COMMENTARY By Rick Callender Special to California Black Media Partners In the Black community, literacy stands as a cornerstone of empowerment, guiding our way toward liberation and advancement. For centuries, African Americans have been denied their right to read either through the direct outlawing of literacy instruction and books for enslaved people of African descent, ...

By Antonio‌ ‌Ray‌ ‌Harvey ‌California‌ ‌Black‌ ‌Media‌ Members of the California Legislative Black Caucus (CLBC) announced plans to introduce a package of bills this year designed to address the recommendations the California reparations task force made last year in its final report. Certain advocacy groups and individuals say the legislative package the lawmakers announced on ...

By Edward Henderson California Black Media Last week, Assemblymember Corey A. Jackson (D-Riverside) introduced Assembly Bill AB 742, legislation that would prohibit the use of police canines for arrests, apprehensions and crowd control. The use of police canines, supporters of the legislation say, is a throwback to the darkest days of legal slavery, Jim Crow ...

By Antonio Ray Harvey California Black Media The California Task Force to Study and Develop Reparations Proposals for African Americans decided at the two-day meeting on the campus of San Diego State University that it would support legislation that extends the panel until July 1, 2024. After an 8-0 vote with one abstention, the task ...

By Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire Sr Natl Correspondent In 2017, Reesy Floyd-Thompson, who calls herself a “digital wonder woman,” said she had to deal with the shame of the incarceration of a significant other. Her husband’s incarceration also meant that calling him would be difficult, if not impossible. “I used to maintain a side ...

By Aldon Thomas Stiles California Black Media Last Thursday, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed several bills focused on addressing gun violence. “California has the toughest gun safety laws in the nation, but none of us can afford to be complacent in tackling the gun violence crisis ravaging our country,” Newsom said. “These new measures will help ...

An updated Covered California analysis highlights how the expiration of the American Rescue Plan (ARP) would raise costs for enrollees, including doubling premiums on average for 1 million low-income Californians, and may lead up to 220,000 people to drop their health coverage. The analysis comes as Congress deliberates whether to extend the law, which provides ...

By Antonio Ray Harvey California Black Media One year to the day since making its historic debut, the California Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans delivered its anticipated interim report to the California legislature. Responding to the release, Black reparations activists are encouraging Black Californians to read the report and ...

By Antonio Ray Harvey California Black Media After a first vote failed, the California Task Force to Study and Develop Reparations Proposals for African Americans decided that lineage will determine who will be eligible for reparations. During the first session of the eighth, two-day meeting, five members of the task force voted in favor of ...

Rep. Pete Aguilar introduced the Affordable Housing Resident Services Act, legislation that secures funding for affordable housing properties to provide supportive services for their residents. “The COVID-19 pandemic put a spotlight on the lack of supportive services for low-income families in affordable housing,” Rep. Aguilar said. “While the federal government continues to invest in building ...