By Naomi K. Bonman

SAN BERNARDINO, CA—- On Monday, January 20, 2020, several community organizations will be celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. and his legacy with the San Bernardino Dr. Martin Luther King Day Parade Extravaganza and Awards Gala. The parade will be held on the west end of San Bernardino starting at Arroyo High School located at 1881 W Base Line Street in San Bernardino at 11 a.m. The parade will end Graciano Gomez Elementary School located at 1480 W 11^th Street in San Bernardino. The parade and expo will end at 4 p.m.

The organizations behind the parade include: Youth Build Charter School Inland Empire, the Southern California Black Chamber of Commerce, Young Visionaries Leadership Academy, The Black Cultural Foundation and LUE Productions along with other community entities.

The SB MLK DAY PARADE will be an informative and educational event, in which the entire community can enjoy. The day will consist of parade activities followed by entertainment and a vendor extravaganza that will showcase local talent, an art walk, food, classic cars and celebrity guest.

The Awards Gala which will honor key sponsors, community members, and community organizations that have contributed time and resources in the beautiful City of San Bernardino. Awards Gala set to take place Saturday, January 18th, 2020 in the City of San Bernardino.

The committee is currently seeking sponsorship, car and float entries, vendors, performers and volunteers. For more information or to get involved, visit www.blackchamberofcommerce.org.

By Covered California

Sheila Head has been an entrepreneur in Oakland, California for 36 years.

“I love what I do,” said the hairstylist and owner of Head Designs.

But while her business was relatively healthy, Head’s body was not.

“I only would go (to the doctor) when I absolutely had to go,” Head said. “Then Covered California came around, and I jumped on it. My life seemed to blossom.”

Open enrollment is underway for consumers to sign up for health insurance through Covered California. A key deadline is December 15 for consumers who want their coverage to begin on January 1. Open enrollment runs through January 31.

A free health screening revealed that Head was pre-diabetic.

“Oh, no. I don’t want to have anything to do with diabetes,” said Head.

Diabetes is one of the diseases that disproportionately affects African Americans. The U.S. Office of Minority Health estimates that African Americans are 80 percent more likely than other races to get diabetes and are twice as likely to die from the disease.    

                                                                       This year’s open-enrollment period features some of the biggest changes since Covered California first began offering health coverage in 2014. First, two new state initiatives — the state subsidy program and the restoration of the individual mandate — were key elements in Covered California’s record-low 0.8 percent rate increase for the upcoming year.

While preliminary, early data shows that 85 percent of eligible low-income Californians are qualifying for a state subsidy on top of their federal tax credits. About 50 percent of middle-class Californians across the state with household incomes between 400 and 600 percent of the federal poverty level are finding out they are eligible to receive a state subsidy starting in January.

“We have heard from people across the state who will be saving hundreds of dollars a month because California is putting its people first,” Covered California Executive Director Peter V. Lee said. “Whether you never thought you could get financial help, or if you have checked before, you need to check again because there is new money available that may dramatically reduce the cost of your coverage.”

The new state subsidies are already helping consumers who have selected a plan for 2020. Eligible low-income consumers who qualify for a subsidy are receiving an average of $19 per month, per household, while eligible middle-income Californians who receive a subsidy are getting an average of more than $500 per month, per household.

Enrolling for coverage now is critical because California restored the penalty that was part of the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act from 2014 to 2018. That means most consumers who do not get covered could face a fine when they file their 2020 taxes in the spring of 2021. A family of four would pay a penalty of at least $2,000, and potentially more, for not having health insurance throughout 2020.

The penalty aside, Lee and Head focused on the positive aspects of being insured, including free health screenings, an annual checkup and peace of mind knowing that if a health crisis occurs, you won’t go bankrupt when bills pile up.

Free preventative health care services offered by all Covered California health plans helped Head make wise choices to stay healthy, and she is now an active participant in an innovative diabetes-prevention program offered through her health provider, Blue Shield.

“Covered California gave me, like, my own heath care team,” Head said. “I hope everyone will have the opportunity to feel like I’ve been feeling.”

