While a compelling case can be made for a significant expansion of the Los Angeles City Council, a more modest and immediately doable approach to demonstrating our concern with minority rights in these turbulent times would be to free Watts from Council District 15 and join it with Council District 9.
The tragic deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Rayshard Brooks, George Floyd, and others have illuminated, yet again, the realities of systemic violence Black Americans have faced for centuries and continue to encounter daily. Much of the current attention is focused on law enforcement. But our public education system has its own racialized history of oppression.
For the past several weeks living rooms, barber shops, zoom calls and social media have been bombarded with polls, debates and even arguments, all asking the questions “Who Is The Best Choice For Vice President?” The selections may vary drastically depending on what part of the country you live in, whether you consider yourself a “liberal” or a “progressive”? But whomever you decide on that Vice Presidential Running Mate MUST BE AN AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN. Whether it be Senator Kamala Harris, Congresswoman Karen Bass, Former U.S. National Security Advisor Susan Rice, Former Georgia State Representative Stacey Abrams, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms or Florida Congresswoman Val Demings? One thing is for certain if Vice President Biden expects to secure the Black vote one of these women must be his running mate.
Clergy for Black Lives, a collective of clergy members from throughout Southern California, sent a letter to California State University, Los Angeles (CSU Los Angeles) President, William Covino, on July 11, 2020 to inquire as to his reasoning for not appointing Dr. Melina Abdullah as the Inaugural Dean of the College of Ethnic Studies, the second College of Ethnic Studies in the nation. President Covino responded on July 13, 2020, stating that he was not on campus and could not address personnel matters.
Black women are many things. We are business executives, political strategists and elected officials, philanthropists, and activists. We are health and wellness practitioners. We are entertainers and faith leaders. We are wives, mothers, daughters, educators, and students. We set and shift culture. We build power and we are powerful.
Have you heard about the 2020 Census? I am sure you have received mail, phone calls, or maybe drove past a billboard with information on the Census. Do you still wonder what it is about and who gets counted? The new baby just born yesterday? She gets counted. Your Uncle Leroy who is 108 years old? He gets counted, too!
The Honorable Rev. John Robert Lewis (February 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020) and The Reverend Dr. Cordy Tindell “C.T.” Vivian (July 30, 1924 – July 17, 2020)
“We are the diviners of change!” proclaims Janaya “Future” Khan. Three thousand people … significantly young and Black … fill the massive concrete steps at Los Angeles City Hall, pouring out onto the sidewalk, into the street, extending the length of the block and into Grand Park. The hotter-than-July sun shines on the faces of Youth Vanguard members who just finished speaking about their recent victory in LAUSD – ousting police from school campuses and cutting their budget by 35%.
On the northeast corner of Vermont and Manchester Avenues, a little over four acres of land have remained blighted and mostly vacant since the 1992 Civil Unrest, when the shopping center that once stood there was set ablaze. For the past three decades, as the world around it has continued to turn, this small commercial strip in South Los Angeles has remained frozen in time—an unfortunate and sobering reminder of the anger and desperation that led to neighbors looting and setting fire to businesses, many of which were owned by those of a different color. It has come to symbolize
The house is on fire and it is burning down, and it should burn down.
For too long, Black people in America have been burdened with the unjust responsibility of keeping ourselves safe from police.
As of 2019, the population of individuals experiencing homelessness has skyrocketed to 58,936 people in Los Angeles County alone. The homeless population in California reached 151,000 last year. The median price of a home in LA County was over $600,000 in 2019, and the average rent for a one bedroom was almost $2,000.
The gruesome murder of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis Police Department has sparked a necessary public uprising against the systematic racism that has plagued the U.S. since even prior to its inception. Century-long questions of race and color have been brought to the forefront of social and news media. Globally, people have started to reflect on the cause and effect of racism within their own communities. One of the many effects of racism has been the development of colorism. Colorism is defined as prejudice or discrimination against individuals with a dark skin tone, typically among people of the same ethnic or racial group. Colorism has significant roots in Asian, Latino, and South Asian societies.
The state of Inglewood Unified School District (IUSD) has improved significantly since I was elected in 2017. IUSD is on track to start transitioning out of receivership, we achieved a positive budget certification this year for the first time since going into receivership in 2012, our facilities have improved significantly and we are always planning for our future needs, and lastly our entire IUSD leadership team came together to provide a safe quality educational experience during COVID-19. You can see for yourself a vast improvement of our schools from where they were just a few years ago.
The coronavirus has turned the world upside down. In fact, its global impact might have resulted in this being the first time that individuals can truly identify with what people residing in other parts of the world are feeling.