RLn 02-16-23

San Pedro Intersection Renamed NAACP Square

This Black History Month, the One-Five Aims to Become More of a Reality than a Dream

By Terelle Jerricks, Managing Editor

On Feb. 10, the intersection of Third and Mesa streets has been renamed “NAACP Square” for the local chapter of the San Pedro, Wilmington and Palos Verdes Peninsula NAACP Branch 1069.

Though the renaming of the intersection was pushed through during the waning days of Councilman Joe Buscaino’s administration on Nov. 22, the honor could be seen as a full-circle Black history moment.

In attendance at the unveiling were Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, Compton Mayor Emma Sharif, state Senator Steve Bradford, and Assemblyman Mike Gipson, alongside Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka. For anyone concerned about Black access to quality union jobs on the LA waterfront and familiar with this port town’s labor history, the scene should have been riveting.

The moment was probably most crystalized during Seroka’s comments at the podium.

During his comments, Seroka revealed that he became a member of the NAACP through his friendship with Joe Gatlin, vice president of the NAACP’s local chapter. He recounted his conversation with Gatlin during the protests following the police murder of George Floyd two years ago.

“In 2020, we had so much unrest on our nation’s streets,” Seroka said. “Joe and I sat down and talked about how the port could help.”

African American Studies Are American Studies

Nothing Proves It More Than the Backlash

By Paul Rosenberg, Senior Editor

Don’t Mess with Olivia: Rep. Barragán’s Guest a Reflection of Tomorrow’s Leaders p. 5

The African American Clutural Center of Long Beach Hopes to Fill an Obvious Void p. 9

Feb. 1 — the first day of Black History Month — should have been a day of triumph, as the College Board released the curriculum for its new AP course in African American Studies. Instead, it was mixed with anger and confusion, due to the striking absence of crucial subject matter that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis had attacked just a few weeks earlier, but which had appeared in an earlier document from February 2022.

Attention focused on missing prominent figures, such as Alice Walker and Angela Davis and the exclusion or marginalization of topics, such as Black Lives Matter, reparations, and prison abolition. These were consigned to a list of “Sample Project Topics: Illustrative Only,” which any state was free to edit as it pleased. There was no connection between the two, the College Board claimed — and they could be right. Dr. Kerry Haynie, who helped develop the course, called

it “a DeSantis sharpie moment,” a ludicrous attempt to retroactively create an alternative reality. “There is nothing real about it,” Haynie told Random Lengths News. “What he has said about the course has been misleading and deceitful. It is unfortunate that DeSantis succeeded in getting the New York Times (and other media outlets) and numerous academics to accept his sharpie lines hook, line, and sinker. He succeeded in getting them to engage in a debate of a figment he created, and not the course framework I played a role in developing.”

But DeSantis was just a distraction, according to Dr. Kimberlé Crenshaw, a leading figure in the field whose work is central to the controversy. Rather, she said, the issue is that of responding to a much broader backlash that’s been underway at least since the 2020 BLM protests. “When you look at the learning outcomes, you see them taking a scalpel to precisely the ideas that the anti-woke

faction has demonized,” Crenshaw told Random Lengths. In fact, “In some ways I think that the best thing that might have happened to them was DeSantis making a big display, when they may have already decided to minimize the ideas that they knew the neo-Confederate faction was going to scream about,” Crenshaw said

Similar backlashes have occurred repeatedly in response to Black freedom advances, and much of what’s being objected to now under the misleading rubric of “CRT” (critical race theory) is concerned with making sense of this pattern, particularly the backlash against the civil rights movement. Much like the “Lost Cause” ideology sought to downplay and disavow slavery while laying the foundation for nearly a century of segregation, colorblind racism

Joe Gatlin and Dr. Cheyenne Bryant, vice president president of the NAACP Branch 1069, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, state Senator Steve Bradford, Councilman Tim McOsker and Assemblyman Mike Gipson celebrate the christening of the intersection of Third and Mesa sStreets in San Pedro as “NAACP Square.” Photo by Arturo Garcia-Ayala [See Studies, p. 8]

[See NAACP, p. 3]

Community

Announcements: Harbor Area Committed

in the Greater LA/LB Harbor Area for More Than 40 Years

Independent

San Pedro Church Working with Nonprofits to Provide Services

By Hunter Chase, Community News Reporter

The Warren Chapel Christian Methodist Episcopal Church has services every Sunday, but the Rev. Adam Stevenson intends to have the church help people all week long. Stevenson calls his idea “life stations.”

“If you find yourself in a place, in a station in life where you are dealing with a particular issue in life, well then we will have someone there prepared to meet your needs,” Stevenson said.

For example, Rainbow Resources, a nonprofit based in San Pedro, will be training church members on how to assist victims of domestic violence. Stevenson also intends to help people who are struggling with their mental health, or who need housing.

“All these different things, we will have trained individuals within the church,” Stevenson said. “Not only can we send you to the resources, but we will have individuals who will walk alongside you. If you look at the word ‘encourage’ in its original language, it means to walk alongside. And that’s what we intend to do.”

Warren Chapel CME Church sits across Bandini Canyon which connects to Peck Park. Stevenson noted that if people are having problems, they will often hang out there. Stevenson said he often speaks with them and asks if they need food or other help.

“But if the church is closed until Sunday, we’re not really helping,” Stevenson said. “So

that is the goal, to have it set up in a way that we can be in constant contact, and where we have individuals that are able to walk alongside and where they can reach out to them, and help them all the way through the process.”

Stevenson said he got the idea for the life stations from his experience as a pastor of Warren Chapel, where he has been since 2014.

“What I’ve found is that when people have traumas, or find themselves in certain places in life, one of the first places that they come is the church,” Stevenson said.

Stevenson said it is normal to see new people sitting in the back of the church.

“What I’ve started to notice over time is that while we were maybe spiritually feeding them, we weren’t coming alongside them to help them get the resources and the things that we needed,” Stevenson said.

He saw it as a mismanagement of people. If his church was going to be the first stop for people in crisis, then Stevenson decided it was necessary to have the right resources for whatever they need.

Stevenson said that clergy sometimes bite off more than they can chew. He said that pastors have had to operate as if they were psychiatrists, psychologists, or marriage and family therapists.

“We’re stepping in territory where we don’t have the knowledge or the skill set, so we may

have been not assisting,” Stevenson said. “I won’t say that we’re doing harm, but I think for people to grow spiritually healthy, they have to be emotionally healthy as well.”

Stevenson said the project is in its beginning

POLA Seeks Public Input on Waterfront

The Port of Los Angeles is asking local stakeholders to provide their input at a community workshop Feb. 23 that will focus on how to better link the larger region, San Pedro and its neighborhoods, to the LA Waterfront’s many areas and attractions.

San Pedro’s waterfront connectivity plan initiative will explore a variety of transportation methods and mobility solutions to get to and between LA Waterfront areas — including the new San Pedro promenade and town square, the World Cruise Center and the West Harbor development now under construction. Potential ideas explored will include new and improved pedestrian and vehicular routes, transit, crosswalks, wayfinding signage, open space and active programming. 6 to 8 p.m., Feb. 23

https://www.portoflosangeles.org

POLA Boys and Girls Club, 100 W. 5th St.,

City of RPV Releases Draft EIR for Proposed Portuguese Bend Landslide Remediation

RANCHO PALOS VERDES — The City of Rancho Palos Verdes Feb. 9 released a Draft Environmental Impact Report for the proposed Portuguese Bend landslide remediation project, an estimated $33 million public works project that aims to slow a continuously moving landslide that has significantly damaged homes, utilities and infrastructure for nearly seven decades.

The Draft EIR found that the project would have no significant impacts with measures that mitigate potential impacts to a less than significant level. The Draft EIR is available on the city www.rpvca.gov/landslide for public review and comment for a 64-day period from Feb.

A public hearing to present the Draft EIR findings and solicit feedback is scheduled to happen during the city council meeting March 21. www.rpvca.gov/landslide

Tenant Rights and Resources

With tenant protections changing and some expiring on March 31, it is important to know your rights as a tenant. StayHousedLA.org has created a list of current tenant protections and which ones are expiring.

Know your rights: https://www.stayhousedla. org/tenant_rights

En Español — https://www.stayhousedla.org/ es/

If you are a tenant who needs legal services, you can apply for them here: https://www.stayhousedla.org/referral

En Español — https://www.stayhousedla.org/ es/referral

Attend a tenant rights workshop; https:// www.stayhousedla.org/workshops

En Español - https://www.stayhousedla.org/ es/workshops

Details: 888-694-0040

Extend Homelessness Emergency Outreach

Efforts in Downtown Long Beach

LONG BEACH — Due to the consistent demand for services, the city’s Mobile Access Center or MAC will extend its street outreach efforts in downtown Long Beach in February. This focused outreach will allow Homeless Services Bureau staff to conduct meaningful engagement and continue to build relationships, an essential component in increasing access to resources and services. Data show that some people are contacted 10 or more times before becoming open to receiving services.

Details: https://tinyurl.com/homeless-emergency-outreach

LB Announces Business Improvement Districts Grant Awards

LONG BEACH — The City of Long Beach announced a total of $100,000 in new business improvement districts grant awards, which will support sidewalk activation, special events, and clean and safe initiatives. This program is in addition to the existing LB Recovery Act funding for BID Grants

The Rev. Adam Stevenson, pastor at the Warren Chapel Christian Methodist Episcopal Church. Photo by Arturo Garcia-Ayala [See Services, p. 4]

Local NAACP

The port director referred to Gatlin as a friend, mentor, and guide.

Seroka noted that the port has supported Juneteenth celebrations while creating jobs and opportunities before referencing the goods movement training campus the port announced in 2021.

Anyone unfamiliar with this town’s history, politics, and political figures could be forgiven for not knowing the person of the hour was Gatlin, a native of San Pedro, whose parents set down roots in this town more than 80 years ago. His grandparents arrived in San Pedro at least a decade prior.

Gatlin has been focused on increasing the number of Black workers on the Waterfront for at least 15 years, working behind the scenes, leaning hard on relationships forged and strengthened over six decades.

