RIALTO, CA— On Sunday, October 31, 2021, the City of Rialto held their annual Halloween Hi-Jinks at the Civic Center in Downtown Rialto.

Halloween Hi-Jinks is the city’s annual Halloween celebration. This year there was a New Orleans Masquerade Mayhem with free candy, games and live entertainment. Other festivities included Down in the Bayou with kid’s crafts, food vendors and Princess & the Frog movie, Mazes and a Masquerade Mask Contest.

“Another great success during our Halloween Hi-Jinks,”Mayor Deborah Robertson stated. “Thanks to everyone who participated in making this a wonderful night. Special thanks to the new Community Services Director Cynthia Alvarado and the entire supporting staff of Parks and Recreation, as well as the various City department heads in attendance. The crowd and turnout was awesome!”

SAN BERNARDINO, CA—- With excitement in her voice Sheri Lewis, Social Lites Inc. President 2021 told the young men wanting to be a part of the 2021-22 Beautillion program that she is implementing great ideas this year.  “New structure, new ideas and a myriad of support from former Alumni and corporate sponsors will catapult this years’ program to greater heights,” she explained.

Edward Brantley, the father of the Sir Knight 2020 Kameron Brantley, kicked the program off with a great start by educating young men about how to retain information, knowledge and wisdom.

Also in support were former Alumni Chache Wright, Alumni 1999 and currently the President of the San Bernardino NAACP; Dr. Gregory Alexander, Alumni 1992 and Vice Principle of Arroyo Valley High School; Charles Brown, Alumni 1989, the Director of Equity for Riverside County Office of Education; Johnathan Moreno and Kamau Osonduagwuike Alumni 2018, Kameron Brantley, Alumni 2020 are hard-working and full-time students; Russell Ward, Alumni of 1984 and currently a Software Specialist for Konica Minolta, he also has been the Dance Choreographer for us for the past 25 years. Each Alum offered their overview and shared the long-lasting benefits of joining the Beautillion.

With 55 years of service and having blessed thousands of African American young men the Social Lites have collectively distributed over $2.5 million to our young men who want to attend college or a trade school of their choice. Through mentorship, leadership and character and life development skills we can help Elementary to High School students achieve their goals.

If you know of young men who fits the criteria and wants to be a part of this six-month extracurricular program, please contact the program director as soon as possible. The Beautillion Briefing is every Sunday from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Youth & Community Development Center, 468 West 5th Street in San Bernardino, CA.  92401.

Let’s be the help for our young men’s dreams of becoming better. Knowledge Is Power. If you have questions, please call Marlene Davis at (909) 709-5502.

By Edward Henderson | California Black

The California state government has been reminding businesses across the state that it is illegal to discriminate against job applicants because they have committed felonies or misdemeanors in the past. Authorities in Sacramento have also taken steps to make sure businesses do not use COVID-related restrictions to deny entry to customers they do not want based on race or other factors.

So far, the state has sent more than 500 notices to businesses informing them that they have violated protections put in place to protect people seeking work.

“The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) announced a new effort to identify and correct violations of the Fair Chance Act, a pioneering state law that seeks to reduce barriers to employment for individuals with criminal histories,” a statement the DFEH released last week reads.

The Fair Chance act, which took effect on January 1, 2018, was written to increase access to employment for Californians with criminal histories in an effort to reduce recidivism, among other goals. Employers with five or more employees are prohibited from asking a job candidate about conviction history during the hiring process or when advertising a vacancy.

The DFEH says it is implementing new technologies to conduct mass searches of online job applications that include unlawful statements. For example, some businesses explicitly state in hiring advertisements that they would not consider applicants with criminal records.

“Using technology to proactively find violations of the state’s anti-discrimination laws is a powerful strategy for our department to protect Californians’ civil rights,” said DFEH Director Kevin Kish. “DFEH is committed to preventing employment discrimination through innovative enforcement actions and by providing clear guidance to employers.”

DFEH also released a toolkit to aid employers in adhering to the Fair Chance Act guidelines. The toolkit includes sample forms and guides that employers can use to follow required procedures; a suggested statement that employers can add to job advertisements and applications to let applicants know that they will consider individuals with criminal histories; answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs) about the Fair Chance Act and an informational video that explains the Fair Chance Act.

