California
Film opening in Redding spotlights Black people’s experiences in the California Gold Rush
A Mount Shasta artist known for his multimedia exhibit about the contributions of Black people during California’s Gold Rush is about to premier his new movie on the topic.
Filmed in Siskiyou County, Mark Oliver’s “The Golden Ghosts” opens on April 21 at the Riverfront Playhouse in Redding.
The movie is a work of historical fiction based on actual events from the North State’s gold mining days, Oliver said.
The film aims to bring understanding about some of the experiences of the thousands of Black prospectors who flocked to California more than 150 years ago seeking gold-fueled fortunes.
Oliver and his crew shot the film entirely in Siskiyou, Shasta and Tehama counties during the summer and early autumn of 2023 at sites including William B. Ide Adobe State Historic Park, the McCloud area near Fall River and places north of Weed.
While researching his Golden Ghosts project, Oliver worked with Mount Shasta archaeologist Patrick Brunmeier. The two scanned old maps and visited sites in Siskiyou County with place names indicating Black people had lived and mined there in the 1800s.
‘A part of history that’s never been in the history books’
While U.S. Census data shows many Black Americans lived in far Northern California in the mid-1800s, their contributions aren’t widely recognized, Oliver said.
For more than a decade, Oliver has sought to correct that omission.
His past projects include bringing the “Voices of the Golden Ghosts” play to Shasta College in 2019, presenting a documentary exhibit of historic photos and stories from the era that was displayed at Turtle Bay Exploration Park and other venues in 2020 and writing an illustrated history book last year.
His other films include “From the Quarters to Lincoln Heights,” a 2011 documentary about the migration of Black people from the American South starting in the 1920s to Weed, McCloud and other North State lumber towns. It was while researching that documentary in 2009 that Oliver said he learned of the role of Black people during Siskiyou County’s gold rush.
In his book “Voices of the Golden Ghosts,” Oliver wrote that as miners from around the globe descended on Northern California aiming to strike it rich, “by 1852, over 2,000 men of African American descent were in the California goldfields” after the discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill in the small El Dorado County town of Coloma in 1848. By 1860, more than 5,000 Black Americans “had made the difficult trek to California in search of quick wealth,” according to Rudolph Lapp, in his book “Blacks in Gold Rush California.”
Those Black 49ers included both free and enslaved people, who mined alone, formed their own companies or teamed up with white prospectors, Lapp’s book said.
The making of “The Golden Ghosts”
In the film, Black protagonists Money and Tall arrive in the North State, as did many others from varying backgrounds who streamed into the area in the early 1850s, searching for gold. While prospecting, the pair meet a Chinese herbalist who runs a brothel, a Mexican couple who caution them about the risks of encountering white settlers and two Native Americans who have been mistreated by white miners.
The characters and their experiences are composites of people who mined gold in the North State, Oliver said. They’re heading West, Oliver said, “probably toward the Salmon River or the Klamath River.”In the mid-1800s, Black people mined mostly their own claims, not for a company. They searched for gold in remote regions with rough terrains to avoid clashing with other miners, Brunmeier said. By the late 1800s, Black people worked as paid laborers for mining companies at several Siskiyou County mines, including Forks of Salmon.
Mining was dangerous, especially for Black people at the time of slavery in the U.S.
While California was founded as a free state, for Black people “if you didn’t have papers proving you were free … you could be arrested and sent back” to slave owners in other states, Brunmeier said.
More: 27 African-American North State sports influencers honored to celebrate Juneteenth
Local actors performed most of the parts in the movie, including Dunsmuir actor and musician Victor Martin, who played Tall in the film.
“Tall is kind of a reasonable guy. He thinks before he takes action,” said Martin. Money, played by Fred Magee of Redding, is quicker to act, Martin said.
Part of what shaped the two characters so differently is that Tall legally gained his freedom from slavery. Money had escaped slavery to reach California. So Money lived in fear of bounty hunters capturing and returning him to people in another state who claimed they owned him, Martin said.
Both characters live their lives in peril, as did almost all Black, Asian, Native American and other people during Old West times. “I’m glad I wasn’t born in those days,” said Martin. “You had to be a tough individual. I wouldn’t have made it.”
More than a story, the film derives impact by depicting “a part of history that’s never been in the history books,” Martin said.
