By Charlene Muhammad | California Black Media

Even if you have people living with you who are not on your lease – or say your affordable housing application – you should still make sure they are counted during the 2020 Census, says Ditas Katague, director of the California Complete Count office.

“No enforcement agency, federal, local, or anything, can get that data,” she assures Californians. “It’s safe.”

Last week, Katague visited Los Angeles county, the hardest-to-count area in the United States and also a region in the state with census tracts where the most African Americans live. She was on a stop that was part of a statewide push to encourage all Californians to respond to next year’s census forms.

She sat with California Black Media writer Charlene Muhammad to talk more about the state’s  $187.3 million investment to get an accurate count of all Californians. Katague also shared details about what her office has been doing so far to achieve it, and she give some insights on why it has been so hard for census workers to get the African-American count right in the past.

CALIFORNIA BLACK MEDIA (CBM):  What has your office done to reach out to Blacks in California – particularly to the the Black population here in Los Angeles?

DITAS KATAGUE (DK):  As you know, statewide, the money and the investment that both the governor and the legislature have made across the state have been unprecedented. 

That’s because California is the hardest-to-count state in the country. In fact, the City of L.A. is the hardest-to-count city and Los Angeles County is the hardest-to-count county in the hardest-to-count state. 

So, even though our efforts are unprecedented, these are the reasons that we need to do that level of outreach. The U.S. Census is actually a federal operation, and so here at the state level, we don’t control any of the actual counting.  We don’t design the form, but what we can control is reaching out, educating our Californians to make sure that they know how important it is to respond.

And to that end, we’ve divided the state. We’ve used data to really inform our partners on the ground about where they should be reaching out and to whom.  I’m up in Sacramento. Nobody wants to listen to me about why they should be filling out the form.  It’s really about getting the word out through trusted community partners on the ground, and really connecting with folks to say why is it so important and what an accurate count means for them on the ground.

CBM: L.A. – the hardest to count in the country!  I didn’t know that. What makes L.A. and the state the hardest-to-count places?

DK: Well, for Los Angeles County, one of the things is that it’s so very diverse.  In L.A. Unified School District, they speak over 200 languages. That is what makes our state so beautiful and so diverse, but it also makes it very hard to count. 

Now, when we talk about hard to count from the state level, we looked at the state and we took these14 variables and we came up with a hard-to-count index based on them.

(Those variables are: Percent of households without broadband subscriptions; percent of households that are non-family; percent of households that are renter occupied; percent of housing units that are vacant; percent of households that are crowded with more than 1.5 persons per room; percent of population that is foreign-born; percent of adults (25 or older) who are not high school graduates; percent of population with income below 150 percent of the poverty level; percent of households receiving public assistance; percent of persons (ages 16 or older) unemployed; percent of limited-English households; percent of persons who moved from outside a county in the past year; percent of population under 5; and percent of total housing units with three or more units in a multi-unit structure.)

What does that mean?  Well, that is really because the enumeration is address-based, so it’s where you are.  In order to be invited, you have to have an address, right? Think about the difficulty of counting people that are living in multi-unit apartments, or if they’re living with non-family members. So, say there is an apartment, and there are four of us living there, and we’re not related. Sometimes, one person will get the mail and the invitation to respond, and they’ll respond for themselves but forget the other three roommates.  So, it sort of compounds itself in terms of the difficulty to be counted.  And, of course, we have a lot of people who rent.  We have a lot of people here in Los Angeles that have limited English, or that are new to the country. We have a lot of folks who are scared, or just kind of don’t care, and so it’s not just one thing that makes folks hard to count. It’s a number of things if you kind of layer them on top of each other.

CBM: Why is the Census important for the Black community?

DK: It’s important for all our communities, of course, but particularly for the Black community.  I mean they have to know we exist for us to resist, right?  And if they don’t know we’re here, then we’ll be ignored. I say that both for the Black community and also for the Native American community.  My Native American folks up in Northern California, the way they look at it is to save their water, and that’s what really resonates with them, because if they don’t know you’re there, they’ll take the water.  That’s how they feel, so you have to think about that within your community. If people don’t understand how strong and how powerful our communities are, they don’t understand what kind of voice we could have and will have. So, it’s really about being seen. It’s about standing up. It’s about no longer being invisible for all of our communities.

CBM: What has been your outreach efforts in the community so far?

DK: We’ve divided the state into regions, and so here in Region 8 is the Los Angeles County area. We have a contractor – California Community Foundation – and they’ve really done a great job looking at the data and then identifying partners because they’ve been involved in L.A. a lot.  And they’ve been funding partners on the ground to talk about it right now.  This time around, we’re doing an education component. We’re also identifying what I call the grass-top leaders, so maybe not all the way down to the ground just yet, but folks that are leaders and movers and shakers in the community to let them know why it’s so important.

Then, as we move into Spring – from January and February to March of 2020 – that’s when the education starts to move in to motivate and activate. That’s when we want everyone on the ground – from high school students all the way to our elder folks – to understand and be ready to respond. So, the efforts we’re doing right now are focusing on the importance, and it’s really about two things. It’s about power and it’s about it’s about money. We talked a little about power, about being heard when it comes down to it. And it might be a little bit nerdy, but it’s our Congressional representation, too. So, we could lose a seat or two – very serious – if we’re not counted and they don’t know where we are. So, I already joke around that we don’t need Texas to be counted. They don’t need to answer (laughs), but I mean it’s because it’s a zero-sum game in terms of the way they divide up the seats. It all depends on the response of other folks. 

