www.facebook.com/ SDVoiceandViewpoint
Years
Vol. 65 No. 5 | Thursday, January 30, 2025
www.sdvoice.info
Serving San Diego County’s African & African American Communities 65 Years
TRUMP'S FIRST DAYS BACK IN OFFICE: ROLLBACKS AND RACIST ACTIONS INSIDE By Stacy M. Brown NNPA NEWSWIRE SR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT
THIS WEEK'S ISSUE:
For members of the African American community, women, Latinos, LGBTQ, and even some marginalized white men, the buyer’s remorse has been swift and the sense of betrayal gut-wrenching. President Donald Trump wasted no time in using his first week back in the White House to enact policies that critics have called overtly racist, discriminatory, and regressive among the most controversial actions: mass deportations, a push to end birthright citizenship, and the revocation of key worker protections for minorities, women, and other marginalized groups.
Philadelphia State Senator Art Haywood, center, and others hold a news conference at the Mother Bethel AME Church, Wednesday, Jan.23.2025, to condemn the Trump Administration's "egregious" rollbacks on DEI initiatives and affirmative action policies. PHOTO: Charles Fox/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP
See ROLLBACKS page 2
MLK NEIGHBORHOOD PARADE & CELEBRATION SEE PAGES 8-9
ROYAL JEMZ CORONATION! SEE PAGE 6
HOW CALIFORNIA’S MIGRANT GROUPS ALTADENA AFTER THE EATON FIRES: BRACE FOR TRUMP'S STRICT BORDER AND A PILLAR OF THE COMMUNITY STANDS IMMIGRATION LAWS TALL AMONG THE DEVASTATION
San Diego’s Haitian Bridge Alliance and Somali Bantu Association of America are helping to make sure people are protected By Constanza Eliana Chinea CALIFORNIA LOCAL NEWS FELLOW
In the wake of Trump’s second-term election win, migrant communities and organizaGuerline Jozef, President of the Haitian Bridge Alliance, based in San Diego, CA. tions in California began preparing for the PHOTO: Screenshot fromthe video “How California’s Migrant Groups Brace for Trump” by Constanza Eliana Chinea streaming now at https://sdvoice.info / Voice & Viewpoint new administration's promised aggressive crackdown on immigration, the border, and undocumented migrants themselves. Despite Organizations such as Haitian Bridge Alliance and Somali California being a Sanctuary State, there was collective Bantu Association of America have been supporting fear about what was to come. Now that the inauguramigrants in San Diego and across the state for years, tion day has come and gone and executive orders have but now they feel their work is more important than ever. been signed, will migrants in California be safer than in other parts of the country? See IMMIGRATION page 2
IN A FINAL PRESIDENTIAL ACT,
BIDEN PARDONED MARCUS GARVEY
PHOTO: NNPA
By Stacy M. Brown NNPA NEWSWIRE SR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT In one of his final acts in office, President Joe Biden posthumously pardoned Marcus Mosiah Garvey Jr., a seminal figure in the civil rights movement, whose advocacy for Black nationalism and self-reliance left an indelible mark on leaders like Malcolm X and
movements across the Black diaspora. Born on August 17, 1887, in Saint Ann’s Bay, Jamaica, Garvey was the son of a stonemason and a domestic servant. His journey to becoming a leader began after traveling to Latin America and studying in London, where he was influenced by Pan-African nationalism. See GARVEY page 5
Edna Allen's home one day after the Eaton Fire destroyed her home in January 2025. PHOTO: Screenshot via Mrs. Allen's GoFundMe.com account.
By Emma Fox CONTRIBUTING WRITER
remarried, her step-grandpa moved into the house.
Edna Allen worked for 29 years at the Ball Glass factory in El Monte and when she got off her shift there, she’d go directly to her second job at a daycare. It was there that she was able to do what she truly loves: be a mentor, caregiver, and support system for children during the most vulnerable time of their lives.
The couple lived there for 30 years until he passed away. Talia added, “Along with his ashes, everything from her marriage burned. Every. Single. Thing. She moved into that house in 1976. She’s never lived anywhere else. She’s lived in that house since her early 20s.”
Allen came from a family of nine and has been raising kids since she, herself, was a kid. She moved from Ohio to Altadena as a teen. “I have been up there for 49 years. It was a family environment. My street was pretty well mixed and everybody looked out for everybody,” says Edna. The town raised her to take pride in her community. She said they’d pick up litter after one another and communicate whenever anything happened within the neighborhood. This was a place where she could leave her door unlocked at all times because there was that much mutual trust between neighbors.
As if only grasping it as she speaks it out loud, Talia says “There were things in the basement from the 1970s, 80s, 90s, they’re all gone. It breaks my heart. I realize now how ungrateful I was to be in such a beautiful city.” According to Talia, “When you think about the Black and Brown people in this community, a lot of our parents and grandparents were all business owners.” Edna co-owned Bill’s Chicken, a local institution that Talia says anyone from Altadena will know. She also started O & O Barbeque with Talia’s step-grandfather. See ALTADENA page 2
Edna’s granddaughter, Talia, says of her grandma, “When she got married, her husband moved into her house. She loved her home, she worked hard for that house, and she was proud of that house, there was no way she was moving out of it.” Talia grew up in the house and says even when her grandma
www.sdvoice.info