We Got This! 35 & Older

By Fanya Baruti   

Inspired by Darryl Smith

Courtesy of New Way of Life

Community developed, sense of purpose, maintained and directed, citizens of Long Beach moved to gather together to play softball, Saturday, March 12, 2011, at the noon day hour. Folks came to the legendary Martin Luther King, Jr. Park to make a statement to their family, particularly their children and their children’s children that it was time to “step up to the plate!!!” and play the game right. And, indeed the real deal is not a game, but men and women having the right to take “charge for change” within the African-American community in Long Beach, CA.

Organizing one of the most heartfelt gatherings at MLK Park to play softball came at the precise time. We came to mend and meet people that are our family, friends, homies, and most of all, “they are our neighbors.” We stressed that in order to be neighborly, you must share the love.

Most folk that came had not seen one another for many years. They hugged, laughed, and they networked together to stay in-touch and vowed to build a movement that would strengthen their entire family, as well as the extended. Brothers and sisters played ball on one side of the park while the Hispanics played soccer on the other side. Peacefully, we celebrated a sense of pride and respect. From the start of our day, into the dim lights of the evening night, a radiant magnificent atmosphere never lost its flavor.

Our very own City Councilman Dee Andrews sat and enjoyed the event with much glee in his eyes and his warm spirit flowed into everyone that he had an opportunity to speak with, and with those that gave a glance, smiles generated a harmony that money cannot buy. Also at the plate was entrepreneur Willie McGinest, who has supported Long Beach functions since day one.

Keith Lilly, Director of the Boys and Girls Club gave the community the type of love and regard that made the games begun without interruption. The field had the plates and the diamond was shining. When asked, what would you call the day’s event?, Darryl Smith, the spearhead of the gathering replied, “we got this.” And thus, the 35 and over softball league was born.

There came a few organizations from the Long Beach community that supported the event. Particular individuals that have aspirations in bringing Long Beach to another level, especially in the African-American community was deep in the field. It is time for the community to begin to support all of the efforts of these organizations that will help you find any and all of the resources in our city that you may not beware of that is there to assist you. This notation should bring the light back on in our minds that we can do more than what we have been doing. We should do more and we must do more. Our very own Focusing and Mentoring Inner-City Long Beach Youth (family.foundation.com), who is also members of Long Beach Weed & Seed and LB GRIP. ”Uplift Fallen Humanity” represented, and the Black Awareness Community Development Organization (BACDO). “Project Cry No More” straight out of Compton was in the house. “2nd Call” out of Los Angeles held their spot on the green. And most of all, professional interventionist and current students from PCITI and other interventionist trainings were all over MLK. This is part of the reason why the joy, love, peace and happiness gave meaning to the community.

All of Us or None presented “Ban the Box” to the community and had a few hats and tee-shirts with their logo to share with the people. Each organization is holing or is pending to hold non-profit status and have vowed to work together, bringing back the traditional elements of family unity. The talks have begun and the people are ready to bring a new hope to their children. As parents, we expect to demonstrate a better sense of being responsible for our own. Many of us have been the cause of our city’s demise and the breakdown of family structure, yet now today, we have a heart to help clean it up.

Church members from The Rock, Antioch Church of Long Beach and New Hope Church of Christ Holiness attended, amongst other church goers that I have failed to mention. The point is this, we need our spiritual leaders to help support what is taking place. Together we can build back the esteem of a generation plus that is needed, necessary and longed for. “We got this.”

Support Building Healthy Communities! Spread the word about AB 441!

What the Bill Does:


Currently, when the state provides guidance to local and regional government agencies on land use and transportation development, it often overlooks the impact of its decisions on the health of residents in those communities.

• You can help Ca build healthy communities! Support @CPEHN and AB 441! Send a letter today! http://ow.ly/4mFWa #sdoh

• Want more bike lanes? Support @CPEHN and AB 441! Send a letter today! http://ow.ly/4mFWa #sdoh

• Concerned about access to healthy food? Support @CPEHN and AB 441! Send a letter today! http://ow.ly/4mFWa #sdoh

• Safe streets. Clean air. Healthy food. Support @CPEHN and AB 441! Send a letter today! http://ow.ly/4mFWa #sdoh

Support Building Healthy Communities! Spread the word about AB 441!