The day’s celebrations took place against the backdrop of Black History Month banners on Mesa Street from Third to Seventh Streets, which were put up on light poles ahead of the plaque unveiling. The inspiration for the idea came from Tyris Hatchett, a long-time crisis intervention worker at Toberman Neighborhood Center.

“We see banners put up for events relating to the Italian and Croatian American communities, we see banners for Dia del Muertos and we celebrate Juneteenth, but I would like to see us celebrate the contributions of Black people in San Pedro,” Hatchett said a few days before the Black history month festivities on Feb. 11. Hatchett was instrumental in organizing a resource fair at Toberman along with the Rev. Adam Stevenson and the San Pedro Committee Network.

Hatchett noted that many people don’t realize

News that more than 25 businesses and nonprofit organizations have confirmed to participate in the fair as of Feb. 2.

Restaurateur and civic leader John Papadakis; Mike Lansing, longtime director of the Boys and Girls Club; Retired Army general Peter Gravitt; Retired Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Douglas Barry; Port of Los Angeles executive director, Gene Seroka; Port of Long Beach executive director, Noel Hacegaba; County Supervisor Janice Hahn; Sherry Lopez, Juneteenth 400 committee board member; public safety emergency management deputy executive director and Los Angeles Port Police Chief Thomas Gazsi; LAPD Harbor Division, Captain Brett McGuire; Rev. Leo Thomas of Mount Sinai Missionary Baptist Church; Julie Huerta and Sonia Bailey of the YWCA Harbor Area; and LAPD Chief Michel Moore, were among the honorees at the unveiling.

Above, Dr. Cheyenne Bryant, left, president of the NAACP Branch 1069, with Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.

Photo by Arturo Garcia-Ayala. Below, participants at the Toberman Neighborhood Center’s Black History Month fair. Photo by Chris Villanueva

Community Announcements: Harbor Area

Details: https://tinyurl.com/business-improvement-grants

Two LB COVID-19 Testing and Vaccine Clinics to Relocate and Expand Operations

As of Monday, Jan. 30, the City of Long Beachoperated COVID-19 testing and vaccine sites at both Long Beach City College locations (Veterans Stadium and Pacific Coast Campus) relocated and expanded operations to El Dorado Park Rec reation Center and Martin Luther King Jr. Park Central Facilities Center, offering additional pedi atric clinics and indoor services to be more ac commodating of the community’s current needs. Details: https://tinyurl.com/LB-COVID-clinicsexpand

Cal OES Released 2023 Funding Opportuni ties for Listos California Campaign

The California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services or Cal OES Feb. 9 released more than $15 million in local resilience grants. Through the Listos California program, Cal OES funds peer-topeer public education and outreach activities de signed to ensure communities can better prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters.

The funding opportunities prioritize grants to communities that are both socially vulnerable and at high risk of being impacted by a fire, flood, earthquake, drought or extreme heat.

There are four grant types available:

Statewide Grants ($8 million), Target Grants ($6 million), Tribal Government Grants ($1 mil lion) and Community Emergency Response Teams Grants ($500,000).

Cal OES has developed a Frequently Asked Question document here: https://tinyurl.com/ Listos-CA-Grants-FAQ

Details: https://tinyurl.com/CA-grants-portal https://www.listoscalifornia.org/

Services

stages, but the church has started growing its network. Rainbow Services gave a presentation of its services to the church near the end of January. Stevenson also has a relationship with the Los Angeles Department of Mental Health. He used to be part of the department’s clergy roundtable, and would sit in on their meetings.

“There’s just little nuances and things that you need to be aware of as it relates to the mental health community, and to know how to help them, and how to communicate with them.”

Stevenson said that in the African-American community, it can be taboo to seek mental health services.

“I wear a sweatshirt that says ‘Jesus and therapy,’” Stevenson said. “Making sure that we understand in the Black and brown community

Mayor Bass Applauds State’s Funding of $196.2 M for Affordable Housing in County LOS ANGELES — Mayor Karen Bass alongside California Secretary Lourdes M. Castro Ramírez (Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency) Feb. 9 announced that the state is awarding $196.2 million for multifamily development and infill development in the City of Los Angeles and across Los Angeles County. This funding was awarded through a new state process that streamlined four separate applications into just one submission.

Mayor Bass made the following statement:

“Thank you Gov. Newsom and Secretary Castro Ramírez for locking arms with Los Angeles to increase the speed and lower the cost of affordable housing constructions,” said Mayor Bass. “With more than 40,000 Angelenos living unhoused today, the time to clear bureaucratic delays at all levels of government is now. We all must act with urgency, and that’s what the State is doing with this initiative.”

McOsker Looks to Hire Employees for Park Gate Closure

Program

LOS ANGELES — Councilman Tim McOsker introduced a motion Feb. 10 to receive a report on the hiring process related to Los Angeles Police Department’s park gate closure program.

The park gate closure program is a special detail under the LAPD’s Securities Services Division or SECSD that opens and closes parks that have gated enclosures. Despite being under the LAPD, the program’s staff are unarmed city employees.

the signs of suicidal ideations in teenagers, as well as the signs of domestic violence among youth.

Stevenson also wants to teach financial literacy.

“In impoverished communities, we have not been trained to understand budgeting and financial literacy and watching our money grow, and how to manage our money,” Stevenson said.

Stevenson said that it is common for a Black person to die without having life insurance.

“That’s why you will drive down in San Pedro and you will see Black and brown communities having car washes, or selling food,” Stevenson said. “Because they are trying to raise money for these things, that comes back to financial literacy.”

Stevenson said that information for these financial services has not always been there in Black and brown communities, but he hopes to change that with his church.

Three members of the church have been diagnosed with cancer. Stevenson said it’s one thing to pray for them, but having members that can go with them to appointments, and talk to them while understanding what they are going through makes a difference. He also has been working to help incarcerated people. He’s been working to help them get their IDs, and other documentation to help them and reduce recidivism.

Stevenson said that to pay for the program, the church will fundraise, but will also have partnerships with other organizations. He said his church is very supportive of the program.

“We’re assessing members to find their gifts and their strengths,” Stevenson said.

Once the church figures out what areas members should work in, it will give them the proper training.

“I don’t just want bodies,” Stevenson said. “I want people who are passionate about the work.”

There are 100 parks on the gate closure list and the city only secures about 55% of these parks on a rotational basis, according to the LAPD. Priority and sunset parks are to be secured nightly through this program and much of this work has been through the supervisor assisting in securing the parks.

McOsker’s motion, seconded by Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez, calls for the personnel department and LAPD to report back to the personnel, audits and hiring committee, of which McOsker is the chair, with an overview of the hiring process related to the program. He has requested that the report include any barriers to hiring as well as alternatives to expediting hiring.

Details: https://tinyurl.com/mr2349sx

City Demands Billboard Company Vacate Signage on Gaffey

SAN PEDRO — The LA City Department of General Services renewed its demand on Regency Outdoor Advertising on Feb. 7 to respond to the city with its plans for removing the billboard at the entrance to San Pedro at 427 N. Gaffey Street.

In 2015, the City of Los Angeles authorized the acquisition of the property in an effort to improve visibility, safety and public access to the San Pedro community by removing the billboard structure.

On Feb. 7, the general manager of the General Services Department sent a letter to the billboard agency to remind it of the deadline to remove the billboard, citing the city has not received an update yet on their plans for removal. The letter also stated that “the City reserves its right to file an unlawful detainer action at any time in order to seek the return of possession.”

On his first day of Council in December 2022, Councilman Tim McOsker introduced a motion to instruct the Department of General Services to issue all necessary notices to the owner and lessee of the property to remove the billboard and vacate the property.

The Rev. Adam Stevenson, pastor at the Warren Chapel Christian Methodist Episcopal Church and its congregants. Photo by Arturo Garcia-Ayala

Don’t Mess with Olivia

Barragán’s Guest a Reflection of Tomorrow’s Leaders

By Terelle Jerricks, Managing Editor and Melina Paris, Assistant Editor

Rep. Nanette Barragán invited reproductive rights activist Olivia Julianna to the State of the Union on Feb. 7 as a representative of the next generation of leaders at the forefront of progressive issues.

The 20-year-old turned 15 minutes of fame, off of returning a Twitter jab from Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), into a fundraiser that has raised more than $1.3 million for women seeking abortions — after taking just 72 hours to hit the $1 million mark.

The donations raised by Olivia Julianna, a political strategist for the nonprofit Gen Z for Change, happily surprised abortion rights advocates. The $1.3 million raised by the group by early Friday is more than 10% of what the National Network of Abortion Funds — which includes about 90 abortion funds in the United States and Mexico — distributed in an entire year. It is also enough to fund thousands of abortions, which cost on average $550 per service.

The congresswoman said that as chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, she invited Julianna to highlight young Latino and Latina leaders who are doing the work of protecting progressive values, from women’s decision-making on reproductive rights to LGBTQ+ issues and climate change.

“[Julianna] is the type of person that we need [to] highlight day-to-day and continue to support, not just for their activism, but for elected office. You have to have those voices at the table, everywhere,” Barragán said.

Julianna noted that the benchmark used to measure success in Texas can’t be limited to abortion access but access to reproductive healthcare, period. She noted that Texas ranks 50th in maternal and perinatal healthcare access and that there is a severe gap in access to basic healthcare services between rich and poor, and white Texans and Texans of color.

The Gen Z activist explained that a huge measure of success would be if the state of Texas would allow Texans to make healthcare decisions about their own body and not have to drive two hours for necessary care.

The 20-year-old said she is prioritizing all levels of government in terms of advocating for people’s rights and supporting elected officials who have the same agenda and

mission as her this year.

“I’ll be working heavily in the city of Houston to get local representatives in office, who care, not just about people’s reproductive freedom, but about affordable housing, about healthcare access about public education, and continuing to remind Texans that their government officials are not just here in the halls of Congress, but they’re also in the cities and neighborhoods that they live in and that they should remember, they have a voice on all levels of government,” Julianna said.

Barragán co-signed with Julianna’s thoughts.

