By Lou Coleman

Recently I spoke with a young lady. She is a Christian, but she refuses to go to church anymore. You know what her excuse for not going is, “Everybody there’s a hypocrite,” she says. They are so phony. They live one way all week and another on Sunday’s.” Please tell me you’re not the one she’s talking about?  You see one of the biggest excuses the world uses to rationalize why they don’t come to church or are not Christians is the hypocrite excuse. “I don’t go to church because it’s full of hypocrites.” “Who needs church if the people in it are no more genuine than the people outside it?”

Listen, we cannot be phony Christians who nullify our witness by our deeds. William Barclay once said, “A man’s message will always be viewed in context with his character.” In other words, your message don’t mean squat if your actions don’t follow suit. [Titus 1:16] says, “They claim to know God, but by their actions deny Him.” You’re not the one this verse is referring too are you? I want to know; because there is probably no greater a curse on the church than that of hypocritical [phony Christians]. You see the world is not so much turned off by what we preach. They are turned off by the fact we don’t practice what we preach. We don’t walk the talk we talk. That’s why [1Peter 2:1] instructs us to, “rid ourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind.” We cannot be phony Christians who turn the world off because we fake our relationship with God. Just going through the motions! They aren’t fooled. We must be aware that our deeds affect the lost. [1 Peter 1:21] says, “Live such good lives among the pagans that though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.”

You know a few years back the Coca Cola Bottling Company decided to start a new campaign to sell Coca Cola. They called it the “Real Thing.” Because they found that people are searching for authenticity. And so it is in our world; people are looking to see if we are the “Real Thing.” Authentic followers of Christ! I tell you we must live our life of authenticity and character so that there will be no doubt in their minds about who we are and Whose we are.

Let me tell you a story. “Once upon a time a grouchy old Deacon was teaching a boy’s Sunday school class. He wanted to help them understand what a Christian was, so he asked them a question. He asked, “Why do people call me a Christian?” There was a moment of silence and then one of the boys said, “Maybe it’s because they don’t know you.” Just like that little boy, Jesus always told it just like it was. He told the Pharisees and the scribes exactly what they were. He told His disciples exactly what resided within the hearts of men. Pretending to be something they were not! I don’t know about you but I would rather be called anything than a hypocrite! Therefore as [Titus 2:7-8] instructs us, “In everything [let us] set the world an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about you.”

I tell you, our day-to-day living must become genuinely more and more Christ-like, and not just fake it. We should never be false or defeated Christians. Even if everyone around you seems hypocritical—or even if no one else around you is a Christian—you need to be a real Christian. That is your calling. You need to stand out from the

Panelist Zumar Zamaan (back center) pictured with students who work closely with Dina Walker

SAN BERNARDINO, CA – – BLU Educational Foundation (BLU) launched a thoughtful dialogue this month with the community screening of the award-winning provocative news documentary, The Souls of Black Girls. The screening was held Thursday, March 24 at San Bernardino Valley College and included a post-screening panel discussion with thought-leaders from the Inland Empire Region. The panel also included local students who work closely with Dina Walker, founder of BLU.

Dina Walker, Founder of BLU, pictured with community leaders (l to r) Hardy Brown II and Jonathan Buffong

“Our objective was to provide a safe environment where the community could come together to discuss socially relevant issues facing African American girls and women,” said Walker. It’s important for all women to have a healthy self-image. We’re optimistic that this discussion will extend well beyond Women’s History Month.”

Panelists included Zumar Zamaan, a local writer; Dr. April Clay, a counseling consultant; Faith Ellis, an English teacher; and students Davina Clay, Raihanah Medlock, and Breanna Smith. They each shared personal experiences and how they’ve chosen to navigate issues such as family dynamics, dating relationships and public perceptions of black women.

The screening also served as a precursor to BLU’s Soul Sister’s Leadership Academy and Conference slated for this summer and fall respectively. T-shirts bearing the slogan #BlackGirlsMatter can be purchased to support the Academy and participant scholarships.

