Californians are Still Hungry

May 11, 2012 By Leave a Comment


By Shako Liu

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It was a chaotic Thursday afternoon, with 60 low-income residents coming to this little church, International House of Praise, in South Los Angeles to get food for the week. Everybody was exciting and eager to get food. Organizers had to shout on top of the noise to tell people where to sign up and line up. But few people were listening. Their attention was all drawn on the piles of fresh bread, cupcakes and vegetables on the benches.

Clothilde Beatoa, 81, doesn’t speak much English. She likes talking to people and often smiles with a mouthful of white teeth. “I need the food for me and my grandchildren,” she said.

She is not the only one who says that. The annul report of the U.S. Department of Agriculture shows 14.5 percent of American households are food insecure. The very low secure households have increased about 15 percent from the past three years. The California Health Interview Survey says there is a 30 percent increase of Californian adults who are struggling to feed themselves. Out of the 10 million population in L.A. County, 1.7 million are hungry. Gov. Jerry Brown’s new budget plan is going to cut $12.5 billion from spending, which will lead to a new limit of welfare service, and low-income residents are worrying about losing their food stamps.

Hunger Action LA, a nonprofit organization that is trying to raise awareness about hunger at government level, was protesting and fundraising at President Obama’s fundraiser in West Hollywood recently. Its executive director, Frank Tamborello, said, a $35,000 a plate inside could make17,000 meals for a hungry person in Los Angeles. He also pointed out the budget cut of Gov. Brown is going to impact 56,000 families.

“Gov. Brown’s proposal will cut of a lot of families off from this assistance after 24 months, even if they are working,” Tamborello said.

By this assistance, he means CalWORKS, the state’s welfare-to-work program, which is short for California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids. CalWORKS is going to suffer nearly $1 billion slash if the proposal is passed.

“When families lose cash, they lose the ability to buy enough food, not to mention their ability to pay the rent,” Tamborello said.

He thinks the issue of hunger is also a problem of housing. A lot of people come to L.A. to pursue their American dreams, but the reality turns out the otherwise to many of them. L.A. is one of the most expensive housing cities in the country. People have to spend more than 50 percent of their income to pay the rent, especially seniors and disabled people.

Tamborello said, plenty of people are living on a pension, like social security or supplemental security income. They are living on between $800 and $850 a month, and paying 90 percent of that on rent, which leaves very little on their paychecks.

Particularly for a car city like L.A., many low-income people don’t have access to personal transportation. They don’t have a car to drive around and look for healthy food. Grocery stores in poor communities don’t provide as much fresh fruits and vegetables as they do in rich areas, Tamborello said, there is a drastic inequality in grocery stores.

He said Ralph’s told them there wasn’t much demand for healthy food in low-income communities. But he disagrees:“They are surrounded by fast food, which is pretty cheap and set at an affordable price for them.” He believes this is leading to some diarrated diseases, obesity and diabetes. There can even be obesity and hunger in the same person. “If you don’t eat enough, and what you eat are mostly things like potato chips, even though you are not getting a proper amount of nutrition, you are also going to be obese,” he said.

The worst case scenario he has seen was in the summer of 2008, when gas was $5 a gallon. He learned the story from a doctor, who received calls from social workers when they were visiting seniors living in mobile homes around Lancaster and Homedale. The social workers found some of the seniors pass out on the floors, because they couldn’t afford the gas to go into town and buy groceries.

Tamborello said a lot of the hunger is hidden inside the houses of seniors who don’t usually come out.

People who came to the food distribution in the South L.A. church were mostly seniors, homeless and disable people. Eugel Nicoleau, a volunteer in the church, used to be one of them. He recalled that he was laid off from his job and facing a painful divorce. Back in his hungry days, he would volunteer in different churches just to get all the supplies he needed but didn’t have. Now he managed to get his life back together, but still is volunteering for churches.

Nicoleau and other volunteers will go to the food bank every Monday with their 501c nonprofit paper to collect food, and hold the distribution gathering on Thursday. He enjoys what he does, even if sometimes he needs to confront difficult individuals.

“The biggest challenge is to deal with certain individuals that don’t understand. They are in a rush to get the food, and we have to really be patient at times,” he said.

He got into a big argument with a man who tried to cut the line when waiting to get food. He yelled at the man to maintain the order. But his anger disappeared immediately after the argument. It always makes him happy to see that people who come regularly stop coming any more, and tell him they are back on their feet.

“A lot of people wanna blame the president. It’s not the president, it’s really the economy,” he said.

His worst experience is to see people that he helps not appreciate the help and not happy. He said sometimes you have to overlook those who need more than they can offer.

Dandrea Cultepper, another volunteer in the church, was dancing and singing all the time when distributing the food. Even if the situation became out of control some time in the middle, she still loves this work.

“People who are calm like me and trying to have fun, but they will turn it into a hurricane,” she said.

Another way for low-income people to get healthy food is a farmers market. Tamborello and his volunteers usually come to a farmer market in South L.A. to sell vouchers every Wednesday. This farmer market targets on low-income families and communities. The voucher they sell is $1 each, and they will give one out for free.

Victor Garcia, a 19-year-old undocumented immigrant, is volunteering for Hunger Action L.A., because he got a ticket for crossing the street illegally. He said, many people want the vouchers for free.

“Individuals do have issues that they have to struggle with, but when you see 47 million Americans having to use the food stamp program, something tells you there is something wrong with the system,” Tamborello said.

He is going to take actions with other organizations and food banks on Hunger Action Day, which is May 17. They are not only going to distribute food, but also bringing people to Sacramento to talk with lawmakers and share experiences.

He said, “Poverty isn’t to anyone’s benefit. In the long run, the society will suffer from not having the participation of those people in the economy that we all need to share in.”

