Episode Transcript
[00:00:05] Speaker A: Good evening and welcome to the local news.
Today is Friday, February 20th. I'm Gabriel Zucker reporting for KMUD. In tonight's news, Redwood Peace and Justice Coalition hosts Dr. Abdul Aquila to speak about Ramadan. February 21st, Humboldt's Care Court, among the most active in the state despite lack of funding, and Ray Hamill with the sports report. Stay tuned. Those stories and more.
[00:00:29] Speaker B: Coming up.
[00:00:32] Speaker C: Redwood Community Radio acknowledges that its transmitter
[00:00:35] Speaker B: sites are located on the unceded territory of the Sinkion, Wailaki, Wiat, Wilkot and Kato people.
[00:00:41] Speaker C: We honor ancestors past, present and emerging
[00:00:44] Speaker B: and acknowledge the ongoing cultural, spiritual and
[00:00:47] Speaker C: physical connection that these tribes have to this region.
[00:00:52] Speaker A: On February 21, the Redwood Peace and Justice Coalition will be hosting Dr. Abdul Aziz Akilah at Cal Poly Humboldt to speak about the Islamic holiday Ramadan. Ramadan started February 17 this year and the holiday celebrates the holiest month on the Islamic calendar and is a time dedicated to fasting from dawn to sunset, prayer, spiritual reflection and charity. Reporter Nat Cardos spoke with Dr. Akilah. For more information on the holiday.
[00:01:18] Speaker B: Ramadan in general, it's a holy month for Muslims or the Muslim community. And the significance of this month that it states in the Quran that Muslims are ordered to fast this month and to increase from charity and good deeds and gain spirituality and sense of community and coming together, performing a very special prayers only done during the month of Ramadan. They were done every night and they bring the community together to observe those mass prayers. And also the Quran was actually revealed in that month. So it's a ritual fast, a commemoration of revelation, a time of moral and spiritual recalibration in Palestine. It has a very special atmosphere because it blends spirituality with deep social connection.
Like it's not just an individual act of fasting. It becomes a communal experience. Streets come alive after the sunset. Lanterns are hung across the city streets, balconies, windows, and even inside homes like above, dining tables and living rooms, markets, bazaars, restaurants. The whole community just gets decorated, especially in places like Gaza, Jerusalem, Hebron, Ramallah, Nablus, Jenin. The families would visit each other nightly. They will exchange meals and mosques are full every night. And this is funny because normally you would go to the mosque at any given prayer. Usually you will see 20, 30 regulars over there. But when it's Ramadan, every prayer is packed to the extent that people will be standing outside of the mosque and praying, which is always a good start. People, it's like their resolution. They try to be better Muslims in Ramadan.
[00:03:09] Speaker A: Ramadan is currently being celebrated throughout much of the world, including Palestine, where, despite a ceasefire agreement having been signed, continues to be bombed by Israeli forces. In the three months following that ceasefire, more than 2500 structures have been destroyed in Gaza alone. And the city of Rafah has been almost completely flattened since the occupation, according to Al Jazeera. Having grown up in Palestine, Dr. Akilah reflected on his own memories of celebrating Ramadan there.
[00:03:35] Speaker B: One of the strongest memories I would carry is the soundscape of the Adhan, or the call to prayer, and it comes from multiple mosques at the same time. And specifically in Ramadan, the last, the more the day, like we get towards the end of the day, the sound and the noises are louder because people are rushing to finish everything, as if the day is going to end at sunset. And so by the time it's the call to prayer and it's sunset, it's like a ghost town. Everybody is already inside, they have their meals ready to break their fast or glasses of water.
And so for someone who is not really thirsty, like me, for example, I would observe how quiet the city could get and all you can hear is the echo of the call to prayer. And I think it was just beautiful. At the sunset, you hear multiple mosques echoing the same call to prayer at the same time.
And as the sun sets, just a very remarkable at the Mediterranean, like the sun sets at the Mediterranean Sea. And it's just a very beautiful sight, a very special experience.
[00:05:03] Speaker A: The talk he will be giving on Saturday is titled Islam the Untold Story from the Holy land last Ramadan. Dr. Akilah gave a similar talk and we will be sharing a historical approach to the history of the area rather than a political one. Having grown up in Palestine, Dr. Aquila acknowledges that their land has always been pluralistic. Dr. Akilah elaborates further.
[00:05:23] Speaker B: Yes, so my lecture pretty much takes a historical approach rather than a political one.
