Jesse James Nichols was the fourth of seven children born to James Edward and Carrie Bell Nichols on December 9, 1958, in San Bernardino, California. He attended California Elementary, Shandin Hills Middle School and Eisenhower High Schools. During those years, Jesse became a skilled football player and a self-taught artist. The family attended St. John Church of God in Christ where Richard Tribble was the pastor. After high school, Jesse attended San Bernardino Valley College for two years. He played football while there. In 1978, he enlisted in the U. S. Army. His tours included travel to many parts of the world including: England, Panama, Korea and Germany.
In July 2003, Jesse married Victoria (Vicki) Lee and the couple donated their time, skills and passion to the service of others, feeding the homeless, assisting seniors, and serving people in need throughout the community in more capacities than his page can contain. The people of San Bernardino know and love the dynamic duo, Vicki and Jesse, the King and Queen of the Black Culture Foundation, and the city mourns with Vicki and the family. In 2003, Jesse joined New Hope Missionary Baptist Church in 2003 under the leadership of Dr. Robert L. Fairley. He was a member of the Drama Ministry and the New Hope Security Team. He remained an active member until God called him home on Tuesday, August 18, 2020. The viewing will take place on Thursday, September 10th, 2 PM – 4 PM, Community Memorial Chapel, 738 East Highland Avenue, San Bernardino, California 92404. The homegoing service will be live streamed from Community Memorial Chapel on Friday, September 11, 2020 at 11:00 AM. Please call Community Memorial Chapel at (909) 713-2093 for the link.
SAN BERNARDINO, CA—- Omnitrans is set to implement significant service changes on September 8, including new, realigned, and eliminated routes, a microtransit pilot project, and restoration of some service that was reduced due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We’re pleased to welcome our customers back with enhanced cleaning and increased frequency on our most popular routes,” said Omnitrans CEO/General Manager Erin Rogers. “This service change implementation maximizes system efficiency to prepare our agency for future transit needs and financial sustainability.”
In all, 27 of the agency’s 32 current routes are scheduled for changes, including resumption of 20-minute service on Omnitrans’ core network, Routes 1, 3, 4, 14, 61, 66, the elimination of seven routes and the introduction of four new routes to cover most of the impacted service areas. The new routes also will provide connections to the communities of Eastvale and the Ontario-East Metrolink station for the first time.
The agency also will introduce OmniRide microtransit service in Chino Hills and parts of Chino, which allows customers to make reservations on the OmniRide On-Demand mobile app and be picked up and delivered to specific locations in the service area on weekdays, much like Uber or Lyft service.
These service changes implement Omnitrans’ ConnectForward plan, which was introduced earlier this year at a series of 22 public meetings throughout the region. The plan was finalized following customer feedback and approved by the agency Board of Directors this summer.
LOS ANGELES, CA—- Many people have experienced violence and abuse yet live in silence. Fear, shame, rejection and the thought of further abuse has kept secrets locked away from even our closest family and friends.
Voices of Truth project is an opportunity for those who have experienced violence or abuse to empower themselves, by telling their truth and as a result, help prevent someone else from a similar experience. Your truth can be anonymous if you prefer!
The Positive Results Center is looking for Black/ African (Americans) and their Descents of all ages and genders that are interested in sharing their truth for an upcoming handbook. This project will create awareness, helping to prevent violence and abuse, and assist people in healing.
Research shows that even brief autobiographical storytelling exercises can have substantial impacts on psychological and physical health even months after the storytelling. Resilience is strengthened by recognizing that we are all experts in our own lives, and we all have something to share with others.
“Silence allows the violence to grow“, says Kandee Lewis, Executive Director of The Positive Results Center. “We are seeking truth to the experiences of those who have been victimized, including: Signs of abuse; what others (parents, guardians & the general public) may not see, which is hidden in plain sight; concerning behavior to be aware of; and strategies for prevention that can help further victimization”.
We are seeking information on all types of violence including dating, domestic & intimate partner violence, gun violence, sexual assault, stalking, sex trafficking, survival sex and sex industry, financial and spiritual abuse to name a few.
If your submission is selected you will receive a $50 Gift Card
Not all submissions will be published.