Filed Under: Community

Marathon motivates Foshay students

May 11, 2012 By Leave a Comment


By Jonathan Kendrick

The sun rises slowly, its first rays gradually illuminating the paint-chipped exterior walls of James A. Foshay Learning Center in South Los Angeles.

imageIt’s 6:30 a.m. on a mid-March Saturday morning—not the usual time for students to be arriving to their high school campus. Yet one by one they come: some yawning, others munching on a hurried breakfast, all ready to run.

There are only eight days until the 27th running of the Los Angeles Marathon, and the 10 high school students gathered in front of the school’s front entrance are in the final stages of their six month long preparation to compete in the race.

On this morning, the students and their five volunteer mentors pile into three cars and drive to the Los Angeles National Veterans Park, the starting point for their six mile run.

Upon arrival, team coach Shalom Sanchez leads the group through stretches before outlining the day’s course: north through Veterans Park, west along San Vicente Boulevard and then south down Ocean Avenue to the Santa Monica Pier.

For those students who competed in the marathon last year, this was the most difficult section of the course.
“I started off well for like the first 20 miles but after 21 miles my body broke down and I had to walk five miles in the rain,” said Jahiro Coreas, the team’s top runner, about the 2011 edition of the L.A. Marathon.

Students Run L.A.

imageFoshay’s 10 student runners are part of a larger group of 3,000 students from 165 Southern California high schools, middle schools and community programs that train to run the marathon each year as a part of the Students Run L.A. (SRLA) program.

Nearly 50,000 students have trained with SRLA, which was an official Los Angeles Unified School District after-school program and now is its own independent non-profit organization, to run in the last 22 editions of the L.A. Marathon.

It all started with an East Los Angeles continuation high school teacher named Harry Shabazian, who trained for and ran the 1987 L.A. Marathon with some of his students.

Since then, the organization has made it its mission to “challenge at-risk secondary students to experience the benefits of goal-setting, character development, adult mentoring and improved health.” More than 95 percent of the high school seniors who run the marathon graduate and more than 90 percent have plans to attend college, according to the program’s web site.

“When students are involved and when students have something to buy into, they are going to be more motivated to do well,” said Foshay assistant principal Emilio Garza. “I think sometimes when you have these students who don’t participate in anything, obviously they feel disconnected from the campus, they don’t see a purpose for being here and as a result they’re just not going to put in as much effort into their class work.”

Training for a marathon is no easy task. Aside from the physical challenge of running 26.2 miles, Foshay students dedicate a large amount of time to training. The team practices together for more than two hours, three times per week after school from September to March. They add early morning Saturday sessions starting in November.

“I’m giving up time to study, time to just hang out with my friends, time to spend with my family,” said Foshay student and marathon runner Melissa Rojas. “But ultimately this program is showing me endurance so once this ends, I can do pretty much anything once I put my mind to it.”

Garza said that while after-school programs like training for the marathon can take up large amounts of the students’ time, they also inspire the participants to do well in school.

“The kids who want to play sports have to maintain above a certain GPA and they can’t get into trouble, otherwise we suspend them for games,” Garza said. “It is a motivating factor for the kids and I also think it is an opportunity for the kids to just do something that they are really passionate about on campus. I think it kind of just builds a positive feeling toward school and so it helps kids to continue to do well in school.”

Gearing Up to Run

imageLess than 45 minutes after they set out from Veterans Park, the runners start to arrive at the designated meeting place, a grassy area overlooking the ocean near the Santa Monica Pier.

Coreas comes in first, displaying the seven-and-a-half-minute per mile speed he’ll show at the marathon the following week.

Once the whole team finishes the six mile course, they stretch together while discussing strategy for the marathon.

“You guys have made it,” Sanchez said. “You’ve trained hard. You’re ready.”

It’s then time for a surprise: a walk along the pier with stops to gaze out at the ocean’s horizon and pose for pictures with replicas of Forrest Gump’s running shoes.

“Some of these kids really haven’t been outside of their neighborhood very much,” Sanchez said. “But this program gets them outside of their neighborhood and gets them to see that they can accomplish things that they never really could imagine.”

To see the students now, having recently completed a 20-mile run, brings to a smile to Sanchez’s face as she remembers where the group started.

“It’s actually pretty amazing,” Sanchez said. “Some of the kids [during] the first couple of weeks in September were barely being able to run a mile. But they have really worked on their pace and sped up. They started slow and every week hit a new goal and every week saw that improvement. You saw a lot of them walking at first but then they saw that they could do it. It’s been kind of amazing to see them where they could barely run a mile to running 20.”

The students had to overcome various obstacles. For Coreas, it was about being disciplined in going to practice.

“I’ve been here almost every practice because last [year] I didn’t practice that much,” Coreas said. “I’ve actually been training harder and faster. I’ve been training my mind that I can’t break down that easily anymore. [During] most practices now I don’t stop [running] anymore. Last year I stopped a lot of times.”

For Armando Alva, cutting down on eating junk food was a top priority.

“I actually started eating better. Last year when I got home I just ate whatever because I just ran,” Alva said. “So this year I gave up soda and I feel like it’s helping me improve my speed and getting me in better shape. I was really fat [before training for the marathon] but I have lost weight and my time has improved a lot.”

For several of the students, it’s about carrying on even without a lot of encouragement from parents.

“This group of kids, they are so positive,” Sanchez said. “Some of them don’t have that support from families at home. And yet these kids really see this challenge and go for it. Most of these kids go on to college, continue running and continue with setting other goals, which a lot of other kids in this neighborhood don’t do. And the rate with our kids in finishing high school and even going into college is really, really high where the other kids in the school, the dropout rate is pretty high. Our kids go a different path which is really cool to see.”

Race Day and Beyond

With more than 23,000 runners tightly bunched in moving packs, it’s difficult to pick out the Foshay students from the crowd on L.A. Marathon race day. They are there – some running faster than others, but all determined to finish.

Coreas finished the marathon in three hours and 19 minutes, Alva in four hours and 41 minutes, Coach Sanchez in four hours and 43 minutes.

It marked the end of a six-month journey to run a marathon, a task that seemed unreachable for some of the students at the start of the school year. It also marked the beginning of a new journey, as the marathon-runners made plans for the future.