“It starts at all levels of government, making sure there are people who share our progressive values at all levels,” Barragán said. “There’s a bench to have state legislators and governors and even the AG [attorney general] right here, enforce those rules.”

Julianna highlighted the work of Texas judge Mina Hidalgo, who launched an $84 million initiative to fund childhood education using funds from the American Rescue Plan Act, which provided additional financial relief in the wake of

the COVID-19 pandemic.

Julianna admitted that as far as public school books and education go, that is an ongoing battle within the state to ensure that school boards have people who believe in comprehensive education.

“I’ve been meeting with several different people to talk about how we can work with school boards to ensure that children have the right to read books that they choose,” Julianna said. “There is censorship in school, but the reality is, that is an ongoing fight that I think will be

happening for the next few years.”

Julianna said she hopes people on all levels of government and in every community in the country recognize the importance of immigrants and Latinos and their value to this country and that that narrative spreads far and wide.

President Joe Biden promised to veto any national abortion ban passed by Congress and urged passage of the bipartisan Equality Act, which would prohibit discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity in areas including public accommodations and facilities, education, federal funding, employment, housing, credit and the jury system.

TWO LOCAL REFINERIES PUT YOU AND YOUR FAMILY AT RISK

Wilmington & Torrance refineries are the only refineries in California that use massive amounts of deadly Hydrogen Fluoride acid (HF/MHF). Other refineries in California use proven, safer alternatives. Why won’t these 2 switch?

HF is an enormous environmental burden to communities of color that surround the refineries. With a large release, HF spreads like a vapor cloud through the community, burning skin and lungs, and causing serious injury and even death.

Parking is in Lots

www.TRAA.website

Join the mailing list:

info@TRAA.website

Accidents, earthquakes, or intentional acts could cause a large release at any time.

This is a preventable risk to more than 800,000 people!

If you live, work or go to school in the impact zone, it’s time to act. Speak out by attending the event!

Friday, Feb. 17 • 11 am - 1 pm

CSU Dominguez Hills

Loker Student Union - Room 326

Speakers (more to be announced):

• Congresswoman Maxine Waters

• Dr. George Harpole, Engineering PhD, UCLA

• Jennifer LaMarque, Deputy to Janice Hahn, Chair, LA County Board of Supervisors

• Chris Chavez, Coalition for Clean Air

Sign up here:

https://www.mobilize.us/torrancerefineryactionalliance/event/549316/ Letting us know you’re coming, helps us plan & since it’s hybrid we will send a link.

Brought to you in collaboration with:

Reproductive rights activist Olivia Julianna meets with President Joe Biden at the State of the Union on Feb. 7. Right, Julianna poses with Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, minority leader of the House of Representatives; and Rep. Nanette Barragán. Photos courtesy of Rep. Barragán’s office

The Heart of the Matter: The Current Great Awakening

By James Preston Allen, Publisher

It’s Valentine’s Day and the roses and boxes of chocolates are all overpriced and selling fast. No one is complaining about this inflation at the supermarket or the grocery store of political debate. V-Day, as the new feminists are now calling it, and “wokeness” are being attacked as a ritual by Republican presidential hopeful Gov. Ron DeSantis and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy as we celebrate Black History Month. Is this the second McCarthyism resurrected from the ashes of the 1950s? (If you aren’t old enough to remember McCarthyism or your history teachers just forgot that part, look it up on Wikipedia.) This is like a retread of tired old history. It’s neo-fascism by any other name and the censoring of AP African American Studies curricula nationally is an exemplar of it. What’s this got to do with your local high school?

It’s been nearly 70 years since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Separate but Equal Doctrine put forth in the earlier U.S. Supreme Court decision, Plessy vs. Ferguson, was unconstitutional. In the intervening years, integrated schools helped reduce racial achievement gaps and encourage critical thinking, problem solving, and creativity. Further, attending a diverse school also helps reduce racial bias and counter stereotypes, and makes students more likely to seek out integrated settings later in life.

By equalizing higher education, there has been an increase in Black academics studying race and racism in America and there is now a vast body of work, including the dreaded Critical Race Theory, that even DeSantis and McCarthy

misunderstand and attack as “wokism.” (See Paul Rosenberg’s article this issue, “African American Studies Are American Studies — Nothing Proves It More Than the Backlash.”)

The recent “great awakening” occurred after the murder of George Floyd and the protests that followed in Minneapolis on May 26, 2020. You’ll recall there were a series of both peaceful protests and riots against police brutality and racism that began as his murder was recorded by a bystander whose video was shared on social media where it went viral. What happened next, unlike with the Watts Riots or the Rodney King uprising, is that a multi-ethnic, multi-generational set of protests exploded nationwide and internationally. This time was different.

What is at contention between the socalled woke academics and the DeSantis-

es of America is the idea that Black history is American history and that the history of Black and white America are interlocked in some very integral ways that don’t get talked about at the dinner table or at the chamber of commerce cocktail mixer. Hell, when I was in high school, there weren’t any Black kids there, and second, when African American studies became a subject, I believed it was only for African Americans, not me. The intervening years have changed all of this and through my own life experiences and readings I have come to believe that the critical parts of the American story that must be taught, includes slavery, the American Civil War, the postwar Reconstruction era, Jim Crow laws and the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. It is about the juncture of freedom and liberty and justice, and what these ideas actually mean.

We are not the first generation in this nation to wrestle with this conflict and probably won’t be the last, but what I gleaned from the six-part series The 1619 Project on Hulu by Nikole Hannah-Jones, was that the struggle for freedom by Black Americans has taught the entire country “how to be free,” or perhaps how to fight for it. And this, perhaps more than anything else, is what concerns the rightwingers like McCarthy, DeSantis and even Donald Trump, for it changes the entire narrative. God forbid if we have the following generations of high school children being taught that “liberty and justice for all” is just a phrase in the Pledge of Allegiance and not expressly written in the Constitution. Then there might have to be significant changes!

So this is the heart of the issue: not one packaged up for V-Day and sold next to the roses at Vons. This current episode of the “culture war” debate wears the echoes of the past like a noose around its neck.

Second Thoughts On San Pedro

I don’t think people yet perceive what is about to happen to San Pedro — the civic leaders and the chamber of commerce types are all marching in lock step to gentrify this place; eliminating the undesirables, the bums, bohemians, the artists, the homeless and insane. They believe, like the generation of civic types before —who tore down old Beacon Street and left it vacant for 30 years that this is progress. Change is not necessarily progress. In fact, it’s mostly a restless desire to address current conditions by erasing the past without any historical perspective.

Publisher/Executive Editor James Preston Allen james@randomlengthsnews.com

Assoc. Publisher/Production Coordinator Suzanne Matsumiya

“A newspaper is not just for reporting the news as it is, but to make people mad enough to do something about it.”

—Mark Twain Vol. XLIIII : No. 4

Random Lengths News is a publication of Beacon Light Press, LLC

Published every two weeks for the Harbor Area communities of San Pedro, RPV, Lomita, Harbor City, Wilmington, Carson and Long Beach.

Abandoning High-speed Rail More Costly Than the Project Itself

By Robert Cruickshank, president of Californians for High Speed Rail from 2009 to 2011

Sixty years ago, construction workers in the San Joaquin Valley began two major infrastructure projects that did much to build modern California: the State Water Project and Interstate 5. Backed by strong support in Sacramento, including adequate funding, the freeway connected drivers to Los Angeles in 1972, and the aqueduct began delivering water to Southern California in 1973.

Today another major infrastructure project rises in the San Joaquin Valley. The high-speed rail project is as essential to 21st-century California as the aqueducts and interstates were to the 20th century, enabling fast travel powered by clean energy to some of the state’s most populated places. Countries around the world have built or expanded their high-speed rail systems in recent years, carrying large numbers of passengers and reducing the need for carbon-intensive travel by airplanes or cars.

Unfortunately, California’s high-speed rail project has struggled. Unlike the aqueduct or the interstate, high-speed rail has never enjoyed more than tepid support in the state Capitol, even as it maintains majority support among California voters. The lack of legislative support means the project has never been fully funded. It has been trapped in a morass of land use regulations and lawsuits from project opponents that delayed construction and helped drive up costs.

Delays and rising costs have given an opening for critics to try and defund it, even if it means leaving unfinished infrastructure in the San Joaquin Valley. Some critics claim that the problem was a route serving cities like Fresno

Columnists/Reporters Melina Paris Assistant Editor/Arts Hunter Chase Community News Reporter

and Palmdale rather than a more direct path between San Francisco and LA.

Even if one overlooked the millions of potential riders in those cities, any alternative route chosen would still lack sufficient funding and would still have been subject to environmental lawsuits.

Still, it would be a mistake to abandon this crucial project now, leaving concrete guideways in the sky empty of tracks, trains and travelers. No other form of transportation works as efficiently at connecting people across the distances of the Golden State as high-speed rail. Airplanes may make the trip from gate to gate in an hour. But when you add in travel times to and from the airport, a trip from downtown LA to downtown SF takes roughly the same amount of time on a bullet train as on a plane – yet the plane spews far more carbon

Driving is simply not competitive. Without traffic, it takes 5 to 6 hours to drive from LA to SF. With traffic, it can take a lot longer. I remember a New Year’s Day drive from LA to Berkeley that took 10 hours in the early 2000s. Even if Californians switch en masse to electric vehicles, it will still take most of the day to drive from the Bay Area to Southern California. And that’s without the comforts of a train — the ability to stand up, walk around, get food, use the bathroom and work remotely.

Global experience has proven that if you build it, they will ride. High-speed rail systems connecting cities of 500 miles distance or less

[continued on following page]

Managing Editor Terelle Jerricks editor@randomlengthsnews.com

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Mayor Bass’ Statement on the Retirement Announcement of Sen. Diane Feinstein

Sen. Dianne Feinstein is a mentor, trailblazer and legislative icon for so many public servants. When I served as Speaker of the California State Assembly, Senator Feinstein requested that we confront California’s water crisis, and we did — implementing the first overhaul in our state’s water policy in decades and taking action that led to a state water bond to help combat the effects of climate change. In Congress, I fought alongside Senator Feinstein to always protect women’s rights. The indelible impact Senator Feinstein has had on our state and our entire country is a legacy that will last forever. Thank you, Senator, for your leadership, for your guidance and for your grace.”