Deadline is September 22, 2020.
ABOUT THE POSITIVE RESULTS CENTER
Positive Results Center address trauma from a cultural and age perspective; specializing in healthy relationships, dating & intimate partner violence, sexual assault, bullying & suicide awareness.
Their workshops include Understanding How Trauma is Manifested; QPR Gatekeeper Suicide Awareness; Youth Peer Advocacy Training; Healthy Relationships; Positive Family Dynamics; Leadership Development; College and Career Readiness, and Self Esteem. Learn more at http://prc123.org .
As COVID-19 wreaks havoc on a digital and educational divide that has already severely impacted African American and other children of color, yet another situation on the horizon could further increase disparities by hindering access to crucial technological tools, according to experts.
Two cases pending before the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) are being watched by educators and lawmakers who describe them as deeply troubling. Many big names in technology are under attack – including Amazon, Apple, Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo, LG, Microsoft, Motorola, Samsung, and Sony – and tech experts say the outcomes of these cases are absolutely realistic threats to the ability to obtain certain mobile communication devices – an outcome that would increase the digital divide even further during this unprecedented time of online learning.
In a nutshell, Neodron, a company just recently created in Ireland, is seeking to block the import of more than 90 percent of mobile touchscreen devices, like smartphones, tablets and touchscreen laptops, that come into the United States. Neodron doesn’t design or manufacture products within the U.S. Its business plan is to acquire patents and then sue for infringement.
The cases have caught the attention of members of Congress, and those in the tech world express major concern.
“When we talk about digital divide, you’re talking primarily about the availability of high-speed internet and its distribution across our nation. The big problem with this patent infringement claim is that the vast majority of inner-city schools still have barely sufficient internet connection,” says Michael Russell, the lead instructor for information technology, security and forensics at the Pittsburgh Technical College since 2002.
Russell points out that “the majority of young people who access the internet today access the internet from their smartphones.” Particularly low-income children often use their smartphones in order to get on the Internet.
He believes the Neodron case could impact their educational lives.
Russell used the term “patent pirate” when describing the activities of companies like Neodron which acquires patents for the purpose of financial gain. Neodron recently obtained patents from Microchip Technologies, possibly with the motive of filing petitions asking the ITC to investigate and close the U.S. market to nearly all smartphones, tablets, and laptops. In short, Neodron is putting the devices that people rely on at risk amidst a season when they need them most.
According to a statement by the ITC, the complaint “alleges violations of section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930 in the importation into the United States and sale of certain touch-controlled mobile devices, computers, and components thereof that infringe patents asserted by the complainant. The complainant requests that the USITC issue a limited exclusion order and cease and desist orders.”
Restricting the import of these devices into the United States would cause educational and personal hardships for people largely dependent on their smartphones and other affected devices.
The issue is so dire that two members of Congress formed a bipartisan partnership to deal with it. Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.) and David Schweikert (R-Ariz.) introduced the Advancing America’s Interests Act to stop patent abuse through the ITC and to assure that the agency adheres to a high standard of public interest.
“The ITC was established to protect U.S. companies and consumers from unfair foreign competition, but in recent years, patent licensing entities have abused the ITC process for financial gain,” said DelBene in a joint release. “This legislation addresses this problem and helps protect American businesses from unfair and unjustified claims.”
Schweikert called the legislation “an important step in the right direction towards reforming the ITC’s unfair imports process to ensure that American businesses have equitable access to protection for their ideas.”
This potential impact of this case cannot be overlooked as African-Americans and other racial minorities have been so disproportionally impacted by COVID-19. As lives have become almost totally dependent upon access to the internet and remote services, the impact of an ITC exclusion order would have a broad reach.
Instead of rushing to get children out the door to catch the school bus and then driving into work, many parents now struggle to manage their children’s education as schools have shifted to remote learning and parents work from home. Government services of all types are now online, from job applications to business licenses to unemployment claims. And then there’s access to health care.
Throughout the pandemic, it has become clear that telehealth is surging and is a crucial resource that allows people to protect both their community as a whole and the healthcare workers providing their critical services.
