By Ann Rostow–

What Color Is Your Pill?

Do you know those theories about the universe that suggest we may all be part of a simulation, like in The Matrix? The odd thing is that while the idea seems absurd on its face, the rationales for being in a simulation make about as much sense as any of the other harebrained scenarios being bandied about by our astronomy friends. Multiverses, mysterious dark energy, string theory; we have no idea where we are.

These days, the notion that we might be in a simulation doesn’t seem that outlandish. What else explains the email headline: “Five reasons we should not just ‘move on’ from the Hunter Biden laptop story?” What else explains the people waiting for JFK Junior to come back to life and run for Vice President with Donald Trump? (And why are they waiting in Dallas rather than on a boat off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard?) What else explains our nihilistic indifference to pollution and climate change? Our inability to legislate beyond next week? Our narrowing minds and hardening hearts? The comic book-level craziness of world leaders like Trump, Putin, and Kim Jong-un? Someone must have programmed this descent into lunacy.

Moving right along, I have a number of dismal stories this week, so instead let me begin with a snippet from North Carolina, where a man turned his four-year-old dog, Fezco, over to the animal shelter because the dog humped another male and the owner thought the dog was gay. I thought I was the one to discover this little gem but I see from Google that it is all over the news, and may have gone viral by the time you read this.

And we don’t have to worry about Fezco’s future. He is a medium-sized brown dog who looks like your idea of ​​how a generic “dog” should look. He is clearly very sweet and it seems as if everyone wants to adopt him.

Oh, and because I was on a gay dog ​​Google page, I encountered a white dachshund named “Whitney Chewston,” who is often pictured online near a brandy glass full of red wine captioned: “not too fond of gays.” Instagram gradually filled with variations on Chewston’s strangely adorable homophobia and his general snooty affect. Eventually, it became clear that Chewston’s owners are two gay guys, and in one scene he is pictured with them, thinking to himself: “tired of the gays.”

Cute!

Please Spare Us

Would you be astonished if I told you I agreed with one of One Million Moms’ recent press releases? The Moms are annoyed with a women’s intimate deodorant called “Lume” that apparently has an over-the-top TV commercial that I haven’t seen personally. That said, I have seen—and been increasingly grossed out by—other ads that focus in on private bodily functions. I have already called out the disgusting toilet paper bears in these pages more than once. Then we have the repellent tooth brushing ads that show icky stuff caught in teeth or corn cobs (just as bad). Don’t get me started on ear wax ads or acne products. And I actually saw one the other day that featured a woman defecating on the toilet and making a joke about it. Close the bathroom door and remove those cameras! If you must hawk these items, do so with a little discretion.

As for Lume, the Moms tell me that the ad “specifically mentions lady bits, testicles, chesticles, buttcracks, and sweaty backs.” Chesticles? What the hell are chesticles? And why do we want to deodorize these areas? Wash them for God’s sake. You know what? I don’t want to even discuss this any further. One Million Moms plus at least one lesbian agree. And it’s not even a matter of family values. It’s civil.

Before we leave the world of the Moms, otherwise known as the American Family Association, I was reading yet another poll that showed support for GLBTs continues to rise across all faith categories in the United States. White evangelical protestants, however, remain at the bottom of a long list of religious denominations, and indeed are part of the only group that continues to oppose same-sex marriage.

I was going to skip the poll story, from the Public Religion Research Institute, because, well, it’s a poll story. But then I learned that our adversaries in the white evangelical protestant group represent only 14 percent of Americans. How do they get all the attention?

And why are the lawsuits that pit gay clients against Christian business owners considered a third rail? According to this poll, sizable majorities of most religious groups believe faith should not trump civil rights in the public square. The exceptions are the evangelical protestants (38 percent support civil rights) and Mormons (44 percent). Everyone else (16 other categories) agrees that GLBT rights laws should protect market participants even when a business owner doesn’t like us, just as racist business owners are nonetheless required to serve all comers. Overall, 66 percent of citizens oppose letting faith dictate customer service when it conflicts with anti-discrimination laws.

GayGayGay!

