By Lou Yeboah

He is the ONLY One that has the cure for anything that we encounter. What man puts a period on, God puts a comma in those places because it’s not over until He says it’s over. So despite what we think, feel or believe, we need to remind ourselves that God is in control. When everything around us feels out of control, we can allow Scripture to prove to us that God has been, is, and will be sovereign over our lives and world. Nothing in nature happens outside of God’s providence. In Exodus, God clearly sent the plagues in Egypt. In Genesis, God sent the flood. When we read about Jonah, we see that God hurled a storm into the sea.

Understand that there is one God in heaven Who is King and Lord of all. There is one God in heaven to Whom EVERY entity in this universe is subject. The pandemic serves as a warning to us, a warning against disobedience, a warning against exerting our will against God’s, and a warning that assures us sin has consequences.

God is trying to get our attention; He wants to heal our land, but we must turn to Him with all our heart and soul. For He says in [2 Chronicles 7:13-14]: If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people; What can mere man do about it? Nothing! Nothing at all! Absolutely Nothing!

Listen, disasters come upon nations for a reason. The Bible talks about famine, sword, and plagues [pestilences] as instruments of judgment upon a people. [Jeremiah 14:12]. God uses disasters to discipline nations. Those who have a secular mind set might not believe such could happen in our modern and sophisticated society. Yet, the Bible is not governed by the beliefs of modern society. The Bible definitely teaches that God does and has used disasters to discipline and judge nations. [2Chronicles 6:26-27].  The Bible is clear that God punishes nations that fall into sin and refuse to repent. He has done it before and He is doing it now whether you believe it or not!

What then is a Biblical response to disaster? “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” The emphasis is national and is directed to a nation not a people within a nation. Lot and his family acknowledged God but that did not save Sodom. God destroyed Sodom because of its sin despite the fact that Lot who lived there was righteous. Nineveh repented at the preaching of Jonah and that nation was spared. The whole nation repented as a people collectively from the top down. That is a true national repentance. National repentance, prayer, and reformation are required…. We as a nation the “United States of America,” need to repent of our national sins and to turn as a nation back to the God we have revolted from. Then an only then will we will see a national healing of our land when there is a national repentance of the people of our land.

We have failed to respond to disaster properly. We have done many things to respond to our national disasters such as giving aide to the needy and providing help to those who have suffered. All of this is to be commended. However, the great failure on the part of this nation, the “United States of America,” is that we have not acknowledged God in all of our disasters, we have not owned up to our sinfulness as a people, and we certainly have not repented of our sins. Because of our national failure to do these things, the disasters have continued to come year after year and they will continue to come in the future and may increase in number and degree. So if we are going to call on God to heal our land, to heal our nation, and to heal our human community, it is vital that we are also forthright in changing our wicked ways. Until we as a people own up to our national sins, and until we as a people repent of those sins, we can expect national disasters to continue. Besides, no nation that divorces itself from God can expect to survive as a nation. We cannot secularize the nation and expect God to bless us.

The distress we are experiencing in our nation today can be addressed. It can be reversed. Our only hope is in repentance. We must individually and corporately as a people of God bow before our Maker and repent.  [2 Chronicles 7:14].  “Yet even now,’ declares the LORD, ‘return to me with all your heart, with fasting…weeping, and…mourning; and rend your hearts….’ Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster” [Joel 2:12-27].

But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them. [John 16:4]

By Stephanie R. Wilson

Vibrant Green for Vibrant Peace and Vernon Dental Specialties recently collaborated with 911 Biocare to show their gratitude and appreciation to the heroic firefighters who are effortlessly fighting to tame the Eldorado and Bobcat fires.

Founder and CEO Eugene Weems of Vibrant Green for Vibrant Peace and a few of his local business partners are doing what they do best and that is giving back to the community. Only this time, Vibrant Green for Vibrant Peace and Vernon Dental Specialties wanted to support the firefighters by acknowledging their hard work and efforts to tame the horrific fires happening in Southern California. 

This has been such a tragic time for the firefighters, working in extreme heat, and in the process losing a team member in the midst of it all. What is greater than showing their love and cherishing the firefighters by providing bags of hope filled with tee shirts, free dental care certificates, IV hydration bag gift cards, and other items to show thanks to all the fire fighters who work non-stop to preserve, save the property of the residents and keep the community safe.

