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Years
Vol. 65 No. 32 | Thursday, August 7, 2025
www.sdvoice.info
Serving San Diego County’s African & African American Communities 65 Years
CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR’S RACE WIDE OPEN AFTER KAMALA HARRIS BOWS OUT
Kamala Harris: “I Will Not Run for Governor” By Bo Tefu CALIFORNIA BLACK MEDIA
Donald Trump. “I have given serious thought to asking the people of California for the privilege to serve as their governor,” Harris said in a statement. “But after deep reflection, I’ve decided that I will not run in this election.”
California’s 2026 governor’s race is now wide open after former Vice President Kamala Harris announced July 30 that she will not run, ending months of speculation about her political future following her 2024 presidential loss to
See HARRIS page 2
PHOTO: Flickr
HOW THE ENCANTO VILLAGE
TUTORING PROGRAM IS REDUCING LITERACY GAPS IN SOUTHEAST
INSIDE THIS WEEK'S ISSUE:
If Not You, Then Who?
Dr. LaShae Sharp-Collins’ Backpack Giveaway SEE PAGES 8-9
In a corner of Southeast San Diego where 92% of students are economically disadvantaged and just 39% read at grade level, a small church-based tutoring program has rolled up its sleeves to make a difference.
8th Annual Afrofuturism Lounge SEE PAGES 8-9
By Macy Meinardt V&V REPORTER, CA LOCAL NEWS FELLOW
Inside the Encanto Village Tutoring program, held within Encanto Southern Baptist Church. PHOTO: Macy Meinhardt/ Voice & Viewpoint Staff
“We’re just community members,” said Pastor Robert Pope of Encanto Southern Baptist Church. “But we are seeing the broader call for the community to step in and fill this gap,” Pastor Pope said.
Poverty, language barriers and underfunded schools contribute to a growing literacy crisis nationwide, and in San
Diego. Compelled to take action after observing widening education disparities post-pandemic, the Encanto Village Tutoring Program is working to close the education gap in one of San Diego’s most underserved communities. See LITERACY page 2
HISTORY WORTH KNOWING:
THE 60th ANNIVERSARY OF THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT (1965) VOICE & VIEWPOINT NEWSWIRE
Voting Rights Act (1965) The Voting Rights Act was signed into law on August 6, 1965, by President Lyndon Johnson. It outlawed the discriminatory voting practices adopted in many southern states after the Civil War, including literacy tests as a prerequisite to voting. This “act to enforce the fifteenth amendment to the Constitution” was signed into law 95 years after the amendment was ratified. In those years, African Americans in the South faced tremendous obstacles to voting, including poll taxes, literacy tests, and other bureaucratic restrictions to deny them the right to vote. They also risked harassment, intimidation, economic reprisals, and physical violence when they tried to register or vote. As a result, AfricanAmerican voter registration was limited, along with political power. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was the
most significant statutory change in the relationship between the federal and state governments in the area of voting since the Reconstruction period following the Civil War; and it was immediately challenged in the courts. Between 1965 and 1969, the Supreme Court issued several key decisions upholding the constitutionality of Section 5 and affirming the broad range of voting practices for which preclearance was required. In 2013, the Court struck down a key provision of the act involving federal oversight of voting rules in nine states. The Voting Rights Act had an immediate impact. By the end of 1965, a quarter of a million new Black voters had been registered, one-third by federal examiners. By the end of 1966, only four out of 13 southern states had fewer than 50 percent of African Americans registered to vote. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was readopted and strengthened in 1970, 1975, and 1982.
Pictured here is the Enrolled Acts and Resolutions of Congress document of 1789, which enforced the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States on August 6, 1965. PHOTO: General Records of the United States Government; Record Group 11; National Archives
Source: National Archives
VOTING RIGHTS TIMELINE: BATTLE FOR THE BALLOT By E.R. Shipp NABJ BLACK NEWS & VIEW
Oct. 4-7, 1864: In Syracuse, New York, the National Convention of Colored Men issue an eloquent appeal for an end to slavery at the end of the Civil War and the right to vote for Black men. After laying out their case, the delegates ask the American people: “Are we good enough to use bullets, and not good enough to use ballots?”
Dec. 6, 1865:
www.sdvoice.info The Colored National Convention in Nashville, Tennessee, in April 1876, part of a national movement
With Georgia’s vote to ratify the 13th of political meetings held by Black Americans after the Civil War. IMAGE: Courtesy of Frank Leslie’s Amendment, 27 out of the 36 states give Illustrated Newspaper. their approval, legally abolishing slavery and involApril 8, 1864, and by the U.S. House on Jan. 31, 1865. untary servitude “except as a punishment for crime.” The amendment is passed by the U.S. Senate on See TIMELINE page 2