In addition, DFEH plans to release an interactive training and an online app in 2022.

The DFEH also released guidelines for businesses that will be implementing COVID-19 related entry restrictions to protect against discrimination based on race, sex, religious background and nationality.

While businesses have been encouraged to stay vigilant with mask mandates and vaccination verification for entry, the DFEH says it has also found it necessary to preemptively address refusal of entry that could be racially motivated masked as a COVID precaution.

“As Californians navigate the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Fair Employment and Housing has provided guidance to protect civil rights and mitigate risk of COVID-19 transmission in employment, housing, healthcare, and, in our guidance released today, businesses open to the public,” said Kish. “We can and must uphold civil rights while simultaneously disrupting the spread of COVID-19.”

DFEH encourages individuals to report job advertisements in violation of the Fair Chance Act or other instances of discrimination.

DFEH is also encouraging the public to report housing ads that include discriminatory language that exclude certain racial groups, immigrants, people with felonies, applicants with Section 8 or HUD vouchers; etc.

Visit the DFEH website to file complaints.

By Antonio Ray Harvey | California Black Media

Supporters of a bill that would have increased diversity among civil service employees at all levels across California state government are blasting Gov. Newsom for vetoing the legislation.

Assemblymember Chris Holden (D-Pasadena) introduced the legislation, which would have required all state boards and commissions to have at least one member from an underrepresented community. Called the “Upward Mobility” bill, supporters say the legislation would have also opened up pathways to Blacks and other minorities for promotions, higher salaries and recruitment for state government jobs.

According to Holden, there is documented evidence that some state agencies — the California Air Resources Board (CARB) and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), for example – have passed over Black and other minorities for promotions.

For Black Californians, Assembly Bill (AB) 105, was particularly critical and historic, supporters say.

“We were asking for more diversity in the HR department of our state, which is the largest employer in California,” said Betty Williams, a well-known activist in Sacramento.

Williams, who is also a member of the African American Empowerment Community Council (AACEC), a coalition of Black leaders across the state, said she was especially taken aback by Newsom’s decision. Governor Newsom was aware of how important AB 105 was to the AACEC, she explained, and they had urged him to sign it.

“Governor Newsom wins 83 % of the African American vote in the recall election, and he vetoes major civil rights legislation in the state right after, is disappointing,” she added.

Currently in California, nearly 64 % of all state government employees — including senior management positions — are held by Whites, according to data from CalHR.  Whites make up only 34 % of the state’s overall population of about 40 million people.

Supporters of the bill also explain that, for the first time in the history of the United States, there would have been a law that required state agencies to break down and record the numbers of Black Americans employed in government who are direct descendants of enslaved people.

“I am very disappointed. Look at section six of the bill. We worked with the bill’s author to include language in AB 105 that would have disaggregated the Black or African American category and created a specific way for gathering information on Black folks who descended from U.S. Slavery and who experienced Jim Crow in the Deep South and elsewhere,” said Chris Lodgson, a Sacramento-based community organizer for the Coalition for a Just and Equitable California (CJEC) and the American Redress Coalition of California (ARCC).

Lodgson and both organizations he represents have been at the forefront of the political effort in California to study the history of slavery and Anti-Black discrimination and seek reparation for Black descendants of enslaved people.

“Right now, the category of ‘Black or African American,’ means – and this is from the legal definition the state uses – anybody with origin in the Black racial groups of Africa. That doesn’t specifically describe me — whose family comes from slavery in the American South. That definition makes Black descendants of enslaved people invisible in the data. This bill would have changed that.”

Like Lodgson and Williams, other Black leaders in the state say they were surprised and let down by the governor’s decision.

“Please stop coming into our house asking for bread pudding and then when you get it, you don’t speak to us, or speak to our concerns, when you don’t need us anymore,” said Cynthia Adams, an education and civil rights advocate in Oakland. “This has to stop.”

Adams said government should not just include people who have the right skills set.

“It should level the playing field and reflect, as well as protect, diversity. This is achieved by recruiting and promoting qualified people who look like the racial, ethnic and cultural makeup of people in the state.”

