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Soul Steppers keep pace with themselves on regular walks

WAVE NEWSPAPERS — When you see a member of the L.A. Soul Steppers stepping through the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza get out of the way. The Soul Steppers are a walking club of about 70-plus members. The free club for senior citizens meets once a month for a two-mile walk around the mall.

Published

6 years ago

September 17, 2019

Oakland Post

L.A. Soul Steppers (Photo by: wavenewspapers.com)

By Kristina Dixon

BALDWIN HILLS — When you see a member of the L.A. Soul Steppers stepping through the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza get out of the way.

The Soul Steppers are a walking club of about 70-plus members. The free club for senior citizens meets once a month for a two-mile walk around the mall.

The group has been in existence for three years now. Members start their meeting by greeting each other, their coach, drinking water, tying their laces tight and stretching in order to prevent injury and ensure an effective workout.

Once all members are ready, founder and owner of Ultimate Transformations Training Coach Erich Nall, better known as “Coach E.” instructs everyone to come together in formation and leads the walk.

Chests held high and 10 toes down, they begin to walk their route. They begin at the upper level of the shopping plaza and make their way down. Some walk for two loops, others three loops. Everyone is encouraged to go at their own pace but to keep going.

Nall is friendly, informative and cares for his team.

“Four years ago, I partnered with AARP to develop a program that gets the community out and focuses on exercise and wellness. I developed and designed a program where we talk flexibility, stretching and proper mechanics for walking. Now we’re doing the second and fourth Tuesday of every month and we average about a 60-70 person turnout every month.

Nall says the group gathers at 6 a.m. The members stretch their muscles and warm up before starting the walk and there is no walking standard.

“Some people come out and walk and are novices and haven’t walked in their entire lives,” he said. “Then we have our experienced walkers. So what we normally do is a six-loop walk, which is approximately two miles. Two and a half loops is approximately one mile.

“What we try to do is to get everyone to do at least two or three loops in order to get the one-mile distance in, but mostly everyone walks the six loops.

“The community loves this,” Nall added. “We moved from one exercise day a month to two and now they are requesting to do more. So hopefully over the time we can expand it to maybe I meet with them once a week to have four workouts a month.

“I am incorporating exercise, strength training, isometrics and weight lifting and showing them how to do it, during this time frame and then they’re doing it on their own while they’re away from me.”

Long-term member Madeline Wilson said, “Getting up early in the morning and getting some exercise is a great way to start the day.”

She keeps coming back because of the exercises and the inspiration that Nall gives her.

“He talks about healthy lifestyles, not just exercising but eating, getting rest and being conscious.”

Maxine Young said: “I love all the tips that Coach E. gives us. I’ve always been a walker but I learn things about diet, ways to warm up and cool down. The whole package is interesting.

“It’s a challenge to me to come out and I can be very competitive anyway,” she added. “So I push myself to do a little bit more than when I just walk around.”

One of the few male participants is Carl Simmons.

“I play basketball but I don’t play as much as I used to,” he said. “So when I come out here and walk it gets my day going, gets my blood going and coach’s information on nutrition is very informative and helpful to me.

“I like coming out and the comradery, the friendships you develop and most of all the exercises you get. I’m trying to lose some weight and it’s working.”

Loretta Walker said, “This club reminds me of what I should be doing and it keeps me on track because I know I have to be there in two weeks.’ So in between time I’m thinking I need to continue to exercise, I need to continue to do what he’s told me to do. So it really encourages me.

“And I also enjoy the people that are here. We find we have so much in common,” she added.

On a recent Tuesday, Rachel Stone and Joyce Howard of AARP hosted a healthy breakfast and workshop on the five pillars of health.

“The Five Pillars of Brain Health was developed by the Global Council on Brain Health which is run by AARP as the national organization,” Stone said. “It brings together scientists and brain researchers who put together this curriculum to give people easy ways to integrate brain healthy behaviors into their everyday life.

“This was really a natural fit with L.A. Soul Steppers,” she added. “I think so many people think of exercise as purely physical but as we saw today, it’s social and great for the brain. Any activity where you’re engaging with your community, getting your heart pumping, circulation going is brain healthy behavior.”

Howard has been volunteer for a year with AARP.

