Los Angeles

Los Angeles
For a long time, Los Angeles has existed in the West Coast of the United States of America. I wanted to
mention information about LA for a long time. Los Angeles is the city with the second highest number of
people in the USA with almost 4 million people. Los Angeles has great culture and great people. Directly
south of Los Angeles is Long Beach and Torrance. East of Los Angeles, there is West Covina, Ontario,
Fontana, and San Bernardino. Pasadena, Palmdale, and Lancaster are to the north of Los Angeles. San Diego
(which is near the US/Mexico border. San Diego is known for its large Naval base) is directly southeast of Los
Angeles. Locations like Simi Valley, and Santa Barbara are to the northwest of LA. Inglewood, Compton,
Carson, etc. are to the south or southwest of LA as well. There are no shortages of activists, actors,
actresses, scholars, engineers, business people, political leaders, community organizers, and other
human beings who love Los Angeles. LA is a tourist location, a place where many celebrities live, and it is a
city where down to Earth people readily congregate. LA is more than the cultural center of the entertainment
industry. It is a city with a great Mediterranean climate and it has a diverse demographic population.
It is found in a large coastal basin being surrounded by mountains on three sides. I know that I would write
about this city, because of its rich culture and its inspiring people. The history and culture of the great city of
Los Angeles goes back from centuries ago to the present in the early part of the 21st century. There can be
no talk about Los Angeles without mentioning information about the Native Americans. Archaeological
studies found that there was a seafaring culture in Southern California during 8,000 B.C. During 3,000 B.C.,
there was the Hokan speaking people in the Milling Stone Period. These human beings fished, hunted sea
mammals, and gathered wild seeds. During ca. 300 B.C., the Tataviam or the Fernandeno people inhabited
the San Fernando Valley. The Tongva people (in ca. 500 A.D.) replaced them possibly because of drought.

The Tongva people spoke a Uto-Aztecan language called Tongva. These people called the Los Angeles
region Yaa in the Tongva language. Europeans traveled into California by the 16th century. The Portuguese
explorer Juan Cabrillo in 1542 navigated to the coast of California. He called the present San Pedro Bay, the
“Bay of Smokes.” The European Sebastian Vizcaino of Spain explored the California coast and met some of
the locals in 1602. A change happened in 1769. This was when the Spanish explorer Gaspar de Portola
wanted to explore a land route to the port of Monterrey. He did just that and he established the first Spanish
settlement in the area. The settler’s name the local river Rio de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de
Porciuncula (or the River of Our Lady Queen of the Angels of Porciuncula). This settlement grew. Later,
Father Junipero Serra created the Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, later moved to the present-day city of San
Gabriel.
During the 18th century, there were from 250,000 to 300,000 Native Americans in California and 5,000
people in the Los Angeles basin. By the time the Europeans came into California, the Gabrielinos and the
Fernandeños (who are Native American people) grew in size. The Gabrielinos occupied huge lands centuries
ago in the realm of about 4,000 square miles in their peak. It included the enormous floodplain drained by
the Los Angeles and San Gabriel rivers and the southern Channel Islands, including the Santa Barbara, San
Clemente, Santa Catalina, and San Nicholas Islands. They were part of a sophisticated group of trading
partners that included the Chumash to the west, the Cahuilla and Mojave to the east, and the Juaneños and
Luiseños to the south. Their trade extended to the Colorado River and included slavery. The Gabrielinos had
their own religious and cultural practices. They believed in a Creator god named Chinigchinix. They believed
in a female virgin goddess named Chukit. They believed in an afterlife and enacted a purification ritual, which
was similar to the Eucharist. As time went on, some of them married with Mexican colonists. From 1769 to
1821, the Los Angeles area was controlled by the Spanish Empire.

Early Los Angeles
Felipe de Neve was one man who was responsible mostly for the founding of Los Angeles in the modern
sense. He was a Spanish governor of Las Californias, which included California and Baja California (which is
found in Mexico). He allowed people to settle the Missions Santa Barbara and San Jose, which later became
California cities. Neve toured Alta California in 1777. Neve gathered families to prepare to settle in modern
day Los Angeles. They included Criollo (or local people of Spanish ancestry. The Peninsulares class included
Spaniards who were born in Spain. They had more political power than the Criollo), biracial people, and black
people too. In the Spanish Empire, there were a caste system which was based on race and class. In

September 4, 1781, the Spanish civilian pueblo of El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles was
founded. A pueblo is a location of a municipality in the Spanish Empire. Los Angeles was a town at first. Its
population was small until the 20th century. There was a water system in Los Angeles made up of ditches or
zanjas. The settlers were called Pobladores or “townspeople.” Soldiers and more settlers came into the town
and stayed. A chapel was built on the Plaza in 1784.
Native Americans were used as labor in the area. The pobladores paid the Native Americans for their labor.
The settlers saw massive wetlands, deer, antelope, black bears, and even some grizzly bears. Each settler has
a four rectangle piece of land called suertes for farming (and two irrigated plots and two dry ones). Governor
Pedro Fages gave more regulations in Los Angeles and some Native Americans received more freedom to
work. In 1795, Sergeant Pablo Cota led an expedition from the Simi Valley through the Conejo-Calabasas
region and into the San Fernando Valley. His party visited the rancho of Francisco Reyes. They found the
local Indians hard at work as vaqueros and caring for crops. In 1784—only three years after the founding—
the first recorded marriages in Los Angeles took place. The two sons of settler Basilio Rosas, Maximo and
José Carlos, married two young Native American women, whose names are María Antonia and María
Dolores. In 1797, Father Fermin Lasuen founded Mission San Fernando, named for King Ferdinand of Spain.
It later became home to the largest adobe structure in California, 30,000 grape vines and 21,000 head of
livestock.
By 1805, the first American trading ship came to San Pedro Bay, south of the Pueblo. Los Angeles back then
was under the control of the Viceroyalty of New Spain. It has a town council or a cabildo. Its first municipal
officers, the regidores (council members) and alcalde (municipal magistrate), were appointed by Governor de
Neve. Subsequent ones were elected annually by the settlers, the vecinos pobladores. Since the government
of Las Californias had a strong military orientation in this early phase of colonization, the civilian cabildo was
originally supervised by acomisionado (commissioner) appointed by the comandante (commander) of the
Presidio of Santa Barbara, who was charged with making sure that the the alcalde and regidores carried out
their duties correctly. The first recorded alcalde was José Vanegas, who served in 1786 and 1796. Vanegas
was first listed as a Native American in the original 1781 padrón (register) but then as a Mestizo in the 1790
census. Yes, there were black people in early Los Angeles as well. Juan Francisco Reyes was a biracial early
settler of Los Angeles. Afro-Mexicans were there too in Los Angeles from the beginning.

