Getting a Seat at the Table

For years, members of minority groups in America were given the crumbs that fell from the table and they rightly complained that they were underrepresented in the halls of power and excluded from having a seat at the table.

Census 2020 supporters are urging everyone to participate in the census and let their voices count.

Newly released Census 2020 data shows that as of April 24, 2020, San Mateo County, with a self-response rate of 62.9%, ranks as the number one county in California, in having the most residents who have submitted their Census 2020 questionnaire. Even California’s statewide response rate is 54.2%

Two San Mateo County cities, Hillsborough and San Carlos, both with a response rate of 72.1%, rank among the top 10 cities with the highest response rates.

Guess which cities in the state have the lowest response rates. If you guessed that East Palo Alto is among them, then you’re right. East Palo Alto has a response rate of 47.1%

The city ranks just under Compton at 47.6% under Watsonville at 49.3 and under Bell, which has a response rate of 45%.

East Palo Alto also ranks under southern states like Alabama (51.1%) Georgia (49.6), Mississippi (49.4) and Florida (50.8%), which all fall under the national response rate that is 52.8%. See more rankings at https://2020census.gov/en/response-rates.html

If the residents of East Palo Alto want to have a seat at the table, then they will have to participate where their voices can be heard, whenever the opportunity arises. Participating in Census 2020 is one of those opportunities. If people feel that as a group they are pushed aside by the system and treated as if they don’t count, then it is critical that they step up, present themselves, demand their seat and pull back the chair at the table. Census 2020 allows everyone to present themselves and demand a seat

Doesn’t it make sense, then, for all of us to respond to the census as quickly as possible? In being counted and in allowing ourselves to be seen and heard, we can demand our fair representation in the halls of  power and get the seats to which we are entitled. In being counted, our communities will get the money that they deserve.

So, submit your Census 2020 response now, if you haven’t already done so. East Palo Alto can be among the cities with the highest Census 2020 response rates and you can help make that happen.

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In Honor of the East Palo Alto Center for Community Media's Former Public Allies

Henrietta J. Burroughs is shown delivering the keynote speech at the Public Allies graduation ceremony, which was held on June 29, 2019 at the Redwood Shores Sobrato Center in Redwood City CA.

The months have passed, but the memories linger. Working with the Public Allies, who interned from January to June of this year at the East Palo Alto Center for Community Media was just such a satisfying experience. Those 6 months marked a very special time. 

Emily Hess, above top left with Alamoni Afungia, Edgar Tenorio,

Lea Bolosan and Shristi Prabha

It was truly an honor to be asked to be the keynote speaker at their graduation, which was held at the Redwood Shores Sobrato Center last June.

The graduation, marking their completion of the Public Allies program, was truly an inspiring affair. 

At this time of Thanksgiving, much thanks and best wishes go to EPACCM’s five Public Allies for the contribution they made to the Center and to the East Palo Alto Today newspaper. 
 

The five Allies called themselves the Tiny Gang. But there was nothing tiny about them, even when one member of the group dropped out of the program.

From left, Lea Bolosan, Edgar Tenorio, Srishti Prabha and Alamoni Afungia

The remaining four Allies launched Media Day in East Palo Alto to celebrate East Palo Alto Today's 13th birthday.

Media Day, which brought together nearly 25 of the community’s nonprofits, will become an annual event.

You can see their engaging video interview on the Talking with Henrietta television show here.

You can even see an article about the Allies and the Media Day event on the midpenmedia.org website.

The Public Allies had fun posing with the EPACCM's
founder Henrietta J. Burroughs during Media Day in
East Palo Alto on May 4, 2019

 During the time the Allies and I spent together, I  had a chance to witness their commitment, their focus, their collaboration with each other and their interest in positively addressing the challenges that our communities face. 

Even more appreciation is given to them for the lasting memories that they left, which will be ongoing. 

 So, we give thanks this Thanksgiving to our former Public Allies,  to all who participated in our Media Day celebration, to our readers and our viewers, to the East Palo Alto Today's advertisers and to the East Palo Alto Center for Community Media's donors. Many thanks to all of you!

Is Any Ethnic Group in the U.S. Immune to Racism?

Photo courtesy of https://thetoolkit.wixsite.com/toolkit/black-lives-matter

It’s easy when one is a member of an ethnic group in America to be intimately aware of the challenges that confront the group to which one belongs. For example, a person can be all too aware of the discrimination faced by individual group members and the stereotypes attributed to one’s own racial group.

Given the attention that has been paid to Latino immigrants at the U.S.’ southern border and to DACA recipients, media reports have given our nation disturbing insights into the challenges that many Latinos face.

But, unless a group’s struggles are highlighted by various media outlets and discussed as a local or national issue, many Americans might be unaware of the challenges faced by the various ethnic groups around them and they might not understand the sensitivities that some of them hold. 

