The San Diego Voice & Viewpoint

SAN DIEGO – Jazz had found a home at the Market Creek Plaza Amphitheater and its homecoming featured performance from national and local artists alike such as Lanee Battle, Jacob Scensey, Marcus Anderson and Vincent Ingala. The summer concert series, “Jazz at the Creek”, hosted by M.A.N.D.A.T.E. Records Jazz Division, gave local residents a reason to celebrate – and the opportunity to enjoy some “smooth jazz” close to home on Saturday, June 1, from 3-8 p.m.

  Local radio personality, Ahmed Dent, gave colorful commentary and emceed the festival while introducing the artists, acknowledging supporters and sponsors. After greeting the crowd, his first task was to bring Jacob Scensey to the stage. This artist got things going and filled the amphitheater with the sultry sounds of his saxophone. Scensey was among the youngest on this billing, but his credentials include an award for the 2013 Warren Hill Rising Star Competition. This garnered him the coveted chance to be the opening act for last months’ La Costa Jazz Festival. This artist showed his mastery of the sax with each song as he played with ease to the delight of the crowd.

  Lanee Battle followed with velvety vocals and sang a range of gospel, pop and R&B tunes that got the crowd swaying to the beat. Her melodies blended well with her background singers and seemed to float on the cool breeze moving through the trees and canopy covering the grass covered seats in the plaza. Battle served the audience a sampling of her unique “neo-gospel” from her popular CD releases, including her most recent, “This is my Story” before departing the stage.

  Contemporary jazz performer, Marcus Anderson, dazzled on stage with dance moves and riveting renditions on his saxophone. The multi-talented producer, song writer, composer, vocalist, and flutist is no stranger to the stage. His list of accomplishments includes winning the Capital Jazz Fest Challenge, accompanying renowned artists, such as Prince, on tour and four CD releases, the most recent titled, “NOW”. But his charm won over the ladies in the audience as Anderson sweetly serenaded them with roses, song and sweat.

 All eyes were on him as the close of his performance as he paid homage to musical trailblazers as James Brown and Michael Jackson by duplicating signature moves from these artists while singing their most popular hit songs

   Vincent Ingala, a triple threat, brought the show its climax with a dual attack on his saxophone and guitar. His powerful delivery and vocals had everyone singing along to familiar songs from greats like Smokey Robinson and Lou Rawls, along with genuine cuts from his many releases – the most popular, “Wish I Were There” that spent four weeks on the Billboard Contemporary Jazz charts. Ingala transitioned from sax, to vocals, to guitar showing a full command and love for each talent. The energy shared by this artist, his band and the crowd was so intense that the show ran over time.

  There is a dynamic lineup of artists for the remaining two summer concerts slated for Saturdays, on July 6th and August 10th this year.  Concert goers can indulge themselves with jazz while contributing to a worthy cause. A portion of the proceeds from ticket sales helps benefit the Food 4 Kids Backpack Program with the San Diego Food Bank. This program provides weekend food packages to children from low-income households who are at risk of going hungry over the weekend when free school meals are unavailable.  For more details or for tickets go to http://www.jazzatthecreeksd.com or call the M.A.N.D.A.T.E. Records, Inc. office at 858-650-3190.

World Refugee Day is fast approaching. And with San Diego being home to thousands of refugees – many from East Africa – this city will be participating in many programs and recognition ceremonies to observe this day. San Diego provides asylum to one of the largest groups of refugees in the nation. Dozens of organizations have been created to care for and encourage these groups into a new way of life.

World Refugee Day is observed every year on June 20, with this year’s official date being next Thursday. For many years, countries worldwide had designated their own individual refugee days. But the spirit of disunity was broken on December 4, 2000 when the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution 55/76. This resolution acknowledged the 50th anniversary of the 1951 convention related to the status of refugees; as well where the Organization of African Unity also agreed to have International Refugee Day coincide with African Refugee Day on June 20. Thus was birthed, World Refugee Day.

Worldwide there are 43.7 million refugees and internationally displaced people. Of this number, eighty percent are women and children. There are a multitude of organizations and programs created to house, sustain and assimilate these people into a safe haven. When refugees flee their homeland to a place of security, there comes a period of adjustment. They come from genocide, war, famine and disease-ridden areas, and walking into a new environment where they don’t even speak the language can be terrifying.

