Breaking News

Larry Aubry

Empowerment Requires Unaccustomed Unity
Larry AubryOpinion

Empowerment Requires Unaccustomed Unity

Larry AubryFebruary 7, 2019

Talking about Black unity has fallen out of favor, but the need for unity is as great, if not greater, than ever. Black unity is a perquisite for sustainable change, but it has become a dust-covered relic.  Bastardized remnants remain, but are found mostly in venues that do not advance our collective interest.  Blacks continue to emulate Whites’ individualistic and materialistic values without commensurate benefits.  Nonetheless, unity is essential for effectively working with each other and others.

Is Continuing Injustice Grounds A Call for Arms?
Larry AubryOpinion

Is Continuing Injustice Grounds A Call for Arms?

Larry AubryDecember 27, 2018

Black Lives have always mattered but Black people do not always act like it. Most Blacks know racism still exists but are conditioned to feel inferior to whites and often become complicit in their own oppression. I write about this periodically, because Blacks’ collective silence reinforces the barriers to their own wellbeing. While high-profile cases grab headlines and heartstrings, temporarily, other less heralded, but equally egregious, ongoing atrocities against Black people have become a crippling norm. (Public education’s failure to educate Black students and Black homeowners disproportionately suffering foreclosures as a result of the economic meltdowns, for example, are in some ways just as egregious as high profile cases of police killing unarmed Black men and boys.

Thirteen Years After Devin Brown, Has LAPD Changed?
Larry AubryOp-EdOpinion

Thirteen Years After Devin Brown, Has LAPD Changed?

Larry AubryNovember 29, 2018

A charade going on at the Los Angeles Police Commission meeting every Tuesday.  It goes like this:  The public, mostly Black Lives Matter members, are chastised and even arrested for allegedly violating house rules and protocol.  The ritual involves the presence of hordes of cops, presumably to “control” boisterous, “irreverent” members of the public. Has the Commission and LAPD changed appreciably over the past decade?  No, given continuing police brutality, ongoing refusal to respect the right of the public to be heard, lack of transparency and widespread community distrust, respectively. On January 26, 2007, this column was titled, “Devon Brown

Racial Pride Enhances Collaboration
Larry AubryOpinion

Racial Pride Enhances Collaboration

Larry AubryNovember 15, 2018

Black Lives Matter.  The name itself tends to debunk the myth that America is race-neutral.  Similarly, the Black Lives Matter Movement is s helping to expose the nation’s refusal to acknowledge racism and white privilege that is reflected in the fabric of this country from its inception. There has always been talk among liberals, human relations specialists and others about the damaging effect of “identity politics” on inter-ethnic cooperation.  Even though identity politics, racial politics and ethnic politics are never clearly defined, they are nonetheless characterized as a negative to be universally shunned. Proponents of ethnic neutrality tend to minimize

Racism’s Ongoing Devastating Impact
Larry AubryOpinion

Racism’s Ongoing Devastating Impact

Larry AubryNovember 8, 2018

Racism is as real as ever and Black lives have always mattered. However, most people, including many Blacks, deny or minimize the devastating effect of racism and tend to act as though somehow, Black lives are less valuable, even less sacred than white lives. The Black Lives Matter movement has the potential for strengthening sustainable unified Black leadership which would distinguish it from the many failed attempts to build a Black united front since the civil rights era. Hopefully, it will succeed, but remaining unapologetically Black is a daunting challenge and time will tell.

Black Students Still Only a Rhetorical Priority
Larry AubryOpinion

Black Students Still Only a Rhetorical Priority

Larry AubryNovember 1, 2018

Public education continues to fail African American children with little public outcry and   those who do protest strongly are often ostracized by the education establishment. Meanwhile, as has been the case for at least the past fifty years, there are no effective, sustained protests of the pervasive miseducation of Black children.  This speaks volumes about Black leadership, in general, and educational leadership in particular.

The Rhetoric and Reality of Race
Larry AubryOp-EdOpinion

The Rhetoric and Reality of Race

Larry AubryOctober 25, 2018

The racial conscious­ness and discourse of the West was forged on slave ships carrying human car­gos into the Caribbean and the Americas. The search for agricultural commodi­ties and profits from the ex­treme exploitation of Black people, deemed as less than human, gave birth to the notion of racial inequality.

21st Century Challenges Require New Mindsets and New Behavior
Larry AubryOpinion

21st Century Challenges Require New Mindsets and New Behavior

Larry AubryOctober 18, 2018

Demographic changes in California and throughout the nation are profoundly altering the political landscape. Not the least of such changes is the impact of the huge increase in the Latino population. Cleary, Latinos are already asserting their new found political strength. This threatens many African Americans, who rather than work to strengthen relations with Latinos, for mutual benefit, seem determined to cling to their own highly limited  past political and economic gains, real and imagined. 

Sustaining Righteous Community Outrage
Larry AubryOpinion

Sustaining Righteous Community Outrage

Larry AubryAugust 23, 2018

Righteous outrage must be sustainable.it is necessary to bring about the political pressure crucial for actual long range change.  Of course, ultimately, it is the responsibility of the Black community itself to forge its own future which requires new mindsets and most important, new behavior. Developing sustainable righteous outrage is only one of other important tasks that collectively, we must undertake as part of a self-determined Black agenda.

The Rhetoric and Reality Of Race
Larry AubryOpinion

The Rhetoric and Reality Of Race

Larry AubryAugust 16, 2018

The leaders of the desegregation social protest movement of a generation ago mobilized millions with one simple demand, “freedom.” In the context of a racially segregated society of the South in post-World War II, freedom meant elimination of all social, political, legal and economic barriers that forced African Americans into a subordinate status.

Blacks Must Not Be Chained to Traditional Politics
Larry AubryOpinion

Blacks Must Not Be Chained to Traditional Politics

Larry AubryJuly 26, 2018

Increasingly tough issues facing Blacks in the 21stcentury underscore the need for new and more effective leadership: It follows that new, client and community-oriented political and economic strategies are a must. Since partisan politics is neither designed nor particularly concerned with improving Black life, new thinking and new political alignments that better serve their interests are necessary.