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Under the American Flag

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By Dorothy Smith

“I pledge allegiance to the flag ….”

Under that flag, as a young child, I saw the Ku Klux Klan burn a cross on our lawn because my father advocated for the right to vote.

Under that flag, my father had to carefully plan our road trips because it was dangerous for black people to travel through certain towns at night and sometimes stations would not sell us gasoline.

Under that same flag, in the 1950s and ’60s, many ads for jobs in the major Memphis newspaper stated, “No Negroes need apply.” Still today, many Black people are unemployed, and those who do have jobs often find themselves as the only token Black person working in a department or a company all across the United States.

Under that flag, In 1950, just two years after the 1948 order to end segregation in the U. S. Military, I saw my brother drafted just out of high school into the still-segregated US Army to fight in the Korean War.   [Read more…]

Our Eclipse Adventure, Part III: The Journey Home

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By Michael-Leonard Creditor

A long-ago traveling companion taught me that you couldn’t truly know a route until you’ve traveled it in both directions. I’ve experienced the truth of this many times in ways both large and small. It was demonstrated again on this journey. Having seen and noted the geology and topography on the trip north, I was now more ready to really observe the differences and changes I’d see on the way back.

It wasn’t long after Totality ended that vehicles began exiting the campground. The reason, we reasoned, was that some folks had long drives home ahead of them to get to work on Tuesday. We had the luxury of being able to take our time, and the need to stop again in Casper for fuel, before heading out on our return journey.   [Read more…]

Our Eclipse Adventure, Part II: The Path of Totality

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By Michael-Leonard Creditor
We spent the second night at a place called Point of Rocks. It’s really just a truck stop, right off the interstate, but it has a neat name. It turned out that Arline wasn’t as comfortable as I’d been the night before. She wanted to be among other vehicles and people. Any noises during the night, from the nearby freeway or from trucks moving around the area, were no intrusion to a peaceful night for us both.

The little café attached to the truck stop office/store didn’t look appetizing as we drove by, so I elected to “drive down the road a bit” to another eatery. Little did I realize that next stop would be Rawlins, 80 miles “down the road”!

The eatery, once we got there, turned out to be totally worth it. Right off the freeway exit, Cappy’s was once a BJs Brewhouse. I guess it wasn’t urban enough for BJs, but it seemed just fine on this day-before-eclipse Sunday.   [Read more…]

Our Eclipse Adventure, Part I: On the Road to Casper

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By Michael-Leonard Creditor

About the beginning of July, my honey and I were talking and the bucket list concept came up. Of course we’ve seen the movie and discussed it before, and she had said in the past that while there are places she’d still like to go, she didn’t really have a “bucket list,” per se.

But that day, out of the blue, she says that the upcoming Total Solar Eclipse (TSE) is her bucket list.

Now, I’m a photographer; I’ve seen two TSEs and photographed one of those, and I’ve been aware of this one coming for 5 years — ever since I missed the TSE on my birthday in 2012. (It was in Australia and we simply couldn’t spare the time away.)

I know I mentioned it at least once or twice in the last year because her birthday is August 8, and it’s like a celestial birthday gift (even if it is 2 weeks late) but she never said a thing about wanting to see it. Until now. Arline is just about to turn – are you ready …? – 86 years old. So, when she said ‘eclipse’ and ‘bucket list’ together, I really sat up and took notice. This wasn’t just a passing thought.   [Read more…]

Pregnant Woman Released from Detention; Questions Remain About ICE Policy

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By Edward Sifuentes

After more than 40 days in an immigration detention facility, Maria Solis, an Oceanside pregnant mother, was released to her family on September 12.

Solis, who has had a history of difficult pregnancies, was in such fear for the health of her unborn baby that after weeks of detention she requested to be deported to her native Mexico – rather than risk another day incarcerated.

Calls for her release garnered widespread community support, including help from MomsRising, a nonprofit advocacy organization concerned with issues affecting mothers and families.   [Read more…]

SANDAG Reform Bill Now on Governor’s Desk

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By David Harris / SanDiego350

A bill to reform the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) has made its way past both houses of the State legislature and now awaits the Governor’s signature. AB 805, introduced and sponsored by Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, would change the structure and voting process of the SANDAG Board of Directors. The Board consists of elected officials from 18 cities and the County.

Gonzalez-Fletcher held a press conference this past week to urge the Governor to sign her bill. The legislator was joined by San Diego Councilmember Chris Ward as well as councilmembers from Encinitas and National City. Gonzalez-Fletcher was surrounded by two dozen supporters, including members of the Quality of Life Coalition, Environmental Health Coalition, and SanDiego350.

