A genomic study of Bronze Age mummies of the Uyghur region in western China revealed a genetically isolated but culturally cosmopolitan indigenous people linked to modern indigenous peoples of the Americas and Siberia.
Since the 1990s, hundreds of mummies naturally preserved in the dry climate of western China’s Tarim Basin have been discovered, with their somewhat Western appearance attracting international attention and conjecture.
The mummies, dating from 2000 B.C. to A.D. 200, were buried in boat-like coffins though they were in the desert. They wore felted and woven woolen clothing, herded cattle, sheep and goats and ate wheat, barley and millet, researchers say.
A boat burial is seen in profile at Xiaohe cemetery in Tarim Basin of Uyghur Autonomous Region of China. (Wenying Li, Institute of Cultural Relics and Archeology)
While some scholars speculated that they descend from migrating Yamnaya herders from Russia’s Black Sea region, others said they came from the oasis cultures of the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex (BMAC), which has a strong genetic relationship to early farmers of the Iranian Plateau. BMAC refers to an early civilization (2000–1500 B.C.) that was centered in modern Turkmenistan and Tajikstan.
Researchers analyzed genomic data from 13 of the earliest Tarim Basin mummies, dated 2100 to 1700 B.C., and five mummies of the nearby Dzungarian Basin, dating 3000 to 2800 B.C., to better understand the populations that settled at the Xiaohe and Gumugou sites around 2000 B.C.
The analysis revealed that the Tarim Basin mummies were not newcomers but direct descendants of people of the preceding Pleistocene age who had mostly disappeared by the end of the last glacial era, about 11,700 years ago, when the current Holocene period began.
Archeologists uncover burials for genetic sampling at Xiaohe cemetery in Tarim Basin of Uyghur Autonomous Region of China. (Wenying Li, Institute of Cultural Relics and Archeology)
Dubbed Ancient North Eurasians (ANE), some of their genome survives among indigenous peoples of Siberia and the Americas. The mummies show no interbreeding with any other groups. The researchers determined that the mummies show evidence of being a previously unknown people who were genetically isolated long before settling in the Tarim Basin.
“Archeogeneticists have long searched for Holocene ANE populations in order to better understand the genetic history of Inner Eurasia. We have found one in the most unexpected place,” says Choongwon Jeong, a senior author of the study and a professor of Biological Sciences at Seoul National University.
Mummy of a woman wearing a wool cap, found at Xiaohe cemetery in Tarim Basin of Uyghur Autonomous Region of China. (Wenying Li, Institute of Cultural Relics and Archeology)
The earliest people of Dzungarian Basin, however, descended from local populations and also from the Afanasievo herders who had strong genetic links to the Early Bronze Age Yamanya people. The ancestry of other pastoralists such as the Chemurchek, who spread northward to the Altai Mountains and Mongolia, was made clearer in the genome study.
The authors of the study, published in the journal Nature, believe their findings will transform the understanding of ancient Eurasians and their migration.
“These findings add to our understanding of the eastward dispersal of Yamnaya ancestry and the scenarios under which admixture occurred when they first met the populations of Inner Asia,” said study co-author Chao Ning of Peking University.
“Despite being genetically isolated, the Bronze Age peoples of the Tarim Basin were remarkably culturally cosmopolitan — they built their cuisine around wheat and dairy from the West Asia, millet from East Asia and medicinal plants like Ephedra from Central Asia,” said co-author Christina Warinner of Harvard University.
Edna Rashid’s story is typical of an aspiring entrepreneur achieving success with the help of Rising Tide Capital.
Rashid found herself a grandmother with 10 children in her care eight years ago, after her oldest daughter Naimah died suddenly of congestive heart failure at age 33. Beyond the heartbreak and sorrow was the realization, Rashid, age 54 at the time, had a family to take care of, including a grandson with special needs.
So, she took early retirement from her long-time job as a management specialist with the city of Newark, New Jersey, and began to brainstorm ideas to support her family. Eventually, Rashid was encouraged to attend a presentation by Rising Tide Capital, a non-profit agency in Jersey City, New Jersey, whose mission is to transform lives and communities through entrepreneurship.
“It’s the best thing I’ve ever done,” Rashid told Zenger. “They don’t just teach you about economic capital, but the value of human capital.”
In 2013, Rashid and her son, Qasim, founded NF Insulation, a full-service insulation company based in Newark, N.J., that handles residential, commercial and industrial contractors. A family business headed by a woman of color is the sweet spot for Rising Tide Capital, which for 17 years has helped hundreds of minority-based businesses launch in urban communities.
Founded by Alfa Demmellash and Alex Forrester in 2004 on Martin Luther King Drive in Jersey City, Rising Tide Capital has trained more than 3,200 entrepreneurs mainly in the northeast, and is duplicating its model in 10 different states.
“We decided to focus on entrepreneurship because of the ways in which it represents pathways for folks who have had a hard time trying to access traditional job opportunities or who have been unable to access higher education opportunities and certainly access financing,” Demmellash told Zenger. “Those were all in play in our mind when we started shaping the mission of Rising Tide Capital.”
Demmellash was born during Ethiopia’s civil war and immigrated to the United States at age 12. Forrester, her husband, is the son of Doug Forrester, a businessman who ran unsuccessfully for governor of New Jersey in 2005. A like-minded friendship turned into marriage, fueling a common interest in multi-generational economics and what can be done to address the root causes of poverty. They looked at ways communities of color have been marginalized and impacted by America’s history of racial discrimination. Eventually, their focus narrowed to expanding entrepreneurship in underserved communities.
“We’ve gone through different situations over the years,” Demmellash said. “But the mission has remained very much the same in its focus, and that’s working with entrepreneurs.”