The Mexican American War
From 1801 to 1821, there was the Mexico’s War of Independence. The Mexican people fought against the
Spanish Empire for freedom and independence. The Mexican people won and Los Angeles was within the
territory of Mexico during that time. Times will change. There was a more secularization of the missions. The
ranchos grew more in Los Angeles and the Native American population was displaced or absorbed into the
Hispanic population. By 1827, Los Angeles was the largest pueblo of the territory. In 1835 it was made
a city by the Mexican Congress, and declared the capital, but the last provision was not enforced and
was soon recalled. In 1836–1838, it was the headquarters of Carlos Antonio Carrillo, a legally named but
never de facto governor of California, whose jurisdiction was never recognized in the north; and, in 1845–
1847, it was the actual capital. People were now cuidadanos or citizens. By 1841, the population of Los
Angeles was 1,680. Around this time, the US expanded its territory rapidly. The agenda of Manifest Destiny
took shape. That doctrine was evil and it was about the philosophy that white colonists have the right to
expand their territories from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean (even if it meant violating people's
rights in the process). This ideological extremism influenced the development of the Mexican American
war, which started in 1846.
Many people wanted the Manifest Destiny, which led to the U.S. annexation of Texas. First, Mexico was a
nation from the Spanish Empire. The Comanche Native Americans regularly attacked Mexico in order for to
get livestock and sell it in Texas and in America. Moses Austin was granted a large tract of land in Texas. He
died before he could bring his plan of recruiting American settlers for the land to fruition. His son Stephen F.
Austin (who was a slave owner) brought over 300 families into Texas. This started many Americans to travel
into Texas. Texas back then was a colony of Mexico not yet an independent state. The Mexicans wanted to
use the Texas colony as a buffer between the Tejano residents and the Comanches. The Anglo colonists grew

in population. The Mexican government later reinstated the property tax, increased tariffs on American
shipped goods and banned slavery (which was a great thing). Settlers and many Mexican businessmen in the
region rejected this reality. Mexico also closed Texas to additional immigration from Mexico, but ironically
Anglos illegally traveled into Texas nevertheless. Now, Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna was the centralist
dictator of Mexico in 1834. He wanted the provinces in Mexico included Texas to be bounded under Mexico
under firm control. Stephen F. Austin called Texians to arms and declared independence from Mexico in
1836. Santa Anna defeated the Texians at the Alamo and he was defeated by the Texian Army (commanded
by General Sam Houston and he was captured at the Battle of San Jacinto). Santa Anna signed the treaty
recognizing Texas independence. Texas was the 28th state of America by December 29, 1845. The border of
Texas as a state was never settled originally.
The Mexican-American war centered on the disagreement over where the Mexican-American border should
be. Mexico believed that the border should be below the Nueces River while American colonists believed
that the border should be the Rio Grande River for America. We do know that Polk was supported heavily by
Southern slave owners who wanted to expand the number of slave states. Polk instructed Commodore John
D. Sloat to occupy California should war break out over Texas. On March 1846, General Zachary Tayler led
American troops past the Nueces River towards the Rio Grande River. They wanted to occupy the land below
the Nueces River and claim the area east of the Rio Grande for the U.S. General Anastacio Torrejon of Mexico
led 2,000 Mexican troops cross north of the Rio Grande River and ambush the U.S. troops at Fort Texas on
April 25, 1846. This caused the Mexican-American war to start. Both sides had victories, but America had the
majority of the victories especially by the end of the war.

Public opinion was divided. Some Americans loved and agreed with the war and others viewed the war as a
slick means of America to expand slavery in other territories. Critics of the invasion, like congressman Joshua
R. Giddings, rightly called it "a war against an unoffending people...for the purpose of conquest; with a
design of extending slavery...I will not bathe my hands in the blood of the people of Mexico." Ulysses S.
Grant, who fought in the war, called it "one of the most unjust ever waged on a weaker country by a
stronger." President James Polk promoted the war. The pro-slavery President James Polk wanted a war as a
way for him to gain territories in the West which could have slavery in them. In California, the Bear Revolt
came about when California settlers rebelled against Mexico and called California an independent republic.
Mexico couldn’t defend its northern territories since their military forces were over extended. Commodore
Robert F. Stockton and John C. Fremont occupied Los Angeles. Governor Pico fled to Mexico. The Battle of
Los Angeles caused an American victory over Mexico from September 22 to September 1846. The former
dictator Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna left exile in Cuba to come to Mexico as a way for him to fight the USA
(in December of 1846). The Treaty of Cahuenga on January 1847 ended the California phase of the MexicanAmerican war. General Taylor defeated Santa Anna’s forces in the battle of Buena Vista on February 23, 1847.
The U.S. forces were largely outnumbered, but they won with the usage of heavy artillery. This victory
influenced Taylor to the elected President on 1848. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed on February

2, 1848. This ended the war completely and caused the U.S. to gain California and a large part of Western
America (including Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico). Rio Grande is established as the U.S.-Mexican border.

