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By Manny Otiko and Antonio Ray Harvey | California Black Media

Fourteen California Black Democratic elected officials serving at the federal, state, county and city government levels joined hands in a virtual show of support for Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday during a news briefing on Zoom. In one-minute statements, each one explained why she or he is standing behind Newsom as a Republican Party-led effort to recall California’s 40th governor gains ground across the state.

The two main organizations spearheading the recall effort, RescueCalifornia.org and RecallGavin2020.com, announced last week that they had collected the signatures of more than 2 million Californians for the petition they expect will soon trigger a recall election.

To begin the process of removing Newsom from office, the governors’ opponents must collect 1.5 million signatures – or 12 % of the total number of people that voted in the last gubernatorial election. They must also submit the signatures to registrars in all 58 counties by close of business on March 17.

“This is the beginning. Let’s hope this is the last time we come together to talk about this. But mark my words, if this recall does qualify, we will crush it because we will be united. We will not fall for a trick,” said U.S. Congresswoman Karen Bass (D-CA-37), pointing out that Gov. Newsom has done nothing that should warrant him being removed from office.

Bass said based on the price tag of past attempts to recall California governors, most recently Gov. Gray Davis in 2002, an election to remove Newsom from office would cost taxpayers over $100 million.

A total of 9.4 million voters cast ballots in the special election that ended Davis’ governorship.

Because the state, will hold a gubernatorial election next year, Bass says, it not fiscally responsible to hold one this year.

U.S. Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA-13) said there is “no reason to recall the governor of the state of California.”

“There will be an election in June 2022 and people will have a chance to vote. So, I urge everyone to join us in this unfair recall against Governor Newsom,” she said.

Sen. Steve Bradford (D-Gardena) said Gov. Newsom has been a “friend of the African American community.”

“This governor has stood with us on criminal justice reform. He has eliminated and paused executions because he realized the majority of people of death row are minorities – Black and Brown individuals who are over-sentenced and over-prosecuted all the time and many times are innocent,” said Bradford. “So, we stand with this governor. He has stood with us.”

So far, recall supporters say they have over 2 million signatures – well over the minimum required by the state. The Secretary of State’s office has until April 29 to verify the signatures.

Many supporters of the recall effort say their plan to oust Newsom has been motivated largely by frustration over the strict coronavirus lockdown the governor imposed on the state. Some of the leading supporters are the California Republican Party, 2018 Republican gubernatorial candidate John Cox, former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer and the Republican National Committee. Both Cox and Faulconer have put their names forward to replace Newsom, if he’s removed from office.

“We’ve proven we can win. And I did it twice in San Diego. San Diego’s registration mirrors that of California — 24 % Republican — it’s the same in San Diego as it was statewide,” Faulconer said in an interview with the conservative magazine National Review. “So, I know how to build coalitions and win and get results. I know how to use the power of the bully pulpit to go out and win the argument publicly and then win the vote. That’s what you have to do to be successful in California and you have to get not just Republicans but independents and a portion of Democrats as well.”

But according to Ballotpedia, Republicans have had it in for Newsom for a while. This is the sixth recall attempt against Newsom since 2019. But the previous five weren’t successful.

In addition to Bass, Lee and Bradford, the other African American California elected officials who joined the media briefing to express their support for Newsom are: State Sen. Sydney Kamlager (D-Los Angeles); Assemblymembers Autumn Burke (D Inglewood), Reggie Jones-Sawyer (D-Los Angeles) and Mike Gipson (D-Carson); San Francisco Mayor London Breed; Los Angeles County Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell; California State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond; California Board of Equalization Member Malia Cohen; Antioch Mayor Lamar Thorpe; Los Angeles City Councilmember Mark Ridley-Thomas; and Los Angeles City Councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson.

Gov. Newsom, who has said very little publicly about the recall, spoke up in an email to supporters Monday.

“I am not going to take this recall attempt lying down,” Newsom said. “I’m going to fight because there’s too much at stake in this moment.”

The governor also took to Twitter.

“I won’t be distracted by this partisan, Republican recall — but I will fight it,’’ he tweeted. Getting Californians vaccinated, our economy safely reopened, and our kids back in school are simply too important to risk.”

Breed said Newsom had led the state through a difficult time. She said Newsom showed more leadership than former President Donald Trump. According to Breed, Trump had abandoned San

Francisco during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic. She dismissed the recall effort as a “right-wing attack.”