According to a recent study, up to 42 million people may not have access to broadband, a figure that is disproportionately made up of African-Americans and other people of color. But without the devices necessary to even access the internet, the problem becomes worse and communities of color are at a great disadvantage.
A key concern is that since the COVID-19 pandemic, an already serious struggle for low income students of color, has been exacerbated.
The Greenlining Institute, a 27-year-old multi-racial organization in Oakland, Calif. that aims to end economic discrimination such as redlining, conducted a survey of Oakland and Fresno, Calif. residents before COVID-19. The findings were as gloomy as expected. But all of the common themes were “made more urgent by the pandemic”, the Institute reports on its website.
Those common themes include “Internet access is not a luxury; Lack of access creates significant hurdles for everyday life; Smartphone access is insufficient; Internet plans designed for low-income families are inadequate; Lack of access is a barrier to academic success.”
Russell says if Neodron prevails, these issues could expand and get even worse for more people across the nation.
“I’m not only talking about just young people,” he said. “I’m talking about the elderly needing to monitor their health care, making appointments with the doctor and things of that nature. All of those things could be adversely impacted. Mostly inner city; mostly Black and Latino families would continue to have the largest impact.”
As the issue spirals, even more considerations will come into play.
“The educational, financial and personal need for the internet could lead to an even greater conflict than the inability to get online,” says Russell, who also teaches regulatory compliance. “I do believe that technology has a potential of being another form of warfare,” he says. “I’m really concerned about that. Like economic warfare. We have a company located in another country filing a claim against American corporations that could adversely impact the way we live and do business. That’s a real deal.”
Inmate firefighting crews, made up of more than 2,000 inmate firefighters per year, have helped extinguish many of the biggest wildfires in California.
However, once they’re released, they cannot serve in that profession under current law because of their criminal records.
Now, AB 2147, a law that would lift that restriction, has been sent to Gov. Gavin Newsom to sign after passing both the State Senate and Assembly on Aug. 30. The bill allows nonviolent offenders who’ve participated in the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitations’ fire camps to have their records expunged after release.
In California, previously incarcerated persons are often turned away from fire departments because of their conviction records and state licensing rules, even if they fought fires while incarcerated. Currently, it takes years to get their records expunged, which would allow them to obtain Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) certification.
“AB 2147 ensures that formerly incarcerated people who have successfully participated as incarcerated firefighters have a pathway to meaningful employment,” said Assemblymember Eloise Gomez Reyes (D – Grand Terrace), the bill’s author. “These individuals have received valuable training and placed themselves in danger to defend the life and property of Californians. Due to their service to the state of California protecting lives and property, those individuals that successfully complete their service in the fire camps should be granted special consideration relating to their underlying criminal conviction.”
The bill comes to Gov. Newsom during a particularly strong wildfire season, which has collectively burned 1.48 million acres and has seen multiple lightning complex fires — all complicated by unprecedented heatwaves across the state.
Because of the intensity and scale of the fires, Gov. Newsom declared a state of emergency on Aug. 18. The next day, he announced that the state’s resources to fight wildfires were stretched thin.
Allowing previously incarcerated persons to be firefighters also gives them the chance to get well-paying jobs, Reyes has argued, pointing out that steady and meaningful employment would lower recidivism rates. Inmate crews are paid between $2 and $5 a day, with a $1 per hour increase while fighting a fire.
“Those that have served on the fire lines deserve a second chance,” tweeted Reyes on August 30.
