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Roxanne Williams has lived in San Bernardino for several years. In that time, she has made many friends and allies who have become advocates for the struggling city that four decades ago was bestowed with the All-America City award.

One of the most vocal and visible supporters of San Bernardino was John Henry Griffin.

“He loved his city and especially his neighborhood, Delmann Heights,” said Williams, a Parks, Recreation and Community Services commissioner, of Griffin and his friend and fellow San Bernardino supporter, Tyrone Jones.

Griffin’s passion for his city and neighborhood prompted San Bernardino City Councilwoman Bessine L. Richard to appoint the 69-year-old as a parks commissioner overlooking the city’s Sixth Ward, his beloved Delmann Heights and the Westside.

Griffin had a lot of plans for the area, especially Delmann Park, but on Nov. 9, Griffin was killed in his home in the 1800 block of Darby Street. Reports indicate he was shot in the back of the head.

“I read about the death in The San Bernardino Sun, about the murder and death of my friend, and I yelled, ‘Oh my God, they killed John Griffin!’?” said Williams, pausing when her voiced cracked over the pain of losing not only a fellow commissioner but a friend.

“All these murders in San Bernardino, we have to stop this,” Williams said. “It’s outrageous and discouraging to me that someone so respected in the community who had a relationship with the police, with the community, with everyone, could die in this way.”

Griffin, a father and grandfather, was so committed to the city, he would reach into his own pocket to keep the Delmann Heights Community Center open if there were not enough city funds.

“He was instrumental in keeping that community center open because he wanted a safe place for the children,” Richard said. “Everything he did was for the young people. So the young people could be safe. This was a great, great loss to the community. Especially the Westside. He was someone who protected it.”

A former Black Panther Party associate and someone who was interested in civil rights issues through the 1960s, Griffin rallied residents of the Westside to stand up for their communities and to work with the police to create better lives for themselves and especially the next generation, Williams said.

“I knew John and interacted with him frequently,” said San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan. “He was well-known in the community and had a passion for his neighborhood. I know a lot of people are hurting because of his death. My thoughts and prayers are with them.”

Although San Bernardino police investigators made an arrest in his slaying, many questions linger, especially why.

“Did they know who he was to this community?” asked Richard. “This is a devastating loss.”

GRIFFIN AND JONES AS WESTSIDE PROTECTORS

For decades, the Westside had two staunch defenders in longtime friends Jones and Griffin.

The men, who had known each other since the late 1960s — and at one point had been affiliated with the Black Panther Party in the early 1970s — founded the Westside Nubians, a grassroots kind of neighborhood watch that helped steer children away from a life of gangs and drugs. The group attempted to calm violence as well as tension between residents and law enforcement.

“They were on the front lines of our community,” said former Councilman Rikke Van Johnson. “They were trying to do all they could to keep harm away from the community. (Griffin) and his friend, Tyrone, were caretakers of the community.”

Johnson remembers Griffin at various city meetings asking for funding for the community center and park. He also recalled how Griffin and Jones both rallied residents to participate in cleanups and neighborhood improvements.

Griffin, carrying on the legacy and wishes of his friend, continued with the Westside Nubians, attending City Council meetings and fighting for his Westside neighbors.

His candor and passion caught the eye of Richard, who earlier this year appointed Griffin to the Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department.

“He said, ‘Girl, I’m ready,’?” recalled Richard. “He knew the residents, they needed the park, they needed a place to go and a safe haven. Being on the board was a way he could see that the Delmann Heights Community Center stayed open and remained a safe haven for the kids in his neighborhood.”

The loss of Griffin has left a vacuum in the community that Williams feels will be hard to fill.

“But we need to keep their vision going,” she said. “We can’t go back.”

The funeral for Griffin is scheduled for 11 a.m. Nov. 29 at Temple Missionary Baptist Church, 1583 W. Union St.

SAN BERNARDINO, CA- The Incredible Community Garden (IECG) will commemorate and plant a Healing Grove Memorial honoring Harry “Hal” Bowman whose life was lost with 13 others in last December’s terrorist attack in San Bernardino.  