It’s hard to say which is worse: the “don’t say gay” bill in Florida, or the executive decision by the Texas government to criminalize parents who seek gender identity care for their kids.

Last issue, I wrote about the backlash against Disney CEO Bob Chapek, who voiced a tepid objection to what’s actually titled the Parental Rights In Education bill. As our issue went to press, Chapek reversed himself and apologized for the half-hearted reaction, pleading to stand with Disney’s GLBT employees in opposing the bill, which bans discussion or depiction of anything gay or trans to third graders and younger. The bill also effectively requires public school staff to report students of any age to parents if they seem to be questioning their sexual orientation or gender.

And while we all agree that third graders don’t need to be taught the graphic ins and outs of gay sex—or any sex, for that matter—what this bill does is scrap any and all representation of gay families, no matter how anodyne . As for sexual orientation, it’s implicit in every story about a King and Queen or Prince and Princess. With this bill, however, sexual orientation means heterosexuality. Discussing the bill, Governor Ron DeSantis’ spokeswoman Christina Pushaw said that anyone who opposed it was presumably okay with “the grooming of 4–8 year-old children,” as if the recognition that gay families exist was tantamount to pederasty.

Disney’s worldwide staff went out on a one-day strike Tuesday, March 22, to protest the bill and provoke the company out of its complacency. As GLBT Pixar staff wrote in an open letter: “We at Pixar have personally witnessed beautiful stories, full of diverse characters, come back from Disney corporate reviews shaved down to crumbs of what they once were.” Indeed, as a result of the reaction from Disney staff and observers, the company has reportedly restored a same-sex kiss that had been edited out of the upcoming animated film Lightyear.

DeSantis, meanwhile, claims not to care what his state’s major employers think of his policies. Disney, he said, “is in far too deep with the Communist Party of China and has lost any moral authority to tell you what to do.” OK then!

All Hat and No Cattle

Now, we come face to face with a couple of guys who make Ron DeSantis look like a moderate democrat, namely Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and his partner in a special combination of stupidity and evil, Governor Greg Abbot. As you may recall, Paxton recently issued a non-binding “legal” opinion stating that providing any kind of treatment to help transgender kids was a form of illegal child abuse under existing Texas law. Within a few days of digesting this nonsense, Abbot ordered state agencies to investigate parents who might be guilty of “breaking the law” in this fashion.

This latest attack on trans kids comes after the state has already banned transgender student athletes from playing for their own gender, relegating transmen and boys to the female teams and transwomen and girls to the male teams. Some families are already making plans to move out of the state, and major cities are starting to lose convention business and tourism.

The good news is that Lambda Legal and the American Civil Liberties Union have put a quick stop to any investigations, let alone any criminal legal procedures against Lone Star parents. The lawyers won an injunction against the state, forbidding Texas from launching any probes into parenting while the underlying policy is reviewed in court. (That injunction was briefly frozen after Paxton filed an appeal, but the freeze was released and the injunction was restored on March 21.)

The bad news is that no one knows what could happen down the road if this case or another gets out of the state courts and arrives in courtrooms possibly run by Trumpian fools. Texas, after all, is the state that banned abortion after six weeks under a bizarre system where the law would be enforced by vigilantes who can file civil suits. And the federal courts are where that law somehow survived review and was allowed to remain on the books during lengthy litigation. Why not let the vigilantes in Texas enforce the newly interpreted child abuse laws and sue parents of transgender kids for damages? They can sue the therapists too, why not?

The really bad news is that some 15 states have now shifted from anti-trans sports bills to focus on preventing or preventing transgender kids and adults under 21 from accessing health care, whether it be hormone treatments, psychological evaluation, puberty blockers, or other transition strategies. Transgender kids aren’t just political targets; they are targets of an inexplicable surge of venom that is difficult to understand or explain.

That said, I should note that the Republican governor of Indiana, Eric Holcomb, just vetoed a transgender sports ban, calling it too broad and saying that it “leaves too many unanswered questions.” Thanks for that one, Eric.