SAN BERNARDINO, CA—- Homecoming season is approaching, which means it is time for SBCUSD Alumni and friends to get up and show their school spirit! Join our virtual marathon to help bring hope to our community! One price and five distance choices to keep you moving at your own pace. Simply register and pick your Alma mater’s team!

We are raising money to support SBCUSD high schools and our Foundation’s mission. Schools will get to keep 25% of adult entry fees that their team earns. The school with the greatest number of adult runners registered will receive $1,000 for their ASB. Also, for every 500 runners a school team has registered in their team, they will get a $5,000 scholarship for one of their 2021 graduates!

Register or Donate now by October 15th at: bit.ly/HomecomingHustle

SACRAMENTO, CA—- The Franchise Tax Board (FTB) today announced special tax filing relief for Californians affected by recent wildfires. Because of the governor’s state of emergency declared on September 25 and September 28 and his recent executive order, taxpayers in governor-declared disaster areas are granted an extension to December 15, 2020, to file California tax returns on 2019 income and make any tax payments that would have been due between now and December 15.

“Californians affected by this historic wildfire season need the opportunity to focus on themselves, their families, and their properties,” said State Controller and FTB Chair Betty T. Yee. “I hope this extension provides a small measure of relief under very difficult circumstances.” 

With the addition of the California counties that received a disaster declaration in September, FTB now has extended the deadline for individuals and businesses to file and pay in the counties of Butte, Del Norte, Fresno, Lake, Los Angeles, Madera, Mariposa, Mendocino, Monterey, Napa, Nevada, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Shasta, Siskiyou, Solano, Sonoma, Stanislaus, and Yolo. Any counties added later to the disaster area will be granted the same extension of time to file. This relief applies to various upcoming tax filing deadlines including the following: 

Individual filers whose previous tax-filing extension was set to end October 15. Because tax payments related to these returns were originally due on July 15, any payments associated with these filings are not eligible for relief. 

•  Business entities with a due date between now and December 15.

• Taxpayers who are victims of wildfires may claim a deduction for a disaster loss sustained in an area proclaimed by the governor to be in a state of emergency. For a complete list of all disasters declared by the governor, see the “List of Disasters” chart on FTB’s disaster loss webpage. Additional information and instructions are available in FTB Publication 1034, 2019 Disaster Loss: How to Claim a State Tax Deduction. 

Taxpayers may claim their disaster loss in one of two ways. They may claim the disaster loss for the 2020 tax year when they file their return next spring, or they may claim the loss against 2019 income on this year’s return. An amended return may be filed by those who already have filed this year. The advantage of claiming the disaster loss in the prior tax year is that the FTB can issue a refund sooner. 

Taxpayers claiming the disaster loss should write the name of the disaster (for example, Glass Fire) in blue or black ink at the top of their tax returns to alert FTB and to expedite any refund. If taxpayers are filing electronically, they should follow the software instructions to enter disaster information.

Disaster victims also may receive free copies of their state returns to replace those lost or damaged. Taxpayers may complete form FTB 3516 and write the name of the disaster in blue or black ink at the top of the request.

By Antonio Ray Harvey | California Black Media 

Assemblymember Jim Cooper (D-Sacramento), who is a member of the California Legislative Black Caucus, says he supports Gov. Gavin Newsom’s executive order issued last week that phases out gasoline-powered vehicles. The directive requires all new passenger vehicles sold in California to have zero-emission engines by the year 2035.? 

But Cooper, who is the chair of the Assembly’s Budget Subcommittee No. 4 on State Administration, has some concerns about how the mandate will affect low-income families.  

Newsom says his vision is to replace gasoline-powered vehicles with electric vehicles (EV) on California’s highways and surface roads.

“The EVs pictured in today’s signing of the EO (executive order) cost more than $50k each. How will my constituents afford an EV? They can’t. They currently drive 11-year-old vehicles,” Cooper tweeted on Sept. 23.? 

To comply with the governor’s executive order, the Air Resources Board is also expected to develop regulations to mandate that all operations of medium and heavy-duty vehicles be 100% zero-emission by 2045, where feasible. Trucks that tow freight will have to become compliant by 2035.  

Recently, Cooper, who represents California’s 9^th Assembly District, wrote a two-page letter to leaders of environmental organizations, calling out racism and the lack of diversity.? 

