South Los Angeles

Aug 19 2010

Continuing the Legacy

The Watts Summer Festival recently held its 44th annual event, which was its first without long-time director Tommy Jacquette. Smaller, and produced in the face of an economic situation that felled many of the other stalwart cultural events in the city, the festival none-the-less was able to showcase many up-and-coming artists from Watts and South Los Angeles. The theme was “Continuing the Legacy” and combined old-school and new-school music from genres ranging from Motown to Hip-Hop.

Aug 12 2010

Two African Americans among the seven

LOS ANGELES, Calif.—Two African Americans are among the seven people—including healthcare and business experts and an attorney—recently approved by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to serve on the board of directors of the nonprofit entity being created to oversee operation of the new Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) Hospital in Willowbrook. The prospective panelists last week were jointly nominated by Los Angeles County Chief Executive Officer William T. Fujioka and Dr. John D.

Cynthia E. Griffin-  |   OW Managing Editor
Jul 31 2009

Community schools suffer from large drop-out rates

If you live in South Los Angeles and attend Jefferson High School, you have less than a 50 percent chance of graduating from the 12th grade . . . assuming you make it to the ninth grade at all. If you attend school at Crenshaw, the chances of finishing high school are 50/50.

Those stats on the likelihood of graduating, come from a report recently released by the California Department of Education that examines the drop-out rate for students in grades nine through 12 during the 2006-07 academic year.

May 29 2009

Breaking the cycle of silence on unsolved murders in South L. A.

On Memorial Day, several dozen friends and family members of Antwan Cole gathered at a makeshift memorial site at a busy street corner in South Los Angeles. Their tears of sadness were mixed with shouts of anger over the murder of 19-year-old Cole, gunned down in a drive by shooting last February. The anger was aimed at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s homicide investigators for not solving the murder and at community residents for not helping them solve the killing.

May 15 2009

Photography helps South L. A. youth

Ten weeks ago in South Los Angeles teens from the ages of 12 to 17 came together at Seeking Peaceful Solutions Inc. for a photography class led by Ron Talley and Deborah Talley of Integral Opportunities Corporation.

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.