And it’s about money. People say “Oh!  It’s about $1,000 per person, per year!”  But what does that actually mean? The way I think about it when I talk to my 16-year-old daughter is: What if she, for a semester, didn’t have a chair to sit in, or a desk to sit at during her math class at this public high school? If they don’t know we’re here, if we forget children – and children 0-5 have often, in the past three decades, been missed for a number of reasons. A child that is born in 2020 will be in 5th grade in 2030, and if they’re missed, will they have a seat or will they have to sit on the ground?  So, in terms of money, it’s about health clinics. Will that health clinic be located close enough?  I always talk about how a friend’s dad had a stroke, and he had to travel 10 extra minutes to get to a hospital because there wasn’t one close enough, and those 10 minutes can make a difference between life and death or being disabled or being able to heal.  So, in terms of health care, in terms of schools, our education, in terms of traffic, everyday traffic, the roads are getting worse and worse, but if we don’t know, we’re unable to plan for how many people are going to have cars. It has everyday impact on our lives.

CBM:  Let’s talk more about the fear factor. For instance, in the Black community, you may have someone with Section 8 (housing assistance), or people who may have formerly incarcerated persons, still in the system, living in their homes. One big issue is the trust factor with the Black community.  People are like, “We’re not telling the government anything!”  How have you all been able to get your message to permeate that attitude?

DK: There’s been a lot of testing done, and so we’re well aware of that. And there are different trust issues for different communities. And so one of the things we’ve been looking at is if they’ve tried different messages. But, at the end of the day, people think everybody’s going to get stuff on their Facebook and WhatsApp. At the end of the day, for me, even if technology is really quick, it’s really that face-to-face, that person-to-person communication that is most important. That’s human nature and that doesn’t change. That’s why the investment that we put out there has been to make sure that people in the community, whether it be faith-based, whether it be service-based – your hair stylist, your nail technician – whether it be community members that you already deal with, or even your healthcare professional in your clinic. We want to go where people go already in the community and we want them to be trusted. A part of that is being able to tell people that there’s Title 13 that guarantees privacy. 

People are like, “Well, why do they need to know my name? Why do they need to know all this stuff?”  And I think about it and it seems kind of invasive, but they do keep it private. No enforcement agency, federal, local, or anything, can get that data, so it’s safe.

I view the Census as a snapshot in time, like those coffee table books, and if you’re not counted, you’re missed.  And then, to quote my favorite play “Hamilton,” “who will tell your story if you don’t?”  So it’s to up to us to rise up, to be counted, and to be able to put a stake in the ground to say “I’m here, and there’s no reason why I shouldn’t be recognized and counted.”

By Naomi K. Bonman

The end of the year is one of glam and community excellence! On Friday, November 22, the NAACP San Bernardino Branch held its Freedom Fund Banquet at the Arrowhead Country Club in San Bernardino, California. Prior to that, the NAACP Riverside Branch held their 7th Annual Salute to Labor Awards Ceremony on Tuesday, October 15 at the Riverside Convention Center in Riverside, California.

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The 2019 NAACP Riverside Salute to Labor Honorees were: Ricardo Cisneros, Central Labor Council/AFL-CIO-Labor Leader of the Year; Terrance Bynum-IBEW #47-Labor Hall of Fame Award; and Joseph K. Kaplon-Wohlner Kaplon Culter Halford & Rosenfeld Law Office-Friends of Labor Coalition Award.

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Group awards were also given. The Outstanding Community Outreach Awards went to: Harold Acord-Moreno Valley Educators Association; Shani Dahl-Riverside Unified School District; Captain Joseph Reed-Riverside Fire Department; Seval Haley, Teamsters Local 1932; Teamsters Joint Council 42; and Teamsters Local 63. For other nominees, please view the photo below.

By Ana B. Ibarra | Special to California Black Media Partners

Russell Desmond received a letter a few weeks ago from the American Kidney Fund (AKF) that he said felt like “a smack on the face.”

The organization informed Desmond, who has kidney failure and needs dialysis three times a week, that it will no longer help him pay for his private health insurance plan – to the tune of about $800 a month.

“I am depressed about the whole situation,” said the 58-year-old Sacramento resident. “I have no clue what I’m going to do.”

Desmond has Medicare, but it doesn’t cover the entire cost of his care. So, with assistance from AKF, he pays for a private plan to cover the difference.

Now, the fund, which helps about 3,700 Californians pay their premiums and out-of-pocket costs, is threatening to pull out of California because of a new state law that is expected to cut into the dialysis industry’s profits – leaving patients like Desmond scrambling.

The letter portrayed the fund as helpless. “We are heartbroken at this outcome,” it read. “Ending assistance in California is the last thing we want to do.”

But supporters of the new law are calling the threat a scare tactic. State Assemblyman Jim Wood (D- Healdsburg), the author of AB-290, said there is nothing in the measure that prohibits the fund from continuing to provide financial assistance to patients.