Alex Forrester (left) and Alfa Demmellash formed Rising Tide Capital in 2004 to help entrepreneurs achieve their dreams. (Rising Tide Capital)
RTC offers two one-semester curriculums called the Community Business Academy (CBA), an intensive 12-week course on business management skills needed to start, fund and operate a business. The CBA is accredited by Saint Peter’s University in Jersey City, and 90 percent of those who have attended are people of color and 70 percent are women, Demmellash said.
“We believe there’s local talent that has been overlooked and underrepresented,” she said. “Supporting those leaders with the know-how to access community, social, and financial capital is the way we’re going to rebuild our communities from within and address some of the root causes for economic disparities.”
Only 200 seats are available each semester at the academy and those accepted receive a full-tuition scholarship and pay for only their materials and a registration fee based on income level. Graduates of the program enter Rising Tide’s Business Acceleration Services program which assists entrepreneurs for up to three years after graduation. To date, 3,220 have graduated from the CBA, and 80 percent of the businesses the graduates established survived the five-year mark.
Hilda Mera, an immigrant from Ecuador, graduated from Rising Tide Capital’s CBA in 2015 after opening an auto repair shop in Newark two years earlier with her husband, Jose Masache. “I always say Rising Tide Capital is the door that opened the rest of the doors for me,” Mera told Zenger. “They don’t just give you the classes and say ‘bye. Whatever you need from counseling to coaching they’re there. All you have to do is make a phone call, and they’ll help you. They don’t really leave you.”
Mera now teaches at Rising Tide Capital with an emphasis on empowering women to become business leaders in their communities. “It’s something I love to do,” she said, “because I love to help entrepreneurs and tell them if I did it, they can do it.”
Hilda Mera, a graduate of Rising Tide Capital’s Community Business Academy, opened S&A Auto Repair Shop in Newark, New Jersey. (S&A Auto Repair)
CBA applicants must have a firm idea for a business or be actively involved in their own business for consideration. “We want to encourage people,” Forrester said. “People are already out there pushing in this direction and our job is to get behind their efforts and support them and surround them with a community of others who are doing the same.”
Students come from all levels of educational, professional and economic backgrounds. “We’re not looking for the highest potential entrepreneurs and getting behind them,” Forrester said. “It’s really a much larger embrace for what entrepreneurship means in the community as a form of people hearing the needs of others around them and finding ways to respond to that.”
COVID-19 forced a transition to online learning, something that will be maintained as an option when the pandemic eases. Technology is helping with duplicating the CBA in cities like Chicago, Illinois; Charleston, South Carolina; Charlotte, North Carolina; Wichita, Kansas; Dallas, Texas; Los Angeles, California; Richmond, Virginia; and Brooklyn, New York. “This isn’t about people having a certain level of education,” Demmellash said. “What’s required is people bring a heart and a commitment.”
Rising Tide Capital, funded primarily by corporate, foundation, and government grants, is looking to expand its headquarters in Jersey City to make a bigger impact on urban cities around the nation. A $1.5 million capital campaign is underway to build a permanent hub, complete with workspace, classroom space, training space and affordable housing. It’s a broad vision that could have an everlasting impact.
“What warms my heart is when we see the children of entrepreneurs at events or their parents’ business, and you see the look in their eyes,” said Demmellash, a daughter of an entrepreneur. “Children of entrepreneurs have a high rate of graduation and a better chance of becoming entrepreneurs. It’s long-term transformative thinking that we’re trying to create.”
With many small businesses struggling through the pandemic and unemployed workers looking to start their own business, RTC is seeing a need and meeting it. “It’s so critically important, particularly for people of color, to know there’s a space for them to start and grow their business over the long-term,” Demmellash said. “They are agents of change in the kind of long-term economic transformation we’re seeking.”
Canelo Alvarez rose two weight classes in November 2019 to challenge then-WBO 175-pound titleholder Sergey Kovalev, vowing to become a four-division champion.
The Mexican superstar did so sensationally, knocking the “Crusher” literally to his knees, senseless, out cold and sagging against ring ropes that held him up. It was a bitter end to a match for a highly unpopular fighter.
“It was nice to see Canelo do us all a favor and hit Kovalev so hard that he banished him from the stratosphere of being a world-class fighter at the elite level,” said boxing analyst Ray Flores of Premier Boxing Champions, TGB Promotions and Triller.
“That was a vicious and apropos clock cleaning of Kovalev, who, in my opinion, is a bad guy based on his track record. At some point, someone may test Canelo, but on that night, it was like, ‘This guy is done being an elite fighter’ because Canelo’s blowing everybody out of the water.”
It has been nearly two years since Kovalev was pummeled by Alvarez, who is predicting an early knockout of undefeated Caleb Plant during their unification bout on Nov. 6 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Alvarez, 31, is determined to become the first undisputed 168-pound champion from Mexico by adding Plant’s IBF crown to his WBA/WBC/WBO versions.
“I’m sticking with my prediction of a knockout before round eight,” said Alvarez, also a winner of titles at 154, 160 and 175 pounds. “The first couple of rounds will be difficult, but as the fight progresses, I am going to be able to get him out of there.”
Alvarez (56-1-2, 38 KOs), whose bout against Plant (21-0, 12 KOs) will be his fourth fight in 11 months, is hoping to vanquish an undefeated rival for the eighth time in his career at the MGM Grand. Plant, 29, will battle Alvarez, 31, on Showtime Pay Per View (9 p.m. ET).
“This is the most important fight in Canelo’s career. As a prizefighter there is nothing bigger than unifying a division,” said Alvarez’s manager and trainer, Eddy Reynoso.