“We talk about setting commitments, setting goals and what that means in their life, not only with running but what that could mean for them with scholastics or families or any other goal that they might have in their life,” Sanchez said. “We try to show them how they can apply what they learned through the marathon training to anything in their life.”

Adriana Ocampo, for one, wants to continue running.

“I don’t want to stop running because it’s healthy and it relaxes me,” Ocampo said. “It takes away stress.”

The marathon-running students have big goals for after high school. Rojas hopes to attend a four-year university and major in environmental engineering, while Alva plans to move to New York and study German linguistics in college.

“Our coaches are so great. They taught us how to set goals and how to accomplish those goals, not just set them and leave them there,” Alva said. “I’m going to use the skills I learned here and apply those to my academics to achieve those goals.”

Filed Under: Education Tagged With: , ,

Crenshaw real estate development on the upswing

May 10, 2012 By 1 Comment


By Matt Pressberg

When Ken Lombard gives advice on developing inner-city real estate, it’s worth paying attention.

A longtime partner of Magic Johnson, with whom he helped bring companies like Starbucks and T.G.I. Friday’s to underserved urban communities, Lombard recently came out of retirement and joined Capri Capital Partners, LLC to purchase and operate the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza mall. He had some rather counterintuitive words about the challenges facing the neighborhood during an interview at his new project, which sits on the corner of Crenshaw Boulevard and Martin Luther King Boulevard.

Where others had gone wrong trying to play to less informed perceptions of the neighborhood, Lombard chose to defy the conventional “wisdom.”

“You cannot be successful here if you come in and you try to treat it as if, for lack of a better way to describe it, you’re on Crenshaw and King,” he said.

The Crenshaw District has been a symbol of black Los Angeles since the 1970s, and has not always been cast in the most flattering light. Its demographics and reputation as a hotbed of crime and gang activity, often belied the richer complexity of the area.

Even as South Los Angeles endured high crime and the loss of many blue-collar jobs in the ‘70s and ‘80s, middle and upper-class black Angelenos were establishing a thriving community in the Baldwin Hills and View Park neighborhoods overlooking Crenshaw, and the Leimert Park area was developing into a cultural and art center. The WWII-era Crenshaw Center shopping plaza got a full remodel and reopened in 1988 as Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza, the area’s first indoor mall. As the ’90s approached, the commercial strip along Crenshaw Boulevard was starting to attract more vibrant businesses to serve a long-ignored community.

Then, on April 29, 1992, a Simi Valley jury made its fateful decision and Crenshaw went up in flames. Rioters expressed their understandable outrage in the heart of their local economy, and despite the affluent neighborhoods within and close by, the Crenshaw District was one of the hardest-hit parts of Los Angeles.

Twenty years later, the Crenshaw corridor remains an important nexus of black commerce in Los Angeles. Its redevelopment was a high-priority concern after the riots, and politicians, community leaders and businesses alike banded together to rebuild the neighborhood.

Two decades is no time in real estate, but taking a critical look at the evolution of the Crenshaw business district since it hit rock bottom provides insights into how to achieve better urban development and a better Los Angeles. The first step is understanding Crenshaw itself, and the only way to do so is to experience it firsthand.

“It’s always this idea of what they see on TV or what they hear, and the perception that this is like ‘South Central,’” Lombard said, describing many retailers’ initial concerns about the neighborhood. “But you got to touch it, you got to feel it, you got to drive around.”

Unfinished business

The commercial strip along Crenshaw Boulevard, whose core is roughly between Exposition Boulevard and Leimert Park, looks a lot different than it did in 1992, and also a lot different than one might expect it to look today.

imageThe recently renovated and noticeably clean Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza is downright bustling on a pleasant Thursday afternoon, and in architecture and vendor selection, looks almost indistinguishable from any other modern Southern California shopping mall. The new Debbie Allen Dance Academy seems to be bringing in plenty of traffic of its own to its corner of the property, and in a building that used to house a fried chicken joint, a world renowned chef is reimagining the possibilities of the Crenshaw food scene.

Brad Johnson, a noted club and restaurant proprietor in Los Angeles, who formerly ran Georgia on Melrose, was approached by Lombard to open an upscale restaurant at the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza Mall. He was very much skeptical at first, but when he spent time in the neighborhood, he recognized an opportunity to fill a need.

“It didn’t take long to see that there’s a lot of money, a lot of people and not much to choose from in this area,” Johnson said.

Lombard, Johnson and their partner, chef Govind Armstrong, opened the Post & Beam adjacent to the mall three months ago to overwhelmingly positive reviews. Lombard followed his own advice and did not stereotype the neighborhood when deciding on a restaurant concept. He and Johnson traveled to Seattle and Scottsdale, Ariz., two places not normally associated with Crenshaw, to get inspiration and ideas for the Post & Beam. Thinking outside of the box has proven the existence of a market—fine dining on Crenshaw—that an analyst in a distant office crunching numbers would be highly unlikely to predict or justify.

“Most real estate you can’t [analyze] at 30,000 feet,” Lombard said. “This piece, you really can’t do it. This is a very unique location that you have to get your arms around.”

Johnson agrees. “There’s a lot of pride and a lot of culture,” he said, describing the neighborhood’s enthusiasm for something beyond fast food. Also, given the geographic centrality of Crenshaw, the Post & Beam is attracting commuters and even people heading to the airport, looking for a place to have dinner before a red-eye.

“This is not that far out of the way for a lot of people,” Johnson said, and he hopes that giving people a reason to come to the area can serve as a reminder of its relative convenience, and inspire repeat visitors from all over Los Angeles. He isn’t completely sold on the forthcoming Crenshaw Line light rail, but mentions that other business owners around the area are excited about the potential new traffic that might bring.

Lombard is pleased with the way the mall has turned out, but he has no plans to stop there, continuing to push for new businesses in the area, ones that are more aspirational than stereotypical. He mentions an eight-acre patient care center that Kaiser will be opening along Crenshaw and a new Target near Interstate 10 as very encouraging signs, but this is a part of town that corporate retailers are still getting to know and have to get comfortable with.