AB 441 (Monning): Incorporating health and equity into state guidance

Building Healthy Communities

What the Bill Does:

Currently, when the state provides guidance to local and regional government agencies on land use and transportation development, it often overlooks the impact of its decisions on the health of residents in those communities.

AB 441 would include health and equity criteria in the documents that the state uses to provide guidance on land use and transportation planning and development. The bill would ensure that city, county, and regional governments consider the health implications of planning and development decisions. The following are the documents in which the criteria would be included:

• Office of Planning and Research (OPR) General Plan Guidelines

• California Transportation Commission Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) Guidelines

You can help CA build healthy communities! Support @CPEHN and AB 441! Send a letter today! http://www.blogger.com/!%20http://ow.ly/4mFWa


Why We Need This Bill:

Decisions about land use and transportation systems have enormous influences on health outcomes. Research shows that neighborhood and city designs can directly impact rates of health conditions such as asthma, diabetes, obesity, depression, unintended injuries, and some cancers. For example, in the study, “Researchers Link Childhood Asthma to Exposure to Traffic-Related Pollution,” USC researchers found that children living in close proximity to a freeway or major thoroughfare are more likely to develop asthma. Although development and implementation of many plans occurs at the local or regional level, the state plays an important advisory role in encouraging health considerations in land use and transportation decisions. By requiring the incorporation of health indicators into comprehensive planning and community design documents and guidelines, California will promote innovative approaches to improving our neighborhoods and creating a healthier and more prosperous state.

Link Between Health and Healthy Environments:

According to the Institute of Medicine, improving health in the 21st century will require new approaches to environmental health, including strategies to deal with unhealthy buildings, urban congestion, poor housing, poor nutrition, and environmentally-related stress. AB 441 would help promote clean air and water, safe buildings and streets, and healthy public spaces. Transportation decisions can also influence positive health by encouraging walking and bicycling. This bill can help California set a precedent that will build healthy generations.

Who is the Sponsor of this Legislation:

The California Pan-Ethnic Health Network (CPEHN) is sponsoring this legislation. CPEHN works to eliminate health disparities by advocating for public policies and sufficient resources to address the health needs of communities of color. From advocating for culturally and linguistically appropriate care to advancing social and environmental conditions that promote health, CPEHN is at the forefront of improving the health of our communities: www.cpehn.http://www.cpehn.org./org.

For more information please contact:

Ronald Coleman with CPEHN at rcoleman@cpehn.org, (916) 475-7156 or

Beth Capell with Capell & Associates at bcapell@jps.net, (916) 497-0760

Please Take Action to Free Karen Narita!

Ms. Karen Narita has been in prison for more than 26 years for a murder committed by her abusive husband. She takes full responsibility for participation in the crime and feels tremendous remorse about the victim’s tragic death. Ms. Narita is now a 48-year-old mother and grandmother who poses no risk of future harm if she is released.


Ms. Narita has been found eligible for parole by the California Board of Parole Hearings. This is the second time that the Board has found that she poses no risk to public safety - she was previously found suitable for parole in 2004.

The parole decision now goes to Governor Brown. Please urge the governor to uphold Ms. Narita's parole.

Click here to sign the petition online

You can also download a support letter here to print, sign and fax or mail to Governor Brown. Thank you.

African American girls and young women have become the fastest growing population of incarcerated young people in the country. Efforts to stop mass incarceration focused on black girls are almost nonexistant in government policy, the media, foundations and academia.



Recently, the Thelton Henderson Center for Social Justice at the University of California, Berkeley’s Boalt Law School took the bold and necessary step of organizing a day-and-a-half free event titled, “African American Girls and Young Women and Juvenile Justice System: A Call to Action.”



The beauty of this conference was the focus on black girls and the passionate energy to create a path for action among the participants.