Like I would block the audience chronologically through the civilizations of the Holy Land, starting with the Canaanites, ancient Egyptians, the era of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, migration to Egypt, Exodus, Philistines, Amalik and Roman Empire. Islamic rule with the first Muslim form of government ended up with the Ottomans. And modern history.
I feel like when the history is told in one continuous narrative, something powerful becomes clear, which is no single group can claim exclusive ownership of the Holy Land while erasing others. The land has always been pluralistic, ethnically, religiously and culturally. It's been a pluralistic piece of land. One example I would like to highlight is when Patriarch Sophronius handed Jerusalem's keys to Caliph Omar Ibn al Khattab, commander of the Muslims at the time, one of the conditions proposed by the patriarchy was continuing the Roman ban on Jews living in Jerusalem.
Omar, from a Muslim school of thought, rejected that condition, politely signaling an early Islamic policy of access rather than exclusion.
I also speak in the literature about how historically Muslim lands often served as places of refuge for Jews, including during periods of pogroms and persecution.
Across history, even around the Holocaust era, Muslim majority countries stood out by protecting Jewish families.
And some other countries even accepted Jewish refugees like it's widely known when the Muslims of Bosnia, for example, and how they stood against Nazi soldiers coming to take away Jewish families.
And same thing happened in Albania, another Muslim majority country in Eastern Europe. And then countries like Morocco, Palestine, Egypt. They received mass migrations from these Jewish families seeking refuge in the Middle east, in the West. I think one of the least understood aspects of Islam is the civilizational ethos of pluralism, the idea of protected religious communities, shared sacred space, and legal recognition of diversity under Islamic governance.
Unfortunately, Islam is often reduced to the geopolitics or security narratives rather than its intellectual, legal and social history.
And that's the whole intention of my lecture, to show that we have more in common than like we have more to bring us together than to divide us.
[00:08:48] Speaker A: Following the talk, there will be a discussion on Islam and an invitation to participate in public events hosted by the local Islamic community during the month of Ramadan, such as potluck dinners held on Saturday that are open to the community. Reporter Nat Cardo spoke with Sean Leon, press secretary for the Redwood Peace and Justice Coalition, for more information on the talk and following potlucks.
[00:09:09] Speaker D: That's another thing that we can confirm at the if people come 3pm to the Great Hall Community center, room 260 at the Cal Poly Humboldt University, which is next to the College Creek Marketplace.
That's another thing that people can find is that confirmation on exactly where that potluck will be. But it's definitely going to be Saturday.
The potluck will be Saturday around 5:30 or 6, so that certainly people can count on. And I would also just say that we're really pleased to be able to bring this programming forward because unfortunately, even in our local community we do have struggle with Islamophobia and I think that's very unfortunate.
But one of the best things that we all can do to address that is to educate ourselves.
And also not just reading books, book knowledge, but also personal human to human interactions.
This is the kind of work that we're doing with the Peace and Justice Coalition is to build a sister city between Arcaeda and Gaza City to create these human to human interactions to help tear down Islamic in our community as well as, you know, as humanitarian work that we're doing in Galva City, which by the way we are raising money currently for a fundraiser that we were asked by our contacts on the ground in Gaza City to do, which is to provide for food during Ramadan.
And they were saying that this is very important because when people are fasting during Ramadan, it's sometimes very difficult to prepare meals, you know, big meals, which usually there's a big iftar meal that breaks the fast at the end of the day that people will share with family, friends.
And so obviously you can imagine in a war zone like Gaza subjected to siege and genocide that it's very hard, especially for people that maybe don't have a male head of the household or they're elderly or children, sometimes without parents or internally displaced people. So our contacts on the ground have assured us that they believe they can get our funds to the most needy I know there could see people during Ramadan.
[00:11:41] Speaker A: For more information on the event and the Redwood Peace and Justice Coalition, the website is www.redwoodpeaceandjustice.com.
though described as an unfounded mandate, a recently launched mental health treatment program in Humboldt county is already seeing progress. Daniel Mintz reports.
[00:12:02] Speaker E: Humboldt county has one of the highest referral levels in the state to a court driven mental health treatment program that has expanded despite lacking state funding.
Developed under state law, the Community Assistance, Recovery and Empowerment Care Court program allows court ordered mental health treatment. Eureka is unique among cities for having a dedicated mental health clinician. Jacob Rosen, who gave an update on the Care Court program at the February 17th city council meeting.
Launched at the end of 2024, the two year treatment program has seen its first graduate.
There will be many more as Humboldt has made 55 referrals, which Rosen described as one of the highest referral volumes per capita among counties.
