By Lou Yeboah

(EMPIRE NEWS NETWORK—ENN)— “And the Lord said, [insert your name]! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren [Luke 22:31-32].

Yes, the Devil wants you. He wants to “sift you as wheat.” He wants to expose everything that could bring shame and accuse you before God. Let this be a warning to you. Satan would like to chew you up and spit you out! I tell you, as followers of Christ we must never be so naïve as to think that Satan pays most attention to those who have already surrendered to his demonic powers. No, the opposite is true. It is those who follow Christ and have a reputation for being godly Christians who have Satan on their backs. You better know that you know. And let me just say this, if you have never met the Devil, it is because you and the Devil are going in the same direction.

Satan, the serpent, the Great Dragon, Beelzebub, the ruler of this world, the prince of the power of the air, the evil one, and the adversary, who came to steal, kill, and destroy. Satan doesn’t give a crap about you. He is Satan. And—if you are a follower of Jesus Christ—he hates your guts with a passion. Like a roaring lion he is prowling about seeking to destroy you. You better know that you know!

And be sure of this, Satan is desirous to trip up the preacher, the deacon, the Sunday School teacher and every devoted Christian that he can. He is at work to keep a church fooling around with things that don’t matter while the world goes to hell. He brings friction into the Christian family to cause brokenness and ineffectiveness.  I tell you, there is a lion loose today, and he trying to defeat you, to bind you, to keep you from becoming what God would have you to be. Satan promises the best, but pays with the worst; he promises honor and pays with disgrace; he promises pleasure and pays with pain; he promises profit and pays with loss; he promises life and pays with death. But we can overcome him through our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ as we put on the whole armor of God. I tell you, be watchful! Because our adversary, the Devil, walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” [1 Peter 5:8].

NEVER allow his-sight to see you – search to smell you – chase to catch you – grasp to hold you- tongue to taste you – teeth to crush you – throat to swallow you – stomach to digest you – and never let his lunch be you! NEVER ALLOW HIS- DECEPTIONS to derail you – DELUSIONS to detain you – DISSATISFACTIONS to detour you- DEPRESSIONS to destroy you – and DISAPPOINTMENTS to deny that God lives. The enemy’s schemes are ruthless and cunning. Know your weaknesses. Know where you are vulnerable, know what your Achilles Heel is, because if you don’t, Satan does and he will eat you up and spit you’ out!”

“Therefore let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall.” [1 Corinthians 10:12]

 May God help us to stay alert, awake and anointed in the face of the evil one.

July 24, 1927 to March 16, 2019

(EMPIRE NEWS NETWORK—ENN)— Anita Joy Dimery-Riley passed away on Saturday, March 16, 2019 at the age of 91.

Anita was a member of New Hope Missionary Baptist Church, where her passion was working with incarcerated youth through Prison Ministry, as well as being a member of the Eula B. Wheeler Mission Circle. She was also active in many community organizations, including Urban League and Adrianettes.

She is survived by her husband, Richard Riley; her son, Charles Slaughter and his wife Tracy; her son, Rudolph Dimery; and her grandchildren Lauren Dimery, Charles Slaughter and Sara Slaughter. She is also survived by her brother, John Watson and her sister Mary Abalos, as well as many other relatives.

Visitation will be held on Sunday, March 31 from 3 p.m. to to 7 p.m. at New Hope Missionary Baptist Church located at 1575 N 17th Street in San Bernardino. The service will also be held at New Hope on Monday, April 1 at 10 a.m. Internment will be at the Riverside National Cemetery on Tuesday, April 2 at 9:30 a.m.

(EMPIRE NEWS NETWORK—ENN)— Women have worked tirelessly to have their voices heard in a male-run society. Through tests and trials, they have pushed their voices to the forefront, shedding light on the injustices constantly thrust against them.

Women’s History Month applauds these successes.’

The month of March is a time to celebrate all that women have accomplished thus far. Yet it is also time to focus on the women’s movements that many are still fighting for.

