WSSN Stories

By Glynda  Carr

The Supreme Court just dealt a devastating blow to reproductive rights. With its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson, five Republican-appointed Justices on the U.S. Supreme Court swept away half a century of progress and eviscerated women’s rights and equality. After last month’s leaked opinion, we knew this moment could come, but that doesn’t make today’s news any easier to digest.

For Black women in this country, today’s decision is especially devastating. Thirteen percent of American women are Black, but 38% of people receiving abortion care are Black. Abortion is necessary healthcare – and a lack of access can quite literally mean life or death for many Black women. This is especially true for Black women who have lower incomes, live in rural areas, and do not have access to health care because of systemic racism and discrimination.

According to CDC data, Black women are nearly three times more likely to die during childbirth than white women and are more likely to face maternal health issues. With new abortion restrictions and bans, these health outcomes are expected to get even worse: a 2021 Duke University study estimated the potential death toll following a total abortion ban and found a 33 percent increase in Black women who died due to pregnancy-related complications.

The states that are already moving to ban abortion are among those with the largest Black populations in the country. Consider Mississippi, the state with the highest percentage of Black residents in the nation, and one of the 13 states with a “trigger law” that ensured today’s decision would result in a near-immediate ban on abortion access. Three other states with the highest proportion of Black residents – Tennessee, Louisiana, and Arkansas – have these trigger laws in place, and many other states, especially in the South, are moving to severely restrict or outright ban abortion.

The impact of new abortion bans and restrictions will be felt most acutely by poor and working-class Black women – Black women are significantly more likely to live in poverty compared to white women. For these women, the overturning of Roe won’t mean that abortions will end; it will mean that access to critical, potentially life-saving healthcare will move hundreds of miles out of reach. It will mean time off of work (likely unpaid) and travel and childcare costs – expenses that may not be possible for women living paycheck to paycheck, struggling to simply put meals on the table.

At a time like this, when daughters suddenly have fewer rights than their mothers and grandmothers, it is challenging to imagine a way forward. But the answer is to do everything we can to restore our rights and ensure every woman has access to the healthcare they need and deserve, a right afforded to them under our nation’s Constitution. To do that, we need to elect and elevate more Black women. Black women have been at the forefront of the fight to protect and expand reproductive rights – from members of Congress like Reps. Cori Bush, Ayanna Pressley, and Lauren Underwood, to our first Black woman Vice President Kamala Harris, to soon-to-be-seated Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. We must elect Stacey Abrams to lead the state of Georgia – one of the states that is now positioned to severely restrict, or overturn the right to access abortion care under the leadership of their current Governor, Brian Kemp. And finally, we need to not only encourage, but throw our unwavering support behind more Black women from all across the country to run for office – women who personally understand the deep impact that a lack of healthcare and abortion restrictions have on communities thathave lacked fair representation for far too long.

Today and every day, I stands with my partners and allies ready to continue the critical fight for access to affordable, safe, legal abortions for all women, no matter where they live, how they identify, or how much money they have. We will not back down.

Glynda Carr is president and CEO of Higher Heights for America, the only national organization providing Black women with a political home exclusively dedicated to harnessing their power to expand Black women’s elected representation and voting participation, and advance progressive policies.

The views expressed in this article are the writer’s own.

By Lou Yeboah

Boasting in your arrogance!  Deceived by your comfort! ‘Now hear this, O foolish and senseless people, Who have eyes but do not see; Who have ears but do not hear [Jeremiah 5:21]?  Be mindful, of the height from which you have fallen. Repent at once, and act as you did at first, or else I will surely come and remove your lampstand out of its place” [Revelation 2:4-5]. “What is your life, but a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” [James 4:14]. Repent while it is still daybreak!

For, “Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and destroy the sinners thereof out of it. [Isaiah 13:9]. For Thus saith the Lord, “I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.” [Isaiah 13:9-11]. Living on the Edge! Boasting in your arrogance! Deceived by your comfort! Repent while you still have a chance!

And when He, [Jesus] drew near and saw the city, He, wept over it, saying, ““If you, even you, had only known on this day the things that make for peace ??? but now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you, and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.” [Luke 19:41-44]. I tell you; God is about to turn up the heat. Repent now before it is too late!

