Harris, a member of the NWPAC, is using the GORequest app to report a pot hole

SAN BERNARDINO, CA- San Bernardino Westside residents are campaigning against pot holes. The membership of San Bernardino’s NWPAC organization is encouraging residents to use their smart phones to report pot holes. There is a smart phone app that allows you to photograph a pot hole and automatically report the location and photo  to the city so that repair of the pot hole can be scheduled. The Government Request App is available for free by requesting the GORequest app access via Google.

Charlene Dixon, president of the NWPAC, is asking Westside residents to help the City identify pot holes by using the telephone reporting system.

 She says, “It is easy, just download this app to your smartphone: GORequest app and 1. Install the app, 2. Open app, 3. Add issue (select potholes), 4. Add a photo from camera, 5. Take the picture of the pothole, 6. Verify that the location is correct, and 7. Submit.”

What happens next? The information is received downtown to the proper department and you are issued a number for that complaint.  You may follow-up and track the response of your submission through this app or via a phone call.

For more information about the NWPAC, call Charlene Dixon, (909) 913-0831.

By Lue Dowdy

B.S.M. and B.B.W. is What It Do! Big sexy males and big beautiful woman wanted; because you asked for it we felt that we should deliver!

LUE PRODUCTIONS First Big Model Competition is brewing! We are calling all you sexy big men to strut on the runway. This will be epic! The winner will take the $500.00 cash prize, crown fit for a king, and photo shoot. The competition scheduled for the month of June directly after Father’s Day. A $50.00 registration will be required for those interested.

We’re in search of B.B.W. Models to be in our fashion show during the event. We all know the sexiness comes in all sizes. It’s about the confidence that shines from within a person. LUE PRODUCTIONS is big on bringing unique and entertaining events to the inland empire. Please support us. Until next week l’z!

For more information contact us via text at (909) 567-1000 or at (909) 556-7637. You can also email us at lue.info@yahoo.com.

RIVERSIDE, CA- Vintage cars, high school drill teams and others took part in the 38th annual Riverside Black History Parade, Expo and Car Show on Saturday, February 10 in Downtown Riverside.

In keeping with the theme “It Takes a Village: Honoring Our Youth,” parade organizers named Whitney Ashley the grand marshal. The graduate of North High School in Riverside and discuss star went to the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

The event, which started at Riverside City College and ended in front of the Riverside County Historic Courthouse on Main Street, also included a stage with live music and a children’s area with horses and train rides.

The Adrian Dell and Carmen Roberts Foundation presented the festivities.

LOS ANGELES, CA- Last Sunday, The Pan African Film Festival (PAFF) ended the 25^th year first weekend of red carpets and character-driven screenings and gatherings in the lobby of the Director’s Guild of America in Los Angeles.

Alfre Woodfrad was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award, as well as hosted a panel discussion. That same night, Nick Cannon premiered his film, “The King of Dancehall” where several big names such as Danny Glover, Ja’net DuBois, Jean Louis, and others came out to support.

Established in 1992, The Pan African Film Festival (PAFF) is a non-profit 501(c)(b) corporation dedicated to the promotion of cultural understanding among peoples of African descent. Every year, PAFF showcases hundreds of quality new films, fine artists and unique craft persons from Africa, the Caribbean and Europe. The festival features red carpet screenings and a variety of special events headed by industry professionals. PAFF has premiered a host of black films including Think Like a Man, Love & Basketball, Miles Ahead and many more. 

Ayuko Babu and Nick Cannon (Photo credit: Kristina Dixon/11:OneVisuals)

Nick Cannon (Photo credit: Kristina Dixon/11:OneVisuals)

Ja’Net Du’Bois and Louis (Photo credit: Kristina Dixon/11:OneVisuals)

Imani Hakim (Photo credit: Kristina Dixon/11:OneVisuals)

SAN BERNARDINO, CA- The San Bernardino Public Library will host a program for Black History Month on Wednesday, February 22 at 10:30 a.m. in the Bing Wong Auditorium at the Feldheym Central Library located at 555 W. 6^th Street. Teacher, Spoken Word artist, and West African dancer Makeda Kumasi, will present “Drum Song” an adaption of an African American fable which includes drum and dance. She will also present “An Audience with Rosa Parks” immediately following “Drum Song”.