The way that women go about making sure the world hears their voices and opinions varies. Whether it’s marching, speaking, dancing—there are many ways for women to express their thoughts. More and more women are going about that by writing poems, essays, short stories, and fiction; women are using the pen-to-paper technique to shed light on thoughts, opinions, and injustices.

During March there are numerous female authors who release books. Some of these empowering books written by women of color are focusing on or include current themes found in society today. These authors use their books to demonstrate how impactful words are for gathering support and creating solidarity.

Empowering Books Written by Women of Color March 2019

A Woman is No Man

Etaf Rum’s novel, A Woman Is No Man, focuses on arranged marriage and how that severely affects a young woman’s self-worth. The bravery shown by the female characters leaves something for women across the world to latch onto.

Long Live the Tribe of Fearless Girls

Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls, written by T Kira Madden, is a raw debut memoir about her life as a queer and biracial teenager living in the privileged and racially tense Boca Raton, Florida. Honesty and compassion rip through the pages—and with no apology for it either.

Internment

Another novel that has intense ties to the present climate of the United States is Internment by Samira Ahmed. Set in the near future United States, this novel follows a girl and her parents as officials force them into an internment camp for Muslim American citizens.

Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations

This is a bold and wry graphic novel that talks about identity, interracial families, and division—all in the form of questions. These questions are ones many found themselves asking during the 2016 election; specifically, the racial climate of the country is talked of with an odd, but necessary, intimacy.

These books all share a common theme—strong women; women who do not give up even with adversity consistently thrust upon them. Whether it’s books that focus on celebrities and their feminist standpoints (think Beyoncé) or high fiction novels that show the courage and strength of women, there is much to learn from these characters.

Courage is resilient—standing up for what you believe in is of the utmost importance. Without that, where would Women’s History Month be?

Photos by John Coleman

(EMPIRE NEWS NETWORK—ENN)— FONTANA, CA— The Concerned Citizens for the Development of North Fontana work annually with a wide array of others to plan and present it’s Black History and Culture Program.

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By Carol McGruder

(EMPIRE NEWS NETWORK—ENN)— Coming of age in the 1970s, I can still vividly remember seeing Marvin Gaye at the Kool Jazz Festival at the Oakland Coliseum and thinking how wonderful it was that Kool cigarettes were supporting our artists. I was a teenager and didn’t connect that Big Tobacco’s sponsorships, product giveaways, and money were simply part of their master plan to get and keep Black people hooked to menthol cigarettes. It was predatory targeting and customer recruitment all dressed up as support for the Black community.  Their ability to link this deadly product to the natural “coolness” of Black people was a true marketing triumph.

Menthol has been the tobacco industry’s recruitment tool for far too long. It has been added to cigarettes for nearly a century, masking tobacco’s harsh flavor, making the smoke feel smoother and easier to inhale – but that ease comes with a price.  The smoothness of menthol allows smokers to inhale more deeply, so harmful particles can settle lower in the lungs.  Menthol cigarettes are also harder to stop – people who use menthol cigarettes have a lower rate of successfully quitting.

2019 marks 10 years since the passage of the Tobacco Control Act (ACT) – an historical piece of legislation that among other things, banned flavored cigarettes, all flavors except menthol. While the Act was intended to stop the tobacco industry from using the allure of sweet, enticing flavors to hook a new generation to cigarettes, it failed to do one important thing. Stop the sale of menthol-flavored cigarettes.

Yes, the Tobacco Control Act was a huge victory for all of us who had worked for decades to combat the tobacco industry but exempting menthol cigarettes from the initial legislation was a heartbreaking setback and anyone who loved Black smokers knew it.

Big Tobacco would like us to believe that this exemption was preserving smokers’ choice, particularly for communities of color, who have higher rates of using menthol cigarettes.  For example, in California, 70 percent of African American adult cigarette smokers smoke menthols – the highest usage rate of any group.  Big Tobacco is using choice as a smokescreen to hide the fact that menthols are one of their best tools to addict new customers, and they refused to let it, and Black people, go.

