January 08, 2015

By Lauren Jones,

Sentinel Contributing Writer

 

Just one day after playing at the Staples Center in his hometown, Portland Trail Blazer’s shooting guard Allen Crabbe III had his jersey retired at Price High School. 

“An honor like this is really hard to put into words,” said Crabbe.

In front of a packed gym with his Gatorade Player of the Year banner already in the raptors, head coach Mike Lynch gave a heartwarming speech about the shooting guard who put Price on the map. 

“I always said one day if we’re lucky enough to have a young man make the NBA, I’d like to honor him by retiring his number and jersey” said Lynch.  “Well that time has come.  This is a two-fold honor — it’s also honoring our program. It took a lot of preparation, pride and faith [for him to make it] and all the principles that go with it.”

The 6’6” Crabbe was one of the most underrated players on the Los Angeles high school basketball scene. He was often overshadowed by his fellow members of the class of 2010 stacked with players like Westchester’s Jordin Mayes and Dwayne Polee, Mater Dei’s Keala King, Tyler Lamb, and Gary Franklin, Solomon Hill out of Fairfax and even Bryce Jones at Taft. 

“I just feel like out of high school I didn’t get a lot of credit and I was overlooked sometimes, but I told myself that I couldn’t focus on that,” acknowledged Crabbe. “I just had to focus on me working hard and things I needed to improve. I was just really trying to make it to the NBA.”

It was not until the summer before his senior year, when he was already committed to the University of California at Berkeley, that recruiters started paying attention. Crabbe was dominating the AAU circuit playing with Compton Magic. Recruiters had no choice as Crabbe had gained 30 pounds, sprouted three inches and was perfecting his shot. 

“He was a beast,” said Crabbe’s dad, Allen Crabbe Jr. “After that summer league, all the local colleges like USC and UCLA that hadn’t recruited him before were knocking on the door.”

In his senior year of high school, he built on the progress he had made that summer. He racked up earning ESPN California State Player of the Year, John Wooden Award, Gatorade Player of the Year, CIF State Player of the Year, LA Times Player of the Year and led Price to its sixth CIF State Championship.

Price not only gave him a platform to prove himself on the court, but it also cultivated him as a young man.

“The principles and the values that he received here, I know that that’s apart of what makes him a good man and a good person,” said his mom, Cheryl Price. “He’s coming into his own in life and I like the way he’s turning out.”

Crabbe attended Price since preschool, which shares a lot with Los Angeles mega church Crenshaw Christian Center.

“I’ve seen him become a man,” said childhood friend, Cameron Lee. “To get to this stage in life and get to the NBA it takes a lot of responsibility and maturation.”

As the grandson of Price School and Crenshaw Christian Center founders, Apostle Frederick K.C. Price and Dr. Betty Price, Crabbe says there were high expectations to be successful and stay out of trouble.

“I always had eyes on me,” said Crabbe. He made sure that he made his grandparents proud. Growing up in the church, faith has been an instrumental part in his journey to the NBA. 

“It’s not something that I really broadcast because a relationship with God is personal in my opinion,” said Crabbe. “But trust God, believe in God. Pray for the things you want and it will happen for you. I feel like just watching those things that you want come to existence. Prayer does work and it’s all I know.” 

The second school Crabbe attended was Cal Berkeley where he spent three seasons. He played under then head coach Mike Montgomery alongside his Price teammate Richard Solomon. 

“Playing for Coach Montgomery was great because I wanted to play for a coach who knew what it takes to get me to the NBA,” said Crabbe. 

After earning Pac-12 Freshman of the Year averaging 13.4 points and 5.3 rebounds per game, he was well on his way to achieving his lifelong dream. In his sophomore year, Crabbe averaged 15.2 points and 5.7 rebounds making All Pac-12 first team. He rounded out his time at Cal with becoming Pac-12 Player of the Year in his junior season. 

Crabbe says in retrospect choosing Cal was the best decision for him. In many ways choosing Cal is representative of the type of person and player he is, low-key. 

Following his junior year, he quietly became the first player out of his class from Los Angeles to make it to the NBA. He was drafted 31st overall to the Cleveland Cavaliers then immediately traded to the Portland Trail Blazers. For the first time in his basketball career, however, Crabbe was not the star. 

“Rough, rough, rough,” Price repeated as she described her son’s rookie season. “You go from being on the floor every night if not the entire game every night to the NBA where I don’t want to say you’re a nobody, but you’re a small fish.”

