85 Years of LA Sentinel – Page 3 – Los Angeles Sentinel

State Sen. Holly Mitchell, MLK CEO Joined Cherished Futures for Black Moms & Babies Workshop for Deep Dive Discussion on Birth Inequities in Los Angeles

Sentinel News ServiceJuly 29, 2020

The Honorable Holly J. Mitchell delivered opening remarks and discussed SB 464, the California Dignity in Pregnancy and Childbirth Act. Mitchell shared how she authored the bill and shepherded its passage. She also shared her vision for respectful, equitable maternity care especially for Black mothers, and her steadfast support and call to action for perinatal care providers.

Basketball Sports

NBA EXTENDS COMMUNITY TESTING PROGRAM AS PART OF 2019-20 SEASON RESTART IN ORLANDO

Sentinel News ServiceJuly 29, 2020

The NBA announced today a new community testing program providing thousands of no-cost COVID-19 PCR tests in Orlando, Fla. and team markets nationwide. The program, which is a part of NBA Together, the league’s global community and social engagement campaign that aims to support, engage, educate and inspire youth, families and fans in response to the coronavirus pandemic, tipped off earlier this month and will run through August. The Health and Safety Protocols for the Resumption of the 2019-20 NBA Season, which were finalized with the National Basketball Players Association in June, included plans for several community testing programs.

COVID-19 Local News

Gyms, Personal Services, Offices, and Places of Worship Looking to Close Down Due to COVID-19 Spike

Betti Halsell Contributing WriterJuly 13, 2020

Statistics show an escalation in hospitalization, positive cases, and the overall community death rate is still in the double digits. Latest numbers surrounding coronavirus shared on July 13, reflected 13 additional deaths, all of them were between the ages of 65 and over, nine of the victims had underlining health conditions. This brings the total COVID-19 related deaths in the L.A. County to 3,822.

Op-Ed Opinion

Skin Color Blind Society is the Only Solution

Dr. Asif MahmoodJuly 2, 2020

The gruesome murder of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis Police Department has sparked a necessary public uprising against the systematic racism that has plagued the U.S. since even prior to its inception. Century-long questions of race and color have been brought to the forefront of social and news media. Globally, people have started to reflect on the cause and effect of racism within their own communities. One of the many effects of racism has been the development of colorism. Colorism is defined as prejudice or discrimination against individuals with a dark skin tone, typically among people of the same ethnic or racial group. Colorism has significant roots in Asian, Latino, and South Asian societies.

News Political

California Moves One Step Closer to Granting Parolees Right to Vote

Antonio Ray Harvey California Black MediaJuly 2, 2020

The bill, known as the Free the Vote Act, will  seek  voters’  approval  in the 2020 November election to restore voting rights to former inmates  who are  free from incarceration  but still on parole.    
Currently, in California, a person’s right to vote is suspended when they are  imprisoned  or on parole for a felony conviction,  although they can vote while on probation, county post-release community supervision and federal supervised release.    
Only two states, Maine and Vermont, allow people to vote while still  incarcerated.  
ACA 6 passed out the Senate with a 28-9 vote.  

National News (Entertainment)

Pennsylvania Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Bill Cosby Appeal

Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire Senior CorrespondentJune 25, 2020

In a significant legal victory for Bill Cosby, the state Supreme Court has agreed to hear the appeal of his 2018 conviction on charges of indecent aggravated assault.

In a stunning ruling handed down on Tuesday, June 23, 2020, the court noted it’s allowing the appeal on two specific issues.

The first is regarding the so-called prior bad acts witnesses. Cosby’s attorneys argued that six additional women were unlawfully allowed to testify against him based on unproven and uncharged allegations from decades earlier. The women claimed Cosby had provided them Quaaludes, which prosecutors claimed to fit a specific pattern of behavior exhibited by the comedian. District Attorney Kevin Steele claimed that Cosby had a habit of drugging and assaulting women.

Health

Understanding Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Sentinel News ServiceJune 24, 2020

PASADENA, Calif.— June 24, 2020—This Saturday, June 27, we observe Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Awareness Day, and June is also PTSD Awareness Month. According to the American Psychiatric Association, PTSD affects approximately 3.5-percent of U.S. adults, and an estimated one in 11 people will be diagnosed with it in their lifetime. Women are twice as likely as men to have PTSD.