Let’s look at what’s really going on. Since the Tobacco Control Act was signed, although cigarette use has declined in the U.S. in recent years, sales of menthol cigarettes have steadily increased, especially among young people and new smokers, essentially having the opposite effect the Tobacco Control Act intended!

The milestone we should be celebrating are the more than the 320,000 deaths that would have been averted by 2050 had the menthol cigarette ban gone into effect in 2011.  And though Black folks are only ten percent of the U.S. population, a third of those saved lives would have been African Americans. This huge disparity is a testament to the effectiveness of the decades of predatory tobacco industry targeting that we have endured.   Menthol cigarettes are the main reason why African American communities experience the greatest burden of tobacco-related mortality of any racial or ethnic group in the United States. Smoking-caused illnesses continue to kill more African Americans than AIDS, car crashes, murders, drug and alcohol abuse combined.

It’s important to note that menthol sales bans do not criminalize individual people who smoke menthol cigarettes or punish smokers targeted by the tobacco industry for decades to use these deadly products – they are merely aimed to prevent their sale. The truth behind the smoke is that the tobacco industry is working hard to prevent sales bans – It’s estimated that the industry’s contributions to the African American community is as high as $25 million per year. I hope that our people have more information now than they did in the seventies and that they know  what the tobacco industry is really trying to buy…our future.

Make no mistake, this year we have an opportunity to take a major step forward in protecting our state’s health — one that’s 10 years in the making. Banning the sale of menthol cigarettes is a strong message from our elected officials that our cities will no longer participate in the sale and distribution of these deadly products.  Let’s not miss this chance to get rid of menthol cigarettes for good. To learn more about menthol visit www.tobaccofreeca.com.

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Carol McGruder is Project Director of the African American Statewide Coordinating Center Ms. McGruder is a seasoned veteran of California’s tobacco control experience and has served as an advisor in many capacities, most recently as a founding member and Co-Chairperson of the African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council (www.savingblacklives.org). In 2017, the San Francisco National Association for the Advancement of Colored People honored Ms. McGruder for her community activism. She is a recipient of the prestigious Jefferson Award for community activism in tobacco control and in 2007 she was the American Legacy Foundation national honoree for “Community Activist of the Year.”

An impressive lineup of women-directed films in 2019 may increase the critically low number of female directors who made it onto the 2018 list of top films.

(EMPIRE NEWS NETWORK—ENN)— Successful women-directed movies in 2018 dropped 3 percent from the previous year.

According to a report from the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film, only 8 percent of the top 250 films at the domestic box office had female directors. This is even lower than the 9 percent of female directors who made into 1998’s list of top films.

However, a slew of promising women-directed movies scheduled for release this year may help turn this statistic around for 2019.

New female-directed films range from action to Indy and are led by familiar and up-and-coming directors.

Captain Marvel was one of the most anticipated movies of 2019 and comes from co-directors Ryan Fleck and female filmmaker, Anna Boden. The two have previously worked together on multiple films such as Half Nelson and It’s Kind of a Funny Story.

Their newest project hit theaters on March 8 and scored a solid 82 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. The film takes place in the 90s and centers around a strong female protagonist who becomes one of the most powerful heroes in the universe.

Other female-directed films scheduled for release this year include The Sun Is Also a Star, a romantic coming-of-age film by Ry Russo-Young, and The Kitchen, a comedy directed by Andrea Berloff about three women who take over their husbands’ mob empire in the 1970s.

Disney fans will be happy to know that the highly-anticipated sequel, Frozen 2 will premiere on November 22, 2019. The film was co-directed by Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck—the same filmmakers who created the first movie.

Thanks to this impressive lineup of releases, an increase in the number of female-directed movies that make it into this year’s list of top films are promising. However, only time will tell if there will be an improvement from the critically low percentage of successful women-directed films in 2018.