Like many college standouts, Crabbe got into a rookie season rut that landed him on the Idaho Stampede, a NBA D-League team, for a brief stint. 

“That was so difficult,” said Price. “Talk about prayer and scriptures and giving him pep talks and pep texts.” Despite hitting a rough patch his first year, Crabbe applied the same formula that got him to the NBA. 

“I was telling him stay ready,” said Crabbe Jr. “Be the first to get to the gym and the last to leave. Even when you start doing well don’t change the script. You did it here in high school, you did it in college.”

Crabbe took his father’s advice. When Portland Trail Blazer’s starting shooting guard C.J. McCollum sustained a finger fracture, Crabbe’s number was called. This past November, Crabbe made his first NBA career start.

“Allen is a sleeper,” said Crabbe Jr. “He’s always been the unsung hero.”

Since then, Crabbe has made appearances in every game. He is finally finding his footing in the NBA. With the continued support of his family from Price and Crenshaw Christian Center all rooting for him coupled with increased minutes on the court it will not be long before Crabbe leaves his mark on the NBA as well.

January 01, 2015

Protesters, including R&B Singer/Actor Tyrese Gibson march along Hollywood Boulevard on December 6, 2014. 

Montgomery, Alabama: Carrying the American flag, civil rights marchers arrive at their goal, the State Capitol, climaxing their 5-day long Selma to Montgomery march.

 

Amen Oyiboke, Nicole Williams and Brian Carter, Staff Writers 

 

"I can’t breathe! I can’t breathe!” a woman yelled as she held up a sign that read “This is not a TV show!! The Living Black is The Walking Dead.” It was the first voice that echoed against buildings along Hollywood Boulevard as hundreds of people wearing all black gathered to march down the iconic boulevard on December 6, 2014. The “Hollywood Blackout” march became one of many non-violent gatherings around the world in response to the killings of unarmed Black men by police and the non-indictments in Ferguson, Missouri in the police shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown and the chokehold murder of Eric Garner by NYPD.

 

At  the  front  of  the march, a clear view of the crowd could be seen. Amongst the protesters were also celebrities like Tyrese Gibson who marched with his daughter. Other strong voices could be heard and some marchers could be seen with tears in their eyes. In that moment, as voices filled the space in solidarity and cars honked in support on the opposite lane, it felt as if one was standing in what was becoming a movement -- a new movement.

 

LAPD monitored the march and blocked off lanes so that marchers could walk without risk of being injured by traffic. Some thanked officers for their collaborative efforts and one officer smiled and replied, “I believe in this too.” All age groups and ethnicities joined in solidarity, but the spotlight was on the sprouting generation of 20-somethings, who seem to have picked up momentum to bring awareness to the injustices. The Hollywood Blackout march was organized through social media by Darnell Appling, a television actor who is 27 years old.

 

“This is a march out of respect. We’re going to do this in a classy way. We’re going to set the tone...The person standing next to you, it is your brother and your sister,” Appling said over the megaphone.

 

And he’s not the only one. Run For Justice is an organization created by 28-year-old Londrelle Hall to raise awareness of racial injustice and police brutality in America. The movement began as a 550 mile run made on foot by Hall and 29-year-old Ray Mills from Atlanta, Georgia to Ferguson, Missouri to the spot where unarmed Michael Brown was shot and killed by Officer Darren Wilson. The journey not only raised awareness to their cause, but also raised $10,000 for the Brown family, which has been quoted to be the most money the family has so far received.

 

Their journey brought them out to Los Angeles to do a run at Runyon Canyon Park, which brought out over 50 people. Some had been following their journey through social media and others were friends to the founders. The two note that they started this running movement to spread love and to also get others to recognize that they too, can take a stand.

 

“In our community, we seem to get complacent. I just wanted to keep the eyes on Ferguson and help the family. And I wanted to get the people to stand up...Running gives me liberation, so I decided I would run to raise awareness, run to unite people and run to get people to wake up and take action,” Hall said.

 

Runner, Danielle “Stoni” Clark is amongst many who feel that this is just the beginning of a much bigger movement.

 

“I believe it’s the first step to something way, way bigger. We need to come together in the communities first. Without unity, we can’t accomplish anything. Events like these, that is exactly what it’s doing. You’re bringing people from different communities and not just Black people...all races come to events like this,” Clark said.

 

Other  runners   like friends, Candice Johnson, Brandon Claybon and Shirrelle McCray came to support Run For Justice to make a statement

“People talk about we are in a post-racial America, but I don’t believe it’s true,” Claybon began. “This is our stand. We’re letting people know that we’re here and we’re not going anywhere and you have to respect us.”