Academics and activists, among them formerly incarcerated African American girls and young women, gathered together from across the divides of class, age, race and place to talk about what we know about these young people, their interaction with the criminal justice system--and what we are going to do about it.



Sociologist Nikki Jones of UC Santa Barbara, and Meda Chesney-Lind, University of Hawaii opened up the conference with a look at the statistics.



“No”, said Jones, “Black girls are not committing more crimes, even though they are being incarcerated in record numbers.”



“I’ve been studying this for decades,” said Chesney-Lind. She added, “We have never seen these kind of numbers before. National policies like zero tolerance are responsible for the school to prison pipeline. And a dual justice system that treats white girls differently from black girls is disproportionately impacting African American girls.”



She continued, “In 2008, we knew the arrest rate in California was 49 out of every 1,000 for black girls, 8.9 per 1,000 for white girls and 14.9 per 1,000 for Latinas.”



The cause of the over criminalization of African American young women is best understood by looking back through the lens of American history and the ideological construction of black criminality.



“The shackles of slavery endured into other eras, including convict leasing systems and chain gangs,” said Prisicilla Ocen, a professor at UCLA’s Critical Race Studies.



“In order to sustain these systems, de-humanizing stereotypes of black women were created to maintain the difference between white and African American women,” she said. “Black girls are still dealing with racial and gendered stereotypes that were used to justify punishment.”



Ocen continued, “These historical stereotypes laid the groundwork for the creation of a dual criminal justice system – one where African American women and girls are treated differently for the same behaviors.”



Many participants saw the treatment of African American girls in the justice system as criminal with little accountability. “Adults are committing crimes too; this is part of the story that needs to be told,” said Barry Krisberg, Research and Policy Director at UC Berkeley’s Earl Warren Institute on Law.



Krisberg went on, “Once in the criminal justice system, African American girls are treated with brutality, so much emotional and sexual abuse. We are violating African American girls’ human rights everyday in all 58 counties of California. Where are the lawsuits? Where is the accountability?”



The breadth of the problem seems overwhelming, yet no one at the conference seemed daunted. The resolve in the room at Boalt Law School was palpable and the ideas for action began to flow. Formerly incarcerated participants, who work at the Center for Young Women’s Development (CYWD), and other formerly incarcerated African American girls will lead these efforts. They are the experts.



For the past 17 years, young women at CYWD have been leaving jail, the street economies and gangs to work for self healing, social justice, policy change and a meaningful place in their communities.



“The call to action is the task before us—there are a number of things we can do,” said Lateefah Simon, activist and executive director of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights San Francisco.



“The Henderson Center can provide institutional support for African American Leaders, who are engaging in the criminal justice system. We can convene all the judges, we can organize ourselves locally and nationally to focus on African American girl,” said Simon. “Yes, let’s do that--we want our girls to be free.”



There is room for everyone to have a meaningful part in efforts to stop the over incarceration of African American girls or young women. For more information about how to get involved in this effort please contact: african.american.girls.a.call.to.action@lists.berkeley.edu



Rachel Pfeffer is the founder of the Center for Young Women’s Development and currently on the Advisory Board. For more information www.cywd.org.

Consuming Health: Local Innovations in Accessing Healthy Food

With the rise in popularity of channels like The Food Network, the explosion of food blogging websites and the arrival of “foodie” as a household term, food has taken a larger role in popular culture. However, despite this burgeoning food fanfare, a closer look at California’s food system reveals that inequity in access to healthy food choices still persists in certain regions, maintaining a situation ripe for preventable diseases.

In an effort to explore this disparity and promote solutions, The California Endowment’s CenterScene Public Programs invites you to a panel discussion that will highlight local efforts underway to make the healthy choice the easy choice everywhere. Panelists will explore the food system at large, from sustainable agriculture to innovative distribution models, and alternatives to traditional retail models.

Event Details
Consuming Health: Local Innovations in Accessing Healthy Food

When
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
6:30 p.m.

