Well, Paul Pringle of the Times did it again: Wrote another lame, fact-less, innuendo-filled piece of garbage the other day designed to cast aspersions on the only elected official who is doing anything for the people in this region — Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas. Again, Pringle is insinuating that there is something wrong with Cynthia McClain-Hill, that there is something wrong with her having a MTA contract, that there is something wrong with Ridley-Thomas being associated with McClain-Hill resulting from many prior years of working together. The only thing wrong here is their color: Ridley-Thomas is Black; McClain-Hill is Black; and Pringle, I believe, is a racist. Pringle and the Times are obviously hell-bent on making sure that all the money that flows from transit projects in this county — a minority-predominate county, mind you — lands in the pockets of White people based in other counties and in other states.

They don’t want local Black people to get a dime. Government contracts are their own private Whites-only pipeline to riches! If that is not the case, then Pringle would be making innuendoes about the White MTA board members whose White “associates” are being awarded MTA contracts now and have been awarded all of them long before Ridley-Thomas went on the board this year.

Pringle and his ilk believe McClain-Hill is not worthy to receive any MTA contracts and that the only way she could possibly get any would be because her fellow Black person, Ridley-Thomas, is enabling her. If he is, then what’s wrong with that? White people invented this system and have held the monopoly on it ever since Christopher Columbus landed and started killing off the native Americans.  
McClain-Hill is not Ridley-Thomas’ only “associate.” Hell, he’s got more than 300,000 of them — the number of people who voted him onto the Board of Supervisors. Plus, he has thousands of “associates” like me — people who were not privileged to vote for him because we don’t live in his district, but who, nonetheless, wholeheartedly support his progressive, service-oriented, empowerment-driven agenda. He was elected to sit at the table and achieve social, institutional and psychological change and that change includes getting some of his “associates” — heretofore left-out Black people — a piece of the action. We don’t expect him to sit on the board like a lump while all the opportunities go to White people. He was elected to do exactly what he’s doing. And if he doesn’t then we, his “associates,” will kick his butt off the board and replace him with somebody who will. (Like we’re getting ready to do to somebody else I know.)

AVERY CLAYTON, RIP — At press time, funeral services for Avery Clayton, founder and director of the African American Museum, which sprang from the lifelong collection of his late librarian mother, Mayme Clayton, had not been finalized. Avery, 62, died while hosting a Thanksgiving Day dinner, presumably of a heart attack, pending the release of an official coroner’s report. However, an interim successor to Avery was named Tuesday to head the Culver City-based museum. She is Cynthia Hudley, a professor of education at UC Santa Barbara.

KINGS ARE WORKING IT OUT — The battling offspring of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife, Coretta Scott King, have reached a settlement of their various lawsuits against each other for the right to control their parents’ estates. After more than 14 hours of rancorous discussion between Martin Luther King III, Bernice King and Dexter King, a judge stepped in and declared the siblings “deadlocked” as shareholders in King Inc., over which the King children have been fighting. The judge announced he will appoint a temporary custodian to run the corporation and work with the three to determine the future of King Inc.

Fulton, Ga. County Superior Court Judge Ural D. Glanville said his order is designed to add credibility to the troubled estate and allow the siblings a chance to focus on healing their personal relationships. All three siblings told AP at the end of the court proceedings that they looked forward to mending their rifts of recent months, with King III, the eldest, stating: “We have always loved one another. After all, we are all that we have.” However, while leaving the courthouse, Bernice allowed as how reconciling with her brother, Dexter, “would be a process.”

THANKING THOUSANDS — In an unprecedented gesture, filmmaker Tyler Perry observed Thanksgiving by pledging $1 million to the NAACP — the largest donation from an individual the NAACP has received in its 100-year history. “I feel so honored and blessed to be in a position where I can give,” Perry said. ”Had it not been for the perseverance and vision of the thousands who came before me in the 100 years of this legendary organization, I would not be in the position I am in today,”

Perry, a millionaire and the creative force behind the “Madera” film franchise, as well as the executive producer of the critically acclaimed movie “Precious,” was praised by NAACP Chairman Julian Bond, who said Perry “represents the mission of the NAACP at work,” having risen from poverty and childhood abuse to become one of the world’s most successful filmmakers and entrepreneurs. The gift will be distributed over the next four years and will support advocacy programs on economic equality, education, health care and criminal justice.

DATEBOOK — Assemblyman Mike Eng, D-Monterey Park, chair of the Assembly Committee on Transportation, will convene the first of two informational committee hearings on “The Future of Transportation in California” Friday at 9:30 a.m. at the L.A. County MTA building at 1 Gateway Plaza. The focus of the hearing will be to explore the current status of transportation in California and to ascertain how that status will impact regional transportation planning agencies as they proceed to implement Senate Bill 375 (re: greenhouse gas emission reductions in the state).

Jerome Horton, vice chairman of the state Board of Equalization, along with the Korean Community Church Development Housing Counseling Agency, will hold a foreclosure prevention fair Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Walnut Blessing Church, 20801 La Puente Road, in Walnut. Attendees are encouraged to bring their latest mortgage statements.

The Los Angeles Chapter NAACP is hosting a “Meet and Greet” session with LAPD Chief Charlie Beck on Dec. 9 at 2 p.m. in the L.A. NAACP Career Center in the Westfield Culver City shopping complex, 6000 Sepulveda Blvd., Suite 2680. Everyone is invited but RSVPs to Vacie Thomas at (310) 397-1171 are encouraged as light refreshments will be served and it would be nice if they knew how many people they need to feed.

The GLAAACC will hold its annual Peace & Prosperity Holiday Mixer and Toy Drive Dec. 10 from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at the Marriott Los Angeles Downtown Hotel. For admission, the group will be accepting donations of toys or $10 to buy toys for the benefit of the Parents of Watts and the Mablean Ephriam Foundation. RSVP/Information: (323) 292-1297.

AND FINALLY — Pringle made a big deal in his trashy piece of accusing Ridley-Thomas of failing to give him all the information he requested about his involvement with McClain-Hill. I don’t blame the supervisor. Hell, I wouldn’t give Paul Pringle the time of day if I was standing next to a grandfather clock.