Mayor Karen Bass Los Angeles

President Lula Visits Washington, D.C.

Yesterday I had the honor of meeting one of the world’s greatest champions for working people, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, better known as Lula.

During our meeting Lula and

I discussed the importance of defending democracy, advancing worker’s rights and increasing environmental and climate cooperation around the world.

Lula came to Washington to meet with President Biden, but what he did during the rest of his visit speaks loudly to who he is and has always represented. He spent time, not only with me, but also with members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and with labor leaders at the AFL-CIO.

When world leaders visit our nation’s capital, almost all of them focus their attention on establishment figures: wealthy and powerful individuals, corporate CEOs or mainstream politicians. Lula did it differently. He met with progressive and labor leaders, because that is where he comes from and who he has represented throughout his entire life.

Lula, who left school after the second grade, was a metal worker who became president of Brazil’s steelworker’s union. At the time a CIA-backed military dictatorship ruled Brazil. Those who opposed them were jailed and often tortured. Lula risked his life leading strikes and protests against the undemocratic regime. In 1980 he founded the Workers Party. Remarkably he was elected president of Brazil in 2002. Because of the policies he

High-Speed Rail

typically grab a majority of the market share on that route away from airlines. That includes Amtrak’s Acela train connecting Washington, D.C. and New York City.

The evidence is clear that California should finish the job and complete the high-speed rail service between SF and LA. Yes, the cost has increased but the project remains more affordable than expanding airports or freeways. Its carbon emissions reductions will be essential to achieving the state’s climate goals.

put in place as president, 20 million Brazilians were able to rise out of poverty, while inequality, infant mortality, and illiteracy all declined. Lula demonstrated to the world the power and popularity of a government that stands for working people. When he left office in 2010 his approval rating was over 80%.

Lula was elected to a third term in October, defeating incumbent president Jair Bolsonaro, who was called the “Trump of the tropics.”

In July, several months before their election, a group of civil society leaders from Brazil visited my office and spoke with me about the threat to Brazilian democracy coming from Bolsonaro and his supporters. Just like Donald Trump, Bolsonaro was telling lies about the election being stolen months before anyone cast a ballot. They asked me to speak out, not in support of Lula, but in support of democracy.

That is why, along with Senator Tim Kaine, I introduced a Resolution in Support of Brazilian Democracy. This bill unanimously passed the Senate sending a clear message that the United States would stand with the people of Brazil and would not accept any attempts to undemocratically overturn the results of their election.

This threat turned out to be very real. On Jan. 8, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters stormed the buildings housing all three

Neither the State Water Project nor the interstates were cheap. But they proved their value many times over during the last five decades. California’s high-speed rail project will prove its value many times over during the rest of this century — if political leaders in Sacramento commit to its completion.

The high-speed rail project is one of the largest and most ambitious undertakings in California history. Critics argue that the rising costs outweigh the project’s benefits, and the funds could be better spent on critical issues, such as the state’s water crisis.

branches of government in Brazil calling for a military coup to bring Bolsonaro back to power. Since that day many questions have surfaced about the role of members of Bolsonaro’s government and of the military in these riots.

Lula and I spoke in our meet-

ing about the need to work to stand up for democracy around the world. This means not only standing against those who would try to overturn the results of elections, but also against the oligarchs who only care about their ability to exploit working people for profit.

Progressives around the world need to work together and that is exactly what Lula and I will continue to do. Now more than ever we need international solidarity.

Sen. Bernie Sanders Vermon.

American Studies

plays a similar role today, reinterpreting the civil rights movement as a struggle against individual racist attitudes, rather than against systemic oppression. Today’s backlash seeks to bury both the fact that colorblind racism persists — explaining away dramatic group differences in terms of “personal responsibility” — and that scholars have extensively documented it, so it can be coherently studied, critiqued and countered. The College Board is caught between that backlash and its targets, Crenshaw explained.

“They are obviously a billion-dollar company that has a business model that looks to the 50-state adoption of new product that is suddenly marketable because of 2020,” she said. However, “That same product is not marketable to all the states, particularly the neo-Confederate states, because they’ve said there are features in this product that violate their anti-woke, anti-CRT sensibilities. It strains credulity that it just so happens that the things that could interrupt the 50-state marketing strategy were taken out for pedagogical reasons, after a year and a half of these states, basically one after another, denouncing precisely these aspects of the course.”

Intersectionality Is a Core Concept

Crenshaw is best known for coining the term “intersectionality,” which she described in 2017 as “a lens through which you can see where power comes and collides, where it interlocks and inter sects,” adding: “It’s not simply that there’s a race problem here, a gender problem here, and a class or LBGTQ problem there. Many times that frame work erases what happens to people who are sub ject to all of these things.” Not coincidentally, re

cent Florida laws and regulations have attacked people on all these fronts.

Last February, an internal framework document for the AP course repeatedly identified intersectionality as one of the core concepts in the field of African American studies. Differences between that document and the final framework lie at the center of the controversy, while DeSantis distracts attention with his credit-claiming. “The smoking gun, I think, is in the weeds,” Crenshaw said, referring to all the changes that had been made. But intersectionality is the prime example.

The February document had a section titled “Learning Outcomes” (absent from the final framework) in which the second entry was:

• Identify the intersections of race, gender, and class, as well as the connection between Black communities, in the United States and

the broader African diaspora in the past and present.

There was also a 16-page “Research Summary” that described the course development process. Under the heading of “Course Content” (derived from experts) there were two “Research Takeaways” the first of which was:

• Students should understand core concepts, including diaspora, Black feminism and intersectionality, the language of race and racism (e.g. structural racism, racial formation, racial capitalism) and be introduced to important approaches (e.g. Pan-Africanism, Afrofuturism).

And in the section “Students’ Expectations for the Course” (derived from student focus groups) intersectionality appeared again in one of four expectations that were cited:

• Students should have an opportunity to learn about lesser-known figures, culture, intersectionality, and connections across time and topics.

In short, the College Board itself made clear that intersectionality is and should be central to African American studies. Yet, the word “intersectionality” appears just once in AP framework, in the list of “Sample Project Topics” that “can be refined by states and districts,” meaning it can simply be removed: “Intersectionality and the dimensions of Black experiences.”

“They just scratched out the intersection of race, gender and class. Just scratched it out. Now what is the pedagogical reason for that?” Crenshaw asked.

When the Florida Department of Education claimed credit for the removal of “19 topics, many of which FDOE cited as conflicting with Florida law, including discriminatory and historically fictional topics,” intersectionality was one of them. Haynie pushed back in a document he shared with Random Lengths, in which he cited four specific examples, which simply reflected the fact that Black women exist, and have done things (though he did not cite the one mention of Black lesbians). By Haynie’s standard, it would have been impossible to erase intersectionality.

Other topics FDOE cited seem innocuous, such as “Population Growth and Ethnolinguistic Diversity,” which in fact wasn’t removed. But three hotbutton issues — “Incarceration, Abolition, and the New Jim Crow,” “Reparations,” and “The Movement for Black Lives,” — Haynie noted were “ Included as possible project topic,” which both pushes back against and confirms Florida’s claim that they were removed. That ambiguity, in turn, could still lead Florida to ban the course, while leaving it gutted of crucial compelling content, depriving students nationwide.

A Coherent Defense

While the College Board’s accounts of its dealings with Florida have appeared contradic-

tory, Haynie has presented a consistent, coherent narrative: “From our vantage point as members of the official AP African American Studies Development Committee, we’ve been concerned to see the work of more than 300 college professors caricatured and misrepresented as a political pawn,” Haynie wrote in a co-authored Feb. 1 open letter.

But Crenshaw was dubious. “They keep saying we had 300 scholars. Did those 300 scholars all agree that it was better to add more about Kush and take out Movement For Black Lives entirely? Really?” she asked. “That would be pretty surprising if that could possibly be proved.” In fact, it wasn’t so.

The letter describes “two big choices” that produced the final result. First a decision to prioritize “giving students a historical foundation” over “a thorough exposure to the complexities of the contemporary moment” and second an adjustment to pilot project teachers reporting in inability to “teach all of the historical foundations we were requiring, and still make it to the contemporary topics before the school year ended.”

The first choice was reflected in the Feb. 2022 document, with four thematic units following a chronological structure, which was subsequently presented to a large audience. This macrostructure has not been changed. But the second choice came exclusively from the development committee a comparatively insular group of nine university faculty and four high school AP teachers, according to Haynie. That choice was to prioritize depth over breadth so that “rather than a sprint through all contemporary movements and debates, a brief discussion of reparations one day, then a shift to healthcare the next, then a nod to the carceral state, the AP course requires each student to devote three weeks to an in-depth study of secondary sources related to one such topic in our field,” Haynie wrote.

Questioning The Defense

But the Feb. 2022 document already devoted two weeks to an in-depth essay, so this wasn’t entirely a new development, nor does it engage with the potential to elucidate common themes and contrasting dynamics (including historical roots) shared by the three movements cut from the required curriculum.

Suneal Kolluri, who specializes in the study of AP courses at UC Riverside, was more broadly skeptical. “Professors in college cover these topics in a few hours per week over a semester. The AP Course has over one hundred days. I’m not sure why there would be no space at all to cover the present-day

Dr. Kerry Haynie, African and African American Studies and political science.

Dr. Kimberlé Crenshaw, a leading figure in African American studiesAmerican Studies and political science.

The African American Cultural Center of Long Beach Hopes to Fill an Obvious Void

By Greggory Moore, Columnist

God bless the child that’s got his own.

In June 2021, the Long Beach Public Library inadvertently highlighted a problem when they hosted an online presentation by Claudine Burnett on her new book, African Americans in Long Beach and Southern California: A History, as part of their Local History Lecture Series.