The Growth of Trade and Immigration
Gold being discovered in 1848 at Coloma caused thousands of miners from Sonora in Northern Mexico to
go to the gold fields. The Gold Rush was in northern California, etc. Los Angeles was a place of supplying
beefs and other foods to the hungry miners of the north (as in Northern California). Los Angeles during that
time was found in lawlessness for a time, because there was the temporary absence of a legal system. There
were gamblers, outlaws, etc. Anglo power grew and Juan Flores in 1856 threatened South California with a
revolt. He was hanged in Los Angeles in front of 3,000 people. Tiburico Vasquez did actions and he was
found guilty of murder and hanged in San Jose in 1875. Vigilance Committees in Los Angeles were basically
lynch mobs. They brutalized people. In fact, between 1850 and 1870, mobs carried out approximately 35
lynchings of Mexicans—more than four times the number that occurred in San Francisco. Los Angeles was
described as "undoubtedly the toughest town of the entire nation." Racially motivated violence against
Mexicans caused the powers that be to further deprive Mexicans of political and other human rights. Native
Americans suffered too after the Mexican-American War. Many innocent Native Americans were killed by
white racists. New England author and Native American rights activists Helen Hunt Jackson spoke up against
this in 1883. Helen saw how Native Americans in the Los Angeles were hunted for sport, killed, their
farmlands were stolen, and some were exterminated by white racists.
Her novel “Ramona” wanted to promote the humanity of Native Americans in the midst of their injustice.
Some Native American villages survived by her efforts like Soboba, Temecula, etc. There was massive white
racism in Los Angeles back then (and today). From 1848 to the early 20th century, Los Angeles experienced
massive changes. The American government controlled Los Angeles and the city’s streets were extended.
The real estate business grew. Many of the streets were changed from Spanish to English. There was an
Anglo and Mexican tension which grew over lands, resources, and culture. Under this new system, the
Chinese, the Italians, the French, and the Mexicans lived near the Plaza while the power elite were in the
outskirts of the city. Gold was discovered in 1848 in Coloma. The gold rush would spread from Mexico to
Alaska. Los Angeles was used as depot of farmland to feed the miners in the northern part of California who
wanted to find more gold. During the Civil War, California was part of the Union.
John Gately Downey, the seventh Governor of California was sworn into office on January 14, 1860, thereby
becoming the first Governor from Southern California. Governor Downey was born and raised in

Castlesampson, County Roscommon, Ireland, and came to Los Angeles in 1850. He was responsible for
keeping California in the Union during the Civil War. Native Americans suffered oppression, discrimination,
and murder by racists in Los Angeles. It would be decades after 1850 when Native Americans would have
any protection under the law. Anglos readily killed Native Americans and steal their lands all of the time.

In the date of September 9, 1850, California was admitted into the United States of America as a free state.
During the 1870’s, Los Angles had only 5,000 people. The industrial expansion grew resources in the city. The
Angeles was the first incorporated bank in Los Angeles, founded in 1871 by John G. Downey and Isaias W.
Hellman. Wealthy easterners who came as tourists recognized the growth opportunities and invested heavily
in the region. Back then, much of LA County was farmland. There were cattle grown, dairy products, citrus
fruits, and fruits. After 1945, most of the farmland was transformed into housing tracts. Railroads grew like
the Lost Angeles and San Pedro Railroad came about in October of 1869. Oil was discovered by Edward L.
Doheny in 1892 near the present Dodger Stadium. Many fields were created like the Los Angeles City Oil
Field. Oil production was a central part of LA economy by the early 20th century.

The Early 20th century
Also, political activists like labor rights activists, socialists, and other revolutionaries wanted justice in Los
Angeles. The police broke up meetings of socialists in the Plaza. The labor rights movement grew and the
city political elites placed a ban on free speech from public streets and private property except for the Plaza.
Locals had claimed that it had been an Open Forum forever. The area was of particular concern to the
owners of the L.A. Times, Harrison Grey Otis and his son-in-law Harry Chandler. In 1913, the first California
branch of the NAACP was established in Los Angeles.
The police readily suppressed the efforts of the Industrial Workers of the World. On Christmas Day, 1913,
police attempted to break up an IWW rally of 500 taking place in the Plaza. Encountering resistance, the
police waded into the crowd attacking them with their clubs. One citizen was killed. In the aftermath, the
authorities attempted to impose martial law in the wake of growing protests. Seventy-three people were
arrested in connection with the riots. The City Council introduced new measures to control public speaking.
The Klan, the American Legion, and others (who were reactionary extremists) would raid IWW Halls and
attack men, women, and even children meeting there. The garment industry grew. The Los Angeles River
relied heavily from the aquifer under the San Fernando Valley. Government policies have tried to send the
water from the San Gabriel Mountains into the sea. The Army Corps of Engineers created dams and basins in

the canyons along the San Gabriel Mountains to reduce the debris flows. The Los Angeles Aqueduct was
created to help supply water supplies to the people of LA.

Hollywood grew in the Los Angeles area during the early 20th century. It was an independent city in 1903,
but it was merged into Los Angeles by 1910.Many movie makers (both Jewish people and non-Jewish
people) from New York came to the LA area to do year round location shooting. Hollywood, as we know,
grew into a cinematic heart of America. It has been a place where actors, directors, singers, producers, etc.
work at. Studios, being large, small, and independent, have their work done in Hollywood. There was the end
to racial segregation in municipal swimming pools by the summer of 1931 via a Superior Court Judge after
Ethel Prioleau sued the city. Ethel said that her, as a black woman, was not allowed to use the pool in nearby
Exposition Park but she had to travel 3.6 miles to the designated “negro swimming pool,” which was morally
wrong. Los Angeles hosted the 1932 Summer Olympics. The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, which had
opened in May 1932 with a seating capacity of 76,000, was enlarged. It was enlarged to accommodate over
100,000 spectators for Olympic events. It is still in use by the USC Trojan football team. Olympic Boulevard
was the major thoroughfare which honors the occasion. There was the October 3, 1933 Griffith Park brush
fire that killed 29 people and injured 150 workers who were clearing brush in Griffith Park. LA was small back
then being 28 square miles until the 1890’s. Later, annexations came about. Los Angeles added Highland
Pak, Garvanza and the South Los Angeles area. During the early 20th century, Los Angeles annexed more
towns and communities like San Pedro, Sawtelle, Hyde Park, Eagle Rock, Watts, Tujunga, etc. During the
1920’s and the 1930’s, the city’s mayor, councilmen, and attorneys took contributions from bootleggers,
gamblers, etc. There were Mafia battles over bootlegging and horse racing turf. The LAPD was known for its
police brutality back then too. The police Intelligence Squad spied on anyone even suspected of criticizing
the police. They included journalist Carey McWilliams, the district attorney, Judge Bowron, and two of the
County Supervisors. Many cops on the intelligence squad of the police were convicted for corruption.

