The San Bernardino City Unified School District (SBCUSD) Board of Education promoted two longtime, highly qualified administrators to key executive positions during its meeting on Tuesday, August 4.
Dr. Sandra Rodriguez, a passionate advocate for providing high-quality education for all students, is the new assistant superintendent of Student Services. The division oversees a variety of programs aimed at student support and enrichment, including the Family Engagement Office and CAPS. Dr. MarcusFunchess, a former elementary school principal and Human Resources director in SBCUSD, was promoted to assistant superintendent of HumanResources. The Human Resources Division oversees the hiring and development of District employees.
Dr. Rodriguez is attuned to the needs of the community. She is a San Bernardino resident and a 1990 graduate of Cajon High School. She has devoted her entire educational career to serving the students of San Bernardino and Highland. She has worked for SBCUSD for more than 20 years, dedicating her career to ensuring each child graduates from high school ready for college and career. While pursuing that goal, she has worked in varying roles in education, including as a classified employee, a high school Special Education teacher, and an assistant principal. She was the principal of San Bernardino High School from 2006 to 2015. Most recently, Dr. Rodriguez served as the director of Employee Relations, where she was responsible for ensuring good communication among different employee groups and maintaining effective labor relations.
Dr. Rodriguez earned her doctorate in Educational Leadership from Azusa Pacific University. Her passion for student advocacy, diversity, and academic progress drives everything that she does.
“I believe that when teachers and staff know every student in their school by name and need, we can tailor their educational experience to bring out the best in them,” Dr. Rodriguez said of her philosophy of fostering student success.
As assistant superintendent of Human Resources, Dr. Funchess will guide the hiring of the region’s best teachers and support personnel. With more than 8,000 teaching and non-teaching employees, SBCUSD is one of the largest employers in San Bernardino County and the ninth-largest school district in California.
In 2014, Funchess earned his doctorate in Leadership for Educational Justice from the University of Redlands. In 2016, he joined SBCUSD’s Human Resources Division where he has managed day-to-day operations and been involved in hiring more than 200 teachers and other certificated employees to make sure schools are fully staffed. Dr. Funchess collaboratively developed the Aspiring Administrator program to grow and develop aspiring SBCUSD leaders from within the District’s own ranks. His focus on creating opportunities for advancement within SBCUSD doesn’t just include current employees. Dr. Funchess developed the Golden Bell Award-winning Grow Our Own initiative to educate and hire the next generation of educators from within the community. Current SBCUSD students who are interested in careers in education are encouraged to pursue their dreams with support from the District, even after leaving high school, and return to SBCUSD to share their knowledge and experience.
“My goal is to build an empowered workforce for the San Bernardino City Unified community,” Dr. Funchesssaid.
Prior to his role with Human Resources, Dr. Funchess served as the principal at Henry and Thompson Elementary Schools and was an elementary school teacher.
Funchess and Rodriguez are a testament to the quality of leadership within the District, said Interim Superintendent Dr. Harold J. Vollkommer.
“Sandra and Marcus are proven leaders with extensive experience serving all levels of our school system,” Vollkommer said. “Both have a successful track record of implementing meaningful programs, with results that were evident across our school district. We look forward to introducing them to stakeholders in the coming weeks.”
The District also announced the promotion of SBCUSD graduate Dorie Stratton, who was promoted to principal of San Andreas High School. She has worked for the District for 18 years, most recently as assistant principal at San Andreas since 2017. The award-winning alternative high school serves students who are deficient in credits necessary to graduate.
Senate Republicans, by rejecting the Congressional COVID-19 Stimulus Plan, are encouraging COVID-19, suppressing the economy, suppressing the vote and promoting chaos! Cashless renters are facing eviction… Cashless mini-landlords and cashless homeowners are threatened with foreclosure! Small and large businesses are closing because they have no consumers!
The Republican leadership is obviously willing to kill urban dwelling minorities and Democrats! The red state governors proved that with their “no mask- crowds welcome- get back to work” policies utilized in their urban area! This opinion was declared ridiculous when I first suggested it in March… Now the term “killer republicans” has a hat-rack!
The fact that the COVID-19 stimulus, if delivered, will also benefit poor and middle class Republican voters, is either invisible to or ignored by Senate Republicans! It appears that Senate Republicans are mean-spirited enough to sacrifice poor and middle class republican voters along with minorities and Democrats! They are willing to do it all in order to maintain their racist, inequitable, self-serving, freedom eroding power.