Lombard talks about the neighborhood tour he has been giving to retail agents for more than 20 years, a circuit he calls the “good, bad and ugly,” and while many of these people expect to see the latter two, without fail, they had no idea the “good” parts existed.

“The stigma that has been associated with this part of town is also part of what makes it attractive,” Johnson said. For many investors and retailers, it’s also what makes the local market and real estate within it potentially highly undervalued, having lost much of its natural growth and appreciation to the shock trauma of the riots. As much of the Southwest went through a real estate bubble of epic proportions, Crenshaw remained economically flat, only in the last few years having picked up where it left off in April 1992.

“This was unfinished business for me,” said Lombard, when asked why he had come out of retirement. “I wanted to come back and take this particular project back to the quality level it’s supposed to be”

Challenges and missteps

The Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza looks to be well on its way, but its neighbor across Marlton Street tells a different story.

imageMarlton Square, formerly known as Santa Barbara Plaza, has been an eyesore and a quagmire for over 20 years. It is an abandoned shopping center with a footprint larger than Westfield Century City that has been plagued by questionable decisions, financial insolvency, opaque politics and fractured land holdings.

Unlike Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza, which is carved up into large parcels, allowing a single owner to control a large area, Marlton Square’s real estate is much more fragmented. Assembling all of the parcels necessary to fully redevelop the center as a unified entity has been a major challenge. The Community Redevelopment Association Los Angeles had invested $17 million in putting part of this puzzle together, but with the plug having been pulled on that agency, Marlton Square remains unsettled.

Lombard sees a resolution to the Marlton Square saga as a top priority. He said Capri plans to make a run at the property, but even if someone else wins out, it will be a long-awaited victory for the neighborhood.

“Even if it’s motivating others to come in and try to do it right, that’s an accomplishment for us,” he said. “Hopefully we get it, but if we don’t, then knowing that it’s going to be developed, and knowing that that blight has gone away is enough satisfaction.”

A few blocks north, at the corner of Crenshaw and Coliseum Place, a vacant building stands where the Los Angeles Urban League had partnered with Toyota to develop an automotive training center in the immediate aftermath of the riots. It opened to much fanfare, including a visit from Prince Charles in 1994. A little more than 10 years later, the center was quietly closed.

A 2006 Toyota marketing brochure hints at one of the main causes of the center’s demise. In a PR piece that praised the center as “a symbol of successful redevelopment in the inner city,” Toyota conceded that finding prospective candidates with eighth-grade reading and math skills “has been a challenge” that required the company to establish an adult education course in February 2005.

The two high schools serving the neighborhood, Crenshaw and Dorsey, are among the lowest ranking in the Los Angeles Unified School District, according to the Academic Performance Index. The automotive training center’s failure underlines the importance of decent schools in preparing a community for decent jobs, a lingering problem in this part of town.

It also must be said that while crime is down as of late, the Crenshaw area, particularly the Hyde Park neighborhood by Crenshaw and Slauson Avenue, is known for gang activity. Random crime can happen anywhere, but even as it has become safer, Crenshaw is still not Beverly Hills, and the omnipresent security guards at Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza serve as a reminder that the fight against crime remains a long one.

The next 20 years

Solving the Marlton Square problem is the most pressing concern for the Crenshaw business community. Looking further ahead, Lombard stresses the “need to go further south,” down to Slauson.

A Crenshaw Line stop is planned for Slauson, a major east-west car and bus traffic corridor. The southeast corner of that intersection is currently home to a large shopping center anchored by Ralph’s and Rite-Aid, but the stretch of Crenshaw connecting Slauson to Leimert Park has no other large businesses, just a haphazard arrangement of private homes, apartment buildings and small independent storefronts.

“It’s a little bit more difficult [to develop this area] because you don’t have any sizable parcels that you could really bring in,” said Lombard.

National retailers tend to favor occupying larger stores where they can do more sales volume as well as being part of a shopping cluster that benefits from shared traffic. The disparate and mostly longtime owners of commercial property along this section of Crenshaw, who have no remaining tax basis, no debt, and are happy to collect checks, have “no real motivation to sell,” Lombard openly admitted.

Crenshaw faces another challenge, that of the changing demographics of South Los Angeles. It remains a majority-black area, but the Latino population is on the rise and that is not without tension. Lombard mentioned a black community that is “truly very territorial” about Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza, and a need to “crack the code” on a racially inclusive experience that accommodates all Angelenos. Managing this dynamic, which in many ways is shaping the future of South Los Angeles, will be a defining issue for this neighborhood for years to come.

Business at the Post & Beam has exceeded expectations thus far, and Johnson is proud that it has caused the restaurant establishment to take notice of the neighborhood. That means a lot to him. The fact that this is happening just now, a full 20 years after the riots, means something too.

“It points to what has not happened,” he said. “There’s a need for this part of town to somehow become part of L.A.”

Filed Under: Business

Manual Arts students write about the riots

May 10, 2012 By Leave a Comment


This is a collection of writings by ninth graders in Mark Gomez’ geography class at Manual Arts High School about the Los Angeles riots then and now. They wrote their essays using the five themes of geography with help from USC mentor Adriana Chavez-Lopez

No, the LA RIOTS was not cause of the beating of Rodney King. Rodney King was another issue but it was a little about it ’cause the black community got mad ’cause the judge saw the video and still had the guts to say that the four police man were innocent. And they got the black people more mad then what they were already.
Jocelyn Macias

What We Learn About Push Factors And The L.A. Riots
What we learn about the L.A. riots is that in 1965 five days before Watts exploded the Voting Rights Act had been signed into law. In 1992 the concerns are that sight of blacks destroying their own community. That the riots were like black gangs and that they were like destroying there[sic] own society and not thinking of their members.

