Commentary

COMMENTARY: A New Verse of “We Shall Overcome” in Civil Rights 2.0

If you felt more vulnerable this July Fourth, you weren’t imagining things. You had more rights last week than you did on America’s birthday. That’s thanks to the black robes of SCOTUS. With a series of 6-3 opinions, the U.S. Supreme Court showed how far the conservative court will go to protect a dwindling white majority.

Published

3 years ago

July 11, 2023

Oakland Post

SCOTUS just forced our hand. But there are more of us now. And we’re diverse.

By Emil Guillermo

If you felt more vulnerable this July Fourth, you weren’t imagining things. You had more rights last week than you did on America’s birthday.

That’s thanks to the black robes of SCOTUS.

With a series of 6-3 opinions, the U.S. Supreme Court showed how far the conservative court will go to protect a dwindling white majority.

Pretty far.

Want a website for your gay wedding? No business open to the public can be forced to do one for you. In fact, any business can now legally discriminate and exclude you, if they can show it’s a matter of their free speech versus your public accommodation. The court ruled bigoted free speech wins.

Then there’s help on student loan debt. Sorry, you have to pay up. Unless you’re like a bank that passed out bad mortgages in 2008, no one’s bailing you out.

And if you were a person of color qualified to go to an Ivy league school, the laws that might have helped last week, no longer apply. And please don’t tell us what color you are. The court has told schools to be colorblind and indifferent to race.

Justice got a little harder to achieve if you aren’t white, straight, and rich.

That’s the takeaway after the high court’s grand finale. With all the news the court’s been making on its lack of ethics involving tens of thousands of dollars from billionaire right-wing donors, the current SCOTUS has proven to be more venal, human, and political than any of us could have imagined.

It’s not the elevated dispassionate body thought to rule with a sense of high-minded legal scholarship and a healthy respect for precedent.

No, the court is right there in the swamp with everything else in DC, a SCOTUS forged by politics and bias.

And if you don’t vote, it’s the court we deserve.

Want a better SCOTUS? You’ve got to register and vote.

Now, after 50 years of progress moving toward a more just society, America has a 6-3 rollback court that we should have seen coming. It started last June with Dobbs v. Jackson and the reversal on abortion.

And now it’s unsettling other aspects of our settled lives.

They’re making us go down the mountain and climb back up, singing “We shall overcome” all over again.

Don’t Blame Asian Americans

On the big issue of affirmative action, we all need to be clear. The case of Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) v. Harvard University was not a victory for Asian Americans.

Despite the plaintiffs being Asian Americans in this case, most Asian Americans in this country were in favor of affirmative action.

If you want to point fingers, make sure you’ve got it pointing to the man who founded SFFA, and remains its leader. He’s not an Asian American, it’s the white man wearing the horned crown, Edward Blum.

Blum (rhymes with fume) is a non-lawyer, but a persistent anti-civil rights activist funded by the right wing, whose life is committed to filing lawsuit after lawsuit to undo the last 50 years. He’s made a career of neutering the Voting Rights Act and affirmative action.

Blum brought another case, Fisher v. University of Texas, before the high court in 2016 but lost. His error was using a white, female plaintiff to front the lawsuit. This time he found Asians rejected from Harvard and used them as his ‘yellow face’ to pit Asians (Blum) vs. Blacks and Latinix. And it worked.

Chief Justice John Robert’s opinion was just wrong, beginning with his application of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to strike down the use of race.

“The Harvard and UNC admissions programs cannot be reconciled with the guarantees of the Equal Protection Clause,” wrote Roberts. “Both programs lack sufficiently focused and measurable objectives warranting the use of race, unavoidably employ race in a negative manner, involve racial stereotyping, and lack meaningful end points.

End points? Do you mean the meter’s running on justice and fairness and at some point racists just need to run out the clock?

The use of the Equal Protection Clause got the attention of Neal Katyal, former acting Solicitor General of the United States, who said that the Equal Protection Clause only binds state actors and not private institutions like Harvard.

So, can Harvard, a private institution, violate the Equal Protection Clause?

“Legally, that’s just impossible,” said Katyal, a law school professor of more than 20 years in an interview on MSNBC. By virtue of taking federal funds Harvard could be in violation of Title VI, a federal statute, Katyal said. “But Harvard certainly didn’t violate the Constitution.”

