Featured
Rance Allen, Shirley Ceaser Return to Richmond for 6th Annual Reid’s Records Gospel Festival, March 18th

Lifting spirits and encouraging people during troubled times has been at the core of gospel singing star Rance Allen’s joyous musical messages ever since he began recording with his brothers Steve and Tom – collectively known as the Rance Allen Group – 48 years ago. Hit songs such as “Ain’t No Need of Crying” and “Smile” reflect such positivity.
The trio’s current CD and DVD, both titled “Live in San Francisco,” but actually recorded four years ago at the Richmond Memorial Auditorium, includes a new version of “Like a Good Neighbor,” a composition by Rance and Steve that the group first recorded in 1991.
“We wanted to redo that because we felt the message was applicable to today’s situation,” the 68-year-old singer says by phone from Toledo, Ohio, where he has been the pastor of New Bethel Church of God in Christ for the past 32 years. He also presides as the bishop of 14 other churches in Michigan and Ohio.
“There’s so much violence in the world today,” he explains. “People who don’t know the Lord, people who are self-sufficient and people who depend on themselves only – they can get into such problems. All of a sudden, you’ve got the Chicago thing happening – 20 or 30 or 40 shot every day. The same thing is going on in Detroit. It’s even starting to happen in Toledo. Because of the absence of God, the government is not even able to protect people. It’s a terrible, terrible situation that we’re living in. I love America. It is the best place on the face of the earth, but there is trouble in America
“This song simply says, ‘When you get through trying to do it yourself and you think that you’ve got the answer and you go back to God and you ask Him for the answer, we’re going to have a better world.’”
Asked how he manages to divide his time between being a pastor, supervising other churches, performing at concerts and holding revival meetings throughout the United States, Bishop Allen says, “I’m a real person who trusts in the Lord. I’ll say to the Lord, ‘Man, I can’t do all of this by myself.’ What I do at that point is I put it in His hands. Proverbs 3: 5-6 says, ‘Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him and He will direct your path.’ The Lord directs my path. If it weren’t for Him, there’s no way I could do all of this.”
The Rance Allen Group will perform on the 6th Annual Reid’s Records Gospel Festival beginning at 4 p.m. Saturday,1, March 18, at the Richmond Memorial Auditorium, 403 Civic Center Plaza. Also on the all-star program are Shirley Caesar, LaShun Pace, Douglas Miller and Paul Porter. Phone (877) 295-5227 for tickets.
#NNPA BlackPress
Fighting to Keep Blackness
BlackPressUSA NEWSWIRE — Trump supporters have introduced another bill to take down the bright yellow letters of Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, D.C., in exchange for the name Liberty Plaza. D.C.

By April Ryan
As this nation observes the 60th anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama, the words of President Trump reverberate. “This country will be WOKE no longer”, an emboldened Trump offered during his speech to a joint session of Congress Tuesday night. Since then, Alabama Congresswoman Terri Sewell posted on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter this morning that “Elon Musk and his DOGE bros have ordered GSA to sell off the site of the historic Freedom Riders Museum in Montgomery.” Her post of little words went on to say, “This is outrageous and we will not let it stand! I am demanding an immediate reversal. Our civil rights history is not for sale!” DOGE trying to sell Freedom Rider Museum
Also, in the news today, the Associated Press is reporting they have a file of names and descriptions of more than 26,000 military images flagged for removal because of connections to women, minorities, culture, or DEI. In more attempts to downplay Blackness, a word that is interchanged with woke, Trump supporters have introduced another bill to take down the bright yellow letters of Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, D.C., in exchange for the name Liberty Plaza. D.C. Mayor Morial Bowser is allowing the name change to keep millions of federal dollars flowing there. Black Lives Matter Plaza was named in 2020 after a tense exchange between President Trump and George Floyd protesters in front of the White House. There are more reports about cuts to equity initiatives that impact HBCU students. Programs that recruited top HBCU students into the military and the pipeline for Department of Defense contracts have been canceled.
Meanwhile, Democrats are pushing back against this second-term Trump administration’s anti-DEI and Anti-woke message. In the wake of the 60th anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Selma, several Congressional Black Caucus leaders are reintroducing the Voting Rights Act. South Carolina Democratic Congressman James Clyburn and Alabama Congresswoman Terry Sewell are sponsoring H.R. 14, the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. Six decades ago, Lewis was hit with a billy club by police as he marched for the right to vote for African Americans. The right for Black people to vote became law with the 1965 Voting Rights Act that has since been gutted, leaving the nation to vote without the full protections of the Voting Rights Act. Reflecting on the late Congressman Lewis, March 1, 2020, a few months before his death, Lewis said, “We need more than ever in these times many more someones to make good trouble- to make their own dent in the wall of injustice.”
Activism
Oakland Post: Week of March 5 – 11, 2025
The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of March 5 – 11, 2025