Bulldogs, Bulldogs, Bow Wow Wow

What else is new, you may ask. I see that our old nemesis, antigay ex-Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis, is back in the headlines, now that the two gay couples who filed a civil suit against her have won their case. I know! I’m surprised as well to see that a lawsuit filed in July 2015 is being adjudicated nearly seven years down the road. I know the wheels of justice can turn slowly, but that is ridiculous. Davis, you remember what the county clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples even after the Supreme Court had ruled and she was ordered by a judge to comply or step down.

I understand from the Lexington Herald Leader that the case was sidetracked by several appeals during the course of the litigation. Davis argued that she was a public servant, protected against lawsuits. (Cue: error buzzer.) You are not covered if you deliberately violate the constitution. Davis then argued that she was protected against lawsuits by her religious freedom. (Cue: error buzzer.) Government officials cannot use faith as an excuse to deny services to this person or that one.

Back on schedule, the men won a summary judgment against Davis, who will have to face a jury for punitive damages and attorney fees. It doesn’t sound as if the woman has any money, so I’m guessing that bankruptcy court is the next legal venue on her list. She lost reelection back in 2018.

I could also tell you about yet another drama going on at the Yale Law School, where students protested an antigay conservative lawyer who was invited to speak by the Federalist Society. At issue was whether or not the students themselves interfered with the free speech of the lawyer, or whether the university interfered with the students by sending armed campus cops to patrol the scene.

After the incident, whatever it was, appellate court judge Laurence Silberman of the DC Circuit sent the following unbelievable email to colleagues:

“The latest events at Yale Law School in which students attempted to shout down speakers participating in a panel discussion on free speech prompts me to suggest that students who are identified as those willing to disrupt any such panel discussion should be noted. All federal judges—and all federal judges are presumably committed to free speech—should carefully consider whether any student so identified should be disqualified for potential clerkships.”

I’d say Judge Silberman needs a refresher course on the First Amendment.

arostow@aol.com

Published on March 24, 2022

The post Ann Rostow: What Colour Is Your Tablet? – San Francisco Bay Instances appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

Welcome to pm Intel, your bite-sized roundup of Bay Area food and restaurant news. Tips are always welcome, leave them here.

• If California was still operating under the color-coded reopening schedule, which ended June 15, at least three Bay Area counties – including San Francisco – would have to close indoor dining based on their current COVID-19 rates. The staggering finding comes from an analysis of data released by the Bay Area News Group on Sunday which found that under the state’s original level definitions, 29 counties, including San Francisco, Alameda, and Contra Costa, would now be in the most restrictive purple level, which is a ” widespread “risk signaled – and under which all food and drinks indoors and bars without food had to be completely closed. Like the rest of the country, California has seen a rapid increase in COVID-19 cases in the past few weeks, leading more and more Bay Area counties to make recommendations for wearing masks in public places indoors regardless of vaccination status. [Mercury News]

This is alarming: CA’s new COVID surge would have put many counties back into the most restrictive level after our reopening plan.

It’s time to do something inconvenient: Compulsory vaccination – in schools, gyms, hospitals, workplaces, etc. Thread – https://t.co/a3SsbzsZdS