Produced by rising filmmaker Daphne Valerius, The Souls of Black Girls raises the question of whether or not women of color may be suffering from a self-image disorder as a result of trying to attain the standards of beauty that are celebrated in media images. The candid piece features interviews with young women discussing their self-image as well as social commentary from Rapper/Political Activist Chuck D, Actresses Regina King and Jada Pinkett Smith, PBS Washington Week Moderator Gwen Ifill and Cultural Critic Michaela Angela Davis, among others.
 

Dennis M. Brown

SAN BERNARDINO, CA- Memorial services for Pastor Dennis M. Brown will be held on Friday, April 8 at 7 p.m. at Temple Missionary Baptist Church located at 1583 Union Street in San Bernardino. Pastor Brown was called “The Voice of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.” When he would sing, members of the community caked him the Black Elvis.

Pastor Dennis was called home to be with The Lord on Thursday, March 24 at 4:35 p.m. For more information on the services, please call Bishop Leroi Lacey at (949) 705-8191 or Bishop Daniel Frazier at (909) 534-1383.

Front row: Mayor Carey Davis, City of San Bernardino; Supervisor Josie Gonzales, 5th Supervisorial District; San Bernardino Councilman Fred Shorett, 4th Ward; Assemblymembers Eric Linder (R-Corona), Freddie Rodriguez (D-Pomona), Tom Lackey (R-Palmdale), Cheryl Brown (D-San Bernardino), Jose Medina (D-Riverside),Marc Steinorth (R-Rancho Cucamonga), and Jay Obernolte (R-Hesperia); Senator Mike Morrell (R-Rancho Cucamonga); San Bernardino Councilman John Valdivia, 3rd Ward; and San Bernardino Councilwoman Virginia Marquez, 1st Ward.

Back row: Robert Duarte Gutierrez, American Medical Response; Captain Jack DeJong, San Bernardino County Fire; Chief Mark Garcia, Redlands Police Department; Annemarie Teall, San Bernardino Police Dept. Dispatch Unit; Deputy Sheriff Shaun Wallen, San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Dept.; Chief Jarrod Burguan, San Bernardino Police Dept.; San Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon; Chief Thomas Hannemann, San Bernardino City Fire; Ryan Starling, San Bernardino City Fire; Eric Sherwin, San Bernardino County Fire; anonymous lady John Chamberlain on behalf of Kathleen Opliger, San Bernardino County Fire; and Dr. Michael Neeki, Arrowhead Regional Medical Center/San Bernardino County Department of Probation.

By Lue Dowdy

Our YOUTH IS WHAT IT DO WITH THE LUE. This Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the PAL Center come out and support our youth as they perform live! The showcase will be hosted by Comedian, Anthony Stone. The day will consist of a FREE community resource fair opened to the public. “Bring the entire family out for FUN! Until next week, L’z!

Waudier “Woodie” Rucker-Hughes accepts the Chamber’s Citizen of the Year Award from Chairman Bob Stockton and past Citizen of the Year honoree Nick Goldware. Photo credit: Michael Elderman.

By Dr. Paulette Brown-Hinds

She has spent her adult life as an advocate for “the least, the lost, and the last.” She is a champion for social justice. For many she is a beacon of hope, serving simultaneously as a guide, an access point, a connector between what is plausible and what is possible. And last week, as the Greater Riverside Chambers of Commerce honored her as Citizen of the Year, I joined hundreds of our fellow citizens in tribute to Waudier Rucker-Hughes, known affectionately to most of us simply as “Woodie.”

Woodie is a problem solver. She’s one of the few people I can call with a difficult issue and know she will find a resolution. She never says “no I can’t…” Probably because she grew-up hearing the phrase, “can’t is a lazy animal that doesn’t try,” an adage her parents regularly repeated during her formative years. Many of her parents’ beliefs have been “indelibly imprinted” on her brain, “Your attitude about life will determine how far you get in this life.” Those beliefs inspired her and in turn she uses them to inspire others.