What Push Factors Drive Emigration Means
Political Push Factors: War is one of many political factors that can create refugees. Well the people refugees may flee a country, because of the fear they had and its leaders.
Environmental Push Factors: In the 1840s, a devastating plant disease struck Ireland. In Ireland a fungus destroyed most of the important crops of potato and the potatoes were the main food in Ireland so they couldn’t have been destroyed.

Economic Push Factors: Most of the early immigrants to the United States were poor farmers or working people. People go to other communities for better jobs.
Raul Gonzalez

One thing I learned about the beating of Rodney King was that in 1992 there was a lot of police brutality. The LA riots were also about how whites were favored over blacks. This was proved when the cops beat Rodney King for 81 seconds on videotape and got away with it. This makes me ask why did the jury say that the cops that beat Rodney King were innocent. I am frustrated with police getting away with things today. For example, even now there are some police officers that will pull you over because of your skin color.
Jessi Rodriguez

Reading the “1992 L.A. in flames after ‘not guilty’ verdict” article, I learned how the L.A. riots began. Also, I learned about the issue of Rodney King refusing to get arrested and supposedly getting aggressive causing Rodney to be beaten by the police. This in fact was not true. The policemen were not found guilty therefore caused the riots to begin. But the beating of Rodney King was not the only reason why the L.A. riots began. Blacks were tired of being mistreated and not being allowed to go to places they would like to go, it was unfair. Whites knew Blacks were desperate for money and they took advantage but the Blacks couldn’t do much.

People wanted to put a stop to it, which led to the L.A. riots. People dragged motorists from their cars and beat them, cars were overturned and set on fire, and some people even took revenge against White and Asians. According to BBC news “at least 5 people were shot dead. About 2,000 were injured with a further 12,000 arrested.” Damages cost $1b to repair. Some people believed that people did this just to have new buildings but [in] reality they just wanted to be heard. A year later the police faced a second trial. Only the jury found two guilty, whose name were Stacey Koon and Laurence Powell. The point of this article was how people in South Central were tired of being unheard and mistreated. Some questions that I have that were not answer are: During the riots, how did Rodney King feel knowing part of why the L.A. riots happened was because of the beating? What could of happened if the police man were still not found guilty? This article reminds me of many issues, for example Martin Luther King. He and his family was also beaten and almost killed.

But he still fought for a change. Now we honor him on January 21. Martin Luther King went through many obstacles but yet he still achieved his goal, which was making change. I believe the L.A. riots were a good thing after all, even if people died.
Lisette Carranza

In my geography class we are talking about the LA Riots. Before reading the article about Rodney King, I didn’t know anything about the riots. I learned that policemen could be cruel and not always nice. The police had power over Rodney King and they abused it, so therefore he and the entire black community didn’t have the power to overcome the police. A question I have after reading about the riots is did one person start the riots or did a group of people start it?

The LA Riots were not only about beating Rodney King but also the whole Black community. If you were Black in 1992 and if you were somewhere at the wrong time or wrong place the same thing would have happened to you. I feel like I can relate to Rodney King because one of my family members passed through a similar situation. My uncle was stopped at a checkpoint and the cop stopped him because he looked dark. They took him to the police station and took his things so once he got deported the police station never gave him his cell phone or money. After reading about the riots knowing how cops beat Black people in 1992 and how my uncle was treated recently, I realized how in over 20 years there still hasn’t been a lot of change in racism.

Miriam Toledo

In my Geography class we have been learning a lot of new things. A few weeks ago we started to talk about the LA Riots. The LA Riots relate to Geography because in they wouldn’t give money to the rioters and that relates to Geography because of the 4 Worlds. What I recently learned was that over 2,000 people were injured in the LA Riots and 12,000 were arrested. Before learning this I didn’t know that Rodney King was NOT the MAIN reason for the LA Riots. He just maid[sic] black people say enough is enough. Some people may favor blacks and some may favor whites but more people favor the LAPD. In the Riots why were blacks beating Asians? When I heard about it, it reminded me of a few things like when people call Immigrants “Aliens” and insult them because they know they won’t fight back because they are scared. It also reminded me of the Civil War because they are treated differently because of their color “Discrimination.” I can relate to this because the LAPD are racist and they give people tickets and arrest them for their race. The problem has changed since the LA Riots but not completely gone away.
Belen Garcia

I learned that Watts exploded because the Voting Rights Act was signed into law, clearing away barriers for blacks to vote. This is related to the Voting Acts Right because it’s all about how blacks should have their own rights of voting. They were really happy because they had their chance of having voting rights. In a country that is about freedom why did blacks have to fight for theirs? This is really a lot like in EL Salvador where people always have to fight the government for their right. Another thing is that the people in El Salvador have too many problems with the government of getting their rights. Here in the United States is almost the same thing because its hard to get your rights especially for Latinos, sometimes Blacks, and other kinds of races. I wish that all those people that don’t have any rights they should get an opportunity of having some rights. Another thing is that about the people that cross that border and want an opportunity of having a job and helping their family and trying to be a citizen of this country. People all over the world think that they should come here because they think this is a country of jobs.

Isaac Castro

What I have learned from the Riots was how Rodney King’s beating was one of the causes for the riots. He wasn’t the main cause but a small portion. I didn’t really know anything about Rodney King and how he was beaten by four cops nor about the riots. This was really all new to me! But after I read the article and talked about it I learned a lot about him and how the LA Riots started. He was like the person who made the people lose control. In the end I think this is favoring the African Americans because those cops were punished for violating Rodney King’s civil rights! This favored the African Americans because they got the justice they fought for through all that violence they had to go through. One of the questions I had that wasn’t really answered was, “What happened to the four police officers that beat Rodney King after they served their punishment?” I would like to know what happened to them after all that happened. Did they live a normal life? Or a harsh one? This issue reminds me of how police authorities always believe the white person over the colored one. How could those four cops not be guilty — they have the beating of Rodney King on video! It was an all-white jury; it wasn’t really fair for Rodney King! One example is if a white person gets into trouble with a colored person, the police would most likely believe the white person! That’s what I learned about the Riots And Rodney King and his beating.
Nerry Amaya