– Buffy Wicks (@BuffyWicks) July 20, 2021

• An alliance of more than 500 bars in San Francisco is considering a big move to require proof of vaccination for entry, reports SFGate. Ben Bleiman, the leader of the San Francisco Bar Owner Alliance, said Tuesday the group could soon release a statement recommending that bars only allow vaccinated customers, although bar participation would ultimately be voluntary (while it is unclear how many would attend, says Bleiman that he saw it) wave of bars expressing their support only in the past 24 hours). Bleiman says the move, which would include signage stating that you must be vaccinated to enter, has a dual purpose: to get out before it spreads further and to make sure people feel safe walking in Going bars, something that Bleiman says for their survival is based on. The alliance will make a decision next week at the earliest. [SFGate]
• The Small Business Recovery Act, approved by the SF Board of Directors on Tuesday, left the city’s hospitality industry poor after various industry-specific measures were removed from the final version. In particular, a provision has been dropped that guarantees a less than 90-day review process for conditional bars and nightlife permits, despite a board of directors saying the board plans to address this and other parts of the original bill with separate statutes in September. However, the regulation provides “some protection for long-standing nighttime entertainment businesses, removing some licensing requirements, e.g. For one-off entertainment performances, and enables companies to more easily occupy empty space previously occupied by the same type of company, ”according to the San Francisco Business Times. The second reading is due on July 27th before it goes to the mayor’s desk to be signed. [SF Biz]
• A wine shop and restaurant that describes its wannabe atmosphere as a “soft disco drunken dinner party” is coming to Oakland, and besides a unique atmosphere, a number of noteworthy aspects are promised. The restaurant, called Daytrip, is served by head chef Finn Stern and Stella Dennig, known for their pop-up Finn + Stella Cater, and serves family-friendly, “fermentation-driven” small plates. lead wine exclusively from producers owned by women or colored people; and offer a weekend pastry service, reports the SF Chronicle. The couple expect to open Daytrip at 4316 Telegraph Avenue in Temescal (the former Oakland home of Julie’s Tea Garden) in October 2021. [SF Chronicle]

The post San Francisco Would Shut Indoor Eating Once more if Colour Tiers Have been Nonetheless in Play appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

SAN JOSE (KPIX 5) – Rev. Jethroe Moore II, a celebrity and civil rights activist in Silicon Valley, left Silicon Valley to start a new life outside of a town he said does not care for people of color .

“We’re not capturing the essence of the blacks or the browns or the people of color culture, so people almost always say they don’t want us here,” said Moore.

CONTINUE READING: UPDATE: Suspect arrested after 94-year-old Asian woman was stabbed to death in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood

The pastor, who has lived in Silicon Valley for almost 50 years, packed his things and moved his family to Atlanta. This meant that Moore, a pillar of the community for civil rights, education, and the Church, was stepping down as president of the San Jose-Silicon Valley NAACP.

“It’s a sad day you know it was hard to go,” he said. “Housing is priceless, the education system is in order and the jobs are no longer as big as they used to be. I need to make sure my children are safe, have the education and the opportunity, and for me as a black person, I don’t see these opportunities to be a focal point for the city of San Jose. “

Moore said he was not only the victim of the Silicon Valley tech boom that praised him, but he also felt that San Jose has failed its black and colored communities to allow them to stay in the region thrive.

Rev. Jethroe Moore, past president of the San Jose / Silicon Valley NAACP. (CBS)

“We had clubs, we had restaurants, we had softball teams, we had a lot of things,” he said of life in San Jose when he moved to the city in the 1970s. “All of these things are gone. You can find us to arrest us, but you cannot find us to keep us busy. “

The pastor isn’t the only one who has seen the black population dwindle; make up 3% of the population today, compared to nearly 5% in 1990, according to the US Census Bureau.

CONTINUE READING: California reopens: Cal / OSHA wants to relax workplace pandemic rules for fully vaccinated people

“Many of them have moved out over the years,” said Belinda Bush, owner of B-Pizazz Barbershop.

Bush has owned her shop for 30 years and first opened her business in Cupertino before moving to her location in Campbell. But Bush believes Silicon Valley has ousted all races that can’t afford to make it to the tech capital of the region.

“You just can’t afford to live here, that’s what this area is about,” Bush said. “It’s all about the money, it’s all about the money.”

Moore cited examples of San Jose’s failure to help its residents build housing, pay decent salaries, and take care of minorities, particularly the discussion about the development of land used by longtime flea market sellers.

The man of faith apparently lost some of that in San Jose.

MORE NEWS: Giants beat 5 homers and send diamondbacks to MLB record loss at 22nd

“It’s hard to say goodbye,” said Moore. “We work, we give our life and blood for this city and the community, but where is the love in return?”

The post San Jose NAACP Chief Leaves For Atlanta, Laments Lack Of Alternatives For Folks Of Colour – CBS San Francisco appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

J. Northern California Jewish News on JTA – Though she calls herself an “art kid” at heart, Christina Jefferson is no stranger to sports.

