November 26, 2015
By Amen Oyiboke
Staff Writer
Student protesters at Occidental College occupied a sit-in at the campus’ Arthur G. Coons Administrative Center from November 16 to the 20th, in response to the racial bias at the small college campus.
“We decided to do the sit-in because we have seen that in the past seven years the president of our university has never been able to fulfill the lists of demands that students have put forth, especially in concern to Black students,” said Abilasha Bhola, a student organizer for the OXY United for Black Liberation.
Bhola is talking about a list of demands minority students have requested to make change for students that come from marginalized backgrounds. Bhola described the campus safety guards have been “militarized” to look like police officers with bulletproof vests and have been known to question students of color on campus after dark.
“Several students have complained about being targeted by campus safety with questions of where they are going or coming from when they are Black or Latino,” she said. Students said they have found the student climate to be “very shaky” sometimes towards minorities.
Last year, a fraternity party named “End of the World-Malaysian Air- ISIS-Ebola” was shut down after students brought the event to administrators’ attention. “That was racially motivated and it caused a lot of tension on campus with students. There are many incidents that happen on campus that go unaddressed,” said Bhola.
Occidental, which is located in Eagle Rock, has a student body that is made up mostly of white students. Of the 2,117 undergraduate students enrolled in the fall of 2014, 50.6% of students the students were White, 14.8% Asian, 12.6% Latino and 4.5% Black.
This action comes weeks after student protests throughout the nation, including University of Missouri, where the president and chancellor resigned, and Yale University. In Claremont McKenna College the dean of students stepped down after hunger strikes by two students over an email to a Latina student stating she would work to serve those who “don’t fit our CMC mold.”
Members of the Black Lives Matter Los Angeles and student organizers from USC, CSU Los Angeles, CSU Long Beach and Providence Christian College joined Occidental students.
“Everything about our protest was very communal--being that students from different races could come together to fight one cause,” said Bhola. Over 400 students occupied the administration building, eating, sleeping and holding class in the office—standing their ground.
“Just like the other schools we are fighting for the injustices that are present and can be changed,” said Bhola.
Students delivered the demands to administrators last week asking for “increase budget of the CDO office by 50%, $60,000 allocated to DEB to fund programming and provide resources for black and other marginalized students, immediate removal of LAPD from the campus,” and countless other requests. President Jonathan Veitch did not step down in requests of the students, but he stated to the LA Times that he would tend to some of the requests made by the group.
“We plan to keep on fighting and hold our administrators accountable to their promises of holding 12 out of our 14 demands,” said Bhola. “If need be next semester we will hold a hunger strike.”
November 19, 2015
By Cora Jackson-Fossett
Staff Writer
A few years ago, relations between the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and residents of South L.A. were improving. Today, that relationship is on shaky ground.
Most noticeably, the increase in fatal use-of-force incidents between African Americans and LAPD officers has caused the former welcoming hands of many residents to withdraw, replaced by suspicion.
In the midst of this tense environment, one man is aspiring to make a positive contribution to South L.A. and its surrounding areas.
“I came into this job with the agenda of helping the community and the police department. Everybody knows that police community relations need to be improved. I’m certainly a part of trying to make our city better [and] particularly address the issues in South L.A.,” said Anthony Johnson, president of the L.A. Police Commission.
Johnson has a strong history of community involvement; he’s served on the board of directors for Challengers Boys and Girls Club in South L.A. and is currently a trustee member of the national board of the Boys and Girls Clubs. Also, Johnson is on the board of directors of the Urban League of Los Angeles and active with many nonprofits in greater L.A
“I think those relationships will be an asset,” he said. “There’s many other relationships I’ve built over the years as being a socially-engaged citizen in Los Angeles and there’s a lot of new relationships that I’ve been building everyday.”
For Johnson those new relationships, it seems, are focused on reaching people on an individual level.
“It’s an area that I’m spending a lot of time making sure that I’m building those strong relationships with as many people in the community as possible, really, in all parts of our city, but South L.A. in particular,” he shared.
His emphasis on South L.A. will be needed, especially in light of the serious LAPD-related issues affecting the area. For instance, gang violence has dramatically increased with two-thirds of the gang homicides occurring in African American communities. Additionally, African Americans account for 40% of all homicides in the city.
These statistics coupled with the rise in use-of-force incidents by law enforcement, have fueled tensions. Johnson insists that he shares the community’s concern and last week, he unveiled his agenda to address the situation.
