Sahra Sulaiman

“I GOT ARRESTED once,” Daniel said, cheerfully.

“SPEED BUMPS,” volunteered a participant in response to questions about what would improve the overall quality, safety, and walkability of their neighborhood.

Unionization at two carwashes represents victory for a handful of workers, but underscores how much more remains to be done to protect workers.

When he first came to check out the lot at 98th and Pace, Edgar Flores found himself stumbling across the carcasses of animals that had been dumped there. A couple of dead dogs, a bag full of dead roosters, he lamented, “the smell was horrible!”

WHEN I FIRST MET JOHN JONES III, leader of the East Side Riders, he sized up all 5' 2” of me and, instead of shaking my hand, stuck his straight up in the air.

The Real Rydaz Low Rider Bike Club are comprised of around 30 riders, and distinguished from other groups by the insane amount of detail that goes into crafting their custom bikes. It's all for a good cause, however. They hope that by riding with pride through the streets of their communities--communities where recreational riding is sometimes rare--they are sending a message about the importance of being healthy to youth and adults alike. It is a real club with dues and a probationary period.

Several years ago, I spent a week photographing a stretch of 37th St. as part of a neighborhood documentation project of the area around USC. Where other photographers had diligently snapped structures and streets, I had cajoled residents into participating in the project and later gave them copies of the photos so they could see the final product. The soul of a neighborhood is its people, I had argued in defending my approach at the time. Without them, the structures are just a shell.

A South LA Filmmaker Captures the Stories of African-American Cyclists on Film

Although the pilgrimage route along Crenshaw Blvd. was short—0.8 miles, to be exact, it was rich in meaning.