On Aug. 17, the “Yes On Prop 17” campaign held its Official Proposition 17 Campaign Virtual Kick-Off on Facebook Live. The event featured testimony from previously incarcerated persons on why more than 50,000 parolees in California deserve the right to vote. Prop 17, which passed the state legislature as ACA 6 in June, is a measure on the November ballot. If Californians vote to approve it, Prop 17 would amend the state constitution, granting any eligible person who is not currently incarcerated the right to vote. If passed, California would join 17 states that allow parolees to vote. Initiate Justice Co-founder and Executive Director Taina Vargas-Edmond hosted the event that featured Assemblymember Kevin McCarty (D – Sacramento), author of ACA 6, as well as Brandon Flynn, an activist and actor on the Netflix show “13 Reasons Why.” To start the event, Flynn and McCarty spoke about how the current global political movement calling for the dismantling of systemic racism has affected their understanding of – and advocacy around — the proposition. “We’ve learned that this is just a remnant of some of these old Jim Crow values and racial oppression –when they want to hold back African American voters from being able to participate in the democratic process, and that’s wrong. That’s what we’re going to change,” the lawmaker said. The program’s anchor event was a Q&A moderated by Edmond featuring “Yes On Prop 17” Fellows Betty McKay and John Windham. McKay and Windham, who are both on parole, spoke about the importance of voting for currently and previously incarcerated persons. McKay, who is a motivational speaker and organizer with Initiate Justice, talked about the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), arguing that she has done the time for his crime and should not be punished for it after her release. “The people who make the rules, the system, CDCR gives you a long list of things that if you do this, this, this, this and this, then you’re a productive citizen,” she said. “Well, I’ve exceeded all that. So why aren’t I voting? I’m paying taxes. So why aren’t I voting?” Edmond also presented data from Initiate Justice’s 2019 “Democracy Needs Everyone” report, compiled from a survey of 1,085 incarcerated members of California state prisons as well as members on parole. According to the report, only 37 % of respondents said they voted before they were incarcerated, but 98 % said they would vote now if they could. Also, the top three political issues that the respondents listed as “very important” were jobs and the economy, education and healthcare. For Windham, who was incarcerated for 30 years and now mentors youth in his community, not having experienced voting was a deterrent in urging kids to vote. “The one thing I couldn’t really delve into with him is talking about voting. I tell them to vote, but I was shut down when they asked me, did I vote. It was the hardest thing for me to have to tell a child – that couldn’t vote because I’m on parole. I no longer want to have to tell no child that, because that takes away their hope. They see me as hope and the only hope they see was dashed.” When asked to respond to the arguments of Prop 17 opponents, McCarty said, “They’re saying that Betty and John still need to pay their debt to society. But when the parole board releases people from state prison, they’ve determined that you’ve served your time [and they] want to reintegrate you back into society. So, it makes no sense to say we want you to go back to your community, but we’re going to make you a second class citizen.” Attachments area
After months of protests and tough negotiations with representatives from various industries, California lawmakers have released an updated list of professions that could be exempted from AB 5, the controversial worker re-classification law that went into effect January 1.
AB 2257, a new bill that revises some Labor Code sections affected by AB 5, will exempt artists, appraisers, insurance field representatives and youth sports coaches, allowing them to work as independent contractors. This is in addition to previous exemptions made for musicians, writers, photographers, tutors, interpreters and other industries.
AB 2257 is backed by Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego), who authored AB 5 and has been its primary advocate.
“We have utilized the reasoning in Dynamex, existing case law, and all of the provisions of workers comp and the [Unemployment Insurance] code developed over the last 40 years to try to create a framework for employment in California. We are confident that legitimate [independent contractors] will be able to work as such” said Gonzalez in an August 27 tweet.
Assemblymember Christy Smith (D-Santa Clarita), co-author of AB 2257, said, “These clarifications to AB5 create additional industry specific pathways for people to work independently and prevent abuses that hurt workers and small business.”
Under AB 5, companies must determine whether their workers are employees according to criteria known as the “ABC” test. Workers can only be classified as independent contractors if A) Their work is free from control of the hiring entity B) They perform work that is outside the hiring entity’s usual course of business, and C) They have an independent business.
AB 5 has been challenged by various industries since it was introduced as a bill. Truck drivers won an injunction that prevented AB 5 from being enforced for their industry on Jan. 16. Recently, a California Superior Court judge ruled that rideshare companies Uber and Lyft must classify their drivers as employees. The judge later paused the injunction after the companies threatened to stop operating in California.
Uber and Lyft have also funded a ballot measure along with other rideshare and delivery companies that would exempt the companies from AB 5 restrictions if voters approve it in November. If Gov. Newsom signs AB 2257 into law, it would take effect immediately.
White carved out a pioneering career path that stretched from the Pentagon’s head office to Hyundai headquarters
As Hyundai North America’s first chief communications officer, Dana W. White knows what it is like to have two feet in two worlds.