 

“Right now we are in history. What are you going to do? You need to get out and be active.

 

Are you going to be a player or are you going to sit on the sidelines?” McCray said.

When  asked  about what the protesters want to happen next, one runner says they want to understand policing.

 

“We need to have a serious conversation about police, their roles, their strategies and the way they’re supposed to interact with the public. I think it’s a blurred line right now that we need to define if what the officers have done was justified. We want to know why it’s justified,” McCray said.

 

The protesting hasn’t stopped in Los Angeles. Run For Justice is continuing to travel to other parts of the United States like New York and then Atlanta, Georgia. Other places around the world have also joined in solidarity, such as colleges and universities and images spread spread of people from other countries, such as Palestine, holding up signs for Ferguson. Los Angeles held a “Millions March” on December 27, 2014 where several thousands of protesters marched against police brutality.

Contrasting from the Hollywood Blackout march in early December 2014, the new movement seems to have gained momentum.

 

Though   some   could see or refer to the nationwide protests as a new civil rights movement, civil rights activists and freedom rider Rev. James Lawson says more has to be done before that can be true.

 

“When  you  talk about the Civil Rights Movement and specifically about the nonviolent direct action movement of which I was a major part, you have to recognize that specific movement has not yet been examined and studied carefully,” said Lawson.

 

A  follower  and  practitioner of nonviolence, Lawson was an active and influential member of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement being requested by Martin Luther King, Jr. himself. Lawson was the field secretary for the Fellowship of Reconciliation, organized the Nashville Student Movement sit-in and held workshops on nonviolent techniques and strategies. He weighed on the recent protests for justice against police brutality.

 

“The present protests we see going on will probably fade,” said Lawson. “The anger won’t fade but… they do not look to have in place the plans for gaining momentum or increasing the numbers of people, who are going to wake up and get involved...I don’t see any of that.”

 

Journalist and syndicated columnist, Roland Martin commented on the recent protests and whether it shows any signs of being a civil rights movement for a new generation. He says that the tools for building a new movement have always been there.

 

“I’ve always said that there was a need to turn these moments into a movement,” said Martin. “I said this after Jena 6, I said the exact same thing after Trayvon Martin. Jena 6, you had 350,000 people who went down to Louisiana but after it was over, it sort of dissipated. Trayvon Martin, you had action as well, you had some organizations that rose out of that but same thing, a lot of people went their own way,”

 

University of Southern   California Gould Law School Professor Dr. Jody Armour believes the multitude of people protesting should know their end vision, so that their fight for change won’t die.

 

“It may be a movement where multiple people make change. We need clarity of purpose. New ideas work not old ideas. There are multiple ideas that have failed in the past that have gotten us nowhere such as the personal discrepancy problem. We have to look beyond pointing fingers saying it is an individual’s fault for the things happening,” Armour said. “Nothing of this scale has happened in my lifetime, where world wide protests are occurring. This period has a promise, but we are at a critical moment where our clear visions need great thinkers.”

 

For critical building, the new movement of justice for the youth in America begins with in depth evaluation of past occurrences.

 

“I think that you got to go beyond Mike Brown and Eric Garner because it was a build up. It was Chavis Carter in Jonesboro, Arkansas, it was Victor White III in New Iberia, Louisiana, it was John Crawford III in Dayton, Ohio, it was cases outside of South Carolina, Georgia, it was case after case, after case that people said, ‘wait a minute, this makes no sense,” Martin said. “I think all of that culminated with Mike Brown and that’s why you’re seeing this intensity. I’ve had the opportunity to speak with a lot of these young leaders, who started these various groups and this is certainly a moment to turn into a movement. You see it happening, you have these spontaneous protests but I do think you have a social justice movement that is forming, that is being built, that is going to be lasting because people are simply saying, ‘enough is enough’.”

 

Lawson says that in order for this movement to really take hold and be as effective as the civil rights movement he was a part of, it’s going to take much more experience, vision and time.

 

“The so-called national voices that I see and hear have no experience in developing a national campaign,” said Lawson. “They are operating from the wrong premise.

 

“They should be doing the organizing, the recruitment and the kinds of strategies that build for the long term that develop, no matter how slowly, escalation of numbers because numbers are important to move any public system.