While many believe the mental health disorder only affects military veterans, many Americans who are not veterans of war also experience nightmares or flashbacks caused by PTSD. Those people often relive traumatic events – such as major accidents, sexual assault or witnessing trauma – which become seared in their memories and can negatively affect their mental health.

Op-Ed Opinion Political

Weapons of War on Our Streets?

Rep. Alma AdamsJune 18, 2020

John Adams and his son, John Quincy, were the only two of our first 12 Presidents who didn’t own slaves.

I mention this for two reasons: first, to demonstrate how the control and devaluation of Black lives formed the foundation of our political thought; and second, to reinforce that Adams may be more qualified than most founding fathers to speak about justice.

He wrote, “we are to look upon it as more beneficial, that many guilty persons should escape unpunished, than one innocent person should suffer.”

Dr. Maulana Karenga

Maintaining the Meaning of Juneteenth: Staying Focused on Freedom

Dr. Maulana KarengaJune 18, 2020

The celebration of freedom is to be encouraged and applauded everywhere and all the time, and the celebration of Juneteenth, June 19th as Emancipation Day, is, of necessity, no exception. For freedom is so essential to our lives, our concepts of ourselves and our understanding of what it means to live and flourish as human beings. In this context, Min. Malcolm X makes freedom the most essential value in his ethical insistence on freedom, justice and equality as non-negotiable needs and rights of the human person. Thus, he states that “freedom is essential to life itself” and equally, “freedom is essential to the development of the human being.” Moreover, he says, “if we don’t have freedom we can never expect justice and equality.” For “only after we have freedom, does justice and equality become a reality.”

Entertainment National

Headline-making missteps put focus on newsroom diversity

David Bauder Associated PressJune 12, 2020

Alexis Johnson figures she wasn’t the loser when the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said she couldn’t cover protests triggered by George Floyd’s death. Her readers were — denied the perspective of a black woman with family roots in law enforcement working in her hometown.

COVID-19 Health

State Officials Announce Latest COVID-19 Facts

Sentinel News ServiceJune 11, 2020

As of June 10, there have been 2,597,647 tests conducted in California and reported to the California Department of Public Health. This represents an increase of 56,849 tests over the prior 24-hour reporting period. These numbers include data from commercial, private and academic labs, including Quest, LabCorp, Kaiser, University of California and Stanford, and the 25 state and county health labs currently testing. The Department is now reporting all tests reported in California, rather than the total number of individuals tested.

Football

USC Welcomes Reggie Bush Back as 10-Year Ban Expires

City News ServiceJune 11, 2020

Former USC football star Reggie Bush was welcomed back into the Trojan family today as his 10-year, NCAA-mandated ban from the school over a recruiting scandal officially expired.

In a letter to Bush, USC President Carol L. Folt wrote, “I am pleased to inform you that all restrictions and prohibitions on your involvement in our athletics program are officially removed and you will be afforded the privileges and courtesies extended to all Trojan football alumni.”

Op-Ed Opinion

African American State of Affairs Pandemic

Dr. Barbara RhodesJune 11, 2020

The current pandemic presents nothing new to African Americans in terms of disproportionately impacting our communities in every dimension of life. The fact is, as has been noted in any number of commentaries and references on social media in the wake of the Covid-19 virus, we have been experiencing a pandemic since our first days on the shores of this country-a pandemic of racism. Emancipation provided a lowering of the viral load, as have the legislative outcomes of the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements, but the stark reality is that it’s a virus that continues to impact the consciousness of many Americans and continues to mutate with varying presentations requiring vigilance and a consistent intervention of social outcry and activism.

Local Political

Latino Caucus Chair: Real Justice Calls For Supporting African American Policy Issues

Antonio Ray Harvey California Black Media June 11, 2020

Shortly after members of the California legislature took a knee for eight minutes and 46 seconds at the California Capitol to protest racism and the death of George Floyd, Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego) took the opportunity to call out some of her Latino colleagues.

“I have to be honest, I’m disappointed with our Latino caucus,” Gonzalez said at the event that Assemblymember Syndey Kamlager (D-Los Angeles), a member the California Legislative Black Caucus (CLBC), organized.

Local Political

The California Assembly voted to pass ACA 5

CBM StaffJune 11, 2020

Today the California State Assembly voted to pass ACA 5. The bill authored by Assemblymember Dr. Shirley Weber (D-San Diego), chair of the California Legislative Black Caucus, sponsored the bill. This could allow Californians to vote on Affirmative action in the November 2020 general election.