---

Covered California Open Enrollment Information

Those interested in learning more about their coverage options can:

• Visit www.CoveredCA.com.
• Get free and confidential in-person assistance, in a variety of languages, from a certified enroller.
• Have a certified enroller call them and help them for free.
• Call Covered California’s Service Center at (800) 300-1506.

Open enrollment runs through January 31, 2020. Enroll by December 15 to have coverage start on January 1.

By Tanu Henry | California Black Media

Black Republicans in California are focused and organizing. 

They want to “reintroduce” African Americans in the state to the GOP, Black Republican leaders and activists say.

By increasing the number of Black Republicans holding political office in the state and inspiring more Black Californians to vote red, they believe their efforts will purple the deep blue African-American vote in the fourth bluest of blue states in the country, according to a ranking by The Hill, a Washington D.C.-based website that covers the U.S. Congress, Presidency and national politics.

“We are Black first, then Republican,” says Corrin Rankin, 45, a GOP activist and delegate who splits her time between homes in San Mateo and San Joaquin counties.

“We believe Republican policies are more in line with our values as Black Americans than democratic policies,” says Rankin. “We believe in low taxes, small and efficiently-run governments, and limited regulation. The more regulations you have, the less people – especially people from economically disadvantaged backgrounds – are able to get involved in any industry.”

Last February, at the state Republican convention, Rankin says she and other African-American conservatives who attended decided to organize themselves and form an association called the Legacy Republican Alliance (LRA), a political action committee, after they found out the California Republican Party had a directive to not reach out to Black voters.

“We understand from a business perspective that the number of Black Republicans in the state is relatively small, but that was not the right way to go for the party,” she says. “There were other ethnic organizations at the convention. That’s why we decided to create the LRA, to increase our numbers and make our voices heard so that we can have a seat at the table.”

California has the fifth largest Black population in the country, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.   African Americans account for about 6.5 percent of the state’s total population of nearly 40 million people.

Democrats in California make up 72 percent of Black registered voters, according to the Public Policy Institute of California. Six percent of those African-American likely voters are Republican. Independents account for about 20 percent.

And there are no Black Republicans who are members of the state legislature or among California’s delegations to the United States Congress.

But some African-American leaders in the California Democratic Party are concerned that their party has not done a good job empowering Blacks when it comes to things like organizing voter registrations and encouraging voter participation. Many point out, too, that fellow Democrats at the state, county and local levels often overlook issues important to African Americans like failing schools and the high cost of housing, and they sometimes advance public policies that disproportionally impact Blacks as well as middle class and lower-income families.

.

Those Black Democratic leaders – two of them spoke with California Black Media off the record for this article – say those missteps by their party cause them to work harder to ensure that their party remains the first choice for Black Californians.

But Taisha Brown, who was sworn in chair of the California Democratic Party African American Caucus last month, says Black support of the Democratic Party and elected Democrats in the state has never been stronger. And with more African-American Democrats being appointed to influential leadership positions in the state, she is confident things are moving in the right direction.

“We may not see eye-to-eye on every issue as Democrats in California, but we still stand with each other, and we support a party where there is room to have difficult conversations that allow us to move forward together in good faith as we work for a better California, a better country, a better life for all of our families,” she said. “Now, more than ever, we have to listen to each other and think about how the things we fight for impact all of us.”

Since the LRA was formed, Rankin says the group has launched a website and focused on informing Black Californians that Republican policies on employment, business, education, taxation, criminal justice reform, community-police relations and criminal justice reform are better for their families and communities.

They have also been actively raising money to support Black Republican candidates and LRA members, including Navy veteran Joe Collins who is running for U.S. Congress against Rep. Maxine Waters in the 43^rd district which covers the Los Angeles area; Aja Smith, an Air Force vet, also running for U.S. Congress against Democratic Rep. Mark Takano in the 41^st district in the Inland Empire; Tamika Hamilton, another Air Force vet running for Congress against Democratic Rep. John Garamendi in the 3^rd Congressional district west of Sacramento; and Major Williams who is running for mayor of Pasadena.

Another member of the LRA, Jonathan Madison, has been elected Regional Vice Chair of the Bay Area GOP.

In April of this year, the California Republican Assembly (CRA), a statewide conservative activist group former California Gov. and U.S. President Ronald Reagan called “the conscience of the Republican Party,” elected Johnnie Morgan, 68, as its first African-American president for a three-year term.