Playing Rosa Parks, Kumasi takes the audience on an historical journey that includes the significance of African American Symbols of the Underground Railroad, the Civil Rights Movement, and the day she was arrested for not giving up her seat to a Caucasian bus rider.

Makeda Kumasi is the founder of The Umoja Ensemble of the Inland Empire and Co-founder of WE 3 PRODUCTIONS. Currently she teaches West African Dance at the University of California, Riverside. She has a Masters of Education from the University of Phoenix and a Masters of Fine Arts from the University of Southern California. Kumasi received numerous awards, recognitions and scholarships including the Phyllis E Williams’ Artist Grant 2006, Top Spoken Word Artist Black Business Expo Urban Idol 2004, Ida Mae Holland Playwrights Award 2001, and California Art Scholar for Dance in 1993. Kumasi is a featured Spoken Word Artist and West African Dancer who has performed across the nation including, The World Stage in Leimert Park Village, LA; the Ford Amphitheatre in Hollywood, CA; and the Ogdensburg Theater in NY. As a poet she has also been featured on MTV’s Starting Over and BET’s Fly Poet.

The program is scheduled in the morning to accommodate elementary schools, but is also open to the general public. This free program is sponsored by the Friends of the San Bernardino Public Library.

For more information call 909.381.8238 or visit www.sbpl.org or www.facebook.com/SBPLfriends.

Lou Coleman

By Lou Coleman

I tell you, I wouldn’t want to be in your shoes right now for nothing in the world. You see, Jesus reveals a critical problem. He says, “But I have this against you, that you have left your first love.” And if you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lamp stand from its place. [Revelation 2: 4-5]. What a solemn warning. I want you to know that God did not try to reform the descendents of Cain that had no time for Him. He rejected them and ultimately destroyed them in the flood. His complaint of His people was that they failed to give Him the honor and the respect He deserved. They treated Him with contempt and no longer held Him in awe. In their eyes He was no different than they were; and because of that, they were destroyed. God says, “A son honors his father, and a servant his master. Then if I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is My respect?” [Malachi 1:6]. He who hath ears let him hear what the Spirit saith.

“From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from My statutes, and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord. [Mal. 3:7].  Remember that moment when you first met Me. Remember the love you felt, the stirring in your heart, the adoration you had for Me. Remember how grateful you were for the forgiveness of sins. Remember how at that moment nothing else mattered, only Me. I want you to go back and remember that moment in time. And having that in your memory return to Me. Come back to your first love, to the place and time in your life to where I was everything to you. Return to Me and I will return to you says the Lord!

I want to encourage you in the words of Psalms and Hebrews, “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your heart. God is calling you back to the place where He is first and foremost in your life. He wants you to come back to the place where your soul is aflame with love for Him. He wants you to remember those days when just the mere mention of His name was just enough to bring tears to your eyes? He wants you to remember those days when “Amazing Grace” made you want to shout? That is where the Lord wants to bring you back to! That is where He wants you to return to. God’s plan is for you to rekindle that deeply burning first love, rebuild the altars of your worship and serve Him faithfully!

“Today I call heaven and earth to witness that I have set before you life and death. Now choose life so that you and your descendants may live…”

The Allens

SAN BERNARDINO, CA- Congrats to our publisher, Wallace Allen IV, and co-publisher, Josephine Allen, on being crowned King & Queen of San Bernardino Black Culture Foundation on Friday, February 3. They are pictured with San Bernardino Unified School District Board Member, Margaret Hill.