People are dying daily from the virus and yet, Republican leaders are still sending mixed messages regarding COVID-19 policy… Their lack of action on the stimulus plan will definitely suppress the small business economy! It will cause evictions which will disproportionately affect minorities and poor people… Evictions and foreclosures will cause address changes, which can void voter registrations and suppress votes!
Walk together children, and don’t you get weary! There is a long hot road ahead!
Echoing what’s become a slogan for Black Lives Matter protesters, a stocky security guard yelled “I can’t breathe” as he was tasered seven times during his arrest earlier this summer, resulting in his death.
George Zapantis, a 29-year-old security guard with a history of mental illness from Queens, was killed after a five-minute struggle with police on June 21. The New York Police Department has now posted a new, three-hour video showing Zapantis’ cries during his arrest. In the footage, the suspect is seen at the door of his home before growing angry and attacking police. The mass of bodies bring him to the ground as his shouts turn to squeals, and then silence.
He was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital; results of an autopsy are still pending.
George Vomvolakis, an attorney representing Zapantis’ family, called the video’s release “an opportunity for the public to see with their own eyes the excessive force.”
“It doesn’t take a trained professional to realize that six people on top of somebody and tasering them repeatedly could potentially kill them,” Vomvolakis said.
THE INCIDENT
Police responded to Zapantis’ home in Queens, which he shared with his mother and sister, following a call from a neighbor. The complaint said the security guard had approached their 25-year-old son carrying a sword.
After knocking on the door, Zapantis appeared through the glass panes wearing a gladiator outfit, which included a shield and a “sword attached to his left waist,” according to police. He later reappeared at the door without the sword and helmet, moments before he charged officers shouting expletives.
George Zapantis arguing with the police officers. (Real Press)
However, the victim makes it clear in the video he is unarmed. He was reportedly tasered the first time when he barged through the screen door to apparently attack officers. While trying to detain the man, during which officers repeatedly shouted at Zapantis to stop struggling and to put his hands behind his back, the officers question whether he is OK after being tasered seven times.
“Does he have a pulse,” asked one officer.
“He’s breathing, right,” said another.
POLICE RESPONSE
A spokesperson for the NYPD says the matter is still under investigation by the department’s Force Investigation Division. “We do not draw any conclusions about whether an officer’s actions were consistent with department policy and the law until all the facts are known,” said NYPD spokesperson Carlos Nieves.
Physical confrontation between George Zapantis and police officers. (Real Press)
Three officers were identified as firing their tasers a total of six times. A fourth officer fired a colleague’s taser in “drive stun” mode—a setting intended to immobilize someone by causing pain.
Police brutality and excessive force have been in the media spotlight since George Floyd died at the hands of police in Minneapolis over Memorial Day weekend. The death of Floyd, who also told the officers arresting him that he could not breathe, sparked protests across the United States and elsewhere.
The phrase first gained notoriety following the 2014 death of Eric Garner, who said it while held by New York City police officer Daniel Pantaleo in a chokehold prohibited by the department. Pantaleo was not indicted in Garner’s death but was fired by the department in 2019.
Overall, American police kill citizens at a much higher rate than in other wealthy nations. Specifically, in the U.S., police kill 33.5 people per 10 million people, which is more than three times higher than the second-most measured country, Canada, at 9.8, according to the Prison Policy Initiative.
(Edited by Stephen Thomas Gugliociello and Matthew Hall.)
I am grateful for the trust and keenly aware of the responsibility to serve our community college students at a time of historical challenges, but great possibilities.
I am humbled that Governor Gavin Newsom understands the importance of regional inclusion and elevating the Inland Empire into the statewide conversation as it relates to higher education.
The Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges sets policy and provides guidance for the 73 districts and 115 colleges that constitute the system.
The Board of Governors also selects a chancellor for the system. The chancellor brings recommendations to the board, which has the legislatively granted authority to develop and implement policy for the colleges. In addition, the Board of Governors serves as the Board of Trustees for the California Online Community College District.
I look forward to my service on the California Community Colleges Board of Governors, continuing my work on the San Bernardino Community College District Board of Trustees, and collaborating with everyone who are passionate about helping students succeed.
This is a State appointment; however, I appreciate the local and regional support from my constituents, whom I will continue to represent through tenacity and honor.
.WASHINGTON, D.C. — Is the fourth time the charm? Sen. Kamala Harris isn’t the first woman to be chosen for a vice presidential slot by a major political party. She’s the fourth. Each of those women received initial press and public support; all lost. Sen. Harris has a lot of history to overcome.
