Month: September 2020

by Ernie McCray

I’ve been thinking of how my people have overcome so many things in this country. For centuries.

You name it, we’ve overcome it. But we just can’t overcome the anger that comes with being Black in this society.

It’s a Black anger, if you will, because it’s ours alone, a form of anger that’s always there, beneath the surface, like a low-burning flame that needs a rush of air to get it really going.

And, since it’s usually the actions of angry White folks that gives our anger oxygen, we can’t ever fully relax it because, in our experience, we never know when we might have to react to what a White person has done – to one of us. Or a number of us.

When it’s least expected.

In a letter to San Diego County officials, a dozen University of California San Diego doctors urged them to slow down the reopenings of businesses and facilities out of concern of potential spikes in coronavirus cases.

“If you have a situation where 8 or 10 or 12 percent of a population is infected and you get together with 10 people, there’s a good chance one of them is going to get infected,” said Dr. Robert Schooley, who was among the dozen of doctors who penned the letter.

Measure E “Too Close to Call”

In a very recent poll of how San Diego’s voters feel about the candidates and ballot measures facing them in November taken by the San Diego Union-Tribune/ 10News – SurveyUSA, the measure to do away with the height limit in the Midway is neck and neck.

Measure E, which would abolish the 30-foot height limit in the Midway-Pacific-Highway Community Plan Area, is too-close-to-call, 31% in favor, 29% opposed. Measure E needs a simple majority to pass. The measure is supported by Democrats 35 percent to 24 percent, opposed by Republicans 33 percent to 28 percent, and opposed by Independents 39 percent to 25 percent.

Councilwoman Barbara Bry has a 3 point lead over Assemblyman Todd Gloria in a very recent poll by local media released Tuesday. In the survey on choice of mayor, Bry had 37 percent to Gloria’s 34 percent. This is definitely good news for the Bry campaign that up to now had to face the strong winds of an earlier poll that showed Gloria with a huge lead.

However, the Bry camp needn’t rest, as Bry’s lead does fall within the poll’s margin of error. And a huge number, 29 percent, were undecided. The poll was taken by the San Diego Union-Tribune/ 10News – SurveyUSA

By Judi Curry

Covid-19 is affecting many people in many ways. Listing them all would still leave out some, because none of us are aware of everything others are going through to get through each day.

We are all aware of unemployment; no health care; deaths; inability to pay bills, etc.

Most of us are aware of the depression and boredom facing people today.

Most of us are aware of the dilemma of sending our children to school or NOT sending our children to school.

By Colleen O’Connor / Times of San Diego / August 31, 2020

What are the things that you love about San Diego?

Once upon a time, it was the beauty of its neighborhoods and parks — its human scale.

It was “Camelot by the Sea,” as San Diego was once described, a city bounded by water.

Its neighborhoods hung together in scope, scale and solidarity. Roads were maintained and improved. Trash was picked up. Freeways and traffic flowed.

In short, San Diego had a reputation for being “safe, clean and prosperous.”

The controversy over Point Loma Nazarene alum Natalie Harper’s speech at the GOP convention last week continues to simmer. Over 500 PLNU alumni signed a statement denouncing Harp’s speech, saying ‘she didn’t speak for me.’ Now The Point, PLNU’s online student news platform has posted two statements, one that says, “Natalie Harp Should Be Celebrated,” by Christian Aguayo, and another that states, “Natalie Harp Doesn’t Speak for Us, Either“, by Maggie Valentine. We repost both of them here:

Natalie Harp Should Be Celebrated

Point Loma Nazarene University is a liberal arts college. In several of my freshman year courses, we discussed what it means to get a liberal arts education. Central to a liberal arts education are important ideas that came out of the Enlightenment, including critical thinking and tolerance. These same ideas form the backbone of western thought and civilization.

The group that has been trying for years to enhance and restore wetlands in the northeast corner of Mission Bay, ReWild Mission Bay, has just released an equity statement on the history of the Kumeyaay in the Mission Bay region. We repost it below, followed by their press release. . ReWild Mission Bay is a project of the San Diego Audubon Society.

Equity

The northeast corner of Mission Bay is land that was historically occupied and used by Indigenous communities, Kumeyaay (‘Iipay and Tipai), and represents just one example of our unjust and racially-motivated public lands history in San Diego.

OB’s own Kathy Blavatt will be soon releasing her latest book – this one is on the history of Sunset Cliffs Park. Arcadia Publishing will be releasing San Diego’s Sunset Cliffs Park: A History, on Monday, October 12, 2020.

Here are the promos:

About the book

Sunset Cliffs Park meanders along a mile and a half of San Diego’s coastline, beckoning tourists and locals alike. These stunning cliffs inspired Albert Spalding, sportsman and visionary, to create a park in 1915 for all to enjoy.

In the century since, many have left their mark, including the powerful Pacific Ocean. John Mills, an enterprising land baron, restored the original park, only to have it fall into neglect during the Depression and World War II. It became a popular spot for pioneering surfers and divers in the postwar boom, and the park’s colorful landscape attracted artists and children. Join author Kathy Blavatt as she relates the many transformations of this beloved park and looks to us future.

Events All events are online and free unless stated otherwise.

Every Saturday at 10:30 a.m. Climate Mobilization Coalition Zoom Meeting. September 5th,12th,19th and 26th
September 1st Tuesday 6 pm – 7pm Project Community Care Hosted by Sunrise Movement San Diego
September 1st Tuesday 7 pm – 9 pm SD Veterans For Peace General Monthly Meeting via ZOOM Hosted by San Diego Veterans For Peace
September 2nd Wednesday – 5th Saturday 10 am – 12 pm Screening and Panel Discussion of the Film “Public Trust – The Fight for America’s Public Lands” Hosted by North County Climate Change Alliance
September 2nd Wednesday 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm No Justice, No Games Petco Park 9th and J Street Vigil (please bring a candle) Let’s join our voices to ask the San Diego Padres to walk off the field in protest for the murder of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and many more due to the color of their skin.
September 3rd Thursday 6 pm – 7 pm Rooting Out White Supremacy in the US Military: A KPBS News Online Event
September 4th Friday 6 pm – 7:30 pm Intersectionality & Justice Panel Hosted by Andréa N. Agosto and Diversionary Theatre
September 5th Saturday 9 am – 4 pm Black Panthers Fundraiser Yard Sale
September 6th Sunday Rot On Sundays! Hosted by Food2Soil Composting Collective
September 7th Monday 11 am – 1 pm Protest Sea World San Diego – Labor Day

By John M. Williams

If you love hypocrisy, deception, lying like breathing, crassness, bellowing fascists with heartless underlings, then you should love Donald Trump, unbelievably, President of the United States of America, a country which used to have a pretty good name, though that too is discussable.

Many bad ideas have become laws here. Corruption, avarice, malfeasance, theft, fraud, stupidity and ignorance have always had a presence in the body politic; these things are part of the USA now as they are everywhere.

But, if you said, ‘Yes! I love the President! MAGA! 4 MORE!’ or anything similar, then, I’m happy to know that because I can stop listening now and put you on my invisible list. I do this because it is my opinion that your opinion has already been heard and rejected; it’s just efficient: you won’t bother me again.

Closed minded? Me or you? Both?

You are convinced DJT is a savior. I am not. Then again, I do admit that the prospect of this charlatan dominating all news for four more years makes the pandemic seem preferable in comparison.