Imani Hakim

UPN’s ‘Everybody Hates Chris’ star is all grown up!

Imani Hakim (Everybody Hates Chris, The Gabby Douglas Story, Sharknado 4) have been cast to star in the Netflix original filmBurning Sands, directed by Gerard McMurray, from a screenplay by McMurray and Christine Berg.

Hakim will play Rochon, the love interest to Zurich (Trevor Jackson). The film is centered around a particularly brutal hazing process at an all-black university. A favored pledgee is torn between honoring his code of silence or standing up against the intensifying violence of underground hazing.

Hakim joins castmates Jackson, Alfre Woodard (“Luke Cage”), Steve Harris (“Legends”), Tosin Cole (“Hollyoaks”), DeRon Horton, Trevante Rhodes (Moonlight), Christian Robinson, Rotimi (“Power”), Octavius Johnson, Malik Bazille, Mitchell Edwards, Serayah (“Empire”), and Nafessa Williams (Brotherly Love).

Academy Award winning artist and actor Common will take the role of Executive Producer through his Freedom Road Productions. He will also bring his musical prowess to the project, performing the closing credits original song “The Cross” featuring Lianne La Havas.

Hakim’s other credits include UPN’s Everybody Hates Chris, Lifetime’s The Gabby Douglas Story, and Syfy’s Sharknado 4. The actress is represented by Alexander’s Talent Management and Don Buchwald & Associates.

Burning Sands will make its premiere on Netflix on March 10, 2017. Will you be tuning in?

SAN BERNARDINO, CA- On Saturday January 21, 2017 over 140 young men converged on Wilmer Amina Carter High School campus for their first inaugural “Young Men’s Leadership Conference.” The theme was adopted as “Manhood is not a Game, Manhood is about my A – Game.”  The African American Advisory Council (AAPAC) enlisted collaboration from community-based organizations including: State Senator Connie Leyva; Assemblywoman Eloise Reyes; PAL Center; Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc.; Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc.; Young Visionaries; and the Youth Action Project.  AAPAC mission is “To empower young men to realize their potential and leadership abilities, through positive interaction with other young men and male leadership within the community.”

The PAL Charter Academy High School accepted the invitation from Carter High School along with Kolb, Rialto, and Kucera Middle Schools in bringing students to this event. The students were very engaged with great speakers and presenters on various topics such as You Inc.- Finance my Future, Code Switching, Being the Real Boss- Entrepreneurship, and Social Activism which  left strong impressions on the young men. 

When asked what he gained from the experience student Edward Orrego replied “I already started teaching my little brother some of the things I learned about being a man. I tell him you have to look the part and do your best.” 

Student Jeremiah Cook said he learned that he is an “Anomaly – the exception” and to never give up.  One of the highlights of the day was the male involvement group the FELLAS – who “MAN MOB” on campuses across the I.E. providing encouragement, love, and support for all students. There is an old saying “iron sharpens iron and a man is sharpened by the countenance of his brother.” The Young Men’s Leadership Conference exemplifies real men stepping up to make a difference in the lives of our young men.  PAL Center Community Coordinator, Edward Brantley said “This is the first of many events to come.” 

RIVERSIDE, CA- The Eta Nu Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. traded their customary Pink and Green for the day in support of the American Heart Association.  “Pink Goes Red” is a national focus of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., America’s oldest sorority for African American college educated women.  The “Pink Goes Red” campaign seeks to educate women about the risks of Heart Disease.  Eta Nu Omega Chapter President Nancy Ross, herself a survivor of heart disease reminded the chapter that heart disease and stroke are the number one killers of women, affecting 1 in 3 women, more than all cancers combined.  She issued a challenge last year to members to eat better, move more, and reduce sodium intake.  Chapter members met this challenge and raised funds to donate to the American Heart Association.  Eta Nu Omega is actively involved in the counties of San Bernardino and Riverside, participating in various projects to promote family strengthening, youth education and health promotion.