Newsom said he “returned” AB 105 without his signature, because the bill may have had “unintended consequences.”

“While the goals of AB 105 are laudable, elements of the bill conflict with existing constitutional requirements, labor agreements, and current data collection efforts,” the governor said in statement after vetoing the bill. “Furthermore, as AB 105 would cost tens of millions of dollars, these one-time and significant ongoing costs should be considered through the annual state budget process.”

Responding to the governor, supporters say funding for the bill would have come out of the $42 billion dollar state budget surplus, so cost is not a factor. Lodgson also pointed out that the Office of Legislative Counsel reviewed the bill and found no legal or administrative conflicts.

AB 105 defined the term “board member or commissioner from an underrepresented community” as an individual who self-identifies as Black, African American, Hispanic, Latino, Asian, Pacific Islander, Native American, Native Hawaiian, Alaska Native, gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender. Military veterans with a disability were also included in the definition.

Lodgson says, although the governor vetoed the AB 105, he is still “encouraged” because both the State Senate Assembly and Senate passed the legislation with “solid” two-third majorities.

There was also widespread support among Californians, he says.

“The governor’s veto message encouraged the bill’s author to work with his team to work through some of the issues during the budget process in January 2022,” said Lodgson. “So, he opened the door for the things in the bill that we are specifically concerned about to possibly be added as early as the first few months of 2022.”

By Antonio Ray Harvey | California Black Media

When the Emancipation Proclamation was signed in 1863, the Black community owned less than 1% of the United States’ total wealth, the Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans was told during its fourth meeting.

Mehrsa Baradaran, a professor at the University of California Irvine, School of Law, shared the statistics during the “Racism in Banking, Tax, and Labor” portion of the two-day meeting on October 13.

From her perspective, the power of wealth and personal income is still unequally distributed. And that inequality, in her view, has always been allowed, preserved and compounded by laws and government policy.

“More than 150 years later, that number has barely budged,” Baradaran told the Task Force, tracing the wealth gap from the period after the Civil War when President Lincoln granted formerly enslaved Blacks their freedom to the present day.

“The gap between average White wealth and Black wealth has actually increased over the last decades. Today, across every social-economic level, Black families have a fraction of the wealth that White families have,” she said.

Baradaran has written a range of entries and books about banking law, financial inclusion, inequality, and the racial wealth gap. Her scholarship includes the books “How the Other Half Banks” and “The Color of Money: Black Banks and the Racial Wealth Gap,” both published by the Harvard University Press.

Baradaran has also published several articles on race and economics, including “Jim Crow Credit” in the Irvine Law Review, “Regulation by Hypothetical” in the Vanderbilt Law Review, and “How the Poor Got Cut Out of Banking” in the Emory Law Journal.

A 43-year-old immigrant born in Orumieh, Iran, Baradaran, testified that her work on the wealth gap in America was conducted from a “research angle” and she respectfully “submitted” her testimony “in that light,” she said.

In her research, Baradaran explained that she discovered an intentional system of financial oppression.

“This wealth chasm doesn’t abate with income or with education. In other words, this is a wealth gap that is pretty much tied to a history of exclusion and exploitation and not to be remedied by higher education and higher income,” Baradaran said.

According to a January 2020 report, the Public Policy Institute of California said African American and Latino families make up 12% of those with incomes above the 90th percentile in the state, despite comprising 43% of all families in California.

In addition, PPIC reported that such disparities mirror the fact that African American and Latino adults are overrepresented in low-wage jobs and have higher unemployment rates, and African American adults are less likely to be in the labor force.

Many issues support these activities that range from disparities around education, local job opportunities, and incarceration to discrimination in the labor market, according to PPIC.

“While California’s economy outperforms the nation’s, its level of income inequality exceeds that of all but five states,” the report stated.

“Without target policies, it will continue to grow,” Baradaran said of the wealth gap. “And I want to be clear of how this wealth gap will continue to grow. It was created, maintained, and perpetuated through public policy at the federal, state, and local levels. Black men and women have been shut out of most avenues of middle-class creations. Black homes, farms, and savings were not given the full protection of the law. Especially as these properties were subjected to racial terrorism. The American middle-class was not created that way (to support Black communities).”