The planting ceremony will take place at San Antonio Park (N Mountain Ave & W 24th St, Upland, CA 91784) on Saturday, Dec. 3 at 10 a.m.

“This planting is about bringing the community together in memory of Hal and those we lost. We come together for peace and healing,” Mary Petit said, Co-Executive Director of IECG.

The public is invited to attend and help show Hal’s family and survivors the love that our community endures.

“For many, this memorial and others like it will help cope with the pain and shock that our community has gone through,” Eleanor Torres said, Co-Executive Director of IECG. 

Join IECG and Hal’s family for this special event as we plant trees as a living memorial to those who lost their lives last December.

Bring your gloves, your shovel, and your heart. 

This planting is part of a series of IECG memorial plantings in memory of the victims and survivors of the Dec. 2, 2015 terrorist attack. 

For more information call Eleanor Torres at 909-499-9733 or email etorres@3i-s.com.

SAN BERNARDINO, CA- On Saturday, November 19, the local community was invited to participate in the Pals of PAL 2nd Annual Community Feast.  The event itself began out of a desire to meet real physical needs and offer a little hope to people who might otherwise not have much to be thankful for. Those in attendance, well over 60 people, brought their appetites and came to fellowship and mingle with other community members, PAL Center staff, and PAL Charter Academy Students.

By Naomi K. Bonman

SAN BERNARDINO, CA- On Thursday, November 17, Willing Winn Associates and Mission (WWAM) Inc., held its annual food giveaway. This year they gave out 180 meal boxes to families in need.

The event was came to fruition with the assistance of volunteers and sponsors. Fargo Delivery Systems donated a truck for the giveaway that WWAM will have access to until the New Year for more holiday activities. Living Word of God Ministries in San Bernardino also donated food to last week’s event. The church has been allowing WWAM to use the church vans throughout the month of November to do work throughout the community.

“If it wasn’t for the church and the deacons at the church, we wouldn’t be able to feed people in between the holidays,” Dr. Deborah Winn, WWAM Founder, said.

The San Bernardino Food Bank was supposed to donate the organization turkeys, but once again they failed to do so, but WWAM always seems to pull through loyal volunteers and community sponsors to assist in its mission of serving the community and transforming the ‘Operation Phoenix’ area of the city.

“If we would come together as a community, we would be better off because the remedy is in us,” Dr. Winn stated.

For those that missed out on previous events and would like to get involved with Living Word of God Ministries or WWAM, drop down to the church on a Sunday morning service. It is located at 952 S Lincoln Avenue in San Bernardino (92408). To volunteer or support WWAM, please call (909) 889-9509. WWAM is still in need of a truck after being the victim from last month’s hit and run incident.

If there is anyone that needs logistics, deliveries, or carrier services, please contact Jose with Fargo Delivery Systems at (951) 858-6898.

SAN BERNARDINO, CA- On Tuesday, November 22, LUE Productions a long with the Black Chamber of Commerce Inland Empire, fed those in need throughout the City of San Bernardino. This was their second annual Thanksgiving food giveaway.

Tina Knowles-Lawson and Essence joined forces with Solange Knowles and Kelly Rowland, with support from Beyoncé and BeyGOOD, to host Love on Louisiana: An Essence Hometown Heroes Tribute celebrating the resilience of the Baton Rouge community on Sunday, November 20, and the Raising Cane’s River Center in Baton Rouge, LA.

The holiday dinner and awards ceremony honored five standout students and teachers for their commitment to serving and rebuilding their communities. Essence President Michelle Ebanks, Editor-in-Chief Vanessa De Luca, Knowles-Lawson, Knowles and Rowland gave remarks, along with Baton Rouge Mayor Kip Holden who declared November 20th ‘Love On Louisiana Day.’