Cooper said prominent environmental organizations in the state, including the Sierra Club California (SCC), the California League of Conservation Voters (CLCV), the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC), and Environment California, “from their leaders to their funders, are nearly all White.”? 

“(And they) attempt to trade on race issues by branding their efforts as: ‘environmental justice’ — for which they do not apologize,” Cooper wrote in the letter dated Aug. 3. 

Now, the Assemblymember is directing his concern to the high costs of EVs and how their unaffordability will be a burden to lower income, working class Californians.  

“I, too, believe we must cut emissions to combat climate change. That’s why I’ve run bills to increase rebates for low-income residents to buy EV’s. But we know?@AirResources regs benefit the well-off, not my constituents,” Cooper tweeted.? 

Newsom’s said his action will “aggressively” move the state further away from its dependence on climate change-causing fossil fuels and, at the same time, retain and create jobs, which will spur economic growth. 

The transportation industry is responsible for more than half of all of California’s carbon pollution, 80 % of smog-forming pollution, and 95 % of toxic diesel emissions. Communities in the Los Angeles Basin and Central Valley see some of the dirtiest and most toxic air in the country, the governor pointed out in a written statement.?? 

?“This is the most impactful step our state can take to fight climate change,” Newsom said. “For too many decades, we have allowed cars to pollute the air that our children and families breathe. Californians shouldn’t have to worry if our cars are giving our kids asthma. Our cars shouldn’t make wildfires worse — and create more days filled with smoky air. Cars shouldn’t melt glaciers or raise sea levels threatening our cherished beaches and coastlines.”? 

In Feb. 2019, the energy foundation reported that the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) quantified Californians’ exposure to dangerous air pollution.? 

UCS’s findings revealed that particulate matter, known as PM2.5, disproportionately affects people of color and low-income communities in California. PM2.5 is created by automobiles, trucks, and buses. 

African Americans are, on average, exposed to 18% higher PM2.5 concentrations than the average Californian, the report stated. White Californians have an average exposure that is 17% percent lower than the average for the state. 

“Exposure to PM2.5 (particulate matter smaller than 2.5 micrometers in diameter) is linked to increased illness and death, primarily from heart and lung diseases,” the Energy Foundation reported. “These particles are small – 20 times smaller than the diameter of fine human hair – so they can penetrate deeply in the lungs, and the smallest particles can even enter into the bloodstream.” 

The governor’s executive order also sets new health and safety standards that protect workers and communities from the impacts of oil extraction.  

However, it does not prevent Californians from owning gasoline-powered cars or selling them on the used car market, Newsom says.  

By the time the new rule goes into effect, zero-emission vehicles, the governor’s office stated, will almost certainly be cheaper and better than the fossil fuel-powered cars that dominate roadways now.  

The upfront cost of electric vehicles are projected to reach parity with conventional vehicles within a few years, and the cost of owning the car – both in maintenance and how much it costs to power the car mile for a mile – is far less than a fossil fuel burning vehicle, the governor’s office stated.

“I applaud the Governor’s goals, but how will?@AirResources develop regulations that will actually benefit the majority of Californians? Last year,?(the California Air Resources Board) said the overall mean purchase price of a CA household’s main vehicle was $14,000, which is over half of their yearly income,” Cooper tweeted. 

John Abad, former San Bernardino 7^th Ward City Council candidate endorsed Damon Alexander for San Bernardino City Council 7^th Ward. Mr. Abad pledged his support for Mr. Alexander in the general election, Tuesday November 3, 2020.

Candidate Alexander beat incumbent James Mulvihill by more than 150 votes for the lead in the top 2 spots in the primary, qualifying him for the general election.

Mr. Alexander believes “San Bernardino needs new leadership that will set the example, by rebuilding the City, restoring the trust and repairing the breach.”  

Damon has called the City of San Bernardino home for over 30 years. Candidate Alexander is married to his lovely wife Felicia Alexander. Together they have 5 children and 4 grandchildren. Candidate Damon Alexander is a Marine veteran who served his Country proudly.

For more information about Damon Alexander, please visit his website at www.damonalexandercitycouncil.com.

By Willie Ellison

Now more than ever, California’s Black community and other communities of color need accurate news to make certain that our families are educated about their health and their rights during COVID-19 and the current uprisings. Black media and other ethnic media outlets play a key role — and right now, they need support to continue their vital work.