The problem had less to do with Burnett’s being white than with the fact that she found reason to write the book at all. A former Long Beach librarian who spent 25 years of poring over microfilm of city periodicals dating back to 1881 to compile the Long Beach History Index, Burnett realized how much information on the region’s Black history had been lost and wanted to help preserve and made readily available what was left. Impressed as she was by 2006’s The Heritage of African Americans in Long Beach: Over 100 Years, she saw this as only beginning to fill the void. (Edited by Indira Hale Tucker and Aaron L. Day in association with the African American Heritage Society of Long Beach (AAHSLB), The Heritage of African Americans in Long Beach — for which Burnett wrote a Foreword — was originally intended as Volume 1 of an “ongoing project,” but subsequent volumes have yet to be produced.)

Planning to fill that void is the African American Cultural Center of Long Beach (AACCLB), incorporated as a 501(c)3 in July 2020 with a mission is “to preserve, honor and celebrate the heritage and advance the culture of the Black/African American community in Long Beach and beyond” by housing an extensive array of exhibits, resources, and programming in a physical space befitting an international city.

The roots of the AACCLB reach back to 1988, when Max Viltz and her then-husband took part in a group trip to Egypt led by Dr. Yosef Ben-Jochannan. Moved by his exhortation that the members “go back to your hometowns and start study groups and share this information,” Viltz returned to Long Beach and helped found the African Study Group of Long Beach, which set up shop in a small storefront at 19th Street and Atlantic Avenue. Over the next 20 years the group conducted classes and cultural events there and elsewhere, including the Homeland Cultural Center, the Queen Mary, various parks, and even people’s homes.

Viltz’s involvement led to the creation

— Billie Holiday

of Village Treasures, an “African Gallery, Gift Shop & Boutique” she founded in 1997 to provide “tangible items to support the studies.”

But the need for a more prominent and permanent cultural center has become increasingly obvious in recent years, as conservative backlash against initiatives like critical race theory and the 1619 Project has motivated many teachers and school systems to shy away from issues of how past inequities continue to affect the present on both personal and societal levels.

“We don’t have our own institutions to teach our people, and we can’t wait for the school system to do it,” Viltz says. “There’s more information out there to eliminate [the teaching of Black history] from schools than there is about getting it in there. […] Part of the importance of helping young people understand [Black history] is that they don’t understand the [generational] trauma that has continued. Post-Traumatic Slave Syndrome is what it’s called, and we have behaviors that happen because of things we don’t even understand. But it’s passed on. For most of us, our families didn’t tell us that history because it was so painful for them to even talk about it, and because there was such stigma to being thought of as an ex-slave or to have come from a family of exslaves.”

AACCLB President Darick Simpson, who was actively involved in youth mentoring even before he became executive director of the Long Beach Community Action Partnership (LBCAP) in 2006, concurs: “I had a student in the Long Beach Unified School District who [recently] told me about a teacher who said, ‘I’m not going to teach Black history because it’s too controversial and it could cause conflict.’ […] I’m hopeful that we can do something in lieu of the institutions that are paid for with our tax dollars […] to tell our story — because Black history is American history.”

Acting on a proposal brought forth by 8th District Councilmember Al Austin, in February 2018 the Long Beach City Council requested that the city manager “work with community stakeholders to identify potential city-owned sites in Long Beach for an African American Cultural Center.”

With $50,000 of seed money from the City of Long Beach, throughout 2019 [See Void, p. 13]

From Food Desert to Agricultural Oasis

10 Days in Watts Documentary Offers an Exportable Vision of Community

By Terelle Jerricks, Managing Editor

Watts is usually only remembered as an exclamation point punctuating the end of several days of rage following the brutalization of a black resident 55 years ago. Or simply a symbol of broken promises and neglect.

What should be talked about more is the fact that Watts is a food desert — a community with too few quality food sources.

But a PBS documentary, 10 Days in Watts, that aired the first two episodes this past Sunday, Feb. 12, aims to change the narrative.

The documentary was produced by actor and Emmy® -nominated filmmaker Raphael Sbarge (Once Upon a Time, Murder in the First). Sbarge not only offers a glimpse of what went into finishing MudTown Farms, but he also introduces viewers to the community members working to make the community a better place to live.

The four-part series, centers on Tim Watkins, president of the Watts Labor Community Action Committee, as he and other community members work to finish the park. it’s a place they envision as an open space for community gardens, orchards, and reading areas — and ultimately a tool to enrich the lives of Watts’ residents.

Now, nearly a year later, the park is fully operational. It distributes 17,000 pounds of produce to the community every two weeks from a network of partners in accordance with a $4.9 million dollar grant from California, and hosts classes and volunteer opportunities.

Though much of the produce comes from partners, a lot of it also comes from the farm itself.

Watkins said the farm had planted grapevines and other edible plants along a fenceline so that when the farm is closed people can still

walk up to the gate or to the fence and pick fruit.

It’s also become a spot for people in the

community to rest and enjoy the outdoors.

“There’s exercising equipment; there are other places where you just sit down and enjoy the peace and the quiet,” Watkins said. “And everybody that visits the farm remarks the same thing: That in the midst of what’s characterized as a violent place, there’s the most remarkable peace — great solace,” he said. “You can seek respite there without being hurried along.”

MudTown farms has plans for future growth, with Watkins saying it has secured funding already to build a culinary arts facility.

“It’s really a state-of-the-art kitchen that will teach people how to plan, grow, gather, and prepare food that can be stored,” he said, adding that the point of the kitchen will be to help the

community grow enough food to feed itself.

Watkins said MudTown is also exploring the idea of potentially giving people in the community chickens for the purpose of helping to reduce community waste.

“And at a time when a dozen eggs cost $7 in LA, a family can live off those chickens,” he

As Watkins continues his work at MudTown farms and other community projects on behalf of WLCAC, he said it’s not about filling his father’s shoes.

A screen capture from the documentary 10 Days in Watts shows community members hard at work at MudTown Farms.

Agricultural Oasis in Watts

“This has been about extending the work that he’s done,” Watkins said. “And he taught us damn well long before there was a Nike. He told us, ‘if something needs to be done, just do it.’” Watkins noted that some call Mudtown Farms visionary, which kind of gives him credit,

but he says he doesn’t need it.

“I look at MudTown Farms as a place with Limitless potential where the possibilities are endless,” Watkins said. “When you look at it that way, what can we do there every week? We have hundreds of volunteers that come because

they [believe] there’s a spirituality to the place-a place some would characterize as hyper-violent. But Mudtown Farms is a center of solace.”

Episodes of 10 Days in Watts will premiere as follows:

“A Garden Grows in Watts” - Sun., Feb. 19 at 8 p.m. on KCET and Thurs., Feb. 23 at 9:30 p.m. on PBS SoCal MudTown Farms opens after 12 years and the community comes out to celebrate. A new day begins for Tim Watkins

MAR 2 5 - 9 PM 25TH ANNIVERSARY

and his family, and the torch is passed from father to son. The community provides feedback on the urban garden’s opening, including perspectives from a pastor, an 18-year-old double amputee headed to college, and a crisis intervention specialist.

“Legacy” airs on Feb. 23 at 8 p.m. on PBS SoCal.

“We Are Taught to Survive” airs on Feb. 23 at 8:30 p.m. on PBS SoCal

FIRST THURSDAY ART WALK

ART GALLERIES OPEN STUDIOS LATE DINING LIVE MUSIC

Come visit our frame shop and get your project started. Your art deserves the best. 1,000 frame samples to choose from or custom build your own. Check out some local art and understand the important details behind framing and your investment.

Details: 310-600-8881

Venue: Epiphany Framing, 343 W. 7th St. San Pedro

Emanating from artists’ studios in Southern California, Connective Threads offers unique perspectives on the complicated identities of fiber art as a genre. Fiber artists can formally exploit the medium’s connections to pattern, color, shape, and texture. Multilayered content can also be woven into its structure through abstract, representational, or narrative strategies. The works on view by 25 artists encompass a rich diversity of influences and inspirations, independent from conventional expectations. Collectively they offer a penetrating examination of fiber’s possibilities. The exhibition is curated by Carrie Burckle and Jo Lauria. The exhibition runs through April 15.

Details: 310-541-2479; www.pvartcenter.org

Venue: Palos Verdes Art Center / Beverly G. Alpay Center for Arts Education, 5504 Crestridge Road, Rancho Palos Verdes

Love Is Blind, acrylic on canvas, 48 x 48”

Enjoy a celebration of love at Michael Stearns Studio @The Loft on San Pedro’s First Thursday ArtWalk from 6 to 9 p.m. Through March 25.

Details: 562-400-0544; www.michaelstearnsstudio.com

Time: 1 to 5 p.m., Saturdays or by appointment

Venue: Michael Stearns Studio@The Loft, 401 S. Mesa St., San Pedro.

Epiphany Framing by JJ Geary Palos Verdes Art Center CONNECTIVE THREADS

Gwen Samuels, Out of Context, 2021, digital images printed on transparency and hand-stitched to wire.

Michael Stearns Studio LOVE IS BLIND

MUSIC

Feb. 17

Cali Vibes Reggaeton Festival

See performances from headlining artists Rebelution, Snoop Dogg, and Jack Johnson across three days. There will also be performances by Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley as well as Stephen Marley.

Time: 12 p.m. doors open, Feb. 17 to 19

Cost: Tickets start at $330 for 3-day passes

Details: https://www.jambase. com/festival/cali-vibes-2023

Venue: Marina Green Park, 386

E. Shoreline Drive Long Beach

Feb. 18

José Antonio Rodríguez

Enjoy a solo performance with José Antonio Rodríguez, one of Spain’s leading guitarists-composers of this generation. He is a guitarist acclaimed for his renditions of contemporary flamenco.

Time: 8 p.m., Feb. 18

Cost: $30

Details: https://tinyurl.com/joseantonio-rodriguez

Venue: Alvas Showroom, 1417 W. 8th St., San Pedro

Lizzie No

Lizzie No is a Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter, harpist and guitarist and co-host of the Basic Folk podcast. She has showcased at Newport Folk Fest, Americanafest, South by Southwest and the Mile of Music Festival.