San Diego has dozens of organizations that work in welcoming refugees, and that also provide opportunities to encourage these individuals to become self-sufficient. Refugees are taught English, Mathematics and a host of other skills and trades in order to become successful. However there are many refugees who are extremely educated, speak several languages and were wealthy in their own rights living in their native lands, but must begin their trek for success again due to accreditation issues. For example, many Somalis who have immigrated to America were doctors and lawyers in their native country, but their degrees and education is not always recognized in the States, and they therefore must work their way up from the bottom.

This process can open the door to a host of other issues, including depression. Refugees face so many different issues upon arrival to the U.S. They must learn a completely new way of life, from how to use the transportation system, to how to enroll their children in school, to how to find housing and employment. Their assimilation is multilayered.

World Refugee Day is a step in the right direction in terms of supporting our brothers and sisters. But more must be done on the ground level in leveling the playing field for their success. Stay tuned for more information on the local organizations that support refugees and encourage their success.

Dr. Iyabo Daramola stands in extraordinary optimism as she begins the search for the person that can save her son Xavier’s life. Her only child has been diagnosed with a life-threatening condition, Aplastic Anemia (AA), a rare disorder in which the bone marrow fails to make enough blood cells.

The condition arose after his unexpected diagnosis of acute liver failure back in September 2012. “This hit us out of the blue. Our son has never missed school for being sick and has only ever gone to the hospital for immunization shots. So to hear that he was suffering from acute liver failure was a complete shock.” says his mother, an Adult Internal Medicine M.D. at Caring Hearts Medical Clinic.

Xavier spent the next 45 days of his life in the hospital between Rady’s Children’s Hospital San Diego and Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA. During his stay, he acquired an infection and remained under 24-hour surveillance. At this time, a bone marrow biopsy confirmed that Xavier had Aplastic Anemia.

“Our lives have been turned upside down by this. This is hard for any parent to go through; not knowing what the outcome will be. You know, whether your child will make it or not. People never know how they will react until a scare hits home.” shares Iyabo.

Aplastic Anemia can be genetic but most often appears as a result of an existing illness in the body. The bone marrow is responsible for the production of the blood cells. When the white blood cells are low, the AA patient is at a high risk of infection or illness. When the red blood cells are low, there isn’t enough oxygen flowing through the blood stream and risk of heart failure is great.

Furthermore, AA patients must minimize their possibility of catching colds or even hurting themselves and causing unnecessary bleeding which can lead to infection and even death. For example, if a child plays, falls and hits his head, then he could potentially die from inter-cranial bleeding. Some patients can’t even eat chips because hemorrhaging can occur in the mouth. In order to maintain a reasonable blood cell count, Xavier receives weekly blood work, bi-monthly transfusions and ingests up to 20 pills a day.

“Xavier is a very tough little boy. He has an internal strength that most of my adult patients don’t have. My husband and I infused in him to look at the glass half full. He knows that there’s a chance that he can be healed and with that he lives a happy life.” Iyabo draws strength from her son, mentioning that when she comes home from a 12-15 hour day at her private practice, Xavier insists on serving her and running her errands. “I have to remind him not to physically exhaust himself trying to help me. He’s such a social butterfly and truly enjoys helping other people. I am so happy he is my son.”

The English-French bilingual student’s uncanny perspective on his condition serves as inspiration to those around him. He is a celebrity in his own right at Rady’s Children’s Hospital and he’s even on a first name basis with the nurses. His classmates and teachers express their heartfelt well wishes and look forward to the day he returns to school. The posture of faith his mother refers to exudes in his one-minute YouTube video request for prospective donors. Xavier is a resilient 4th grader focused on one thing – getting better so he can go on a Disney Cruise with his family.

The Make a Wish Foundation recently dropped by the Daramola household to shower Xavier with encouragement and of course, grant him a wish. He offered up his wishes for a backyard pool and an intercontinental flight to China. Xavier didn’t particularly care to meet anyone famous but excitedly shared his dream of one day becoming a builder. “I want to build the longest toy train track in history!” boasts the 9 year-old who happens to love all subjects in school.

Doctors say the likelihood of matching bone marrow is higher if the donor is from the same ethnic group. For Xavier, that would be Nigerian. “So far we haven’t gone out to a lot of African American groups but the Nigerian community is very receptive. We are at the beginning of our donor search. So far we have over 20 potential donors.”  Likely donors must be between the ages of 18-44, have no major medical problems such as, lung or liver disease, diabetes, any forms of cancer, infections, anemia or auto immune disease.