“And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit. He opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and from the shaft rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft. Then from the smoke came locusts on the earth, and they were given power like the power of scorpions of the earth. They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any green plant or any tree, but only those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.  They were allowed to torment them for five months, but not to kill them, and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings someone. And in those days people will seek death and will not find it. They will long to die, but death will flee from them. [Revelation 9]. The results of Living on the Edge!

LOS ANGELES, CA— Areva Martin is one of the nation’s leading voices in media, covering topics such as law, race, politics, pop culture, celebrity, and breaking news! She has a unique way of blending her outstanding legal expertise with her passion for promoting inclusion, diversity, and equality within ALL environments!

A Harvard University law graduate, Martin releases a statement about the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade:

Statement by Areva Martin:

The aftershocks of today’s SCOTUS opinion overturning Roe vs. Wade are already rippling across the country, as many states have trigger laws withdrawing the established right to abortion. This devastating decision is happening despite that documented fact that a majority of this country — Democrats and Republicans alike — support the abortion and understand it as a fundamental right.

Black and brown women in this country have always struggled with obstacles to equality and with the bitter reality that, as citizens, we are “lesser than.” And, as always, Black and brown women and those struggling to get by financially will be hit hardest by the ruling.

As a lawyer deeply engaged with civil rights issue, I am appalled at a ruling that claims, at its core, the justification that the right to abortion is not specifically enumerated in the constitution. The Constitution is silent on countless other rights we rely on every day in this country; it’s [saying] that a woman’s right to abortion is the one the Court has chosen to decimate today.

The concurring opinion of Justice Thomas should be a wake-up call to everyone. Thomas calls out the rights to same-sex marriage and contraceptives as examples of others that are not enumerated in the constitution. He is laying out the game plan of the right. We should consider ourselves forewarned.

By Edward Henderson | California Black Media

Dr. Willie Morrow, publisher emeritus of the San Diego Monitor and creator of one of the most well-known symbols of Black pride, the Afro Pick, passed away at his home surrounded by family on Wednesday, June 22.

Morrow is also the creator of “California Curl,” a once-popular hair texturizer many call the forerunner to the Jheri Curl.

Born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, to a family of sharecroppers, Morrow taught himself the basics of barbering and chemistry, tools that served as the foundation to his hair care empire.

From the 1960’s to the mid-1990’s, Dr. Morrow set up his headquarters at 4165 Market Street in San Diego. The two-story building housed his barbershop, salon and publication company where he printed the San Diego Monitor newspaper and operated a San Diego’s 92.5 FM radio station

“There was no voice other than the radio at the time,” said Morrow in a 2017 interview with San Diego Voice and Viewpoint newspaper. “When we first started throwing the paper, we would have mountains of them, about 15 or 20 thousand. We would throw them in every home and church in the community. Then we married the print and radio components together (with 92.5). It became the most powerful tool in the Black community.”

In the 70s, as his popularity grew within the beauty industry, the Department of Defense enlisted Morrow to teach and cut hair on military bases and in war zones, which led to him writing several hair styling and barbering technique books.

In 2016, the Museum at California Center for the Arts in Escondido curated an exhibit honoring Dr. Morrow and his accomplishments. The exhibit featured more than 250 objects, from paintings to vintage hair styling equipment. Most of the objects were part of Morrow’s own private collection.

The exhibit also included a diorama of Morrow’s Market Street barbershop, featuring the barber chair he used for years. The red velvet chair hosted local Black leaders including the first Black judge in San Diego County, Judge Earl Gilliam, and even basketball hall of famer Michael Jordan as customers.

Following his death, Morrow’s daughter, Cheryl Morrow, will now take over the newspaper and oversee her father’s California Curl Company.

“He had the foresight not just to create the style but the service so it can enrich an industry,” said Morrow to ABC 10 News in San Diego. “Prior to 1962, you couldn’t buy a comb exclusively for your cultural affinity,” says Morrow. “While that whole era was going on, San Diego Black panthers had the best afros.”

Assemblymember Akilah Weber (D-San Diego) tweeted about the impact Morrow had on the city he called home.

“Our community is rocked by the news of the passing of Dr. Willie Morrow. He was a true San Diego success story; having built several businesses from hair care products to publishing. His legacy as an entrepreneur and community educator will continue to touch and inspire many.”