“That’s why we’re training so hard. Our focus is to make sure we show everyone that Mexican boxing is No. 1. If we’re able to get this victory and unify the division, we will really be making a big mark in the sport.”
Alvarez is 14-0-1 (8 KOs) since a majority decision loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in September 2013, a bout that dethroned the then-23-year-old as WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion.
“Canelo” (Cinnamon for his red hair) is rocketing toward the legendary status of countrymen such as three-division champions Julio Cesar Chavez and Marco Antonio Barrera, four-division title winners Juan Manuel Marquez and Erik Morales and long-reigning Salvador Sanchez and Ruben Olivares.
“Canelo’s speed and power against Kovalev was impressive, further showing his progression since the fight with Mayweather. I rank him top five behind Chavez, Olivares and Salvador Sanchez, maybe right there with Marquez, Barrera, Morales and Carlos Zarate,” said Showtime boxing commentator Raul Marquez, a former junior middleweight champion.
“Canelo has matured, developing into a much better fighter. He’s stocky, strong, has a big back, legs, and that’s where his natural power comes from. His balance allows him to leverage his punches, maximize his power, particularly on his body shots, by transferring his weight back and forth from one side to the other.”
That cerebral prowess and two-fisted punching power teams with an impressive resume, which makes Alvarez the sport’s best pound-for-pound boxer, according to Flores.
“Canelo is precise, economical and we’re starting to see more wrinkles in his game as he grows exponentially in the footwork, head movement, feints and the way he parries shots,” Flores said. “Oh, and by the way, he hits like a Mack truck, which makes him the most complete fighter we’ve seen in a long time. Canelo’s the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world, and it’s not even close.”
At a pre-bout press conference last month, Alvarez and Plant wound up trading blows during their staredown. Goaded by a push from Alvarez, Plant swung and missed. Alvarez landed on Plant. A brief scuffle ensued before the men were separated, with Plant being cut over one of his eyes.
“I’ve never been involved in anything like what happened at the first press conference between me and Caleb,” Alvarez said. “I delivered the message I had to at our press conference. I don’t have to say anything else to Plant. I’m just going to prepare to face him in the ring on Nov. 6.”
Alvarez earned his first crown in March 2011 by unanimous decision over Matthew Hatton, dominating nearly every minute for the WBC’s vacant 154-pound title and improving to 36-0-1 (26 KOs).
Alvarez made six title defenses before falling to Mayweather, capped by a unanimous decision unification victory over southpaw Austin Trout in April 2013. The victory added Trout’s WBA crown to Alvarez’s WBC title. Alvarez earned his second crown in as many divisions via unanimous decision that dethroned Puerto Rican four-division title winner Miguel Cotto (November 2015) as WBC middleweight champion.
“I don’t want to compare myself to great Mexican champions of the past, but this [Caleb Plant] fight is very important for my country of Mexico,” said WBA/WBC/WBO 168-pound champion Canelo Alvarez. (Esther Lin/Showtime)
Alvarez earned his third crown in as many divisions in December 2018, his four-knockdown, third-round TKO of WBA “regular” 168-pound champion Rocky Fielding coming against a fighter who entered at 27-1, 15 KOs).
“I don’t want to compare myself to great Mexican champions of the past, but this [Caleb Plant] fight is very important for my country of Mexico. This is one of the most important fights of my life,” Alvarez said. “I’m taking it very seriously, and a win means a lot to me. I just want to go out and make my own history. In the end, I want to be considered one of the best along with the legends who came before me.”
Another major triumph was Alvarez’s majority decision unification victory over then-undefeated WBA/WBC titleholder Gennady Golovkin (September 2018) in a rematch of their draw in September 2017.
“Canelo” also owns unanimous decisions over three-division champion and two-time Oscar De La Hoya-conqueror “Sugar” Shane Mosley (May 2012), former champion Chavez (May 2017), ex-titleholders Daniel Jacobs (May 2019) and Callum Smith (December 2020), and a split-decision over left-handed Cuban two-division champion Erislandy Lara (July 2014).
Alvarez’s knockouts of former champions include a sixth-round stoppage of Carlos Baldomir (September 2010), a one-knockdown, fifth-round TKO of Kermit Cintron (November 2011), a 10th-round TKO of Alfredo Angulo (March 2014), a sixth-round knockout of Amir Khan (May 2016) and a three-knockdown, ninth-round KO of Liam Smith (September 2016).
The Smith siblings were unbeaten before falling to Alvarez, Liam, 33, at 23-0-1 (13 KOs), and Callum, 31, at 27-0 (19 KOs).
Alvarez last fought in May, winning by eighth-round stoppage of southpaw Billy Joe Saunders, who entered at 30-0 (14 KOs). Alvarez added Saunders’ WBO title to the WBA and WBC belts he already owned.
“It’s unreal when you look at his resume and consider the guys that he’s beaten, which is unreal,” said Flores, also mentioning a third-round TKO of left-handed title challenger James Kirkland in May 2015.
“I never thought that anyone could mean what Chavez has meant to Mexican fight fans, but Canelo is so young and has a desire to really claim his legacy, being so adamant about being undisputed.”
Barbara Allen is driven by her own pain to help ease it in others.
Through tragedy and adversity, Allen became an advocate for the healing of victims of substance abuse. The process has gien her solace and peace.
“I call Barbara Allen the czar of recovery,” said Beth Harbinson, a friend and associate. “Barbara’s philanthropy, activism, leadership and work ethic have enabled her to make meaningful contributions toward the improvement of services for those suffering from these diseases.”
The eldest of 10 siblings, Allen lost two younger brothers — one was shot and killed by a person on crystal methamphetamine, she said. Another overdosed on meth.
