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‘No Going Back’ Scholars Say Lives of Black Californians Must Improve After COVID
With most of the conversation around the COVID-19 pandemic focused on relief within the next few months, some activists and researchers are looking to the future, asking: What should “back to normal” look like for Black Californians?
“No Going Back” is an independent report presented by the Committee for Greater LA, the University of Southern California’s (USC) Equity Research Institute, and the University of California Los Angles’ (UCLA) Luskin School of Public Affairs. The study offers dozens of policy recommendations to ensure equal access to all Los Angeles residents, regardless of race or immigration status post-COVID. The report is comprised of 15 chapters covering multiple policy areas, including housing and homelessness, economic development, public health and education.
“COVID is the disease that has revealed our social illnesses of anti-Black racism; precarious employment; sharp racial gaps in wealth and digital access; unaffordable housing; growing homelessness; unresponsive government; and so much more,” the “No Going Back” report’s executive summary reads.
Although the study focuses on LA, where the majority of African Americans in California live, some parallels can be drawn with other metropolitan areas across the state where large numbers of Black Californians also call home. The African American population in Los Angeles County alone is larger than the total of the next top 10 metro areas ranked by their Black populations combined.
Based on the data they gathered for the study, the USC and UCLA researchers discovered that Blacks are still discriminated against in most areas of public life.
The policy section titled “Improving Black Life in Los Angeles” includes a sketch of African American history in California’s largest metropolitan area that acknowledges the impact Black people have had on Los Angeles County and the conditions of inequality that keeps Black households from acquiring wealth. The report cites low incomes, high unemployment, discrimination in labor and discriminatory real estate practices as contributing factors. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated all of those things.
The report also asserts that death rates from COVID-19 for Black Angelenos, which is double that for White Angelenos, are highly influenced by “poverty, poor food quality, lack of park access, and job characteristics that reflect patterns of structural racism.”
Policy recommendations that address anti-Black racism include creating more affordable housing, ceasing arrests of homeless residents and giving them resources, cutting funding for school police and investing in counseling and scholarships for Black students, addressing anti-Black racism in healthcare and providing philanthropic support for Black-led organizations.
One concrete recommendation regarding public safety for Black Californians is passing and implementing the BREATHE Act, a federal proposal that a collection of organizations under the “Movement for Black Lives” umbrella authored. The legislation calls for a “time-bound” plan to close all federal prisons and immigration detention centers, ban police departments from using surveillance and military-grade weapons, and redirects funds from policing and incarceration to social welfare, education, healthcare and environmental programs.
“We cannot go back to an old “normal” that has failed so many. There is no return to a system that is over-policed and over- incarcerated. We should have no nostalgia for an economy that did not reward truly essential workers such as agricultural laborers, grocery store clerks, truck drivers, elder care specialists, and others. We should hold no affection for a system that has long stripped assets from communities through discrimination and redlining rather than built them up through public and private investments,” reads the “No Going Back” executive summary.
The Committee for Greater LA and its research and philanthropy partners presented a preview of the report to the Los Angeles City Council’s Ad Hoc Committee on COVID-19 Recovery and Neighborhood Investment at their first meeting last June. At a kickoff event for the “No Going Back” report, the advocates also expressed their desire for policymakers and philanthropists to see their findings.
“As Martin Luther King once said, ‘injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.’ We, I mean all of us, are in a moment of reckoning. We not only have to do the talk and listening, but we must take bold actions to include everyone as we move forward as a country, a state, a county, a city,” said Committee for Greater LA Steering Committee member Jacqueline Waggoner.
“We have an extraordinary opening right now,” she continued. “This is a wake-up call to stand in solidarity with one another, value Black lives, treasure immigrant families and declare homelessness unacceptable.”
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IN MEMORIAM: Ramona Edelin, Influential Activist and Education Advocate, Dies at 78
NNPA NEWSWIRE — Born on September 4, 1945, in Los Angeles, California, activist Ramona Edelin’s early years were marked by a commitment to education and social justice. According to her HistoryMakers biography, after graduating from Fisk University with a Bachelor’s degree in 1967, she pursued further studies at the University of East Anglia in England. She earned her master’s degree before completing her Ph.D. at Boston University in 1981.
The post IN MEMORIAM: Ramona Edelin, Influential Activist and Education Advocate, Dies at 78 first appeared on BlackPressUSA.
By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent
@StacyBrownMedia
Once upon a time, Black Americans were simply known as colored people, or Negroes. That is until Ramona Edelin came along. The activist, renowned for her pivotal roles in advancing civil rights, education reform, and community empowerment, died at her D.C. residence last month at the age of 78. Her death, finally confirmed this week by Barnaby Towns, a communications strategist who collaborated with Dr. Edelin, was attributed to cancer.
Born on September 4, 1945, in Los Angeles, California, Edelin’s early years were marked by a commitment to education and social justice. According to her HistoryMakers biography, after graduating from Fisk University with a Bachelor’s degree in 1967, she pursued further studies at the University of East Anglia in England. She earned her master’s degree before completing her Ph.D. at Boston University in 1981.
Edelin’s contributions to academia and activism were manifold. She was pivotal in popularizing the term “African American” alongside Rev. Jesse L. Jackson in the late 1980s.
Jackson had announced the preference for “African American,” speaking for summit organizers that included Dr. Edelin. “Just as we were called Colored, but were not that, and then Negro, but not that, to be called Black is just as baseless,” he said, adding that “African American” “has cultural integrity” and “puts us in our proper historical context.”