To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.
#NNPA BlackPress
Rep. Al Green is Censured by The U.S. House After Protesting Trump on Medicaid
BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — His censure featured no hearing at the House Ethics Committee and his punishment was put on the floor for a vote by the Republican controlled House less than 72 hours after the infraction in question.

By Lauren Burke
In one of the quickest punishments of a member of the U.S. House of Representatives in the modern era, Congressman Al Green (D-TX) was censured by a 224-198 vote today in the House. His censure featured no hearing at the House Ethics Committee and his punishment was put on the floor for a vote by the Republican controlled House less than 72 hours after the infraction in question. Of the last three censures of members of the U.S. House, two have been members of the Congressional Black Caucus under GOP control. In 2023, Rep. Jamal Bowman was censured.
On the night of March 4, as President Trump delivered a Joint Address to Congress, Rep. Green interrupted him twice. Rep. Green shouted, “You don’t have a mandate to cut Medicare, and you need to raise the cap on social security,” to President Trump. In another rare event, Rep. Green was escorted off the House floor by security shortly after yelling at the President by order of GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson. Over the last four years, members of Congress have yelled at President Biden during the State of the Union. Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor-Greene was joined by Republican Rep. Lauren Bobert (R-CO) in 2022 in yelling at President Biden. In 2023, Rep. Greene, Rep. Bob Good (R-VA), and Rep. Lisa McClain (R-MI) yelled at Biden, interrupting his speech. In 2024, wearing a red MAGA hat, a violation of the rules of the U.S. House, Greene interrupted Biden again. She was never censured for her behavior. Rep. Green voted “present” on his censure and was joined by freshman Democrat Congressman Shomari Figures of Alabama who also voted “present”.
All other members of the Congressional Black Caucus voted against censuring Green. Republicans hold a four-seat advantage in the U.S. House after the death of Texas Democrat and former Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner yesterday. Ten Democrats voted along with Republicans to censure Rep. Green, including Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, who is in the leadership as the senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. “I respect them but, I would do it again,” and “it is a matter of conscience,” Rep. Green told Black Press USA’s April Ryan in an exclusive interview on March 5. After the vote, a group of Democrats sang “We Shall Overcome” in the well at the front of the House chamber. Several Republican members attempted to shout down the singing. House Speaker Mike Johnson gaveled the House out of session and into a recess. During the brief recess members moved back to their seats and out of the well of the House. Shortly after the vote to censor Rep. Green, Republican Congressman Andy Ogles of Tennessee quickly filed legislation to punish members who participated in the singing of “We Shall Overcome.” Earlier this year, Rep. Ogles filed legislation to allow President Donald Trump to serve a third term, which is currently unconstitutional. As the debate started, the stock market dove down over one-point hours from close. The jobs report will be made public tomorrow.
-
#NNPA BlackPress2 weeks ago
Target Takes a Hit: $12.4 Billion Wiped Out as Boycotts Grow
-
Activism4 weeks ago
U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Rep. Lateefah Simon to Speak at Elihu Harris Lecture Series
-
Alameda County4 weeks ago
After Years of Working Remotely, Oakland Requires All City Employees to Return to Office by April 7
-
Activism4 weeks ago
Actor, Philanthropist Blair Underwood Visits Bay Area, Kicks Off Literacy Program in ‘New Oakland’ Initiative
-
Activism4 weeks ago
Lawsuit Accuses UC Schools of Giving Preference to Black and Hispanic Students
-
Alameda County4 weeks ago
Lee Releases Strong Statement on Integrity and Ethics in Government
-
Activism4 weeks ago
Retired Bay Area Journalist Finds Success in Paris with Black History Tours
-
Activism2 weeks ago
Undocumented Workers Are Struggling to Feed Themselves. Slashed Budgets and New Immigration Policies Bring Fresh Challenges