Morgan says one of his main goals as CRA president is to recruit more African Americans and Independents to join the California Republican Party.  

“African Americans place a high value on family as does the Republican Party,” Morgan told California Black Media.

Rankin is encouraging Black Californians who want to make a difference in their communities to reach out to the LRA for mentorship and guidance on how to get elected to county or municipal office.

“You can run for city council or your local school board and represent yourself, your interests, your neighbors and your community,” she says.

Rankin says the LRA is building a framework in California that it hopes to take nationwide.

“Our state is in desperate need of diverse and thoughtful leaders who will bring a much-needed, new approach to solving California’s toughest challenges,” she says.  

By Zack Whittaker | Tech Crunch

If you just bought or plan to buy a smart TV, the FBI wants you to know a few things.

Smart TVs are like regular television sets, but with an internet connection. With the advent and growth of Netflix, Hulu and other streaming services, most saw internet-connected televisions as a cord-cutter’s dream. But like anything that connects to the internet, it opens up smart TVs to security vulnerabilities and hackers. In addition, many smart TVs come with a camera and a microphone. But as is the case with most other internet-connected devices, manufacturers often don’t put security as a priority.

That’s the basic takeaway from the FBI’s Portland field office, which just ahead of some of the biggest shopping days of the year posted a warning on its website about the risks that smart TVs pose.

“Beyond the risk that your TV manufacturer and app developers may be listening and watching you, that television can also be a gateway for hackers to come into your home. A bad cyber actor may not be able to access your locked-down computer directly, but it is possible that your unsecured TV can give him or her,  an easy way in the backdoor through your router,” wrote the FBI.

The FBI warned that hackers can take control of your unsecured smart TV and in worst cases, take control of the camera and microphone to watch and listen in.

Active attacks and exploits against smart TVs are rare, but not unheard of. Because every smart TV comes with their manufacturer’s own software and are at the mercy of their often unreliable and irregular security patching schedule, some devices are more vulnerable than others. Earlier this year, hackers showed it was possible to hijack Google’s Chromecast streaming stick and broadcast random videos to thousands of victims.

In fact, some of the biggest exploits targeting smart TVs in recent years were developed by the Central Intelligence Agency, but were stolen. The files were later published online by WikiLeaks.

But as much as the FBI’s warning is responding to genuine fears, arguably one of the bigger issues that should cause as much if not greater concerns are how much tracking data is collected on smart TV owners.

The Washington Post earlier this year found that some of the most popular smart TV makers — including Samsung and LG — collect tons of information about what users are watching in order to help advertisers better target ads against their viewers and to suggest what to watch next, for example. The TV tracking problem became so problematic a few years ago that smart TV maker Vizio had to pay $2.2 million in fines after it was caught secretly collecting customer viewing data. Earlier this year, a separate class action suit related to the tracking again Vizio was allowed to go ahead.

The FBI recommends placing black tape over an unused smart TV camera, keeping your smart TV up-to-date with the latest patches and fixes, and to read the privacy policy to better understand what your smart TV is capable of.

As convenient as it might be, the most secure smart TV might be one that isn’t connected to the internet at all.

Still: more than 4 in 10 are still not sure, mistrust of government driving the lack of participation

A new national survey of public attitudes about the 2020 U.S. Census shows Americans are growing more willing to stand up and be counted, confirming a positive trend from other surveys, although serious concerns about how the data will be used ? and if it will be secure ? confront the Census Bureau’s outreach campaign on the eve of major operations.

The online survey found that 58 percent of respondents said they “definitely will participate” in the 2020 Census. That means more than 4 in 10 are still not sure, which is comparable to this point in advance of recent decennial counts in 2000 and 2010.

The survey found deep levels of general mistrust of government driving the lack of participation among manythat is undermining census participation. For example, 49 percent agreed with the statement …

… The government will do whatever it wants regardless of the data.

