Chinedu Okobi :

On October 3, 2018, San Mateo sheriff deputies tased Chinedu Okobi to death.

Chinedu was a 36-year-old Nigerian-American who grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area California, a graduate of Morehouse College. He was a great father, a cherished son, a beloved brother, a trusted friend, a respected community member, and a gifted poet.
Sadly, Chinedu is part of a tragic trend of unarmed Black people who’ve been killed by police. He was walking in broad daylight and had committed no crime. Five sheriff deputies escalated the interaction when they approached Chinedu who was walking in and out of busy traffic. Rather than offer support to Chinedu, who unfortunately was struggling with mental health issues, the deputies viciously tased Chinedu to death.

We need your help to make sure that the sheriff deputies who killed Chinedu Okobi are held accountable for their crimes. The investigation has barely started and yet the District Attorney is already publicly trying to justify the deputies’ actions, by making the assumption that because Chinedu was ” 6’3 tall, and weighed 330 pounds, he was automatically deemed a threat and seen as dangerous. We know the deputies should not have killed Chinedu, and they must be held accountable and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

We know that police are only held accountable when people come together to demand justice. Please join us as we come together with our comrades at Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI), Chinedu’s family, friends, and community in demanding that San Mateo District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe charge and prosecute every single officer involved in Chinedu’s murder.

Below is the letter we will send to San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe:
Here is the Petition:
District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe,
We demand that you charge and prosecute San Mateo deputies John DeMartini, Alyssa Lorenzatti, Joshua Wang, Bryan Watt, and Sgt. David Weidner for the killing of Chinedu Okobi.

Chinedu Okobi was a great father, a cherished son, a beloved brother, a trusted friend, a respected community member, and a gifted poet. He was an unarmed man who did nothing to justify being tased to death.

We are concerned that you have already made public statements that suggest you have already decided the deputies who killed Chinedu should not be held accountable for their actions. Too often District Attorneys turn a blind eye to police murder against unarmed Black people. Police are not above the law. We demand transparency and accountability.

colorofchange.org

Statement from Governor Moore on National Governors Association Bipartisan Dinner

Published: 2/8/2026

​​“This week, I learned that I was uninvited to this year’s National Governors Association dinner — a decades-long annual tradition meant to bring governors from both parties together to build bonds and celebrate a shared service to our citizens with the President of the United States. My peers, both Democrats and Republicans, selected me to serve as the Vice Chair of the NGA, another reason why it’s hard not to see this decision as another example of blatant disrespect and a snub to the spirit of bipartisan federal-state partnership.

“As the nation’s only Black governor, I can’t ignore that being singled out for exclusion from this bipartisan tradition carries an added weight — whether that was the intent or not.

“What makes it especially confounding is that just weeks ago I was at the White House with a bipartisan group of governors, working with the administration on reforms to lower energy costs and strengthen grid reliability. We proved in that moment what’s possible when we stay focused on outcomes over politics.

“As Governor of Maryland and Vice Chair of the NGA, my approach will never change: I’m ready to work with the administration anywhere we can deliver results. Yet, I promised the people of my state I will work with anybody but will bow down to nobody. And I guess the President doesn’t like that.”​

On February 9, 1773, future President William Henry Harrison is born on the Berkeley Plantation in Virginia. Harrison went on to serve as the ninth U.S. president for a brief 32 days in 1841, the shortest term ever served. Harrison is also credited with the record for the

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1825 – The U.S. House of Representatives elected John Quincy Adams president. No candidate had received a majority of electoral votes.

1861 – The Provisional Congress of the Confederate States of America elected Jefferson Davis as its president.

1870 – The United States Weather Bureau was authorized by Congress. The bureau is officially known as the National Weather Service (NWS).

1884 – Thomas Edison and Patrick Kenny executed a patent application for a chemical recording stock quotation telegraph (U.S. Pat. 314,115).

1885 – The first Japanese arrived in Hawaii.

1895 – Volley Ball was invented by W.G. Morgan.

1895 – The first college basketball game was played as Minnesota State School of Agriculture defeated the Porkers of Hamline College, 9-3.

1900 – Dwight F. Davis put up a new tennis trophy to go to the winner in matches against England. The trophy was a silver cup that weighed 36 pounds.

1909 – The first forestry school was incorporated in Kent, Ohio.

1932 – America entered the 2-man bobsled competition for the first time at the Olympic Winter Games held at Lake Placid, NY.

1942 – The U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff held its first formal meeting to coordinate military strategy during World War II.

1942 – Daylight-saving “War Time” went into effect in the U.S.

1943 – During World War II, the battle of Guadalcanal ended with an American victory over Japanese forces.

1950 – U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy charged that the State Department was riddled with Communists. This was the beginning of “McCarthyism.”

1958 – CBS radio debuted “Frontier Gentleman.”

1960 – A verbal agreement was reached between representatives of the American and National Football Leagues. Both agreed not to tamper with player contracts.

1960 – The first star was placed on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The star was for Joanne Woodward.

1969 – The Boeing 747 flew its inaugural flight.

1971 – The San Fernando Valley experienced the Sylmar earthquake that registered 6.4 on the Richter Scale.

1971 – The Apollo 14 spacecraft returned to Earth after mankind’s third landing on the moon.