Though women make up a majority of registered voters, the record of female vice-presidential hopefuls isn’t mixed or encouraging. One lost her home state. None carried the majority of the women’s vote. None delivered a swing state for the top of the ticket. None produced a bump in the polls that lasted for more than one week.
Democrat Geraldine Ferraro, the first woman nominated for vice president by a major political party, ran alongside Walter Mondale in the 1984 presidential election. They lost the majority of voting women and the majority of voting Roman Catholics (Ferraro was Catholic). They lost Ferraro’s home state of New York and nearly lost her home town of Queens.
Republican Ronald Reagan carried 49 states that year. Only Minnesota went for the Democratic Party’s national candidates—and by fewer than 3,000 votes.
Republican Sarah Palin, in her bid for the vice presidency in 2008, hardly did much better than Ferraro. Barack Obama and his vice presidential nominee Joe Biden carried women voters by 14 percentage points over John McCain and Palin, the first woman Republicans chose for that post.
Palin won her home state, Alaska, which had voted reliably for Republicans in presidential contests since it was admitted to the union in 1959.
Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz named California businesswoman Carly Fiorina as his running mate while he fought Donald Trump for convention delegates in 2016. That late effort failed to secure him the Republican nomination or even the majority of women GOP delegates.
I’ve known Senator @KamalaHarris for a long time. She is more than prepared for the job. She’s spent her career defending our Constitution and fighting for folks who need a fair shake. This is a good day for our country. Now let’s go win this thing. pic.twitter.com/duJhFhWp6g
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) August 11, 2020
Examining U.S. election data from 1952 to 2016, Devine said, does not show any change in women’s turnout or voting preferences in the years with a female running mate, 1984 and 2008, compared to other presidential election-years.
Based on historical data, Sen. Harris may help Biden with women voters, but “not dramatically,” Devine said. “We find there’s no evidence that women became more likely to vote for a presidential ticket following the choice of a woman running mate.”
None of the prior defeats of women vice-presidential candidates tell us much about the 2020 presidential race, said University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato. “In 1984, any nominee for president or vice president would have lost—a Democratic nominee—to Ronald Reagan. Conditions were perfect for Reagan’s reelection.”
Economics matters more than female running mates, Sabato said. “In 2008, John McCain was running as the Republican nominee in the midst of the worst recession since the Great Depression, plus the Iraq War. It’s very hard to make the case that a Republican could have won under those conditions. It had nothing to do with Geraldine Ferraro or Sarah Palin.”
Still the Harris nomination marks a turning point, Sabato said. “I don’t think the Democrats will ever again nominate two white males,” he said. “That era is gone.”
The first woman to seriously contend for a nomination for national office was New York Democratic Rep. Shirley Chisholm, America’s first black congresswoman. She challenged Sen. George McGovern for the Democratic nomination in 1972, receiving enthusiastic support from some parts of the press.
Ultimately she failed to win a single primary. But party rules allowed her to win more than 150 votes from delegates at the Democratic National Convention that year.
Like Sen. Harris, Rep. Chisholm’s candidacy was said to signal a new era. Chisholm’s announcement of her candidacy included these lines often cited by historians: “I am not the candidate of black America, although I am black and proud. I am not the candidate of the women’s movement of this country, although I am a woman and equally proud of that. I am the candidate of the people and my presence before you symbolizes a new era in American political history.”
“And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, Woe, Woe, to the inhabitants of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound! [Revelation 8:13]. One more trumpet blast will sound. One more final woe is coming upon the earth. Repent NOW before there will be no more time to repent!
Listen, God sends warnings and redemptive judgments so that we will change our course. If His warnings are ignored and His redemptive judgments do not produce repentance and reformation, God will send a destroyer to destroy the unrepentant. If the situation is not redeemable, God will send totally destructive judgments. Do not bring harm to yourself [Jeremiah 25:4-5]. Repent NOW before there will be no more time to repent! If you do not, thus saith the Lord: ‘Because you have not listened to my words, I will summon all the peoples of the north…, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and against all the surrounding nations. I will completely destroy [you] and make [you] an object of horror and scorn, and an everlasting ruin. I will banish from [you] the sounds of joy and gladness, the voice of the bride and bridegroom, the sound of millstones and the light of the lamp. This whole country will become a desolate wasteland…” [Jeremiah 25: 8-11].
Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand! Repent, Repent, Repent! For as I live, saith the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked: but rather that the wicked should turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn! Turn from your evil ways. For why should you die? [Ezekiel 33:11]. Judgment is about to come to the earth like never before. The storm is about to break in all of its fury. Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin. [Luke 13:3]. You see, the “Third Woe” involves the seven last plagues [Revelation 16]. I tell you, a prudent man sees danger and takes refuge… the simple keep going and suffer for it.” [Proverbs 22:3]. Repent while there is still time! “Come out of her, lest you share in her sins, and receive of her plagues.” [Rev.18:4]. “For He swore by him who lives forever and, who created the heavens and all that is in them, the earth and all that is in it, and the sea and all that is in it, and said, “There will be NO MORE DELAY!” [Rev.10:6]. Turn away from your sin and turn to God NOW. Desire to have nothing to do with sin! “…God is not wishing that [you] should perish, but that [you] should reach repentance.” [2Peter 3:9]. I tell you, the “Third Woe” is coming soon! Repent NOW before there will be no more time to repent!
Childhood disability initiated career path of helping people through medicine
By Timothy Cox –
BALTIMORE, MD — As the youngest of three children born to Army 2nd Lt. Calvin Smith and Betty Cross (Stratton) Smith, Sheldon Stewart Smith, aka “BuBu”who now goes by Dr. Ahmses SaRa Maat, grew up aspiring to become a military hero, much like his father, who was a WWII veteran in the African American flying regiment known as the Tuskegee Airmen.
During the early 1990s, while living in Morrow, Ga., Dr. Maat spent quality time as a respiratory therapist at Atlanta’s Grady Memorial Hospital, one of the world’s leading Level 1 emergency trauma centers. “I certainly relish my developmental years while at Grady,” said Dr. Maat.
Childhood disability empowered and unknowingly helped steer his career path
At age 61, Dr. Maat now lives in Desert Sun, California. He often reflects on how growing up with chronic asthma impacted his life as a teen and young adult, trying to avoid peer pressure.
“It was tough because kids can be mean. Along with the asthma, I also suffered skin rashes. I’d get teased by the boys, but even worse – my girlfriends would shy away, once the skin disorder took effect,” he sadly recalls. I can recall lying in bed praying to God for the ability to just breathe normally like everyone else.”
Living with asthma as a child, not only hindered Dr. Maat’s aspirations for early athletic prowess, but after high school graduation, a failed military physical exam, likewise stopped his chances to volunteer for the Air Force in efforts to follow his dad’s and older brother’s military careers. His older brother, Newt Smith II, is a retired Air Force officer. In May of 2018, a former Veterans park in Beaver Falls, Pa., was officially re-named the Lt. Calvin Smith Tuskegee Airman Veterans Park.
Void of clear-cut career-goals after graduating from Beaver Falls High School in 1977, Dr. Maat, who never considered himself a committed academician in high school, reflects on a senior-year 1.47 GPA when he needed a 1.5 average to graduate. Having learned techniques for the game of chess from his father, he challenged the high school’s woodshop teacher to a game. If he wins, he graduates high school. If he loses, he repeats another year. Apparently, his Dad’s coaching tips paid-off.
Following his early training at Community College of Beaver County (Pa.)and Community College of Allegheny County (Pa.), Dr. Maat initially worked as a respiratory therapist at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh. He quickly developed star-quality studying patterns while attending both at CCBC and CCAC and during his first job as a registered respiratory therapist supervisor at Allegheny General Hospital — a stark contrast from his academic performance in high school.
Studying and practicing in Atlanta resulted in a B.S degree in respiratory care from Georgia State University and post-bachelor’s degree in perfusion technology from Northeastern University in Boston.
While studying and focusing on African spirituality and physics, he attained his Ph.D. in 2000 from the Metaphysical Institute of Higher Learning in San Bernardino, California.
Fast-forward to winter 2020, amid the coronavirus and COVID-19 outbreak, Dr. Maat finds himself in an unprecedented battlefield – on the front-lines of America’s first pandemic in 100 years as a medical professional treating patients suffering from chronic respiratory deficiencies.
With over 40 years of experience and training as a respiratory therapist, and later as a perfusionist, Dr. Maat, during a pandemic, now serves as a highly-sought-after traveling medical practitioner on the frontlines battling COVID-19 in one of the nation’s largest hotspots – Cleveland Clinic/Fort Lauderdale-Miami, Florida.