At least Roberts didn’t formally overturn existing laws. He just removed a key single piece from the equation — race.

But Roberts did allow for a loophole:

“Nothing in this opinion should be construed as prohibiting universities from considering an applicant’s discussion of how race affected his or her life, be it through discrimination, inspiration or otherwise,” Roberts wrote. “In other words, the student must be treated based on his or her experiences as an individual — not on the basis of race.”

Well of course, for one, that would be a First Amendment issue and Roberts didn’t want to mess with that.

Justice Sotomayor said it was like “putting lipstick on a pig.” But the fact is, if you want to go to Harvard, tell your story. That hasn’t changed in 50 years.

That’s how I got in.

The Power of Affirmative Action

Frankly, the ruling made me feel a little guilty. Could I have done something to save affirmative action — more than 50 years ago?

Chief Justice John Roberts was at Harvard the same time I was there. He was just a kid and robeless back in the ’70s. But my mere presence at “that school in Boston” did not persuade young Roberts of the merits of diversity or the mutual benefits of having an underprivileged Filipino kid as part of the student body.

Because I was not just there to take. I was there to give — to America’s future leaders, like Roberts, a real world understanding beyond white preppie-dom, and to help him build the kind of empathy he’d need to have as a chief justice of the United States.

Had I succeeded — had our paths crossed — maybe Roberts would not have written such a terrible opinion that set back progress in higher education nearly 50 years.

SCOTUS just forced our hand. But there are more of us now. And we’re diverse.

Get ready for Civil Rights 2.0.

Emil Guillermo is a journalist and commentator. His “Emil Amok” monologues are on YouTube and on www.amok.com.

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IN MEMORIAM: The Rev. Leon “Sonny” Clark, Longtime Orange County Pastor and Community Leader, Dies at 72

Rev. Leon William “Sonny” Clark, the longtime pastor of New Spirit Baptist Church in Santa Ana and a prominent faith and community leader in Orange County, passed away on September 9 at the age of 72. Born in Bennettsville, South Carolina, Clark was a U.S. Navy veteran who dedicated his life to service. He served various Southern California churches before leading New Spirit Baptist Church for over 22 years, extending his work into counseling, mentoring, and civic engagement, and supporting the African American community. To learn more about his life and contributions, read more.

Published

3 days ago

September 28, 2026

Post News Group

The Rev. Leon “Sonny” Clark. File photo.

By Bo Tefu, California Black Media

Rev. Leon William “Sonny” Clark, longtime pastor of New Spirit Baptist Church in Santa Ana and a respected faith and community leader in Orange County, died Sept. 9. He was 72.

Born Oct. 2, 1953, in Bennettsville, South Carolina, Clark was a U.S. Navy veteran who later built a life of service centered on family, faith, ministry, and community.

Clark began his formal ministry at Metropolitan Baptist Church in Altadena in 1978. After acknowledging his call to ministry in 1980, he preached his first sermon and went on to serve churches throughout Southern California, including Second Baptist Church in Riverside, Mount Vernon Baptist Church in Rubidoux, Antioch Missionary Baptist Church in Pomona, and Friendship Baptist Church in Yorba Linda.

In November 2003, Clark was called to lead New Spirit Baptist Church in Santa Ana, where he served as pastor for more than 22 years. His work extended beyond the pulpit through counseling, mentoring, civic engagement, and efforts to strengthen Orange County’s African American community.

Clark served on the Orange County Heritage Council and supported efforts to preserve and celebrate African American history and culture. He helped organize the Orange County Black History Parade and Unity Festival, served on the Interfaith Committee and the Orange County Transit Authority, and served as president of the Orange County Ministers Conference.

In 2024, the City of Santa Ana recognized Clark for his contributions to the community. He also received the Orange County Southern Baptist Association Hall of Faith Award and was previously honored as Pastor of the Year by the Orange County Heritage Council.

Clark is survived by his wife, Andrea Joyles Clark; six children, Shawn Williams, Le Ondra Clark Harvey, Kyla Coward, Joshua Clark, Marissa Clark and Ashley Clark; grandchildren and great-grandchildren; siblings; extended family; and the New Spirit Baptist Church congregation.

A wake will be held Thursday, Oct. 1, from 4 to 8 p.m. at New Spirit Baptist Church, 701 S. Sullivan St. in Santa Ana, with a remembrance service from 5 to 6:30 p.m.