Time: 7 p.m., Feb. 18

Cost: $20 to $30

Details: https://grandvision.org/ event/lizzie-no/

Venue: The Grand Annex, 434 W. 6th St., San Pedro

Friendship Festival

Celebrating 50 years of friendship with Torrance’s sister city, Kashiwa Japan, this evening will highlight talented past delegates who have gone on to professional careers in the performing arts.

Time: 7 p.m., Feb. 18

Cost: $25 to $35

Details: https://torrancearts.org/ show/friendship/ Venue: TOCA, 3330 Civic Center Drive, Torrance

Feb.

The Jacksons

Feb. 26

The Latsos Piano Duo

Award-winning international concert pianists Anna and Giorgi Latsos have been dazzling audiences throughout the world with their performances of works for duo piano and piano four-hands.

Time: 7 p.m., Feb. 26

Cost: $30 to $40

Details: https://torrancearts.org/ show/latsos

Venue: TOCA, 3330 Civic Center Drive, Torrance

March 3

Sweet Seasons

Sweet Seasons is a tribute to the legendary Carole King. There have been few singer / songwriters that have been as prolific and impactful.

Time: 8 p.m., March 3

Cost: $20

Details: https://tinyurl.com/sweetseasons-carol-King

Venue: Alvas Showroom, 1417 W. 8th St., San Pedro

ENTERTAINMENT

Feb. 17

Night Dive

Kick the holiday weekend off with your finned friends at the first night dive of the year. This adults-only event features food trucks, cash bars, DJs throughout the aquarium galleries, art and a live band performing on the stage in front of the Honda Blue Cavern.

Time: 7:30 to 11 p.m., Feb. 17

Cost: $29

Details: https://tinyurl.com/LBAquarium-Night-Dive and https:// tinyurl.com/LB-Aquarium-NightDive-Members

Venue: Aquarium of the Pacific, 100 Aquarium Way, Long Beach

Feb. 18

The Romance of The Rose

24

It’s time to Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground) when The Jacksons play the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts. See the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees deliver their hits and famous dance moves.

Time: 8 p.m., Feb. 24

Cost: $65 and up

Details: 562-916-8500; www.cerritoscenter.com

Venue: Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, 18000 Park Plaza Drive, Cerritos

Feb. 25

The Music of ABBA Long Beach Symphony will once again deliver a highenergy party evening with indoor picnicking and superb music when ARRIVAL from Sweden’s 10-member band joins Long Beach Symphony. ARRIVAL from Sweden will deliver the iconic classics like Money, Money, Money; Take a Chance on Me; and Mamma Mia!, connecting with audiences of all ages.

Time: 8 p.m., Feb. 25

Cost: $30 to $180

Details: 562-436-3203; www.LongBeachSymphony. org

Venue: Long Beach Convention Center, 300 E. Ocean Ave., Long Beach

Connective Threads Fiber Art from Southern California

Connective Threads, a survey of contemporary fiber art in Southern California, provides a window into what is currently engaging fiber artists, even as this discipline continues to evolve and change. The exhibition offers unique perspectives on the complicated identities of fiber art as a genre.

Time: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, Saturday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Jan. 28 to April 15

Cost: Free

Details: https://pvartcenter.org/ connective-threads

Venue: Palos Verdes Art Center, 5504 Crestridge Road, Rancho Palos Verdes

Lee Krasner: A Through Line

Carolyn Campagna Kleefeld Contemporary Art Museum presents Lee Krasner: A Through Line. The exhibition provides a context to explore important abstract paintings and collages from the 1940s to the early 1960s.

Time: 12 to 5 p.m., Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, through May 19

Cost: Free

Details: www.csulb.edu/carolyncampagna-kleefeld-contemporary-art-museum

The world premiere of this opus examines one dreamer’s quest for a literal rose. The God of Love, Shame, Lady Reason and their followers lull the audience into a dreamlike world that highlights the profound juxtaposition of beauty and absurdity in our own human folly.

Time: 7:30 p.m., Feb. 18, 25 and 2:30 p.m., Feb. 19

Cost: $55 to $165

Details: www.grandvision.org

Venue: Warner Grand Theatre, 478 W. 6th St., San Pedro

Feb. 16

Uplifting Tales and Eroded

Histories

Angels Gate Cultural Center presents a new contemporary art exhibition, Uplifting Tales and Eroded Histories, on view through March 25. An installation by local artists Richard Turner, Michael Davis and Paul Harris, this exhibition presents a speculative geohistory of the Palos Verdes Peninsula..

Time: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.,Thursdays through Saturdays

Cost: Free

Details: https://angelsgateart.org

Venue: Angels Gate Cultural Center, 3601 S. Gaffey St., San Pedro

Trade Fare Social Artists kelli rae adams, Melissa Bouwman, Mark Rumsey, and the Institute 4 Labor Generosity Workers & Uniforms engage the audience as participants — not mere viewers — in art as social practice. The exhibition runs to March 25.

Time: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Thursdays through Saturdays

Cost: Free

Details: https://angelsgateart.org

Venue: Angels Gate Cultural Center, 3601 S. Gaffey St., San Pedro

Marsian De Lellis, Joseph Hardesty, Michele Jaquis, Lauren Kasmer & Joyce Dallal, Thomas Kidd, Karen Medley, Rosalyn Myles, Mei Xian Qiu, Craig Torres, the Wednesday Gang Quilting Group and the El Camino College Anthropology Student Association use painting, puppetry, recipe sharing, quilt making, culinary performance and photography. The exhibition runs through March 9.

Time: 2 to 5 p.m., Feb. 18, public reception

Cost: Free

Details: https://tinyurl.com/tellingstories-El-Camino

Venue: El Camino College Art Gallery, 16007 Crenshaw Blvd., Torrance

Feb. 19

Yolanda Gonzalez

The Museum of Latin American Art will be hosting the “first indepth” exhibition of the Chicana artist Yolanda Gonzalez. She has art dating back to the 1980s, including a variety of sculptures, paintings, prints and more in an exhibition called The Evolution of Visions and Dreams.

Time: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Feb. 19 to July 30

eign?” Engage with this timely and important question through an award-winning documentary film, taiko performance, hands-on workshop and panel discussion.

Time: 2 p.m., Feb. 26

Cost: $20 to $25

Details: https://tinyurl.com/blurring-the-color-line-film

Venue: The Grand Annex, 434 W. 6th St., San Pedro

FILM

March 2

20th Annual LA Harbor International Film Festival

The LA Harbor International Film Festival or LAHIFF showcases film and video that reflects the harbor and all that it embraces — shipping and commerce, fishing, sailing, water sports, sea life and the area’s rich ethnic and cultural influences. The festival kicks off with the Read the Book, See the Movie culmination program a free education outreach program, featuring the classic novel The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling.

Time: Various, March 2 to 5,

Cost: $8 to $10,

Details: www.laharborfilmfest. com

FILM Warner Grand Theatre, 478 W. 6th St., San Pedro

LITERATURE

Feb. 16

LBPL Author Talks

The online talks will include a live Q&A with each author and registration is required for the livestreamed talks. National Book Award winner Grace M. Cho will discuss her book Tastes Like War Sadeqa Johnson, author of NPR’s 2021 Book of the Year, Yellow Wife, will discuss her new book, The House of Eve

Time: 10 a.m., Feb. 16, Grace M. Cho; 1 p.m., Feb. 28, Sadeqa

Cost: Free

Details: https://pvplc.volunteerhub.com/.

Venue: Abalone Cove Reserve, 5970 Palos Verdes Drive South, Rancho Palos Verdes

Docent Guided Nature Walk at Vicente Bluff Reserve

Join a tour of the Point Vicente Interpretive Center native plant garden and walk along the spectacular bluff top at the Vicente Bluff Reserve. Enjoy an easy stroll led by a docent through the garden to learn about natural and cultural history of the area. All ages are welcome. Meet at the front patio of Point Vicente Interpretive Center.

Time: 10 a.m., Feb. 18

Cost: Free Details: 310-544-5260; www.losserenos.org/

Venue: PVIC, 31501 Palos Verdes Drive West, Rancho Palos Verdes,

Guided Nature Walk at White Point Nature Preserve Naturalists will guide you along a trail to discover a unique variety of wildlife in its coastal sage scrub habitat with amazing views of the ocean. Meet in front of the nature center and come inside to explore after the hike. Preserve parking is available at the end of the street in a gravel lot.

Time: 10:30 a.m. to 12 p.m., Feb. 18

Cost: Free Details: https://pvplc.org/

Venue: White Point Nature Preserve, 1600 W. Paseo del Mar, San Pedro

Feb. 19

2023 Los Angeles Black History Month Festival

Venue: Carolyn Campagna

Kleefeld Contemporary Art Museum, 1250 Bellflower Blvd., Long Beach

Yesterday and Beyond Carolyn Campagna Kleefeld Contemporary Art Museum presents LA-based photographer Clifford Prince King in his first Los Angeles solo-exhibition. King’s large photographs printed digitally from scanned 35mm film negatives embrace the grainy artifacts of the scanning process. His goldenhued compositions of friends and acquaintances in mostly domestic spaces connect with the history of figurative photography and classical painting.

Time: 12 to 5 p.m., Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, through May 19

Cost: Free

Details: https://www.csulb.edu/ carolyn-campagna-kleefeld-contemporary-art-museum

Venue: Carolyn Campagna

Kleefeld Contemporary Art Museum, 1250 N. Bellflower Blvd., Long Beach

Frieze Art Exhibition

The Santa Monica Airport will be hosting the Frieze Los Angeles art exhibit this year, a collection of international work. Celebrate the richly creative culture of Los Angeles by attending.

Time: 1 p.m., Feb. 16, 17 and 11 a.m., Feb. 18, 19

Cost: $102

Details: https://www.frieze.com/ fairs/frieze-los-angeles

Venue: Santa Monica Airport, 3233 Donald Douglas Loop St., Santa Monica Feb. 18

Telling Stories

Artists Jane Chafin, Joyce Dallal,

Cost: Free on Sunday, $15 general admission, $10 for students and seniors

Details: https://molaa.org/2023yolanda-gonzalez

Venue: The Museum of Latin American Art, 628 Alamitos Ave., Long Beach

Feb. 21

Studio Soup

Studio Soup is a quarterly series of candid conversations about process, featuring guest artists who share their experience and practice. Join the conversation with artists Narsiso Martinez and Dominique Moody. Learn about each artist’s work and practice, and ask questions of your own.