Shane Harris, a San Diego-based activist and founder of the People’s Association of Justice Advocates, expressed his grief about Morrow’s death.

“Lost for words. To a man I called Dad, mentor, and confidant. Rest in Peace. Dr. Willie Morrow was one of a kind and was an innovator. San Diego has lost a tremendous leader. The creator of the California Curl and so much more has now left his earthen vessel,” he tweeted.

NEW YORK, NY— ASCAP reveals the chart-topping winners of its 35th annual ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Music Awards, taking place today through June 24 on @ASCAP and @ASCAPUrban’s social media channels. Celebrating the songwriters and publishers behind this year’s biggest hits in hip-hop, R&B and gospel, ASCAP’s prestigious Rhythm & Soul Music Awards return in a virtual format, with posts and original videos spotlighting each winner over four days. Fans all over the world can participate by tuning in to @ASCAPUrban on Instagram and @ASCAP on Instagram & Twitter, and using the hashtag #ASCAPAwards.

Rapper Lil Baby has continued his meteoric rise to success, capturing ASCAP Songwriter of the Year for the second year in a row. The prolific, Grammy Award-winning songwriter and artist had a hand in penning several chart-topping hits including “Every Chance I Get,” “Girls Want Girls,” “On Me,” “Rags2Riches 2” and “Wants and Needs.” Fans have been eagerly awaiting the solo follow-up to his four-time certified platinum sophomore album My Turn, which is slated to arrive this summer.

The R&B/Hip-Hop and Rap Song of the Year award is presented to ASCAP songwriters Orville “Buggs Can Can” Hall and Phillip Triggerman Price A.K.A. The Showboys, Dion “Devious” Norman, Tre? Samuels and Dave Welcome for their work on “Go Crazy,” performed by Chris Brown and Young Thug. The hit song broke the record for the most weeks at #1 on Billboard’s R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart, and dominated both pop and hip-hop radio.

The Gospel Song of the Year goes to co-writers Johntá Austin and Jeremy “TryBishop” Hicks for “Speak to Me,” performed by Koryn Hawthorne. “Speak to Me” scored Hawthorne her second #1 single on Billboard’s Gospel Airplay chart.

Sony Music Publishing scored their third win in an extremely successful year, earning the ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Publisher of the Year award, following their ASCAP Awards for Pop Music Publisher of the Year and Latin Music Publisher of the Year.

On June 24 at 3PM ET, the ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Awards wrap up with “Deconstructed: Ashanti Breaks Down Her Hits,” a special ASCAP Experience conversation featuring multiplatinum singer and songwriter Ashanti. She will speak with VIBE Editor-in-Chief Datwon Thomas about the 20-year anniversary of her history-making debut album, Ashanti, and delve into the creation of some of her all-time greatest hits. In addition to the Grammy she won for the album, Ashanti has won numerous Billboard and American Music Awards and is a Guinness World Record holder. The event will be broadcast from ASCAP’s YouTube channel. More information is available at www.ascapexperience.com.

Other expected highlights this week include videos from award winners Felisha King Harvey, Brian Warfield and production duo Blaq Tuxedo (Darius and Dominique Logan), breaking down their winning songs in a special Rhythm & Soul Awards edition of ASCAP Urban’s “Deconstructed” series.

A complete list of winners can be found at: http://www.ascap.com/rsawards22.

About ASCAP

The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) is a professional membership organization of songwriters, composers and music publishers of every kind of music. ASCAP’s mission is to license and promote the music of its members and foreign affiliates, obtain fair compensation for the public performance of their works and to distribute the royalties that it collects based upon those performances. ASCAP members write the world’s best-loved music and ASCAP has pioneered the efficient licensing of that music to hundreds of thousands of enterprises who use it to add value to their business – from bars, restaurants and retail, to radio, TV and cable, to Internet, mobile services and more. The ASCAP license offers an efficient solution for businesses to legally perform ASCAP music while respecting the right of songwriters and composers to be paid fairly. With more than 850,000 members representing more than 16 million copyrighted works, ASCAP is the worldwide leader in performance royalties, service and advocacy for songwriters and composers, and the only American performing rights organization (PRO) owned and governed by its writer and publisher members. Learn more and stay in touch at www.ascap.com, on Twitter and Instagram @ASCAP and on Facebook

By Aldon Thomas Stiles and Edward Henderson | California Black Media

Diane Lanette Barkum is an in-home care provider and mom of three. She commutes about 40 minutes every workday between the Riverside County cities of Lake Elsinore, where she lives, and Moreno Valley, where her job is.