This sentiment was over 50 percent among Hispanics, African Americans, Muslimsand the youngest age group. The findings show the toughest motivational challenge for the Census Bureau is with the youngest Americans. Among those age 18-24, only 29 percent said they will participate, and for those 25-35, it was 52 percent, well below the national average. Despite the cynicism, the 2020 Census had one of the highest reputation scores, with 78 percent of respondents expressing a favorable view, compared to only 50 percent favorable for the Federal Government.

The survey was conducted by Quadrant Research for Article 1, a non-profit coalition of Census expertswho conducted the audience research to help craft a national unifying civic message to promote a full, complete and accurate count in 2020.

Summary …

The challenge for the 2020 Census is becoming clear: many people in the U.S. (more than 4 in 10 overall) aren’t yet fully committed to participating.

While this may not be abnormal in the lead-up to a decennial Census, there are significant headwinds to contend with in this particular climate ? most notably that the federal government is unpopular. There are significant doubts that the government actually uses the Census data to guide its actions. Furthermore, certain groups – Muslims, African Americans, Asian Americans, and Young Adults primarily – are especially concerned that the government will actively use their personal information for nefarious purposes.

This polling demonstrates a few key points necessary to overcome the skepticism, ensure broad participation, and get an accurate count – particularly among the most vulnerable groups:

• The Census Bureau must maintain a perception of independence from politics and the rest of the federal government in the lead up to the Census.
• To guard against any growing skepticism of the Bureau (given it is part of the federal government), outside groups like community and non-profit organizations can play a big role in convincing people to participate.
• It is imperative to communicate about the community-level benefits of an accurate Census in order to make it clear that the government does in fact use the data to make important decisions. (The Bureau’s media campaign intends to do this.)
• There is also clear value in supporting that message with a more emotional appeal –one that positions the Census as a source of empowerment for marginalized groups and truth about what America looks like.

Key Takeaways …

Read the Full Report here …

Get REAL ID ready by planning ahead during the holiday travel season

SACRAMENTO, CA—- In advance of Thanksgiving – the biggest travel holiday of the year – the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) is reminding Californians that new federal ID requirements to fly within the United States or enter secure federal facilities take effect October 1, 2020. Californians who fly to visit friends and family should be aware of the new federal requirements and begin making necessary preparations for a REAL ID so next year’s travel arrangements are not derailed.

“Let this holiday travel season be a reminder to all Californians that the October 2020 federal enforcement date will already be here by this time next year,” said DMV Director Steve Gordon. “If your identification card or driver license expires after the federal enforcement date, and you need a REAL ID sooner, we encourage you to apply now.”

As a reminder, a REAL ID driver license or identification card can only be obtained by visiting a DMV field office with the required documents:

• An identity document (valid passport, birth certificate, etc.)
• A document with a Social Security number (Social Security card or W-2 form showing entire number)
• Two hard copy documents showing California residency (utility or cell phone bill, bank statement, mortgage bill, etc.).

A list of federally accepted application documents and other information can be found on the California DMV REAL ID website.

To save time, the DMV encourages residents to fill out their application prior to visiting their nearest DMV office and to consider those that offer Saturday and extended morning hours. Californians can also check the status of wait times at their local branch by visiting www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/detail/fo/fotoc.

For the complete document checklist, an the interactive quiz to find out if it’s time to get a REAL ID, and a list of other federally approved identification that can continue to be used after October 1, 2020, such as a passport, visit REALID.dmv.ca.gov.

By California Black Media Staff

Landlords Are Hiking Rents Before Rent Control Law Takes Effect

Before a new rent control law Gov. Newsom signed in October goes into effect in January, some landlords around the state are trying trying to get ahead of the restrictions they see coming by slapping tenants now with double-digit rent increases and no-violation evictions.

AB 1482, the Tenant Protection Act of 2019, will the amount landlords can hike rents within one year to 5 percent, plus local inflation. It will also protect tenants who have rented a place for more than one year from no-violation evictions.

The law only exempts rented single family homes and condos that are not owned by corporations.

There are reports from all around the state about the sudden new rent increases and rise in evictions. According to a renter advocacy group “Tenants Together” about 36 cities – including Long Beach, Los Angeles, Pasadena and Stockton – have responded by passing local ordinances to prevent evictions or place temporary moratoriums on rent increases.