The WWII Era
Los Angeles has a very important history during the WWII era from 1941 to 1945. Just before this time, the
beginning of Los Angeles International Airport came about in 1929 when the Hangar No 1 was built. The
airport was called Mines Field back then in 1930. Later, it expanded into the Los Angeles International Airport
or LAX. In 1940, there was the Arroyo Seco Parkway. It opens on the right of way between Downtown Los
Angeles and Pasadena. This becomes the first controlled limited access highway or freeway. Today, the LA
area has 27 interconnecting freeways and the East LA interchange is the busiest in the world. During World
War II, Los Angeles grew as a center for production of aircraft, war supplies, and ammunitions. Thousands of
people, which included black people and white people from the South and the Midwest, traveled into LA in
order for them to fill up factory jobs. Shipbuilding was a huge industry and the Port of Los Angeles
employed about 90,000 workers. In fact, one third of all U.S. warplanes were manufactured in Los Angeles. N
1941, Reverend Clayton Russel formed the Negro Victory Committee in Los Angles. This was a group of
public officials, professionals, union leaders, and NAACP members. They worked for the creation of jobs in
defense plants for black people.
By 1941, the United States Court house is built the Pueblo Del Riot housing complex is built in 1941 too. In
1942, Los Angeles established its first parking meter. There were also racial tensions not only between whites
and blacks in LA back then. There were racial tensions between whites and Hispanics or Latinos during the
WWII era too. Many black people and Hispanic people back then opposed segregation and racial oppression
in Los Angeles. Zaragosa Vargas’ book entitled, “Labor Rights Are Civil Rights: Mexican-American Workers in
20th Century America” from 2007 has amazing, great research on this issue. The strikes during the New Deal
era inspired a younger generation of Mexican Americans to fight for their human rights. This was one

foundation of the Chicano civil rights movement which we know about. Now back then, many Mexican
Americans were experiencing massive labor exploitation and institutionalized racism throughout the
Southwest and the West Coast. Some were forced to live in impoverished barrios and had an inadequate
educational system. So, people fought back. There was an explosion of population growth in Los Angeles
during the 1940’s.

Thousands of Mexican refugees came into LA since some were refugees fleeing the Mexican Revolution.
Many white men were in WWII as soldiers (black soldiers in WWII were in segregated military forces) while
women and people of color filed the jobs in the defense industry. Jazz was popular back then like hip hop
and pop music are popular today. Jazz was used as a way for people to express defiance against racism and
the evil system of white supremacy. So, African Americans and Mexican Americans wore zoot suits as a
means for them to defy the evils of segregation and racism. Later, Los Angeles authorities stereotyped
Mexican zoot suit wearers as criminals collectively, which was wrong. Most zoot suit wearers were young
Mexican Americans while many older Mexican Americans opposed it. Drunken servicemen assaulted Mexican
Americans. The Los Angeles newspaper editor Charlotta Bass, California Assemblyman Augustus Hawkins,
and the actresses Hattie McDaniel and Lena Horne (all African Americans) joined the Citizens’ Committee for
the Defense of Mexican American Youth in 1942, which was formed by actor Anthony Quinn and Josephine
Fierro de Bright (of the Spanish-Speaking People’s Congress).
The organization was created in order to defend the eight Mexican American men who were charged with
the murder of Jose Diaz. Racists exploited the Sleepy Lagoon Murder case (of 1942, which was about Jose
Diaz being murdered. Nine people were convicted and sentenced to prison terms. Innocent people were
convicted and their convictions were overturned in 1944). These tensions escalated into a street fight
between sailors and Mexican American youth which caused the Zoot Riots. It lasted for a week during June
of 1943. It started with Sailor Joe Dacy Coleman. He grabbed a Mexican person and the Mexican used self-

defense against Coleman. Other sailors were harassing women and the Mexican youth attacked the
servicemen for harassing women. Coleman and other sailors escaped to safety. Later, 50 sailors wanted
revenge.
They went to Alpine Street and attacked 12 and 13 year old boys wearing zoot suits. These Mexican boys
were innocent. The boys were clubbed mercilessly. Their suits were burned. Later, riots happened. Mexican
musicians were attacked when they exited the Aztec Recording company after a recording section. Hundreds
of servicemen were in downtown Los Angeles to stalk Mexicans and they assaulted them. This was said by
Military Commander Clarence Flogg. Mexican American kids had no choice, but to organize and fight back.
Rudy Leyvas was one person who was Mexican American and he fought back. Some black people in Watts
were attacked by white racist brutes. Filipinos were victims too by being assaulted by soldiers. This was one
of the worst times in American history. After the riots, Mexican Americans were made the scapegoats by the
political establishment when the riots occurred as a product of racism. Many post-war activists such as Luis
Valdez, Ralph Ellison, and Richard Wright have claimed that they were inspired by the Zoot Suit Riots. Cesar
Chávez was a zoot suiter when he first became interested in politics and zoot suiter Malcolm X took part in
the Harlem zoot suit riots. WWII ended in 1945.