Helping stem COVID-19’s growing rates among Blacks
Dr. Ahmses working on a ventilator apparatus, while at Clevelan
Clinic, Florida
“While coronavirus patients typically display symptoms requiring oxygen support with symptoms such as chest pains, shortness of breath and muscle aches, the use of external respirators and ventilators are typical devices used to treat respiratory deficiencies,” says Dr. Maat. His perfusionist training requires expertise in administering artificial lungs, hearts and kidneys used during the replacement process of heart-lung bypass surgeries.
“My role as a perfusionist is to keep the patient alive during the replacement of organs, kidneys, lungs, hearts, during the entire operation. Where advanced cardio life-support ends, perfusion life-support begins,” explains Dr. Maat.
Amid current cases of COVID-19 cases rising throughout the United States with disproportionate numbers impacting African Americans, Dr. Maatknows and understands how valuable his knowledge, experience and overall skillsets are during this pandemic.
But the real question that must be answered is why the African American community has suffered more than any other group during the pandemic?
Dr. Maat, now 61, credits the disparaging numbers affecting people of color who generally suffer with lower immune systems. Those are the ones suffering from diabetes, hypertension and obesity. It’s also a fact that too often, black folks don’t eat lots of vegetables and have lived in environments with high toxins like lead-based paints. Although the larger cause is systemic racism and oppression, it exists all throughout the globe including America and the medical industry, unfortunately.” he said.
“Systemically, as a respiratory therapist or clinical perfusionist, I tend to see a system geared toward a certain population facing more social ills. I want to make the world a better place, doing what I do – and my non-African peers they see what’s going on, and they too, want to do the right thing,” he added.
Living in a sports-related environment was challenging
Growing up in sports-enthused Western Pa., specifically in Beaver Falls, “Like all the kids in my 15th Street neighborhood, I wanted to play football, basketball and baseball – and become the next Joe Willie Namath, our hometown hero and Super Bowl III quarterback”, says Dr. Maat.
“Hoops and football couldn’t work for me, but I enjoyed playing baseball. It didn’t demand the intense running like basketball, and it wasn’t dirty and dusty like football. I always had to concern myself with staying healthy at all times –so I always carried my inhaler,” he noted.
In retrospect, Dr. Maat targets his asthma woes with environmental impacts. He lived next door to the now-razed Armstrong Cork plant, which consistently emitted smokey fumes and white, ashy particles from its factory walls. He also lived with two cigarette-smoking parents.
By the time he reached age 12, with the influence of a childhood neighbor, Richard “Dicky” Morris, Dr. Maat started taking Karate lessons from the now infamous Beaver County School of the Oriental Arts of Self-Defense, headed by the family of Willy Wetzel and Roy Wetzel, one of the nation’s first Karate instructional schools, located in Beaver Falls and later, Rochester. In March of 1975, the school closed after a much-reported family battle between son Roy and father, Willy. The older Wetzel died of strangulation, according to published reports.
Aside from the controversial homicide, Dr. Maat says his Karate and Judo experience tremendously impacted his breathing patterns and primarily helped him to overcome childhood asthma.
With a growing reputation of being incredibly skilled in martial arts throughout Beaver County, Dr. Maat was also able to leave behind unfavorable experiences of being bullied by larger upper classmates while in high school.
He likewise credits his mother and Godmother, Marian Jane Taylor, for tending to his crisis situations as a youngster – and later ensuring that he was proficient at self-care, even at a young age. “I was always a mama’s boy,” he admitted. “She was fully committed to my ailment; and would often take-off work early to ensure my medical needs were met – self-care is essential to my health and has always been a part of my proactive healthy lifestyle.” he recalls.
Career and Family development
Dr. Ahmses with Sheree White, a special neighborhod sisterly friend.
While living in Atlanta, he joined an anti-KKK protest march in Forsyth County, Ga. in 1987, led by the late Rev. Hosea Williams, one of Dr. Martin Luther King’s Jr.’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) colleagues, along with SCLC head, the Rev. Joseph Lowery.
“In the late 1980s, when South Africa’s President Nelson Mandela was released from prison – that sparked my interest in the liberation of black people all over the world and to live a more revolutionary lifestyle,” says Dr. Maat.
In explaining his name-change, he says, “It’s similar to when Lew Alcindor changed his name to Kareem Abdul Jabbar. The reason for the name-change was based on my culture, I was Sheldon X in 1992 as a member of the Nation of Islam, and in October 1995, I led a medical brigade from LA to Washington, DC, to be a part of the ‘Million Man March.”
