Call for ‘Black Lives Matter’ to Apologize



 

Pastors and community leaders came together at Mount Moriah Baptist Church to call for an apology from the Black Lives Matter movement. The actions of members of the local chapter upset leaders last week after a meeting with Mayor Eric Garcetti took an ugly turn.

“We say today to Black Lives Matter Los Angeles, do the right thing,” Rev. Xavier E. Thompson said. “We are not against you. But certainly, you have offended not only a house of worship but you have offended the entire faith based communtiy.”

At Monday night’s forum, protesters turned their backs to the mayor as he spoke, and then surrounded his car as he tried to leave.

The mayor released a statement the next day saying “[I] will continue to be there to hear those concerns and find solutions to our most pressing problems. We must move forward and I remain committed to our shared concerns.”

Rev. Kelvin Sauls, the pastor of Holman United Methodist Church, revealed that he was threatened by members of the Black Lives Matter movement that night.

“I was there,” Najee Ali said. “I saw with my own eyes Pastor Sauls be physically threatened with violence in his own church. That’s unacceptable for Black Lives Matter activists to threaten anyone with violence.”

Although many people think this could cause division within the Black Lives Matter movement, Rev. Paulette Gipson, the president of Compton NAACP, believes they are together though their methods are different.

 

Content originally posted by Annenberg TV News.

 

Fatal police interactions spark ‘Know Your Rights’ panel in Compton



LA protests Ferguson grand jury decision | Charlie Magovern (Neon Tommy)

In response to recent alleged incidents of police brutality, panelists talked about how citizens should interact with the police.   | Charlie Magovern (Neon Tommy)

Educating residents on how to interact with law enforcement was at the top of the agenda for the “Know Your Rights” panel recently held in Compton. The event, held in the wake of the deaths of African Americans Sandra Bland and Sam DuBose, which involved police interactions that began as traffic stops that escalated in both cases. Panelists, pointing to these national headlines, stressed the importance of the black community knowing their civil rights in such situations.

[Read more…]

Q&A: Josh Sides on South Central’s renaming



SouthLAimage2

Some people say “South Central.” Others prefer “South L.A.” And still others use both names to describe the neighborhoods south of the 10 Freeway that run alongside the 110 – historically one of the most poor and violent areas of Los Angeles. Ten years after city officials changed the name “South Central” to “South Los Angeles” in hopes of alleviating the neighborhood’s negative stigma, Intersections is gauging current opinion. We are asking residents, politicians, community leaders and others: What do the names mean to you? And how has South L.A. changed over the past decade?

History professor Josh Sides saw the name change as a “superficial moment in history,” he told Intersections. Still, he believes names can carry great weight. Sides, who teaches at Cal State Northridge, is the author of “L.A. City Limits: African American Los Angeles from the Great Depression to the Present” and the editor of the anthology, “Post-Ghetto: Reimagining South Los Angeles.” Read on for our interview.

Visit our “South LA vs. South Central” page for other perspectives. Add your own in the comments section, or email us at [email protected] [Read more…]

School Board vote on Tuesday, South L.A. pollution near LAX + new Martin Luther King, Jr. Outpatient Center



School board members | www.laschoolboard.org

LAUSD school board members | www.laschoolboard.org

LA Times: On Tuesday voters will choose the new school board member representing a vast swath of South L.A. The winner will replace Margueritte LaMotte.

LA Times: The California Housing Partnership Corp. has released a report calling for 500,000 additional housing units for L.A. County’s poorest residents.

Long Beach Press Telegram: Residents in South L.A. and other areas east of the Los Angeles International Airport could be inhaling hazardous levels of fine particulates that could lead to health issues such as inflammation, blocked arteries, asthma and heart conditions.

KPCC: The new Martin Luther King, Jr. Outpatient Center had its grand opening this week and will be operating by mid-June. It’s one of several new buildings and services replacing the troubled King/Drew Medical Center.

Los Angeles Wave [OPINION]: The L.A. County Office of Education could be taking steps to close the Wisdom Academy for Young Scientists.

CBSLA: The students at Maya Angelou Community High School voted to name their campus after this literary legend two years ago, and now pay tribute to her legacy.

Global Post: Dr Dre is on his way to becoming hip hop’s richest man, says Forbes. After selling Beats Electronics to Apple, his net worth is expected to shoot up from about $550 million to between $700 million and $800 million.

USC News: Students from South L.A.’s Augustus Hawkins high school visited USC for a day of math-based games led by USC mathematics professors.

Best Start L.A.: Construction of a new park is underway at Avalon and Gage in South L.A. It will measure about a third of an acre.

PR Web [Press Release]: The Special Needs Network gala raised half of its funds for Joe Patton Academy Camp, which it calls “the only free summer inclusion camp in South Los Angeles for kids with autism and related disabilities and their siblings, benefiting more than 300 local children.”

