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Controversy Continues Despite State Law Requiring Vaccinations

Published

10 years ago

September 28, 2015

By Nikolas Zelinski

The controversy over the safety of vaccinations has ramped up since the signing of SB277, which requires parents to vaccinate their children if they are to attend public or private schools in California.

The law, which goes into effect next July, bars opting out of required immunizations because of religious or personal beliefs, but maintains medical exemption from a doctor.

Opponents of the law are determined and reaching out for public support. On the other side are medical and health experts who say the anti-vaccination arguments are fallacious and have been discredited.

Oakland Board of Education Member Jumoke Hinton Hodge, who supported the passage of SB277, held a public meeting last week at the school district’s boardroom in response to anti-vaccination groups, hosted by Our Kids Our Choice, a group that is opposed to the law.

The hearing room was packed. Many of the speakers said their children were completely healthy until they were vaccinated.

Much of the opposition was based on the work of Dr. William Thompson, described as a whistleblower from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), who alleges the CDC covered up evidence about vaccine injury.

Dr. Thompson said he was told by his superiors to suppress information about the link between autism and vaccines.

Panel member and biochemical engineer Dr. Brian Hooker – father of a vaccine injured child and who has had extended dialogue with Dr. Thompson – said that rates of vaccine injury are highest amongst African Americans.

Black boys were 3.36 times more likely to develop autism if they have received the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine before 36 months of age, compared to those who received it after 36 months, Hooker explained.

“There is strong evidence in scientific literature that suggests African Americans may be more susceptible to vaccine injury, and neurological injuries such as autism,” Hooker said.

“In terms of vaccine injury, let me be clear, I’m not anti-vaccine. I want safer vaccines that can protect children. I want populations that are vulnerable to vaccine injury to be identified and protected as well,” Hooker added.

However, the work of Dr. Thompson and Dr. Hooker’s findings have been debunked, according to Joan Edelstein, an instructor at University of San Francisco’s Nursing MEPN program and former Health Services Coordinator at Oakland Unified School District (OUSD).

According to Edelstein, Dr. Hooker’s 2014 study of autism in young African Americans published in the peer-reviewed journal “Translational Neurodegeneration” was quickly retracted by the editors.

“…(The) editors no longer have confidence in the soundness of the findings,” according to the journal’s website.

Other studies linking autism to vaccination have been debunked and retracted as well, including work by Dr. Andrew Wakefield, who was the predecessor to Hooker, added Edelstein.

African American organizations have also been adamantly opposed to the arguments raised by Dr. Hooker and others, said Edelstein, pointing to an open letter endorsed by the California Black Health Network, National Coalition of 100 Black Women, Charles R. Drew Medical Society, Network of Ethnic Physician Organizations, and the California chapter of the NAACP.

“Our organizations denounce assertions that vaccination of Black children would be another Tuskegee experiment,” the letter says. “We take issue with fear mongering and spreading of misinformation about the efficacy of vaccination. There is no doubt that vaccines save lives. There is no reputable science that suggests Black children or boys are more at risk for any diseases because of vaccination.”

Edelstein explained that the reason parents may believe that vaccinations caused autism is due to the temporal quality of assessment, as most autism diagnoses are made during the same time period as the first sets of vaccinations.

Allergies are the biggest viable health concern when it comes to vaccines, said Edelstein.

In response, an OUSD spokesperson said, “On behalf of the school district, we believe that this is an appropriate health measure, and we are going to comply with the law.”

“The science is very clear on this issue,” according to the district spokesperson. “We intend to follow what global experts have established and at the same time recognize there are sceptics, and people question the research. We will continue to work with the community- continue to hear their stories, grievances, and criticisms. And try to disseminate as much information as possible so that people can understand the science.”

Director Hinton Hodge said she hopes the school board can take up this issue in an official meeting.

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Rest in Peace: A.M.E. Pastor and L.A Civil Rights Icon Cecil “Chip” Murray Passes

The Rev. Dr. Cecil L. “Chip” Murray, former pastor of First African Methodist Episcopal Church (FAME) in Los Angeles, died of natural causes April 6 at his Windsor Hills Home. He was 94. “Today, we lost a giant. Reverend Dr. Cecil Murray dedicated his life to service, community, and putting God first in all things. I had the absolute honor of working with him, worshiping with him, and seeking his counsel,” said Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass of the dynamic religious leader whose ministry inspired and attracted millionaires as well as former gang bangers and people dealing with substance use disorder (SUD).

Published

4 days ago

February 3, 2026

Oakland Post

The Rev. Dr. Cecil L. “Chip” Murray, former pastor of First African Methodist Episcopal Church (FAME) in Los Angeles, died of natural causes April 6 at his Windsor Hills Home. He was 94.

“Today, we lost a giant. Reverend Dr. Cecil Murray dedicated his life to service, community, and putting God first in all things. I had the absolute honor of working with him, worshiping with him, and seeking his counsel,” said Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass of the dynamic religious leader whose ministry inspired and attracted millionaires as well as former gang bangers and people dealing with substance use disorder (SUD).

Murray oversaw the growth of FAME’s congregation from 250 members to 18,000.

“My heart is with the First AME congregation and community today as we reflect on a legacy that changed this city forever,” Bass continued.

Murray served as Senior Minister at FAME, the oldest Black congregation in the city, for 27 years. During that time, various dignitaries visited and he built strong relationships with political and civic leaders in the city and across the state, as well as a number of Hollywood figures. Several national political leaders also visited with Murray and his congregation at FAME, including Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton.

