WSSN Stories

SACRAMENTO, CA—Governor Newsom signed Senate Bill 796. Authored by Senator Bradford (D-Gardena), SB 796 authorizes the County of Los Angeles to return the beachfront property known as Bruce’s Beach to the Bruce family.

“A century ago the Bruce’s had their land stolen,” said Senator Steven Bradford. “Now there is nothing holding back the County from doing the right thing. In the face of racism and violence by the KKK, the Bruce’s were steadfast, but ultimately could not stop the City from seizing their land and forcing them away. When the land is returned to the Bruce’s, we will have proven that it is never too late to correct injustice and that there are a multitude of ways to do so. Today, due to the leadership of so many, including Supervisors Janice Hahn and Holly Mitchell, the City’s inherited debt to the Bruce’s can finally be paid. SB 796 passed with bipartisan support and I must thank my colleagues in the Legislature for their recognition of injustice and desire to remedy it. This bill sets the tone for the future of reparations in California. I look forward to working on many more of these types of issues and solving them with the Newsom Administration.”

“This is a milestone for us, and I want to thank not only Governor Newsom for signing this bill into law, but Senator Bradford for his leadership and the entire state legislature for their unanimous support,” said Supervisor Janice Hahn. “We have already begun the groundwork, but now that LA County officially has the authority to transfer this property, the real work on our side begins.  My goal over the next several months will be to transfer this property in a way that not only works for the Bruce family, but is a model that other local governments can follow.  Returning Bruce’s Beach can and should set a precedent for this nation and I know that all eyes will be on Los Angeles County as this work gets underway.”

“Today’s bill signing is a significant and necessary step in the process of returning Bruce’s Beach to its rightfully owners, the Bruce family,” said Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell. “Thanks to Governor Newsom, Senator Bradford and the state legislature, the County of Los Angeles now has the legal standing to give this land back – an action I look forward to supporting. This moment brings to the forefront past harms and more importantly shows us what’s possible when we are committed to correcting them.”

In 1912, Willa and Charles Bruce, a young black couple, purchased property in Manhattan Beach and built a resort run by and made for Black residents. It was one of only a handful of beaches where Black residents could go because so many other local beaches were off-limits to people of color. But the Bruces and their customers were harassed and threatened by white neighbors as well as targeted by the KKK. The Manhattan Beach City Council later seized the property using eminent domain, purportedly to create a park. The City ultimately took the property in 1929 but it remained empty for decades. In 1948, the property once owned by the Bruce family was transferred to the State, with conditions. In 1995, the County accepted control of Bruce’s Beach and other lands from the State. In 2006, the City finally began to recognize the actual history of this land by renaming Bruce’s Beach after its rightful owners. This was a result of the work of the City’s first Black City Councilmember, Mitch Ward.

In addition to authorizing the property to be sold and transferred, the language specifically updates the deed and exempts the land from several statutory restrictions that date back to when the land was first transferred to the County. On April 20, 2021, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved motions by Supervisor Janice Hahn and Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell to sponsor SB 796 and to begin the County’s work to return Bruce’s Beach to its rightful owners.

The legislation includes an urgency clause which means that it will go into effect immediately.

LOS ANGELES, CA—Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assemblymember Chris Holden’s police reform legislation, AB 26 that establishes clear guidelines for police responsibility and accountability when witnessing excessive force by another member of law enforcement.

“Derek Chauvin was charged for killing George Floyd, but justice for George Floyd doesn’t rest in Chauvin’s conviction alone – there were three additional officers who simply stood by and watched him die,” said Assemblymember Chris Holden. “I thank Governor Newsom and everyone who supported AB 26 that will make it crystal clear in our state law what a peace officer’s duty is to intervene when witnessing excessive force.”

California law requires police officers to intercede when observing another officer using force that is beyond that which is necessary, but there are no universal measures used to determine that an officer has in fact interceded. In the case of George Floyd, a lawyer for one of the accused junior officers argued that there was intervention because the junior officer asked the supervising officer if they should turn Floyd on his side.

If AB 26 becomes law, police officers would be required to intercede when witnessing excessive force under the updated guidelines and report the incident in real time to dispatch or the watch commander. The officer’s due process will be protected as the employing agency would review evidence and determine if the offending officer met the standard for intervention. Retaliation against officers that report violations of law or regulation of another officer to a supervisor would be prohibited.

Last year, Governor Newsom’s Policing Advisors released their recommendations which included legislation to “Require officers to intervene to prevent or stop other officers from engaging in excessive force, false arrest, or other inappropriate conduct.”

“Today’s signing is a big step forward for police responsibility and accountability. Instituting these core values are paramount to building public trust that has eroded between law enforcement and communities across California,” said Holden.

