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Vol. 63 No. 35
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Thursday, August 31, 2023
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Serving San Diego County’s African & African American Communities 63 Years
CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS CONDEMNS
VIVEK RAMASWAMY’S CONTROVERSIAL REMARKS The New Color of Hate Speech
By Stacy M. Brown NNPA NEWSWIRE SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT The Congressional Black Caucus has denounced Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy for his repeated racist remarks that have furthered the racial divide and exposed even more hate in America’s political landscape.
Vivek Ramaswamy. PHOTO: NNPA
Though born in Cincinnati, Ohio, Ramaswamy is the child of Indian Hindu immigrant parents, which has left many questioning his controversial statements’ true intentions and motives as he seeks an unlikely bid for the GOP nomination. Ramaswamy’s non-European
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American heritage and immigrant background certainly add a layer of perplexity to his alignment with certain extremist elements within the Republican base, reminding African Americans that true allies remain hard to come by. The candidate’s recent town hall event in Pella, Iowa, garnered significant attention for his declaration that “our diversity is not our strength.” Such a statement flies in the face of how Ramaswamy and the extreme right in his party have worked against calls for unity and inclusivity nationwide. See RAMASWAMY page 2
WHAT ARE SCHOOLTEACHERS THINKING?
HAPPY 81st SISTER LEWIS!
THIS WEEK'S ISSUE:
SEE PAGE 9
REPORT GIVES INSIGHTS
EMPRESS'EM CLIENT APPRECIATION CELEBRATION
‘WE NEED TO TALK’ MEN’S FORUM SEE PAGE 11
SEE PAGE 4
BLACK CENSUS PROJECT QUADRUPLES PARTICIPATION
PHOTO: CBM
By Antonio Ray Harvey CALIFORNIA BLACK MEDIA What teachers think and experience in the public education system is explored in a new report by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools (NAPCS). The report, named “Listen to Your Teacher: An Analysis of Teacher Sentiment on the State of Public Education,” was authored by NAPCS’s Vice President of Communications and Marketing, Debbie Veney.
By Stacy M. Brown NNPA NEWSWIRE SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT
The Harris Poll, a market research and consulting firm, carried out the survey of over 1,200 public schoolteachers from both charter and district schools for the report. The NAPCS commissioned the survey to gain more insight into the teachers’ experiences, opinions and motivations for entering, staying in, or leaving the profession. The research was conducted online from May 10 to May 30, 2023.
The Black Futures Lab announced that it had reached a historic milestone in the Black Census Project survey, which will conclude in October 2023. The most extensive survey of Black people in the United States has gathered nearly 130,000 responses from all 50 states, four times bigger than the 2018 Black Census. “Going into another presidential campaign season, we know that Black communities are still being undercounted and under-engaged,” said Alicia Garza, Founder and Principal of Black Futures Lab, who began designing the Black Census Project after the 2016 election. “It is critical that we engage Black communities early and often. Every day, policy is made about us without us. “We launched the Black Census to transform that–we take the data from
PHOTO: NNPA
the Black Census and use it to inform a Black agenda that serves as a roadmap for policymakers and politicians on how to best address the needs of Black communities.” See CENSUS page 2
BLACK VETERANS
AND INACCESSIBILITY TO MENTAL HEALTH RESOURCES By Sam Judy THE DALLAS WEEKLY NEWS
PHOTO: Black Veterans Project
“Next to parents, teachers are the backbone of education. It is valuable to have insight into how they feel in today’s climate and find out how we can better support their heroic work in and outside the classroom. Although we certainly have a special interest in charter schoolteachers, we care deeply about the experience of all public schoolteachers,” stated Nina Rees, President and CEO of the NAPCS. Based on the study, 10 Los Angeles-based Green Dot Public Schools helped students increase proficiency rates in both math and English during the 2022-2023 year. Four schools exceeded their pre-pandemic proficiency rates. The U.S. Department of Education has featured Green Dot, a nonprofit organization, as a national leader in school turnarounds. Charter schools are publicly funded independent schools established by teachers, parents, or community groups under the terms of a charter with a local or national authority. They are governed under a legislative contract – a charter – with the state, school district, or another entity, according to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a statistical agency of the U.S. Department of Education (USDE).
Despite taking the same risk of death and costly sacrifice to their mental well-being, Black Veterans continue to suffer as mental health services are statistically less accessible for the demographic than their white counterparts.
In April 2020, the NCES and Institute of Education Sciences released a 71-page report that Black educators were 11% of the teachers in the country’s charter schools during the 2017-2018 academic year.
See VETERANS page 13
See SCHOOLTEACHERS page 2
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