In Washington, Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Bernie Sanders (D-VT), Alex Padilla (D-CA) and Cory Booker (D-NJ) all came out in full-throated support of Newsom the same afternoon. Shortly after, Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams also voiced her support for California’s governor.

“This governor was duly elected and deserves to serve his full term,” said Cohen. “A recall is the ultimate statement of voter suppression. Citizens of California came together and voted disproportionately to support Gov. Newsom. It is our duty to fight this baseless, senseless recall.

POMONA, CA—- – Congresswoman Norma J. Torres (CA-35) will work with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to host Reach for the Stars, a town hall connecting local students with Pomona native and NASA astronaut, Victor J. Glover, Jr. (Commander, U.S. Navy), as well as NASA astronaut, Dr. Shannon Walker, live from the International Space Station on Thursday, March 18th at 9:35am PT.

Commander Glover is originally from Pomona and graduated from Ontario High School in 1994. He currently serves as pilot and second-in-command on the Crew-1 SpaceX Dragon named Resilience, which launched November 15, 2020. It is the first post-certification mission of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft – the second crewed flight for that vehicle – and a long duration mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

Shannon Walker was selected by NASA to be an astronaut in 2004. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Physics, a Master of Science and a Doctor of Philosophy in Space Physics from Rice University. Dr. Walker began her professional career at the Johnson Space Center (JSC) in 1987 as a Robotics Flight Controller for the Space Shuttle Program. In 2010, she served as Flight Engineer for Expedition 24/25, a long-duration mission aboard the International Space Station that lasted 163 days. Dr. Walker is currently serving as mission specialist on the on the Crew-1 SpaceX Crew Dragon.

This event currently has nearly 600 RSVPs, including 277 classrooms registered to join.

Participating school districts include Pomona Unified, Ontario-Montclair, Chaffey Joint Unified, Claremont Unified, Mountain View Unified, Fontana Unified and Rialto Unified.

Ervin became superintendent of the Bakersfield City School District (BCSD) in 2016. Mr. Ervin came to BCSD after having served as Superintendent for the Greenfield Union School District in Monterey County. He has served as a classroom teacher, school principal, and assistant superintendent at various school districts across the state. Ervin is fluent in Spanish and received both his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Liberal Studies and his Master of Science in Education Administration from Alliant International University and his Administrative Credential from California State University, Fullerton. He is a proud veteran of the United States Marine Corps.

His start date and salary with SBUSD are to be determined.

SAN BERNARDINO, CA— Rialto resident Vanessa Mendoza, 26, wanted to study literature, write novels, and possibly even become an English professor, but that all changed after her first cultural anthropology class.

At the end of her first year at San Bernardino Valley College, Mendoza began experiencing vertigo spells and migraines. They became chronic, and for almost a year, she was unable to attend classes on campus. During this time, Mendoza says she “began to question and think about the social circumstances that made it difficult for me to obtain a proper diagnosis and treatment.”

Mendoza signed up for an online cultural anthropology course, and upon its conclusion, “felt that I had finally found a lens through which I could understand myself and my experiences related to culture and health.” When she was well enough to return to campus, she enrolled in more anthropology classes, and Professor Melissa King introduced her to other branches of study.

“Through her classes and mentorship, I came across something called medical anthropology, which further confirmed that this was the major I wished to pursue,” Mendoza said. “This branch of anthropology deals with the social, cultural, political, and historical complexities of health and illness. The way medicine and healing are practiced vary tremendously around the world; anthropologists can learn about these complexities through ethnography. In a lot of ways, I felt that I had fatefully ended up where I belonged. Anthropology is the study of what it means to be human, and as a human with a lot of questions, this major seemed like a perfect fit for me.”

Mendoza grew up in Rialto and graduated from high school in 2012. She wanted to attend UCLA, but as an undocumented and first-generation college student, it was difficult to navigate the application process and secure enough financial aid. Mendoza applied to SBVC to stay close to home and save money, and through the Dream Act, was able to receive aid.

At SBVC, she found support from all of her professors, especially King. She was “a crucial part of my academic journey,” Mendoza said, providing everything from book recommendations to career advice. Mendoza graduated from SBVC in 2018 and transferred to UC Berkeley and has found that all of the anthropology classes she took at SBVC “served as a really strong foundation for the upper-division courses that I am now taking.”

