Recent Streetsblog LA posts about race relations

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..."

Officer drags Bethany Nava off the train at Westlake/MacArthur Park for not removing her foot from the seat where it was propped up. [Image: still from video taken by Brock Bryan.]

“Burn the Witch!”: Public Enthusiasm for Dragging Rude Youth from Trains Highlights Gap in Metro’s Equity Platform

By Sahra Sulaiman | Mar 8, 2018 | 103 Comments

People had been so caught up in detailing the crimes against humanity her “poopy feet” had wrought that there was very little space for reflection on the larger implications of what it was that people were cheering.

The Rosa Parks Station in Watts, looking toward Long Beach. Sahra Sulaiman/Streetsblog L.A.

Strategy Center Files Lawsuit Seeking Arrest, Citation, and Deployment Data from Metro, Law Enforcement Agencies

By Sahra Sulaiman | Dec 18, 2017 | 10 Comments

Between May and September of this year, the lawsuit Public Counsel filed on behalf of the Labor/Community Strategy Center (LCSC) this past December 13 states, both Metro and the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department (LASD) failed to adequately respond (or respond at all) to multiple requests for public records regarding policing and fare enforcement practices, breakdowns […]

The County voted to condemn the lots at Vermont/Manchester and begin the eminent domain process, nearly 26 years after the structures there burned to the ground. (Image: Sassony Group)

County Board of Supervisors Approves Condemnation of Vermont/Manchester Lots, Moves Forward on Eminent Domain

By Sahra Sulaiman | Dec 5, 2017 | 2 Comments

The fact that the community has spent nearly 26 years waiting for this project to materialize is just one of many reasons that the County's vote to condemn the lots came as no surprise today.

Untokening Co-founder Naomi Doerner listens to a participant during the Policy/Advocacy/Power workshop at the Untokening California convening November 4. Sahra Sulaiman/Streetsblog L.A.

Mobility Justice Advocates Gather in Leimert Park for Untokening California

By Sahra Sulaiman | Nov 10, 2017 | 20 Comments

She had had enough of hearing her community spoken about in offensive ways by well- (and not-so-well-) meaning planners and advocates, enough of giving 110 percent of herself only to realize a fraction of what she put forward was being seen as having value, enough of how disinterested those with power over what happened in marginalized communities remained in the larger picture, and enough of being tokenized.

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