A Celebration of Life will be held Friday, Oct. 2, at Friendship Baptist Church, 17145 Bastanchury Road in Yorba Linda. Viewing begins at noon, followed by the service at 1 p.m.

Burial will take place Monday, Oct. 5, at 10:15 a.m. at Riverside National Cemetery.

Clark often shared a guiding principle that shaped his ministry: “Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.”

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Black History

Remembering Chauncey Bailey as Student Journalists Face Threats to Truth-Telling

Nearly two decades ago, Oakland Post reporter and editor-in-chief Chauncey Bailey was tragically murdered for investigating a crooked business. His assassination shocked the journalism world and is remembered as student journalists today face increasing threats and censorship. A former classmate of Bailey and chair of the Student Press Law Center notes a significant rise in calls from students seeking legal advice amid a hostile environment. This situation highlights the importance of protecting young journalists and their pursuit of truth. Read more to learn about Bailey’s legacy and current challenges facing student press.

Published

3 days ago

September 27, 2026

Post News Group

By Steven A. Holmes Special to The Post

It is nearly 20 years since Chauncey Bailey, a crusading journalist, was murdered

on an Oakland street corner, gunned down to prevent him from writing stories about a

crooked business.

I hope people remember Bailey, a reporter and editor-in-chief for the

Oakland Post, the city’s Black newspaper. He had already written several articles about

the problems of a business called Your Muslim Bakery and was working on another

when the bakery’s owner ordered an employee to kill Bailey.

His murder shocked the journalism world that found the idea of an American

reporter killed for doing his job unfathomable. For me, the shock and sadness were also

personal.

I knew Bailey. In the mid-1970s we were classmates in the Michelle Clark Memorial

Foundation program, the precursor to the Institute for Journalism Education Summer

Program. A program, backed by the Ford Foundation, that provided intensive training

for fledgling minority journalism students and then placed them in jobs at newspapers

and television stations.

I’m reminded of Bailey and that program when I visit the East Bay at the end of

September to discuss the future of student journalism. To me, the visit will not only

evoke memories of Bailey. It will also be an opportunity to hone strategies to protect and

support student journalists who are under attack today, maybe not in the way that took away Chauncey Bailey, but an attack, nonetheless.

Spurred by the hostility toward the free press emanating out of Washington, high

school and college journalists are facing a barrage of censorship and harassment from

school administrators and local officials.

The 24-hour hotline staffed by the Student Press Law Center (SPLC), the non-profit I chair, has seen a 35% increase in calls from student journalists seeking legal advice on censorship, libel and copyright issues during the past two years, as well as a tripling in the number of complaints of harassment, including threats of firing, of faculty advisors.

I am not suggesting today’s national climate is as dangerous as the murderous

intentions of Yusef Bey IV, the man who ordered Bailey’s assassination. But the

harassment of student journalists does kill something else. It can destroy the desire of

student journalists to continue their growth to become professional news gatherers and

producers – something the country will always need.

It is that professional maturation that I’m reminded of when I think back on Chauncey

Bailey.

Truth be told, when we were classmates back in 1974 Bailey was the class clown,

known more for his sardonic wit than his writing or reporting talent. I have vivid

memories of Bailey sitting at his desk in the back of the room regaling us with sarcastic

comments. Sure, he was funny.

And he didn’t exhibit the level of reporting skills of our other classmates such as Milton Coleman who went on to be the Deputy Managing Editor of the Washington Post or Alexis Scott who for years has run the Atlanta Daily World.

After a series of reporting jobs in Hartford, Connecticut, Detroit, Michigan, and Oakland, Bailey had risen in talent and skill to helm this very newspaper. A tip from a source led Bailey to look into the possibility that Bey was running Your Muslim Bakery into bankruptcy. Word that Bailey was working on that story filtered back to Bey who ordered the journalist killed.

On August 2, 2007, Bailey was shot three times at point-blank range as he walked to work.

So, when I think of my trip to the East Bay my thoughts go to journalism’s past

represented by Chauncey Bailey’s sacrifice and what the staff and the board of SPLC

can do to secure the current and future work of student journalists.

Steven A. Holmes is a former Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist. His novel “Black Messiahs” was published in May this year.