Eight of the referrals were from Eureka and Rosen said the city has been very much involved in several more.
He explained how Care Court has expanded eligibility and streamlined its referral process.
[00:13:06] Speaker F: Probably one of the biggest changes was the expansion of eligible diagnoses. So when Care Court first came out the eligible diagnoses were schizophrenia spectrum disorders and the big change was that they did add bipolar one disorder with psychotic features that is very specific in terms that it needs that psychotic feature specifier. So this isn't just anyone with bipolar disorder it specifically needs that psychotic feature specifier. They did do a bunch of streamlining. They made it much more flexible for some petitions or some referrals to still become petitions, even if not all of the information necessarily warranted or like checked all the boxes for that referral to be converted to a petition. This kind of created a process by which that, you know, if a family member submitted something that didn't quite check all the boxes, they could still at least get evaluated and have the hearing looked at and reviewed as opposed to just an automatic dismissal.
[00:14:04] Speaker E: What hasn't changed is Care Court's funding scenario.
Though created by state law, Care Court is still largely an unfunded mandate, Rosen said, and although billing can be done in some circumstances, it's not something that really covers the costs. Though the bulk of Care Court's treatment referrals are voluntary, involuntary treatment can be ordered by the court and Rosen said it's cost intensive.
The impacts of the funding void were discussed in this exchange between Councilmember Mario Fernandez and Rosen.
[00:14:39] Speaker F: I'm curious because you touched on unfunded mandates or at least a portion thereof. So I'm curious then, from your perspective, at least for our county, what does that look like? What are we missing at least in terms of funding?
In terms of funding, I don't want to speak for DHHS Behavioral Health. However, I would venture a guess that a lot in more staff currently they have one clinician and one case manager. That case manager started just recently and before that they just had the clinician which again for the, you know, 55 folks who have been referred, having two staff members is is not sufficient for the level of intensity that's needed to treat the folks who are referred for Care Court. And so I think that's probably the larger barrier that that lack of funding creates, rosen said.
[00:15:26] Speaker E: An issue with Care Court is that unless a program is part of someone's court ordered diversion quote, there aren't any consequences for non compliance.
The program may see more change however, as the state has been meeting with courts and behavioral health departments, including in Humboldt County.
Rosen talked about future plans for the program.
[00:15:47] Speaker F: Our plan is moving forward. We're going to keep streamlining that process. We want to be able to get more of the first responder referrals in. After we've been working on this for quite some time, we noticed that there is a gap in who is getting referred. Specifically. There are clients that EPD responds to very, very frequently that are not referred to care for follow up because the person's usually aggressive and violent and it usually ends up in a different type of intervention where the crisis team is not really the appropriate source to come out. However, they're still having a constant request for services and that person likely meets CARE court criteria. And so we're trying to develop that way to get those people referred even when care is not being brought into it right at the beginning. And then we're going to continue to work with County Behavioral Health. They've really been doing an excellent job even with the limited staff and resources that they've been allotted for that program, rosen said.
[00:16:41] Speaker E: Quote, a huge factor of success has been the collaboration among the county Behavioral health Department, the court systems and both the DA and public defender's office, as well as County Council, community groups and agencies are also part of the collaboration.
And Rosen said there's been a lot of participation in terms of getting folks connected with other resources, including the city's Uplift employment and housing program in Eureka for KMUD News, this is Daniel Mintz
[00:17:14] Speaker A: and Ray Hamel with the Sports report.
[00:17:17] Speaker C: The McKenville boys and Arcata girls were crowned Dick Nicholai Tournament champions last weekend before tipping off the North Coast Section basketball playoffs earlier this week. Hello and welcome to this week's KMUD and New News Sports Report. I'm Ray Hamill with humboldtsports.com we'll have much more on the two exciting Nikolae Finals in just a moment as we take a look at all of the big local sports stories of the week, including all the NCS basketball news for the week and a look ahead to this weekend's playoff action, some college basketball news and all the latest on the local college baseball and softball teams. But first up, a packed house at Lumberjack arena was treated to two exciting Dick Nicholai Tournament championship games last Friday night.
The girls final got the night's action underway with Big Five rivals Arkeda and Eureka facing off for the coveted trophy. And it was a good night for the Tigers who ended an eight year wait to add to their record tally of tournament trophies, holding on late for a 6460 win. The Tigers trailed by eight midway through the third quarter, but would close out the period on a 171 run to take control and they never trailed again.