AB 26 clarifies and establishes intervention to include, but not limited to:

• The use of de-escalation techniques
• Confronting the officer applying excessive use of force
• Physically stopping the excessive use of force, when in a position to do so
• Recording and documenting the incident in real time with body cameras
• Reporting the incident to dispatch or the watch commander in real time stating the offending officer’s name, unit, location, time and situation in order to establish that an attempt to intervene has been made

AB 26 also makes the following the changes to state law:

• Requires the peace officer to report the incident immediately to his/her supervisor
• Prohibits retaliation on a peace officer for reporting the incident
• Prohibits an officer from training other officers for a period of at least three years from the date that an excessive use of force complaint is substantiated
• Requires an officer who fails to intervene be disciplined up to and including in the same manner as the officer who used excessive force

The full text of the legislation can be found here, and full remarks from today’s bill signing here.

SACRAMENTO, CA —The California Legislative Black Caucus (CLBC) endorses Mr. Cecil Rhambo for Los Angeles County Sheriff.

CLBC recognizes Mr. Rhambo as a respected community leader with a wealth of  experience in law enforcement, protecting Los Angeles County citizens for more than 33 years. Mr. Rhambo is currently the Chief of LAX Airport. He has a strong track record of community policing and successfully reducing crime in Compton and South L.A.

He’s organized youth boxing and developed the Community Oriented Policing Bureau, which focused on suppressing violent crime, combatting homelessness, parking enforcement, quality of life programs, youth programs, and the mental health response teams that partnered with psych clinicians county-wide.

“I’ve known Cecil for many years and as chair of the Senate Public Safety Committee, I am confident he would be the Sheriff all of LA could be proud of,” said Senator Steven Bradford (D-Gardena), Chair of the California Legislative Black Caucus. “I know he is the right person to lead the LA County Sheriff Department during this state and national demand for police reform and accountability, and I trust his commitment to bringing desperately-needed transparency, equity, and integrity to the Department.”

This past year the Black Caucus has authored police reform legislation to include changes in the use of force, banning chokeholds, age requirements of officers, and accountability among other improvements to law enforcement – many of which are shared strategies of Mr. Rhambo as a veteran officer in LA County. If elected, the Black Caucus is confident Mr. Rhambo will enforce these changes and provide solutions to crime both outside and inside the department.

By Lue Dowdy, LUE Productions

Are you between the ages of 6 and 25? The Southern California Black Chamber of Commerce-Inland Cites East Chapter is looking for young folks with businesses that would like to showcase their products at the SCBCC-Inland Cities East monthly business mixer on Monday, October 25^.  

The goal is to support, encourage, and uplift our future business owners. The mixer is FREE and will be held in the City of San Bernardino and is open to all. Space is limited so please register soon by visiting the website at www.blackchamberofcommerce.org or texting 909.567.1000. Participants will be advertised on final mixer flyer. 

Set up time is 4 p.m. and breakdown is at 8 p.m. Prepare for fun, networking, and resource information. Remember it takes a VILLAGE! Until next week, L’s!

By Lou Yeboah

Okay, no more warnings! Have it your way. But you ought to know that there will be terrible consequences for those who refuse to repent- those who choose to do their own thing. Choosing the creation, but refusing the Creator, what’s wrong with you? You will perish [Luke 13: 3, 5] even though that is not what I desire- [2 Peter 3:9). Even now you are filling up a “store house” of wrath that will one day be poured out on you – [Romans 2:5. Acts 17:30] “I have sharpened My sword; I have bent My bow and made it ready [Psalms 7:12]. Since you have refused to repent, now it’s my prerogative, and I will do what I want, says the Lord.

I tell you, making decisions without considering the consequences is foolish and dangerous. The price to pay is always catastrophic. Listen, God in His justice and forbearance has given you opportunity after opportunity to turn to Him, but you refuse, but God will not be mock; you will suffer the consequences of your choice. If a sinner can be sent to hell for all eternity, this clearly demonstrates God’s full hatred toward disobedience.

As people whom God deeply cares about, he wants us to deal with disobedience wisely. Remember, nobody can ever please God while living in rebellion. Rebelling against Him is equivalent to rejecting Him and His Word. Repent or Perish! The choice is your!

A warning about a coming day: In [Revelation 6:8] one-fourth of the world’s population are killed, and the remaining three-fourths of the people survive. In [Revelation 9:18] one-third of these survivors are killed. Even after half of the world’s population has been killed, the survivors refused to repent of their sin and idolatry – [Revelation 9:20-21]. Later, God let the sun scorch them with a burning heat. At this time, they not only refused to repent and glorify God, but they also cursed him – [Revelation 16:9]. Then God sent darkness, along with pain [pain from the burns and sores of the previous judgment]. The people still refused to repent of what they had done – [Revelation 16:11[. At that point, there is nothing left for God to do, except to return and bring judgment upon them, at the final battle of Armageddon. [Revelation 16:21]

Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it shall be more tolerable in the judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You shall be brought down to Hades.

