Op-Ed

Pandemic or Not, We Need More COVID-19 Preparedness

President Biden declared the pandemic is over, then quickly backtracked. Unfortunately, his premature word choice undermines the ongoing efforts to prepare the country for future outbreaks. Even before the statement, Congress denied funding to prepare America for the next outbreak.

The Value of Pharmacy Benefit Managers 

As a small business advocate for over 45 years, these past two years, without a doubt, have ranked as some of the most difficult. Small businesses have been forced to navigate California’s pandemic policies and faced supply chain issues, staffing shortages, inflation, and rising healthcare costs.

Op-Ed – America’s Powder Keg Has Exploded!

Gunsmiths and Wordsmiths are not to blame for the mishandling, misuse, and abuse we are seeing today resulting in gun-related massacres along with suicides triggered by cyberspace bullying. These consequential events have become so common – we see the symptoms and know the causes, and yet we all seem to be helpless and neutralized to do anything about them. It’s how we use guns and how we use words that kill.

Make Mental Wellness Part of Our Total Health

The next phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in California has arrived. As the state begins to implement its SMARTER Plan, protecting ourselves and our communities from COVID-19 and its fast-spreading variants through vaccination can ensure better outcomes for us all.

Can Federal Lynching Law Help Heal America?

For three centuries lynching was a standard practice in the cruel treatment of Black men, women, and children in America. Even after slavery, Blacks from 1882 – 1959 were lynched on average every six days, totaling at least 4,733 brutal deaths, according to researchers at the Tuskegee Institute.

Communities do not trust institutions. This is how we’re regaining it.

Americans have lost trust in the ability of large institutions like the federal government, national media, and large companies – even big banks – to understand or care about their needs.  This view is justified, particularly among communities of color and low-income households.  Simply put, our country has done a bad job of looking out for and creating opportunity for everyone.  We need to better understand the unique needs of communities across the United States and show up, listen, and make the right investments and decisions to regain trust.  Impact is most effective and sustainable when it’s local. Here in

Lifting and Holding Up Heaven: Women’s and Men’s Work in the World 

It is a fundamental tenet of Kawaida philosophy that practice proves and makes possible everything, that is to say, practice brings it into being, makes it real, relevant and worthy of the name and quality it claims, whether it is love or life, parenting or peace, teaching or learning, art or ethics, science, religion or righteous resistance.  

The Urgency of Now – A Reflection on African American History Month 

What time is it? It’s time to re-engage the fierce urgency of now and continue pressing forward on the issues of the day. It is time to stay involved, focused, and intentional in preventing voter suppression. It is time for truth telling about the heinous and abominable side of American democracy. We have no time to relax.

Do You See What I See

We look at things differently. We see people, things, events and happenings all according to our own experiences. That subject has been existent hundreds, thousands of years before now. And it is a subject that causes wide controversy. Look at her! Look at him!  

Let’s Create an Infrastructure Policy that Builds Two Types of Bridges for a More Inclusive and Stronger Nation

Despite all the stresses, division, and crises of the past year, we Americans have the timely opportunity to achieve the togetherness and mutual benefits in the new year that can mark a significant turning point.  This opportunity lies within the recently passed $1.2 trillion brick-and-mortar infrastructure bill, which can help build bridges of inclusivity between mainstream construction industry businesses and small and diverse business enterprises, generate multiplicative community benefits, and serve as a replicable national model across many industries.