Over the last few months, Barkum says she has been stressed and scraping by, struggling to balance sharp increases in the cost of gas and food with making enough money to pay for other expenses.

“What worries me most about rising prices is that they’ll continue to rise, making it more difficult for low-income working parents to be able to support their families,” she said.

Terence Henry, who lives in Patterson in the Central Valley, used to drive 77 miles to the Bay Area to make deliveries as an independent contractor. He says the high cost of gas forced him to give up the job late last year and opt for only making local runs.

“It used to cost me about $50 each way to fill up the tank to get to Oakland, San Francisco and other cities,” he said. “It just was not worth it anymore. I was losing money.

Barkum says she hopes there is relief around the corner for people like her who are working hard, raising children and still unable to make ends meet.

Barkum and Henry are not alone. According to the Public Policy Institute of California, a majority of Californians (27 %) say jobs, the economy and inflation are their top concern over housing costs and availability (12%) and homelessness (11%).

Across the United States, the inflation rate is 8.6% — up from 4.7% last year, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. And the American Automobile Association reports that the average price per gallon of regular gas in California has risen above $6. Several economists agree that the effects of inflation hit poor and working-class families the hardest.

In Southern California, the inflation rate in Riverside and San Bernardino counties in the Inland Empire has risen to 9.4%, according to the UCLA Anderson School of Management. That number is among the highest increases in the country.

Last week, the California Legislature approved a record $300 billion-plus budget for the next fiscal year, the largest annual spending plan in the state’s history. The package includes a surplus of close to $100 billion dollars, half of which must be used to fund schools by law.

Included in the budget are plans to spend the other half. So far, legislators have allotted $8 billion in rebates to taxpayers. Another $1.3 billion has been designated for grants to small business and non-profit organizations. Another $600 million has been specified for tax credits to the lowest-income Californians.

While lawmakers – both Democrats and Republicans – and the governor’s office agree that addressing spiraling inflation is urgent, they have not reached agreement on how to provide relief to struggling families.

Anthony York, Newsom’s senior advisor for communications said in a statement that the Governor still wants “more immediate, direct relief to help millions more families with rising gas, groceries and rent prices.”

At the federal level, US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell approved a three- quarter (0.75) percentage point rate hike — the highest single percentage rate increase since 2008.

“African American owned businesses and families are experiencing the damaging effects of inflation including the current interest rate increase instituted by the Federal Reserve Board. It is important for financial institutions to work with Black-owned businesses and their families to help navigate the rising cost of capital needed to operate and sustain all businesses,” said Timothy Alan Simon, Board Chair of the California African American Chamber of Commerce.

By statute, Gov. Newsom has until June 30 to veto the Legislators’ budget bill or sign it into law.

If the governor approves the budget, it will take effect July 1, the beginning of the 2022-23 fiscal year.  However, negotiations are expected to continue through the end of August as lawmakers hammer out final details.

During the public comment section of the Assembly Budget Committee hearing on June 13, Adrian Mohammed, an African American representative of the Bay Area Health Initiative spoke about the exclusion of a $500 million proposal to address Black housing and anti-displacement in the Bay Area in the budget the Legislature passed.

“We believe that this is an incredibly timely and incredibly necessary ask and we ask that you continue to work with us to get this to come to fruition,” Mohammed told lawmakers.

Two days later, Republican leaders held a rally last week at the State Capitol blasting their Democratic colleagues for their inaction on addressing the high cost of gas.

“Legislative Republicans are gathered here to remind Californians that it has been 100 days since the governor and the Democrats here in Sacramento promised California consumers relief on gas prices. 100 days is far too long,” said Assemblymember James Gallagher (R-Yuba City). After 100 days, we are still waiting with no relief in sight. We need action now. We’ve been calling since January to suspend the gas tax.”

Senate Pro Tem Toni Atkins (D-San Diego said the state’s wealth needs to work for hardworking Californians. She pointed to a provision in the budget that provides $200 rebates to working families earning up to $250,000 a year and $125,000 for single filers.