A June 2018 working paper from the Opportunity and Inclusive Growth Institute written by economists familiar with moderate-to-weak Black wealth backs up Baradaran’s assessment.

Published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, the authors of the report wrote that strategies to deny Blacks access to wealth started at the beginning of the Reconstruction era, picked up around the civil rights movement, and resurfaced around the financial crisis of the late 2000s.

Authored by Moritz Kuhn, Moritz Schularick, and Ulrike I. Steins, the “Income and Wealth Inequality in America, 1949-2016” explains a close analysis of racial inequality, pre-and post-civil rights eras.

The economists wrote that the median Black household has less than 11% of the wealth of the median White household, which is about $15,000 versus $140,000 in 2016 prices.

“The overall summary is bleak,” the report states. “The historical data also reveal that no progress has been made in reducing income and wealth inequalities between black and white households over the past 70 years.”

Baradaran recently participated in the virtual symposium, “Racism and the Economy: Focus on the Wealth Divide” hosted by 12 District Banks of the Federal Reserve System, which includes the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.

There are some positives that are not typically included in discussions about the challenges Blacks have experience historically in efforts to obtain wealth, Baradaran said. Many African Americans, specifically in California, were able to subvert the systems that discriminated against them.

“Black institutions have been creative and innovative serving their communities in a hostile climate,” Baradaran said. “I’ve written a book about the long history of entrepreneurship, self-help, and mutual uplift. Historically Black Colleges and Universities have provided stellar education and Black banks have supported Black businesses, churches, and families.”

California’s Assembly Bill (AB) 3121, titled “The Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans,” created a nine-member commission to investigate inequity in education, labor, wealth, housing, tax, and environmental justice.

All of these areas were covered with expert testimony during the two-day meeting held on Oct. 12 and Oct. 13. The task force is charged with exploring California’s involvement in slavery, segregation, and the historic denial of Black citizens’ constitutional rights.

Fifty years after the federal Fair Housing Act eliminated racial discrimination in lending, the Black community continues to be denied mortgage loans at rates much higher than their White counterparts.

“Banks and corporations have engaged in lending and hiring practices that helped to solidify patterns of racial inequality,” Jacqueline Jones, a history professor from the University of Texas told the Task Force.

The Racism in Banking, Tax and Labor segment also featured testimonies by Williams Spriggs (former chair of the Department of Economics at Howard University. Spriggs now serves as chief economist to the AFL-CIO), Thomas Craemer (public policy professor at the University of Connecticut), and Lawrence Lucas (U.S. Department of Agriculture Coalition of Minority Employees).

The Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans will conduct its fifth and final meeting of 2021 on Dec. 6 and Dec.7.

SAN BERNARDINO – The San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools (SBCSS) and the San Bernardino County Teachers Association (SBCTA) are proud to be the recipients of an award grant aimed at enhancing, supporting and sustaining high-quality teaching for all California students.

The California Teachers Association (CTA) Institute for Teaching (IFT) award grant for $13,159.39 was used to purchase a new wheel balancer and a tabletop tire changer expandable for the Bob Murphy Community Day School’s Career Technical Education auto shop. Bob Murphy is one of 13 County alternative school placements for students grades 7-12 who are facing challenges in a public school setting.

“I am proud and grateful for the phenomenal work of our SBCSS staff and our collaboration with SBCTA. We strive to provide every one of our students the opportunity to learn and recognize their unique potential,” said County Superintendent Ted Alejandre. “One of the priorities at San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools is to ensure innovative and inspirational educational practices, and this is one of the many ways we are providing the tools and skills needed for students to succeed.”

The IFT grant project benefits up to 200 students at all of San Bernardino County’s alternative education programs. The auto shop class is currently attended by students both virtually and in-person by students from Community Schools in San Bernardino, Colton, Redlands, Yucca Valley and Victorville. Students will have hands-on experience and learn skills that they can apply to a career.

“This is who we fight for every day, and this grant will give our students all the tools they need and the extra layer of support so they can be on equal footing with their counterparts in comprehensive schools,” said Yvonne Molles, President of the San Bernardino County Teachers’ Association. “The grant opens up opportunities for our students. I was inspired by Superintendent Ted Alejandre’s leadership and support to help give our students the opportunities they might not have had otherwise.”