The good news is that once the law goes into effect next year, any rents raised since March 2019, the month the bill was referred to the Legislature, will drop back to what they were at the time. But evictions that happened in that same period will not be reversed.

“Tenants Together” says there are legal resources and vital information available to help Californians affected by rent hikes. Communities can also pressure their local governments to pass urgent ordinances against the practices.

Some landlords are pushing back, saying that this period before the signed bill becomes law allows them an 11^th-hour chance to bring the rent on their properties up to market prices and get rid of bad tenants.

Gov. Newsom Wants to Close One State Prison

Gov. Gavin Newsom said earlier this month that he wants to close at least one state prison in California – where there is a disproportionate number of African Americans serving sentences in the state penitentiary system the Department of Correction and rehabilitation mostly runs and costs taxpayers more than $15 billion a year.

Although African Americans only make up about 5.6 percent of California’s population, Black prisoners account for more than 28 percent of all inmates in state prison.

The governor has neither decided which prison he wants to close nor spelled out how he would go about doing it – taking into account  jobs, other local concerns, sentence reductions, etc., – but he says the issue is “personal” to him.

“I would like to see, in my lifetime and hopefully my tenure, that we shut down a state prison,” he said. “But you can’t do that flippantly. And you can’t do that without the support of the unions, support of these communities, the staff, and that requires an alternative that can meet everyone’s needs and desires.”

Moving California away from over-focusing on punishment to strengthening prevention programs, as well as providing rehabilitation and reintegration assistance for formerly incarcerated people, is his priority, said Newsom.

The state is investing $20 million in the 2019-20 budget to help formerly incarcerated people successfully reintegrate into their communities through the California Community Reinvestment Grant program.

Why You Should Be Paying Attention to Prop 13  

About 65 percent of Californians are happy with Prop 13, according to CalMatters.

It is a 1978 ballot measure that limits the amount of tax that can be applied to a home or commercial space to 2 percent of the property value a year and 1 percent of the same amount when it is sold.

But recently, there has been rising support among people around the state for revising parts of Prop 13 to allow larger tax increases on commercial properties, but not on homes.

If the more than 400 civic and political groups – as well as elected officials, activists and ordinary citizens – backing the proposal get their way, and the initiative gets placed on the 2020 ballot, it could play out to be one of the biggest political fights in the state next year.

Supporters of the “Schools and Community First” initiative say new tax revenues from commercial properties would generate around $12 billion in much-needed funding for public services and education around the state.

Gov. Recaps State Efforts to Fight Wildfires and Help People Affected PG&E Blackouts

Last week, Gov. Newsom recapped in detail the different ways the state mobilized resources to help Californians, including people with disabilities, in response to the recent wildfires and PG&E blackouts in October that affected more than a million people in at least 35 counties.

He said all state agencies –  concerned with everything from health and social services to business, transportation and public safety – joined hands with non-profits and private companies like AT&T, Adobe, Apple, Google, Facebook, and more, to help affected Californians who needed it most.

“Faced with the unprecedented decision by PG&E to leave millions of Californians without power, the State of California sprung into action to protect vulnerable residents,” said Gov. Newsom. “Our world-class emergency responders and emergency agencies battled on multiple fronts – dangerous fire conditions and Public Safety Power Shutoffs. Through prepositioning of firefighting assets and mobilizing emergency response systems, California was able to avoid the major loss of life that has occurred under similar conditions.”

The Governor said the state has also kicked off a $75 million program to help state and local governments provide assistance to their residents during shutoffs.A new website,  RESPONSE.CA.GOV, will also “serve as a one-stop portal for resources available to Californians impacted by wildfires and power shutoffs,” the governor’s office said. 

By Lou Yeboah

That’s right! Why? Because one day is not long enough to thank God for all that He’s given us. His blessings come daily. [Psalm 68:19] says, “Blessed be the Lord, Who DAILY loadeth us with benefits….” Every day God has new blessings for us, and every day ought to find us thanking Him. I tell you, we must never be guilty of allowing our thanks to wait until Thanksgiving to be expressed. We are to be thankful to the Lord EVERY DAY of our lives, because “Thanksgiving” is like breathing – how could we survive if we only breathed just once in a while? We can’t.