Later, Edelin told Ebony magazine, “Calling ourselves African Americans is the first step in the cultural offensive,” while linking the name change to a “cultural renaissance” in which Black Americans reconnected with their history and heritage.
“Who are we if we don’t acknowledge our motherland?” she asked later. “When a child in a ghetto calls himself African American, immediately he’s international. You’ve taken him from the ghetto and put him on the globe.”
The HistoryMakers bio noted that Edelin’s academic pursuits led her to found and chair the Department of African American Studies at Northeastern University, where she established herself as a leading voice.
Transitioning from academia to advocacy, Edelin joined the National Urban Coalition in 1977, eventually ascending to president and CEO. During her tenure, she spearheaded initiatives such as the “Say Yes to a Youngster’s Future” program, which provided crucial support in math, science, and technology to youth and teachers of color in urban areas. Her biography noted that Edelin’s efforts extended nationwide through partnerships with organizations like the National Science Foundation and the United States Department of Education.
President Bill Clinton recognized Edelin’s expertise by appointing her to the Presidential Board on Historically Black Colleges and Universities in 1998. She also co-founded and served as treasurer of the Black Leadership Forum, solidifying her standing as a respected leader in African American communities.
Beyond her professional achievements, Edelin dedicated herself to numerous boards and committees, including chairing the District of Columbia Educational Goals 2000 Panel and contributing to the Federal Advisory Committee for the Black Community Crusade for Children.
Throughout her life, Edelin received widespread recognition for her contributions. Ebony magazine honored her as one of the 100 Most Influential Black Americans, and she received prestigious awards such as the Southern Christian Leadership Award for Progressive Leadership and the IBM Community Executive Program Award.
The post IN MEMORIAM: Ramona Edelin, Influential Activist and Education Advocate, Dies at 78 first appeared on BlackPressUSA.
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Tennessee State University Board Disbanded by MAGA Loyalists as Assault on DE&I Continues
NNPA NEWSWIRE — Recent legislative actions in Tennessee, such as repealing police reform measures enacted after the killing of Tyre Nichols, underscore a troubling trend of undermining local control and perpetuating racist agendas. The new law preventing local governments from restricting police officers’ authority disregards community efforts to address systemic issues of police violence and racial profiling.
The post Tennessee State University Board Disbanded by MAGA Loyalists as Assault on DE&I Continues first appeared on BlackPressUSA.
By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent
@StacyBrownMedia
Tennessee State University (TSU), the state’s only public historically Black college and university (HBCU), faces a tumultuous future as Gov. Bill Lee dissolved its board, a move supported by racist conservatives and MAGA Republicans in the Tennessee General Assembly, who follow the lead of the twice-impeached, four-times indicted, alleged sexual predator former President Donald Trump. Educators and others have denounced the move as an attack on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) and a grave setback for higher education.
Critics argue that TSU’s purported financial mismanagement is a manufactured crisis rooted in decades of underinvestment by the state government. They’ve noted that it continues a trend by conservatives and the racist MAGA movement to eliminate opportunities for Blacks in education, corporate America, and the public sector.
Gevin Reynolds, a former speechwriter for Vice President Kamala Harris, emphasizes in an op-ed that TSU’s financial difficulties are not the result of university leadership because a recent audit found no evidence of fraud or malfeasance.
Reynolds noted that the disbanding of TSU’s board is not an isolated incident but part of a broader assault on DE&I initiatives nationwide. Ten states, including Tennessee, have enacted laws banning DE&I policies on college campuses, while governors appointing MAGA loyalists to university trustee positions further undermine efforts to promote inclusivity and equality.
Moreover, recent legislative actions in Tennessee, such as repealing police reform measures enacted after the killing of Tyre Nichols, underscore a troubling trend of undermining local control and perpetuating racist agendas. The new law preventing local governments from restricting police officers’ authority disregards community efforts to address systemic issues of police violence and racial profiling.
The actions echo historical efforts to suppress Black progress, reminiscent of the violent backlash against gains made during the Reconstruction era. President Joe Biden warned during an appearance in New York last month that Trump desires to bring the nation back to the 18th and 19th centuries – in other words, to see, among other things, African Americans back in the chains of slavery, women subservient to men without any say over their bodies, and all voting rights restricted to white men.
The parallels are stark, with white supremacist ideologies used to justify attacks on Black institutions and disenfranchise marginalized communities, Reynolds argued.
In response to these challenges, advocates stress the urgency of collective action to defend democracy and combat systemic racism. Understanding that attacks on institutions like TSU are symptomatic of broader threats to democratic norms, they call for increased civic engagement and voting at all levels of government.
The actions of people dedicated to upholding the principles of inclusivity, equity, and justice for all will determine the outcome of the ongoing fight for democracy, Reynolds noted. “We are in a war for our democracy, one whose outcome will be determined by every line on every ballot at every precinct,” he stated.
The post Tennessee State University Board Disbanded by MAGA Loyalists as Assault on DE&I Continues first appeared on BlackPressUSA.
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Braxton Haulcy and the Expansion of Walker|West Music Academy
May 24, 2023 – Walker West Music Academy gets an early start on expansion. Join us for a Wednesday episode of The …
The post Braxton Haulcy and the Expansion of Walker|West Music Academy first appeared on BlackPressUSA.
May 24, 2023 – Walker West Music Academy gets an early start on expansion. Join us for a Wednesday episode of The …
The post Braxton Haulcy and the Expansion of Walker|West Music Academy first appeared on BlackPressUSA.
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