Recent Streetsblog LA posts about race relations

The Crenshaw Wall tells the story of the community's resilience, strength, beauty, and power. Someone covered the faces of four female Black Panthers (one of which is in the frame) with swastikas on November 29th. The streetlight was down to make way for the Space Shuttle Endeavor as it moved up Crenshaw in 2012. Sahra Sulaiman/Streetsblog L.A.

Community Meeting Tonight to Discuss the Vandalism of the Crenshaw Wall

By Sahra Sulaiman | Dec 7, 2018 | 4 Comments

Tonight at 6:30 p.m. at the Kaiser Permanente Baldwin Hills Community Room, community leaders and LAPD will discuss the vandalism of the Crenshaw Wall.

Black Panther Movement Figures on Crenshaw’s Great Wall Defaced with Swastikas

By Sahra Sulaiman | Nov 29, 2018 | 6 Comments

Earlier today, Jasmyne Cannick alerted the South Central community to the swastikas defacing the “Our Mighty Contribution” mural gracing Crenshaw’s 7800-foot-long Great Wall. Vandals deface Black Panther mural on Crenshaw Blvd. in #SouthLA with swastikas. https://t.co/UH3NXO4TkF — Jasmyne Cannick (@Jasmyne) November 29, 2018 Even as she lamented the hate crime, hateful comments were popping up […]

The vacant lots encompassing the 8400 and 8500 blocks on Vermont have held the community hostage to blight for over 26 years. The 8300 block (from which this photo was taken) had also remained vacant for a number of years and was originally going to be incorporated into the Vermont Entertainment Village project. In the mid-2000s, Eli Sasson sold off his 8300 block parcels (helping to doom the mall project) and the County services building rose on it instead in 2007. Source: County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas

As Metro’s Transportation School at Vermont/Manchester Moves Forward, a Community Reckons with the Past, Wrestles with the Form Change Should Take

By Sahra Sulaiman | Oct 16, 2018 | 1 Comment

For black stakeholders eager to shed the despised "Death Alley" label and address the damage rooted in segregationist policies, the stakes feel especially high

John Mack speaks in the PBS documentary The Powerbroker, on the legacy of civil rights leader Whitney Young.

Civil Rights Giant John Mack Leaves L.A. So Much Better than He Found It

By Sahra Sulaiman | Jun 22, 2018 | 2 Comments

Today, as Los Angeles mourns the passing of life-long civil rights advocate John Mack, we take a moment to reflect on what Mack’s loss means for the city and for the communities he fought so hard to uplift. He forced the city to be so much better than it ever aspired to be and we […]

Slimm, 25, Los Ryderz member, on his bike in Ted Watkins Park in Watts. Sahra Sulaiman/Streetsblog L.A.

“I Can’t Go Everywhere that I Thought I Could Go”: When Black and Brown Cyclists Need Safety from More than Traffic

By Sahra Sulaiman | May 1, 2018 | 32 Comments

"I knew where I was," muses Slimm, the 25-year-old road captain from the Los Ryderz Bike Club regarding his fateful decision to roll past 65th on Broadway - the heart of East Coast Crips territory, "but I was just riding by..."

Juan Carlos Mercado and Miguel Sanchez stand in a vacant lot at Manchester and Vermont. The former swap meet site saw a groundbreaking three years ago but the mall project, planned by developer Eli Sasson, never materialized. And the buildings behind the youth - occupied by homeless folks from the area - burned down in February. Sahra Sulaiman/Streetsblog L.A.

County Wins Control of Vermont/Manchester Lots in Superior Court Ruling

By Sahra Sulaiman | Apr 26, 2018 | 13 Comments

Thursday's ruling approving the County's bid to acquire the lots from developer Eli Sasson via eminent domain effectively closes the book on the 26 years the community has been held hostage to blight.

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