“AKF has simply made a conscious decision, without merit, to leave the state despite the many accommodations I made by amending the bill in the Senate to ensure that it can continue to operate in California,” Wood said in a written statement.

What’s behind this dispute, critics of AKF Say, is the tight relationship between the fund and the companies that provide dialysis, which filters the blood of people whose kidneys are no longer doing the job.

People on dialysis usually qualify for Medicare, the federal health insurance program for people 65 and older, and those with kidney failure and certain disabilities. If they’re low income, they may also qualify for Medicaid, which is called Medi-Cal in California.

But dialysis companies can get higher reimbursements from private insurers than from public coverage. And one way to keep dialysis patients on private insurance is by giving them financial assistance from AKF, which helps nearly 75,000 low-income dialysis patients across the country.

The fund gets most of its money from DaVita and Fresenius Medical Care, the two largest dialysis companies in the country. The fund does not disclose its donors, but an independent audit of its finances conducted by the accounting firm CliftonLarsenAllen, LLP,  reveals that 82 percent of its funding in 2018 – nearly $250 million –  came from two companies.

Insurance plans, consumer advocacy groups and unions have accused AKF of helping dialysis providers steer patients into private insurance plans in exchange for donations from the dialysis industry. Wood said his bill is intended to discourage that practice.

 AKF CEO LaVarne Burton denied the accusations and said her group plays no role in patients’ coverage choices.

Starting in 2022, the new law will limit the private-insurance reimbursement rate that dialysis companies receive for patients who get assistance from groups such as AKF to the rate that Medicare pays. The rate change won’t apply to patients who are currently receiving assistance as long as they keep the same health plans. The bill will also address a similar dynamic in drug treatment programs.

To determine which patients receive financial aid, the law will require third-party groups to disclose patients’ names to health insurers starting July 1, 2020.

These disclosure requirements are spurring AKF’s decision to leave, Burton said. She argues that they conflict with federal rules and violate patient privacy.

“AKF has no choice but to leave or seek legal relief,” Burton said.

In mid-October, the fund started sending letters to its financial aid recipients in California warning of its departure. And Nov. 1, it joined two dialysis patients in filing suit against the state, asking a U.S. District Court to rule the law unconstitutional.

Gov. Gavin Newsom cautioned against such actions when he signed the bill, and urged “both opponents and supporters to put patients first.”

But as the threats and legal battle play out, patients are caught “squarely in the middle,” said Bonnie Burns, a consultant with California Health Advocates, a Medicare advocacy group.

Their options may be limited, she said. Those who don’t work won’t have access to employer-sponsored coverage to make up the difference. And in California, Medicare recipients under age 65 are not eligible to purchase supplemental insurance known as Medigap.

The state Department of Managed Health Care offers a fact sheet for affected patients, directing them to programs such as Covered California and Medi-Cal.  

Paige Hosler, vice president of insurance management at DaVita, said insurance counselors and social workers at the company’s clinics are working with patients to find other options. “We will continue to treat all patients, regardless of insurance status,” she said.

Hosler noted that some patients may qualify for DaVita’s charity care program. 

Dialysis companies have been at the center of recent legislative and ballot-box battles, and have spent big to defend their bottom lines. Last year, they poured a record-breaking $111 million into a campaign to defeat Proposition 8, a ballot initiative that would have capped their profits. The measure failed. 

The industry also spent about $2.5 million in California on lobbying and campaign contributions in the first half of this year to oppose Wood’s measure. 

Desmond said he understands why lawmakers targeted the dialysis industry but can’t fathom why they did so at the expense of patients.

Desmond was laid off from his job as a computer programmer in Massachusetts in 2009 and moved to California to join his brother. One year later, he was diagnosed with kidney failure.

He lives off his Social Security Disability Insurance benefits, which come to about $2,000 a month after his Medicare premiums are deducted. Medicare pays for 80 percent of his care.

He also qualifies for Medi-Cal coverage that comes with high out-of-pocket costs, so he relies instead on a private Aetna insurance plan to cover the remaining 20 percent.  The American Kidney Fund has been paying the premiums for his private plan since 2015. 

“What they did is take away our life raft and left us to drown,” he said of lawmakers.

Brian Carroll, 40, of Sacramento, has been on dialysis for five years. He moved back in with his parents in 2016 because, he said, dialysis left him too weak to work. 

“I am now completely depending on other people,” Carroll said. AKF pays the $270 monthly premium for his private insurance plan that covers what Medicare doesn’t.

“That’s an entire month of groceries and gas for me,” he said. 

Carroll said he supported Proposition 8, even though dialysis companies argued that it would force them to cut back services and shut down clinics.

In this current situation, he’s not sure whom to blame – the lawmakers, who passed the law with no back-up plan for patients, or the fund, which is essentially holding patients hostage.

“What I do know is that you can’t just leave dialysis patients like this,” Carroll said. “It’s cruel.”

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This story was produced by Kaiser Health News (KHN), which publishes California Healthline, an editorially independent service of the California Health Care Foundation. KHN is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.