These are Brothers and Sisters protesting school segregation in Los Angeles. In 1963, the
California State Supreme Court ruled in Jackson v Pasadena City School District, stating that
segregation of any type was a violation of the state constitution.
In 1952, Los Angeles newspaper editor Charlotta Bass received the Progressive Party nomination for Vice
President. She is the first African American woman to be placed on a national party ticket. Charlotta Bass was
a black woman in favor of the rights of black people. She was also the first African American woman to own
and operate a newspaper in the United States. Mexican American civil rights activists also achieved several
major legal victories including the 1947 Mendez v. Westminster Supreme Court ruling which declared that
segregating children of "Mexican and Latin descent" was unconstitutional and the 1954 Hernandez v. Texas
ruling which declared that Mexican Americans and other historically-subordinated groups in the United
States were entitled to equal protection under the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. In 1953, the
United States Supreme Court declared the enforcement of residential race-restrictive covenants illegal in

Barrows v. Jackson. Race-restrictive covenants were long utilized in California to racially segregate residential
areas. Los Angeles NAACP attorney Loren Miller was part of the legal team that lobbied the Supreme Court.

Dr. Martin Luther King in the picture to the left is with Dorothy Dandridge in a civil rights
rally in Los Angeles, California in the date of May 26, 1963. Both Dr. King and Dorothy
Dandridge were in the Freedom Rally. More than 35,000 human beings were in the rally at Los
Angeles’s Wrigley Field. Brother Malcolm X always traveled into Los Angeles all of the time to
promote the liberation of black people.
An Age of Social Change
Los Angeles is a place during the 1960’s where massive changes occurred. From 1960 to 1965, dozens of civil
rights demonstrations will take place all over the West Coast and the Southwest in cities like Los Angeles,
Denver, San Francisco, Oakland, Portland, Salt Lake City, Las Vegas, Reno, Seattle, San Diego, Houston,
Dallas, and San Antonio. In 1960, the Los Angeles Lakers were formed in the NBA. They were once the
Minneapolis Lakers. The Hollywood Walk of Fame opens with a star dedicated to Joanne Woodward
embedded in the sidewalk. Also, LA was the city that hosted the National Convention of the Democratic
Party. John F. Kennedy was nominated to run for the Presidency in LA. The early 1960’s saw massive brush
fires too. The November 1961 fires began. Bel Air and Brentwood including the Santa Ynez fires destroyed
484 expensive homes and 21 other buildings. There was about 15,810 acres of brush being destroyed in the
Bel Air, Brentwood, and Topanga Canyon neighborhoods. There was the fair housing conflict in LA too. Los
Angeles had racist policies via restrictive covenants (not like de jure segregation, but it was wrong) in real
estate. Even during WWII, 95 percent of Los Angeles housing was off-limits to black people and Asians.
Minorities experienced discrimination in housing. The great black author Louis Lomax came to Los Angeles
to debate people and to promote civil rights for black people. Sister Gwendolyn F. Green of California also
worked with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (Clarence Jones a great ally of Dr. King too) to fight for justice as well.
She worked with King’s field director, Hosea Williams, as assistant director for the Summer Voting Drive in
1965. She travelled through six southern states and through 120 counties providing voter registration,
helping people to a voice in this country. She worked with many people (like Tom Bradley, Los Angeles’ first
Black Mayor, Julian Dixon, Yvonne Burke, Alan Cranston, John Tunney, Herb Wesson, Mark Ridley-Thomas,
Edmund G. “Pat” Brown and former LAUSD James Jones) and she is a social activist.

Here is Salvador B. Castro, who was fighting for the educational rights of Chicano and all Latino
students in Los Angeles back during the 1960’s.
The Chicano human rights movement in Los Angeles grew during the 1960’s. One person part of this
movement was Salvador B. Castro. He was an educator and had a huge role in the East Los Angeles high
school walkouts. He and others wanted better conditions in the Los Angeles United School District or the
LAUSD. In 1963, he and others in the Chicano Youth Leadership Conferences (CYLC) wanted to advance
educational rights for Hispanic students. Back then, the CYLC fought for bilingual and culturally relevant
education and systemic reforms to give students the opportunity to achieve higher education. The Brown
Berets were support of this movement too. Throughout his entire life until the year of his passing (in 2013),
Castro has fought for the educational rights of the citizens of Los Angeles. RIP Salvador B. Castro.
Many minorities were forced to live in housing in East or South Los Angeles, Watts, and Compton during the
1960's. These racist real-estate practices severely restricted educational and economic opportunities. This is
why civil rights activists fought back against oppression. Police brutality against black people and Latino
people were an epidemic during the 1960’s. People complained about William Parker’s LAPD harsh tactics
against people. Malcolm X accurately described police brutality in these terms back in 1962: “…You’ve got
some Gestapo tactics being practiced by the police department in this country against 20 million
black people, second class citizens, day in and day out – not only down South but up North. Los
Angeles isn’t down South. Los Angeles isn’t in Mississippi. Los Angeles is in the state of California,
which produced Earl Warren, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court – and Richard Nixon, the man
who was Vice President of this country for some eight years and who wants to run for president
again." In 1964, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a suit against the Los Angeles City Board of
Education regarding de facto school segregation. Subsequently, the California Supreme Court ruled that
Pasadena’s segregated school system was unconstitutional.

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art opened in 1965. Today it is the largest art museum in the western
United States, anchor of the Museum Corridor along Wilshire Boulevard’s Miracle Mile. Voters passed a
referendum in November 1964 that gutted the state's fair housing laws, making it clear to Black workers that
the supposedly liberal state was entrenching racial segregation, even as it was outlawed in the South. The
following month, a U.S. Department of Commerce study, "Hard Core Unemployment and Poverty in Los
Angeles," detailed the crisis of housing, the high incidence of disease and other issues. In March 1965, five

continuous days of civil rights demonstrations outside the Federal Building pointed to an increase in Black
activism in the city. The growth of racism, police brutality, and community problems caused the Watts Riots
to develop from August 11-17, 1965.