As the longtime president of the Riverside Branch of the NAACP and an advocate for homeless and foster youth with the Riverside Unified School District, the work she does on behalf of others is more than just a job. Like her hero Martin Luther King, Jr. she has the drum major instinct. She is a model of love, moral excellence, and generosity. In his address to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1967, Dr. King outlined those attributes:

“We all have the drum major instinct. We all want to be important, to surpass others, to achieve distinction, to lead the parade…and the great issue of life is to harness the drum major instinct. It is a good instinct if you don’t distort it and pervert it. Don’t give it up. Keep feeling the need for being important. Keep feeling the need for being first. But I want you to be the first in love. I want you to be the first in moral excellence. I want you to be the first in generosity.”

A citizen. A beacon. A drum major. A remarkable woman and community leader. Woodie earns the “citizen of the year” moniker every year through her giving spirit, her love for others, and her understanding that excellence is not a skill, it is an attitude, which is another lesson she learned from her parents:

“Good…Better…Best…Never Let Them Rest…Until Your Good Becomes Better…And Your Better Becomes Best!”

By Dee Hunter, Urban News Service

Planned reforms to federal drug and sentencing laws that imprisoned many African-Americans have become locked up by election-year politics.

“The cost of incarceration and a growing awareness of the problems with mandatory minimum sentences have created a diverse coalition calling for reforms,” said Kevin Ring, of Families Against Mandatory Minimums.

Senator Cory Booker (D-New Jersey). Photo by Joe Ruffin

Reform supporters span civil rights advocates, law enforcement organizations, numerous federal judges, conservative groups and even Republican stalwarts, the Koch Brothers. Eighty percent of American voters support ending mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses, according to a February Pew Charitable Trusts poll.

President Obama has made this issue a priority. He issued an executive order in January to prohibit solitary confinement of juveniles. He discussed criminal justice reform in his latest State of the Union address, and pardoned 95 federal inmates at Christmas. He also became the first president to visit a federal prison.

Several relevant bills enjoy broad bipartisan support in Congress. The Senate Judiciary Committee approved the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act of 2015 by a 15-5 vote last October.

Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) introduced this legislation, which enjoys 28 Senate co-sponsors. “Our sentencing bill is a compromise that shows that senators from both sides of the aisle can come together to address a serious problem in a reasonable and responsible way,” Grassley said.

Traditional crime fighters and criminal-justice reformers debate whether drug offenders are violent. Thirty-five percent of drug offenders in federal prison had minimal criminal histories and no previous imprisonment, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. However, BJS also reports that 25 percent of drug offenders also used weapons in their most recent offenses.

Senator Ted Cruz (R – Texas) voted against the bill. As amended, it provides “leniency for violent criminals who use guns and gives lighter sentences to criminals already serving time,” he said before the Judiciary Committee.

“That claim is false and does not factually line up with the reality of who is behind bars in our federal prisons,” said Senator Cory Booker (D-New Jersey) in response to critics who say the bill would free violent criminals. “Each case must also go before a federal judge, with the prosecutor present for an independent judicial review.”

Grassley’s measure addresses several stringent sentencing provisions that have helped swell the federal prison population over the past 30 years. It would repeal the “three strikes” law that requires a mandatory life sentence without parole for anyone with a third conviction on drug or violent-felony charges. Instead, the bill creates a mandatory 25-year sentence.

This legislation retroactively applies a 2010 sentencing-reform provision that reduced the disparity between crack and powder cocaine penalties. This change alone would let about 6,500 prisoners petition the courts for release or reduced sentences. Grassley’s bill also includes juvenile-justice reforms and language to help former prisoners transition back into society.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky), facing pressure from tough-on-crime Republicans, has not said whether he will allow a vote on Grassley’s proposal. “Our system of justice is not broken,” former U.S. attorney general John Ashcroft wrote last month in a letter to McConnell, signed by 40 high-ranking former law-enforcement officials. “Mandatory minimums have caused a dramatic reduction in crime.”