By Joe W. Bowers Jr. | California Black Media

EMPIRE NEWS NETWORK—ENN— When California Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond announced the English language arts and math results of the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) test last month, we found out that African-American students’ scores lagged behind the much higher marks their White, Asian and Hispanic peers obtained. 

Statewide, just over 40 percent of all public school students met or exceeded standards in math and 51 percent were proficient in English.

Of those numbers, only 21 percent of African-American students were proficient in math, compared with 74 percent of Asian-American students, 54 percent of White students, and 29 percent of Hispanic students. In English, only 33 percent of African-American students were proficient. Compare that with 77 percent of Asian-American students, 64 percent of White students, and 41 percent of Hispanic students. Five years ago, California adopted the CAASPP assessment tests. Each year since then, our African-American student scores have ranked at the bottom of the results of all racial subgroups in the state. During that time, the achievement gap between Black students and their White and Asian peers has seen only marginal improvement, while getting wider between our children and their Hispanic counterparts.

The achievement gap between African-American and White students was first acknowledged over fifty years ago in a 1966 federal government study called the Coleman Report. The United States Congress commissioned the report after it passed the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Since then, education researchers and practitioners have been hard at work trying to identify the causes and propose what can be done to address it. Despite decades of education reform efforts and billions of dollars spent in federal, state and local funding, the achievement gap persists.

Ronald Edmonds, the late Harvard education researcher, said 40 years ago, “We can, whenever and wherever we choose, successfully teach all children whose schooling is of interest to us. We already know more than we need to do that. Whether or not we do it must finally depend on how we feel about the fact that we haven’t so far.”

To Edmonds and education experts like him, closing the achievement gap is absolutely solvable. The fact that little progress has been made to narrow it can be attributed more to the absence of political will than to any lack of social science research on the problem. The social factors that contribute to the achievement gap and the actions necessary to close it have been well studied, but public policymakers tend to avoid or overlook the data and recommendations that could cost them any  political capital. For example, in 2013 California revamped education funding to provide extra money for school districts with large numbers of “high-needs” students, mostly  kids from poor families or foster children and “English-learners.” The Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) pushed expenditure decisions down from the state to local school districts because Gov. Jerry Brown and the legislature believed that those closest to the day-to-day operation of schools were best suited to identify what their students needed and would work best for them.

However, this has proven to not be the case, particularly when it comes to the performance of Black students in California. When the California Department of Education first introduced the new public education finance system in 2013, some lawmakers warned that the LCFF did not provide mechanisms to adequately track how local school officials would spend funds. Gov. Brown and groups representing school districts shot down attempts by legislators like Assemblymember Shirley Weber (D-San Diego) to address that concern. This month, California State Auditor Elaine Howle announced that her office’s recent examination of LCFF spending found that the system lacked sufficient oversight and accounting controls, confirming Weber’s reservations. Realizing that there has been very little progress toward closing the achievement gap despite the state having redirected billions of dollars to help solve it, may finally force lawmakers to now consider passing the kind of legislation Weber initially proposed.

Edmonds, who was African American, made the observation that progress toward resolving the achievement gap might not happen as quickly as it could because of how White policymakers viewed the issue. He did not question their sincerity about solving it, but was concerned about how they would approach it given biases they might have.

The former dean of the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, Andy Porter, who is white, validated Edmonds’ concerns when he made this statement, “I would like to see the achievement gap closed, but not at the expense of my kids. I think everybody feels that way.”

It is hard to assess how much the attitude Porter expressed, and the unstated biases of others like him, may have stalled progress toward closing the achievement gap, or if they have had any effect at all. But, in California right now, there is a unique opportunity if leaders in Education grow the political will to develop effective policy toward closing the achievement gap for African-American students in our state, even if attitudes like Porter’s continue to exist within – and wield influence on – our education system. 

Today our key Education Leaders in California are African American. They are Tony Thurmond, State Superintendent of Public Instruction; Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond, President of the State Board of Education; E. Toby Boyd, President, California Teachers Association; Margaret Fortune, Board Chair, California Charter School Association; and Emma Turner, President, California School Board Association. We need these leaders to come together to propose a functioning system that will guide those working hard to achieve results for African-American students in our state. Working with legislators like Dr. Weber, we will begin to close the achievement gap.

“There has never been a time in the life of the American public school when we have not known all we needed to in order to teach all those whom we chose to teach.” – Ronald Edmonds

It’s time to take gloves off on a very crucial Census in 2020

Judging from the flat and barely noticeable national conversation on the critical importance of needed mass Black participation in the Census, it’s business as usual from various community organizations who are rolling out campaigns eleventh hour.

The problem is that not only have these campaigns failed to achive an urgent, fevered pitch, but the messaging has not been crafted in such a way that makes the conversation relatable to the broader Black audience which needs all hands on deck for this exercise. Response to the urgency of the Census should be done in a way reminiscent of mass Black-oriented marketing successes such as Marvel’s Black Panther film and the first release of the Popeye’s franchise chicken sandwich.

Priorities.

