San Diego Housing Commission CEO resigns

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Good morning.
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I'm Anica Colbert
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It's Thursday , February 24th.
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What's next for the San Diego Housing Commission ? More on that next.
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But first , let's do the headlines.
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San Diego County has reached a sad milestone in the COVID 19 pandemic.
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Over 5000 county residents have died of coronavirus since March of 2020.
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In terms of the flu.
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San Diego County public health officials announced on Thursday that they had confirmed a third flu death for this season.
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Overall , flu cases have been relatively low , with just more than 1500 lab confirmed cases reported.
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Volunteers from across San Diego County participated in the annual homeless point in time count this morning.
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The count gives a regional view of the number of people living on the streets and in shelters.
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Last year , it didn't happen because of the COVID 19 pandemic.
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In January of 2020 , more than 7600 San Diegans were found to be homeless , with half of them living on the streets.
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The downtown San Diego Partnership's Sarah Brothers. says the number of unsheltered in the city centre has doubled compared to last year.
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We can highlight the the need that exists in our downtown neighborhoods and spur action so that we can move on both long and short term solutions as a community.
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Because what is evident when anyone conducts the count is that we have the responsibility of the community to do what we can to help.
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The data is used to determine federal homeless funding in the county.
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The former director of finance for the La Jolla Music Society pleaded guilty on Wednesday to stealing more than $650000 from the nonprofit over the course of nearly a decade.
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The U.S. Attorney's Office says 52 year old Chris Benefit is used the money to pay his mortgage , pay off credit cards and other personal expenses.
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He's scheduled to be sentenced in May from KPBS.
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You're listening to San Diego news now.
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Stay with me for more of the local news you need.
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The head of the San Diego Housing Commission has resigned.
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KPBS Metro reporter Andrew Bowen says the departure comes as city leaders are looking to reform the agency.
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Rick Gentry led the Housing Commission for 14 years.
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He oversaw the agency's expansion from mostly distributing federal housing dollars to also overseeing local homeless services.
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And it was under Gentry's watch that the commission hired a real estate broker last year who turned out to have a conflict of interest.
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Ryan Columnar sits on the Housing Commission Board.
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He says Gentry saw that scandal differently than those tasked with the agency's oversight.
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He viewed it as primarily a messaging problem and optics problem.
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And that's a very fundamental difference in how we looked at a serious issue and one that became challenging to get past.
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The City Council has the power to appoint Gentry's replacement columnar hopes that person will push for building affordable housing in all parts of the city , not just where it faces the least amount of resistance.
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I'm very keen to see what other people in other parts of the country are doing to work on that.
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I'm interested in new ideas and new approaches to how we get a more equitable distribution of affordable housing.
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Gentry's last day on the job will be March 31st.
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Andrew Bowen KPBS News.
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Since last year , San Diego Unified School District has been searching for a school superintendent.
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Former Superintendent Cindy Martin is now deputy secretary of education in the Biden administration.
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Two finalists for the position were named late last year , but the final choice has been delayed because of the omission surge.
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Yesterday , we introduced you to one of the finalists , Dr. Susan and Field.
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Today we bring you an interview with the other finalist , Dr. Beaumont Jackson.
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He's a San Diego native , and prior to his interim post , he served as San Diego Unified's Area two superintendent.
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He oversaw schools in Claremont , Mira Mesa , Morris and University City Communities.
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He recently spoke with KPBS Midday Edition host Maureen Cavanaugh about his candidacy.
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Here's that interview.
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Tell us a little bit about yourself and why you want to become San Diego School superintendent.
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Thank you for that question.
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Well , first and foremost , as you mentioned , born and raised in San Diego , I am a product of San Diego Unified School District.
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So this to me is home first and foremost.
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That is the reason I am very interested in pursuing the superintendency , say the second thing.
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It shouldn't be news to everyone that we've been through so much in the last couple of years , and I believe this is the time for stability and for consistency and for coherence and.
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As a former area superintendent , chief human resource officer , a principal , a teacher , a student in this district , I believe I bring that to this district.
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Now , despite improvements made under the last superintendent , statistics show that black students are still three times more likely to be suspended than white students.
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How can San Diego Unified do better ? My answer is we have to pull up next to them.
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I had the benefit as a product of the Senegal Unified School District.
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To just have educators pull up next to me.
