June 20, 2019 

By Cora Jackson-Fossett 

Contributing Writer 

Loving, caring and dedicated dads were saluted at the 17th Annual H.U.F. Awards and Scholarship Brunch sponsored by Judge Mablean and the Mablean Ephriam Foundation.

Held on June 16, at the Long Beach Hilton Hotel, the event acknowledged eight local men and one from Memphis, Tennessee, who nurtured their children in the midst of daunting odds.  The affair included the presentation of 15 scholarships to high school, college, and nursing students.

Explaining why she spotlights fathers, Ephriam said, “In my opinion, fathers are the backbone of a family. They set the tone for the family. Fathers teach the girls how they are supposed to be treated by men and what to expect from a man and that is how they know that they’re queens and are to be treated royally.

“Fathers teach our young men how to respect, care for and love a woman and if we don’t emphasize the role of the fathers, then we destroy our society. Children need the guidance of both parents. It’s been my experience that in a home where there is a mother and father, the father is the voice of reason and discipline and he supports that mother in raising the children,” she said.

The diverse group of honorees illustrated the many contributions of fathers that Ephriam cited.  A. Marquis Lacey, who received the Board of Directors Award, is a single father who is successfully raising two young girls.  Eric Prudholm, a Special Award recipient, extended love and guidance throughout his 36-year-old daughter’s life while serving a 37-year prison term. Dimitrius Lynch, who earned the Founder’s Award, is a father to his three sons and a village dad to a neighborhood teenage girl.

Brian Petetan, the Fatherhood Forever nominee, is a single parent, who changed his attitude and work ethic after a stint in jail.  Now, active in tutoring youth, supporting charities and attending CSU-Dominquez Hills, Petetan vowed to do even more since receiving the award.

“I think that anything you receive with recognition should change your outlook and how you deal with people on a daily basis,” said Petetan. His mother, Shirley, added, “He had a good start; he backslid and he overcame these things. I know he will do well and have only good things in his future.”

A bright future looms for Siara Davis as well, who received the Howard University Continuing Student Award. L.A. attorney Margo Bouchet, a Howard alumnus, sponsored the award.  This is the second year that Davis qualified for the award and she said the support was a big assistance.

“That money has allowed me to do a lot of community service trips while at Howard, so I didn’t need to get an internship. I’m able to be on a pre-med track so it’s really helped me in a lot of aspects of my life,” said Davis, a future ob-gyn surgeon.

The scholarship recipients included Beauty Asemota, Chaniya Dunn, Symone Jackson, Emonni Mitchell, Leigha Onwu, Sydney Stephens and Alexis Washington-Davis.  Ephriam was also proud to present scholarships awards to three students from Jefferson High School, which is her alma mater.   

They are Ziara Bell, Amariya Price and Breezian Wilson. In addition, H.U.F. awards went to Billie Jamison and Frank Brown, Living Legacy nominees; Jason Sims and Tony Tate, Love Cares nominees; and Jeremy Glover, Volunteer of the Year Award.

The program also featured celebrity presenters Judge Tanya Acker, actress, Trina Braxton, vocalist, Patrice Covington, actor/designer, Wendell James and actor, Denzel Whitaker, Comedian, Michael Colyar, psalmist, Cornelius Johnson, saxophonist, Mike Phillips and Pastor Donnie McClurkin.

A long supporter of the H.U.F. Awards, McClurkin started attending the event with his father and brought along his son this year. When asked about his involvement, McClurkin said,  “Lauding fathers is not something done in our Black communities, but Judge Mablean has tapped into something that is really giving us a platform to be seen as nurturers, as loving, as securing, as someone giving, passing down information from generation-to-generation, showing the true strength of fatherhood – that’s unsung.”

June 20, 2019 

By City News Service 

An investigation was continuing today into the killing of a music producer who was shot outside his home in South Los Angeles along with another man, who was hospitalized.

The shooting occurred about 4:10 p.m. Friday in the 1900 block of West 78th Street, said Los Angeles Police Department Officer Tony Im. No arrests have been reported.

Leslie Andre Wakefield Jr., 26, of Los Angeles, died at a hospital, according to the coroner's office. The other man, whose name was not released, was hospitalized in unknown condition.

Wakefield, also known as DJ Official, was a Grammy-winning music producer who worked with artists like Cardi B, Chris Brown, and the late Nipsey Hussle, according to NBC4.

“He wasn't in a gang,” his cousin Ty Guerrero told the station. “He wasn’t in any type of trouble. He didn’t fight. ...”

Wakefield and a friend were shot while sitting in a vehicle, Channel 4 reported. Whoever shot them sped off in a black SUV, possibly a 2014 Ford Expedition, that was last seen headed east on 78th Street toward Western Avenue, Im said.

Anyone with information on the case was urged to call 877-LAPD-247.

June 20, 2019 

By Jordan Tucker 

Contributing Writer 

On June 8th many South LA residents came together at Los Angeles Trade Technical College for the 4th annual People Power Convention hosted by Community Coalition. The convention is a mass organizing event where residents learn about educational equity, justice reinvestment, art activism, and unified voting power.

Community Coalition’s CEO, Alberto Retana described the convention as, “not like any corporate conference.” This year’s theme is “Fighting for the Future of Los Angeles,” and the event is divided into four tracks: Education, Building Civic Power, Justice, and Art Activism. Each track takes a hands-on approach to how information is exchanged. Retana added, “We don’t put power in the panels, we put power in the people that participate.” Each track incorporated group work activities in hopes to stimulate ideas that the participants can implement in their own neighborhoods.

The keynote speakers for the convention were Van Jones and Congresswoman Karen Bass. They spoke on the opioid crisis that is occurring in predominantly white and rural communities and how the government has reacted in comparison to the crack epidemic in the 80s. Jones, CEO of the Reform Alliance and host of CNN’s The Redemption Project  expressed that his reason for being at The People Power Convention is talk about how we can have “real solutions” that take everything we did wrong over the past couple of generations when it came to overrating to crack and heroin epidemic. “Let’s evolve these solutions into something that focuses less on public safety, but more on public health.”

Congresswoman Karen Bass, the U.S. Representative of California’s 37th congressional district is quite familiar with Community Coalition as she was its’ founder in 1990. The organization was founded with the goal to organize the black and latino communities to turn despair and hopelessness into action. Community Coalition is approaching 30 years in existence next year; when asked to compare the community when she founded the organization to now she said, “We’re in much much better shape, but we have things we have to deal with.” Bass went on to imply, “While the nation is concerned about the opioid addiction and the impact that it’s having on a lot of white communities, we need to keep the drug issue top-of-mind in our communities as well because it continues to have a devastating impact.”

During the panel discussion, Bass gave examples of her white democratic colleagues concerns about the effects on their communities from the opioid crisis. She explained how even though the effects of the circumstances are similar, people perceive opioid addiction to be different than crack-cocaine or any other mass drug problem because of the introduction to the drug through prescriptions. The state of California on June 3rd joined the long list of states that are suing the pharmaceutical giant Purdue Pharma for the marketing and sale of the drug OxyContin; allegedly contributing to opioid crisis nationwide, as well for thousands of deaths due to drug overdose in the state. 

For nearly 30 years, Community Coalition has provided a hub to elevate South LA’s voice and empower residents to take control over the future of their neighborhood; and the People Power Convention has grown to be a step in the right direction for growth in the community that can affect this country as a whole.