Mendoza plans on attending graduate school and is interested in the “critical study of climate change as it relates to health outcomes in vulnerable communities,” with the hopes of one day becoming a professor. She encourages anyone who is thinking about studying anthropology at SBVC to talk to the professors about transfer and graduation requirements and current students about their interests and struggles.

“The staff and students in the anthropology department have always been extremely helpful and friendly,” she said. “They will provide the guidance you need as you embark on your journey as an anthropology major.”

San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department Deputy David Livi is hosting a free online workshop discussing some of the careers available in the Sheriff’s Department and how to get started on the law enforcement pathway. The session, planned for 9 a.m. March 18, will offer an overview of divisions such as the coroner’s department, aviation, narcotics, and more. It is being presented in partnership with Alliance for Education’s SBConnect Series. Learn more or REGISTER by visiting, www.westsidestorynewspaper.com.

Thank you to Col. Frank Guevara and his team at San Bernardino County’s Department of Veterans Affairs for their tremendous work over the past years. In 2020, the County’s VA department assisted our veterans in receiving over $67 million in new cash benefits. This amount is more than any county in the state, and $20 million more than what San Bernardino County veterans received in 2019! For more information on how to receive benefits for your service, call (909) 382-3290, visit http://hs.sbcounty.gov/va/Pages/default.aspx or e-mail Inquiry@va.sbcounty.gov

“My general philosophy is, have I been? No? Okay, then — let’s go,” Dr. Jeremiah Gilbert said with a laugh. An avid traveler, the San Bernardino Valley College (SBVC) mathematics professor has carried a wide-angle lens through more than 80 countries. He enjoys chronicling the places around him — both at home and abroad. This year, a compilation of his circular photographs was published in the local anthology San Bernardino, Singing, and his book of travel tales was published, titled Can’t Get There From Here: Fifty Tales of Travel.

Many people with his level of interest in other cultures and societies might have chosen to live abroad temporarily or permanently, but not Gilbert. He currently resides in Loma Linda and teaches today in the same town in which he was born — San Bernardino, Calif.

A graduate of Colton High School at the age of 15, Gilbert’s academic journey kept him bound to the Valley as he was too young to move away from home for university. He enrolled at SBVC before transferring on to California State University, San Bernardino where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics. He later earned a Master of Arts in Mathematics from University of California, Riverside and a Ph.D. in Education from Capella University.

He returned to SBVC professionally as a part-time instructor, where he taught classes year-round. In 2005, he became a full-time instructor. With the perk of having summers off, he booked his first trip abroad. In 2006, he celebrated his thirty-fifth birthday on the Great Wall of China on his way to Tibet.

When he first began traveling, Gilbert used an all-purpose lens on his camera, a 28–30 mm. Eventually, he became more comfortable with shooting and noticed something. “As I was going along, I realized I didn’t zoom in a lot, but there were many times I wished I could pull back more,” Gilbert explained.

As curious as they come, Gilbert invested in wide-angle lenses — the wider, the better. Eventually, he picked up an 8 mm circular fisheye lens, the widest angle possible, which literally captures a circular photograph. The style is uncommon and used mostly for medical purposes, but it posed an interesting challenge to him. He learned how to stand without capturing both his feet and stomach. He learned the best conditions to shoot in — “Never a sunny day,” he advised. He learned that the best subjects to shoot were things that were already circular or straight lines.

While he took the lens abroad a few times, he found that the best place to shoot was SBVC’s campus, especially the newer modern architecture that features clean, straight lines.

“With modern architecture, you can bend the lines in interesting ways and create really cool effects,” Gilbert said. “It posed an interesting challenge for me because I both had to learn how to shoot, but also how to edit. Did you know you can crop a circle?”

Gilbert submitted 14 of these circular photographs to the local anthology, San Bernardino, Singing, and all were accepted. The result is a world traveler’s wide-angle perspective on his hometown’s crown jewel.

Gilbert’s website, jeremiahgilbert.com, has always featured photography from abroad. During a trip to London in 2019, he began working on a section of short stories as well — travel tales, he called them. He wanted to share the mishaps and funny occurrences that can only happen during international travel.

He captured the memory of having to be smuggled across a checkpoint in Bolivia due to miscommunication. “We left our passports behind, knowing we weren’t going out of the country,” he explained. “No one told us we would need passports to go through checkpoints.”

