Daily Archives: July 28, 2016

Anthony Ratcliff died on July 23, 2016, after a valiant fight against throat and lung cancer. He was born in Oakland, California, on May 18, 1956, to mother Geneva Cleopatra Draper Ratcliff, a homemaker (now deceased), and father Dr. Willie Ratcliff, a contractor and publisher of the San Francisco Bay View newspaper. Anthony was greatly beloved and will be sorely missed. His homegoing service is Friday, July 29, 1 p.m., at Common Ground Covenant Church, Sacramento.

For most of us, the summer represents fun: playing outdoors, cooling off in a pool and enjoying a family vacation. But for the many children, teens and adults living with sickle cell disease, these activities can trigger an extremely painful “crisis” episode – the most common manifestation of this genetic, chronic and deadly disease. Enjoying a summer day at the pool can end up in the hospital if you’re not aware of the crisis triggers.

I answered some heartbreaking calls from Dr. Léopold Munyakazi phoning from an Alabama jail this week. Dr. Munyakazi is a gentle Rwandan born scholar, with a PhD in linguistics and further advanced degrees in French and African linguistics. He has lost his immigration case in the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals and will all but certainly be deported to Rwanda to face prison or worse.