I want you to know that instead of setting aside only one day for Thanksgiving the Bible actually designated several times during the year for God’s people to celebrate His goodness and thank Him for His blessings!” Each year at the beginning of the harvest season, for example, God’s people were called to come together to give thanks for His goodness in supplying their needs. This festival took place in late spring, fifty days after the annual Passover celebration. As the harvest season ended in the fall, God’s people celebrated another time of thanksgiving, lasting seven days. Other times of thanksgiving during the year also recalled God’s mercy and goodness. But more than that, people were urged to remember God’s goodness EVERY DAY of the year—and that should be true for us as well.

So, as you prepare to go through the traditions of Thanksgiving, may you not get so caught up with the turkey and the trimmings that you forget about the God who gives us all things, and the Savior to whom we owe all our praise! Don’t just relegate Thanksgiving to one day a year—or make November the only month you count your blessings. Make it a lifestyle!  Continually thank God for all He has done for you.  As [1Thessalonians 5:16-18] says, “Rejoice ALWAYS; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Wishing you a very happy and blessed Thanksgiving!

CATHEDRAL CITY,CA—-The Marijuana Anti-Prohibition Project (MAPP), the Inland Empire’s first and most active medical marijuana patient support group and law reform organization, will be celebrating its 20^th Anniversary in December. Founder and Director, Lanny Swerdlow looks back and says  “If someone had told me when I first began MAPP twenty years ago in  December 1999 that people would be able to grow their own without fear of arrest and that it would be sold legally in stores,  I would have wondered what they had been drinking.”

To celebrate 20 years of successful cannabis activism in the IE, MAPP will be holding a 20^th Anniversary Celebration on Saturday December 7 at 5 p.m. in the consumption lounge at the Vault Dispensary in Cathedral City at 35871 Date Palm Drive in Cathedral City, CA. The event will feature speakers, entertainment and a buffet dinner at a restaurant/bar.

MAPP has always been a local Inland Empire organization engaging local citizens with local elected officials to allow for safe, reliable and local access to cannabis. It was members of MAPP that approached the Palm Springs City Council in 2008 asking them to enact an ordinance that would allow for medical marijuana dispensaries to open and provide marijuana to medical marijuana patients with valid doctor’s recommendations.

The Palm Springs City Council agreed to do that and formed the Palm Springs Medical Marijuana Task Force to draft an ordinance that would allow for the operation of medical marijuana dispensaries. Back in 2008 there were only a few cities that had drafted ordinances to allow for the operation of medical marijuana dispensaries so the task force was pretty much developing it from scratch. 

MAPP Director Lanny Swerdlow was a member of the task force and notes that the City took developing this ordinance very seriously. “Two city council members, Ginny Foat and Steve Pounet served on it along with City Attorney Doug Holland, Chief of Police Gary Jeandron and citizens representing different segments of the community. It took one and one-half years to get it written and passed, but city officials were determined to make it happen from the beginning.”

Since its founding, MAPP has been active in promoting and protecting the rights of medical marijuana patients to have access to marijuana. They have made repeated appearances before the Riverside and San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors as well as many cities in the IE. 

One of MAPP’s major accomplishments came about in 2015 when Riverside County was considering banning all medical marijuana patient cultivation. A concerted push by patients at a Board of Supervisor’s meeting resulted in the ordinance not being implement and instead an ordinance was enacted that specifically allowed patients the right to cultivate their own medicine in quantities that could provide them with sufficient medicine to treat their ailments.

Today the Coachella Valley is a hotbed of cannabis activity with Palm Springs, Desert Hot Springs, Cathedral City, Palm Desert and Coachella allowing commercial cultivation, manufacture and distribution of cannabis. The only other IE cities to allow commercial cannabis businesses are Adelanto in San Bernardino County and Perris in Riverside County. 

With the passage of Prop. 64 which legalized the use of cannabis for all adults 21 and over and the development of legal commercial businesses, MAPP has been working to make cannabis accessible throughout the IE.

Although no licenses have been issued, MAPP is currently working with Riverside County in the development of its ordinance to allow cannabis businesses to operate in the unincorporated areas of the County which is expected to take place in 2020.