This fact was brought to my attention recently during a conversation with one of my neighbors, who is Indian American. The neighbor told me that, a few hours prior to our conversation, he was going to a restaurant with his college-aged son. He dropped his son off at the restaurant and then, intending to join him after he had parked, he drove around the block to find a parking space. Within minutes, his car collided with another car.

The police quickly arrived. The father told me that he called his son on his cell phone to tell him what happened. Standing on the sidewalk at the scene of the accident and facing the direction in which his son was coming, he stood holding his hands behind his back. Upon seeing his father, the son almost collapsed in tears, thinking that his father was handcuffed and being arrested.

In relating the incident, the father said that his son is keenly aware of the Black Lives Movement and of the heartrending experiences that some people of color have had with the police. Since his son saw him standing near several police officers with his hands behind his back, he said that his son feared the worst.

When one thinks of the Black Lives Movement, many people in the U.S. would not necessarily think that it is a movement to which other ethnic groups feel included.

In my latest Talking with Henrietta television show called, Ethnic Media: Who Produces It and Why, one of my guests, Vandana Kumar shares a conversation that she had with one of her twin sons. 

In the conversation, her son told her that she was Indian and he was American.

Seated left to right on the set of  the Talking with Henrietta show on Thursday, November 14, 2019
is Vandana Kumar, Sandy Close, Henrietta J. Burroughs and Diana Ding.

 Kumar’s response to her son might surprise you.

See for yourself what she had to say. You can get more details about this show at www.epatoday.org/tv.html#ethnicmedia and see it on YouTube here.

Interviewing Diahann Carroll

http://thehilltoponline.com/ 

It sometimes feels to me like the end of an era when someone famous dies. I felt that way upon hearing of Diahann Carroll’s death this year on October 4. News reports of her death brought in a flood of memories and I emphasize memories.

It seems like ages ago that I was a college student at Howard University in Washington, D.C. and truthfully, it was ages ago. As a sophomore at the university I volunteered, as one of my extracurricular activities, to report for my college newspaper, which was called The Hilltop.*

Diahann Carroll was in the city doing several evening shows at a major hotel. So, I suggested to Michael Thelwell, The Hilltop’s editor in chief,**  that we feature Carroll in The Hilltop. He agreed that I would write the article. I don’t really remember whom I contacted to get the interview. But, several days later I had an interview with Carroll. We had a late morning meeting in her hotel room, and to my knowledge, there was no one there, but the two of us.

It’s amazing to me now, looking back that, here she was, a well-known star, and she agreed to an interview with me, a college student, in her hotel room.

I don’t remember what she wore, but I do remember that she had a slight amount of light blue eyeshadow on. At the time, I thought that eyeshadow was only worn at night, so I assumed her makeup was from her performance the night before and she hadn't taken her makeup off.  What did I know? I was 17 and not at all worldly-wise.

I pulled out my pad and pencil and the interview was underway. The interview lasted less than an hour, during which time, she was warm, soft-spoken and very gracious and, she answered all of my questions. I learned that her real name was Carol Diahann Johnson, which was something of a surprise, since my maiden name is also Johnson.

My interview with her took place at the height of the Civil Rights Movement. She expressed optimism about race relations in the U.S. and pointed to her own career and her interracial marriage as indicators that things in America were changing and that doors for African Americans were opening.

I had a camera with me and asked her if I could take a picture of her for the article. She told me that it would be better if she sent me one. I was relieved, because being such a newbie at taking photos professionally, I wasn’t really sure how the photo would turn out.

I thanked her for the interview and that was the end of it, except for the fact that I did get the photo several weeks later. It was a headshot and I still remember what she looked like in the photo. The photo arrived after my article was published, and being the collector that I am, who throws few things away, I might still have it, along with the article that I wrote about her.

I’ve never really thought of my interview with Diahann Carroll until now. I am just thrilled that she accorded me the time. I walked away from the interview feeling that the sky was the limit. Perhaps, the interview I had with her played a role in my being selected that year by the Hilltop staff as “The Outstanding Newcomer of the Year.”

It’s said that she was the first African American actress in a major role, in a movie or play, who was not cast as a servant or as subservient in some way.

Through her accomplishments, Diahann Caroll showed that the sky can be the limit. Thank you, Diahann, for being a real role model in many ways.
                                             **************

* The Hilltop,  Howard University's award-winning student-run newspaper, was co-founded in 1924 by Zora Neale Hurston and  Louis Eugene King. In 2005, it became the first the first HBCU newspaper to be published daily. See the paper's website at http://thehilltoponline.com/ 

** Among his many accomplishments, Michael Thelwell became the founding chair of the Department of Afro-American Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

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