Dr. Ahmses Maat is married to Akua Two Hawk Maat, sharing a blended family including four adult children: Alexia, Malika, Mnsa and GyeNyame Maat.
Inland Empire, Calif. – IE-CEEM extends its appreciation to Walmart Inc. for a $20,000 donation to help reduce COVID-19 infection rates among African Americans in the Inland Empire through increased testing, education and outreach,
The funding will support IE-CEEM’s partnership with Riverside University Health System – Public Health to operate a COVID19 testing site at CrossWord Church in Moreno Valley, which successfully administers more than 600 tests weekly in a predominantly African American area.
In addition to its work in reducing COVID-19 infection rates in Riverside and San Bernardino counties, IE-CEEM is developing strategies in concert with its Health Systems partners to address systemic disparities in African American health outcomes. This collaboration will enable IE-CEEM to implement best practice solutions to these known, yet unresolved health challenges. Combined with the leadership support of African American churches and community-based organizations the team is confident the disproportionate impact of the virus on this population will lessen.
“IE-CEEM is dedicated to improving the health, economic/financial, and education outcomes within the African American community by redefining community prosperity and success for our current and future generations,” said IE-CEEM Founder Reggie Webb. We are committed to addressing the disparity and inequity of all areas that impact the success of the African-American community and are determined to establish equity in the pursuit of parity.”
“We are honored to support community organizations working to ensure those impacted by COVID-19 have access to the care they need,” said Walmart Senior Director of Community Relations Javier Angulo. “Organizations like the IE-CEEM are working tirelessly to meet the needs of underserved populations through their deep-rooted community partnerships and commitment to making a difference.”
To learn more about IE-CEEM, go to www.ceem.coop or visit us on social media at @ceemcoop. To join our efforts, send an email to info@ceem-ie.com.
Downtown Crenshaw, the broad coalition that secured the support of over 280 community organizations and leaders, and over 10,000 signatures to stop the sale of the Crenshaw Mall to CIM Group, is hosting a half-day community design workshop as a part of its community-driven process of asking stakeholders what they want in the redevelopment of the iconic Black community asset. Downtown Crenshaw seeks to acquire the Crenshaw Mall to stabilize the existing merchants, and reimagine/redevelop the property using the principles of community wealth building and neighborhood sustainability.
WHAT: Hundreds of mostly Black and Brown residents, merchants and stakeholders, coming together to reimagine a Black community icon. There will be presentations from national and local leaders in urban planning, and breakout sessions.
Dwayne Wyatt, a retired L.A. City Planner, who is a leader in the Downtown Crenshaw project said: “Typically, developers come into communities like Crenshaw with a preconceived plan to make their investors a lot of money and push out and ignore the existing stakeholders. At best their community engagement is performative. Saturday’s workshop will give the community the time and space to discuss what the Crenshaw Mall reimagined as Downtown Crenshaw – a mixed-use center of the Black community – can be that serves the interests of the community.”
“It is time someone asked the people what we actually want and need. And it’s time the community actually be given the chance to make that happen. This Downtown Crenshaw process is about self-determination, collective work and responsibility, and community control,” said Jackie Ryan, past president of the Leimert Park Village Merchants Association.
“There are a lot of big developers out there who are trying to buy our mall and have their bad ideas for our community,” said Damien Goodmon, executive director of the Crenshaw Subway Coalition and, founder of the newly established Liberty Community Land Trust. “They don’t seek to build for the Crenshaw community. They seek to push out our long-time residents and seniors. By the community taking ownership of the process, and eventually the mall itself, we are establishing a new paradigm. The key principle of this effort is community control. The community is going to own the mall at every stage of the process and that begins with planning.”
“The Downtown Crenshaw effort is the most positively transformative community planning process I’ve witnessed in all my years,” said former 8th District City Councilmember Robert Farrell.
Harris, 55, follows Democrat Geraldine Ferraro, in 1984, and Republican Sarah Palin, in 2008, as only the third woman to be chosen as the running mate on a presidential ticket.
In California, she was the first woman, and first Black woman, to serve as the state’s top law enforcement official. She is the first Black woman from California to serve in the US Senate, and second from any state, after Illinois’ Carol Moseley Braun. Harris is also the first person of Indian descent to appear on a presidential ticket.
If Biden defeats President Trump in November, Harris would become the first woman in US history to serve as vice president.
Westside Story Newspaper – Online The News of The Empire – Sharing the Quest for Excellence
