Gardena High School

Sikivu Hutchinson  |   OW Contributing Columnist
Sep 1 2011

Suspensions of African American youth soar as the school system—and parenting—fails them.

Sitting in the sparsely filled auditorium of Gardena High School in Los Angeles at the beginning of an annual senior awards ceremony, I looked around, and wondered; where the hell are the Black parents? I was attending the ceremony to see students from my Women’s Leadership Project program—the majority of whom are African American and en route to four-year colleges—receive much-deserved awards for service and academic achievement. 

May 4 2011

8th Annual Workday

GARDENA, Calif.—On Saturday, May 14th, Sharefest Community Development will hold the 8th Annual Workday, mobilizing thousands of volunteers throughout LA County to complete tangible work projects that will change the quality of life for its residents. The largest project will take place at Gardena High School as the Los Angeles Mayor's office, LAUSD, Councilwoman Janice Hahn's Office, LAPD, City of Gardena, Bank of America and King's Harbor Church are set to join forces with volunteers from the school and the nearby community beautifying and modernizing the campus.
 

Sikivu Hutchinson  |   OW Contributing Columnist
Jan 27 2011

The colorizing of crime

An hour before last Tuesday’s accidental shooting at Gardena High School, the campus radiated calm and placidity. I had just finished doing a workshop on homophobia and gender stereotypes with a peer health class headed by the fabulous teacher Debbie Wallace. The campus is a big geographic hybrid. It abuts a train corridor to the west and a phalanx of freeways to the east. The grounds are labyrinthine and rose bushes bloom fiercely in the courtyard. Four parking lots book-end each of the school’s exits.

Jan 20 2011

School did not comply with security policy

GARDENA, Calif.—Two more teens from Gardena High School were arrested for allegedly helping a classmate who brought a gun to school that discharged and injured two students, including one who was shot in the head, police said.

An official with Los Angeles School Police confirmed that two more arrests were made in the aftermath of the shooting, but they would not provide details.

Across Black America

Here’s a look at African American people and issues making headlines throughout the country.
 

Alabama
Freeman A. Hrabowski, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, will address the annual African American Business Council luncheon on June 28. Hrabowski, who is chairman of President Barack Obama’s Advisory Commission on Education Excellence for African Americans, has a national reputation for his work studying the performance of minority students in math and science. Hrabowski, named one of the 10 best college presidents in the country by Time magazine, was a child leader in the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham in the 1960s.
 

Arkansas
The Liberty Counsel filed a motion and a brief in United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas seeking to intervene on behalf of a Concepts of Life crisis pregnancy center to defend against a suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Reproductive Rights. The groups seek to impose a permanent injunction before the Human Heartbeat Protection Act goes into effect July 18. Liberty Counsel also filed a brief opposing the ACLU’s request for an injunction. The “Heartbeat” bill states that when a woman seeks an abortion at or after the 12th week, doctors must test for a fetal heartbeat before an abortion is performed and inform the pregnant mother that the child in her womb has a heartbeat. If a heartbeat is detected, a woman cannot have an abortion, except in cases of rape, incest, and if a mother’s life is in danger. “As we promised when the legislation was introduced, Liberty Counsel will defend this law without reservation for the people of Arkansas, born and pre-born,” said Matt Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel. “No right is more foundational than the right to life. Without life, all other rights are irrelevant,” concluded Staver.