Jefferson was recently hired by the San Francisco 49ers to lead the NFL team’s diversity and inclusion efforts – a newly created position – and has a long history with an entirely different, but still bloody, athletic pursuit: the roller derby .

In this sport, players with full pads and helmets in roller skates race around an oval track, jostle and jockey around lanes, block and check each other on the way. The roller derby has its roots in the 1930s but was revived on television in the 1960s with the help of Bay Bay Jewish showman Jerry Seltzer. In a 2017 interview, Seltzer called the game a “symbol for empowering women”.

Jefferson started the sport in Ohio in his early 20s. The activity would prove crucial not only in demonstrating the “magic” of team sport to an artistic soul, but also in how she met Julie, her future wife. And it set them on the road to conversion to Judaism.

“There is something in me that loves the challenge of something completely new,” said Jefferson, a member of the Congregation Sherith Israel, a reforming synagogue in San Francisco.

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Her new position with the 49ers as Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) is an exciting opportunity for the 41-year-old human resources professional who worked in multiple retail stores before climbing the corporate ladder. She earned a Masters in Human Resource Management before becoming a Senior Manager at Sephora cosmetics company.

DEI Directors have seen a surge in demand in academia, the nonprofit and corporate world over the past 10-15 years, inspired by changing attitudes about race, demographic changes, and studies showing a diverse workforce can improve business results . An influential 2015 financial performance report by consulting firm McKinsey found that companies with greater ethnic and racial diversity among employees “performed 35 percent better than companies whose employee demographics matched the national average,” according to Forbes.

The National Football League has had minority recruitment initiatives since at least the 1980s, with varying degrees of success. Strong positions in coaching, general management and ownership still do not match the diversity of players or fans.

Still, the league accelerated its efforts to make workplaces more inclusive only last year. The police shootings of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and Jacob Blake sparked an unprecedented wave of national protests, sparked calls for reform and changed the world of sports. Players from major professional leagues suspended games and practice on August 26 in response to Blake’s shooting in Kenosha, Wisconsin, forcing the NBA to postpone its playoffs.

Members of the Milwaukee Bucks kneel down as they kneel during the national anthem prior to an NBA first-round basketball playoff game against the Orlando Magic on August 29, 2020 in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. (AP Photo / Ashley Landis, File)

Amid the national reckoning, the 49ers are part of a group of NFL teams – Jefferson estimated about nine – that have added DEI directors to their corporate offices.

“Our organization has long been committed to modeling the diversity of its fan base and society in our employment practices. However, there is always more we can do to attract diverse talent and ensure that all employees feel respected and valued on a personal level. ”The team’s president, Al Guido, said in a statement on April 1. Christina Jefferson brings a wealth of knowledge and experience implementing best practices that will help us be a more successful organization in creating an inclusive environment in which all people are excited to work and empowered to contribute. ”

A black, lesbian Jew (with a few tattoos), Jefferson described himself with a chuckle as the “unicorn” in the corporate world.

“As I rose in my career, I noticed that I was often the only person who looked like me,” she said. “It kind of made me stand out.”

As I rose in my career, I realized that I was often the only person who looked like me. It kind of made me stand out

For some, working in retail “isn’t a real job,” Jefferson said – but she was “bloody determined to show people different things.” She was drawn to endeavor as a form of service and a vehicle for mentoring.

“You catch people in college, in high school. You get brand new people. I would always tell my co-workers, even if you don’t stay in retail, that you will be a better person after your work here, ”she said.

Jefferson became a Customer Experience Manager at Banana Republic in 2008 and then General Manager. She worked for David’s Bridal and Gap before moving to Sephora to become Senior Manager for Inclusion and Diversity at its North American headquarters in San Francisco.

The transition to diversity and justice work was a natural one. Throughout her career, Jefferson has often mentored those who looked like her or other strange people.

“I’ve always been into diversity work, I just didn’t realize it,” she said.

Christina Jefferson serves matzah ball soup at a 2019 Passover festival in the Sherith Israel Congregation. (Julie Driscoll / via JTA)

Jefferson grew up in a Baptist family in Indianapolis, although her mother did not impose the religion on her or her brother.