“…[The year 1965] will probably be the longest, hottest, bloodiest summer that has yet been seen in the
United States since the beginning of the Black Revolution, primarily because the same causes that
existed in the winter of 1964 still exist in January, in February of 1965...[These causes are] inferior
housing, inferior employment, inferior education. All of the evils of a bankrupt system still exist where
Black Americans are concerned...”
-- Malcolm X
The Watts rebellion started after a police incident. The police harassment of a Black motorist was only the
trigger. The Watts Rebellion happened after a 21 year old African American Marquette Frye was arrested
because of failing a sobriety test. Around 6 p.m., Lee Minikus, a California Highway Patrol motorcycle officer,
pulled over 21-year-old Marquette Frye (and his brother named Ronald was the other passenger in the
vehicle too). Rena Price was at the scene (at the intersection of Avalon Boulevard and 116th Street) and she
is Frye’s mother. Someone shoved Rena Price from behind and Frye was struck. Rena Price jumped an officer
(which caused the gathering crowd of Black residents to cheer), and another officer pulled out a shotgun.
Backup police officers attempted to arrest Frye by using physical force to subdue him. An officer then struck
Marquette’s head with his nightstick, and all three of the Fryes were arrested. Lacine Holland, a county
worker who was in the neighborhood to pick up her children after work, remembered watching the police
take Marquette and "throw him in the car like a bag of laundry." After the Second World War, an estimated
95 percent of LA housing was off limits to African Americans and Asians due to a system of restrictive
housing covenants that enforced de facto segregation even after the covenants were declared illegal. As
Tommy Jacquette, a South Central LA resident who was 21 at the time of the rebellion, told the Los Angeles
Times in 2005:
“…People said that we burned down our community. No, we didn't. We had a revolt in our community
against those people who were in here trying to exploit and oppress us. We did not own this community. We
did not own the businesses in this community. We did not own the majority of the housing in this
community…”
Betty Pleasant, who in 1965 was a young journalist for the Los Angeles Sentinel, the city's main Black
newspaper, pointed out in an LA Times interview that there were still a lot of stores and businesses in the

area at the time, but "as far as the residents were concerned...they were white-owned stores, selling
substandard stuff for high prices."
Pleasant described watching a crowd as it:
“…moved to the big supermarket on 103rd Street that was notorious for selling awful food. Several months
before, I covered a demonstration there where people were trying to get them to sell better meat, better
baked goods, better produce. They burned it...down. I don't think they even bothered to loot that sucker.
On the corner of 92nd and Wilmington was a very small, tiny grocery store owned by an elderly Black couple.
Their store was untouched, because word went around not to touch this one because it was Black-owned…”

After rumors spread that the police had roughed Frye up and kicked a pregnant woman, angry mobs
formed. Tensions rose and the throwing of objects escalated into rebellion. Black community leaders tried to
form an action plan to end tensions. Later, the Los Angeles police Chief Parker called for the California Army
National Guard to come. The rebellion grew and by August 13, about 2,300 National Guardsmen joined the
police. Burnt buildings, assaults, massive arrests, and wake up calls for many were the events that happened
during the Watts rebellion. 34 people died and 1,032 people were injured. About 3,925 people have been
arrested. An estimated $40 million in damage existed and almost 1,000 buildings were damaged or
destroyed. We know that poverty, high unemployment, poor schools, and bad living conditions contributed
to the cause of the rebellion. The events in Watts started a new era of the civil rights movement and caused
many to see the complex issues of the ghettoes of the North, the Midwest, and the West Coast.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave eloquent words on the Watts rebellion. He said the following words on the
rebellion (via his press release on August 20, 1965):

"...After visiting the area of the recent riots and talking with hundreds of people of all walks of life it is
my opinion that these riots grew out of the depths of despair which afflict a people who see no way out
of their economic dilemma. There are serious doubts that the white community is in any way concerned
or willing to accommodate their needs. There is also a growing disillusionment and resentment toward
the Negro middle class and the leadership which it has produced. This ever widening breach is a serious
factor which leads to the feeling that they are alone in their struggle and must resort to any method to
gain attention to their plight. The nonviolent movement of the South has meant little to them since we
have been fighting for rights which theoretically are already theirs. Their fight is for dignity and work.
This is the reason that the issue of police brutality looms so high. The slightest discourtesy on the part
of an officer of the law is a deprivation of the dignity which most of the residents of Watts came North
seeking. But the main is economic. Unless some work can be found for the unemployed and

underemployed we continually face the possibility of this kind of outbreak at every encounter with
police authority…But let us not assume that this is a situation pecular to Los Angeles alone. It is a
national problem…”
By 1968, the same Martin Luther King who had been heckled in Watts for his moderation had this to say
about the urban rebellions:

“…Without this magnificent ferment among Negroes, the old evasions and procrastinations would have
continued indefinitely. Black men have slammed the door shut on a past of deadening passivity...
In these trying circumstances, the Black revolution is much more than a struggle for the rights of
Negroes. It is forcing America to face all its interrelated flaws--racism, poverty, militarism, and
materialism. It is exposing the evils that are rooted deeply in the whole structure of our society. It
reveals systemic rather than superficial flaws and suggests that radical reconstruction of society itself is
the real issue to be faced…”
In 1963, California Legislature passed and Governor Pat Brown signed the Rumford Fair Housing Act which
outlawed restrictive covenants and the refusal to rent or sell housing on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender,
marital status, or physical disability. Governor Pat Brown was a progressive governor as he promoted the
California Aqueduct, and education. Yet, the reactionaries promoted Proposition 14, which would ban the
Rumford Fair Housing Act. It must be known that the then Governor Ronald Reagan (who defeated Governor
Edmund Brown. Reagan was inaugurated on January 2, 1967) supported Proposition 14, which outlines his
extremism. The good news is that the California Supreme Court in 1966 and he U.S. Supreme Court in 1967
(in Reitman v. Mulkey) said that the Proposition 14 was unconstitutional in violation of the 14th Amendment
of the Constitution. The federal U.S. Fair Housing Act would be passed in 1968. The growth of the Black
Panther Party in Los Angeles is very important to know as well. African Americans have grown in political
power during this time period. In 1966, Mervyn Dymally, a Los Angeles teacher and politician, became the
first African American to serve in the California State Senate. He went on to be elected as Lieutenant
Governor in 1974.