Murray, a Florida native and U.S. Air Force vet, attended Florida A&M University, where he majored in history, worked on the school newspaper and pledged Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity. He later attended Claremont School of Theology in Los Angeles County, where he earned his doctorate in Divinity.

Murray is survived by his son Drew. His wife Bernadine, who was a committed member of the A.M.E. church and the daughter of his childhood pastor, died in 2013.

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Court Throws Out Law That Allowed Californians to Build Duplexes, Triplexes and RDUs on Their Properties

Charter cities in California won a lawsuit last week against the state that declared Senate Bill (SB) 9, a pro-housing bill, unconstitutional. Passed in 2021, SB 9 is also known as the California Housing Opportunity and More Efficiency Act (HOME). That law permits up to four residential units — counting individual units of duplexes, triplexes and residential dwelling units (RDUs) – to be built on properties in neighborhoods that were previously zoned for only single-family homes.

Published

4 days ago

February 3, 2026

Oakland Post

Charter cities in California won a lawsuit last week against the state that declared Senate Bill (SB) 9, a pro-housing bill, unconstitutional.

Passed in 2021, SB 9 is also known as the California Housing Opportunity and More Efficiency Act (HOME). That law permits up to four residential units — counting individual units of duplexes, triplexes and residential dwelling units (RDUs) – to be built on properties in neighborhoods that were previously zoned for only single-family homes.

A Los Angeles Superior Court Judge ruled in favor of the cities, pointing out that SB 9 discredited charter cities that were granted jurisdiction to create new governance systems and enact policy reforms. The court ruling affects 121 charter cities that have local constitutions.

Attorney Pam Lee represented five Southern California cities in the lawsuit against the state and Attorney General Rob Bonta.

“This is a monumental victory for all charter cities in California,” Lee said.

However, general law cities are excluded from the court ruling as state housing laws still apply in residential areas.

Attorney General Bonta and his team are working to review the decision and consider all options that will protect SB 9 as a state law. Bonta said the law has helped provide affordable housing for residents in California.

“Our statewide housing shortage and affordability crisis requires collaboration, innovation, and a good faith effort by local governments to increase the housing supply,” Bonta said.

“SB9 is an important tool in this effort, and we’re going to make sure homeowners have the opportunity to utilize it,” he said.

Charter cities remain adamant that the state should refrain from making land-use decisions on their behalf. In the lawsuit, city representatives argued that SB 9 eliminates local authority to create single-family zoning districts and approve housing developments.

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Funds for Down Payments and Credit Repair Given to Black First Time Homebuyers

The California Civil Rights Department (CRD) won a $10,000 fair housing settlement last November against a property management company, CIM Group LP, a global real estate company headquartered in Los Angeles, and property owner, RACR Sora, LLC, for implementing a blanket ban on renting to tenants with criminal histories at Sora Apartments in Inglewood. Three months earlier, the department, which enforces California’s civil rights laws, won another $20,000 civil rights settlement against a Lemon Grove property manager, who had targeted a Black tenant with a series of racist actions and threats of violence.

Published

4 days ago

February 3, 2026

Oakland Post

By McKenzie Jackson, California Black Media

Three months earlier, the department, which enforces California’s civil rights laws, won another $20,000 civil rights settlement against a Lemon Grove property manager, who had targeted a Black tenant with a series of racist actions and threats of violence.

CRD Director Kevin Kish said the department investigates cases of apparent racial bias in housing and sometimes more subtle acts of prejudice like nuisance-free or crime-free housing policies or holding tenants to different standards based on their race.

Kish said, “People will get evicted if they call the police. This can negatively impact victims of domestic violence. We also see these no-crime ordinances, or no-crime policies, used in racially discriminatory ways. If there is some kind of incident, and the police are called and it involves a Black family, then they get evicted, but other folks aren’t necessarily evicted.”

On April 11,1968, a week after Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated, President Lydon B. Johnson signed the Fair Housing Act, which prohibits discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing based on race, color, religion, and nationality.

Kish noted that William Byron Rumford, the first Black California State Assemblymember, who represented Berkley and Oakland, spearheaded the passing of the Rumford Act in 1963. That law sought to end discriminatory housing practices in the Golden State, five years before the Fair Housing Act became law.
Real estate agent and housing advocate Ashley Garner is the director of the CLTRE Keeper Home Ownership program. That organization gave 25 Black, indigenous, and people of color $17,500 each in down payment and credit repair support to purchase a home in Oak Park, a traditionally Black neighborhood in Sacramento, last fall. CLTRE obtained a $500,000 grant from the city of Sacramento to award the funds to the residents after they completed an eight-week homeownership program.

In 2021, the California Housing Finance Agency (CalHFA) noted that around four in 10 Black California families owned homes, which trails that of White, Asian-American and Latinos.
According to Forbes, the median price for a home in California is over $500,000, which is double the cost of a home in the rest of the country.

Black lawmakers recently introduced their Reparations Priority Bill Package that includes support for Black first-time homebuyers, homeowners’ mortgage assistance and property tax relief for neighborhoods restricted by historic redlining.

California Housing Finance Agency (CalHFA) spokesperson Eric Johnson said CalHFA helps prospective low-income and moderate-income Californians purchase homes by offering down payment and closing cost aid. “There are lots of people who have steady jobs, good credit scores, constant income, but they haven’t been able to save up the money that traditional banks need or want to see for a down payment,” Johnson stated. “We help those folks out. We give a loan for the down payment to get them over that hurdle.”
CRD and the Department of Real Estate hosted “Fair Housing Protections for People with Criminal Histories” Zoom call on April 10.

On April 25, CRD will also hold Zoom seminars focused on advocating for fair housing for people with disabilities.