Black on the Block will bringing together millennial entrepreneurs of color in an engaging, empowering and entertaining community block party

(EMPIRE NEWS NETWORK—ENN)— RIALTO, CA— What is a way to empower, educate and entertain young adults of the community all at the same time? This is the premise of what Black on the Block is about. This community block party will take place on Saturday, March 23, 2019 at Rialto City Park, 130 E San Bernardino Avenue, Rialto, CA 92376.

“Our intention is to build a legacy,” Vickie Davis, curator of Black on the Block, explains. “This event is more than an expo. This will be the genesis of our narrative as a community: united in love, support, entrepreneurship and determination to define our own destinies.”

Black on the Block, hosted by Tomorrow’s World, will feature local vendors, raffles, prizes, guest speakers and FREE lunch will be provided for children under the age of 12 on a first come, first serve basis.

There will be live performances from artists of Forte Culture Media. The artists include: BduhGod, UhSantay, Saint Wicks and Shi-D.

The event is free to the public, so bring a friend, family member or child and mingle with some of your local neighbors.

(EMPIRE NEWS NETWORK—ENN)— SAN BERNARDINO, CA— The San Bernardino City Unified School District (SBCUSD), a longstanding leader in dual language immersion, has earned statewide recognition for its commitment to bilingualism.

The group Californians Together will honor the District with the prestigious Multiple Pathway to Biliteracy District Recognition Award on March 22. The award will be presented during the California Association for Bilingual Education’s Seal of Excellence banquet in Long Beach.

SBCUSD’s long history of valuing biliteracy and multilingualism, including the establishment of the successful Dual Immersion Program 19 years ago, are among the reasons for its selection. In addition, Californians Together highlighted the District’s launch of the Multilingual Initiative as a “bold plan to engage all students in high-level multilingual learning opportunities.” The state group also commended the introduction of the innovative, new Trilingual Immersion Program as evidence of the District’s pledge to encourage all students to reach high levels of proficiency in two or more languages. The trilingual program will fully launch at Belvedere Elementary School in August, promoting English, Spanish, and Vietnamese starting in kindergarten.

The community’s rich linguistic diversity is one of our greatest assets because speaking a language other than English is vital in a multilingual workforce, said Superintendent Dr. Dale Marsden.

“In San Bernardino City Unified, we have long recognized that bilingualism and biliteracy are strengths that will help our students in college and the workforce,” Marsden said.  “We recognize that a child’s home language is an asset that should be cultivated.  We have an amazing opportunity to capitalize on our community’s linguistic and cultural strengths and position ourselves as leaders in preparing our students for careers in the global economy.”

Marsden lauded the District’s English Learner Programs Department for its work to serve students who have not yet mastered the English language and those who want to learn a second or third language. Lead by Director Ana Applegate, the department is behind the thriving Dual Immersion Program, which is offered at 20 District schools.  In fact, 6,500 District students are enrolled in the District’s 26 biliteracy programs.

“Speaking more than one language is almost an expectation in our multilingual society,” Applegate said. “It makes our students competitive when they enter the workforce, and it opens them up to a whole new world.”

Every year, the English Learners department honors students who are making progress toward English proficiency and those who are working toward bilingualism and biliteracy. The department also supports students’ efforts to earn the State Seal of Biliteracy upon high school graduation.

By Lou Yeboah

(EMPIRE NEWS NETWORK—ENN)— “What you’ve done to me is already done back to you….Celie: [holding a knife to Albert’s throat] I curse you. Until you do right by me; everything you think about is gonna crumble! [Sofia]: Don’t do it Miss Celie. Don’t trade places with what I been through. [Shug]: Come on Miss Celie let’s go to the car. [Sofia]: He ain’t worth it, he ain’t worth it. [Albert]: Who you think you is? You can’t curse nobody… [Celie]: Until you do right by me, everything you even think about gonna fail! The jail you planned for me is the one you gonna rot in! Time for me to get away from you, and enter into Creation. And your dead body’d be just the welcome mat I need. [Grady]: It’s been a pleasure meeting all of you. Good-bye.”