I learned that the L.A. Riots started because of the beating of Rodney King, but it wasn’t the only cause. Four police officers were found guilty for beating Rodney King. A crowd of people started to burn shops and cars were turned over and set on fire. The Riot wasn’t only about police beating Rodney King, it was also about police brutality. People didn’t think that police brutality was fair. I think that police brutality isn’t fair and it needs to stop. Police need to start acting in a better way. I wonder why do police act so brutally. Is it because of peoples’ skin color or the way they look? Why did the police beat Rodney King? Why do police think their the shit only because they have a gun. Like what the hell is wrong with them? They should respect others too because they don’t like when people disrespect them. I think that the Rodney King case wasn’t fair because the judge was white and the police officers were too. The judge is racist because Rodney King was black and the four police officers where white so he didn’t think that the officers were guilty, people didn’t think that it was fair.
Ana Hernandez

I recently learned about the Rodney King beating and the not guilty verdict by the police who beat him. The Black people in the community reacted to that verdict because they found the judge’s verdict completely unfair and racist since the cops were White. A question I have is why did this whole Rodney King verdict have to occur. For the Whites and law to see how all of the police brutality and racism was affecting so many people in the community. I’ve seen people resist arrest before and Rodney King did not resist, the police began beating him while he couldn’t do anything and I’ve seen police beat at people like that and sometimes it isn’t fair because it could be five cops against one person, and that’s like what happened to Rodney King. Police can be rude sometimes, I’ve seen them be rude to my uncle once and they almost arrested him in our own house, they wanted him to come out of the house to talk but we all knew if he got out the property the cops would get him, for doing absolutely nothing. And since my uncle looks like a gang member, I believe the cops were discriminating him. The LA Riots did not only happen because of King, he was one of the reasons, but people just got tired of being mistreated and being judged for years and the police “not guilty” verdict finally made them react to the years of racism, beatings and unfairness, which is how the LA Riots occurred.
Carolina Silva

In 1992: LA in flames after ‘not guilty’ verdict article I learned that police officers were discriminating against other races that are not white, especially the blacks. What was significant about this article was that other law enforcements were concerned with what was going on and were disappointed in the LA police force especially on their behavior. This article favors the people with power and control over lesser people. The Rodney King verdict was unfair to many that thought those police officers should go to jail and pay for their hate crime against King. Though afterwards,” the four acquitted police officers had a second trial a year later on the federal charges of violating Rodney King’s civil rights.” Stacey Koon and Laurence Powell were found guilty and each had to serve two years in prison. That verdict seemed fair enough, even though there were more than two officers beating King.
Diana Renoj

The LA Riots
Recently in my Geography class we have been studying the LA Riots. We have been trying to figure out if things have changed since the LA Riots. We read about the Rodney King incident, we read about how Rodney King was beaten and how the police officers that did the beating were found innocent in the first trial. Something that I didn’t know was that in the second [trial] only the officers Stacey Koon and Laurence Powell [were tried]. The other two officers were Timothy Wind and Theodore Briseno. I think the jury that had to do with the Rodney King trial was being unfair. They were being unfair because I think that they were being biased because they knew that the police were guilty but since they are the law enforcement they didn’t have to deal the consequences of their actions. Rodney King wasn’t the main reason why the LA Riots happened. I think that it was just one of the few reasons why the LA Riots happened. I think the LA Riots happened because people were tired of being mistreated because of the color of their skin. If everybody would be treated the same then the LA Riots would of never happened. I think the police officers were a big factor to the LA Riots I think this because the people who were being the most unfair were the police. I think that law enforcement today is still unfair. I think that some police officers are racist. For example, one time the police stopped my brother-in-law for no reason. I think they stopped him because he was black and he had west coast tattooed on his arms. The police had no reason to stop him; they were just being racist.
Casandra Gutierrez

After reading about the Rodney King matter I learned that police were very cruel and thought that they can do whatever they desired just because they were the authority. I feel like most people are in favor of Rodney King because he was brutally beaten for no reason at all. One of the questions I had was “Why would our country leaders allow such brutality towards people of color?” This issue reminded me of the racist policemen of today, and how they mistreat people, mostly people of color. The Rodney King issue really made me think about how the jury in the Rodney King trial could even think that the four policemen were not guilty after they beat an innocent man. The most ridiculous thing about the Rodney King trial was that the jury was all white, not a single person of color. The reason why the L.A. Riots occurred is that people were tired of all the racism going on towards them, and the Rodney King beating was the straw that broke the camels back. I can relate to this because I’m the type of person that will not tolerate any disrespect towards me or the people I care about
Karla Ayala

Filed Under: High School Notebook Tagged With: , , ,

Conviction in the murder of Jamiel Shaw

May 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment


An undocumented immigrant and known gang member was convicted on Wednesday in the murder of 17-year-old Jamiel Shaw Jr.

Pedro Espinoza, 23, was found guilty of first-degree murder in the March 2, 2008 shooting of Shaw, a football star at Los Angeles High School. The jury deliberated for less than four hours before reaching its verdict. It found special circumstances in the killing, which makes Espinoza eligible for the death penalty. On May 15th, the same jury will begin considering whether Espinoza should be put to death or sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

“It restores your faith in the justice system” said Jamiel Shaw Sr. outside the court room after the verdict was announced.

Shaw was shot twice near his home in Arlington Heights. Prosecutors allege that Espinoza thought Shaw was a member of the rival Bloods gang because he was carrying a red Spider-Man backpack. At the time of the shooting, Espinoza had just been released from jail and was living in the United States illegally.

The murder of their son turned the Shaw family into anti-immigration activists. They have a website in their campaign for Jamiel’s Law that would allow police to arrest undocumented immigrant gang members and turn them over to federal authorities.