While our organizations, the Southern California Black Chamber of Commerce and The Greenlining Institute, advocate for a broad array of small business issues for all people of color through the Greenlining Coalition, we want to call special attention to the role of Black-owned media in the current moment. We can’t overstate the role that Black media play in not only providing people of color with high-quality news produced by our own communities, but also in taking ownership of our own stories and narratives.

Today the Black community makes up about a little less than six percent of California’s population but is vastly overrepresented in everything from COVID-19’s impact, to over-policing, to homelessness in a state which prides itself on progressive values and governance. To be blunt, the mainstream media often get to these stories late, and too often get them wrong. We need media sources owned by and serving the Black community and other underserved groups to ensure that communities of color have the real facts and real stories needed to make change everywhere from the state capitol to their own local city halls.

BLACK MEDIA AND OTHER ETHNIC OUTLETS PLAY A CRITICAL ROLE

Media companies owned by people of color, or “minority media,” as they were called until people of color became California’s majority population, have gained enormous ground. However, decision-makers in many board rooms and elsewhere too often perceive ethnic media as an “alternative” source rather than as a mainstream conduit of information. Today, this perception is incredibly outdated and simply inaccurate.

As the Chairs of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, the Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus wrote to Congressional leadership in April, “Local ethnic media outlets… are providing critical updates to communities across America but are struggling to stay afloat during COVID-19 due to major losses in the advertising revenue so critical to their business models. However, the reality is that African American, Latino, Asian Pacific American, and Native American communities need more news and information to stay healthy and safe in the ever-changing COVID-19 environment, not less.”

To be clear, we are talking about investment and not charity. As Neilsen found in 2019, the Black community spends approximately $1.3  trillion annually. For comparison, that is more buying power than The Netherlands, Switzerland, and Indonesia combined. If major corporations and banks want the Black community’s business, they should in turn do business with the Black community and Black-owned businesses, including Black media. Newspapers thrive on advertising dollars and, based purely on the math, the private sector should be heavily invested in the outlets that do the best job of reaching the Black community.

Many rightly argue that mainstream media outlets can do a better job of reporting on the Black community. But these larger organizations have their own struggles and simply cannot fill the vital role that the Black media play. 

According to Pew Research Center, “more than three-quarters (77%) of newsroom employees,” are White and newsroom employees are more likely than other industries to be male. This leads to an overdependence on White sources and a general prevalence of White perspectives in news reporting. 

Larger outlets can and should address these deficits, but even in the best-case scenario it won’t happen overnight. Because of the propensity of the so-called “mainstream” media to overlook diverse voices, ethnic media offer context and perspectives that the mass media regularly miss.

Some may assume that people of color can simply rely on social media for more targeted news. This assumption is both wrong and could have severe negative consequences for the Black community and others. Sadly, the social media universe is a hotbed of misinformation and conspiracy theories. For example, Wall Street Journal noted in April that sites followed by millions of people on social media have “touted high doses of vitamin C and silver particles as able to cure the [corona]virus,” which is blatantly false, while CNBC reported that a study in the UK found that “58 percent of those who had gone outside with COVID-19 symptoms use YouTube as their main information source.” Things have gotten so bad that On September 16, the NAACP and Color of Change organized a daylong boycott of Instagram (which is owned by Facebook) through the Stop Hate for Profit Campaign.  

In a recent CapRadio/Valley Vision poll of the greater Sacramento region, almost seven in 10 Black respondents said they trusted social media to provide them with information, while only three in 10 White respondents answered similarly. In the same story, Capital Public Radio quotes Flojaune Cofer, an epidemiologist at Public Health Advocates, noting that “the messenger does matter, especially in a community where there’s been historical trauma, and where the authority figures don’t always have a lot of trust. But there’s still an appeal to authority that happens even in the Black community, it’s just they want to hear from authority figures and experts who look like them.”

In California, where the Black community has suffered disproportionately from the pandemic and mounting recession, it is more important now than ever that Black media tell stories about the Black community based on reporting from Black journalists. The same is also true for other diverse communities, especially those with large immigrant populations.