The 2021/2022 grant project team from SBCSS/SBCTA consisted of administration, union leaders, teachers and site staff as part of a multi-year plan.

Myrlene Pierre (Assistant Superintendent of Student Services), Rich De Nava (Assistant Superintendent of Business Services), Scott Wyatt (Area Director of Student Services), Yvonne Molles (President of SBCTA), Tony Alvarado (CTE Automotive Teacher), County Superintendent Ted Alejandre, and students from the auto shop class.

SAN BERNARDINO, CA — It is inspiring to see our community come together to keep our students safe. It is one of our top priorities here at SBCSS, and why it is so important to collaborate with our community partners.

This year’s San Bernardino Countywide Gangs and Drugs Task Force Safety Summit brought together law enforcement leaders throughout the County and our staff here at SBCSS. I had the pleasure of making the opening remarks alongside 47th District California State Assemblymember Eloise Gomez-Reyes.

This was an eye-opening and important discussion. Not only did we hear from the Chiefs of our law enforcement agencies, but our students. A panel of teens and young adults who have been in foster care or experienced homelessness shared their unique challenges. They also spoke about the people and resources that helped them.

One of the young panelists made a comment about the importance of including student voices at the summit. She shared she experienced homelessness and the foster care system and appreciated the opportunity to speak. She said, it “helps me know my voice is valued.”

County Superintendent Ted Alejandre and 47th District California State Assemblymember Eloise Gomez-Reyes made the opening remarks. The summit included a Chiefs’ Panel consisting of law enforcement leaders from throughout the area as well as San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools (SBCSS) staff.

Panelists discussed safety issues within schools and the community at-large. Questions were also fielded from individuals who participated virtually.

A second panel consisted of teens and young adults who have been in foster care or experienced homelessness. They shared their unique challenges and spoke about the people and resources that helped them.

“I have experienced homelessness and the foster system,” said one young panelist. “I have always strived to achieve my goals and break my family’s cycle of poor choices. There are people I’ve met who genuinely want to help me, and I know who and where to go. I’ve had mentors who have guided me. I am so grateful for the opportunity to share my experiences. It helps me to know my voice is valued.”

The most common responses from recent student surveys were shared. A majority of students asked for mentorship and stability to overcome difficulties associated with being in the foster care system, adverse life experiences and the ongoing pandemic. They also pleaded for their voices and ideas to be heard and respected.

The keynote speaker, San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department Lieutenant Marc Bracco, spoke about the most important drug-related issues facing the region.

Over 160 people attended the summit, which was open to all community members including school administrators, counselors, and security personnel, as well as local law enforcement, faith-based and community organizations, parents and other community leaders. The annual event is designed to help participants network, collaborate and exchange effective strategies to help keep our communities safe.

The summit is organized by SBCSS Children Deserve Success and the San Bernardino Countywide Gang and Drugs Task Force, in partnership with the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, San Bernardino County Probation Department and the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office.

The San Bernardino Countywide Gangs and Drugs Task Force provides a leadership role in advocating the prevention and suppression of gang membership and drug use. The task force is a coordinated partnership among education, law enforcement, criminal justice, elected officials, private enterprise and community members across the county.

By Lou Yeboah

Hear this, you Elders; listen, all who live in the land. Has anything like this ever happened in your days or in the days of your ancestors? Tell it to your children, and let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation. What the locust swarm has left the great locusts have eaten; what the great locusts have left the young locusts have eaten; what the young locusts have left other locusts have eaten. Wake up, you drunkards, and weep! Wail, all you drinkers of wine; wail because of the new wine, for it has been snatched from your lips. [Joel 1:1-5].

See, the Lord is going to lay waste the earth and devastate it; he will ruin its face and scatter its inhabitants. [Isaiah 24:1]. The Lord said to me, “From the north disaster will be poured out on all who live in the land. I am about to summon all the peoples of the northern kingdoms,” declares the Lord. [Jeremiah 1:14-19]. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. [Joel 2:31; Acts 2:20].