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I get a little emotional , but they believed in me more than I believed in myself at times.
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That's how we change the trajectory for our students.
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We have to personalize the attention for our students.
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We certainly have to hold them accountable.
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Absolutely.
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But during that engagement and during that accountability , we have to show them compassion and love.
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And kindness.
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We all make mistakes.
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But those of us who come out of it.
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Can point to people who've supported us.
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That's critical.
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That's how we change this.
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Narrative for our black children.
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And all children , COVID 19 disrupted learning for many months and is still having a big impact on schools and classrooms.
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Some things about our schools may have changed forever.
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What lessons do you think we've learned ? Things were changing on a daily basis.
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They continued to change on a regular basis.
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For us , I believe what we learned is the importance of leaning on the professionals , the health professionals , the scientists , the educators , the leaders.
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We have to believe in our democracy.
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We have to believe that we are all going to make the decisions.
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That are aimed to ensure that our students are prepared for the college and the career of their choice.
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So I believe our learning was that we can be flexible , we can be fluid and we can be amazing together.
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And none of us know the answers at times , but I think when we come together , we're able to solve the most difficult of challenges.
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And I think San Diego Unified was a beacon of that.
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We maintained a strong focus our board.
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Was unwavering when it came to health and safety.
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I was unwavering as a superintendent around health and safety.
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Our district staff unwavering San Diego Unified has been dealing with a staffing shortage with not enough teachers or substitute teachers.
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How will you deal with that problem so that children's education doesn't suffer prior to the pandemic ? I think it's important for everyone to know that we have created an educator pipeline where we are working closely with our colleges and universities to bring folks in to do residencies , if you would , so that they are actually teaching while they're getting their credentials.
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So we are working on a pipeline there.
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The other thing that we're doing is creating a pipeline for some of our parent educators to go through credential programs to go into some of the more difficult areas to staff supporting our students with IEPs.
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And I think we're going to see make great strides in that area.
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We are also really focused on diversity and really recruiting more educators of color to come in and support our students.
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And so we are reaching across the nation to recruit and retain our educators and really develop a pipeline for educators , as well as something on the horizon of elevating some of our administrators so that we're preparing them for principal ships and future leadership in those positions.
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So very excited about the work.
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Now you've been with San Diego Unified for almost 30 years.
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You have experience.
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But the other contender for this position could bring a fresh set of eyes to some of the district's problems.
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How would your approach as superintendent be different in dealing with some of the district's long time challenges ? I have been.
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A leader who loves to pull beside other leaders and get proximate to the problem.
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And I do use the quote that Cindy love to use , and we're going to use data as a flashlight , not a hammer.
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That being said , we need to illuminate not what we've done well , but to your point , what we have not yet accomplished.
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And that's what I'm going to be able to bring.
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And I believe that's what someone from the outside may say they will bring.
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But I have a track record as an area superintendent that I show up for people.
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And and that is because every leader.
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Every educator , every person on this Earth deserves to be seen and deserves to be heard.
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Because when that happens , they can be their best.
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And when they can be their best , then we can close the gap.
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We can change the trajectory and we will see suspensions go down for a black and brown students.
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We will see graduation rates go up for our multilingual learners.
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Our Latin students are black students.
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We will be able to meet the goals of our students with disabilities.
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When we are able to not be afraid to look into the mirror and look into the corners where we have not been successful.
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And that was Dr. Lamont Jackson speaking with KPBS Midday Edition host Maureen Cavanaugh.
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A public forum with both finalists is scheduled from noon to two p.m. on Saturday at Wilson Middle School near Normal Heights.
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Coming up , KPBS speaks with the local civil rights hero about how San Diego has changed since the 1960s.
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We'll have that story next , just after the break.
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As the nation recognizes Black History Month , KPBS Race and equity reporter Christina Kim takes a closer look at how far San Diego has or hasn't come since the civil rights movement through the eyes of local civil rights hero Harold K. Brown and a note.
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The archival radio sound used in the following story uses the word Negro to talk about Black Americans.
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In 1966 , at the height of the civil rights movement , one year before the long hot summer of 67 , a live call-in radio show premiered on the San Diego airwaves as the old radio , in cooperation with the News and Public Affairs Department of the Gordon Broadcasting Company , presents viewpoints hosted and created by local civil rights leaders Harold K. Brown and Rev. are major shavers.
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The show approached the issue of racial justice head on.