Even though God has brought correction to a rebellious people to turn them back to truth, they would not listen but instead hardened their hearts to remain in opposition to God. Failure to repent while still able seals their doom when they die. [Luke 10:13-15].

[Revelation chapter 16] man’s last chance to turn.

They didn’t want to hear what God had to say. They refused to apply the words of prophesy to themselves and to take the shame for what they had done. They had no remorse, no guilt. The prophet’s words did not move the people to a place of repentance. Their hearts were too hardened, and their necks were too stiffened to take heed to the forewarning of impending doom. They didn’t want to hear that they were not right in the eyes of God. They didn’t

want to hear words of rebuke that lets them know they have fallen short of the glory of God. They didn’t want to hear sound doctrine. Therefore, they refused to listen at all. They wanted their ears tickled with words of blessings and peace. Doom and gloom was not the type of prophet they wanted so they refused to hear and obey.

“As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, O house of Israel?” [Ezekiel 33:11].

Now is the time of God’s favor. Now is the day of salvation.” [2 Corinthians 6:2]. Repent! And do this, understanding the present time: The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. [Romans 12:11-14].

SACRAMENTO, CA – Earlier this week, Governor Newsom signed Assemblymember Chris Holden’s legislation, AB 948 which would address discrimination in the real estate appraisal process.

“Black homeowners in predominately white neighborhoods are getting their homes appraised for far less than their neighbors,” said Assemblymember Chris Holden. “It’s just another example of how bias, whether explicit or implicit, creates inequity for Black Americans. This is redlining 2.0.”

AB 948 would require the Bureau of California Real Estate Appraisals to gather data on demographic information of buyers and sellers of real estate property and compile data of homeowners from protected classes who file complaints based on low appraisals. The legislation also requires appraisers to take anti-bias training when renewing their license.

In just one example, a Black couple in Marin City, had their home value lowballed by nearly $500,000. Similar incidents have been recorded throughout California and the Country.

“This bill reflects a starting point in a much-needed conversation about how discrimination is still prevalent in the home buying and selling process, and I am committed to addressing this inequity,” said Holden.

Governor Newsom also signed AB 1297, authored by Holden, which expands the financing authority of the California Infrastructure and Economic Bank (IBank) to include housing projects, when the housing is necessary for the operation of the financed project.

By Lue Dowdy

What up IE and everybody!? As we all know that our youth is the future. This week in my column, I’d like to highlight DJ Jahcory. He is a very talent young man with a bright future in the world of entertainment. I’ve had the pleasure of booking him for one of our Lue Productions youth events. The kids and adults loved him! He has major skills and a dope play set. He took a hobby and made it into a business. Read more about him below on how he got started.

Jahcory Williams is a 17-year -old DJ. He was born in San Bernardino and was raised all throughout the Inland Empire. He has been DJing since the 7th grade. His mother connected him with DJ Demico for lessons. His parents bought all of his equipment and DJ Demico came over and had sessions with him and his friend Kyran, teaching them how to DJ and how to do it well if they wanted to make a career out of it. Jahcory found it was a good legal way for them as young men to make some good money.

DJing is not the only talent that this young man has, he can also dance. Jahcory has been dancing since he came out of the womb and could never stop. From a young boy, he would just sit there watching dance videos and music videos of people dancing and trying to recreate the dances, to now a young man doing his own thing trying to perfect his craft and make something of himself dancing as well. Getting tens of thousands of likes on Tik-Tok.

He is also a twin. He has a twin sister Jordin, who is also his manager. He loves spending time with his family and people he loves. This is only the beginning of what he can do, and you will see more of him soon.

Welp that’s it that’s all ya’ll! Until next week, L’s!

By Antonio? ?Ray? ?Harvey?, California? ?Black? ?Media?

It looks like Gov. Gavin Newsom will remain in the office he won in 2018 after he secured an insurmountable lead in votes counted so far in Tuesday’s gubernatorial recall election. 

Several media outlets projected shortly before midnight Tuesday that the attempt to remove Newsom from office failed. 

About an hour after thanking Californians for keeping him in office, Newsom tweeted, “Now, let’s get back to work.”

Larry Elder, a conservative Republican Los Angeles-based talk show host, who was the leading candidate vying to remove Newsom from office conceded the race. A total of 46 candidates were on the ballot to replace Newsom. 