South LA’s $1 house, Metro fare hikes + Compton mayor Aja Brown a “political rising star”



The $1-a-month house | KCET (video screenshot)

The $1-a-month house | KCET (video screenshot)

KCET: The house for rent at $1-a-month — yes, you read that right, $1 — in South L.A. Read more and watch a video.

LA Weekly: As Metro considers bus fare hikes, low-income riders are speaking out. At one protest, student and South L.A. native Tekoah Flory said mayor Eric Garcetti “stabbed us in the back.”

Washington Post: Compton mayor Aja Brown is named one of “top 40 political rising stars who are under 40 years old.”

KPCC: AirTalk’s Larry Mantle checks in with councilman Jose Huizar about plans for legalizing street vending in L.A.

Streetsblog LA: Streetsblog writer Sahra Sulaiman is a finalist for “Best Online Journalist of the Year.”

Business Wire [Press Release]: Kaiser Permanente gives South L.A.’s MLK Jr. Community Hospital $2 million to expand its maternity services.

OPINION: Sheriff’s Department spied on Compton residents



The same Sheriff’s Department that is upset over federal secret surveillance in jail probe had no problem spying on Compton residents.

Editor’s Note: The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deployed a small Cessna to circle the sky above Compton for nine days in 2012. It aimed to film the city like a video version of Google Earth, capturing crime scenes that could help deputies identify and catch suspects. Ultimately, the images weren’t detailed enough to be useful, and the department axed the program. The Center for Investigative Reporting revealed the project earlier this month, and the Los Angeles Times caught on this week. Now that the news is out, locals are asking: Why didn’t we know? 

Want to share your own opinion? Email [email protected].

A neon sign for the LA County Sheriff's Department |  Michael Dorausch

A neon sign for the LA County Sheriff’s Department |
Michael Dorausch

I am not oblivious to the fact that I can be watched and tracked by the powers that be.

I realize that when I check in on Facebook, drive my car or use my cellphone, I am practically inviting those “powers” to do so.  I resigned myself a long time ago to the idea that even in my bed in the dead of night, somebody could be watching.

So for me, the problems with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s secret mass surveillance experiment conducted on the residents of Compton in 2012 have less to do with the actual experiment than with the cloud of secrecy around it – especially the decision not to inform the public in order to avoid complaints or public outrage.  [Read more…]

South LA gets a taste of Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution



The wellness and diabetes group from the Martin Luther King Jr. Outpatient Center has climbed on board to take part in celebrity chef Jamie Oliver’s food revolution.

The lesson today, “Fish Made Easy,” included a basic red sauce sautéed with garlic, olives, and basil baked over a white fish and served with what the cooks called “brilliant broccoli.”

Caroline Snow, one of the instructors giving free lessons to community members out of the Big Rig Mobile Teaching Kitchen parked on East 120th Street in front of the medical center, offered simple directions: “We’re using the canned tomatoes sauce here on the rig, but you can use fresh tomatoes and with the summer season coming and growing new gardens its great to pick your own tomatoes, puree them, and use that. Then we’re making the sauce, putting the fish with it and baking it for a few minutes.” [Read more…]

Compton’s new mayor Aja Brown shakes it up



Compton Mayor Aja Brown. Photo by Ralf Cheung, Daily Trojan.

Compton Mayor Aja Brown. Photo by Ralf Cheung, Daily Trojan.

Aja Brown is a hot commodity in the media these days. Fresh from appearing on the pages of The Guardian in a profile article, the new, young mayor of Compton met recently with students in the Price School of Public Policy at the University of Southern California. Brown, an alumna of the school, is the first woman mayor of Compton. She has high hopes for the troubled city.

Listen to Mayor Brown’s comments to the class at USC in a story from Annenberg Radio News:

Filmmakers cast Compton horse ranch movie



OPINION: Meet Compton’s mayoral candidate Aja Brown



By Melissa Hebert

Aja Brown is a second-generation resident of Compton who has entered the municipal elections for Mayor of the City of Compton. Brown has an extensive background in planning and has experience working for Compton’s redevelopment agency.

imageAja Brown

Please state your name and time as a resident in the City of Compton, and which district you reside in?
Aja Brown, second-generation Compton resident. I reside in District 2.

What makes you qualified to run for the seat you wish to fill?
I have over 10 years of community development and economic development experience working with the municipalities of Gardena, Inglewood, Pasadena (former Planning Commissioner) and the City of Compton’s redevelopment agency. I am an urban planner by educational training. I graduated from the University of Southern California’s Sol Price School of Public Policy, Planning and Development, and hold a B.S. in Policy, Planning and Development and a Master’s in Planning – emphasis Economic Development. [Read more…]