The deaths of her daughter at birth, and brothers “created a powerful resolve in me not to let any other loved ones die,“ said Allen, who lives with her husband, Tom, in Ellicott City, Maryland.
Allen’s son, James Lee Stallings, died from an overdose of heroin and alcohol in 2003. He was 35. When her son died, she said, “it shattered my heart.”
A stone beneath Barbara Allen’s office window is a memorial to her son, James Lee Stallings, who died in 2003 at age 35 of a heroin and alcohol overdose. Allen is the executive director of James’ Place, a nonprofit that provides scholarships for individuals seeking residence in recovery houses. (Courtesy Barbara Allen)
Allen treats her own heartache by helping others as executive director of James’ Place, a nonprofit established in her son’s name. She works to provide scholarships for individuals needing help to move into recovery houses and invests countless hours in advocacy.
“If you have to label me, I’m a recovering codependent parent,” said Allen. “I knew about 12-step meetings, but I didn’t know squat when I came into advocacy. After a couple of years of grief, I started researching. I came across an article about the war on drugs. I felt as if that opened the door to some freedom and put fresh air in my face.”
Numerous recovery house managers and regional program coordinators as Allen for information about how recovery houses work and how to access funding or scholarships for those in recovery.
“Barbara Allen helped with a scholarship for two guys who moved into my sober living house,” said Dean Branham, who runs the six-man Concrete Recovery facility in Catonsville, Maryland. “She did a great interview with both of them and has kept in touch … making sure the two gentlemen are doing well.
“She spoke with them for significant lengths of time, which I appreciated. She’s been a great resource for me to talk through some inconsistencies within the recovery world, helping me navigate some of the daily obstacles we face helping people in recovery deal with fatal and progressive illnesses,” he said.
Allen’s altruism has spread to a number of services nationwide, including Compassionate Friends, dedicated to addressing family bereavement.
In addition, serves at the Howard County’s Domestic Violence Center and named Howard County Woman Of The Year in 2020. She also works with the Harford County-based Addictions Connections Resource Center and the Baltimore County-based Daniel Torsch Foundation for families and those struggling with substance abuse, addiction and mental health.
“Barbara has worked tirelessly in Howard County and in the state of Maryland to improve the lives of people suffering from substance use disorder,” said Harbinson, founder of the nonprofit SOBAR, which provides healthy nonalcoholic beverages at public social events.
“I’ve had the honor of working with Barbara on the Opioid Crisis Community Council for the last two years. Barbara’s leadership in that capacity has enabled a group of providers, community advocates and lay people to work toward solutions related to the crisis we face in the county and across the nation.”
Allen advocates for ways to help people who may be intimidated by or unaware of how to approach the problem.
“The average person denied by their insurance provider for mental health or substance use care often doesn’t have the education to understand the problem, the resilience to keep nagging. They don’t feel entitled to keep nagging, and they can be intimidated when they’re asking for help,” said Allen, whose efforts extend to organizations in Virginia and West Virginia.
“Part of the work I do with Lt Gov. [Boyd Rutherford] is answering questions like: Where are the logjams? Where are the problems? What are they? And one of the major issues is the pay rate for providers. People can make a lot more money working anywhere else than by working in state correctional facilities or in behavioral health.
“My work in substance use disorder advocacy is very broad,” she said. “Pick a topic or a cause, and I’m working on it.”
OAKLAND, CA — Today, at a press conference highlighting California’s support for small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law legislation that will greatly expand opportunities for outdoor dining across the Golden State. Authored by Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel (D-Woodland Hills), Assembly Bill (AB) 61 will empower local jurisdictions and the Department of Alcohol Beverage Control (ABC) to provide much-needed regulatory flexibility to neighborhood restaurants struggling with the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Neighborhood restaurants are the backbone of communities across California, but too many are barely hanging on by a thread,” said Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel. “Outdoor dining has been a critical lifeline that has helped these establishments keep their doors open during these challenging times. AB 61 provides important flexibility so that restaurants can safely expand outdoor dining and continue to serve the communities they call home. I applaud Governor Newsom for his thoughtful leadership in protecting both public health and small businesses as we continue to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic.”
AB 61 provides restaurants with regulatory flexibility on a number of key issues, including enabling more outdoor food preparation and service, allowing restaurants to better use their own spaces for increased outdoor dining capacity, and extending existing ABC orders allowing for alcohol service on outdoor premises. AB 61 also includes an urgency clause, meaning the measure goes into effect immediately.
The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged small businesses across the state—particularly in the restaurant industry. While the National Restaurant Association reports [1] modest employment growth in the last 2 months, with California leading the nation in job gains, employment remains below pre-pandemic levels and nearly 4 in 5 restaurants are understaffed. As of August 2021 [2], California also had 234,800 fewer eating and drinking establishments than it did in August 2019.
“The changes we made to support outdoor dining during the pandemic saved countless jobs and businesses, and Angelenos have been clear that they want to see these improvements stay in place for good,” said Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. “I am proud to support Assemblymember Gabriel’s legislation that will enable us to make outdoor dining a permanent feature in Los Angeles and across the state.”
“The restaurant industry has been hit hard by the pandemic. With indoor dining rooms still closed in most places, outdoor dining has become an important lifeline for restaurants,” stated Madelyn Alfano, Immediate Past Chair of the California Restaurant Association Board of Directors and owner of Maria’s Italian Kitchen, a neighborhood Italian restaurant with several locations in the San Fernando Valley. “AB 61 will help to address issues restaurants face as we have created outdoor spaces to continue to serve our customers. Nothing is more important to me than the safety of our customers and the ability to continue to provide delicious meals for my community.