The process is very simple. To get tested, potential donors will need to send in swabs taken from the inside of their cheeks to the National Marrow Donor Program. If they are a match for Xavier, they will be asked to donate stem cells. Stem cells are collected much like a blood donation. The donor will be seated in a comfortable room while blood is collected from him/her, the cells will be filtered, stem cells collected and the blood returned back to the donor. The process is virtually painless and will take a few hours.

“If we don’t find a match, then we will keep doing what we are doing — the weekly check-ups and the bi-monthly transfusions. If we do find a match, then the bone marrow transplant should cure his Aplastic Anemia. Then we can rest. ” Iyabo confidently states.

To learn more about how you can help Xavier, please visit www.bethematch.org and type in code, “Xavier”. Here you will get to know a little more about Xavier and how you can send in a sample to see if you’re a donor match.

For more stories like this, please visit www.pretty-on-purpose.com.

Today’s youth face a myriad of challenges. For so many, just making it to high school graduation is something of a fantasy. And through adversity, there are few role models for students to look towards when trying to find something on which to grasp. But for Cupcake Brown, a San Diego native, adversity was life. A life she eventually overcame, and triumphed to share her story of inspiration with other youth who seek someone to look up to.

On last Thursday evening, SAY San Diego hosted an open community forum featuring Ms. Brown. Held at O’Farrell Community School, the event drew close to 200 attendees, many of whom were students. Ms. Brown has written a book about her experiences, A Piece of Cake, a New York Times Best Seller, which colorfully depicts the extreme hardship she faced beginning with her mother’s sudden death at age 11.

“I want everyone to close their eyes,” began Ms. Brown as she spoke to the students. “Now imagine your life. Envision your life path. Where do you see yourself going? How will you achieve your success?” With their eyes still closed, Ms. Brown began to describe her life growing up in Southeast San Diego as an 11 year old child; a happy home, a mother and father who loved her, and she loved them. Until one day she found her mother dead, and then her life changed forever.

Ms. Brown recounts that she discovers that the man whom she thought was her father, was not her biological father. And when her mother passed, the “sperm donor” (as she calls him) came into the picture and obtained custody of her. It was a horrible situation at best, and Ms. Brown fell into drinking, smoking and prostitution. By age 13, she was an addict. The students were visibly mesmerized by her story.

Ms. Brown became emancipated and dropped out of school. Soon after, she fell into gangbanging and teetered dangerously close to death – she was actually shot at point blank range. “The doctors said I wouldn’t make it, but I made a promise to God, ‘If you let me walk out of this hospital, I won’t gangbang anymore.’” She kept her promise. However, Ms. Brown continued with drugs, prostitution and drinking. Even though she eventually found employment, “I could get a job, but could never keep one,” she says, Ms. Brown was still an addict.

Ms. Brown married, and was verbally and physically abused by her husband. She said, “I didn’t leave my husband because he was beating me, I left because he was using my stuff,” her drugs that is.

Though Ms. Brown recounted her tales with a comedic tone, her story was impactful and heroic. Returning to school at age 25, she shared how she literally had to start math classes from square one. “My math classes were literally one plus one.” But overcoming adversity yet again, she went on to obtain her GED, enroll and graduate from San Diego State University magna cum laude.

At San Diego State, it was Criminal Justice Professor, Paul Sutton who encouraged her to go public with her story and write a book. Stressing the importance of the company you keep, Ms. Brown emphasized that once she changed her circle, she was able to achieve her goals. She pursued her law degree and passed the California Bar on her first attempt.

“No matter what lies behind each door, you have to make the right choices. And if it’s a bad situation, you need to shut that door.”

She concluded, “If you don’t remember anything else tonight, know that God makes the impossible possible. There are no excuses but you.”

Last Saturday, June 1, Harmonious Solutions hosted a half-day town hall, “Breaking Down Barriers and Building Relationships” which brought together a number of service providers, community activists and clergy to discuss the issue of mental health in the Black community. Held at Bethel Seminary, the town hall focused on the needs of Blacks in San Diego, and how to promote access and treatment in a more comprehensive way.

Founded by Mr. Kahalifa King, Harmonious Solutions is a nonprofit facility offering counseling, mediation and training specifically designed to meet the needs of the diverse San Diego community. Harmonious Solutions collaborates with other agencies and organizations as a referral source to serve their clientele’s mental health needs. Additionally, it hosts regular community forums to address topics of interest and suggested by the community. Harmonious Solutions also serves as a training institution for culturally underrepresented, registered MFT interns seeking their professional license.