1975 – The Russian Soyuz 17 returned to Earth.

1984 – NBC Entertainment president, Brandon Tartikoff, gave an interviewer the “10 Commandments for TV Programmers.”

1989 – Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Co. completed the $25 billion purchase of RJR Nabisco, Inc.

1997 – “The Simpsons” became the longest-running prime-time animated series. “The Flintstones” held the record previously.

2001 – “Hannibal,” the sequel to “Silence of the Lambs,” opened in theaters.

on-this-day.com

Jesse Owens

Jesse Owens (September 12, 1913 to March 31, 1980), also known as “The Buckeye Bullet,” was an American track and field athlete who won four gold medals and broke two world records at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. Owens’ athletic career began in high school, when he won three track and field events at the 1933 National Interscholastic Championships. Two years later, while competing for Ohio State University, he equaled one world record and broke three others before qualifying and competing in the 1936 Olympics. The 2016 movie Race depicts Owens’ budding track and field stardom in college through his wins at the 1936 Olympic games in Berlin, where he defied Adolf Hitler’s vision of Aryan supremacy.Made in consultation with Stephen Owens’ three daughters, the movie stars Stephan James as Owens and Jason Sudeikis as Larry Snyder, Owens’ coach at Ohio State University. Jesse Owens’ Wife and Kids Jesse Owens was married for nearly 48 years to Ruth Owens. The longtime chairwoman of the Jesse Owens Foundation, an organization dedicated to supporting the development of young people, Ruth died in 2001 of heart failure. The couple had three daughters together: Gloria, Beverly, and Marlene. When and Where Was Jesse Owens Born? Jesse Owens was born James Cleveland Owens on September 12, 1913, in Oakville, Alabama. Family and Early Life The son of a sharecropper and the grandson of slaves, Jesse Owens was a frail child who was often sick from battles with chronic bronchial congestion and pneumonia. Still, he was expected to work, and at the young age of seven he was picking up to 100 pounds of cotton a day to help his family put food on the table. At the age of nine, Owens moved with his family to Cleveland, Ohio, where the young “J.C.” discovered a world far different than the slower, Southern life he’d known. School proved to be one of the bigger changes. Gone was the one-room schoolhouse he’d attended in Alabama, replaced by a bigger setting with stricter teachers. Here, Owens earned the nickname that would stick with him the rest of his life: One of his instructors, unable to decipher his thick southern accent, believed the young athlete said his name was “Jesse,” when he in fact had said “J.C.” Rising Track and Field Star At East Technical High School, Owens quickly made a name for himself as a nationally recognized sprinter, setting records in the 100 and 200-yard dashes as well as the long jump. After graduating, Owens enrolled at Ohio State University, where he continued to flourish as an athlete. At the 1935 Big Ten Championships, the “Buckeye Bullet,” as he was also known, overcame a severe tailbone injury and tied a world record in the 100-yard dash—and set a long jump record of 26-8 ¼ that would stand for 25 years. Owens also set new world marks in the 220-yard dash and in the 220-yard low hurdles. His dominance at the Big Ten games was par for the course for Owens that year, which saw him win four events at the NCAA Championships, two events at the AAU Championships and three others at the Olympic trials. In all, Owens competed in 42 events that year, winning them all. 1936 Olympics For Adolf Hitler and the Nazis, the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games were expected to be a German showcase and a statement for Aryan supremacy. Hitler lambasted America for including black athletes on its Olympic roster. But it was the African-American participants who helped cement America’s success at the Olympic Games. In all, the United States won 11 gold medals, six of them by black athletes. Owens was easily the most dominant athlete to compete. He captured four gold medals (the 100 meter, the long jump, the 200 meter and the 400-meter relay) and broke two Olympic records along the way. Owens’ world record for the broad jump would last 25 years until being broken by Olympian Irvin Roberson in 1960. After Owens won the 100-meter event, a furious Hitler stormed out of the stadium, though some reports indicate that Hitler later congratulated the athlete on his success. Jesse Owens and Racism While Owens helped the U.S. triumph at the games, his return home was not met with the kind of fanfare one might expect. President Franklin D. Roosevelt failed to meet with Owens and congratulate him, as was typical for champions. The athlete wouldn’t be properly recognized until 1976, when President Gerald Fordawarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The mild-mannered Owens seemed not the least bit surprised by his home country’s hypocrisy. “When I came back to my native country, after all the stories about Hitler, I couldn’t ride in the front of the bus,” he said. “I had to go to the back door. I couldn’t live where I wanted. I wasn’t invited to shake hands with Hitler, but I wasn’t invited to the White House to shake hands with the president, either.” Later Years Following the 1936 Olympic Games, Owens retired from amateur athletics and started to earn money for his physical talents. He raced against cars and horses, and, for a time, played with the Harlem Globetrotters. Owens eventually found his calling in public relations and marketing, setting up a business for himself in Chicago, Illinois, and traveling frequently around the country to speak at conventions and other business gatherings. Death Jesse Owens died of lung cancer in Tucson, Arizona, on March 31, 1980. He smoked up to a pack of cigarettes a day for a good deal of his life. Related Videos Fact Check We strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that doesn’t look right, contact us!