Weep and howl, cry out unto the Lord himself, repent of your sins, wake up, for the Prophet Joel saw a terrible sight. He saw a locust invasion in the land of Judah. The locusts came in four stages and absolutely reduced the land to bare ground, and the people to poverty and disease. Come, let us return to the Lord. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us, but he will bind up our wounds. [Hosea 6:1]. God warn; it is decision time [Joel 3:14]. All areas of society will be affected by the devastation caused by the locust invasion. The entire nation, including the priests, is told to mourn. Nothing will be left in the aftermath of the locusts. The fields, the ground, the grain, the new wine, the wheat and barley, the vine and all the fruiting trees… all destroyed. Wake Up, You Drunkards, and Weep!

And if in spite of this you do not obey me but act with hostility toward me, I will act with furious hostility toward you; I will also discipline you seven times for your sins. You will eat the flesh of your sons; you will eat the flesh of your daughters. I will destroy your high places, cut down your shrines, and heap your lifeless bodies on the lifeless bodies of your idols; I will reject you. I will reduce your cities to ruins and devastate your sanctuaries. I will not smell the pleasing aroma of your sacrifices. I also will devastate the land, so that your enemies who come to live there will be appalled by it. I will scatter you among the nations, and I will draw a sword to chase after you. Your land will become desolate, and your cities will become ruins.” — [Leviticus 26:27-33].

Wake Up, You Drunkards, and Weep! Judgment will come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judges her. [Revelation 18:8].

Then the fifth angel sounded: And I saw a star fallen from heaven to the earth. To him was given the key to the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit, and smoke arose out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace. So, the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit. Then out of the smoke locusts came upon the earth. And to them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. They were commanded not to harm the grass of the earth, or any green thing, or any tree, but only those men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. And they were not given authority to kill them, but to torment them for five months. Their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it strikes a man. In those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will desire to die, and death will flee from them. The shape of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle. On their heads were crowns of something like gold, and their faces were like the faces of men. They had hair like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth. And they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots with many horses running into battle. They had tails like scorpions, and there were stings in their tails. Their power was to hurt men five months. And they had as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, but in Greek he has the name Apollyon. One woe is past. Behold, still two more woes are coming after these things. [Revelation 9:1-12].

Indeed, the day of the Lord is terrible and dreadful— who can endure it? Even now— this is the Lord’s declaration— turn to me with all your heart, with fasting, weeping, and mourning. Tear your hearts, not just your clothes, and return to the Lord your God. For He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in faithful love, and He relents from sending disaster— [Joel 2:11-14].

Wake Up, You Drunkards, and Weep!

By Aldon Thomas Stiles | California Black Media

Black Californians have joined Black Americans around the country in closing the COVID-19 vaccine equity gap.

As of October 11, Black Californians were 4.2% of Californians that have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, up from 2.7% in February, according to the California Department of Public Health (CDPH).  5.7% of the state’s population of nearly 40 million people are Black.

“Through our investments in targeted outreach and robust community-based partnerships, our work continues to reach the hardest-hit communities. Vaccines are how we end this pandemic – I encourage all eligible Californians to visit MyTurn.ca.gov to schedule an appointment for their first dose or find a booster shot to keep themselves and their community healthy,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said last week.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the vaccine equity gap is narrowing across the United States as about 11% of the people who have received at least one dose of the vaccine are Black Americans, a group that makes up 12.4% of the U.S. population.

U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy, spoke with California Black Media last week about the importance of equity in the nation’s pandemic response.

“The way we define success with the vaccination effort isn’t just how many people got vaccinated, but how equitably and fairly we get the vaccine to people across our country,” Murthy said.

“We know that there are communities in our country that have been long underserved by the healthcare system and the victims of structural inequities and structural racism that have prevented them from getting the care that they need,” he continued.

Murthy spoke about some of the equity challenges leaders faced at the beginning of the pandemic. The approach the feds took to address some of those difficulties was similar to California’s strategy.

“Early on in the vaccination effort, we saw those disparities developing in the adult population with Black communities and Latino communities having lower vaccination rates than White communities,” Murthy said.

