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VOL.46 NO.8 • Sacramento Country Day School • 2636 Latham Drive, Sacramento, CA •www.scdsoctagon.com • May 23, 2023
DYNAMIC DANCE Dancers from Fenix Drum and Dance Company performed in the Edwards Plaza to an audience of lower, middle and high schoolers for Country Day’s first Pacha Mundi celebration on Wednesday, May 17. PHOTO BY ZEMA NASIROV
Reparations Task Force uncovers significant damages
T
BY ADAM AKINS & IRENE JUNG
he scars of slavery and Jim Crow are visible everywhere in the United States. California, however, is the first state to take concrete steps to provide restitution to the African American communities impacted by centuries of structural racism. Restitution will take many forms, ranging from making monetary payments to repealing outdated laws to vitalizing communities. The California State Assembly took action in the aftermath of the police murder of George Floyd and the ensuing racial injustice protests by passing Assembly Bill 3121 on
Sept. 30, 2020, creating the “Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans.” The Task Force’s final reparations report to the state legislature is scheduled to be released before June 1, 2023. In March, the Task Force’s expert team outlined five key categories of ongoing harm from structural racism for African Americans in California: • Health Harms: 1850-present • Housing Discrimination: 1933-1977 or 1850-present • Mass Incarceration & Over-policing: • 1971-present • Unjust Property Takings:
• •
1850-present Devaluation of African American Businesses: 1850-present
These five categories have been linked to pervasive damage within African American communities in the state, with effects ranging from the personal to the financial.
Health Harms Redlining is a pervasive policy practice that started during the Jim Crow era that uses eminent domain and malicious city planning to withhold services from minority commu-
nities. The pervasive effects of redlining can be seen in many areas, including in the health of marginalized communities. A 2020 study by Anthony Nardone, Joan Casey and others published in The Lancet found that historically redlined areas have “significantly higher rates of emergency department visits due to asthma.” As historical risk ratings for African American communities rose, the prevalence of asthma also increased, illustrating direct correlation. Asthma is not the only issue; an earlier study by Nardone also found that adverse
REPARATIONS page 3 >>
Country Day community recovers from Davis stabbings BY GARMAN XU, EESHA DHAWAN & SOPHIA MONASA
Two April homicides and one attempted homicide in May near the University of California, Davis campus left members of the SCDS community on edge. High school French teacher Richard Day, who lives near the location of the first stabbing, was shocked when he heard the news on
the radio. “Davis tends to be thought of as this quiet, sleepy little town. This was totally out of the ordinary,” Day said. On the day of the first stabbing, he felt as though the town was on lockdown. Many shops were empty or closing early, and the town was eerily quiet, Day said. Hearing about the stabbings has made him remain vigilant around his neighborhood, Day said.
CAMPUSCORNER FINALS WEEK
HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION
On June 1 and June 2, high schoolers will take their second semester finals. On June 1, students will take the science and world language finals, while on June 2, they will take history and math. All exams will take place in the gymnasium.
On June 8, the class of 2023 will graduate from Sacramento Country Day. The event takes place in the Edwards Plaza at 7 p.m. All grades are invited to attend and celebrate the end of the 2022-2023 school year. Congratulations, class of 2023!
Among the dead was a well-known community member, David Breaux, who was stabbed to death in Central Park on April 27, according to the Davis Police Department. Three days later on April 29 at 9:14 p.m., a local Davis resident found the body of Karim Abou Najm, a senior at UC Davis, in Sycamore Park. He had multiple stab wounds. The following Monday, May 1, a 64-yearold woman, Kimberlee Guillory was critically injured when she was stabbed through her
tent at a homeless encampment. She survived and was released from the UC Davis Medical Center. The suspect, 21-year-old Carlos Reales Dominguez, was located on May 3 by Davis Police officers near the scene of the second homicide. Dominguez, a former UC Davis student, was arrested on May 4 and charged with
INSIDE the ISSUE
“Groovy Guardians: One Last Jam” Read a review of “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” the finale to our comic book superheroes’ cosmic jam. (PAGE 15) COURTESY OF MARVEL STUDIOS
STABBINGS page 3 >>