“She felt like we should wait until we grew up to decide,” Jefferson said.

She attended the University of Southern Indiana in Evansville, a town with a meager gay and lesbian scene. The school is just a short drive from a “sunset town” where blacks were historically not allowed after sunset. Jefferson called it “Kentucky-ana”.

“Growing up black in Indiana was a very interesting experience,” she said. “If people don’t understand that there is still racism in this country, you kind of have to laugh.”

Jefferson spoke to J. on April 20, the day a Minnesota jury convicted former police officer Derek Chauvin of the murder of George Floyd. The news surfaced above the conversation, especially as Floyd’s assassination on May 25 last year helped catalyze the reckoning of the race that turned the sports world upside down and brought us to the present moment.

Regarding the convictions against Chauvin, Jefferson said it brought some relief, “some hope in this world”. Despite all the evidence, “so many people out there we just held our breath.”

Jefferson’s journey to Judaism began near Columbus, Ohio, where she worked in retail and roller derby in her early 20s. Many of her friends were Jewish, and one Friday night she joined a friend, a referee in her roller derby league, on Shabbat.

“He could say all the prayers so eloquently,” she recalls. “I thought maybe one day I would be like that.”

He could say all the prayers so eloquently. I thought maybe one day I would be like that

Although her friend had never been to that particular synagogue before, it fit in with it.

“The moment you start saying the V’ahavta [prayer]Everyone knows all the words. It doesn’t matter what the cadence is, anyone can tell, ”said Jefferson. “There was something to it … I thought, wow.”

She would study and convert in Ohio before moving to San Francisco in 2008, but not before meeting Julie Driscoll, also a roller derby referee. Driscoll’s family is Catholic, but they didn’t grow up with religion. The two became friends and stayed in touch even as Jefferson moved across the country to work, including while in Washington, DC.

They began their relationship in 2012 and were married at Sherith Israel on October 20, 2015. The officer was Rabbi Larry Raphael, then the senior rabbi who died in 2019.

Christina Jefferson and Julie Driscoll were married on October 15, 2015 in the Sherith Israel Congregation in San Francisco. (Chloe Jackman / via JTA)

Driscoll took Judaism classes and learned a little Hebrew before the wedding. She attends school with Jefferson and is involved in community service at the synagogue, including the HaMotzi food service program.

“You don’t have to be Jewish to be a hardcore volunteer,” Jefferson said. “That’s how we roll in this household.”

She is quite active in the San Francisco Jewish community herself and is a member of the board of directors of the Jewish Community Relations Council and chair of the membership committee at Sherith. She is also the school librarian.

“I’m a huge nerd,” Jefferson said with a laugh.

Although the 49ers and staff are now working remotely, Jefferson will have an office in Levi’s Stadium upon their return. For players, the off-season volunteer training sessions began on April 19, but will be conducted remotely due to the pandemic. The mandatory mini camp starts in June and the preseason starts in August. Jefferson said she was honored to work for a historic franchise.

In meetings outside of the Jewish world, Jefferson often describes her life’s work – helping people from different backgrounds fulfill their professional potential and feeling included in the workplace – as a form of social justice.

“Really, it’s just Tikkun Olam,” she said. “How can we fix this broken world.”

The post NFL’s San Francisco 49ers decide a Jew of shade to steer their variety efforts appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

(J. Northern California Jewish News on JTA) – Though she calls herself an “art kid” at heart, Christina Jefferson is no stranger to sports.

Jefferson was recently hired by the San Francisco 49ers to lead the NFL team’s diversity and inclusion efforts – a newly created position – and has a long history with an entirely different, but still bloody, athletic pursuit: the roller derby .

In this sport, players with full pads and helmets in roller skates race around an oval track, jostle and jockey around lanes, block and check each other on the way. The roller derby has its roots in the 1930s but was revived on television in the 1960s with the help of Bay Bay Jewish showman Jerry Seltzer. In a 2017 interview, Seltzer called the game a “symbol for empowering women”.