“Growing up I always knew about the power of communication, the power of words,” she said, talking about her childhood in Charlottesville, Virginia. “My grandfather, who was born in 1896, founded the oldest black newspaper in the state. I used to cut ad sheets every month and write copy and process black-and-white photos [at the paper]. The entrepreneurial spirit runs deep in me and my family.”
While the weekly black newspaper, the Charlottesville-Albemarle Tribune, is gone, the family’s entrepreneurial spirit lives on. “The environment I grew up in, my family, was that there was never just a pot of gold waiting for me at the end of the tunnel,” she said. “It’s in my DNA – to make it happen for yourself.”
Dr. Ben Chavis runs the trade group for African American newspaper publishers. “The National Newspapers Publishers Association salutes Hyundai for its decision to elevate an African-American woman leader to the position of Chief Communications Officer. In this year where the focus is on the empowerment of all women, Dana White represents and embodies the best of Black America,” he told Zenger News of White.
Dana White is no relation to the Ultimate Fighting Championship president with the same name.
She studied hard in college, taking the toughest courses on purpose even if they were scheduled early in the morning and required long walks across Chicago wind-chilled campus. Those courses included learning to read, write and speak Mandarin, the mostly widely used of the Chinese-language dialects. She majored in Chinese history at the University of Chicago.
White thought hard about her choices in what to study; she didn’t just take the most popular courses or the easiest ones to earn a top grade. Of course, she said there are no “easy” courses at the University of Chicago, which competes with the Ivy League for students. “At the time, nobody was thinking about China,” she said. “Everyone was terrified that Japan was taking over the world, but no one was thinking about this country of one billion people that was just sitting there, very quiet. I wanted to make sure I’d be employable for the next 50 years, find something that was valuable for the future. So, I decided to study Mandarin.”
She applied for scholarships to study in China’s capital, Beijing, and later in South Korea’s capital, Seoul. This on-the-ground experience would later prove pivotal in her career.
Dana W. White began her professional life helping her grandfather run an African American newspaper. She has built her career by fielding questions from reporters, however. (Courtesy of Dana W. White)
“I think it’s fascinating, working as a Black American within different cultures. In fact, sometimes I think it’s an advantage as I experience my home culture differently and therefore, I think I’m much more observant and intrigued by people, their language and traditions. It’s helpful in translating best practices and communications,” she said. “Communication isn’t just about the literal words themselves, it’s about the feeling, impressions and the image you convey or defy.”
After college, she moved to Washington, DC without a job and worked as an intern and a temp to pay the bills while she applied for jobs on Capitol Hill.
The Republican committee for all GOP lawmakers, then chaired by Rep. J.C. Watts, the only Black Republican serving in Congress, was the first to call her back. She went on to take a series of jobs in government and in media, often working as the only black woman in the room. She accepted a job as deputy press secretary for the House Republican Conference, where she worked for two years until 2000.
Dana W. White (center, seated) is pictured in this undated photo next to then-Pentagon chief Gen. James Mattis aboard a Defense department aircraft. (Courtesy of the DOD)
Then she joined the public relations team at Fox News for a year in 2000. Later she worked at the Heritage Foundation, a think tank on Capitol Hill that is influential among Republicans.
“I was director of the Heritage Foundation’s roundtable for Asia-Pacific journalists, which was comprised of foreign correspondents from outlets such as The Nikkei and Asahi Shimbun and Chosun Ilbo.” she said. “I was working with more than 400 different journalists from across Asia.” Her study in Chinese language and Asian culture had made her stand out. Her careful preparation was paying off in unexpected ways. “At Heritage, I met some wonderful reporters from Taiwan, Japan and Korea. It was so beneficial when I did my first stint at the Pentagon on the China Desk, then at Nissan and now Hyundai.”
Her studies and experience soon took her back to the federal government. President George W. Bush named her Taiwan Country Director at the Defense department.
She returned to the private sector as an editor in the arts and culture section of The Wall Street Journal, the nation’s most widely read newspaper, and lived in Hong Kong.