She said, “It’s a family. We get together twice a month. We exercise and we encourage one another to keep moving. As a family, we walk together, we talk together and we socialize. It’s more of a social exercise type of a group and we’re only here for one hour, so it’s perfect. I love the program.”

Members did breathing exercises and asked and answered questions on how many steps they should be walking a day and how many hours of rest they should be getting at night. Members also discuss different health apps they can download to stay on track of their fitness journey.

The club wears a different color t-shirt every year. Past years have included black and aqua. This year’s color is green.

Antoine Cook, California associate state director for AARP, said “Soul Steppers is a very important group for AARP because it really does encourage people to be more active as we get older. We become less active so we encourage people to at least walk.

“This group is important to me because it’s become a strong part of what I do. I get to see people get active and change their lifestyles to become more healthy and also to develop a community around walking and being active.

“It’s really cool for me to check in with people every two weeks, … talk with Coach E. and his wife Yvette and I work with colleagues in Pasadena to do our programming. It’s really a great way to keep involved in the community and to get people involved in things that they should take advantage of everyday, like walking. I’m really excited about the group and where we’re going in the future.”

This article originally appeared in the Wave Newspapers.

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Fighting to Keep Blackness

BlackPressUSA NEWSWIRE — Trump supporters have introduced another bill to take down the bright yellow letters of Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, D.C., in exchange for the name Liberty Plaza. D.C.

Published

2 weeks ago

March 7, 2025

Oakland Post

By April Ryan

As this nation observes the 60th anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama, the words of President Trump reverberate. “This country will be WOKE no longer”, an emboldened Trump offered during his speech to a joint session of Congress Tuesday night. Since then, Alabama Congresswoman Terri Sewell posted on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter this morning that “Elon Musk and his DOGE bros have ordered GSA to sell off the site of the historic Freedom Riders Museum in Montgomery.” Her post of little words went on to say, “This is outrageous and we will not let it stand! I am demanding an immediate reversal. Our civil rights history is not for sale!” DOGE trying to sell Freedom Rider Museum

Also, in the news today, the Associated Press is reporting they have a file of names and descriptions of more than 26,000 military images flagged for removal because of connections to women, minorities, culture, or DEI. In more attempts to downplay Blackness, a word that is interchanged with woke, Trump supporters have introduced another bill to take down the bright yellow letters of Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, D.C., in exchange for the name Liberty Plaza. D.C. Mayor Morial Bowser is allowing the name change to keep millions of federal dollars flowing there. Black Lives Matter Plaza was named in 2020 after a tense exchange between President Trump and George Floyd protesters in front of the White House. There are more reports about cuts to equity initiatives that impact HBCU students. Programs that recruited top HBCU students into the military and the pipeline for Department of Defense contracts have been canceled.

Meanwhile, Democrats are pushing back against this second-term Trump administration’s anti-DEI and Anti-woke message. In the wake of the 60th anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Selma, several Congressional Black Caucus leaders are reintroducing the Voting Rights Act. South Carolina Democratic Congressman James Clyburn and Alabama Congresswoman Terry Sewell are sponsoring H.R. 14, the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. Six decades ago, Lewis was hit with a billy club by police as he marched for the right to vote for African Americans. The right for Black people to vote became law with the 1965 Voting Rights Act that has since been gutted, leaving the nation to vote without the full protections of the Voting Rights Act. Reflecting on the late Congressman Lewis, March 1, 2020, a few months before his death, Lewis said, “We need more than ever in these times many more someones to make good trouble- to make their own dent in the wall of injustice.”

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Rep. Al Green is Censured by The U.S. House After Protesting Trump on Medicaid

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — His censure featured no hearing at the House Ethics Committee and his punishment was put on the floor for a vote by the Republican controlled House less than 72 hours after the infraction in question.

Published

2 weeks ago

March 6, 2025

Oakland Post

By Lauren Burke

In one of the quickest punishments of a member of the U.S. House of Representatives in the modern era, Congressman Al Green (D-TX) was censured by a 224-198 vote today in the House. His censure featured no hearing at the House Ethics Committee and his punishment was put on the floor for a vote by the Republican controlled House less than 72 hours after the infraction in question. Of the last three censures of members of the U.S. House, two have been members of the Congressional Black Caucus under GOP control. In 2023, Rep. Jamal Bowman was censured.