The person on the left is Brother Mervyn Dymally and the person to the right is Sister Yvonne
Brathwaite Burke.
Also in 1966, Yvonne Brathwaite Burke, an attorney from Los Angeles, became the first African American
woman in the California Legislature and in 1972 became the first African American woman elected to the U.S.
Congress from the West Coast. She served in Congress from 1973 until the end of 1978. The Hispanic and
the Chicano civil rights movement grew during the 1960’s in Los Angeles. They wanted human rights. In
1968, Latino high school students in Los Angeles stage city wide walkouts to protest unequal treatment by
the school districts. Latino students were punished for just speaking Spanish on school property. Some were
not allowed to use the bathroom during lunch and some experience police brutality including public ridicule.
The walkouts later caused school reform and an increase of college enrollment among Latino youth. In June
5, 1968, Democratic Senator Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated in Los Angeles at the Ambassador Hotel.
So, the 1960’s had large revolutionary changes inside of the city of Los Angeles. In the very near future, I'm
going to write a lot of information about Los Angeles (in terms of its history, its culture, and the whole nine
yards).

The Black Panthers in Los Angeles has a long history. The Southern California chapter of the BPP was created
by Alprentice “Bunchy” Carter in Los Angeles in early 1968. Carter was the leader of the Slauson gang and
many of the LA Chapter. Carter changed his life. He converted to the Nation of Islam, and the teachings of
Malcolm X. Later, rejected Islam and he joined the Black Panther Party in 1967. He did so after talking with
Eldridge Cleaver and Huey Newton. The Southern California chapter like all other chapters trained in

firearms, did first aid training, and began the Free breakfast for children program (which gave meals to the
poor in the co munity). The chapter was very successful and it gained 50-100 new members each week by
April 1968. Famous members of this chapter included Geronimo Pratt (who was a Vietnam War veteran),
Ericka Huggins, Angela Davis, John Huggins, and Elaine Brown. The FBI slandered the Black Panthers and
FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover called them “the greatest threat to the internal security of the country.”
The FBI’s COINTELPRO programs targeted the BPP and other progressive groups. As later revealed later in
Senate testimony, the FBI worked with the Los Angeles Police Department to harass and intimidate party
members. In 1968 and 1969, numerous false arrests and warrantless searches were documented, and several
members were killed in altercations with the police.
"The Breakfast for Children Program," wrote Hoover in an internal FBI memo in May 1969, "represents the
best and most influential activity going for the BPP and, as such, is potentially the greatest threat to efforts
by authorities to neutralize the BPP and destroy what it stands for." The breakfast program was effectively
shut down by daily arrests of members; however, those charges were usually dropped within a week. Later in
1969, Hoover sent orders to FBI field offices: "exploit all avenues of creating dissension within the ranks of
the BPP", and "submit imaginative and hard-hitting counterintelligence measures aimed at crippling the
BPP.” The Black Panthers were rivals of the Black Nationalist groups Organization Us or US. It was founded
by the reactionary Ron Karenga. Both groups had a high number of members. In 1969, the two groups
supported different candidates to head the Afro-American Studies Center at UCLA (since both groups had
different arms and tactics). On January 17, 1969, there was a meeting of the Black Student Union at UCLA’s
Campbell Hall. Bunchy Carter and another BPP member named Huggins were heard making derogatory
comments about Ron Karenga, the head of Organization US. Other accounts mention a heated argument
between US members and Panther Elaine Brown. An altercation ensued during which Carter and Huggins
were shot to death. BPP members said that it was a planned assassination and that the FBI had a covert role
in the death of Carter and Huggins. Organization US members said that the meeting was a spontaneous
event. Former BPP deputy minister of defense Geronimo Pratt, Carter’s head of security at the time, later
stated that rather than a conspiracy, the UCLA incident was a spontaneous shootout. The person, who
allegedly shot Carter and Huggins, Claude Hubert, was never found. We do know that the FBI’s COINTELPRO
actions caused FBI agents to fan divisions and enmity between the BPP and the US Organization (as
documented by the Church Committee hearing of 1975).
According to a black former FBI informant named D’Arthard Perry (aka Ed Riggs. He reported to FBI agents
Brandon Cleary, Will Heaton, and Michael Quinn) said that George Stiner, Larry Stiner, and Claude Hubert
went to the FBI building in LA. FBI agent M. Wesley Swearingen said that George Stiner and Larry Stiner were
the killers and both of them are FBI informants. The FBI sent fake threats and evil cartoons among both
sides, so both sides can be divided (or this was a divide and conquer strategy). After the UCLA incident,
George and Larry Stiner and Donald Hawkins turned themselves in. They had issued warrants for their
arrests. They were sent to jail. COINTELPRO leader Richard Held was one person who used cartoons to
agitate conflict between the Panthers and the US. 4 Black Panthers were killed by US members in 1969. Ron
Karenga since the 1960’s has been accused of being an FBI agent. Former FBI infiltrator and agent
provocateur Earl Anthony accused Ron Karenga of being an FBI informant. Maulana Karenga (who is a
reactionary) founds the black nationalist group, US, in Los Angeles following the Watts Uprising in 1965. The
LAPD raided Black Panthers areas and arrested 75 members. On September 8, 1969, armed police raided the
Watts breakfast program. On Oct. 10, 1969 the LAPD had a shoot-out with some Panthers. Panther Bruce
Richards was wounded and charged with attempted murder, and Panther Walter Toure Poke was killed. The
LA BPP office was raided again on October 18, 1969. By December 8, 1969, the LAPD used its new SWAT

(Special Weapons and Tactics or the militarized police unit), teams, a warrant, a battering ram, helicopters, a
tank, trucks, dynamite, and 400 police officers to raid 3 L.A. BPP facilitates including the Central Ave.
headquarters. The Panthers stood their grounds and surrender to the police. The attacks on the rank and file
continued.