Dana White briefed reporters at the Pentagon in Arlington, Va. in an undated photograph (Sgt. Amber Smith/DOD)
On June 13, 2017, then-Defense Secretary Jim Mattis (R) and Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford, then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (L), testified in a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing in Washington D.C. (Army Sgt. Amber I. Smith/Department of Defense)
Next, she was tapped as director of policy and strategic communications for the Renault–Nissan Alliance, a joint venture of the French and Japanese auto makers. They needed someone who understood both media and Asia, and she was one of the few that fit the bill. She soon became fluent in French and worked from Renault’s Paris headquarters. Still, she never forgot her roots, often phoning her mother—who was born and raised in a small black enclave in north Philadelphia—and then living in northern Virginia’s ever-spreading suburbs.
She returned from Paris in 2015 and started her own public relations firm 1055 Grady, named in honor of her grandfather’s address in Charlottesville, where she was first inspired to be an entrepreneur. Back in Washington, DC, she was tapped by the Trump campaign to help with their strategic communications. Shortly after Donald J. Trump was sworn in, she was asked about taking a high-profile spot back at the Pentagon. Her earlier stint at the Defense Department along with her knowledge and contacts in U.S. and foreign media perfectly positioned her to take the top spot as head of public affairs for the Defense Department. She was sworn in as Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs and Chief Pentagon Spokesperson on April 7, 2017.
It was also the same day the U.S. sent cruise missiles to strike Syria in response to its chemical-weapons attacks. Nearly one year to the day, she would go before the world to brief the U.S. strikes on Syria in response to another chemical attack. She became the first black person to hold that prestigious post.
She reported directly to then-Defense Secretary James Mattis. When he resigned in 2018, she followed the same day. “I left DoD alongside Mattis because I believe in his integrity,” she said.
Mattis differed with President Trump on matters ranging from pulling troops out of Syria and Afghanistan to withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal.
Now Dana White runs North American communications for Hyundai Motor Company, a South Korean car maker that builds more than half of its vehicles at its plant in Alabama and employs some 25,000 people in the United States. She joined the Zenger News advisory board in 2019.
White sees herself as a cross-cultural bridge. At Hyundai Motor North America, she is the Chief Communications Officer—a first for Korean automaker in the U.S. She oversees communications for Hyundai Motor North America headquarters and all of Hyundai’s North America Affiliates including Canada and Mexico, Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama, Glovis (Hyundai’s Logistics Operations), Mobis (Hyundai Parts Operations), Hyundai Capital and the Washington, DC Office. White also has strategic oversight of Hyundai’s luxury automotive brand Genesis, the first SUV for the industry’s newest luxury brand.
Dana White poses for a photo inside Hyundai Motor America in Fountain Valley, California on August 7, 2020. (Carol Larsen/Zenger)
“When I joined Hyundai a year ago, I knew I needed someone who understood decision making at the highest levels, storytelling and how to work across cultures seamlessly to deliver results. So, I called Dana,” said Jose Munoz, Global COO of Hyundai Motor Company and Pres. & CEO of Hyundai Motor North America. “It’s rare to find one person with all the skills, talents and experiences that she has. And she has proven track record of success. In few short months, Dana has already made a big difference in how we operate, communicate and tell the Hyundai story.”
Ultimately for White, she said her passions are education, excellence and empowerment. “I can still hear my grandfather’s gruff voice saying, ‘Mouse, I want you to be a smart little girl. Learn everything you can.’ I think about everything he survived, all the limits placed on his life and how if he could see me now—a man who proud to put pictures of my nursery school graduation in the paper—I know he’d say…’So, Mouse…what’s next?’”
Her father, Sherman R. White, graduated from Charlottesville’s segregated schools was also plaintiff in the desegregation of Charlottesville schools. He attended Howard University at 16 years-old and later pledged the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. At Howard, he met her and married her mother Agnes Cross, who was from Philadelphia. Her father was an AME minister and her mother one the first blacks to secure a civil service job in the state of Pennsylvania.
Her cousin Cheryl was the President of the local Williamsburg chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha. In high school, Dana was awarded a merit scholarship from the University of Virginia Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta. And her older brother is a graduate of Hampton University
“The thing about me is that I’m propelled by history and obsessed with the future. I’m passionate about ideas and a mission. I want to see people move forward—know their past and explore their future,” she said. “It’s in my family—this spirit of perseverance. I feel like they handed me a baton. They ran hard and ran fast. They carried the baton as far as they could go. Now, it’s my turn to run faster and farther and pass the baton to the next generation. I say, ‘When you stand on the shoulders of slaves, there’s no slouching.’”
