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Vol. 64 No. 36 | Thursday, September 5, 2024
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Serving San Diego County’s African & African American Communities 64 Years
Advocates Express Outrage and Disappointment as Calif. Reparations Bills Stall in Legislature By Antonio Ray Harvey CALIFORNIA BLACK MEDIA
Scores of advocates from across California protested at the State Capitol Saturday after the Legislature failed to bring two critical reparations bills to the floor for a full vote on Aug. 31, the final day of the legislative session. Chanting “What do we want? Reparations! When do we want it? Now!,” the advocates expressed their outrage and disappointment that Senate Bill (SB) 1403 and Senate Bill (SB) 1331 — both authored by Sen. Steven Bradford (D-Inglewood) — had stalled.
Reparations advocates wait and chant in the hallway of the rotunda at the Capitol on the last night of the legislative session (Aug. 31), anticipating a vote on the reparations bills SB 1403 and SB 1331. PHOTO: Antonio Ray Harvey/California Black Media
THIS WEEK'S ISSUE:
SEE PAGE 8
ANNUAL OG SANDBOX GATHERING SEE PAGE 8
How Have Hate Crime Laws Changed Since We Started Calling It
Hate?
March near Central Park during a Juneteenth celebration, in New York. New York on Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2020. PHOTO: Frank Franklin II / AP
By Emily Kim Jenkins CONTRIBUTING WRITER In 1990, Dan Lungren narrowly won his election for California’s Attorney General. Over half of San Diego County residents voted for him, but he defeated Bay Area Democrat Arlo Smith by less than half of one percent of the total statewide vote. Lungren, California’s last Republican Attorney General to date, is perhaps best known for his “tough-on-crime” approach, which he used to
“This is becoming a political disaster. It’s our own people holding this up,” said Chris Lodgson, a reparations advocate from the Coalition for a Just and Equitable California (CJEC), blaming members of the California Legislative Black Caucus (CLBC). Lodgson said the Legislature’s decision to pass another bill, Assembly Bill (AB) 1840, on Aug. 28, only heightened his frustration. AB 1840, authored by Assemblymember Joaquin Arambula (D-Fresno), would allow eligible undocumented immigrants to purchase homes with state-backed financing through the California Dream for All Shared Appreciation Loan program. See REPARATIONS page 2
The 2024 for Battle the black vote
INSIDE
JAZZ AT THE CREEK SIZZLES!
Despite advancing smoothly through much of the legislative process this year, the session concluded without a vote on both bills, leaving the future of
reparations in California hanging in the balance.
dedicate more resources to combating hate. In 1995, he published the state’s first ever version of the annual hate crime report – a document recording demographics involved in hate crimes. “We have been pushing for the attorney general to begin this data collection for some time now,” Tzivia Schwartz, then-Western States Counsel for the Anti-Defamation League, told the LA Times in 1995. “We are thrilled it’s finally happening but we are concerned it took so long.” See HATE page 2
Polling, The Economy, and Civil Rights By Macy Meinhardt VOICE & VIEWPOINT STAFF WRITER
So much is on the line for Black voters when it comes to the 2024 Presidential election. For some California voters, it’s an election of a lifetime. “Kamala Harris represents hope for the future. Voters are excited, Black leaders in California are excited. There’s just a lot of momentum and like hope around things changing and moving for-
IMAGE: AI-generated using OpenAI's DALL-E
ward,” said LaGina Gause, Associate Professor of Race and Politics at University of California, San Diego. Three quarters, or 77% of Black voters say that they would vote for Harris if the 2024 presidential election were held today, according to the most recent polling survey conducted by Pew Research Center. See VOTE page 2
San Diego College of Continuing Education
Celebrates th its 110 Anniversary VOICE & VIEWPOINT STAFF
On Wednesday, August 28, 2024 from 9 a.m. to noon, the “110 Years of Greatness” fall convocation was held at the Educational Cultural Complex to honor the college’s legacy of com(L to R) Tina King and Dr. Shirley Weber. PHOTO: Courtesy of SDCCE mitment to adult learners for over a century. The convocation ceremony included remarks from the office of Councilmember Henry L. Foster III (District 4), a keynote address by Shirley N. Weber, Ph.D., California Secretary of State, and a performance by African American ancestral storyteller Alyce Smith-Cooper. See ANNIVERSARY page 2
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