The tournament title is the 12th all time for the program, which is the most by any HDNL team, boys or girls, and it secured a Big 5 and Nikolai championship double for head coach Charlie Espinosa's team in the boys final. Big 5 champs McKinleyville played Little 4 champs St. Bernards and they led for much of the night on the way to a 6853 win. The tournament championship is the second straight for the Panthers and their third in four years and it capped an impressive HDNL season for the team, which also won a first ever outright Big Five title. After the excitement had died down on Friday, the league teams turned their attention to the North Coast Section playoffs which got underway earlier this week. The brackets and seeds were announced on Sunday afternoon and 13 HDN teams made the field. The playoffs began On Tuesday with seven HDNL teams taking the court in Boys Division 5 action, the Loggers won an all local showdown at Eureka High, getting the better of Hoopa 7251 while Arcata hosted Beret and Christian and lost 57 51. The Loggers, who are seated number two in the bracket, will now host number seven Gateway in Friday night's quarterfinals. In boys division three action, little four champs Saint Bernards rallied from an early 14 point deficit to beat Miramonte in overtime 73 72. The win sets up a double header of playoff action at Saint Bernards on Friday night with the school's boys and girls teams taking the court. The SB boys, who are seated number three in their bracket, will host number six College park in their quarter final while the Saint Bernards girls will open their playoff campaign on the same night after receiving the top seed and an opening round bye in the Division 3 girls tournament, the number one seeded Crusaders will host number eight Liberty in their quarter final in girls playoff action on Tuesday, two HTNL teams were involved in the Division 1 bracket. The number 3 seeded Arcata girls hosted number 14 Camp Olindo and won 48:37 while number 12 Eureka traveled to the Bay Area to play number 5 Alameda and lost a close game 57:56. The Tigers will now play number 11 Pinole Valley in their quarterfinal on Friday night. In the Division 3 girls bracket on Tuesday, number 10 Del Norte traveled to play number 7 Jessie M. Bethel and lost 49 41. The playoffs continued on Wednesday with four more HDNL teams in action. In the boys Division 6 bracket, the number 7 seed Ferndale Wildcats hosted Rio Lindo Adventist and posted a comfortable 8240 victory to extend their season. On Saturday, the Little Four School will travel to play number two seed Mendocino, which had an opening round bye. The Del Norte boys also have advanced to the section quarterfinals after a 5451 win over Head Royce in Crescent City. The warriors, who are seated number eight in their bracket, will play their quarterfinal at number one San Marin on Saturday night at seven in Division 2 boys action on Wednesday, the McKinleyville Panthers hosted El Cerrito and lost 59:53 to end a memorable season for the team and rounding out the opening round games for HDN teams. In Division 2 girls action on Wednesday, the Fortuna Huskies lost their game against Moreau Catholic in Hayward, falling 72:36. The Ferndale girls also have qualified for the NCS playoffs and received the number two seed and an opening round bye in the Division 6 bracket. The Cats will tip off their playoffs at home against number seven Mendocino on Saturday night at seven after the Cardinals took care of business in their playoff opener against San Francisco Waldorf winning 41:24. Also in action in the NCS playoffs this week, the Ukiah boys lost 58:44 to Alhambra. The Fort Bragg boys fell 61 to 41 to Redwood Christian. The Point arena boys beat Trinity Prep 80:20, the Ukiah girls lost 49:41 against Maria Carrillo and the Anderson Valley girls beat brave Christian 44:39.
In local college basketball, both College of the Redwoods teams closed out conference play with victories over Lassen on Monday. The CR women got the day's action started with a 7557 win before the men followed with a 7760 victory. Both CR teams finished 82 and in second place in the Golden Valley Conference as they get set for the playoffs which tip off next week. Bodkal Poly Humble teams were also in action over the weekend, hosting San Francisco State. The Humboldt women won 6153 and secured a place in next month's conference tournament with four games remaining in the regular season while The Humboldt men won 7260 to end a four game losing streak. The women are now 144 in conference and tied for third while the men are 117 in conference and also sit third in the standings. Both Humble teams will play at Cal Poly Pool Pomona on Saturday afternoon and rounding out a busy week in local sports, the College of the Redwoods baseball team went 13 in four games at Los Medanos last week, losing game 1198 before bouncing back to take game 251 and then dropping games 3 and 4126 and 6 to 5. Redwoods is now 2 and 11 in the season. The Seahorse softball team was also in action, traveling to American river for a pair of games and losing both 123 and 13 1. The Redwoods women are now 58 1. The Cal Poly Humboldt softball team closed out a six game trip to Hawaii with a doubleheader split against Chaminade on Saturday, winning game 182 and losing game 29 5. The Jacks are now 59 on the season.
