As a leader you have to stand for something.  There are times when ambiguousness, inaction and a soft voice are unacceptable – times when you can’t keep your head down hoping to emerge with no blood stains, scrapes or cuts. Our city is telling employees to start paying all of the employee portions of retirement or face deep staffing cuts.  According to one news report, “62 firefighters and 34 police officers face losing their jobs.”  Now, Mayor Johnson and council members need to tell us what they stand for.  Each council member should make some detailed comments on the current proposed cuts to the fire and police departments.  As of Sunday, May 20th, none of our elected had a position pa

Published: Saturday / May 28, 2011 / By: Henry Harry In the heart of Oak Park, last Sunday, another step in the fight to help kids took place. Players and coaches for the “Pirates,” a team in the Oak Park Little League (OPLL), held a car wash to raise money. Now halfway through the season, Oak Park Little League president, Robert Allen, was on hand at the event supervising kids as they eagerly lathered, washed and rinsed customers’ cars. As we talked, Allen displayed two personas: one beamed with pride in his kids and coaches; the other worried over the struggle to keep the league moving forward in tough financial times. With area residents earning less income than others, Allen explain

An interesting countdown is taking place in Sacramento, more precisely; the clock is ticking down at city hall. Here is the situation according to proceeding at last night’s city council meeting (03/29/11). Sacramento announced openings and later selected 13 members to sit on an important committee to redraw city political districts (the boundaries for voting). Hispanics voiced concern at last night’s meeting that there were no Hispanics on the redistricting committee. They have a point. Council then voted to add two more seats to be filled through an online application process. Here is where things get interesting as the clocks ticks down on a Sunday night 04/04/11 application deadline.

Crime continues to rock the Sacramento community.  The shooting of Monique Nelson on December 14th, 2010 was another heartbreaking act in a long line of violence. Just nine weeks ago, I wrote an article in this paper titled "The Challenge of Crime."  Unfortunately, several more people have lost their lives since that publication date. Following is a letter I submitted to the Sacramento City Council on January 4th, 2011 requesting creation of a Crime Task Force.    ► Honorable Council Members: After the December 21, 2010 press conference regarding homicides at the Fly Cuts barber shop, leaders and activists expressed concern the event would fade into just another “photo-opportunity.” W

The recent arrest of 12 young African-American kids for the killing of 15-year-old Aliyah Smith in Sacramento has left many stunned, wondering what is going wrong with our youth and our society. Working as a cop on the rough streets of Sacramento, I saw the problem of rampant violence up close. Now assigned to work the court system, I see an endless stream of minorities being driven into prisons. I ran for Sacramento City Council earlier this year because our community and our country are slipping. We are moving in the wrong direction, and minority neighborhoods remain in deep trouble. A 2007 Bureau of Justice report reveals that “While blacks accounted for 13 percent of the U.S. populat