“We are focused on providing struggling families the relief they need to weather rising costs of fuel and groceries, investing ongoing funding in core programs and services, funding one-time infrastructure projects that will keep California moving for years to come,” she said.

Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Lakewood) echoed Atkin’s optimism.

“We share a firm belief that our state is strongest when it cares for the weakest among us,” said Rendon. “Our budget proposal continues to lay the groundwork with infrastructure and other investments for future prosperity.”

By Aldon Thomas Stiles ?|? ?California? ?Black? ?Media?

Senate Bill (SB) 1338, also known as the CARE Court Program, is attracting growing resistance as it makes its way through the legislative process. Some legal advocacy and civil rights groups say the law would negatively Blacks and other minorities.

The proposal, introduced in February by Senators Tom Umberg (D-Santa Ana) and Susan Talamantes Eggman (D-Stockton), would create a supportive alternative to the criminal justice system in California for people who are mentally ill or suffering from Substance Abuse Disorder.

Focused on the state’s unhoused population, SB 1338, would mandate treatment for people diagnosed with mental illnesses. About 40% of homeless adults and children in California’s are Black, a number nearly seven times higher than the total percentage of Blacks (5.6%) in a state with about 40 million people.

Opponents of the legislation say, SB 1338 dangerously expands judicial power and empowers the criminal justice system to commit people to mental health treatment that is sub-par – and often against their will. There is also the potential for misdiagnosis, they warn.

“CARE Court promotes a system of involuntary, coerced treatment, enforced by an expanded judicial infrastructure, that will, in practice, simply remove unhoused people with perceived mental health conditions from the public eye without effectively addressing those mental health conditions and without meeting the urgent need for housing,” read the Human Rights Watch’s (HRW) opposition letter.

“We urge you to reject this bill and instead to take a more holistic, rights-respecting approach to address the lack of resources for autonomy-affirming treatment options and affordable housing.”
SB 1338 unanimously passed in three Senate committees before the full State Senate approved it in May.

The legislation is currently making its way through the Assembly, where the Committee on Judiciary is reviewing it.

“Given the racial demographics of California’s homeless population, and the historic over-diagnosing of Black and Latino people with schizophrenia, this plan is likely to place many, disproportionately Black and brown, people under state control,” HRW’s letter continued.

Some members of the California Association of Mental Health Peer Run Organizations share HRW’s opinion, claiming that the program would “disproportionately affect people of color by imposing another unnecessary court process on an already overloaded and biased system.”

SB 1338 does, however, have support from various California-based organizations.

“With broad support from California’s state Senate, CARE Court is one step closer to becoming a reality in California,” said Gov. Gavin Newsom, “I am also grateful to have the California Chamber of Commerce, the California Downtown Association, and 21 local chambers of commerce join our ever-expanding CARE Court coalition, which includes a diverse group of supporters focused on tackling the challenge of severe mental illness that too often leaves individuals on our streets without hope.”

Jennifer Barrera, President and CEO of the California Chamber of Commerce, expressed her support for the bill.

“The California Chamber of Commerce and our colleagues from throughout the state are pleased to support Governor Newsom and his vision to provide support for those suffering from severe mental illness and substance use disorders through the newly proposed CARE Court plan,” she explained.

Barrera says that CARE Court is a thoughtful, measured response to the tragedy of untreated mental illness impacting thousands of individuals. California employers have a clear stake in seeing the success of CARE Court as many business owners and their employees experience, first-hand, the impacts of inadequate policies that fail to address the needs of those individuals suffering on our streets and in our communities.

Disability Rights California (DRC) is also voicing its opposition to SB 1338.

“CARE Court is antithetical to recovery principles, which are based on self-determination and self-direction,” read the DRC’s opposition letter. “The CARE Court proposal is based on the stigma and stereotypes of people living with mental health disabilities and experiencing homelessness.”

DRC proposes an alternative solution to the problems CARE Court is attempting to address.

“The right framework allows people with disabilities to retain autonomy over their own lives by providing them with meaningful and reliable access to affordable, accessible, integrated housing combined with voluntary service,” read the letter.

The HRW expressed concern about how the program might impact personal rights.

“In fact, the bill creates a new pathway for government officials and family members to place people under state control and take away their autonomy and liberty,” HRW warns.