That hasn’t happened, yet. The scheduled 2020 Census promises to – once again – dramatically decrease the official Black population in the United States. The consequences of this are both enormous and fatally dangerous to Black communities nationwide. This is, clearly, by design and reflects a centuries-long, ongoing and nefarious effort by the federal government to actively diminish and “disappear” the presence of Black people in the United States through any means at their disposal. Indeed, the Census has been weaponized in such a way. Take a look at undercount trends since 1950.

We know the Census Bureau won’t take any major steps towards rectifying or correcting undercounts because it never has. In fact, it’s more involved in underfunding itself or looking for creative ways to streamline its mandated responsibility as opposed to doing it fully and comprehensively.

That burden of increased Census participation will fall on us.

This cannot be business as usual on the part of Black grassroots and community advocate infrastructure which includes large organizations such as the National Urban League, the NAACP and the National Action Network to name a few. Black churches should be mobilizing congregations every Sunday while every effort is made to reach every visible and/or known Black person in every venue including schools, barbershops, hair salons, nail places, parks, sports games, concerts, and through urban radio. That effort should coincide with or be attached to aggressive voter mobilization efforts. Instead, the Census conversation and campaign effort seems very grasstops at the moment; it’s a box checked off by social network groups, fraternities and sororities looking for community service points.

But, we can’t be cute about this. No stone should be left unturned. Every creative effort should be made to ensure every Black person possible is answering the 10-question Census, by 1) mailed questionnaire, by 2) phone or 3) online. Every effort should be made to ensure households know when to look out for their unique identifier in the mail, the ID they’ll need to take the Census online, which will look this

… and to not consider if junk mail.

Yet, there are no visible signs of anything ambitious or a tipping point national moment where the public is freaking out over predicted mass undercounts of Black persons – and, yes, we should be freaking out about it.

Here are several key points to push when having that Census conversation:

Don’t Make Yourself Invisible

That’s pretty much what an undercount amounts to: making Black people disappear. And if you want the federal government, in collusion with state and local governments who rely on this “authoritative” data to consider you as not existing then, go ahead, be our guest and don’t take the Census. While we keep saying the national Black population is 13 percent, it’s really 15 percent or more.

The Census Bureau itself, in a casual “our bad” mea culpa, admitted to undercounts back in 2010 after the last decennial exercise …

Notice how the Black undercount was the most significant compared to all other racial groups?

Indeed, notice the states with the highest concentrations of Black residents are projected to experience the most drastic medium-to-high risk undercounts, according to the Urban Institute graphic below …

Fewer Black People = Less Political Representation

Don’t let obscure or very academic terms used to describe important elements of the Census put you to sleep. Stay alert. When you’re not counted in the Census, your community loses the 1) “apportionment” game – which means you lose Members of Congress to represent you in the Congress. Fewer members of Congress means you not only lose representation, but you just lost out on a chance at federal resources, responsiveness and money. In addition, you also lose the 2) “redistricting” game – which means the Congressional, state legislator or local lawmaker district you live in not only loses clout, but the fewer Black people counted in it means the lawmaker is conveniently less inclined to take you seriously … because, once again, he/she is under the official impression that, well, “there’s not that many of them living in my district, anyway.”

Your Community Will Get Fewer to No Federal Dollars

The last 2010 Census determined how nearly $700 billion in federal funds would get distributed to communities for everything from schools, roads, Medicaid, school lunches, grants and more. This 2020 Census raises that stake to $900 billion – and that doesn’t even include the appropriation of billions of dollars more policymakers will determine based on existing Census data. These are the top 10 federal programs most reliant on federal dollars from the 2010 Census, according to the Tax Policy Center …

Undercounts Exacerbate “Gentrification,” the Affordable Living Crisis and Food Insecurity

Lots of people are upset about “gentrification” and the displacement of urban Black populations that happens as a result of higher rents, escalating housing prices and bad schools – but, no one is talking about participating fully in the Census as a strategy to help solve that.

It’s simple: the fewer Black people counted in a community gives landlords, real estate developers, employers, grocery stores, mass transit agencies and school districts a variety of excuses to make living standards that much harder for economically distressed and already strapped Black populations …

• Rents are systematically raised because the impression, based on Census data, is that more middle-class White professionals who can afford higher rent have moved in.
• Housing prices spike up and homes become unaffordable because, well, there is less of the financially-distressed population in that geographic space.
• Businesses rely on Census data, as well, among one of several research tools to determine if it’s feasible for them to set up shop in a community. Fewer businesses in a community mean fewer market options and fewer jobs for people living in that community – meaning residents have to travel farther to get to a job. But, then …
• Mass transit agencies cut bus routes and other services if they believe (or use the Census data to believe) they are fewer people in a community to service.
• Grocery stores won’t build if it’s perceived the market conditions aren’t ideal, based on Census data, hence the expansion of food deserts leading to food insecurity … and, well, more “dollar stores” with unhealthy, cheap carcinogenic food to buy.
• School districts are slow to invest in, renovate or improve neighborhood schools if Census data show fewer families and children to service.

Source: https://thebenote.com/

By Lou Yeboah

Listen, nobody told you to go do what you did. You knew better but you wanted to prove to your homeboys that you were down. Now you crying woof? Well ain’t no need of crying now. You should have cried before you did what you did. Stop your crying!