And that's this week's KMUD News Sports Report Report. Until next time. I'm Ray Hamel with humblesports.com in National
[00:24:43] Speaker A: Native News, Antonio Gonzalez treats today's headlines.
[00:24:47] Speaker G: This is National Native News. I'm Antonia Gonzalez. The Washoe Tribe has announced its acquisition of more than 10,000 acres of land north of Lake Tahoe. It marks the largest tribal land return in the Sierra Nevada and third largest in California. Kunr's Mariel Day has more.
[00:25:05] Speaker H: The Washoe Tribe finalized the purchase of the land recently in partnership with organizations like the Wildlife Conservation Board. The land spans across from the northeast of Lake Tahoe and to about 20 miles north of Reno. Washoe Tribal Chairman Cyril Smokey says this is an opportunity for the tribe to revitalize their traditional practices, stewardship and language preservation.
[00:25:30] Speaker C: The Washoe people being removed from our lands hard fought to get every little bit back and now we actually have something to call ours.
[00:25:37] Speaker H: Although the preserve is the first under the Washishoe Land Trust, they hope to acquire more of the Washoe homelands. In the meantime, Smokey hopes to start restoring the land and focus on conserving the wildlife and its natural resources while ensuring its essential, safe place for everyone. For National Native News, I'm Mariel Day.
[00:26:00] Speaker G: Super bowl halftime headliner Bad Bunny recently won three Grammys, including Album of the Year. One of his songs explores colonization of his homeland and Hawaii. HPR's Cassie Ordonio spoke with Hawaiians and Puerto Ricans last year about the similarities between the islands.
[00:26:25] Speaker I: That's Bad Bunny's song Lo KE la Paso a Hawaii. It translates to what happened to Hawaii. Many locals say it highlights stark similarities and is a reminder of the island's colonial past. Daniel Kawilamahi is a Native Hawaiian artist. He interpreted the song as Bad Bunny protecting his homeland by taking a political stance against statehood. Puerto rico became a U.S. territory in 1898, six years after the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom. Mahi underscored that Native Hawaiian musicians have been raising issues of over tourism and sovereignty rights. These artists include, but are not limited to, Sudden Rush and Bradda Is.
[00:27:18] Speaker B: Our Land.
[00:27:20] Speaker A: Broader conversation is how Kanaka, Maoli and Latino culture have been in conversation through
[00:27:27] Speaker F: music since Paniolo came to Hawaii, and
[00:27:31] Speaker A: our sounds have influenced each other for a lot longer than people think.
[00:27:35] Speaker I: Angel Santiago Cruz is a 69 year old Puerto Rican who has lived in Hawaii for about 40 years. He joined the US army with a guaranteed to be stationed in Hawaii. He wanted to see what statehood looks like.
[00:27:49] Speaker B: What are you going to lose?
[00:27:50] Speaker I: One lyric that stood out to him was to never forget the lelo lai. Santiago Cruz says it's an expression from the jiboro, which is a person who is connected to the land.
[00:28:00] Speaker B: When the Hawaiians say ea, that's an expression from New Hawaiianness. That's connection to the island.
[00:28:07] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:28:07] Speaker B: It's pride. It's everything. Lelo lai is the same.
[00:28:11] Speaker I: For National Native News, I'm Cassie Ordonio.
[00:28:15] Speaker G: The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition will be at the Denver Indian center next week gathering video interviews for its oral history project. It's part of an effort to document, acknowledge and reckon with the experiences of boarding school survivors. The event in Colorado marks the project's 18th stop nationwide. I'm Antonia Gonzalez,
[00:28:57] Speaker E: Native Voice one, the Native American Radio Network.
[00:29:04] Speaker A: That's all for tonight's broadcast. Thanks for listening. Thanks to our engineer, Bianna Frederick Rico, and thanks to our reporters, Nat Cardos, Danielle Mintz, Ray Hamill and Antonio Gonzalez. KMUD News is online. You can find us on kmlud.org now streaming on most podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify, where you can download our stories and newscasts for offline listening during your rural commutes. You can also follow us on social media. If you have any questions or suggestions, you can give us a call at 707-92327 or send an email to newsemud.org Redwood Community Radio, Inc. Is funded by Press Forward, the national movement to strengthen communities by reinvigorating local news. Learn more at PressForward News. Reporting for KMUD, I'm Gabriel Zuckerberg.