HOW TO SUPPORT BLACK MEDIA

While the problems facing Black-owned media and other ethnic media are systemic and include everything from a difficult economic landscape for even the largest newspapers to a consolidation of media in general, they are not overly complicated. As Denise Rolark Barnes, chairwoman of the National Newspaper Publishers Association which represents 211 Black-owned publications nationwide noted in the Columbia Journalism Review, “the issue boils down to money.” There are straightforward, concrete steps that elected officials, private sector leaders, and normal Californians can take to address this issue.

First, here in California, voters can approve Proposition 16 on the November ballot, ending an embarrassing, wrongheaded policy that has cost businesses owned by women, Black Californians, and other diverse groups more than $1 billion in public contracting. Prop. 16 could be a game-changer for Black-owned media in California and hopefully open more opportunities to compete for billions of dollars of state procurement. 

If and when a second federal economic recovery package comes out — and it should — it must include funds targeted directly at Black media and all media owned by and serving diverse readers. As the North Dallas Gazette, a 30-year-old Black-owned newspaper put it, “Black Press — and community-based publishing in general — has been largely left out of the $350 billion stimulus and Paycheck Protection Program packages.” That cannot continue for future recovery packages.

Also, large financial institutions, including both traditional banks and non-bank lenders, have an obligation to invest and contract with the diverse businesses in the communities that drive their profits. This investment must include small- and medium-sized Black media outlets. This is not charity or a handout, but an opportunity for banks and other lenders to directly reach potential customers that are often passed over by firms that have no connection to the community they are attempting to reach.  

Finally, as journalist Chida Rebecca noted in an article earlier this year, when The Freedom Journal, the U.S.’s first Black newspaper, was founded in 1827 in New York it’s founders put forth that, “Too long have others spoken for us. We wish to plead our own case.” It is simply not enough to have stories written about communities of color. Now more than ever the Black community, along with AAPIs, Latinx, and other underserved communities must receive the public and private support needed to tell our stories, with our voices and our truths. 

---

Willie Ellison is a Board Member and Director of Media and Corporate Partnerships at the Southern California Black Chamber of Commerce. He has been a business owner and advocate in the media/marketing industry for over 30 years of experience.  Adam Briones is Greenlining’s Economic Equity Director. Follow him on Twitter. 

PRESIDENT 

Joe Biden 

VICE PRESIDENT 

Kamala Harris 

US REPRESENTATIVE DISTRICT 8 

Christine Bubser 

US REPRESENTIVE DISTRICT 27 

Judy Chu 

US REPRESENTIVE DISTRICT 31 

Pete Aguilar 

US REPRESENTIVE DISTRICT 35 

Norma J. Torres 

US REPRESENTIVE DISTRICT 39 

Gil Cisneros 

STATE SENATOR DISTRICT 21 

Kipp Mueller 

STATE SENATOR DISTRICT 23 

Abigail Medina 

STATE SENATOR DISTRICT 25 

Anthony J. Portantino 

STATE SENATOR DISTRICT 29 

Josh Newman 

ASSEMBLY DISTRICT 33 

No Preference 

ASSEMBLY DISTRICT 36 

Steve Fox 

ASSEMBLY DISTRICT 40 

James Ramos 

ASSEMBLY DISTRICT 41 

Chris Holden 

ASSEMBLY DISTRICT 42 

Chad Mayes 

ASSEMBLY DISTRICT 47 

Eloise Gomez Reyes 

ASSEMBLY DISTRICT 52 

Freddie Rodriguez 

ASSEMBLY DISTRICT 55 

Andrew E. Rodriguez 

COUNTY OF SAN BERNARDINO SCHOOL BOARD OF EDUCATION 

AREA C 

Laura Abernathy Mancha 

AREA E 

Alise Clouser 

CHINO VALLEY UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT GOVERNING BOARD 

Jody Moore 

FONTANA UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT GOVERNING BOARD 

Jason Barrett O’Brien 

RIALTO UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT GOVERNING BOARD 

Stephanie Lewis 

SAN BERNARDINO CITY UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT GOVERNING BOARD 

Dr. Margaret Hill 

Gwen Dowdy-Rodgers 

UPLAND UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT 

Sherman Garnett 

VICTOR VALLEY UNION HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT GOVERNING BOARD 

AREA 1 

Barbara Dew 

AREA 3 

Dr. Mina Blazy 

ADELANTO ELEMENTARY SCHOOL DISTRICT GOVERNING BOARD 

AREA 1 

Christine Turner 

COUNTY OF SAN BERNARDINO BOARD OF SUPERVISORS 

DISTRICT 5 

Joe Baca Jr. 