You know my mama used to tell me that I was a hard headed kid. That was her way of telling me that I was stubborn. And she was right, I’ve learned a number of hard lessons in life because I did things my way. When we are young, we see ourselves as masters of our own future. We tend to be impatient with advice from others older and more experienced than us. We naively think that everything will go smoothly and easily. But one of the realities of life is that sooner or later we will run into things that are neither of our choosing nor to our liking. Many times, we learn lessons the hard way. So many lessons come from mistakes, poor choices and, dare I say it, sin. 

The problem I earnestly believe is that we do not know how powerful sin is.  We do not know, we have no idea, it’s a term we toss around and we talk about it in a gleeful tone.  But let me say something to you, we have under estimated its power, its grip, and its hold on us.  I submit to you, that we have been bamboozled, fooled, brain washed, and beguiled. Sin is a cruel taskmaster. It robs one of much and provides him with nothing. And like the old saying says, “Sin always takes you farther than you want to go, keeps you longer than you want to stay, and costs you more than you are willing to pay.” It is extremely important that we understand sin and its all-consuming power.

You know, the Bible – God’s Word always deals with realities. Among these is the fact that we get things wrong and do stupid things. Another is the fact that troubles will often come into our lives whether we go looking for them or not. I tell you, life is hard, but GOD IS GOOD! He doesn’t give us what we deserve because of our stubborness, or our pride. I want you to know that just like God tried ever so gently to reason with Cain, He is ever so gently trying to reason with us. Know that there is no substitute for self-control and alertness when it comes to sin. God says, sin is standing at the door desiring to come in as master. Because sin is not satisfied with living in one room in your heart. It wants full run of the house. It wants in the closets, attics and basements and the whole nine yards. Sin is not satisfied until it completely masters the whole of your life. You better know that you know.

Some of the hardest life lessons repeat themselves over and over again, and it’s on each and every one of us to be reflective enough to witness them happening in the moment — so that this time around, a different decision can be made. Making the same mistakes over and over can be costly in more ways than one. Grasp the lessons life is trying to teach you. And know that God is reaching out to you again to give you another chance to repent.  God will forgive you and restore you again. But if you continue to disobey and live in sin, God’s anger will descend on you like king Manasseh. That could be fatal. Don’t take God’s grace for granted. Galatians 6:7-8 tells us: Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Listen, as the quote says, “Life is a school, learn your lesson quickly so that you would not have to repeat it!”

EMPIRE NEWS NETWORK—ENN— The family of the late Queen Wyteria Ophelia Arrington Musgrove wishes to acknowledge the many expressions of sympathy and gestures of kindness shown to us following our sad loss.

On behalf of the Arrington family we would like to send out a note of great appreciation, gratitude, admiration, and thanks to our many friends, neighbors and well-wishers who visited our home, telephoned, travelled long distance, sent floral tributes, cards and messages of condolences, and who attended the wake, service and burial and who provided emotional and practical support for us doing our difficult time. Thank you for the outstanding loyalty and participation on November 4th 2019, while laying to rest our Queen Wyteria Ophelia Arrington Musgrove, we are truly grateful.

As it would be impossible to thank everyone individually, please accept this acknowledgement as an expression of our deepest gratitude for the respect that you showed the family and the honor you gave us in this time of need. Celebrating the life of Wyteria would not have been complete without you.  Many thanks, the family of Wyteria.

A special word of thanks to Dr. and Mrs. Raymond Turner, Temple Missionary Baptist Church; Pastor, Dr. Joshua and Mrs. Beckley, Ecclesia Christian Fellowship; Pastor Harrison J. and Ursula Carolina , Evangelist Jerry Musgrove, Pastor Nathaniel Newman, Pastor David McKenzie, Reverend Church Esters Jr., Ms. Karen Sanderlin, Ms. Dyanna Montgomery, Brandie Lee, The Celebration Mass Choir, LaSalle Lewis (Marissa Watkins), Soul Winners, Brandie Lee and Katrina Patterson, Tillman Riverside Mortuary, and Montecito Memorial Park and Mortuary for their kindness and respect shown at all times.

LOS ANGELES, CA— Hollywood Power Broker Creator and Executive Producer Koshie Mills, presented a live audience taping of her groundbreaking cultural talk show series “The Diaspora Dialogues” Live in Los Angeles on Friday, November 1st at the California African American Museum. The show and movement is designed to bridge the gap between Africans from Africa and African descendants in the Diaspora. 

“The Diaspora Dialogues will ignite the long-overdue conversations needed between black people globally to extinguish our cultural disconnection and create a better understanding of our different experiences but shared identity.” says Mills.

Born in Ghana, West Africa and curated in Los Angeles, Koshie’s initial experience in the entertainment industry came from managing the careers of her three successful sons who are all actors. Kwame Boateng (Everybody Hates Chris; The Plug), Kofi Siriboe (Queen Sugar; Girls Trip) Kwesi Boakye (Claws; Colony).

The Diaspora Dialogues will lend its important cultural voice by coming into the community Live and curate conversations in diverse environments to address our internal racism, identity crisis and cultural disconnect.

“The focus will be on the journey to healing and what the 21st century African Renaissance has the potential to look like for all its descendants.” says Mills.