In addition to the award recognition, NIKE Jordan footwear and holiday turkeys were distributed to 800 students, teachers and families who are still largely affected by the severe flooding, courtesy of NIKE’s Brand Jordan and GUCCI.

With support from the City of Baton Rouge and the State of Louisiana, the event also served as a call to action to raise $1 million to help families recover in the wake of this summer’s catastrophic flooding, which produced 7 trillion gallons of water—three times the rainfall total of Hurricane Katrina.

Other event sponsors and partners included Habitat for Humanity of Greater Baton Rouge, BeyGOOD, Sam’s Club, Project 70805 and AmeriGroup.

RIVERSIDE, CA- Twelve African-American middle schoolers from Building Resilience in African American Families Rites of Passage (BRAFF) program in Perris took to the track this weekend.

The men of the Cochér Car Club of Riverside in collaboration with the staff at Adams Race Track sponsored a racing day for the African-American boys receiving guidance and support in leadership, self-awareness, and coming of age through the program. The BRAFF ROP has a strong history across the country and anticipates great successes in the Perris and the greater Inland Empire area.

For more information on the Building Resilience in the African American Families Rites of Passage program, contact Pepi Jackson, President of Riverside Chamber of Commerce, at (951) 310-2325 or James Woods, Director of BRAAF, at (951) 823-0175.

Gwen Ifill, The co-anchor of PBS NewsHour with Judy Woodruff has died at the age of 61. The award-winning veteran journalist, who moderated two vice presidential debates in 2004 and 2008, died of endometrial cancer and apparently did not tell others about her illness.

Sara Just, the executive producer of PBS NewsHour and WETA SVP, released a statement saying: “Gwen was a standard bearer for courage, fairness and integrity in an industry going through seismic change. She was a mentor to so many across the industry and her professionalism was respected across the political spectrum. She was a journalist’s journalist and set an example for all around her.”

She continued, “So many people in the audience felt that they knew and adored her. She had a tremendous combination of warmth and authority. She was stopped on the street routinely by people who just wanted to give her a hug and considered her a friend after years of seeing her on TV. We will forever miss her terribly.”

Gwen was a former reporter for both the New York Times and the Washington Post. She switched to television in the 1990’s and covered politics and Congress for NBC News. In 1999, she moved to PBS as host of Washington Week, which later led to her becoming the co-host ofNewHour.

In 2009, she also authored a book entitled, The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama.

She will be remembered as a pioneer for women and for African Americans in journalism, becoming the first African American woman to host a major political talk show.

Watch one of her last interviews (with President Obama):

President-elect Donald Trump has already revealed his plan of action for his first 100 days in the White House. His plan, which he mentioned during a speech last month in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, outlines three main areas of focus: cleaning up Washington, including by imposing term limits on Congress; protecting American workers; and restoring rule of law.

He also revealed his plan for working with Congress to introduce 10 pieces of legislation that would repeal Obamacare, to fund the construction of a wall at the Mexican border, to encourage infrastructure investment, to rebuild military bases, and to promote school choice.

He calls his plan “Donald Trump’s Contract With The American Voter,” and here’s specifically what he said during his speech:

On the first day of my term of office, my administration will immediately pursue the following six measures to clean up the corruption and special interest collusion in Washington, DC:

* FIRST, propose a Constitutional Amendment to impose term limits on all members of Congress;

* SECOND, a hiring freeze on all federal employees to reduce federal workforce through attrition (exempting military, public safety, and public health);

* THIRD, a requirement that for every new federal regulation, two existing regulations must be eliminated;

* FOURTH, a 5 year-ban on White House and Congressional officials becoming lobbyists after they leave government service;

* FIFTH, a lifetime ban on White House officials lobbying on behalf of a foreign government;

* SIXTH, a complete ban on foreign lobbyists raising money for American elections.