The passage last week by the House Judiciary Committee of the MORE Act will remove cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act and thereby end federal marijuana prohibition. A vote on the House floor is expected sooner rather than later and will make MAPP’s 20^th Anniversary a truly momentous event.

By Charlene Muhammad | California Black Media

Even if you have people living with you who are not on your lease – or say your affordable housing application – you should still make sure they are counted during the 2020 Census, says Ditas Katague, director of the California Complete Count office.

“No enforcement agency, federal, local, or anything, can get that data,” she assures Californians. “It’s safe.”

Last week, Katague visited Los Angeles county, the hardest-to-count area in the United States and also a region in the state with census tracts where the most African Americans live. She was on a stop that was part of a statewide push to encourage all Californians to respond to next year’s census forms.

She sat with California Black Media writer Charlene Muhammad to talk more about the state’s  $187.3 million investment to get an accurate count of all Californians. Katague also shared details about what her office has been doing so far to achieve it, and she give some insights on why it has been so hard for census workers to get the African-American count right in the past.

CALIFORNIA BLACK MEDIA (CBM):  What has your office done to reach out to Blacks in California – particularly to the the Black population here in Los Angeles?

DITAS KATAGUE (DK):  As you know, statewide, the money and the investment that both the governor and the legislature have made across the state have been unprecedented. 

That’s because California is the hardest-to-count state in the country. In fact, the City of L.A. is the hardest-to-count city and Los Angeles County is the hardest-to-count county in the hardest-to-count state. 

So, even though our efforts are unprecedented, these are the reasons that we need to do that level of outreach. The U.S. Census is actually a federal operation, and so here at the state level, we don’t control any of the actual counting.  We don’t design the form, but what we can control is reaching out, educating our Californians to make sure that they know how important it is to respond.

And to that end, we’ve divided the state. We’ve used data to really inform our partners on the ground about where they should be reaching out and to whom.  I’m up in Sacramento. Nobody wants to listen to me about why they should be filling out the form.  It’s really about getting the word out through trusted community partners on the ground, and really connecting with folks to say why is it so important and what an accurate count means for them on the ground.

CBM: L.A. – the hardest to count in the country!  I didn’t know that. What makes L.A. and the state the hardest-to-count places?

DK: Well, for Los Angeles County, one of the things is that it’s so very diverse.  In L.A. Unified School District, they speak over 200 languages. That is what makes our state so beautiful and so diverse, but it also makes it very hard to count. 

Now, when we talk about hard to count from the state level, we looked at the state and we took these14 variables and we came up with a hard-to-count index based on them.

(Those variables are: Percent of households without broadband subscriptions; percent of households that are non-family; percent of households that are renter occupied; percent of housing units that are vacant; percent of households that are crowded with more than 1.5 persons per room; percent of population that is foreign-born; percent of adults (25 or older) who are not high school graduates; percent of population with income below 150 percent of the poverty level; percent of households receiving public assistance; percent of persons (ages 16 or older) unemployed; percent of limited-English households; percent of persons who moved from outside a county in the past year; percent of population under 5; and percent of total housing units with three or more units in a multi-unit structure.)

What does that mean?  Well, that is really because the enumeration is address-based, so it’s where you are.  In order to be invited, you have to have an address, right? Think about the difficulty of counting people that are living in multi-unit apartments, or if they’re living with non-family members. So, say there is an apartment, and there are four of us living there, and we’re not related. Sometimes, one person will get the mail and the invitation to respond, and they’ll respond for themselves but forget the other three roommates.  So, it sort of compounds itself in terms of the difficulty to be counted.  And, of course, we have a lot of people who rent.  We have a lot of people here in Los Angeles that have limited English, or that are new to the country. We have a lot of folks who are scared, or just kind of don’t care, and so it’s not just one thing that makes folks hard to count. It’s a number of things if you kind of layer them on top of each other.

CBM: Why is the Census important for the Black community?

DK: It’s important for all our communities, of course, but particularly for the Black community.  I mean they have to know we exist for us to resist, right?  And if they don’t know we’re here, then we’ll be ignored. I say that both for the Black community and also for the Native American community.  My Native American folks up in Northern California, the way they look at it is to save their water, and that’s what really resonates with them, because if they don’t know you’re there, they’ll take the water.  That’s how they feel, so you have to think about that within your community. If people don’t understand how strong and how powerful our communities are, they don’t understand what kind of voice we could have and will have. So, it’s really about being seen. It’s about standing up. It’s about no longer being invisible for all of our communities.