The events of the last days is bringing a trap [allurements, baits, enticements] to you the people of this world. You have no idea it’s a baited snare designed to take you down, says the Lord. It will look like calm, but the real danger lies in what you can’t see. It is the unseen enemy lurking in the barren brush that blends in with the crowd, who represents the grave danger. Make no mistake, this is a war. Be not deceived, the thief comes to kill, steal, and destroy. “Escape for your life. Look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.” – [Genesis 19:17].
Unfortunately, those who miscalculate the times, believing there’s plenty of time to come to Jesus Christ, and put it off, “shall not escape.” For, when they shall say, peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Therefore, let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ [1 Thessalonians 5:3-6;9]. Get under God’s umbrella so that you will be counted as one who escaped. I tell you; judgment is so near I can almost hear its footsteps outside. Some will escape. Some will not. You can choose. But I know, like one crying “WOLF” there will be many who hear my warning to seek God while they still can, whose ears are dull of hearing from being told so many times. But it is still my responsibility to warn you from the Lord not to delay seeking Him.
For as He approached and saw the city, He wept over it, saying, “If you knew this day what it [would bring] but now it is hidden from your eyes. For the days will come on you when your enemies will build an embankment against you, surround you, and hem you in on every side. They will crush you and your children within you to the ground, and they will not leave one stone on another in you, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.” [Luke 19:41-44].
Foolish people without heart, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear. The end is at hand. Time is running out. [Romans 13:11] It will not be long before this present age as you know it will end, it is later than you think. And that’s why Satan has marked you for destruction. Your enemy has turned up the heat. He is stalking you like a lion, hiding in the grass, waiting for an opportunity to pounce. Dare not be ignorant of his methods and strategies of warfare against you. You see, the devil knows this war is his last chance, because only a short time remains before I [Christ] returns. He knoweth that he hath but a brief time.” And he will stop at nothing to destroy you. He’s going to use all of his weapons against you – all subtleties, deceits, and devices. “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: [1 Peter 5:8-9].
Wake up. Watch and Pray! It will not be long before this present age as you know it will end, it is later than we think.
By Antonio? ?Ray? ?Harvey? ?|? ?California? ?Black? ?Media?
With seven meetings left before drafting their final report, the California’s Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals has enlisted the assistance of Dr. Darrick Hamilton, a scholar and leading national authority on race and public policy.
He is expected to bring an economic perspective to the work the group is doing.
The task force said it approved the appointment of the economics and urban policy professor at New York City’s The New School and charged him with helping to quantify what compensation should be for Black people living in California.
Task force member Loyola Marymount University psychology professor Cheryl Grills praised Hamilton’s selection.
“To the extent we are setting the stage for the federal reparations process, professor Hamilton brings a level of credibility that would bode well for the ability of our work, not only for California but for the nation,” she said.
Hamilton was not present at the September virtual reparations task force meeting but his perspectives on reparations and closing the racial wealth gap were clear in a discussion with Chicago-area journalist Mark Miller during a City of Evanston RoundTable podcast.
Reparations “grounds inequality and resource deprivation” in contrast to changing some “behavioral attitudes,” Hamilton told Miller, making the case for correcting past wrongs and getting people to understand why there should be change.
“Reparations is a retrospective, race-specific policy aimed at addressing both racial and economic justice,” Hamilton continued. “It has with it a component of truth and reconciliation, which not only provides dignity to the history that Black people have experienced. But it helps change the narratives about poverty and inequality more broadly.”
Hamilton has been involved in crafting progressive policy proposals, such as Baby Bonds, which are trust accounts for low income kids funded by taxpayers. He is also a proponent of the Federal Job Guarantee, policy that would mandate government to provide a job for any person that needs one. Those initiatives have garnered national media attention and served as inspirations for legislative proposals across the country at the federal, state, and local levels.
Hamilton also served as a member of the economic committee of the Biden-Sanders Unity Task Force and testified before several U.S. Senate and House committees, including the Joint Economic Committee on the nation’s potential policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic-induced health and economic crises
The New School’s Henry Cohen professor of Economics and Urban Policy, Hamilton is also the founding director of the Institute for the Study of Race, Stratification and Political Economy at the university where he started teaching last January.
Founded in 1919, the New School is a private research university in New York City.
Hamilton, Grills said, is “considered one of the country’s foremost economists,” scholars, and “public intellectuals.” He was recently profiled in the New York Times, Mother Jones magazine, and the Wall Street Journal.
In 2017, Politico Magazine featured Hamilton in its feature “50 Ideas Shaping American Politics and the People Behind Them.” He is also a member of the Marguerite Casey Foundation in partnership with the Group Health Foundation’s inaugural class of Freedom Scholars.
Task force member Jovan Scott Lewis, chair of the Department of Geography at UC Berkeley, said Hamilton’s work will involve examining slavery, social issues, unjust laws, educational discrimination, loss of wealth, and systematic oppression.
“From an academic and intellectual standpoint, (Hamilton’s) research, is and would be for our purposes, directly relevant because we are thinking about how to spread out in specific areas,” Lewis said.
On Sept.30, 2020, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the state’s historic reparations bill into law, Assembly Bill (AB) 3121.
AB 3121, titled “The Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans,” created a nine-member commission to investigate the history of slavery in the United States, the extent of California’s involvement in slavery, segregation, and the denial of Black citizens their constitutional rights.
Members of the task force elected Kamilah V. Moore, a Los Angeles-based activist and attorney, as its chair. The group also elected Dr. Amos Brown, pastor of Third Baptist Church in San Francisco and president of that city’s NAACP branch, as vice chair.