 

“Some scholars say that a good campaign is going to require about 3.7 percent of the population that’s agreed or involved. You have to reach the number that is relevant to your locality. In addition to that number of people who would get involved directly, you have to reach the public who will not go to march, sit-in but will go to the mass meetings to be informed and will be supporting the effort emotionally and with what money they can give and supporting it by talking it up.”

Lawson spoke about how planning is vital to any movement especially in reaching a larger demographic of people and that it is important to remember that everyone still has lives to live.

     

“There  are  too many people, who [are] very aware but have busy lives to sustain themselves and their families,” said Lawson. “So if you want them, you have to work in such a fashion that they can give up an evening a week or a Saturday a week to work with you in the campaign.”

Lawson also made it a point that the energy for a civil rights campaign has to come from a positive place. He stated that violence, profanity and hatred have no place in an effective campaign on adversity.

 

“You cannot have all the rage…bad-talking and violence and so forth—women are not going to support that,” said Lawson. “Mothers and fathers are not going to want to bring their children to some of the demonstrations if you’re going to do that, they will fear for their safety. The folks who want to develop a movement must develop a compassionate, loving struggle that treats everybody that they can attract with dignity and respect. You have to build a struggle community that reflects the justice and the changes you want and expect to fulfill.”

 

However, Dr. Armour believes that justice should start in educational and economic resources distribution. “All of these cases happen because of what we are taught and what we are given. When you put people at the lowest of the totem pole you reduce the number of opportunities given to African Americans,” Armour said. “Once we get that taken care of we can also enforce community policing to make sure officers are doing their jobs. We can make reforms that will reduce the grossly disproportionate arrests of African Americans.”

 

December 25, 2014 

By Dr. Maulana Karenga 

Kwanzaa Founder

 

Kwanzaa, as an African American and pan-African holiday, is a celebration of family, community and culture and takes place from December 26 through January 1. This seven-day holiday takes its name from the Swahili prase matunda ya kwanza which means “first fruits”, revealing the holiday’s roots in the first harvest celebrations of ancient Africa, such as pert-en-Min in ancient Egypt, Umkhosi in Zululand, Odwira in Ashantiland and Odu Ilesu in Yorubaland. The Kwanzaa celebration, thus, brings a central message of producing, harvesting and sharing good in the world, and as an agricultural celebration, it is earth-conscious and world-encompassing.

 

In his seminal book, Kwanzaa: A Celebration of Family, Community and Culture, Maulana Karenga states that Kwanzaa is organized around five fundamental activities derived and developed from ancient African harvest celebrations. These activities are: (1) the ingathering of the people to reinforce the bonds between them, especially those of family, community and culture in both the local and global conceptions; (2) special reverence for the Creator and creation in gratitude for the bountifulness and goodness of the earth and with commitment to preserve and protect it; (3) commemoration of the past to remember and honor the ancestors, and to teach their lessons and models of human excellence and achievement history; (4) recommitment to the highest African cultural values, i.e., those ethical and spiritual values which bring forth the best of what it means to be African and human in the fullest sense, with special focus on the Nguzo Saba; and (5) celebration of the good, the good of life and the world and all in it, the good of family, community and culture; and the good of cultivating, harvest and sharing good in the world.

 

The hub and hinge on which the holiday turns are the Nguzo Saba, The Seven Principles, which are directed toward grounding, reaffirming and strengthening family, community and culture. In the celebration of Kwanzaa, each day is dedicated to one of these principles, and activities and discussions are organized around expressing, explaining and exhibiting these principles. Moreover, narratives of persons—ordinary and great—who have embodied and have practiced these principles are shared and discussed. Also, commitments are made to live by and practice these principles in one’s daily live.

 

These principles are: Umoja (Unity)—“to strive for and maintain unity in the family, community, nation and race”; Kujichagulia (Self-Determination)—“to define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves and speak for ourselves”; Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility)—“to build and maintain our community together and make our brother’s and sister’s problems our problems and to solve them together”; Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics)—“to build and maintain our own stores, shops and other businesses and to profit from them together”;  Nia (Purpose)—“to make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness”; Kuumba (Creativity)—“to do always as much as we can, in the way we can in order to leave community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it”; and Imani  (Faith)—“to believe with all our heart in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders and the righteous and victory of our struggle”.