Where
The California Endowment
Center for Healthy Communities
Yosemite Hall
1000 North Alameda Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012


RSVP
This event is free and open to the public but an R.S.V.P. is required.
Click here to RSVP


Courtesy of Center Scene

In Post Racial America Prisons Feast on Black Girls

By Rachel Pfeffer,



African American girls and young women have become the fastest growing population of incarcerated young people in the country. Efforts to stop mass incarceration focused on black girls are almost nonexistant in government policy, the media, foundations and academia.

Recently, the Thelton Henderson Center for Social Justice at the University of California, Berkeley’s Boalt Law School took the bold and necessary step of organizing a day-and-a-half free event titled, “African American Girls and Young Women and Juvenile Justice System: A Call to Action.”

The beauty of this conference was the focus on black girls and the passionate energy to create a path for action among the participants.

cademics and activists, among them formerly incarcerated African American girls and young women, gathered together from across the divides of class, age, race and place to talk about what we know about these young people, their interaction with the criminal justice system--and what we are going to do about it.

Sociologist Nikki Jones of UC Santa Barbara, and Meda Chesney-Lind, University of Hawaii opened up the conference with a look at the statistics.

“No”, said Jones, “Black girls are not committing more crimes, even though they are being incarcerated in record numbers.”

“I’ve been studying this for decades,” said Chesney-Lind. She added, “We have never seen these kind of numbers before. National policies like zero tolerance are responsible for the school to prison pipeline. And a dual justice system that treats white girls differently from black girls is disproportionately impacting African American girls.”

She continued, “In 2008, we knew the arrest rate in California was 49 out of every 1,000 for black girls, 8.9 per 1,000 for white girls and 14.9 per 1,000 for Latinas.”

The cause of the over criminalization of African American young women is best understood by looking back through the lens of American history and the ideological construction of black criminality.

“The shackles of slavery endured into other eras, including convict leasing systems and chain gangs,” said Prisicilla Ocen, a professor at UCLA’s Critical Race Studies.

“In order to sustain these systems, de-humanizing stereotypes of black women were created to maintain the difference between white and African American women,” she said. “Black girls are still dealing with racial and gendered stereotypes that were used to justify punishment.”

Ocen continued, “These historical stereotypes laid the groundwork for the creation of a dual criminal justice system – one where African American women and girls are treated differently for the same behaviors.”

Many participants saw the treatment of African American girls in the justice system as criminal with little accountability. “Adults are committing crimes too; this is part of the story that needs to be told,” said Barry Krisberg, Research and Policy Director at UC Berkeley’s Earl Warren Institute on Law.

Krisberg went on, “Once in the criminal justice system, African American girls are treated with brutality, so much emotional and sexual abuse. We are violating African American girls’ human rights everyday in all 58 counties of California. Where are the lawsuits? Where is the accountability?”

The breadth of the problem seems overwhelming, yet no one at the conference seemed daunted. The resolve in the room at Boalt Law School was palpable and the ideas for action began to flow. Formerly incarcerated participants, who work at the Center for Young Women’s Development (CYWD), and other formerly incarcerated African American girls will lead these efforts. They are the experts.

For the past 17 years, young women at CYWD have been leaving jail, the street economies and gangs to work for self healing, social justice, policy change and a meaningful place in their communities.

“The call to action is the task before us—there are a number of things we can do,” said Lateefah Simon, activist and executive director of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights San Francisco.

The Henderson Center can provide institutional support for African American Leaders, who are engaging in the criminal justice system. We can convene all the judges, we can organize ourselves locally and nationally to focus on African American girl,” said Simon. “Yes, let’s do that--we want our girls to be free.”

There is room for everyone to have a meaningful part in efforts to stop the over incarceration of African American girls or young women. For more information about how to get involved in this effort pleasehttps://calmail.berkeley.edu/manage/list/listinfo/african.american.girls.a.call.to.action@lists.berkeley.edu

Rachel Pfeffer is the founder of the Center for Young Women’s Development and currently on the Advisory Board. For more information www.cywd.org.