Kicking off the “presser” in front of the downtown State building, Gonzalez-Fletcher explained her reasons for stepping into the breach. “So many of us have been frustrated for years by a system of government that has been non-responsive to so many of our communities. And it comes from a structural issue, we don’t have a representative government [body]…as a result the ten smallest cities have veto power over transportation needs and planning for the entire region.”

Councilmember Ward emphasized the City of San Diego’s perspective: the City has roughly half of the county population yet limited voting power. “The reforms offered by AB 805 will make SANDAG a stronger and more responsive and effective agency,” Ward said, “We need critical investments in regional transit and other planning decisions. We can’t get there if we don’t have as much of a voice as the smaller cities…we can’t get there without restoring the broken trust between the public and SANDAG.”   [Read more…]

Scheme Using Homeless Crisis to Expand Convention Center Rebuked by Alliance San Diego

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Alliance San Diego has been asked to respond to the Voice of San Diego story revealing Mayor Faulconer’s involvement in another effort to use the homelessness crisis as a lever to put an expansion of the convention center on a special-election ballot, which would contravene Measure L. We are responding to multiple inquiries all at once to make Alliance San Diego’s position clear.
1. The homelessness crisis is a crisis of Mayor Faulconer’s own making.
2. Measure L allows for special elections, not special interests.
3. We call on Mayor Faulconer to take immediate action to address homelessness.
See story inside for details…
  [Read more…]

President’s Third Attempt at a Muslim Ban Condemned

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A Statement from Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans (PANA)

President Donald Trump buried on a Sunday afternoon announcement of his new travel restrictions on visitors primarily from Muslim-majority countries just as the key portion of his prior travel ban was due to expire. This is the third time the administration has attempted the ban. In this iteration, there is no end date; its restrictions have no time limit, making it more insidious than prior versions.

The new ban places various entry bans on immigrant visas for people from eight countries: Chad, Libya, Yemen, Iran, North Korea, Syria, Somalia, and very limited Venezuelans. Sudan is no longer included in the ban. It goes into effect immediately for people from the six Muslim-majority countries (Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen), and in mid-October for those from Chad (also majority-Muslim), North Korea, and Venezuela.   [Read more…]

My Father is an American War Hero Rep. Duncan Hunter Wanted to Deport and Ban

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By Kilian Colin

A couple of days after the Battle of Baghdad in April 2003, after the fires had ceased, my father, Adam Colin, took me with him to downtown Baghdad to look for a job. We rode the bus for nearly an hour to the outer border of Downtown before having to continue on foot since the streets had been damaged during the invasion days earlier.

We headed to the Al Rasheed hotel, which was where the U.S. military had taken up headquarters. The hotel was surrounded by heavily armed vehicles and the scene looked like it was straight out of a Star Wars movie.

It wasn’t long before my dad told me to turn around, that we should head back home because the situation might be too dangerous for me. I told him not to worry, that because of my size I could sneak in between the hundreds of people protesting the occupation and lack of jobs outside the hotel to the front.   [Read more…]

Petition: Investigate Mayor Faulconer for Criminal Negligence in Hepatitis A Outbreak

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Has Ignored Calls for More Public Restrooms Downtown Since 2014

By Martha Sullivan

The San Diego City government, led by Mayor Faulconer, has been told for 3 years that more public restrooms are needed downtown. But the Mayor has consistently cried poor mouth — despite spending $2.1 million on an unplanned EIR for an upgraded Qualcomm Football Stadium during this time.   [Read more…]

Escondido Residents Roll Out “Un”Welcome Mat for Private Library Operator LS&S

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One hundred and fifty Escondido residents gathered on Saturday to roll out the UnWelcome mat for Library Systems and Services at the Escondido Public Library.  

They made calls and videos, collected petition signatures, and sang a special song in support of keeping our public library operated by, for, and accountable to the public.

A city council majority including Mayor Sam Abed along with Councilmen John Masson, and Ed Gallo voted last month to develop a contract to outsource the library with Library Systems and Services (LS&S).   [Read more…]

Rare and Endangered Torrey Pine Trees Should Be Tested for Aluminum Poisoning

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By Dale Williams

Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve just north of San Diego is a majestic wilderness with views to the ocean, scenic sandstone cliffs and is home to one of the world’s rarest pine trees, the Torrey Pine. Anyone who has visited Torrey Pines Reserve in the past two years will have seen the large numbers of trees that died. You see them along both sides of the main road to the visitor center, along Guy Fleming Trail, and several other locations. As I watched them die, I wondered why nobody was testing the soil, analyzing tree samples, or doing anything that might help determine the cause. I wanted to do something but didn’t know what.   [Read more…]

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