 

In addition to its roots in ancient African harvest celebrations and culture, Kwanzaa also has modern origins in the Black Freedom Movement in the 1960s. Kwanzaa was created in 1966 by an activist scholar, Maulana Karenga, who is currently professor and chair of the Department of Africana Studies at California State University, Long Beach, and who was a major figure in the Black Power phase of the Black Freedom Movement and remains active. During the Movement, he developed a philosophy of cultural and social change called Kawaida, out of which he created Kwanzaa and developed the Nguzo Saba. Thus, Kwanzaa reflects the emphasis of Kawaida philosophy and the Movement on commitment to African consciousness and cultural grounding, a “return to the source”, i.e., Africa recovery of cultural models of excellence; racial and social justice; cooperative practices; and liberating struggle.

 

 Kwanzaa, then, is also a celebration of the recovery of African culture and using it to ground, enrich and expand African life and advance the liberation struggle. Thus, “it is both an act of freedom and a celebration of freedom”. For it was an act of self-conscious returning to our own history and culture, resisting cultural imposition from the dominant society, reaffirming the dignity and integrity of African ways of being human in the world and contributing to creating the conditions of freedom necessary for the good life of African people and the flourishing of their culture. And it is in this liberating spirit that the holiday is conceived and celebrated. Having first been celebrated by members and friends of the organization Us (meaning Us African people) which is chaired by Maulana Karenga and in which it takes root and develops, Kwanzaa is currently celebrated by millions throughout the global African community and on every continent in the world.

 

 Kwanzaa’s symbols represent its origins and its cultural views and values. These are: the mazao (crops) which symbolize African harvest celebrations and the practice and rewards of shared work; mkeka (mat) which symbolizes tradition and history and therefore the foundation on which to build; kinara (candleholder) which symbolizes ancestral roots, the parent people, Continental Africans; mishumaa (the candles) which symbolize the Nguzo Saba, The Seven Principles, which form a central value system for African people; muhindi (corn) which symbolizes children and the future of African people which children embody; Kikombe cha Umoja (unity cup) which symbolizes the foundational principle and practice of unity; and zawadi (gifts) which symbolize the labor and love of parents and the commitments made and kept by children. There are also two supplemental symbols: a representation of the Nguzo Saba and the bendera (flag), containing the three colors black, red and green. These colors symbolize African people, the struggle for liberation and a good world and the promise and future forged in struggle respectively.

 

Each day of Kwanzaa, there are gatherings at home or in the community to celebrate. During these gatherings, celebrants pay homage to the ancestors by pouring libation and sharing narratives of their lives and lessons from their teachings, and recommit themselves to the practice and promotion of the Nguzo Saba. The recommitment to the Nguzo Saba (and other fundamental African values) is made on each of the seven nights of Kwanzaa at home or in community. At the evening meal or a communal event, one of the seven candles are lit each night to focus on the principles in a ritual called “Lifting up the Light that Lasts”. This ritual is to enact the upholding of the Nguzo Saba and other life-affirming and enduring principles which reaffirm and strengthen African family, community and culture; and promote and sustain good in the world.

 

A central and culminating event in the celebration of Kwanzaa is the gathering of the community on December 31 for an African karamu (feast). In addition to the sharing of African foods from both the continent and the diaspora, there is a full range of activities. These include drumming, libation for the ancestors, wisdom from the elders, narratives, poetry, music, dance and other performances to celebrate African family, community and culture and the good and promise of life.

 

The last day of Kwanzaa is a time for pausing and turning inward as persons and a people and thinking deeply about the wonder and obligation of being African in the world. This day, January 1, is called Siku ya Taamuli (The Day of Meditation) and is the last day of Kwanzaa and the first day of the New Year. On this day, persons are obligated to sit down in sober assessment, measure themselves in the mirror of the best of African culture and history, and ask themselves where each of them stands in relationship to the highest of African and human values. To do this, each of them asks and answers three basic questions: who am I? am I really who I am; and am I all I ought to be? Having done this assessment, one then recommits oneself to the Nguzo Saba and other African values and practices which strengthen and make flourish African family, community and culture and contribute to the well-being of the world. In the spirit of Kwanzaa and in the tradition of our ancestors of ancient Egypt, a standard good wish made for persons and the people is, “We wish for you all the good that heaven grants, the earth produces and the waters bring forth from their depths”. Heri za Kwanzaa. Happy Kwanzaa.

 

Dr.  Maulana   Karenga, Professor and Chair of Africana Studies, California State University-Long Beach; Executive Director, African American Cultural Center (Us); Creator of Kwanzaa; and author of Kwanzaa: A Celebration of Family, Community and Culture and Introduction to Black Studies, 4th Edition, www.OfficialKwanzaaWebsite.org;  www.MaulanaKarenga.org.