About a month before Umberg and Eggman introduced SB 1338, Gov. Newsom foreshadowed the bill’s arrival in his January budget proposal.

“We are leaning into conservatorships this year,” the governor said. “What’s happening on the streets and sidewalks in our state is unacceptable. I don’t want to see any more people die on the streets and call that compassion.”

By Lou Yeboah

Change your direction. God has given you the opportunity to give your life to Him in this era of human history, but you have neglect it. About – face! Don’t gamble with your soul! God’s offer is only guaranteed for today. For [2 Corinthians 6:2] says, “Now is the accepted time; behold now is the day of salvation.” You may be dead tomorrow. Wake up! Don’t be like the people in Noah days, who were unconcerned about salvation and got left behind. Make every effort to enter the narrow door. For as [Luke 13:22] states, “there will be many who will try to enter in and will not be able to, because once the Master of the house gets up and closes the door, they will be standing outside knocking and pleading, sir open the door for us, but “He will answer,” I don’t know you or where you come from. About – face. Change your direction, position, and attitude!

Now, there may be someone who is reading this, who has been riding on the grace, mercy, and longsuffering of God your whole life. There may be another who may have never even thought about what will happen to you when you die. You may not see a need to be saved. You may be like the men of Athens – “we will hear thee again of this matter “– [Acts 17:32]. You may be like Agrippa, “Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian” – [Acts 26:28]. You may hate God, you may despise God, you may do everything you do in opposition to God – but I want you to know that there will come a day that you will have to stand before the same God you hate; the same God that you despise, and when that day come, if you have not accepted the Lord as your Savior, you will be sorry that you didn’t heed God’s warnings and pleas.

Change your direction, because as [Romans 14:12] reminds us, “Everyone will give an account to God, no one will escape. For if God spared not the angels but cast them down to hell; and if God spared not Sodom and Gomorrah but destroyed them; and if God spared not the old world which was destroyed in Noah’s flood, certainly God will not spare this current world. About – face! Change your direction! Don’t wait until it’s too late! The Bible is very clear that there comes a time when it will be too late to be saved. [Hebrews 9:27; Hebrews 12:17; Luke 16] Don’t you wait until it’s too late!

I can only imagine the sheer terror of realizing I have refused God one too many times. Like Belshazzar [Daniel 5], who saw the writing on the wall. But waited until it was too late! Judgment had been declared. The Bible records his trembling, his fear, his knees smote together in terror. He found no place of repentance, he found no mercy, he found no grace. God was done with him forever. In Genesis, when the angels came to Sodom, judgment had already been declared. Their fate was sealed. The angels came to save Lot and destroy the city. All the inhabitants were dead men walking even before the angels arrived in Sodom. Symbolically, they desperately groped for the door in the darkness, but like the handle to the door eluded them, so had the door to eternal life been slammed shut for eternity. Don’t wait until it’s too late! About- face! Change your direction! Change your position! Change your attitude and remember, Noah preached repentance, he warned of coming judgment, he warned the people of impending doom, the invitation to be saved and avoid judgement was extended for many, many years. But one day, the offer was withdrawn. There came a day when God shut him in. It was over, even before the raindrops began to fall; before the fountains of the deep were broken up; before there was any sign of the impending deluge. Heed the warnings, hear God’s plea because “When death comes, it will be too late for repentance. [Hebrews 9:27]

And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. [Revelation 22:17].

By Jenny Manrique, Ethnic Media Services

MIAMI, FL – Estephania Plascencia struggled with chronic depression and anxiety from when she was in grade school until her mid-20s when she finally sought help. The anxiety attacks had become so frequent, she hardly left her bed. A friend convinced her to see a therapist and she started learning healthy coping strategies and taking medication.

Today, Plascencia is the Youth Program Coordinator at the Miami-Dade chapter of the National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI), a peer-based organization of people with lived experience that offers free education classes and support groups for individuals with mental health conditions and their family members.

Post-pandemic kids are curious, Plascencia said. “Frequently they ask how to find mental help when parents don’t believe them and misread their symptoms as laziness or scold them for missing school or not finding a job.”

Eddy Molin, a psychiatric nurse at the Jackson Health System Miami, says he sees “parents being tough on their kids aiming for their success, but not acknowledging that they are experiencing a crisis.”