The live taping was presented to a full house of multigenerational community supporters in the audience. It was standing room only and the evening was steered by the master of ceremonies Actor Duain Richmond (VH1 Drumline: A New Beat) and the first half of the program included a spoken word performance from poet Yasmin Monet Watkins and a screening of “The Diaspora Dialogues” first season and first episode, “Who Do You Think You Are” guest starring musical artist Estelle and Digital content creator Suede.

The talk show taping began with the introduction of Ghanaian-American Creator, Executive Producer and host Koshie Mills. Thefeatured panelists came from diverse upbringing and backgrounds, British-Nigerian, Gina Yashere (Co-Creator, Writer, Producer CBS show Bob Hearts Abishola),Dutch-Surinamese Actress, Yootha Wong-Loi-Sing (Love Is; Hunter Street) and African American, Ebonee Davis (Model/Activist). A prolific and masterful conversation ensued about the cultural divide plaguing black people as a whole globally. Many notable quotes from the panelists and host ended the programming with a standing ovation and a lengthy line for questions and answers from the audience. 

“Caribbean slaves suffered as much as American slaves, it’s just we don’t hear about it as much because America has a louder microphone” – Gina Yashere

“Our ancestors built this country and it’s not about running to Africa and leaving America but going to Africa to understand who we are and where we come from.” – Ebonee Davis

“Black Pete is such a horrible representation of black face in Dutch society and it’s sad how it portrays black people in the Netherlands.” – Yootha Wong Loi-Sing

“Africans from the continent have African Privilege, they have a clear sense of identity and self, therefore they have no concept of what their African American, Caribbean and South American counterparts face daily from the results of oppression and their stolen identity. I am challenging us to lean in and lead with empathy on both sides.” – Koshie Mills

The evening concluded with “The Diaspora Lounge” afterparty where guests enjoyed complimentary wine, catered traditional African food such as Jollof Rice, plantain and the atmosphere was electric with Afrobeats from DJ Major league, culminating in an immersive experience for all.

The taping also drew out other notable celebrities to attend and walk the red carpet. Celebrity attendees included Kofi Siriboe (Queen Sugar; Girls Trip), British Actress Shola Adewusi  (CBS show Bob Hearts Abishola), V. Bozeman (Empire; Recording Artist), Vanessa Williams (Soul Food), Lewis T. Powell (CSI), Duain Richmond (VH1 Drumline: A New Beat), Kwesi Boakye (Claws; Colony), Yazmin Monet Watkins (Actress), Bambadjan Bamba (Actor, Black Panther), Mishon Ratliff (R&B Artist), YDN (African Musical Artist), Kwame Boakye Sr. (Designer; Style Aficionado), and many others. 

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… and, it seems, we’re not doing a damn thing about it

The three most important actions every American resident should take in 2020 are the following:

• file taxes
• vote
• take the Census

Arguably, the most important of those three activities is full participation in the Census. This task is one of the most crucial, if not the most crucial, life-and-death or existential imperatives for Black people in the United States.

And, yet, there’s little noise being made about it. Collectively, Black communities are talking more about Colin Kaepernick’s beef with the NFL and Byron Allen’s lawsuit against Comcast than they are the Census – the latter which they have much more direct control over than the first two issues.

It’s easy for a topic as wonkish and technical as the Census to lost in the issue mix. After all, there’s so much else to talk about. But, it’s tragic and telling that the only time it has been a big deal is on the question of a “citizenship” question in the Census questionnaire. That question was settled – but, it had little to do with the much more egregious and dangerous possibility of yet another massive undercounting of the U.S. Black population. The Urban Institute projects an undercount of the national Black population as high as nearly 4 percent.

This is serious. The Constitution – Article 1, Section 2 – mandates a full count of all residents in the United States. Yet, since it’s start in 1790, the federal government has looked for every opportunity it could find to make the Black population in the U.S. as invisible and as powerless as possible through the decennial (every 10 year count). It’s done this through a variety of sinister methods over the centuries. Fighting back against this systematic effort simply requires a massive effort to ensure every last Black resident in the United States takes the Census – a very free (no-charge, no-fee), 10-question activity that shouldn’t take more than 10-15 minutes out of a person’s day. Where’s the outrage and where’s the movement?

Source: https://thebenote.com/

By Ana B. Ibarra | Special to California Black Media Partners

As states and communities rush to ban the sale of flavored tobacco products linked to vaping, Carol McGruder races from town to town, urging officials to include what she calls “the mother lode of all flavors”: menthol.

McGruder, co-chair of the African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council, has tried for years to warn lawmakers that menthol attracts new smokers, especially African Americans. Now that more officials are willing to listen, she wants them to prohibit menthol cigarettes and cigarillos, not just e-cigarette flavors, to reduce smoking among Blacks.

McGruder and other tobacco control researchers are using the youth vaping epidemic — and the vaping-related illnesses sweeping the country — as an opportunity to take on menthol cigarettes, even though they are not related to the illnesses.

“We started to see that vaping is something that we could leverage in order to deal with this whole menthol issue,” said Valerie Yerger, an associate professor of health policy at the University of California-San Francisco.