Jefferson started the sport in Ohio in his early 20s. The activity would prove crucial not only in demonstrating the “magic” of team sport to an artistic soul, but also in how she met Julie, her future wife. And it set them on the road to conversion to Judaism.

“There is something in me that loves the challenge of something completely new,” said Jefferson, a member of the Congregation Sherith Israel, a reforming synagogue in San Francisco.

Her new position with the 49ers as Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) is an exciting opportunity for the 41-year-old HR professional who worked in multiple retail stores before climbing the corporate ladder. She earned a Masters in Human Resource Management before becoming a Senior Manager at Sephora cosmetics company.

DEI Directors have seen a surge in demand in academia, the nonprofit and corporate world over the past 10-15 years, inspired by changing attitudes about race, demographic changes, and studies showing a diverse workforce can improve business results . An influential 2015 financial performance report by consulting firm McKinsey found that companies with greater ethnic and racial diversity among employees “performed 35 percent better than companies whose employee demographics matched the national average,” according to Forbes.

The National Football League has had minority recruitment initiatives since at least the 1980s, with varying degrees of success. Strong positions in coaching, general management and ownership still do not match the diversity of players or fans.

Christina Jefferson serves matzah ball soup at a 2019 Passover festival in the Sherith Israel Congregation. (Photo / Julie Driscoll)

Still, the league accelerated its efforts to make workplaces more inclusive only last year. The police shootings of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and Jacob Blake sparked an unprecedented wave of national protests, sparked calls for reform and changed the world of sports. Players from major professional leagues suspended games and practice on August 26 in response to Blake’s shooting in Kenosha, Wisconsin, forcing the NBA to postpone its playoffs.

Amid the national reckoning, the 49ers are part of a group of NFL teams – Jefferson estimated about nine – that have added DEI directors to their corporate offices.

“Our organization has long been committed to modeling the diversity of its fan base and society in our employment practices. However, there is always more we can do to attract diverse talent and ensure that all employees feel respected and valued on a personal level. ”The team’s president, Al Guido, said in a statement on April 1. Christina Jefferson brings a wealth of knowledge and experience implementing best practices that will help us be a more successful organization in creating an inclusive environment in which all people are excited to work and empowered to contribute. ”

A black, lesbian Jew (with a few tattoos), Jefferson described himself with a chuckle as the “unicorn” in the corporate world.

“As I rose in my career, I noticed that I was often the only person who looked like me,” she said. “It kind of made me stand out.”

For some, working in retail “isn’t a real job,” Jefferson said – but she was “bloody determined to show people different things.” She was drawn to endeavor as a form of service and a vehicle for mentoring.

“You catch people in college, in high school. You get brand new people. I would always tell my co-workers that even if you don’t stay in retail, you are a better person after your work, ”she said.

Jefferson became a Customer Experience Manager at Banana Republic in 2008 and then General Manager. She worked for David’s Bridal and Gap before moving to Sephora to become Senior Manager for Inclusion and Diversity at its North American headquarters in San Francisco.

The transition to diversity and justice work was a natural one. Throughout her career, Jefferson has often mentored those who looked like her or other strange people.

“I’ve always been into diversity work, I just didn’t realize it,” she said.

Jefferson grew up in a Baptist family in Indianapolis, although her mother did not impose the religion on her or her brother.

“She felt like we should wait until we grew up to decide,” Jefferson said.

She attended the University of Southern Indiana in Evansville, a town with a meager gay and lesbian scene. The school is just a short drive from a “sunset town” where blacks were historically not allowed after sunset. Jefferson called it “Kentucky-ana”.

“Growing up black in Indiana was a very interesting experience,” she said. “If people don’t understand that there is still racism in this country, you kind of have to laugh.”

Jefferson spoke to J. on April 20, the day a Minnesota jury convicted former police officer Derek Chauvin of the murder of George Floyd. The news surfaced above the conversation, especially as Floyd’s murder on May 25th last year helped catalyze the reckoning of the race that turned the sports world upside down and brought us to the present moment.

Regarding the convictions against Chauvin, Jefferson said it brought some relief, “some hope in this world”. Despite all the evidence, “so many people out there we just held our breath.”

