Los Angeles Community Action Network

Gregg Reese  |   OW Staff Writer
Jan 12 2012

Some contend occupiers are all in the family

“Conflicts are unavoidable because a stage has been reached in which the reality of equality will require extensive adjustments in the way of life of some of the White majority.” 
—from “The Last Steep Ascent,” originally published by Martin Luther King Jr. in the March 1966 issue of The Nation. 
 

Gregg Reese  |   OW Staff Writer
May 5 2011

A more humane approach sought

Downtown’s skyline continues its ascent upward while at street level the battle continues for the fate of the less fortunate in Los Angeles’ halls of justice.

On April 22, the United States District Court handed down a restraining order against the Los Angeles Police Department, the county Department of Public Works, and other agencies, which prevents them from confiscating or destroying the property of its homeless citizens in the city.
 

Gregg Reese  |   OW Staff Writer
Feb 17 2011

Documents downtown homelessness

“Redevelopment” is by now an antiquated term for Los Angeles’ downtown area, as anyone traversing the freeways serviced by the hub adjoining the geographic center of this great metropolis can attest. The physical manifestation of all the architectural and real estate concerns and aspirations are readily apparent for miles around.

Gregg Reese  |   OW Staff Writer
Dec 9 2010

Echoes federal concerns

“LAPD presently engages in no systematic, proactive effort to identify whether biased policing is a problem or to identify and correct the behavior of individual officers who show significant racial disparities in their stops and post-stop actions.” —Jessica Price, on behalf of the ACLU of Southern California

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.