Menthol is a substance found in mint plants that creates a cooling sensation and masks tobacco flavor in both e-cigarettes and cigarettes. Those properties make menthol more appealing to first-time smokers and vapers, even as they pose the same health threats as non-menthol products and may be harder to quit.

Nearly nine out of 10 African American smokers prefer mentholated cigarettes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But even as tobacco control activists see opportunity, some African Americans, including smokers, fear discrimination. They predict that banning menthol will lead to a surge in illicit sales of cigarettes and result in additional policing in communities that already face tension with law enforcement.

Joseph Paul, director of political and civic affairs at City of Refuge Los Angeles, a church with about 17,000 members in Gardena, Calif., spoke at a board of supervisors meeting in September against a proposed flavor ban in Los Angeles County that was adopted a week later.

If officials truly wanted to end youth vaping, he later told California Healthline, the ordinance should have targeted only vape flavors and exempted adult smokers and their menthol cigarettes.

“Menthol cigarettes are very popular in the Black community, my people smoke menthol cigarettes,” he said.

The Los Angeles County ban prohibits sales but not possession of flavored e-cigarette products, menthol cigarettes and chewing tobacco in the unincorporated area of the county, inhabited by about 1 million people. Shops have until April to clear their shelves of flavored tobacco products.

Paul warned that people will start selling menthol cigarettes illegally: “It’s supply and demand.” That will make the community more vulnerable to police harassment, he said.

In New York City, when officials proposed a ban on menthol cigarettes earlier this year, which has yet to be acted upon, the Rev. Al Sharpton made a similar argument against the measure: Banning menthol would lead to greater tensions with police in Black communities.

“I think there is an Eric Garner concern here,” the civil right rights activist told The New York Times in July, referring to the well-known case of a 43-year old Black man who died in a chokehold in 2014 while being arrested by New York City police on suspicion of selling single cigarettes.

The flavor bans that are currently sweeping the country have more to do with e-cigarettes than menthol cigarettes.

That’s because a mysterious vaping-related illness has sickened more than 1,880 people nationwide and led to at least 37 deaths. In California, at least 150 residents have fallen ill and at least three have died, according to the California Department of Public Health.

Most of those illnesses have been associated with vaping cannabis products, and yet politicians’ urge to adopt flavored tobacco bans continues.

In July 2016, Chicago became the first major U.S. city to ban menthol cigarette sales, but it limited the prohibition to within 500 feet of schools.

Of the more than 200 communities in the country that restrict or ban the sale of flavored tobacco, fewer than 60 include restrictions on menthol cigarettes, according to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

Aspen, Colo., will ban all flavored nicotine products, including menthol cigarettes, effective Jan. 1. A few communities in Minnesota already have such bans in place. In California, close to 50 communities restrict or ban flavored tobacco products; of those, more than 30 include restrictions on menthol cigarettes. Notably, San Francisco banned menthol cigarettes along with all flavored tobacco products in 2018, before banning all vapes and e-cigarettes earlier this year.

At the national level, the Food and Drug Administration banned the sale of flavors in combustible cigarettes in 2009, but exempted menthol. Last November, the agency proposed a ban on menthol-flavored combustible cigarettes, calling their use among youths “especially troubling,” but it has not yet taken action.

Then the Trump administration said in September it would soon ban all flavored e-cigarette products, but it may now be backing away from banning mint and menthol.

Menthol, which was first added to cigarettes in the 1920s, is as old-school as it gets when it comes to flavored tobacco, yet it hasn’t prompted action in the way that vape flavors such as cotton candy and strawberry-melon have. That’s because vaping was embraced by a specific population: affluent white teens, Yerger said.

Big Tobacco aggressively pushed menthol cigarettes on Black youths in the 1950s and 60s, and now some people consider Kools and Newports part of Black culture, McGruder said.

McGruder and others point out that the tobacco industry has supported and funded civil rights groups and causes, forming relationships with prominent Black leaders such as Sharpton. Big Tobacco acknowledged that it has contributed to Sharpton’s organization, the National Action Network, and similar groups.

McGruder said it’s difficult for the African American community to contradict respected male civil rights and religious leaders, so when they argue that menthol bans will lead to criminalization, the community listens.

But Bobby Sheffield, a pastor and vice president of the Riverside County Black Chamber of Commerce, said the criminalization argument is a scare tactic.

“We’re not trying to have anyone incarcerated because they have this product in their possession,” Sheffield said. His organization, which represents local businesses, started campaigning this year for menthol bans in California’s Inland Empire, including the cities of Riverside, San Bernardino and Perris.

Some smokers understand the need to keep tobacco out of the hands of children, but they don’t think it’s fair to include menthol cigarettes.

“It’s stupid. Now they’re trying to act like menthol cigarettes are the problem. These have been around for a long time,” said April Macklin of Sacramento, who smokes Benson & Hedges menthols. She smoked when she was younger, quit, and started again three years ago.

The city of Sacramento will ban the sale of flavored tobacco, including menthol cigarettes, effective Jan. 1.

Macklin, 53, said she might just quit because she won’t smoke anything other than menthol. But even with a ban in place, she doubts menthol cigarettes will be gone for good. “I’m sure people will figure something out,” she said.

This story was produced by Kaiser Health News and first published on the website California Healthline.