Her journey to Judaism began near Columbus, Ohio, where she worked in retail in her early 20s and played roller derby. Many of her friends were Jewish, and one Friday night she joined a friend, a referee in her roller derby league, on Shabbat.

“He could say all the prayers so eloquently,” she recalls. “I thought maybe one day I would be like that.”

Although her friend had never been to that particular synagogue before, it fit in with it.

“The moment you start saying the V’ahavta [prayer]Everyone knows all the words. It doesn’t matter what the cadence is, anyone can tell, ”said Jefferson. “There was something to it … I thought, wow.”

She would study and convert in Ohio before moving to San Francisco in 2008, but not before meeting Julie Driscoll, also a roller derby referee. Driscoll’s family is Catholic, but they didn’t grow up with religion. The two became friends and stayed in touch even as Jefferson moved across the country to work, including while in Washington, DC

They began their relationship in 2012 and were married at Sherith Israel on October 20, 2015. The ministerial officer was Rabbi Larry Raphael, then the senior rabbi who died in 2019.

Christina Jefferson and Julie Driscoll were married on October 15, 2015 in the Sherith Israel Congregation in San Francisco. (Chloe Jackman)

Driscoll took Judaism classes and learned a little Hebrew before the wedding. She attends school with Jefferson and is involved in community service at the synagogue, including the HaMotzi food service program.

“You don’t have to be Jewish to be a hardcore volunteer,” Jefferson said. “That’s how we roll in this household.”

She is quite active in the San Francisco Jewish community herself and is a member of the board of directors of the Jewish Community Relations Council and chair of the membership committee at Sherith. She is also the school librarian.

“I’m a huge nerd,” Jefferson said with a laugh.

Although the 49ers and staff are now working remotely, Jefferson will have an office in Levi’s Stadium upon their return. For players, the off-season volunteer training sessions began on April 19, but will be conducted remotely due to the pandemic. The mandatory mini camp starts in June and the preseason starts in August. Jefferson said she was honored to work for a historic franchise.

At meetings outside of the Jewish world, Jefferson often describes her life’s work – helping people from different backgrounds fulfill their professional potential and feeling included in the workplace – as a form of social justice.

“Really, it’s just Tikkun Olam,” she said. “How can we fix this broken world.”

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And those people were usually colored people, and their households were 35% more likely to be lacking tap water than white, non-Hispanic households, the study says. The breed was not specified further in the study.

“When compared to the entire US population, we find that uninstalled households are more likely to be colored by people, have lower incomes, live in mobile homes, rent their homes, and pay a higher percentage of their gross income for housing costs.” “said the study.

Of the 50 largest metropolitan areas, San Francisco had the highest proportion of people without access to indoor plumbing, followed by Portland, Oregon, Milwaukee, San Antonio, and Austin. Based on the total, New York has the most people without indoor installations at 65,000, followed by Los Angeles with 44,200 people and San Francisco with 27,400 people.

The results, the researchers say, reveal a “theory of unsafe water access as a relational condition caused in part by racial gaps in prosperity and uneven neighborhoods”.

Urban water management and security are more of a supply problem. However, the results of the study show otherwise.

“Our results develop an alternative conceptual paradigm – the housing-water connection – that theorizes gaps in urban water access as a product of structural inequality, neither random nor accidental, but of a social and systemic nature,” researchers write.

Going forward, researchers say policies are “urgently needed” to reduce poverty poverty.

Access to water is especially important in the Covid-19 era, as many guidelines recommend keeping hands clean. The researchers also drew this connection.

“In a global health pandemic like COVID-19, the difference between safe and unsafe water access – starting with those 65,000 uninstalled New Yorkers – is a matter of life and death,” the researchers wrote.

With more than 200,000 people dead from the virus, researchers concluded the study with a dire reminder: Without universal access to water, efforts to limit the spread of infectious diseases like Covid-19 will undermine global health and will undermine certain populations over others benefit “. “

And in an even more sobering memory, researchers predicted that poverty poverty in US cities could get worse if the cost of living continued to rise.

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