The noon whistle has been sounding since Christ came to earth. Don’t ignore the sound of the siren. It is significant. Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand! Don’t be another Agrippa who said to Paul, “You almost persuaded me to become a Christian” [Acts 26:28]; or Felix who after hearing Paul reason of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, trembled and answered, go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee.” [Acts 24:24-25]. Don’t you do it! Don’t let death come knocking on your door before you realize what time of day it is? How will you escape if you ignore God’s salvation? [Hebrews 2:3]. How will you escape His wrath? [John 3:36]; His condemnation? [John 3:18] His word of banishment? [Matthew 26:41]. The answer: You will not!
I want you to know that in the days just prior to the Babylonian Captivity; the Lord, through the prophet Jeremiah pleaded with Judah to repent. [Jeremiah 6:16]. But they said…No! What tragedy became their portion because of it. Don’t wait until it is too late! The Lord’s people in ancient times reached a point where it was too late! The Lord had been warning Judah, through the prophets, for years that they needed to repent and amend their ways; but they arrogantly ignored God. God’s long-suffering finally ran out; the Lord had done all He could for them. “He sent warnings to them by His messengers, rising up early and sending them, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place. But they mocked the messengers of God, despised His words, and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, till there was no remedy.” Don’t wait until its too late! God brought a terrible judgment against Judah for their obstinate: [2 Chronicles 36:15-20].
God extended them an opportunity for salvation. They stubbornly refused and kept up their idolatry. God sent judgment—Babylon laid siege to Jerusalem. Still they thought they would be rescued. They thought Jerusalem will never be destroyed. They were told by false prophets that deliverance would come by summertime, and certainly in time for Fall harvest. Boy was they wrong. Repentance did not come. Rescue did not come. They finally realized too late that they had been wrong. What a grief it was to realize their punishment was set and there would be no salvation now. Don’t make the same mistake! Don’t wait until it’s too late! For as [2 Peter 3:9] reminds us, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. Because unless the Lord comes first, what is said of Adam will be said of us, “…and he died” [Genesis 5:5].
Are you listening?! Don’t wait until it is too late. When the door is shut, you won’t have another opportunity! [Revelation 22:17]: “And the Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come.’ And let him that hearth say, ‘Come.’ And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.”
I tell you, there are some of you who are on the verge of being one day too late with God. You are acting like Israel and putting off repentance. You can’t wait until after death to repent of your sins. The day after Death is one day too late! The day after the Rapture is one day too late. The Rapture is a true event and a soon event. The day after the Holy Spirit stops dealing with you is one day too late. “Wherefore as the Holy Spirit saith, Today if ye will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion.” [Hebrew 3:15. “For My spirit shall not always strive with man, says the Lord!” [Genesis 6:3].
“Harvest is past, summer is ended, and you are not saved.” [Jeremiah 8:20]. May the Lord have mercy on your soul!
About 41 weeks into her pregnancy now, California Board of Equalization (BOE) memberMalia Cohen, who is the state’s only African American woman constitutional officer, is preparing to give birth on September 3.
Motherhood will be a new role for Cohen, a veteran leader and elected official, who served two terms on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, and now administers California’s $70 billion property tax system as a member of the BOE, representing 10 million people in 23 counties.
Although Cohen could not host the fancy themed baby shower she had once imagined because of the COVID-19 pandemic, on Father’s Day Cohen hosted a “gender” reveal on Zoom instead.
Before that virtual event, Cohen and her best friend mailed party poppers to her close friends and family members, including her mother, mother-in-law and sister. On the video call, her loved ones chanted a countdown with Cohen and her husband before the couple announced that they are having a girl to a Zoom room of cheering loved ones and streaming popper confetti. She has assembled a “birth team” for her delivery, too. It is scheduled to happen at the San Francisco Birth Center.