A special treat for fans of Martin’s music at his Pops Performing Arts and Cultural Center jazz club club in Dunsmuir: The character Tall is a musician and in the movie, Martin breaks out his famous saxophone.
Martin said he worked hard to make his sax echo traditional Native American music. While on location in Siskiyou County, he said, “we could feel the spirit” of the people who had been hunted and abused.
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If you go: “The Golden Ghosts” film premier
- Where: Riverfront Playhouse, 1950 California St. in Redding
- When: Noon and 3 p.m. on April 21. A reception with the actors follows the 3 p.m. show.
- Cost: Tickets are $12 in advance, $15 at the door. Go to markoliver.org/golden-ghosts-film to buy tickets.
- Information: Go to markoliver.org
Jessica Skropanic is a features reporter for the Record Searchlight/USA Today Network. She covers science, arts, social issues and news stories. Follow her on Twitter @RS_JSkropanic and on Facebook. Join Jessica in the Get Out! Nor Cal recreation Facebook group. To support and sustain this work, please subscribe today. Thank you.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — In the wide-open race for California governor, billionaire Tom Steyer is on a spending binge.
The hedge fund manager-turned-liberal activist is using his personal fortune to saturate TV screens and mobile phones with advertising, while his competitors accuse him of trying to use his vast wealth to buy the state’s most powerful job.
Steyer’s ads — in which he promises to bring down household costs or rails against federal immigration raids — appear inescapable at times in heavily Democratic Los Angeles, the state’s largest media market. Data compiled by advertising tracker AdImpact show Steyer has spent or booked over $115 million in ads for broadcast TV, cable and radio — nearly 30 times the amount of his nearest Democratic rival.
If he makes it through the June 2 primary election, Steyer could easily eclipse the 2010 record set by Republican Meg Whitman, who spent $178.5 million in a losing bid for governor, much of it her own money. At the time, it was the costliest campaign for statewide office in the nation’s history.
Even when ad buys from all his major competitors are combined, along with ad purchases by independent committees supporting candidates, Steyer is outspending the field by tens of millions of dollars.
“Billionaire money is flooding our state in an attempt to buy this election,” former U.S. Rep. Katie Porter, one of Steyer’s chief rivals, warned her supporters this month.
Mail-in ballots are set to go out to voters next month. Steyer is among a crowd of candidates hoping to seize a spotlight after former Democratic U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell’s dramatic departure from the race following sexual assault allegations that he denies.
But while Steyer has ticked up in polling amid his spending splurge, he has not broken away from the field, leaving some wondering if he’s getting value for his dollars.
“If your first round of ads doesn’t move you dramatically (in the polls), the third, fourth, fifth, six, seventh and eighth rounds won’t either,” said veteran Democratic strategist Bill Carrick, who for years advised the late Democratic U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein. “There is something inherently holding Steyer back.”
In recent prior campaigns for governor, at this stage a leading candidate was taking control of the race. This year, voters appear to be shrugging at a contest that lacks a star candidate among seven leading Democrats and two Republicans.
“Somehow the campaign is frozen,” Carrick added.
History shows that money doesn’t always translate into votes.
Billionaire developer Rick Caruso spent over $100 million in 2022 in his bid to become Los Angeles mayor, much of it his own money, but he was handily defeated by Mayor Karen Bass, who spent a fraction of Caruso’s total. Billionaire former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg spent more than $1 billion of his own money on his 2020 presidential bid before dropping out. And Steyer’s money was unable to lift him into contention in the 2020 presidential contest, when he dropped out early in the year after a poor finish in the South Carolina primary.
Steyer has never held elected office.
In a 2019 interview with The Associated Press, Steyer was asked what he would say to people who think he’s trying to buy the presidency.
“I don’t think that’s possible,” Steyer said at the time, before adding, “I’m never going to apologize for succeeding in business. That’s America, right?”
His campaign did not respond directly when asked about similar criticism facing his run for governor.
“Tom now stands as the only Democrat with the grassroots energy, institutional backing and resources to advance to the general election,” spokesperson Kevin Liao said in a statement.
The governor’s race was recently reordered by two developments: Swalwell, a leading Democrat, abruptly withdrew from the race then resigned from Congress, following sexual assault allegations. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump endorsed conservative commentator Steve Hilton.
Still, there is no clear leader.
Polling in late March and early April by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California found a cluster of candidates in close competition: Democrats Steyer and Porter, Republicans Hilton and Chad Bianco, and Swalwell. Other candidates were trailing. The polling was conducted before Swalwell withdrew.