“We will be taking a deep look at use-of-force in general…specifically, where we are today compared to historically and where we are compared to other departments. We will be taking a deep look at our training, what we’re doing compared to what other jurisdictions are doing…making sure there’s proper focus on de-escalation training and training around people suspected of being mentally ill and review of use-of-force incidents involving folks that are suspected of being mentally ill,” he said.
LAPD officers will soon be equipped with front-body cameras; a move that Johnson feels will benefit officers and citizens while providing a sense of transparency.
“One of my expectations is that the use of the body cameras is really going to change the nature of police interactions with the community. There’s a lot of early evidence that shows that the number of complaints decrease with officers that have cameras versus officers that don’t have cameras,” Johnson said.
Another focus for Johnson will be community-based policing.
L.A.’s sprawling geography restricts most policing to patrol cars, making it difficult to build one-on-one relationships with residents and businesses. However, the LAPD has found success in implementing the approach in the city’s housing developments.
“As the president of the Police Commission, [this is] certainly a major priority for me to make we are fostering the expansion of those efforts. It’s also a huge priority for the mayor and it’s something our police chief believes in,” he noted.
As Johnson and the LAPD move forward with reforms, he is asking the community to lend their support as well by doing things like develop positive activities for children in their neighborhoods and report crimes if they see them occur.
Also, he’s calling for consideration about the job that police officers are charged to do.
“We have to acknowledge that the police do have a very dangerous job. They’re often dealing with people on their worst day. When the police are responding to a call, something has gone wrong. It’s a very difficult, very stressful job and there’s got to be some level of understanding for that,” said Johnson.
But, Johnson recognizes that developing the public’s understanding requires that police officers treat citizens professionally and respectfully. While reaching mutual accord between both parties will take time and effort on everyone’s part, he thinks his reforms will improve the process.
“I fully intend on using all of the resources of the Commission, including our Office of Inspector General which gives us the ability to look really into every area of the department and audit and issue reports, and his staff of 40 investigators, to really work in partnership with the LAPD, making the LAPD the best police department that it can possibly be,” declared Johnson.
“In order to really effectuate change, this has to be a partnership. By and large, all of the police officers I have met, they’re on board with this. They want to serve the community, not have an antagonistic relationship with the community. It’s our responsibility to make sure that they are trained properly and have the proper tools to do their job right.”
November 19, 2015
By Savannah Harris
Special to the NNPA News Wire from HU News Service
Hundreds of people gathered at an inaugural event for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture recently in Washington D.C. to celebrate the completion of the museum’s exterior in a year that marks three significant moments in American history.
This year marks the 150th anniversary of the end of the Civil War and the ratification of the 13th Amendment that abolished slavery, as well as the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act—events that greatly shifted the trajectory of African Americans.
The museum’s founding director, Lonnie Bunch, launched the night of celebration, which included music, a dramatic visual arts display, remembrances and congratulations.
“Tonight we commemorate the meaning of freedom, a term that was never abstract to African Americans,” Bunch said.
African Americans’ triumphs through centuries of harsh discrimination were honored and remembered during the celebration, including the premiere of a seven-minute projection depicting over 150 years of African American progress, from Harriet Tubman to the Black Lives Matter movement.
The visual piece, “Commemorate and Celebrate Freedom” by filmmaker Stanley Nelson, bounced 3-D images of the nation’s Black heroes—Frederick Douglass, Ida B. Wells, the Rev. Martin Luther King, and Malcolm X—off the New Orleans-inspired ironwork exterior, tipping a hat to Black craftsmen of another time.
The projection ran on Tuesday November 17 and Wednesday November 18 evening from 5:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.
“This building is homage to the fact that so much of our history is hidden in plain sight,” Bunch said.
When the building opens officially in the fall of 2016, it will include a wide array of Black memorabilia and history, including Harriet Tubman’s hymnal, a lace shawl given to her by Queen Victoria and family photographs of her funeral; a Jim Crow railroad car, Chuck Berry’s red Cadillac convertible, remnants from a slave ship found off the coast of South Africa, works of celebrated Black artists and a Tuskegee Airmen training plan, a slave cabin, Emmett Till’s casket and Muhammad Ali’s protective boxing gear.
Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser linked the history of Black Washingtonians to the history of African Americans, citing cultural contributors like composer, pianist and band leader Duke Ellington, singer and composer Marvin Gaye and actress and singer Pearl Bailey, all of whom were born and raised in the nation’s capital.