On the same day, I will begin taking the following 7 actions to protect American workers:

* FIRST, I will announce my intention to renegotiate NAFTA or withdraw from the deal under Article 2205

* SECOND, I will announce our withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership

* THIRD, I will direct my Secretary of the Treasury to label China a currency manipulator

* FOURTH, I will direct the Secretary of Commerce and U.S. Trade Representative to identify all foreign trading abuses that unfairly impact American workers and direct them to use every tool under American and international law to end those abuses immediately

* FIFTH, I will lift the restrictions on the production of $50 trillion dollars’ worth of job-producing American energy reserves, including shale, oil, natural gas and clean coal.

* SIXTH, lift the Obama-Clinton roadblocks and allow vital energy infrastructure projects, like the Keystone Pipeline, to move forward

* SEVENTH, cancel billions in payments to U.N. climate change programs and use the money to fix America’s water and environmental infrastructure

Additionally, on the first day, I will take the following five actions to restore security and the constitutional rule of law:

* FIRST, cancel every unconstitutional executive action, memorandum and order issued by President Obama

* SECOND, begin the process of selecting a replacement for Justice Scalia from one of the 20 judges on my list, who will uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States

* THIRD, cancel all federal funding to Sanctuary Cities

* FOURTH, begin removing the more than 2 million criminal illegal immigrants from the country and cancel visas to foreign countries that won’t take them back

* FIFTH, suspend immigration from terror-prone regions where vetting cannot safely occur. All vetting of people coming into our country will be considered extreme vetting.

To view the full transcript, visit www.npr.org/2016/11/09/501451368/here-is-what-donald-trump-wants-to-do-in-his-first-100-days

Or watch the video below:

Dear President-elect Trump,

We, a group of diverse journalism associations representing thousands of journalists from the nation’s capital to every corner of the country, begin this letter on a hopeful note. Your administration is a blank slate and we are eager to work with you to perpetuate one of this nation’s great strengths: our freedom of the press.

As the new leader of the free world, we expect that you will preserve longstanding traditions that ensure coverage of the Trump presidency. The idea of a press pool that covers all of the president’s movements is one that dates back to the Franklin Delano Roosevelt administration. Every president of both parties has treated this important tradition with respect. The role of the press pool is critically important to our country, whose citizens depend on and deserve to know what the president is doing. This isn’t about access for the press itself, it’s about access for Americans in diverse communities across the country. Your constituents receive information from a variety of platforms to learn about what our president is doing.

Being president is an enormous responsibility and working with the White House Correspondents’ Association to ensure journalists’ access is one small but important part of that. We call on you to commit to a protective press pool from now until the final day of your presidency. We respectfully ask you to instill a spirit of openness and transparency in your administration in many ways but first and foremost via the press pool. 

We also call for access to you via regular press conferences and pool sprays and to your key decision-makers. You have an opportunity as incoming president to set the tone for your staff speaking on the record for the sake of transparency. We also hope your administration will improve response rates to FOIA requests as a way to show the American people, and the world, that the republic belongs to the people.

A great America depends on having sunlight on its leaders. We expect the traditions of White House press coverage to be upheld whether in Washington or elsewhere. Again we, a joint group of diverse journalism associations, speak as one as we respectfully ask that you take these steps to ensure access to our members covering your administration.

Thomas Burr
President
The National Press Club

Barbara Cochran
President
National Press Club Journalism Institute

Lynn Walsh
President
Society of Professional Journalists

Mizell Stewart III
President
American Society of News Editors

Mike Cavender
Executive Director
Radio Television Digital News Association and Foundation

Delphine Halgand
US Director
Reporters Without Borders/RSF

Courtney Radsch
Advocacy Director
Committee to Protect Journalists

Sandy K. Johnson
President
National Press Foundation

Sarah Glover
President
National Association of Black Journalists

Brandon Benavides
President, Board of Directors
National Association of Hispanic Journalists

Bryan Pollard
President
Native American Journalists Association

Paul Cheung
President
Asian American Journalists Association

Jen Christensen
President
National Association of LGBTQ Journalists

Elisa Lees Munoz
Executive Director
The International Women’s Media Foundation

Allison Sherry
President
Regional Reporters Association