Democrats have feared the party’s large number of candidates could lead to them getting shut out of the general election in November. That’s because California has a primary system in which only the top two vote-getters advance to the general election, regardless of party.
Leading Democrats are all claiming to have picked up support since Swalwell’s exit. Steyer nabbed one plum endorsement, when the influential California Teachers Association, which previously backed Swalwell, recommended him.
In his ads, Steyer promises to “abolish” U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which has been staging raids across California. In another, he laments the state’s punishing cost of housing, “Everybody needs an affordable place to live,” he says.
Rapper was stabbed 16 times by fellow inmate in May 2025 while 10-year sentence in Megan Thee Stallion shooting case
Tory Lanez has filed a $100 million lawsuit against the California Department of Corrections stemming from a May 2025 incident where the rapper was stabbed in prison.
Lanez — born Daystar Peterson and currently serving a 10-year sentence after being found guilty in the Megan Thee Stallion shooting case — also sued the warden and guards at the California Correctional Institute in Tehachapi, where the rapper was stabbed 16 times in an “unprovoked life-threatening attack” by another inmate, the lawsuit states.
Peterson was hospitalized following the May 2025 incident, suffering a collapsed lung among stab wounds to his back, torso, and head.
According to the Associated Press, the lawsuit criticized the Department of Corrections for housing Peterson with fellow inmate and alleged attacker Santino Casio, who was serving a life sentence for second-degree murder. “The choice to house Casio with Peterson was known or should have been a known danger,” the lawsuit said, adding that Tory Lanez’ “high-profile celebrity status” made him a target.
The lawsuit also said that prison guards were slow to respond to the shanking, and didn’t employ flash grenades or other measures to halt Casio’s attack.; Casio was not charged for stabbing Peterson, the Associated Press notes.
Lanez, who following his hospitalization was transferred to San Luis Obispo County’s California Men’s Colony, also alleges in the lawsuit that he never received his possessions from the California Correctional Institute in Tehachapi, including songbooks filled with lyrics to his unreleased music.
Lanez is serving a 10-year prison sentence for shooting Megan Thee Stallion in the foot during a confrontation in the summer of 2020. He was eventually convicted on several firearms charges, including assault with a firearm, in December 2022. In November 2025, his appeal was denied by a three-judge panel, and the 10-year sentence was upheld.
From one crackdown on hospice fraud to another.
A few weeks ago, the FBI arrested multiple people in Southern California that were accused of defrauding the government for millions of dollars.
In a more recent announcement last Thursday, California’s State Attorney General Rob Bonta held a press conference to announce a fraud bust of their own.
“Operation Skip Trace uncovered and ended a hospice fraud scheme that defrauded Medi-Cal of $267 million,” Bonta said. “So just to be clear, a quarter billion dollars over funds that are paid for by California taxpayers, funds that are meant to provide care to Californians in need. It is unacceptable. It is illegal and we will not stand for it.”
The operation saw a total of 21 suspects charged as a result and dismantled a major hospice fraud scheme, with two handguns and over $750 thousand in cash seized as well.
According to the state’s attorney general, this is just one of the many cases over the years the state has cracked down on.
“This is just the latest example of the California DOJ’s longstanding ongoing and successful efforts to combat hospice and medical fraud,” Bonta said. “We have been doing this work for years. We’ve been doing it successfully before certain people in this country decided to think about it for the first time. We will continue to do this work. Heads down, sleeves rolled up, important investigative work, prosecutorial work.”
He added to that by taking a shot at the Trump Administration’s latest fraud operations.
“While healthcare fraud might be President Trump’s shiny new political talking point, the California DOJ has been going after healthcare fraud since 1979,” Bonta said. “For decades, Trump is late to the party. Protecting taxpayer dollars and protecting programs sick and vulnerable Californians rely on have been our priority for nearly five decades.”
Governor Gavin Newsom also spoke out about this latest crackdown while taking a shot of his own at President Trump.
In a post to “X” the Governor’s Press Office wrote in part quote…
“California has been cracking down on hospice fraud long before Trump gutted oversight and pardoned the architect of the biggest health care fraud scheme in U.S. history.”
State Republicans have responded to this latest announcement from Attorney General Bonta, calling for a special session to demand accountability from the Governor on widespread fraud.
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