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The white backlash is nothing more than White America's answer to the cry of black people for a complete American citizenship.
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That's Harold Brown , or , as he's better known , the co-founder of the San Diego chapter of the Congress on Racial Equality , or Core , who fought against local housing and job discrimination.
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White America's answer is no , as it always has been.
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White America sits back on its white power throne and waits for Black America to do something it does not agree with.
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Now 87 years old , he still lives in San Diego.
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And when he listens back to the show he recorded in his early 30s , some things have changed and you recognize the voice then , because it's so different now.
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It's softer with a little more gravel and a little more wisdom.
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He thinks people should recognize and celebrate how far we've come since the days when he was fighting GNT , the Bank of America and the world famous San Diego Zoo to just hire black people.
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We have black teachers , black lawyers , black judges , black corporate executives.
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But when he sees the Jan. six insurrection , the efforts in 2022 to limit the black vote and the outcry over teaching ethnic studies in school , he feels like he's back hosting his show in 1966.
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Navigating white San Diegans response to the civil rights movement.
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This idea of black power self-worth , of course , isn't going to help their cause.
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It only hurts it.
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And I think that the overall the real story of white backlash is that people just flat had it completely elevate this person to some mythical high place and give him everything he wants , pay his way and all this stuff.
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What I'm saying is that no white backlash will be the people voting down , the people who represent these ideas in the future.
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Listening to this now , Brown chuckles to himself.
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He heard similar sentiments after the global racial justice protests of 2020.
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So that backlash is , you know , it's been there , it's there today , and unfortunately , it will be there tomorrow.
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As he listens to other viewpoint episodes , the more clear it becomes that San Diego is still working through the same issues.
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Take police oversight , which Brown discussed on viewpoints in the 60s.
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Negroes are treated unjustly.
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Now where can you go to complain ? You go to the police department and complain.
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Well , many Negroes feel , and I feel that going to the police department to complain about the police department does just does not make good sense.
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San Diego didn't create an oversight board until the 1980s , and only recently did the city pass a measure to strengthen this board.
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It's in lamentation is still pending.
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But even though I can feel like history is repeating itself , Brown thinks there's lessons to be learned from his old radio show , lessons about talking through differences.
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I do think that , um , the black man should step the responsibility.
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His children should be taught not to burn and robbed and so forth.
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Well , the number of people who have burned and robbed in this country , no black people have been so small that it's hardly worth even mentioning.
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It is built up in the press and everything.
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Well , yes , but we can't let the press build prejudices into us.
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Do you agree that he completely disagreed with the caller , but they had a conversation , something he feels we've lost in today's echo chambers ? We weren't arguing or fighting and calling each other names and trying to demean each other.
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We were trying to understand , and when he would say something , I asked , I would ask the question , Do you agree ? Brown says it's these types of conversations that are needed if America is ever going to fulfill its democratic promise.
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But I think right now is an opportunity.
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To really step up as American citizens and show the world that in a democracy , this is what we do and is expected that all men are created equal.
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And it's that promise the promise of equality and the generations of black Americans who have fought to make it real.
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That keeps brown going , even if the change is achingly slow.
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They were lynched.
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They were tarred and feathered.
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They were jailed.
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They were whipped.
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They suffered through all that and all the hard labor they suffered at all to get me where I am today.
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So , you know , how can I not continue and let my forefathers and foremothers down ? That's why , more than 50 years later , Brown is still fighting.
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Christina Kim KPBS News.
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The Copley Symphony Hall at the Jacobs Music Center in downtown San Diego has been the home of the San Diego Symphony for nearly 40 years , and as KPBS reporter John Carroll tells us , the hall is undergoing a major renovation.
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The ornate Fox Movie Theater , which opened in 1929 , was transformed into Copley Symphony Hall in 1984.
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But now it's getting a major update.
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San Diego Symphony CEO Martha Gilmer says the $125 million renovation will bring state of the art acoustics and much more , all while preserving the hall's magnificent Spanish baroque architecture.
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What you're seeing is this just tender , loving , enduring care of this incredible venue while still bringing her into the 21st century.
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The project is scheduled to be complete in the fall of 2023.
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John Carroll KPBS News.
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And that's it for the podcast today.
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As always , you can find more San Diego news online at KPBS dot org
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I'm Anica Colbert.
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Thanks for listening and have a great day.