Reform advocates do not consider Grassley’s legislation the major overhaul of mandatory-minimum sentences for which they long have fought, saying his bill does not go far enough.

“It’s a Goldilocks reform bill. It’s not too much. It’s not too little. But it’s better than nothing,” said Nkechi Taifa of the Open Society Policy Center. “There was a time when this looked like a slam dunk…It was the right issue at the right time. Now it is not so clear.”

This bill only applies to the federal justice system, where about 200,000 inmates are held. This is just 8 percent of the 2.5 million Americans confined to state prisons and local jails.

While the Senate’s path remains clouded, the measure has a brighter future in the House. Legislators and reform advocates consider Speaker Paul Ryan (R- Wisconsin) an ally in overhauling sentencing and drug laws. Ryan said he supports all the measures that have cleared the House Judiciary Committee. “We will schedule floor time for them,” Ryan told journalists at a recent Capitol press briefing.

Until then, reformers sound as impatient as ever.

“All there has been is talk, and more talk,” said civil rights leader Barbara Arwine. “Action is long overdue. Mass incarceration threatens many of the gains we fought for in the Civil Rights Movement. It’s time for a vote.”

The Colton-Redlands-Yucaipa (CRY-ROP) was one of four agencies selected nationwide to participate in the Youth Action Council on Transition (YouthACT), a national initiative designed to get more youth with disabilities to partner with advocates and organizations to improve their opportunities for disabled young adults. Pictured from left are Fernando Olivarez, Nicole Drazin and Branley Acevedo who represented the agency in Washington, D.C. recently.

The Colton-Redlands-Yucaipa Regional Occupational Program (CRY-ROP) was one of four agencies nationwide selected by the National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability for Youth  to participate in the Youth Action Council on Transition (YouthACT).  YouthACT is a national initiative designed to get more youth with disabilities to partner with advocates and organizations to improve opportunities for disabled young adults.  The initiative is led by the National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability (NCWD/Youth). Program funding was provided by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP).

The San Bernardino County Workforce Development Board (WDB) is a nationally recognized leader in workforce issues, and is often used as a model for other boards across the country.  CRY-ROP, one of the San Bernardino County WDB youth service providers, now joins the national ranks on the youth perspective, serving as a testament to how the Workforce Development Board’s funded youth employment programs are making a positive impact on the lives of at-risk youth.

CRY-ROP’s YouthACT team is working with teams across the nation to discuss and plan leadership, advocacy and transitional strategies for young adults.

“I am proud to be named the adult partner for the YouthACT team out of Colton-Redlands-Yucaipa ROP.  The partnerships between youth and adults that the program creates are powerful forces,” said Nicole Drazin, placement specialist.  “As we collaborate, we are creating a new energy in our communities that will pave the way to better opportunities for transitioning youth.”

The Workforce Development Board is making efforts to gain input from youth about what they need during their transitioning years.  This input helps provide the right opportunities, services, and support for this population.

YouthACT aims to increase positive youth-adult partnerships where young people and adults work together, share information and learn from each other. All individuals in the partnership have the opportunity to engage in planning, decision-making, and action consistent with their own interests and skills.

“It’s imperative for us to point youth in the right direction to succeed in life during their transitional years,” said James Ramos, Chairman of the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors.  “Colton Redlands Yucaipa ROP is a voice for our San Bernardino County youth community and their needs will be heard at the federal level.”

In 2016, the YouthACT team and peer leaders from CRY-ROP’s WDD-funded employment program will be making presentations at community and school organizations on how students with disabilities can advocate for themselves and their families, and identify short and long term plans to support personal and career goals.