Washington Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton called the District of Columbia, “a crucible of African American history.”
After a reading of Margaret Walker’s “For My People,” scored by Darin Atwater and performed by the Soulful Symphony, gospel singer BeBe Winans sang “America” and “Stand” alongside the symphony and a gospel choir.
Winans said seeing the exterior of the museum was a special moment for him.
“As I stood in front, I felt like I was standing in the middle of my past and my future,” he said.
Longtime activist and national radio personality Joe Madison said the museum has significance far beyond Washington
“The message is very clear,” he said. “This is not just a museum for African Americans, but for the world, and we are part of the world.”
November 12, 2015
By Amanda Scurlock
Sports Writer
The president of the University of Missouri resigned Monday as students and faculty scrutinized and protested against his method of addressing racial tensions on campus.
University of Missouri Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin said he would also resign at the end of the year amidst the racial controversy. Protesting reached a climax when around 30 Black football players announced their refusal to participate in team-related activities until President Tim Wolfe stepped down, according to CNN.
The Tigers’ next game will take place in Arrowhead Stadium, home of the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs. Cancellation of the game could cost the university over $1 million, Huffington Post reports.
“The athletes of color at the University of Missouri football team truly believe ‘Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,’’ the football players said in a statement. “We will no longer participate in any football related activities until president Tim Wolfe resigns or is removed due to his negligence toward marginalized students’ experience. WE ARE UNITED!!!!!”
Missouri head football coach Gary Pinkel and athletic director Mack Rhoades released a statement announcing that practice and other team activities were cancelled on Sunday, Huffington Post reports.
Pinkel was in solidarity with the players by stating on Twitter: “The Mizzou Family stands as one. We are united. We are behind our players,” and posting a photo of the team and coaches locking arms.
Black graduate student Johnathan Butler also went on a hunger strike on Nov. 2, saying that he’s protesting “a slew of racist, sexist, homophobic, etc., incidents that have dynamically disrupted the learning experience” at Missouri, according to the Columbia Missourian. Butler vowed not to eat until the president was gone. After Wolfe announced his resignation, Butler tweeted that his strike has ended, Associated Press reports.
Former Missouri linebacker Michael Sam said that he brought water to Butler on Nov. 4 and remarked on the spike of attention the school has received in short notice, ESPN reports.
“Things change when sports gets involved,” Sam said.
Black student groups have complained about injustices, including racial slurs, being committed at the predominantly white university, according to CNN. The Concerned Student 1950 protest organization, who represented every Black student since the first one was admitted in 1950, created a list of demands on Oct. 20. One of the demands was the resignation of President Wolfe, according to ABC News.
Other demands consisted of an increase of African-American staff and faculty by the 2017-2018 academic year and a comprehensive racial awareness and inclusion curriculum.
Protestors blocked Wolfe’s car during the university’s homecoming parade on Oct. 10. Wolfe did not get out of his car or address the group and Police officers removed the protestors, ESPN reports. Wolfe’s car allegedly hit one of the demonstrators, he has apologized for the occurrence, ABC news reports.
Racial tensions spiked this fall when the student body president, an African-American male, became vocal about racism on campus. A drunken white student interrupted the event and addressed attendees with a racial slur. Black student groups complained that university police did not aggressively pursue the perpetrator, according to CNN.
Recently, a swastika drawn in feces was discovered in a dormitory bathroom, according to Huffington Post. Wolfe was seen as ‘insensitive’ and ‘out of touch’ to the concern of students with racial complaints. The former president took ‘little action and made few public statements’ when faced with racial complaints, AP reports.
The Huffington Post reported that Wolfe showed no intention of stepping down, but agreed that “change is needed” in a statement on Sunday. Concerned Student 1950 directed a sit-in on Sunday at a campus plaza where 150 students prayed, read bible verses and sang. Two trucks flying confederate flags drove past the sit-in; many saw that as an intimidation tactic. Several planned to camp out overnight in the plaza, according to ESPN.
Two graduate student groups called for walkouts on Monday and Tuesday, according to CNN.
Players confirmed their next game against Brigham Young University (BYU) will be played as scheduled and they will practice on Tuesday, ESPN reports.
Wolfe said the University of Missouri is working to create a plan that promotes tolerance and diversity by April, according to Huffington Post.