“You reap what you sow” is a well-known idiom, but this principle is also Biblical. The Lord gives principles in Scripture to serve as warnings and as an encouragement. In [Galatians 6:7], His Word states, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.” The principle applies to everyone, both Christians and non-Christians. This principle is irrevocable; there is no escape, either for the believer or for the unbeliever. It is a law of life. But herein lies the root cause of the careless and indulgent lifestyle of many people. They are deceived. They either do not believe the truth, or they think they will somehow be the exceptions to God’s laws. But as [2 Corinthians 5:10] reveals: “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”

The fact that we reap what we sow is good news for those who sow good habits, but a frightening thought for those currently involved in ungodly activities such as promiscuity, drug and alcohol abuse, neglect of family, or mistreatment of others in order to climb the ladder of success. We cannot sow crabgrass and expect to reap pineapples. We cannot sow disobedience to God and expect to reap His blessing. What we sow, we reap. Let us not deceive ourselves: We will reap the harvest of our lives.

I don’t know who this is for, but spitting out a bunch of hostile, angry, mean, resentful words at someone is not going to help. It is not going to make you a better person, it is not going to make them a better person, and it won’t improve your relationship. Just because you feel something doesn’t mean you have to say it. And you don’t have to let your feelings control your actions. Much of living the Christian life comes down to how well we get along with other people. Scripture makes it plain that God places tremendous value on unity.

As you go through life you’re going to find some people who simply rub you the wrong way. Maybe they don’t do anything specific—but there’s something about them that gets under your skin. Also, there will be times when you find that you rub someone else the wrong way. You might not have anything against this person, but they’ve got something against you. No matter how hard you try, they’ve decided in advance not to like you. I tell you, take the high road. Your actions are more important than your feelings. Sometimes you have to cover your feelings by “putting on” the right behavior. Your feelings may be sending you in one direction emotionally, but you can clothe yourself with attitudes and behavior that move you in the right direction. Paul said, “Put on compassion…put on kindness…put on gentleness.” You may not feel these things, but you can “put them on”—at least temporarily. Some people say, “That seems hypocritical,” but it’s not. If you feel dislike for another person, and you show them kindness, you’re not being hypocritical, you’re being holy! Besides, the Bible never tells us that we will be judged according to our feelings. It says again and again we are judged according to our actions. You can’t always control the way you feel, but you can control the way you dress. So, dress for success! Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. When you deal with conflict you put your feelings aside and you put a layer of holiness between you and the other person.

As [Matthew 7:12] says, “In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” It is written in Proverbs to “ponder the path of your feet, and … remove your foot from evil.” [Proverbs 4:26-27].  We need to think about our choices and what the consequences of our choices are. They can lead to corruption, or to eternal life. “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.

Everything in life goes exactly according to what is written in God’s Word. There are no exceptions. This is a law of life that affects everyone, whether a believer or a non-believer.

As [Celie] said: Dis life be ova soon. Heaven last always.

The Color Purple – a film based on Alice Walker’s novel, directed by Steven Spielberg

Photos By John Coleman

(EMPIRE NEWS NETWORK—ENN)— RIVERSIDE, CA— For more than a week it already had been raining, sometimes quite heavily.  San Bernardino’s annual Black History AND Culture Parade, traditionally scheduled for the first Saturday in BLACK HISTORY & CULTURE Month–FEBRUARY   had been washed, even ‘flooded’ out.  And on this Riverside ‘Parade Day’  puffed-up, dark clouds were crawling down area mountain sides. And it was raining.

Questions asked: What to do? Who to ask? Is the parade still on? Even in the rain?

Dell Roberts answered, “This is Riverside! A little rain doesn’t stop us!”

The clouds above the 10 Freeway appeared to thin as we approached Downtown and a patch of blue let sun through to illuminate the  off-ramps.  The corner where i parked was flooded into mid street;  but the rain had stopped.

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