Besides Moore, Brown, Grills and Hamilton, the other task force members are state Sen. Steven Bradford (D-Gardena); Assemblymember Reggie Jones-Sawyer (D-Gardena); Lisa Holder, a racial and social justice attorney; and Monica Montgomery Steppe, a San Diego city councilmember.
Attorney Don Tamaki, Esq., an attorney best known for his role in the Supreme Court case of Korematsu v. the United States rounds out the nine-member panel. Tamaki overturned the conviction of Fred Korematsu who refused to be taken into custody during the imprisonment of Japanese Americans in World War II.
LOS ANGELES, CA— A special event was held on the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science (CDU) campus yesterday to commemorate the recent $50 million allocation from the State of California to the University. The event was highlighted by a check presentation from Watts native Assemblymember Mike Gipson, representative of California’s 64th Assembly District which includes the CDU campus. Dr. David Carlisle, president and CEO of CDU, along with other representatives and students from the university were on hand for the presentation.
“It gives me great pleasure to demonstrate our commitment to this great institution of higher learning with this check of $50 million,” said Assemblymember Gipson. “Let’s celebrate the future of Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, an institution that matters to the people.”
The funding, which was approved by the California State Legislature will be used to support the university’s latest initiative offering a new four-year medical degree program which includes the construction of a new building to accommodate it. The overall impact of the proposed new medical education program that is pending review and approval by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education will benefit the state by increasing the number of Black and Latino medical graduates joining the healthcare workforce, with the first class slated to begin in Fall 2023.
“CDU believes in the ability of education advocacy and empowerment to change lives and create opportunities,” said Dr. Carlisle. “I stand a little bit prouder as we gather to acknowledge and celebrate one of this university’s most significant funding awards to date, a one-time $50 million allocation from the state of California to support our new four-year medical degree program.”
CDU was originally founded in 1966 to better serve underprivileged residents in the area and the funding signifies a new chapter for the university, which 55 years ago graduated nurses who went on to serve the Watts community. Today, as a Historically Black Graduate Institution (HBGI), the university’s graduates go on to serve communities across the nation. The new program is expected to educate 60 students annually.
The event began with an opening prayer led by Pastor Marcus Murchinson from the Tree of Life Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles. A speech from Dr. Deborah Prothrow-Stith, dean of the College of Medicine, thanked Assemblymember Gipson, the Governor of California and all other supporting government officials for contributing to this initiative. “When the dreams of a people get matched with competent and effective elected officials, you get to celebrate because reality becomes that dream,” Dr. Deborah Prothrow-Stith noted. “I thank you and all of those who helped put this together for us.”
The funding signifies the next phase for CDU’s growth as an independent, four-year medical institution. Currently, CDU shares a longstanding relationship with the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA through the Charles R. Drew/UCLA Medical Education Program, which has successfully trained 28 medical students annually since 1979. The incoming program at CDU pending review and approval by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education will be the next phase in evolving that partnership.
The facility that will house this program on the CDU campus is expected to be 100,000 GSF and will have classrooms, virtual and standard anatomy laboratories, staff and faculty offices, as well as common spaces for all students in the university’s three schools and colleges. Construction is scheduled to begin Summer/Fall 2022.
As a testament to how this type of program enriches lives, Felisha Eugenio gave a first-hand look at how the current curriculum impacted her career. Now a CDU Doctor of Medicine resident, she emphasized how CDU played a vital role in changing her life.
“My roots here at CDU began long before residency, I am a product of its pipelines. I first began attending and then volunteering at what was once the Martin Luther King, Jr. Medical Center across the street. After college, I was a student in the post-baccalaureate program here before matriculating into the Charles R. Drew/UCLA Medical Education Program. So I would not be the physician I am today without the unwavering support of Dr. Daphne Calmes and the amazing team at our medical school,” said Eugenio. “CDU’s commitment to diversity is not only evident in its educational programs but by the makeup of its student body and educators.”
The event concluded with Pastor Robert L. Taylor of the Beulah Baptist Church who delivered the closing prayer. Attendees remained afterward for an informal lunch and photo opportunities.
CDU has contributed significantly to the diversity of the nation’s healthcare workforce over the last five decades. More than 70% of the university’s graduates since 2000 are people of color and the California Wellness Foundation report estimated that one-third of all minority physicians practicing in Los Angeles County are graduates of the CDU medical school and/or residency training programs.
To learn more about Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, please visit www.cdrewu.edu.
When Michael Jordan returned to the Chicago Bulls in 1995 following a brief retirement, his return message was short and sweet: “I’m Back!”
Dave Mays was once looked at as the Michael Jordan of hip-hop publications, and… he’s back! As a 19-year-old sophomore at Harvard, he founded The Source magazine, which began as a monthly newsletter, eventually becoming one of the world’s longest-running rap/hip-hop magazines.
Mays had a vision to put hip-hop on the forefront of all genres and succeeded immensely turning his newsletter into a full-fledged publication. That ride ended in 2005, when he and Raymond “Benzino” Scott were forced out in a dispute with investors.
Understanding today’s needs, Mays returns with Breakbeat Podcasting network, which will host several culturally diverse podcasts with a variety of hosts. Mays also hosts his podcast, “The Dave Mays Show.”
Breakbeat will also produce docuseries, starting with the “Unsigned Hype,” a popular series in The Source magazine that introduced several hip-hop and R&B acts. He also plans a series on Gangster Disciples leader Larry Hoover.
During a recent conversation with Zenger, Mays opened up about mistakes he made during his time with The Source, and how he plans to not repeat those same errors with his newest venture.
Percy Crawford interviewed Dave Mays for Zenger.
Zenger: How is it going, Dave?
