Expand<\/a><\/p>\nFor his decades of social justice work, Barnes was honored with the coveted Gene Lentzner Human Relations Award at the annual meeting of CCEJ, now called Confluence Rising, earlier this month. Lentzner was a legendary Long Beach civil rights leader and CCEJ official who died in 2020.<\/p>\n
\u201cGene\u2019s significant impact on the city of Long Beach is a legacy that should never be forgotten,\u201d Barnes said in emotional comments while accepting his award on Oct. 8 from Justine Arian-Edwards, a women\u2019s empowerment coach and longshore employee at the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, who introduced him.<\/p>\n
Also honored at the lunch were Julie Meenan, who received the Humanitarian Award for her career spent improving the lives of women and children through her leadership at the Josephine S. Gumbiner Foundation; and Musical Theatre West, which received the Building Bridges award for helping people across differences. Executive Director Paul Garman and board President Cynthia Terry accepted the award on behalf of the theater group.<\/p>\n
Also remembered in memoriam were Ann Lentzer, Gene Lentzner\u2019s wife; Rabbi Howard O. Laibson, a longtime CCEJ officer; and Skip Keesal, a strong CCEJ supporter, who recently died.<\/p>\n
\u201cChuck\u2019s presence, his passion and his purpose are a stand for what is right and good in this world where humanity has seemingly gotten away from us,\u201d Arian-Edwards said in her introduction of Barnes. \u201cHe is the kind of leader who brings people along, uplifts them, deeply listens, is open and pours into people things he cares about. We need more people like Chuck Barnes being recognized.\u201d<\/p>\n
Barnes was born in 1973 in Covert, Michigan, but he moved with his family to Pasadena when he was 1 year old. He eventually moved to Long Beach and attended Hughes Middle School and Wilson High before joining the Air Force.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted to join the Air Force to travel and see the world,\u201d he told me in an interview after the event before adding, with a laugh: \u201cThe \u2018world\u2019 turned out to be San Antonio, Texas.\u201d<\/p>\n
But it was while he was in Texas that he helped save the lives of three youngsters who had been dragged by a current into the Gulf of Mexico. He was awarded the prestigious Airman\u2019s Medal for saving the children from drowning.<\/p>\n
After his time in the Air Force, Barnes got a job as a longshoreman at the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles while also starting to work as a volunteer for CCEJ and reconnecting with the Building Bridges community.<\/p>\n
He delivered transformative classroom programs across Long Beach schools and created curriculum still used at camp today. His vision also led to the creation of the Building Bridges logo, featured on camp sweatshirts since 2001.<\/p>\n
He also was a founding member of Long Beach\u2019s Hate Crime Response Team and, since 1998, has been engaged with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union. Since 2009, he has also worked with the Heart of America Foundation, leading nationwide efforts to revitalize school libraries and STEM labs for underserved students.<\/p>\n
In his acceptance speech, Barnes praised the late Mike Smith, a Wilson High teacher, who he said invited him to participate in what turned out to be the life-changing camp program.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt that moment,\u201d he said, \u201cI had no idea that my life would be transformed forever.\u201d<\/p>\n
The wisdom he\u2019s gained, Barnes said, continues to come primarily from youthful students.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are the true experts of their own experiences and perspectives,\u201d he said. \u201cMy education has flourished because I chose to listen closely and genuinely believe in what they shared with me.<\/p>\n
\u201cDespite our diverse identities, experiences and beliefs, we all have the capacity to connect through our emotions,\u201d Barnes said about one of the key lessons he has learned. \u201cWe\u2019ve experienced happiness, sadness, pride, guilt, fear and excitement \u2014 these feelings unite us. It\u2019s within this shared emotional landscape that we can find common ground with anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Barnes also thanked his mother, Diana Reid, and two daughters, President and Irish, for helping him understand others. He said his mother has served as a co-director of Building Bridges.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy daughters, too, have taken up the mantle from their grandmother,\u201d he added, \u201ccontinuing to inspire and challenge me every day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Barnes\u2019 daughter, President, shared two quotes with her that stood out about her father, Arian-Edwards said: \u201cLearn something about everything and everything about something, always willing to try something new\u201d and, \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter what I think, it\u2019s about what you think.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arian-Edwards said that Barnes\u2019 curiosity, love of learning and his ability to empower and guide young people rather than pretending he knows everything, makes him approachable, relatable and lovable.\u201d<\/p>\n
For the future, Barnes said he sees bridges as more than just a meeting point.<\/p>\n
\u201cA bridge symbolizes a pathway toward justice,\u201d he said. \u201cFrom wherever we stand, we have the opportunity to cross over stereotypes, prejudice, discrimination and oppression to bring justice and peace to those who need it most,\u201d he said. \u201cSo let us commit ourselves to building more bridges\u2013in the spirit of brotherhood and sisterhood. Together, we can create a world where understanding and compassion prevail.\u201d<\/p>\n
Amen. Gene Lentzner would have been honored with the selection of Chuck Barnes to receive the award in his name.<\/p>\n
Originally Published: October 19, 2025 at 6:30 AM PDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chuck Barnes was your typical teenager: Partying a lot. Studying some. Having fun. Not worrying too much about…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12974,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[23,131,133,132,741],"class_list":{"0":"post-12973","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-long-beach","8":"tag-local-news","9":"tag-long-beach","10":"tag-long-beach-headlines","11":"tag-long-beach-news","12":"tag-rich-archbold-columns"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12973"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12973\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Chuck](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/LPT-L-ARCHBOLD-COL-1019-01_784450.jpg\")
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