Filed Under: Community Tagged With: ,

OpEd: South LA is the home of the underdogs

May 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment


By Martha Sánchez

Throughout the decades, South Los Angeles has been a victim of racialized spaces and racialized practices in a postindustrial economy, subjected to five aspects of dominance – infrastructure, industry, immigration, institutions and identity policies, as powerful regulatory tools were utilized by local government to carry out redevelopment plans and discriminatory ordinances.

But through it all, South LA residents have struggled to combat crime, corruption, infrastructural disinvestment, environmental contamination, racial and ethnic tensions, inadequate education, poverty and racial discrimination through grass roots organizing efforts.

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Garbage on the property of a slumlord building that housed 40 tenants on W. 49th St. In January of this year, the Housing Department declared the building illegal and unfit for people to live in. (Photo: Javier Cortez)

Though once known as a semi-industrialized community with good jobs, the South Central community in Los Angeles continues entrapped in an era of economic decline, self-destruction, stigmatization and shame. The number of dilapidated buildings, poor infrastructure, substandard housing and environmental damage has forced residents to shout out “Ya basta!” (It’s enough!). People are tired of living in places where “nobody cares” and where racial discrimination is damaging people’s dignity and self-esteem. As a result, most black working and middle class former residents come across the “ghetto boundaries” searching for better opportunities and leaving behind nice Victorian and Craftsman style housing for Latinos.

The place where I live now dates back to the 1800’s. My home is located few blocks away from the historic jazz corridor. I moved to South LA at the end of 1999, seven years after the Rodney King beating. I can speak about the riots as an “outsider,” someone who witnessed the revanchist explosion of oppressed citizens in South LA from my home in Mexico.

At that time, we were constantly bombarded with the idea that “the riots began with the beating of Rodney King.” However, what happened in Los Angeles was the consequence of economic decline, cultural decay and political lethargy in American life, with race being the visible catalyst, not the underlying cause.

Contrary to popular thinking, the historical black community was changing even before the civil unrest. Most immigrants from Mexico and Central America started occupying the places that African-Americans left behind back in the 1960’s, after the community underwent a severe deindustrialization.

During that time, Gilbert W. Lindsay, a former City Hall janitor, became the first black Councilmember. Although Lindsay accomplished many structural changes that improved L.A.’s economy, he almost destroyed the southeast region of his council district by rezoning the historically black district from single-family homes into commercial and industrial zones.

Hundreds of beautiful Victorian and Craftsman homes were demolished to allow the construction of warehouses, commercial and industrial facilities.

Housing ordinances from 1964 helped blacks obtain better housing in suburbs like View Park, Baldwin Hills, San Bernardino and Riverside counties. I would dare to call that housing ordinance the once-in-a life time opportunity for the wealthy and middle class black community, since in most cases, it was handled as an “enclosed land transaction” between home owners and corporate land developers. Consequently, the next generation of Latinos who occupied the historical black neighborhood did so as a result from the economic restructuring and reindustrialization.

Under Lindsay’s administration, powerful city officials, regulators, landowners and profit-driven developers, changed all aspects of community planning. During his term, numerous wrecking yards and industrial facilities were located nearby existing schools, churches, and family homes. Those zoning decisions created even more problems because many of those industrial activities produced toxic fumes threatening the public health of the adjacent community members.

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Signs outside the Palace Plating chrome plating facility shut down in December of 2011.

The lack of environmental standards allowed companies to release tons of toxic fumes into the environment through the air, soil and water, at the discretion of the owner. Though it is true that the distress confronted by the Latino community against industrial restructuring, poverty, environmental pollution and degradation is similar to other minorities, it is also well documented that Latinos, compared to African Americans, received less media attention. Ironically, the disproportionate impact of past policies still exists.

Places matter more to very poor people than to those who are better off. That’s evident when you hear people shouting in mass demonstrations “Aquí estamos y no nos vamos” (We’re here and we’re not leaving). There are hundreds of stories to write about survivors, unsung local heroes and unknown community activists.

We need space to signify dozens of testimonies from people involved in defeating a city policy that could allow the construction of a trash-to-energy incineration plant, the same lot that was called the Oasis in a Concrete Desert rented by the South Central Farmers. There are hundreds of public statements, community actions and successful stories surrounding economic development, jobs, affordable housing, rail-of-way connectors, public transportation, school sites, healthy food, liquor stores, and education opportunities before and after the civil unrest.

The South LA community should be better called “the home of the underdogs” always contending, defending, creating or supporting new ideas, policy changes, and economic opportunities.

imageMartha Sánchez is a community activist and advocate, whose efforts led to the closure of Palace Plating, a toxic polluting plant just feet away from 28th Street Elementary.

Filed Under: Politics Tagged With:

Application deadline for special scholarships

May 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment


The Shawn Carter Scholarship Foundation offers scholarship opportunities to any under served students across the United States who want to pursue a college education.

The SCSF provides individual grants ranging from $1500 to $2500 to students who qualify. Students can reapply every year from first date of admission to graduation. The grant can be used to cover tuition expenses, books, lab fees, travel and some living costs. In return, all Shawn Carter Scholars are required to “give back” by doing community service and by being mentors to younger, aspiring Shawn Carter Scholars.

To qualify, applicants must be high school seniors, college students, or pursuing studies at a vocational or trade school. They must be U.S. Citizens between the ages of 18-25 and have a minimum GPA of 2.5.

The SCSF is unique because it offers scholarships to applicants with hardship circumstances, who would normally not be eligible, but dream of going to college or learning a trade. Among some of the previously accepted candidates: single mothers, children who attend alternative schools, students who have earned a GED, and students who have been previously incarcerated.

Interested students must complete an on-line application no later than the deadline date of May 15, 2012. Click here to apply.

Filed Under: Education Tagged With: ,

South LA Shareholder Activists Confront Oil Company’s Leaders over Billions in Dodged Taxes

May 7, 2012 By Leave a Comment


By Esperanza Arrizon
Good Jobs LA

imagePeople from struggling South LA communities took the message of the 99% to Occidental Petroleum’s annual shareholder meeting on Friday. Shareholder activists confronted company executives and directors over Occidental Petroleum’s billions in dodged taxes. Afterwards, they joined supporters for a protest outside the meeting location.