CITY OF ADELANTO CITY COUNCIL 

Jayshawn Johnson 

CITY OF BARSTOW 

MAYOR 

Paul Anthony Courtney 

CITY OF COLTON CITY COUNCIL 

DISTRICT 5 

John Eschevarria 

CITY OF FONTANA CITY COUNCIL 

DISTRICT 3 

Linda Richardson 

CITY OF GRAND TERRACE CITY COUNCIL 

Dr. Ken Stewart 

CITY OF MONTCLAIR CITY COUNCIL 

Tenice Johnson 

CITY OF RANCHO CUCAMONGA CITY COUNCIL 

DISTRICT 4 

Lynne B. Kennedy 

CITY OF RIALTO 

MAYOR 

Deborah Robertson 

CITY CLERK 

Barbara McGee 

CITY COUNCIL 

Stacy Augustine 

CITY OF SAN BERNARDINO CITY COUNCIL 

WARD 5 (RUNOFF) 

Ben Reynoso 

WARD 7 (RUNOFF) 

Damon Alexander 

CITY OF VICTORVILLE CITY COUNCIL 

Terrance Stone 

SB VALLEY MUNICIPAL WATER DISTRICT BOARD OF DIRECTORS 

DIVISION 2 

Jonathan Lee 

EAST VALLEY WATER DISTRICT BOARD OF DIRECTORS 

Joseph Mays 

SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY MEASURES 

MEASURE J – CHARTER REVISION 

YES 

MEASURE K – SUPERVISOR COMPENSATION REDUCTION AND TERM LIMITS INITIATIVE 

NO 

CITY OF SAN BERNARDINO 

MEASURE S (EXTENSION TO MEASURE Z PASSED IN 2006 

NO 

*** This slate addresses our picks for the County of San Bernardino 

By Quinci LeGardye | California Black Media 

In the wake of recent calls to shift responsibility for non-violent intervention away from police departments, lawmakers and community advocates around California are calling on Gov. Gavin Newsom to sign AB 2054, also known as the CRISES Act. 

CRISES is an acronym for Community Response Initiative to Strengthen Emergency Systems. 

AB 2054 calls for the authorization of a pilot grant program that would allow community-based organizations instead of the police to respond in emergency situations, including incidents requiring mental health intervention, which often involve people experiencing homelessness. 

Assemblymember Sydney Kamlager (D-Los Angeles), the author of AB 2054 and a member of the California Legislative Black Caucus, hosted a press conference Sept. 22, featuring community advocates and family members of individuals who were killed by police officers while experiencing mental health crises. 

When police officers are sent to de-escalate mental health crises, these encounters sometimes turn violent. A 2015 Treatment Advocacy Center survey found that at least one in four people killed by law enforcement were suffering from acute mental illness at the time of their death. Also, a 2015 Police Executive Research Forum study revealed that police officers only receive an average of eight hours of mental health intervention training compared to nearly 60 hours of gun training that they undergo. 

“Interactions with police can induce terror in many people who historically have been traumatized by law enforcement. Too often, these interactions are deadly. Too often, people just want solutions to their problems. They just want an emergency or a crisis solved, but they are afraid to call the police because of the potential consequences,” said Kamlager. 

Addie Kitchen is the grandmother of Steven Taylor, a Black man who was killed in April 2020 by San Leandro Police while going through a mental crisis and experiencing homelessness. 

“It took them 40 seconds to kill Stephen, 40 seconds. When that officer walked in and saw he was Black and homeless, he already had in his mind, what he needed to do. He didn’t think about, you know, maybe let me step back,” said Kitchen. 

Kitchen also spoke about how Taylor’s death devastated her family, including his two sons. 

“Nobody in the world should have to go through losing someone — by the police. If he had died because he got hit by a car, that wouldn’t have been so hard. But when the police — they’re supposed to protect us — are murdering us because we’re Black, because we’re poor, because we’re homeless, because we’re going through a mental crisis, we need help. We need help and we are praying that the governor will understand what we’re going through,” said Kitchen. 