“Let’s be gracious in defeat,” Elder said after the results started pouring in and it was obvious, he had no chance of winning.  “We may have lost the battle, but we are going to win the war.”

According to preliminary results, just under 65% of the voters have said “no” to recalling Newsom in the special election that is estimated to have cost California taxpayers $276 million. With about 67 % of all votes counted so far, only a little over 35% voted yes on the recall. 

Reactions on social media included the following:

Kevin Mullin (D-San Mateo), Assembly Speaker pro Tem tweeted, “A $276 million waste just to reaffirm 2018’s results with an election coming in 2022. The CA recall process must be reformed including elevating the Lt. Guv in the event of a recall. But to avoid partisan power grabs the Governor/LG should be a ticket of the same party (like NY).”

Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis wrote, “Thank you California for recognizing that @GavinNewsom is exactly where he needs to be, in the Governor’s office! His commitment to the people of California is unwavering and I look forward to his continued leadership of our great state!”

Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA 37) tweeted, “Proud of our governor. Proud of our people. Proud of California.”

Newsom told supporters, although Californians voted “no” to the recall, he wants to focus on all the things they were saying yes to by their votes. 

“‘No’ is not the only thing that was expressed tonight,” Newsom said. “I want to focus on what we said ‘yes’ to as a state. We said yes to science. We said yes to vaccines. We said yes to ending this pandemic. We said yes to people’s right to vote without fear of fake fraud or voter suppression.”

The gubernatorial recall was the fifth statewide vote Dr. Shirley Weber has overseen since she was appointed Secretary of State on Jan. 19. Throughout the process, Weber, a former Assemblymember who represented the 79^th District in San Diego County, says she worked hard to make sure that voter fraud or the talk of fraud of would not interfere in the results of this election. 

“We worked hard to secure our elections. There’s no evidence of fraud or miscounting,” Weber said on CNN. “As Secretary of State, we’ve been even-handed in how we’ve handled every issue. I was sued by the governor as well as by others because of some of the decisions we made that were fair and just.”

Weber’s office has 30 days to certify the recall election once all of the votes have been counted. If there are any discrepancies, Weber said those issues will be addressed.

“I like to say to those that continue to challenge this issue of fairness and so forth, I always say, ‘where’s the evidence?’” Weber said. “We are willing to accept the evidence as it is not just to simply open-ended allegations of fraud and deceptions. Those things are easy to say. But we have yet to get evidence of fraud and deception.”

By Lou Coleman-Yeboah

It is shocking how often we ignore crucial warnings, until it is too late. Yet, we all understand what warning mean in our daily lives, and we know what the risks are for ignoring them, but what about the warnings that exist for our spiritual lives? What is the result of continually ignoring God’s warnings?” [Amos 4:6-12; Isaiah 5:24 paraphrased] says that God’s love will be turned to anger, His blessings will turn to judgment, murder and death of the people will increase, enemy nations will threaten to attack—suddenly and overwhelmingly—and all trusted defenses will fail. It happened before and it will happen again, because they have cast away the law of the Lord of hosts and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

Listen, throughout Bible history, God has repeatedly provided man with more than “ample warning” of His impending judgments. His purpose for warning man is to motivate him to repent and come back to Him. Let us not be like the people in Noah’s day. For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every violation and act of disobedience received a just punishment, how will you escape if you neglect so great a salvation? How will you escape inevitable judgment if you ignore the warning? If you refuse this invitation, this incomprehensible gift of grace? You will not. What catastrophe! Eternal consequences beyond human comprehension!

God’s final appeal, “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come.’ And let the one who hears say, ‘Come.’ And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost” [Revelation 22:17]. But lest you put it off, the Bible goes on in the next to the last verse to warn, “He who testifies to these things says, ‘Yes, I am coming quickly” [Revelation 22:20].

Then I saw the seven angels who stood before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne, and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel. Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth, and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.

Now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them. The first angel blew his trumpet, and there followed hail and fire, mixed with blood, and these were thrown upon the earth. And a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.

The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood. A third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.

 The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many people died from the water, because it had been made bitter.

The fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of their light might be darkened, and a third of the day might be kept from shining, and likewise a third of the night.

Then I looked, and I heard an eagle crying with a loud voice as it flew directly overhead, “Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, at the blasts of the other trumpets that the three angels are about to blow!” [Revelation 8].

For all of God’s remedial efforts had failed. The people had turned against Him more and more. With great reluctance He releases them to their own destructions. [2 Chronicles 36:15-17] Even though God had compassion on them and wanted to save them from this, they were not willing.

“Woe, Woe, Woe!”  In one day, in one hour, her plagues will overtake her: death, mourning and famine. She will be consumed by fire, for mighty is the LORD God who judges her.” [Revelation 18:8].