He penned the story of his 40th birthday in Paris — a lovely celebration until a pickpocket swiped his money and identification. With the robbery occurring on July 3 and the U.S. Embassy closed on July 4, Gilbert barely had time to acquire a passport before his flight left Paris on July 5.

He worked on these travel tales a little bit at a time, he said. Then in February 2020 while his wife was visiting family in Beijing, news of the novel coronavirus broke. Gilbert’s instinct told him to book a backup flight for her. He was glad he did when her March flight was canceled with no promise of a reschedule until May — but then the backup flight was canceled. With a resolve to not see his wife stranded abroad, Gilbert reunited his family just in the knick of time.

“I’m not sure we would have been able to get her after we did,” he admitted. The original essay, “Can’t Get There From Here“ chronicles his family’s reunion and closes what is now the book by the same title.

With his wife safely home, Gilbert made the most of the historic global pandemic by writing 50 travel tales and publishing them in September 2020. His book Can’t Get There From Here: Fifty Tales of Travel is available on Amazon.com.

Thus far, Gilbert has seen 85 countries. (His wife’s one rule is that she has to stay one country ahead of him; she sits at 86.) But for him, there is really no place like Southern California.

“I’m one of those rare native southern Californians,” he laughs. “I know this area backward and forward. I love the diversity of it, how multicultural it is, and also how much access we have to different landscapes.”

With LAX nearby, he knows that any destination he can imagine is just a flight or two away, and during times like these when he can’t travel? “We have the mountains, desert and beach all within a two-hour drive.”

“It’s everything I need when I’m not traveling.”

SAN BERNARDINO, CA—- The San Bernardino Symphony Orchestra is preparing for the second concert in their hybrid 92nd season. “Tchaikovsky, Vivaldi & Grieg” will premier digitally Sunday, March 28, 2021 at 3:00 p.m. on the Symphony’s new SBSOtv platform accessible from their website, www.sanbernardinosymphony.org.

The performance will include selections prominently featuring two very special instruments: the Maestro’s recently returned bassoon and an historic 1929 Wurlitzer organ.

Shared Maestro Parnther, “Tchaikovsky and Grieg penned two of the most compelling and deeply expressive works for string orchestra; Tchaikovsky’s Serenade in C Major and Grieg’s Holberg Suite, respectively. We will perform excerpts from both of these incredible works.”

Antonio Vivaldi’s Concerto in D minor, one of the Maestro’s personal favorites, will also be performed, but with a creative twist. Specifically, Maestro Parnther will be tackling dual roles as both soloist and conductor on this dazzling work for solo bassoon and orchestra. As mentioned, the bassoon the Maestro will be playing is the very same instrument that was recently returned to him after it was stolen just two days before the March 2020 concert was cancelled due to Covid restrictions.

“For my bassoon to be taken two days before my Mozart concerto performance last year… and gifted back in a time for the replacement Vivaldi concerto a year later… there is a sign in all of this,” said Parnther.

As repairs are still underway to the Symphony’s local performance venue, San Bernardino’s historic California Theatre, the concert will be recorded at Bandrika Studios in Tarzana which is owned and operated by composer Nathan Barr.

Pictured at left, this world class studio is constructed around the 1928 Barr/Fox Wurlitzer Theater Organ, which lived on the famed Newman Scoring Stage at Fox Studios from 1928 to 1998. It can be heard in dozens of classic film scores including The Sound of Music, The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Witches of Eastwick, and Journey to the Center of the Earth.

Said Parnther, “With 1,366 pipes and a plethora of real percussion instruments, this organ truly must be heard to be believed.“

Years after the organ was removed from Fox in 1998, Barr purchased it from Ken Crome of The Crome Organ Company in Reno, Nevada, and thus began a four year restoration by Crome’s team. Since Bandrika’s opening in May 2018, the Barr/Fox Wurlitzer has re-entered the world of film music, and can be heard extensively in Barr’s score for Amblin/Universal’s The House With a Clock In Its Walls and also in Danny Elfman’s score for Universal’s hit adaptation of The Grinch (2018).

The Symphony will feature this magnificent instrument on two works in this program, including the Albinoni Adagio, and a solo work that will use every feature on the instrument.

“This concert is not to be missed,” said Symphony Board of Directors President Dean McVay. “We were incredibly gratified with the audience response to our February digital concert, and we believe this one will also please the discriminating musical palates of our patrons.”

