Blacks California

Two years after it was signed into law, California's controversial "three strikes and you're out" law has resulted in an imprisonment rate for African Americans that is more than 13 times that of whites, according to a new study. That disparity, according to the nonprofit Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, means that blacks made up 43% of about 1,200 "third strike" defendants imprisoned under the law as of Dec. 31, 1995.

A bill meant to keep police officers from unfairly stopping minority drivers has set off its own racially charged quarrel among some of Los Angeles' most prominent civil rights activists--with the bill's African American sponsor accusing his opponents of being led by white outsiders. The measure by state Sen.

Laker forward Orlando Woolridge and the rap musician Deezer D will help carry the state health department's anti-smoking message to young blacks in an advertising campaign beginning this week, Dr. Kenneth W. Kizer, state health director, said Monday. The series of television, radio and billboard advertisements directed at blacks is part of the California Department of Health Services's $28.6-million anti-smoking media campaign initiated in April to attempt to curb smoking among minorities.

U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) has called on banking regulators to investigate data released by the nonprofit Greenlining Institute last month that showed that low-income African Americans receive a disproportionately low percentage of conventional home loans.

Led by gubernatorial candidate Kathleen Brown and the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Democratic leaders on Sunday caravaned through parts of Los Angeles to launch a statewide campaign to boost the number of blacks voting in November. The drive--which kicked off with a concert, speeches and a motorcade to several state Assembly district offices in Southwest and South-Central Los Angeles--is aimed especially at the approximately 170,000 blacks in California who vote only occasionally in state elections.

Drive down the streets of any black neighborhood in California's big cities and look at who has been buying the liquor stores and beauty parlors and convenience markets and gas stations and fast-food places. Immigrants, mostly. From South Korea, India, Vietnam and elsewhere. There is no shortage of long-established black-owned businesses, but not much evidence of new black entrepreneurs in black neighborhoods. What's happening here?

The growing ethnic diversity of California society, as reflected in newly released 1990 census numbers, is now visible in suburbs and small towns, agricultural counties and desert subdivisions--almost everywhere, except in the corridors of power.

Blacks have made substantial gains in securing white-collar jobs in California, but Latinos are falling behind other minorities in holding the same kind of positions, the Legislature was told Monday. Making it worse for Latinos, the Senate Office of Research reported, is the fact that the number of blue-collar jobs in which they are concentrated is shrinking as the state continues to shift from manufacturing to service industries.

A federal judge has lifted a statewide ban on IQ testing of black children on the grounds that it was unfair to a group of black children and parents who wanted the tests. U.S. District Judge Robert Peckham withdrew his 1986 order, saying that it failed to consider the interests of blacks with learning disabilities whose parents might want the tests as an aid in their placement. His decision was made public Tuesday.

California is the nation's most racially diverse state, with a greater percentage of Asian and Latino residents than any other state and the second-highest number of blacks and American Indians of any state, census figures show. According to data compiled from the 1990 census and released this week, the 29.8 million people living in California listed themselves as 69% white, 9.6% Asian, 7.4% black, 0.8% native American and 13.2% "other." The state's 2.

A report to be released today by the San Francisco-based Greenlining Institute reveals that major banks are falling short on conventional home lending to African Americans statewide regardless of income level. But they lag most severely in home loans to lower-income blacks in South-Central Los Angeles. The state's eight largest banks made only 26 conventional home loans in 1998 to South-Central Los Angeles African Americans earning $35,000 or less.

A pro-gun group's newsletter promoting appearances by two state lawmakers contains an article suggesting that a new law banning military-style assault weapons be renamed "The Homeboy Control Act of '99." An aide to Sen. Don Perata (D-Alameda), whose legislation restricts semiautomatic assault weapons, denounced the article in the November edition of the California Rifle and Pistol Assn. publication as "pretty blatantly racist."

Assemblyman Kevin Murray (D-Los Angeles) was pulled over in Beverly Hills after an election night victory party because his Corvette did not have a front license plate, police said Thursday. "Officers stopped the vehicle for a violation of California Vehicle Code 5200, no front license plates," Beverly Hills Lt. Edward Kreins said.

Pointing to a dramatic shift in public spending over the last 16 years, a new study says that political decisions that have reduced funding for higher education--while increasing spending on prisons--have disproportionately harmed African Americans in California. The study, the latest in a series by the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, a San Francisco-based public policy group, found that in 1980-81, 9.2% of the state's general fund went to higher education and only 2.3% to corrections.

Two years after it was signed into law, California's controversial "three strikes and you're out" law has resulted in an imprisonment rate for African Americans that is more than 13 times that of whites, according to a new study. That disparity, according to the nonprofit Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, means that blacks made up 43% of about 1,200 "third strike" defendants imprisoned under the law as of Dec. 31, 1995.

Led by gubernatorial candidate Kathleen Brown and the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Democratic leaders on Sunday caravaned through parts of Los Angeles to launch a statewide campaign to boost the number of blacks voting in November. The drive--which kicked off with a concert, speeches and a motorcade to several state Assembly district offices in Southwest and South-Central Los Angeles--is aimed especially at the approximately 170,000 blacks in California who vote only occasionally in state elections.

The number of black families adopting children has risen sharply statewide, a trend social workers trace to community efforts to ease the plight of a growing number of babies born addicted to crack cocaine. Black adoptions in California rose 39%, to 627, between 1989 and 1991, according to state Department of Social Services statistics. During the same period, Anglo adoptions statewide increased 7%, to 1,318, and Latino adoptions were up 4.5%, to 583.

When it comes to making decisions about the environment ("Paper or plastic?"), most people rely more on passion than on facts. "They just don't have a good base of information to work with," says Berlinda Fontenot-Jamerson. "It's all too new." And when the decisions are major ones, such as putting an incinerator in a residential neighborhood, getting the right information is a necessity.

The white instructor at Cal State Northridge whose hiring in the Pan-African Studies Department sparked a protest by some black students will remain because she was properly hired and is qualified for the job, said CSUN President Blenda J. Wilson. "There are not and have never been racial, ethnic or gender requirements for hiring," said Wilson, who is black, in her first direct comments on the controversy. "We are listening to our students.

Taking the unusual step of reprimanding a fellow lawmaker, the legislative black and Latino caucuses scolded state Sen. Don Rogers on Wednesday for his appearance last weekend before a group accused of promoting white supremacy. In a strongly worded missive, the Black Caucus told Rogers its members were "distressed and saddened " and "at a loss to understand your rationale for joining such loathsome company."