Mays: Going well. I’m excited. This is something I have been thinking about and trying to put together for a minute now, and it’s finally coming to life.
Zenger: Where did the concept of Breakbeat come from?
Percy Crawford interviewed Dave Mays for Zenger. (Heidi Malone/Zenger)
Mays: A few things I have been thinking about for the last few years, there’s not one platform that the hip-hop community can say represents their point of view comprehensively across the wide range of subject matters. In a way similar to what The Source did in its heyday in the ’90s and early 2000s, when we were the magazine of hip-hop music, culture and politics.
We covered everything: fashion, sports, health, news, diet and fitness. But it was all done in a style and perspective that the hip-hop community can relate to and identify with as their own. As hip-hop and the media has grown in the past 20 years, it has become fragmented into different segments. It’s everywhere, but you can find one particular thing that you like over here, a couple of things that you like over on this platform, but there’s not one platform. That’s part of the void that I was seeing.
Another part is, I feel like there has been a narrative pushed through the music industry that’s divided the older and the younger sides of the hip-hop community. This narrative that mumble rap is not real hip-hop. The other side says, you’re just mad, bitter and old. Because the music is by far the most visible, commercial aspect of the culture, the music can become prevalent.
But what I see is, underneath those differences, somebody that is 51 that grew up on hip-hop, might not like Young Dolph or think 21 Savage is dope, and vice versa for the younger people. But I would argue that if you dig beneath the surface there, and you think about how the 51-year-old and the 21-year-old were to look at social justice, look at the way we watch and take in sports, I think we share a unique perspective on things. When you are part of hip-hop, you tend to see things in a certain way that’s different from people who haven’t had that experience. I looked at it as an opportunity to create a platform with diversity in content, voices, talent and subject matters that will appeal to the broad hip-hop community, from 15 to 55.
Then it became a question of, how do I find the right strategy and entry point of how to get into the marketplace because the media business has been so tumultuous? Ever since the onset of the internet in the late ’90s and early 2000s, we have seen all forms of traditional media basically mowed down.
It started with the newspapers, then magazines, now we’re seeing it with television and radio. We’re at a time when technology is still evolving, business models are still being figured out. It’s s time of great opportunity. I started looking at podcasting the last few years and seeing how dynamic it is. It reminds me of underground hip-hop back in the ’80s. It’s this bubbling thing that has all this energy and talent. Things emanate out of it, TV shows and movies. Just a real dynamic space. It’s a fertile ground to introduce the type of content and voices that I was talking about.
I started to think of a podcast network as an answer that everyone in publishing has been searching for, for 20 years now. How do you make a digital magazine? Everybody has been throwing that term around for 20 years. “We’re taking our magazine digital.” It’s never worked. A podcast network in some ways is what a digital magazine could be. The same way you used to be able to flip through a magazine and see a fashion section, a sports section, a fitness section, those are all podcast topics now.
Dave Mays founded the groundbreaking The Source magazine in the 1990s. (Courtesy of Dave Mays)
Zenger: How instrumental was Kendrick Ashton during this process?
Mays: I had to give my business partner a lot of credit. He was very instrumental in helping come up with the name, the concept to launch as a podcast network. I met Kendrick a few years ago in D.C. We’re both D.C. natives. I got introduced to him at an event by a mutual friend. We started talking and just really hit it off. I started telling him about what I saw as this opportunity in the marketplace. We ended up partnering and here we are.
Zenger: Has it been a difficult transition from paper to digital, or just an adjustment?
Mays: I have tried to stay as abreast as I can with new technologies and things going on out here with social media. It’s still very early on. We will see how things go with Breakbeat. I’m excited and confident with what we’re doing. I think it’s going to resonate widely. Once I figured out the right approach to getting in the game and establishing a brand like Breakbeat, it wasn’t that difficult. I had to learn a lot about podcasting in the last couple of years. I have been studying and talking to lots of people just trying to understand it. I didn’t understand it at first.
Zenger: What type of shows can we expect under the Breakbeat umbrella?
Mays: The brand will come through with the authenticity of the content. Authenticity will be the key ingredient. Bringing something that’s needed because I feel like the voices out here in hip-hop… there is room for so many more voices and perspectives than what we are getting with the current media landscape.
Business guru and Breakbeat partner Kendrick Ashton. (Courtesy of Kendrick Ashton)
Zenger: Did you make mistakes or things you could have done differently with The Source Magazine that you will use as experience and not repeat with Breakbeat?
Mays: Oh absolutely! There were a lot of mistakes I made with The Source. Some that I recognized at the time, and others it took me some years after leaving The Source to understand the mistakes that I made. The last 5 years or so have been a period of reflection for me. Really thinking about everything that I went through and try to understand things better. I feel empowered going into this because I’m already doing things in a smarter way. I think Kendrick Ashton is going to prove to be an incredible partner. He fills some of the shoes that I can’t fill with his knowledge. He has a strong finance background.
One of the things that messed me up at The Source… I started The Source when I was a college student. Granted, I was at Harvard, but I wasn’t there for business or media. I was a government major, and I learned as I moved along. The Source was bootstrapped. I’d take $200 and use that to make the next $200, work up to $600, and use that to make the next newsletter.
We never had capital. I never dealt with banks, loans, investors and private equity funds. One of the biggest mistakes I made was basically betting the farm on the internet in the late ‘90s, when dot-coms first came out. Back in those days, every commercial was dot-com this and dot-com that. Wall Street was throwing hundreds of millions of dollars into dot-coms. I got caught up in the excitement. I had the vision. I saw the internet as a pathway to the hip-hop community, globally and directly. The Source was a part of bringing hip-hop to many countries in the ’90s because we had international distribution. I mortgaged the magazine business to invest in the internet.