“We are very proud that one of our youth service providers was selected as one of four national cohorts to be the voice for YouthACT.  This is a testament to the high caliber of our Workforce Development Board funded youth programs,” said Workforce Development Executive Director Sandy Harmsen.

Attorney Zulu Ali (PRNewsFoto/Law Office of Zulu Ali)

RIVERSIDE, CA- Attorney Zulu Ali of the Law Offices of Zulu Ali in Riverside, California has been named Top 10 Best Lawyers by the American Institute of Criminal Law Attorneys. The American Institute of Criminal Attorneys is an invitation only legal organization recognizing excellence of practitioners in the field. Each lawyer must be formally nominated, have attained the highest degree of professional achievement in his or her field, and have an impeccable client satisfaction rating.

Attorney Zulu Ali, a native of Shelbyville, Tennessee, is a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, who served with the Marine Security Forces. After graduating from the Tennessee Law Enforcement Training Academy, Attorney Ali served as a sworn police officer with the City of Shelbyville, City of Lewisburg, and Vanderbilt Police Departments, respectively.

Attorney Ali earned a Juris Doctorate (law degree) from Trinity International University Law School and a liberal arts degree with an emphasis in African Studies from Regents College through a consortium with Tennessee State University.

Attorney Ali has been admitted to the California State Bar; United States District Courts for the districts of Central California, Southern California, Northern California, and Colorado; United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth, Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh Circuits; and the United States Supreme Court.

In 2007, inspired by civil rights attorneys Charles Hamilton Houston, Thurgood Marshall, and Avon Williams, Jr., who used the law and courts as a vehicle to make change and protect all people against injustice, Attorney Zulu Ali opened the Law Offices of Zulu Ali with a focus on representing persons accused of crimes and seeking criminal justice, immigrants, victims of discrimination, and persons seeking civil justice. Attorney Ali and his law firm take on extremely difficult cases and matters that provide an opportunity to make changes in the law, through the courts, when the law is unjust.

Attorney Ali serves as Director of the American Committee for United Nations Oversight, an advocacy group lobbying the United Nations for police reform; Director of the Stop and Frisk Academy, which trains at risk youth and others to deal with police encounters; Director of the Southern California Veterans Legal Clinic, a legal clinic offering no cost and low cost legal services to military veterans; and a member of the National Conference of Black Lawyers. Attorney Ali was Honored Top 100 Lawyers by the National Black Lawyers-Top 100.

Attorney Ali resides in Southern California with his wife (Charito) of 30 years. Their four adult children, Christine, Whitney, Ashley, and Lynda; and two grandchildren, Amayah and Tye, also reside in Southern California.

SAN BERNARDINO, CA- BLU Educational Foundation (BLU) is inviting the community to join them as they celebrate Women’s History Month with a neighborhood screening of the award-winning provocative news documentary, The Souls of Black Girls.  The screening, which will be held Thursday, March 24 is free to attend and will include a post-screening panel discussion with thought leaders from the Inland Empire Region.

Produced by rising filmmaker Daphne Valerius, the documentary raises the question of whether or not women of color may be suffering from a self-image disorder as a result of trying to attain the standards of beauty that are celebrated in media images. The candid piece features interviews with young women discussing their self-image as well as social commentary from Rapper/Political Activist Chuck D, Actresses Regina King and Jada Pinkett Smith, PBS Washington Week Moderator Gwen Ifill and Cultural Critic Michaela Angela Davis, among others.

The screening will be held in the Library Viewing Room of San Bernardino Valley College located at 701 South Mt. Vernon Ave. A pre-screening reception featuring spoken-word performances given by students who work closely with Dina Walker, founder of BLU, will begin at 5:40 p.m. The screening will start at 6 p.m. Seating is limited.  Reservations may be secured online at Eventbrite. Questions about the screening may be directed to OneNation Media Services at (909) 657.0578.