On the night of March 4, as President Trump delivered a Joint Address to Congress, Rep. Green interrupted him twice. Rep. Green shouted, “You don’t have a mandate to cut Medicare, and you need to raise the cap on social security,” to President Trump. In another rare event, Rep. Green was escorted off the House floor by security shortly after yelling at the President by order of GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson. Over the last four years, members of Congress have yelled at President Biden during the State of the Union. Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor-Greene was joined by Republican Rep. Lauren Bobert (R-CO) in 2022 in yelling at President Biden. In 2023, Rep. Greene, Rep. Bob Good (R-VA), and Rep. Lisa McClain (R-MI) yelled at Biden, interrupting his speech. In 2024, wearing a red MAGA hat, a violation of the rules of the U.S. House, Greene interrupted Biden again. She was never censured for her behavior. Rep. Green voted “present” on his censure and was joined by freshman Democrat Congressman Shomari Figures of Alabama who also voted “present”.

All other members of the Congressional Black Caucus voted against censuring Green. Republicans hold a four-seat advantage in the U.S. House after the death of Texas Democrat and former Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner yesterday. Ten Democrats voted along with Republicans to censure Rep. Green, including Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, who is in the leadership as the senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. “I respect them but, I would do it again,” and “it is a matter of conscience,” Rep. Green told Black Press USA’s April Ryan in an exclusive interview on March 5. After the vote, a group of Democrats sang “We Shall Overcome” in the well at the front of the House chamber. Several Republican members attempted to shout down the singing. House Speaker Mike Johnson gaveled the House out of session and into a recess. During the brief recess members moved back to their seats and out of the well of the House. Shortly after the vote to censor Rep. Green, Republican Congressman Andy Ogles of Tennessee quickly filed legislation to punish members who participated in the singing of “We Shall Overcome.” Earlier this year, Rep. Ogles filed legislation to allow President Donald Trump to serve a third term, which is currently unconstitutional. As the debate started, the stock market dove down over one-point hours from close. The jobs report will be made public tomorrow.

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Trump Moves to Dismantle Education Department

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — The department oversees programs under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), serving 7.5 million students. Transferring IDEA oversight to another agency, as Trump’s plan suggests, could jeopardize services and protections for disabled students.

Published

2 weeks ago

March 6, 2025

Stacy M. Brown

By Stacy M. Brown
BlackPressUSA.com Senior National Correspondent
@StacyBrownMedia

The Trump administration is preparing to issue an executive order directing newly confirmed Education Secretary Linda McMahon to begin dismantling the Department of Education. While the president lacks the authority to unilaterally shut down the agency—requiring congressional approval—McMahon has been tasked with taking “all necessary steps” to reduce its role “to the maximum extent permitted by law.” The administration justifies the move by claiming the department has spent over $1 trillion since its 1979 founding without improving student achievement. However, data from The Nation’s Report Card shows math scores have improved significantly since the 1990s, though reading levels have remained stagnant. The pandemic further widened achievement gaps, leaving many students behind.

The Education Department provides about 10% of public-school funding, primarily targeting low-income students, rural districts, and children with disabilities. A recent Data for Progress poll found that 61% of voters oppose Trump’s efforts to abolish the agency, while just 34% support it. In Washington, D.C., where student proficiency rates remain low—22% in math and 34% in English—federal funding is crucial. Serenity Brooker, an elementary education major, warned that cutting the department would worsen conditions in underfunded schools.

“D.C. testing scores aren’t very high right now, so cutting the Department of Education isn’t going to help that at all,” she told Hilltop News. A report from the Education Trust found that low-income schools in D.C. receive $2,200 less per student than wealthier districts, leading to shortages in essential classroom materials. The department oversees programs under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), serving 7.5 million students. Transferring IDEA oversight to another agency, as Trump’s plan suggests, could jeopardize services and protections for disabled students.

The Office for Civil Rights also plays a key role in enforcing laws that protect students from discrimination. Moving it to the Department of Justice, as proposed in Project 2025, would make it harder for families to file complaints, leaving vulnerable students with fewer protections. Federal student aid programs, including Pell Grants and loan repayment plans, could face disruption if the department is dismantled. Experts warn this could worsen the student debt crisis, pushing more borrowers into default. “With funding cuts, they don’t have the materials they need, like books or things to help with math,” Brooker said. “It makes learning less fun for them.”