Courtesy Photos Eric Charmichael
“The birth center allows me to deliver with a team of trained midwives, a Black pediatrician and my birth team, who are my mother, my husband, my sister and my doula,” said Cohen. It’s a professional emotional support system. They will all be around me when I’m laboring.”
Cohen says being allowed to have other close relatives in the delivery room besides her husband was one reason for choosing a birth center over a traditional hospital. Another was safety. An uptick in coronavirus cases in California over the summer sealed that decision.
In addition to planning her birth, working out to stay in shape, and meditating to keep her stress low, Cohen has managed to balance her BOE responsibilities with keeping public speaking commitments and staying involved in state policymaking. She has worked with the governor’s office to get several executive orders in place to provide relief for taxpayers.
She also watches and has called into legislative committee hearings to testify on various issues, and she has written letters to support or oppose a number of bills. Cohen lent her voice in support of ACA 5, authored by Assemblymember Shirley Weber (D-San Diego), that would repeal Proposition 209, and bring affirmative action back to California’s public agencies. ACA 5 is now on the November ballot as Proposition 16, and Cohen is campaigning hard for its passage.
“I’ve had to rely on technology to get things done,” says Cohen whose home office, she says, has been upgraded with a ring light for Zoom or Microsoft Team calls, two laptops, a scanner-slash-printer and the “fastest internet speed possible” to make her telecommuting seamless.
“These coronavirus times are sure different,” says Cohen, recalling the rush to jump on the train to Sacramento and attend government meetings in person.
“I really miss reaching out and working to solve problems face to face,” she says, citing another impact of the pandemic. Cohen says, overall, she has managed to keep her life and responsibilities in order. But there are times when those cravings hit, Cohen says. “They are not so manageable.”
“For the most part – I’ll say 85-90% of the time – I’ve been conscious and healthy. But there is that 10 or 15 % when I have to have Doritos or Oreo Cookies. My mom makes the Rice Krispies treats for me,” Cohen laughed. “Yes, my mom is my enabler.”
At work, Cohen says right now one of her main priorities at the BOE is working on providing safe remote hearing for the Assessment Appeals Boards. That body resolves property value disputes between taxpayers and assessors who appraise properties.
“How do we take things we use to do in-person and bring them online?” She asked. “That way, we are protecting due process. We are protecting the integrity of sensitive documents. We are protecting the health and safety of the petitioner and of our staff.”
Because of the pandemic, Cohen says the BOE has had to make major adjustments. “To use the expression,” she explains, “we are building the plane while we’re flying.”
Away from work, Cohen says watching George Floyd’s murder on TV and seeing reports about Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery murders, as well as following the protests across America and the world, have taken a toll on her.
San Francisco protest in front of city hall. Courtesy Photos Eric Charmichael
“You begin to wonder: What kind of world am I bringing a baby girl into? There are days when I watched the protests and I just sat on the couch crying, just weeping,” says Cohen, who was able to get out to speak at one Black Lives Matter protest in San Francisco. “I wanted to march, too, but I realize that I had to protect myself and my baby.”
Cohen says a source of stress that has always been in the back of her mind is looking honestly at how the country cares for Black women.
“There is a disparity between Black women and White Women. Less Black women carry their babies full term,” Cohen pointed out. Through it all, Cohen says she stays positive and remembers all the things she can be thankful for like being able to take naps when she gets overwhelmed by sleepiness or not having to commute from her home in San Francisco to weekly meetings in Sacramento.
Then there’s the inspiration of Kamala Harris. Cohen says she been a supporter of the former California Attorney General since she was a DA in San Francisco. Cohen served on the city’s Board of Supervisors and worked with Harris on more than one occasion. Cohen says that Harris’ selection to run as Vice President “Is but one more step in a long road towards justice and representation for African Americans.”
For now, Cohen says she is preparing to go into labor and for all the joys and challenges that are bound to follow.
“I can’t wait to pour into her everything that I’ve learned, my understanding of the world,” says Cohen.
“Pouring into her curiosity; a respect for other people and cultures; a desire to travel; and resiliency. Our daughter will inherit the world we will make better through our struggles and our commitment to justice.”
As we ended our interview, Cohen added, “Every day I have a smile on my face and joy in my heart when I think of her. I can’t wait for her to be born!”
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