A Hybrid Season… and Ticketing Options

The Symphony’s online concerts are presented in high resolution digital format and made easily accessible online through our website’s new SBSOtv platform using the password provided to each purchasing patron.

Following the March concert, a third digital offering, “Mozart and Beethoven,” will premier on May 1, 2021 at 7:30 p.m.

Two live concerts – slated for October 23, 2021 and December 11, 2021, will follow. The live concerts are scheduled to be held at the historic California Theatre of the Performing Arts in downtown San Bernardino.

Single household tickets for the digital concerts are $65, and single assigned-seating tickets for the live concerts ($30-$100) may be purchased online at www.sanbernardinosymphony.org or by calling the box office at (909) 381-5388. Box Office hours are 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Monday through Friday.

“In our collective trauma, we still choose not to see our history, our past acts and our current blind eye to injustice. Even as a Christian nation, we still do not pay attention to the well-being of other human beings,” said Kathleen Dameron, (Paris, France) Internationally recognized Cross-cultural Trainer Kathleen Dameron is launching a series of seminars titled, “Healing the Collective Trauma of Racism” as a way to help Americans recognize and move beyond the systemic racism that has plagued society for hundreds of years.

The importance of her sessions became clear when angry white insurrectionists invaded the United States Capitol carrying Confederate flags on January. 6. The insurrectionists were cheered by then-President Donald Trump, who openly supported white supremacists throughout his presidency.

His lies about the election being stolen were a blatant effort to disenfranchise the millions of black voters who voted against him.

“The insurrectionists were so convinced of their impunity, that they took selfies of themselves and then posted them on social media,” Dameron said.

With the horror of that day still fresh in people’s minds, Dameron said it’s time to work toward healing the collective trauma of racism.

“The times, they are a-changing,” she said, quoting Bob Dylan’s iconic song. “We have a perfect window of opportunity. We need to work with whites not to feel ashamed, but to open their hearts so they can recognize how cold and cruel and undemocratic they have been toward their fellow human beings…. and themselves.”  

Dameron’s seminars are ongoing, and sessions focus on everything from enslavement and Jim Crow laws to targeted policing and mass incarceration of Black people and people of color.

In her seminars, Dameron will help participants understand the difference between interpersonal and institutional racism, guiding them to build a feeling of community and healing energy.

Before starting her sessions, she is offering a free, self-paced, one-hour course “First Steps” so each one can build their Racial Literacy. You can enroll by going to www.KathleenDameron.com

“We will take time over six weeks, then six months, to explore the impact of racism in the United States,” Dameron said. “We will take time to open our eyes, our minds and our hearts.  “We will start our individual action, looking at what’s very local around us. And in community, we will walk together toward larger and more impactful actions.”

Kathleen Dameron is an American based in Paris with more than 30 years’ experience coaching, facilitating, and training within multinational companies in French, English and Spanish.

Through KD Conseil, her French consultancy, she coached coach American, European and Asian executives all over the world, helping organizations transform their cultural diversity into a competitive advantage.

Moving beyond America’s systemic racism and even getting some Americans to recognize that it exists will not be easy.

Dameron noted the ongoing drumbeat against Black Lives Matter and the false equivalency of BLM and the violent insurrectionists heard daily on conservative news programs. It is important to listen to different drumbeats.

But her seminars are one step toward healing the collective trauma of racism.

“In our collective trauma, we still choose not to see our history, our past acts and our current blind eye to injustice. Even as a Christian nation, we still do not pay attention to the well-being of other human beings.

“We need to talk often and softly with humor and enthusiasm and begin our transformative journeys,” she said.

Learn more at www.KathleenDameron.com

The San Manuel Band of Mission Indians recently donated nearly 10,000 school supplies to at-risk students in the San Bernardino Unified School District (SBCUSD). Just as the district announced that distance learning will continue for the remainder of the school year, the Tribe reached out to students most in need to help them continue achieving academic success. The supplies were donated to the Access to Learning for All Students program which consists of approximately 1,000 students facing homelessness or currently living in foster care.

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On Monday, San Manuel Band of Mission Indians with the help of their partners, School Specialty and Mark- it Smart, delivered supplies to the Community Day School. With the stress of distance learning being top-of-mind for local parents and educators, we thought you would be interested in this feel-good story about an organization reaching out to help out students in the community.