Also, I wanted to maintain ownership. That’s something I took a lot of pride in with The Source. I built the company from the ground up and never gave up anything to any outside companies, until I got into the problems with the dot-coms. I took out a big loan. I had people that would have partnered with me, but I was like, I can get this loan and own everything 100 percent.
So, I gambled on myself and the internet, and obviously it was a bad gamble. That’s one of the biggest mistakes, but also one of the ways I’m doing things differently. If I would have had Kendrick Ashton around back then, I’m quite sure I wouldn’t have made those mistakes with the bank loans and the private equity deals that all contributed to the demise of The Source in those last few years.
Zenger: Good luck with Breakbeat. I’m sure you will make it a force to be reckoned with, and I can’t wait to see the finished product. Is there anything else you would like to add?
Mays: I have my “Unsigned Hype’s” of Breakbeat. I have “Don’t Call Me White Girl.” She’s a superstar. She is so funny and so smart. She’s got a strong fan base already. I think she will be a big star. We are going to do the “Funny Marco” podcast. I think he is another incredible talent who has built up a name for himself on social media. We are bringing him into the podcasting world with his own show. These are the younger emerging talents who we are discovering. Then I have the more veteran voices like my show, “The Dave Mays Show,” and Kierna Mayo show, “Culturati,” which is incredible. It’s going to be very different from the other podcast that are out there now.
Then we have these documentary series that we’re doing. They are going to be huge. We’re doing the “Unsigned Hype,” story. It’s an eight-part podcast series. Telling the whole backstory of that column, from Biggie, DMX, Common to Mobb Deep, to Eminem — all the people we discovered. I’m also doing the Larry Hoover story. That will be a 10-part series. His is an amazing story. We have his exclusive rights to tell that through podcast. He and his family have never participated in the telling of the story before. It’s a very relevant story in today’s world and a story that expands generations.
Edited by Matthew B. Hall and Judith Isacoff
CORRECTION: Oct. 12, 2021, 5:54 p.m.
An earlier version of this article incorrectly described Dave Mays as co-founder of The Source. Mays is in fact the sole founder. Zenger regrets this error.
Hear, O earth: behold, I am bringing disaster on this people, because they have not listened to My words, and as for My law, they have rejected it [Jeremiah 6:19]. Oh, how great and bitter it is going to be for those who refuse to repent, when it is forever too late. You will cry, “Lord, Lord, open unto [me] and I will say, “I know you not.” [Genesis 27:34; Genesis 27:38; Matthew 25:11, 10, 12]. Then those of you who escape will remember Me among the nations to which they will be carried captive, how I have been hurt by their adulterous hearts which turned away from Me, and by their eyes which played the harlot after their idols [Ezekiel 6:9]. Surely, as a woman treacherously departs from her lover, so you have dealt treacherously with Me… [Jeremiah 3:20]. “You neglected the Rock who begot you and forgot the God who gave you birth. [Deuteronomy 32:18]. Consider this, I will tear you in pieces.
They were not concerned about His message of salvation. He wanted so desperately to lead His people to everlasting life, but they were not only blind, but they were also willfully blind and willfully ignorant. Repeatedly He would say with tears in His voice, “Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees. Woe unto you who have ears and hear not. Woe unto you that are full, for you shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh, for the time is coming when you shall mourn and weep.” [Luke 6: 24-25]. “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem how I’ve wanted to save you and gather you as a hen gathereth her chicks, but you would not listen” [Matthew 23:37].
I gave you cleanness of teeth by sending you famine and drought so that you would turn back to Me – yet you have not returned to me. I withheld rain from you so you would return back to Me – yet you have not returned to me. I sent blight, mildew, and locust – so that you would return unto Me, but you have not returned. Your young men were killed in battle with a sword – yet you did not return to me. Because you will not return to me, prepare to meet your God.” And meet Him without ever turning to Him in life on earth. Meet Him – Condemned. [Amos 4:6-12].
I ask you, what are you waiting for? Repent NOW before it is too late! For, “We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there “is” such a thing as being too late. This is no time for apathy or complacency. This is a time for vigorous and positive action.” [Martin Luther King, Jr.] Repent NOW before it is too late!
The Bible warns that every human being is subject to sudden death. No one has the promise of another day or hour. Our days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle like flowers that quickly fade [Job 7:6; Job 14:2], and like a mist that appears for a little time then vanishes. [James 4:14]. Consider this, you who forget God.
My spirit shall not always strive with man” [Genesis 6:3].
But they continually mocked the messengers of God, despised His words, and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, until there was no remedy. [2 Chronicles 36:16]
“And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. So, the Lord said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them” [Genesis 6:6-7; Genesis 7:22–23].
Then the fifth angel sounded: And I saw a star fallen from heaven to the earth. To him was given the key to the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit, and smoke arose out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace. So, the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit. Then out of the smoke locusts came upon the earth. And to them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. They were commanded not to harm the grass of the earth, or any green thing, or any tree, but only those men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. And they were not given authority to kill them, but to torment them for five months. Their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it strikes a man. In those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will desire to die, and death will flee from them… One woe is past. Behold, still two more woes are coming after these things. Then the sixth angel sounded: And I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar, which is before God, saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” So, the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour, day, month, and year, were released to kill a third of mankind. Now the number of the army of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them. And thus, I saw the horses in the vision: those who sat on them had breastplates of fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow; and the heads of the horses were like the heads of lions; and out of their mouths came fire, smoke, and brimstone. By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed—by the fire, the smoke, and the brimstone which came out of their mouths. [Revelation 9:1-21].
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