The town hall began with a presentation of the history of Blacks’ experiences in America. It was discussed that progress within the Black community has been made since the days of slavery; however Blacks still face a myriad of challenges including a consistently high unemployment rate, joblessness, poor access to healthcare and education. Contrary to popular belief, Blacks are dealing with mental illness in record numbers, and these numbers can be attributed to situations of today, as well as institutionalized racism that has existed for centuries.

“In 2007, US African American males in grades 9 – 12 were 1.6 times more likely to attempt suicide,” stated the moderator. He went on to say that from 2000 – 2008 African Americans were the third highest users of mental health services behind Whites and Hispanics. The top three mental health diagnoses among African Americans were depressive disorder, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. “So our question is, what can be done?”

The town hall featured panelists from a variety of organizations representing different factions of the San Diego community. What followed was lively questions and dialogue which addressed the specific needs of African Americans when it comes to mental health. Mental health can involve many different types of treatment from a variety of sources. What Saturday’s town hall raised were that churches, service providers and the community as a whole need to be involved in the healing process for African Americans. Each panelist provided different insights to where and how to meet blacks where they are in the healing process.

The Voice & Viewpoint, which has been a strong supporter of Harmonious Solutions since its inception, was represented by publisher Dr. John Warren, who stated “I see us as an important link to this discussion as we serve as a link to the emotions of blacks. We have made it a practice to report positive news stories in our community, though we do not leave out other news. We report news from a Black perspective; we commend Harmonious Solutions for their efforts and the Voice & Viewpoint will not sit back and watch this community relax when our people are suffering through mental illness.”

Questions raised to the panelists were posed to invoke answers on how African Americans’ mental health can be impacted in a positive way. The first question asked was if slavery and its remnants have an effect on the mental health of African Americans in 2013.

“Yes,” said one panelist. “One of the things that have occurred is the passing down of oppressing views and values.” He explained that these traits are passed down from generation to generation. The moderator then questioned the panelists on addressing the issue and then utilizing coping tools available to African Americans. A panelist answered that in order to heal, it is necessary to go through the pain again to purge of it. Another panelist advised of the importance of looking at history, understanding it and it becoming a defining moment. Those defining moments enable healing.

“After all of this time, why are we still bound by what others think about us? Why is it so debilitating?” asked the moderator.

“One of the problems we have today is, we don’t need to go back 100 years,” said Dr. Warren. “We really need to go back 50 – 60 years. We find that there is a breakdown.” Dr. Warren mentioned spending time with Stokely Carmichael, Malcolm X and Rosa Parks, going on to say that we have not filled in the gap with today’s youth or ourselves in terms of history. “You can’t address what happened in the fifties following Brown [vs. Board of Education], you can’t ignore the Wilmington sit-ins, you can’t ignore the marches. There is an information gap.”

The moderator then asked, “How do we deal with people who don’t value us as people, and those who simply don’t care?” A panelist presented the fact that there is a level of dislike within the black community amongst each other. She mentioned that generations don’t often communicate with each other.

The issue of access was raised, revealing that access is multilayered. There is a lack of services available within the community; however, there is also a level of trust that lacks within Blacks when it comes to taking advantage of available resources.

A representative of the county sat on the panel to address the county’s lack of support in terms of funding for mental health services for the African American community. When asked what the county will do and whether or not Harmonious Solutions will continue to receive funding, he did not have a direct answer, but advised, “after looking over the numbers (in terms of how many people Harmonious Solutions has reached), those numbers support the need.”

When the floor opened for audience questions, there was a resonating theme of access within the southeastern community as well as an understanding that blacks live all over San Diego county, not only in southeast.

“We need to understand that we are not without power,” said Mr. Cecil Steppe, a prominent figure in the San Diego African American community. “We are very silent, polite people, allowing things to occur that we knew were not for our benefit. And yet we sat quietly and said nothing.” Mr. Steppe alluded to the fact that Blacks were hesitant to take active roles in questioning the county to make changes that would benefit blacks.

The point was also raised that, with the exception of Harmonious Solutions, there are not any culturally compassionate centers for existing mental health needs of blacks suffering with more common diseases such as schizophrenia.

Harmonious Solutions is more than a treatment facility, but a community organization that fills a void in the Black community in San Diego. It is vital that the county continue its funding, as the rehabilitation of the Black community contributes to the rehabilitation of the community in its entirety.