Time: 6:30 to 8 p.m., Feb. 21

Cost: Free

Details: https://tinyurl.com/February-Studio-Soup

Venue: Online

Feb. 25

Culture TALKS!

In partnership with the San Pedro Waterfront Arts District’s Culture TALKS! series, Culture Clash’s Richard Montoya will talk with KPCC Retake host John Horn about how the Chavez Ravine: In 9 Innings’ filming came to be and why this story continues to resonate almost 20 years after its stage premiere.

Time: 7 p.m., Feb. 25

Cost: 0 to $15

Details: https://laist.com/events/ retake-live-culture-clash

Venue: Crawford Family Forum, 474 S. Raymond Ave., Pasadena

Feb. 26

Blurring the Color Line with Taiko

“Why are Asian communities and cultures seen as perpetually for-

Johnson Cost: Free Details: www.longbeach.gov/library/news/feb.-author-talks

Venue: Online

COMMUNITY

Feb. 16

Educational Opportunity Program Exhibition

The Historical Society of Long Beach and the Black Student Union Elders Association collaborate to share the story of the origin of the Educational Opportunity Program and minority recruitment at CSULB, 1966-1971. The exhibition will run until April 29.

Time: 1 to 5 p.m., Monday to Wednesday, 1 to 7 p.m., Thursday, 11 a.m., to 5 p.m., Saturday

Cost: Free

Details: 562-424-2220; www.hslb.org

Venue: Historical Society of Long Beach, 4260 Atlantic Ave., Long Beach

Feb. 18

Nothin’ But Sand Beach Cleanup Reserve a spot for a beach cleanup event set to take place on Feb. 18. All that is required is attendance and that the participant is 18 or older so they can sign a waiver, all supplies will be provided.

Time: 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., Feb. 18

Cost: Free

Details: https://tinyurl.com/nothing-but-sand-beach-cleanup

Venue: Cabrillo Beach, 3720 Stephen M. White Drive, San Pedro

Outdoor Volunteer Day at Abalone Cove Reserve

Join the Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy to volunteer on a coastal reserve helping restore wildlife habitat. Students can receive community service hours.

Time: 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., Feb. 18

Open Arms Food Pantry and Resource Center announces its 6th annual Black History month festiva. This year’s event highlights health and wellness and a focus on literature.

Time: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Feb 19

Cost: Free Details: https://tinyurl.com/LAblack-history-month-fest

Venue: Michelle and Barack Obama Sports Complex, 5001 Obama Blvd., Los Angeles

Feb. 25

Food Giveaway Justice For Murdered Children holds a free food giveaway on the second and fourth Saturday of every month. “Everyone is welcome, we have plenty” is their open invite. Also consider volunteering.

Time: 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., Feb. 25

Cost: Free

Details: https://tinyurl.com/foodgivaway

Venue: 1039 W. Elberon Ave., San Pedro

AltaSea Open House Featuring California Fish & Wildlife Guest speakers include Rep. Nannette Barragán, Michelle Horeczko and Linda Chilton.

Time: 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Feb. 25

Cost: Free

Details: https://altasea.org/event/ altasea-open-house-featuringcalifornia-fish-wildlife/

Venue: AltaSea at the Port of Los Angeles, 2451 Signal St., San Pedro

Great Los Angeles Air Raid

On the morning of Feb. 25, 1942, a false alarm was raised in relation to an alleged attack on the City of Los Angeles during the second World War. Visit Fort MacArthur museum on the event’s 81st anniversary to watch a reenactment.

Time: 3 to 8 p.m., Feb. 25

Cost: $40

Details: http://www.theairraid. com/

Venue: Fort MacArthur Museum, 3601 S. Gaffey St., San Pedro

Filling the Void

city staff worked with the AACCLB advisory committee and a pair of consulting firms to facilitate a variety of community outreach activities (meetings, surveys, interviews, roundtables, etc.) to create a vision of what the cultural center might look like and how it would best serve the community.

According to the Preliminary Institutional Business Plan created during the 2019 visioning process, the AACCLB was advised to plan on an operating budget of $2.2 million per year (including paying the needed 17 or so full-time employees), only one-third of which is projected to come through earned revenue sources even when the cultural center is up and running. That means a lot of fundraising both now and later.

To that end, last fall the AACCLB invited Simpson to come on board and captain the ship. A local heavy-hitter when it comes to nonprofit fundraising — under his guidance, LBCAP tripled its staff and septupled its budget before he moved on to head the $30 million Miller Foundation in late 2019 — Simpson recognizes the scope of logistical challenges inherent to creating a multimedia space filled with everything from “exhibits which emphasize and encourage dialogue on race, reconciliation and healing” to collections featuring artifacts and highlighting the “life experiences of African-American heroes and sheroes, both famous and forgotten,” including residents who have made contributions to the arts, sciences, sports, and education — not to mention hosting an array of arts and educational programming and other events “to preserve, honor, and share [African-Americans’] rich heritage and culture,” along with informa-

tion on matters as practical as homebuying and holistic health and dietary practices.

Funding chal lenges aside, the biggest obstacle so far has been finding a sufficient space. Simpson estimates that 15,000 sq. ft. is the minimum workable footprint (though this would probably be too

small to do everything the AACCLB envisions), while the city manager’s final memorandum on the visioning process (dated Feb. 18, 2020) recommends a maximum footprint of 40,000 sq. ft. Viltz, the AACCLB’s facilities chair, says that unfortunately none of the seven or eight cityowned assets put forward so far has fit the bill, and so the AACCLB has expanded the search to the private sector.

Although the AACCLB is amenable to building from the ground up — even if this means a lengthier timeline, not to mention that locating an adequate lot may not be any easier than finding an existing spot — Viltz is hopeful that ground she’s already covered may eventually bear fruit. “There are a couple of spaces we’ve looked at that I haven’t given up on,” she says. “There’s always the possibility that something that isn’t available now but is maybe

just sitting there that the owners decide to sell or lease.”

Simpson hopes getting the word out about the AACCLB’s plans may bring new options to the table. He notes that because fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic (such as a permanent increase in the percentage of employees working from home) has depreciated value of some commercial real estate, “It could be a good time for us [to find a home], because there’s a value proposition in partnering with the African American Cultural Center […] because now you’d have this amazing organization running programs and educating the city [from your commercial space].”

In the interim, one organization partnering with the AACCLB is the Bixby Knolls Business Improvement Association, enabling the AACCLB to offer a small variety of programming

out of the EXPO Arts Center, including a Pan Afrikan Study Group, West African drum and dance classes, and various exhibits, such Forgotten Images’ The Roots of Slavery (through Feb. 27), featuring an extensive collection of artifacts from America’s darkest days presented as a meditation on how “the slave trade impacted American economics, the divide in social class, agriculture, human rights, and more.”

But this is only a glimpse of what the AACCLB envisions. And they’re in it for the long haul, because, as Simpson articulates, the project is simply too important not to manifest.

“This cultural center is not a nice-to-have, it’s a must-have if our next generation is to understand from whence they came and the struggles that were undergone and the fights that were taken on for us to have what we have and not take it for granted,” he says. “[…] “It’ll be a place to go that’s ours. It’s not a church, so you don’t have to worry about, ‘Well, I’m not religious’; it’s not a political or government institution, so you don’t have to worry about whether your politics fit; it’s a neutral space. It’s a cultural center that happens to have a Black origin or theme — but we’re teaching American history from a Black perspective.”

The African American Cultural Center of Long Beach welcomes inquiries of all sorts, from real estate opportunities and donations of any amount to class/event participants and potential volunteers. “If you believe in our vision,” says Simpson, “then tell us how you think you can contribute. Maybe you’re a retired teacher. Maybe you can be a docent for an exhibit. Maybe you’re a carpenter who can build us mobile walls. … I’d like to think there’s a place for everyone to come to the table and feel like their contribution is valued, so long as it fits our vision.”

African American Cultural Center of Long Beach President Darick Simpson speaking at the Expo Arts Center History Month celebration on Feb. 3. Photo by Greggory Moore

JOB OPPS

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FICTITIOUS BUSINESS

NAME STATEMENT

File No. 2022-276962

The following person(s) is (are) doing business as: Vorte Restoration Services, 1323 S. Gaffey, San Pedro, CA 90731, County of Los Angeles

Registered owner(s): Bolanos Brothers LLC, 1123 Via Sebastian, San Pedro, CA 90732; California. This business is conducted by: a Limited Liability Company

The registrant commenced to transact business under the fictitious business name or names listed above on 01/2010 I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct. (A registrant who declares as true any material matter pursuant to Section 17913 of the Business and Professions code that the registrant knows to be false is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine not to exceed one thousand

dollars ($1,000)). S/ Victor Bolanos Ortega, President of Bolanos Brothers LLC

This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Los Angeles on December 27, 2022

NOTICE-In accordance with Subdivision (a) of Section 17920, a Fictitious Name Statement generally expires at the end of five years from the date on which it was filed in the office of the County Clerk, except, as provided in Subdivision (b) of Section 17920, where it expires 40 days after any change in the facts set forth in the statement pursuant to Section 17913 other than a change in the residence address of a registered owner. A new Fictitious Business Name Statement must be filed before the expiration. Effective January 1, 2014, the Fictitious Business

Name Statement must be accompanied by the Affidavit of Identity form. The filing of this statement does not of itself

authorize the use in this state of a Fictitious Business Name in violation of the rights of another under Federal, State, or common law (See Section 14411 et seq., Business and Professions Code). 1/5, 1/19, 2/03, 2/17/23

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS

NAME STATEMENT

File No. 2023-007074

The following person(s) is (are) doing business as:

The Carberry Family Trust, 1224 Cota Ave., Torrance, CA 90501, County of Los Angeles

Registered owner(s): April Carberry 1224 Cota Ave., Torrance, CA 90501; California. This business is conducted by: an Individual

The registrant commenced to transact business under the fictitious business name or names listed above on N/A I declare that all information in this statement is true and cor-

[continued on following page]

PLEASE

Animals at the Harbor Animal Shelter have ongoing need for used blankets, comforters, pet beds.* Drop off at Harbor Animal Shelter 957 N. Gaffey St.,San Pedro • 888-452-7381, x 143 PLEASE

ACROSS

1. Trevor Noah’s soon-to-be former gig, briefly

4. Winner of the 2022 World Series

9. Bring together

13. Eight, in France

15. “For real”

16. 1890s gold rush city

17. “Umbrella Academy” actor

19. Font style, for short

20. Collect little by little

21. Wrinkly “Dick Tracy” villain in a Ned Flanders flashback

23. Mizuho Bank currency

24. Put to the test

26. Scand. nation, at the Olympics

27. Green Starbucks offering

29. Watch

31. Third word in many limericks

34. Cold War-era treaty of 1955

37. “Allow me”

39. Hobart hopper

40. Italian coffee brand that doesn’t look so well?

41. Add-on that adds new objects and characters to a game

46. Concert souvenir

47. “Don’t block my path” noise

48. “Fifty Shades of Grey” star

Johnson

51. Iceland-to-Ireland dir.

52. Multi-PC hookup, for short

53. “Criminal Minds” org.