Over the last two months, Molin has noticed a rise in admissions among children with anxiety and disruptive behavior. He believes the mass shootings – especially those at school settings – have unsettled kids already struggling with isolation. He encouraged parents to be “compassionate and empathetic, to pay attention to symptoms such as withdrawal, a decline in personal hygiene, longer times in bed and disengagement from life, even with the things they used to love such as playing video games.”

“When you have a support system that is there for you, recovery is attainable,” Molin stressed. “Sometimes it’s important to be on medication, but sometimes that may be tiring, too. Show love. Love is the key.”

Joshua Ho learned this advice the hard way. For 14 years he worked six days a week as a dean of discipline at a middle school in North Miami. He was used to taking care of his immigrant students who faced “tragic incidents” within their families or countries of origin. “I thought I knew what mental health was about,” said Ho, an immigrant from Korea who today is the Program Director for Miami-Dade County Asian American Advisory Board.

But he was oblivious to the fact that his eldest son was struggling. When the son began having stomach aches, headaches, lack of energy and a constant need to sleep, Ho became angry. “As a typical Asian parent, my expectations for my son were very high…Why isn’t he doing what he’s supposed to do?” Ho recalls.

He sent his son to a church youth pastor and made an appointment with an acupuncturist, nothing worked. Finally, his son talked with a counselor and Ho learned he was suffering from mental illness. Now 20, his son is on the path of recovery.

“There is no book about how to be a right parent,” Ho said. “But yelling and screaming doesn’t help. Conversation does.”

For Susan Racher, Board President of NAMI Miami-Dade, “We have to start with education – knowing that you have a right to get help and knowing where to find health.” That’s what inspired NAMI’s monthlong public education campaign that has included public events, workshops, advertising, billboards. “Mental health conditions are more common than any other but unfortunately, care and mental health literacy are elusive in many communities,” she said.

Official data show that one in six youth have current diagnoses of Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, anxiety, behavior problems or depression, but only half received mental health treatment in the prior year.

Beth Jarosz, Acting Director for KidsData at the Population Reference Bureau, noted that the US suicide rate for 15-to-19-year-olds is nearly 60% higher in 2020 than it was in 2007. More worrying, she said, is that in Florida the suicide rate for 10-to-14-year-olds in 2020 is more than triple the rate in 2007. By contrast, rates in California are frozen at about 33% and rates in New York barely changed.

“Even though youth suicide rates are highest for whites and Asian and Pacific Islander Americans, rates for black youth are rising fast,” she said. “They have doubled in the past two decades.”

Jarosz said that the groups most at risk for mental health disorders are indigenous youth, youth who face an adverse childhood experience like suicide or substance abuse problems in their family, LGBTQ youth, and youth who experience homelessness or are in the foster care system.

From her path to recovery, Plascencia learned that mental illnesses are treatable and that’s the main message she wants to stress. “There’s help and definitely you don’t have to bear it alone.”

James H. Stevens of Los Angeles, California died on June 7, 2022, at the age of 95-years old. James was born November 1, 1926, in San Antonio, Texas to Homer and Minnie Stevens.

He attended Booker T. Washington Elementary, Douglas Jr. High and Phyllis Wheatley High School. James received his B.S. from Tillotson College in 1948 (currently known as Huston-Tillotson University on Austin, Texas).

James migrated to Los Angeles, California, after graduating from college. He took a job with the postal service as a letter carrier and ultimately retired in 1984 as a postal manager. He also served in the Army Airforce, during World War II and Honorably Discharged. James is a Mason and member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity. His church affiliation is the church of Religious Science where his wife, Ruth, is also a member and a Reverend.

He had an ever-steady interest in organic farming, an avid reader and student of Black History, as well, a collector of early Black film. He married Ruth Martin-Allen, 45 ½ years ago, thereby inheriting two wonderful stepchildren, Wallace and Cheryl Gayle, who gave him eight Grandchildren, 11 great-grand children, and 1 great-great grandchild. James has said, “Life is a gift that keeps on giving and I am truly grateful.”

James Stevens was a member of the Neptune Society, and his cremated remains will be received by the Carter-Taylor-Williams Mortuary and interned at the Eastview Cemetery in San Antonio, Texas. At his family’s site, he will be placed at the foot of his parents. James Stevens is and will ever remain, dearly beloved.