help along the way,” she said. “Education can change your life.”

The Foundation remains committed to raising the additional $5,000 to fully endow the fund. To make a donation or learn more about Adam’s scholarship, visit craftonhills.edu/diaz

RIVERSIDE, CA— About 150 young adults and their guests celebrated the holidays this week at Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside surrounded by foster parents, friends, social workers, community members and a massive Christmas tree – a scene similar to New York City’s Rockefeller Center.

“This was an incredible event. I was able to reconnect with other foster youth and it really let me know people care,” said Katherene Daughtrey, 19, who entered foster care as a teenager and attended Tuesday’s 10th Annual Young Adult Holiday Celebration.

Children’s Services, which is part of the county’s Department of Public Social Services (DPSS), hosted the event with support from about a dozen faith-based and community partners.

The celebration provided dinner, gifts, free haircuts and holiday-themed activities for youth ages 18-21 who are transitioning from Extended Foster Care to independent living. Approximately 365 young adults in Riverside County are in Extended Foster Care.

Daughtrey graduated with honors from Coachella Valley Adult School in 2020 and was the class valedictorian. Today, she lives on her own while also receiving benefits through the Extended Foster Care program which is helping her afford to attend College of the Desert, where she’s studying culinary arts and business.

Many of the young adults attending the event, including Daughtrey, have limited or no family connections – making the holidays difficult – and Tuesday’s event especially important.

“We hope this event provides our young adults with love, support and joyous holiday memories that may have been missed during their childhood,” said Charity Douglas, assistant director of Children’s Services at DPSS.

“I’ve actually never had a picture with Santa until now,” said Daughtry who cuddled with her 12-month-old son Ezequiel while posing for a photo with Santa.

Last year, social workers delivered holiday gifts to young adults. Daughtrey said she’s glad the event was in-person and hopes to visit again next year.

“I really felt the sense of community and appreciate the community partners who worked so hard to make this possible,” she added.

Henry is one of seven children born to Sandy and Georgia Primus Hooks in Shreveport,
Louisiana. He attended elementary school and in 1942 was inducted into the United States Army Air Force, during World War II, for three and half years. He rapidly advanced to Projectionist and a member of the general staff where he became a specialist in presenteeism. During his lectures, Henry encouraged civilians to stay on the job during this critical period of the war. All of his duty was stateside.

The highlight of Henry’s life was his marriage to the love of his life, Opal Harris, on March 3, 1944. They spent seventy-seven years together as husband and wife and best friends. Henry and Opal’s life has been a testament on how to live a Godly life.

Henry was discharged as a sergeant and became a federal employee at Norton Air Force Base (San Bernardino Army Airfield). He earned his diploma from San Bernardino High School and then attended San Bernardino Valley College majoring in Business Administration with a minor in Photography. As an entrepreneur, he participated in the real estate business while continuing to advance as a federal employee to become a Quality Control Supervisor. This necessitated extensive travel across the country to various missile sites. After eighteen years, he transferred to the Defense Contract Administrative Service in Los Angeles, California where he was involved with the missile system regarding the U. S. Endeavor to reach the moon. After thirty-seven years, Henry retired from the government, returned to his first love and became staff photographer for the Precinct Reporter.

Henry chronicled various family and social events in the Inland Empire for more than five decades. Several of his photographs have been displayed at the Norman F. Feldheym Public Library, CSU San Bernardino and the San Bernardino County Library. Henry was the first African American photographer in the Inland Empire to have his photographs published in The Sun Telegram.

RIVERSIDE, CA— Forbes magazine chose Charlotte Smith, a Riverside, California native, for this year’s 30 Under 30 list for her work in media relations at Google. Smith and her colleagues appear in this month’s issue of Forbes magazine (in stores starting December 15, 2021).

Forbes unveiled its 10th annual Under 30 List for 2022 early this December, recognizing 600 disruptors across 20 different categories, who are reshaping industries and reimagining business around the world.

Smith, a 29-year-old Policy Communications Manager for Google in Washington, D.C., is included in this year’s list for her important work shaping Google’s 2020 election integrity policies and for advocating for communicators of color within Google.

Smith graduated from Harvard in 2014 with a B.A. in Government and is a proud graduate of RUSD public schools, including Riverside Poly High School, Matthew Gage Middle School, and Alcott Elementary School.

Smith started with Google five years ago and has worked in a variety of roles, including leading external media relations for Google’s education, product, infrastructure, and policy initiatives with media contacts across the country.

Smith worked for Burson-Marsteller, a global PR agency in D.C. before joining Google. Her parents, Jim and Carol Smith, live in the Riverside area, and have for more than 20 years.

Carol, Smith’s mother, is a teacher at Alcott Elementary School and her father Jim worked in local government – including for the City of Riverside – for many years.

Charlotte Smith’s Forbes profile online at: https://www.forbes.com/profile/charlotte-smith/?list=30under30-media&sh=5d0358ab66d4