“We made our voices heard and delivered our message that tax-dodging corporations, like Occidental Petroleum, need to pay their fair share,” said Debra Taylor Padgett, a local resident who attended the company’s shareholder meeting. “I’m proud of what we did today and I’m proud to be part of the 99%.”

From 2008 to 2011, Occidental Petroleum – the country’s fourth largest oil company – made $15.8 billion in profits by extracting valuable oil resources from communities across California and the U.S. Occidental Petroleum executives and directors have rewarded themselves with millions – paying CEO Stephen Chazen $31.7 million in 2011 and members of its Board of Directors up to $1 million a year for part-time work – but the company is leaving the communities it operates in behind.

Occidental Petroleum paid only a 15.2% average federal tax rate and received $3.1 billion in tax subsidies over the past four years. At the same time, the company spends millions opposing efforts to compensate California for oil extraction, leaving California as the only state that does not tax oil production.

When profitable corporations like Occidental Petroleum fail to pay their fair share in taxes, communities cannot afford teachers, firefighters, police officers, health care and other essential public services.

“These corporations have to pay taxes! I had to pay property taxes even after my house was taken away and it just isn’t fair that companies like Occidental Petroleum get away with tax dodging, especially when so many communities that are struggling,” said Silvia Sanchez, a Compton resident who attended the protest.

Filed Under: Featured, Politics Tagged With: , ,

Fewer customers hurting Leimert Park businesses

May 6, 2012 By Leave a Comment


imageBy Theresa Pablos

The economic downturn has been devastating for Obine Ador. He’s now in the process of closing his shop in Leimert Park Village. “It’s because the business here isn’t like it used to be,” he explains.

Ador opened the African art store, called African Heritage and Antique Collection, in Leimert Park about five years ago. He remembers when business was better.

“People were looking for African medallions, masks, clothes… It was a trend,” says Ador, who believes his loss might have been preventable if the Leimert Park Village Merchants Association (LPVMA) was in better shape. LPVMA was started in 1933 to help stores in Leimert Park Village.

“I can’t say it’s helpful. They haven’t achieved anything,” he says. “Everybody has their opinion on how the thing should be, and nothing has come up as a result.”

The current president of the LPVMA is Jackie Ryan, co-owner of Zambezi Bazaar. She declined to comment about her work as association president, but she has recently made promotional efforts, such as creating fliers, banners and a website that publicize Leimert Park Village.

imageHowever, some storeowners think her marketing campaign has not drawn in enough new customers to keep stores open and flourishing.

“The leadership should be promoting here – promoting Leimert Park,” Ador says. “Laura used to be president and everybody liked her.”

He refers to Laura Hendrix, the former president of the LPVMA, who has owned Gallery Plus, an art store in Leimert Park Village, for 21 years. She agrees with Ador.

“The leadership hasn’t been as strong,” says Hendrix, who is no longer a member of the LPVMA. “We used to have at least 35 stores in the association.” Now, only about 20 stores comprise the LPVMA.

For Hendrix, her biggest success has been keeping her art store open for so many years. “It’s been rewarding to be here, to work with other merchants,” Hendrix says.

All of the storeowners in Leimert Park Village work closely together to promote business on the street. The collaborative effort to share customers has helped fill in the gaps that the LPVMA has not been able to. “We don’t try to exclude anybody,” Hendrix says. “It’s better than fighting for yourself.”

For about 80 years, Leimert Park businesses have been drawing customers with festivals. According to Hendrix, there are about three or four street-wide festivals throughout the year, mostly put on by non-profit groups, in addition to other events organized by local businesses.

“If you want more people to come, you have to have more events, something to spice things up,” says Barrington Bailey, a two-year employee of Adassa’s Island Café and Entertainment in Leimert Park Village.

imageBailey notices that more customers come in during special events like their buffet brunch and live jazz music every Sunday from 11 am to 4 pm. When customers come to Adassa’s Island Café for their highly rated Jamaican food, other businesses on the street also get customers.

Mia Robinson, a regular at Addassa’s, began walking the street after visiting the restaurant one time. “I’ve been to the bookstore,” she says. “People have done book signings, but I haven’t been [to the signings] yet, but I want to.”

While the LPVMA or the stores of Leimert Park Village are not as successful as they were in the past, they are not giving up. Even Ador who is closing his store plans to return.

“I’m going to come back and bring my African art.” He says he’s thinking of doing wholesale to supply the stores in Leimert Park Village.

In the meantime, Ador and other storeowners hope the economy recovers soon, so that Leimert Park Village can once again become a thriving cultural and business hub.

Filed Under: Business, Featured Tagged With: , , , ,

The forgotten victims of the riots

May 5, 2012 By Leave a Comment


The riot anniversary coverage on most media outlets revisited images of the Rodney King beaten by police, of trucker Reginald Denny being pulled and brutally attacked by a mob on Florence and Normandie, fires consuming the city, looters brazenly entering stores and stealing as much as they could and Korean storeowners armed with guns shooting at crowds.

imageBut there was a blaring omission in the coverage: the savage attack of Guatemalan immigrant Fidel López, who suffered a similar fate to that of Denny. On April 29, 1992, minutes after Denny was brutalized and rescued by four good Samaritans, the 48 year-old López was pulled from his truck, robbed and viciously assaulted in the very same intersection.

López’s assailants split his forehead open, almost severed his ear, stripped him naked, spray painted his body black and doused him with gasoline with the intent to set him on fire. He was saved by the Rev. Bennie Newton, an African-American minister who shielded López from the attackers with his own body and took him to the hospital.

Why is Denny remembered and López forgotten, if they both suffered the same fate, on the same day, in the same intersection and both beatings were captured on video?

Read the rest of the story here.

Photo of Fidel López courtesy of La Opinión newspaper.

Filed Under: Community, Featured Tagged With: ,
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