Hali McKelvie spoke about her mother, Myra Micalizio, who was killed by a Butte County Sheriff’s deputy in April 2018 while she was going through a mental health crisis. The interaction between Micalizio and the police was only 11 seconds long before she was shot 11 times. 

“That law enforcement agency didn’t show up to serve and protect that day. That law enforcement agency showed up and murdered my mother, who was in a mental health crisis. They took one look at her, put up a bias, and said this woman is a threat to society and it’s my call to kill her,” McKelvie said. 

Advocates also spoke about the community groups that have already been providing human crisis response in the state, such as Mental Health First in Sacramento, and their need for more funding. 

“This is community response to community crisis, and we are already doing this. We are on the ground. There are grassroots organizations like my own, but we are running these programs on shoestring budgets, out of the generous hearts of volunteers, because we’re clear that we’re tired of our community members dying,” said Cat Brooks, co-founder of the Anti-Police TEAR Project. 

Lateefah Simon, Bay Area Rapid Transportation (BART) Board Director echoed that the community groups already doing the work need more funding. 

“AB 2054 is truly a love letter to possibility, an idea that communities can keep one another safe. That local community-based organizations and trained professionals in selected communities, if given the resources and the opportunity, can become an additional force to create safety,” she said. 

Gov. Newsom has until Sept. 30 to sign AB 2054, and other bills the State Legislature has passed this year. If not, they automatically become law.

By Quinci LeGardye | California Black Media  

Last week, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed two bills into law that expand mental health coverage in California.  

“The bills I am signing today will help Californians access the behavioral health services they need to recover,” Gov. Newsom said. “Earlier this year, I pledged to put these critical services within reach of more Californians, through reforming our Mental Health Services Act and laws that allow loved ones and service providers to ask courts to compel those who need treatment into community-based outpatient care. Today, we do just that.” 

SB 855 passed through the state legislature on the last day of the session and was signed into law Sept. 25. The bill requires health insurance companies to provide coverage for mental health and substance abuse treatment deemed medically necessary.  

“It’s time for every Californian to have access to comprehensive and preventative mental and physical health care. SB 855 is a big step toward ensuring that in California, mental health is taken as seriously as physical health. It’s time for insurance companies to fully cover this essential treatment,” said State Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco). 

SB 855 was co-authored by Wiener, State Senator Jim Beall (D-San Jose), chair of the Mental Health Caucus, and Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry (D-Winters). 

This new law comes at a time when many Californians have faced mental health challenges due to psychological stress caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study, released Aug. 14, found that 40 % of respondents reported struggling with an adverse mental health condition in late June. Out of about 5,400 respondents, 30 % experienced symptoms of anxiety and depression and 13 % had started or increased substance use to cope with emotions related to the pandemic. 

According to the CDC survey, psychological stressors have a disproportionate effect on Black and Brown people, essential workers, unpaid caregivers and young adults. Also, low-wage earners were experiencing more anxiety and depression than high-wage earners. 

“Unfortunately, there are gaps in the law that have allowed insurance companies to deny what is clearly medically necessary coverage for people experiencing mental health and addiction challenges,” said Senator Wiener earlier this month. 

There has been a long history of health insurance plans providing better coverage for physical illness than for mental health. According to the American Psychological Association, although federal parity law requires that coverage for mental health and substance-use disorders must be comparable to physical health coverage, the law does not require that all plans include mental health and substance abuse coverage. Also, a health insurance plan is allowed to exclude certain diagnoses.  

The same day, the governor signed another bill, AB 1976, into law. That legislation, introduced by Assemblymember Susan Talamantes Eggman (D-Stockton), expands the use of court-ordered outpatient treatment at the county level. It also prohibits counties from downsizing  those programs. 

“The Assisted Outpatient Treatment demonstration project started by Laura’s Law has shown for many years that we have the tools to provide effective, community-based mental health treatment to those with the greatest need. As a social worker I’ve long fought for the extension of these critical services and expanding this program. Finally making it permanent will ensure greater care for the people of California,” said Eggman. 

Supporters of both bills praised the governor for signing them. Many of them joined Eggman in pointing out that the new policies are long overdue. 

“No one should have to suffer from mental illness or substance use disorder without support, resources and medical care. No one should have to forego mental healthcare until they’ve deteriorated to the point where they’re in crisis and in the ER. And no one should have to go into debt to pay for substance use disorder or mental health treatment,” Wiener said in his statement.