CBM: What has been your outreach efforts in the community so far?

DK: We’ve divided the state into regions, and so here in Region 8 is the Los Angeles County area. We have a contractor – California Community Foundation – and they’ve really done a great job looking at the data and then identifying partners because they’ve been involved in L.A. a lot.  And they’ve been funding partners on the ground to talk about it right now.  This time around, we’re doing an education component. We’re also identifying what I call the grass-top leaders, so maybe not all the way down to the ground just yet, but folks that are leaders and movers and shakers in the community to let them know why it’s so important.

Then, as we move into Spring – from January and February to March of 2020 – that’s when the education starts to move in to motivate and activate. That’s when we want everyone on the ground – from high school students all the way to our elder folks – to understand and be ready to respond. So, the efforts we’re doing right now are focusing on the importance, and it’s really about two things. It’s about power and it’s about it’s about money. We talked a little about power, about being heard when it comes down to it. And it might be a little bit nerdy, but it’s our Congressional representation, too. So, we could lose a seat or two – very serious – if we’re not counted and they don’t know where we are. So, I already joke around that we don’t need Texas to be counted. They don’t need to answer (laughs), but I mean it’s because it’s a zero-sum game in terms of the way they divide up the seats. It all depends on the response of other folks. 

And it’s about money. People say “Oh!  It’s about $1,000 per person, per year!”  But what does that actually mean? The way I think about it when I talk to my 16-year-old daughter is: What if she, for a semester, didn’t have a chair to sit in, or a desk to sit at during her math class at this public high school? If they don’t know we’re here, if we forget children – and children 0-5 have often, in the past three decades, been missed for a number of reasons. A child that is born in 2020 will be in 5th grade in 2030, and if they’re missed, will they have a seat or will they have to sit on the ground?  So, in terms of money, it’s about health clinics. Will that health clinic be located close enough?  I always talk about how a friend’s dad had a stroke, and he had to travel 10 extra minutes to get to a hospital because there wasn’t one close enough, and those 10 minutes can make a difference between life and death or being disabled or being able to heal.  So, in terms of health care, in terms of schools, our education, in terms of traffic, everyday traffic, the roads are getting worse and worse, but if we don’t know, we’re unable to plan for how many people are going to have cars. It has everyday impact on our lives.

CBM:  Let’s talk more about the fear factor. For instance, in the Black community, you may have someone with Section 8 (housing assistance), or people who may have formerly incarcerated persons, still in the system, living in their homes. One big issue is the trust factor with the Black community.  People are like, “We’re not telling the government anything!”  How have you all been able to get your message to permeate that attitude?

DK: There’s been a lot of testing done, and so we’re well aware of that. And there are different trust issues for different communities. And so one of the things we’ve been looking at is if they’ve tried different messages. But, at the end of the day, people think everybody’s going to get stuff on their Facebook and WhatsApp. At the end of the day, for me, even if technology is really quick, it’s really that face-to-face, that person-to-person communication that is most important. That’s human nature and that doesn’t change. That’s why the investment that we put out there has been to make sure that people in the community, whether it be faith-based, whether it be service-based – your hair stylist, your nail technician – whether it be community members that you already deal with, or even your healthcare professional in your clinic. We want to go where people go already in the community and we want them to be trusted. A part of that is being able to tell people that there’s Title 13 that guarantees privacy. 

People are like, “Well, why do they need to know my name? Why do they need to know all this stuff?”  And I think about it and it seems kind of invasive, but they do keep it private. No enforcement agency, federal, local, or anything, can get that data, so it’s safe.

I view the Census as a snapshot in time, like those coffee table books, and if you’re not counted, you’re missed.  And then, to quote my favorite play “Hamilton,” “who will tell your story if you don’t?”  So it’s to up to us to rise up, to be counted, and to be able to put a stake in the ground to say “I’m here, and there’s no reason why I shouldn’t be recognized and counted.”