54. Down-to-the-wire election

59. “The Things We ___ Love” (Isy Suttie podcast)

61. “Back to you,” on a walkie-talkie

62. Glass sheet

64. Philosopher Descartes

65. Best-case

66. Part of NAFTA, for short

67. “Star ___: Lower Decks”

68. Dapper

69. Mag execs

DOWN

1. Place to “hit” for a workout

2. “2001: A Space Odyssey” star

Keir

3. Person of few words

4. Formic acid producer

5. Excessively sentimental

6. Main land vehicle for the Teen Titans (it makes sense ‘cause of the letter)

7. “Chunky” pasta sauce brand

8. Pirates’ place

9. Plastic restaurant freebie that may be serrated

10. “This is ___ drill”

11. Computer debut of 1998

12. Prefix before kinetic

14. Mowry of “Sister, Sister”

18. “Home ___ Range”

22. “That is sooooo nasty”

25. Like the fish in poke bowls

28. “Pet” plant

29. Racecar engine sound

30. “This ___ you ...”

31. Where to see stars in Hollywood

32. Knee injury site, briefly

33. Unclean quarters

35. Indy 500 winner Luyendyk

36. Selection

37. ___ Gala (annual NYC event)

38. Battle weapon

42. Thomas who drew Santa Claus

43. Comedian/rapper Zach seen in “Epic Rap Battles of History” and “The Crossword Show”

44. Activity that makes squeamish parents cover their kids’ eyes, for short

45. Root beer brand

49. Crashed into at 90 degrees

50. TV networks and radio stations, e.g.

51. Animated movie series with Gingy

52. ___ the half (was ahead)

54. Wrongful act, legally

55. “Skinny Love” band Bon ___

56. “Bob’s Burgers” keyboardplaying son

57. Verdi opera set in Egypt

58. Online tech review site

60. ___-Locka, Florida

63. Former West Coast beer brand,

“Change of Pace” — by only one letter.

[from previous page]

rect. (A registrant who declares as true any material matter pursuant to Section 17913 of the Business and Professions code that the registrant knows to be false is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine not to exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000)). S/ April Carberry

This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Los Angeles on January 11, 2022

NOTICE-In accordance with Subdivision (a) of Section 17920, a Fictitious Name Statement generally expires at the end of five years from the date on which it was filed in the office of the County Clerk, except, as provided in Subdivision (b) of Section 17920, where it expires 40 days after any change in the facts set forth in the statement pursuant to Section 17913 other than a change in the residence address of a registered owner.

A new Fictitious Business Name

Statement must be filed before the expiration. Effective January 1, 2014, the Fictitious Business Name Statement must be accompanied by the Affidavit of Identity form. The filing of this statement does not of itself authorize the use in this state of a Fictitious Business Name in violation of the rights of another under Federal, State, or common law (See Section 14411 et seq., Business and Professions Code).

1/19, 2/02, 2/16, 3/2/23

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT

File No. 2023-023621

The following person(s) is (are) doing business as: Ride with Paris, 2051 Elberon Street, Rancho Palos, CA 90731, County of Los Angeles

Registered owner(s): Paris Thomas, 2051 Elberon Street, Rancho Palos, CA 90731; California. This business is conducted by: an individual

The registrant commenced to transact business under the fictitious business name or names listed above on 01/2010 I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct. (A registrant who declares as true any material matter pursuant to Section 17913 of the Business and Professions code that the registrant knows to be false is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine not to exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000)). S/ Paris Thomas, Individual

This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Los Angeles on February 1, 2023

NOTICE-In accordance with Subdivision (a) of Section 17920, a Fictitious Name Statement generally expires at the end of five years from the date on which it was filed in the office of the County Clerk, except, as provided in Subdivision (b) of Section 17920, where it expires 40 days after any change in the facts set forth in the statement pursuant to Section 17913 other than a change in the residence address of a registered owner.

A new Fictitious Business Name Statement must be filed before the expiration. Effective January 1, 2014, the Fictitious Business Name Statement must be accompanied by the Affidavit of Identity form. The filing of this statement does not of

American Studies

itself authorize the use in this state of a Fictitious Business Name in violation of the rights of another under Federal, State, or common law (See Section 14411 et seq., Business and Professions Code).

2/02, 2/16, 3/02, 03/16/23

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME

Case No. 23LBCP00010

Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles

Petition of: JULIE ANNE DUENAS

TO ALL INTERESTED PERSONS:

Petitioner JULIE ANNE DUENAS filed a petition with this court for a decree changing names as follows:

JULIE ANNE DUENAS to JULIE ANNE SOLA-DUENAS

The Court orders that all persons interested in this matter appear before this court at the hearing indicated below to show cause, if any, why the petition for change of name should not be granted.

Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file a written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing.

Notice of Hearing:

Date: 02-24-23, Time: 8:30 am, Dept.: 27

The address of the court is 275 Magnolia Ave., Long Beach, Ca 90802

A copy of this Order to Show Cause shall be published at least once each week for four successive weeks prior to the date set for hearing on the petition in the following newspaper of general circulation, printed in this county: Daily Journal and RLn.

Date January 13, 2023

David W. Slayton Judge of the Superior Court 1/19, 1/26, 2/2, 2/16/23

Black experience, and antiBlack racism specifically,” he told Random Lengths. “Also, I think this latter content is particularly important in our present context.”

In fact, removing that content has a sinister impact, as he noted in an LA Times op-ed titled “Watering down AP African American studies preserves the myth that racism exists solely in the past.” In it, he noted, “This pernicious framing is used by conservative ideologies that cast present-day Black inequality as the fault of Black inadequacy, and to buttress theories of white supremacy.” This is colorblind racism in a nutshell.

The changes are not as simple or clear-cut as Haynie’s description might suggest. The course’s four units are all thematically unified and chronologically structured — so even the “contemporary” topics that were removed were historically situated. After all, reparations are as old as the post-Civil War promise of “forty acres and a mule,” prison abolition is a response to abusive practices rooted in the 13th Amendment, and Black Lives Matter seeks to end practices rooted in prerevolutionary slave patrols. Similar connections can be made with virtually every topic that’s been marginalized — or, in the case of colorblind racism, entirely removed.

Originally, the third unit, “The Practice of Freedom” from Reconstruction through the Harlem Renaissance,

was the second-shortest with 20 topics, compared to 32 topics (the most) in the fourth unit, “Movements and Debates” from early 20th Century anticolonial movements through the present. Now both are the same size — 19 topics covered in 26 class periods. The third unit is 30% longer, the fourth is almost 20% shorter.

A Closer Look

Getting more in the weeds, the troubling changes come into focus. We can see this by comparing three weekly themes from February 2022 with the analogous themes in the final framework.

The weekly theme, “The Black Feminist Movement, Womanism, and Intersectionality,” with four fully-articulated topics has become “Black Women’s Voices in Society and Leadership” with just two topics in three classes. “Intersectionality and Activism” is gone of course, but the entire subject is substantially reduced.

The weekly focus “Black Power, Black Arts, Black Pride, and the Birth of Black Studies” is pared down to “Black Power and Black Pride,” with Black Arts and Black Pride combined

into one class, while “the birth of the field of Black studies from student-led protest and the political and cultural movements of the late 1960s and 1970s” completely disappears — a truly bizarre omission. The deep connection between Black activism and Black studies is foundational to any honest understanding of the field.

A more complex, but instructive example is found in the theme “Diversity Within Black Communities,” where the new content is strikingly more upscale and less critical. Completely gone is the topic of ‘Postracial’ Racism and Colorblindness (which flies in the face of Florida’s “Stop WOKE Act”), while two classes on “The Growth of the Black Middle Class” are added. Also gone is “ Politics and Class in African American Communities” focused on “the diversity of political and economic affiliations among African Americans,” replaced with “Black Political Gains” exemplified by three figures: Barack Obama, Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice. Two other topics — “demographic diversity” and “ religion and faith” — are combined into one — demographic and religious diversity — which is then given two classes. The cumulative

effect is far more Florida-GOP friendly, whether consciously intended or not.

While Haynie presented a coherent, if debatable account, the same can’t be said for the College Board. In a webinar, Trevor Backer, who leads the AP program, claimed, against all evidence, that “the course framework as published enables contemporary topics to be a more important focus than in the pilot, not a less important focus as has been reported.”

“So much of this suggests political motivation,” Kolluri said. “Maybe these political components were done separately from the conversations had by these professors, but they seem political nonetheless.”

The College Board’s attempt to placate Florida can’t be seen in a vacuum. It took place in the context of that lack of response. Now, unsurprisingly, DeSantis has threatened to kick the College Board out of Florida entirely — to get rid of all its AP courses as well reliance on the College Board’s SAT tests. This is precisely what’s to be expected in light of our history, as African American studies would warn us all. The fight to preserve it is inextricable from the fight to preserve our democracy.