“But the good news is there has been a lot of effort over the last many months, which included a lot of outreach and partnerships with communities of color, with leaders and organizations in those communities, working hard to make sure we had mobile units out getting to communities to bring vaccines to where people are and getting vaccines directly to community health centers where we know a lot of folks get their care. All of these efforts together, along with making sure the vaccines are free and making sure as many doctors as possible have the vaccine in their offices, has helped us close a lot of that equity gap,” Murthy continued.

Even as vaccination booster shots are becoming more readily available around the country, the COVID-19 Delta variant remains a significant threat in the U.S. and around the world. So, public health leaders are focused on expanding efforts get as many people as possible access to vaccinations and booster shots.

“California is leading the nation in vaccinations, with 52 million administered and 86 % of the eligible population having received at least one dose – today’s Western States Scientific Safety Review Workgroup recommendation on booster shots will help keep the momentum going as we enter the winter months,” Newsom said last week.

California, Oregon, Nevada and Washington state came together last year and created the Western States Scientific Safety Review Workgroup. The group, made up of scientists, medical professionals and public health experts, is charged with reviewing COVID-19 vaccine safety.

Last week, the workgroup recommended booster shots for vulnerable people and those who live or work in high-risk settings – if they have received the Moderna or Johnson & Johnson vaccine prior.

“Recipients of the Moderna vaccine may receive a booster shot six months after completing their primary vaccination series, and recipients of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine may receive a booster shot two months after receiving their first dose,” the governor’s office said in a statement last week.

The workgroup also recommended a “mix-and-match” method, which means people who have received a Moderna vaccine can get a Johnson & Johnson booster shot and vice-versa.

Earlier this month, Newsom announced that California will be the first state in the nation to require children in middle school and high school to be vaccinated once COVID-19 vaccines for children are approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The FDA and the CDC will review data from Pfizer during the next two weeks to decide if COVID-19 vaccines are safe for even younger children, ages 5 through 11.

“Right now, what is happening is that the FDA is examining the data from Pfizer about clinical trials that concern kids 5-11 and they’re looking for two things: first is to understand if these vaccines work to protect our children from COVID and second, are they safe,” Murthy explained.

“Until they complete their review and make a decision on whether or not to offer the vaccine, we certainly won’t recommend them to the public or make a move to roll out vaccines. It’s all contingent upon the FDA’s review and the CDC’s recommendation,” according to Murthy.

Murthy also addressed the myth that young children are somehow immune to the effects of COVID-19.

“Even though kids do better than adults when it comes to COVID-19, it is not benign in children. We want to protect our children from the virus, and we also know that COVID has disrupted our kids’ lives in terms of making school difficult, interrupting youth sports, and making it hard to see friends and family members. So, getting our kids vaccinated is a big step towards not only protecting their health but helping them get their lives back,” Murthy said.

Murthy stressed the importance of equity and said that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will continue to employ the same methods for children as they did for adults if the FDA and CDC approve vaccines for children in the 5-11 age range.

“We will bring the same commitment to vaccinating kids under 12. We are building on the great partnerships we have with community-based organizations and trusted leaders across the country. We are building on the access points that we’ve set up in the past and increasing those even further so there will be tens of thousands of places where people can get a vaccine for their children,” Murthy said.

California Black Media’s coverage of COVID-19 is supported by the California Health Care Foundation.

By Lue Dowdy

LUE, LIVE ON AIR IS WHAT IT DO!

Starting SUNDAY, November 14, catch ya’ girl live on ‘Empire Talks Back’ with Mr. Wallace Allen for my segment of “What it Do with LUE” A PLATFORM SUPPORTING AND PROMOTING ASPIRING ARTIST’S.

I’ll be interviewing local artists and updating you on entertainment happenings in the Inland Empire. The show starts at 10:00 am. Make sure you tune in for the FUN! Checkout the website for updates at www.lueproductions.org. You can checkout who’ll be up next for an interview on the Facebook page under “What It Do with Lue” or “The Westside Story Newspaper”.

Remember every other Sunday! I’ll be giving away tickets to shows and more. If you’re an artist and would like to be on the show text me at 909.567.1000. Make sure you stay safe and give somebody a hug today. L’s!!!