In 1970, there was a shooting in the San Rafael California courthouse. It resulted in the deaths of Judge
Harold Haley and three other human beings including Jonathan Jackson (or the younger brother of the
imprisoned Black Panther George Jackson. George Jackson wrote literature about prisoner issues and he
exposed the prison industrial complex in great terms). UCLA Philosophy Professor Angela Davis was
accused of being involved in the shooting and she was searched nationwide by the FBI. She was captured,
brought to trial, and acquitted of all charges on June 4, 1972. Then and now, Angela Davis is an outspoken
opponent of the prison industrial complex. A great documentary called: “Angela Davis: Free all Political
Prisoners” shows her stories, especially on her trial where she was almost wrongly convicted, because she is a
Communist. I have watched the entire documentary and it’s excellent. The documentary made the excellent
point that social justice and academic freedom (i.e. A professor has the right to be a Communist or not) are
important precepts to believe and accept throughout the Earth.
On Nov. 4, 1970, the LAPD raided the L.A. BPP's child care center, rounded up children, and held guns on
them while officers beat up an adult Panther. Police claimed to be responding to a landlord complaint of
children in the building. Geronimo Pratt was arrested in the raid. He was accused of murdering a white
school teacher Caroline Olsen. Pratt was convicted in 1972, he denied guilt, and he was only released a few
years ago. He recently passed away in 2011. The LA Black Panther Party ended by the 1970’s.
RIP Brother Geronimo Pratt.

Political Issues and Social Issues
From the 1970’s to the 1990’s, radical changes came in Los Angeles. This era was after Dr. Martin Luther King
Jr. assassination on April 4, 1968. There was deindustrialization in which automobile factories became to be
shut down from the 1970’s to the 1990’s. Tire factories and steel mills left LA. Many of the agricultural and
diary operations that were prospering in the 1950’s have moved to other counties. The furniture industry
moved greatly into Mexico and other low wage nations. In 1971, the San Fernando earthquake happened
and the Los Angeles Convention Center opens. Tom Bradley becomes the first African American mayor of
Los Angeles in 1973. There has been the growth of television and music industries in Los Angeles. That is
why people come to Los Angeles all of time as a way for them to try to get an entertainment career. CBS
Television City, 20th Century Fox, and other studios operate in LA. Many Japanese firms like Toyota have
moved to LA or to surrounding areas. There is a strong port system in Los Angeles and Long Beach, which
makes up the nation’s largest harbor port. It handles 44 percent of all goods imported by cargo container
into America. There was an economy boom from 1985 to 1990. The catch is that the income gap between
the rich and the poor has massive increase since the 1980's. Los Angeles is the most socioeconomically
divided city in America today.
During 1984, there was the Historic Summer Olympics taking place in the great city of Los Angeles,
California. The torch ceremony started in New York City and ended in Los Angeles. It lasted for a time and its
spread into 33 states including the District of Columbia. Etta James performed the National Anthem of the
United States at the Opening Ceremony. Before the Olympics, Los Angeles had a 10 week long adjunct Los
Angeles Olympic Arts Festival, which was opened on June 2 and ended on August 12. It had more than 400
performances by 146 theater, dance, and music companies (representing every continent and 18
countries).CalArts President Robert Fitzpatrick organized it. The Olympics had Carl Lewis to win our gold
medals in the 100m, 200 m, 4 X 100 m relay, and the long jump. Edwin Moses won the gold medal in the
400m hurdles 8 years after winning it in 1976. Nawal El Moutawakel of Morocco became the first female
Olympic champion of a Muslim nation—and the first of her country—in the 400 m hurdles. Carlos Lopes
from Portugal won the Marathon with a time of 2:09:21. Joan Benoit won the marathon for women. Li Ning
from China won many medals in gymnastics. He was nicknamed “Prince of Gymnasts” in China. Mary Lou

Retton became the first gymnast outside Eastern Europe to win the gymnastics all-around competition. As
for Basketball, the United States men team would win gold. The 1984 U.S. men’s Olympic basketball team
was coached by Indiana Hoosiers head coach Bobby Knight. Connie Carpenter-Phinney became the first
woman to win an Olympic cycling event when she won the women's individual road race. Venues were all
over Los Angeles and the South California area. The Olympics concluded of course with fireworks. Speaking
of sports, the LA Lakers won many NBA Championships during the 1980's too.
Gangs have always existed in Los Angeles and all over America for decades and centuries. During the 1920's,
Black and Hispanic gangs were modernized. There are white gangs like the Hells Angels, Skinheads, etc.
From the 1970’s, more gangs were acting in a direction of survival and showing more nihilistic violence
(instead of limited rivalries). One reason is the growth of income inequality poverty, and bad social
conditions. In 1955, Nickerson Gardens was built, which was the city’s largest public housing complex with
1,100 units in the Watts neighborhood. Many gangs were created as a way for people to protect themselves
from racism and discrimination. Street clubs were formed in 1950 as a way for black people to defend
themselves from white racist gangs who were attacking black people. Gangs in LA have been based on
neighborhood, race, and nationality. The Slausons was a famous LA gang which existed before the Crips.
There are gangs made up of Hispanics, black people, Filipinos, whites, Chinese individuals, Cambodians,
Samoans, Japanese people, and I can go down the list. Hundreds of gangs exist in Los Angeles. Some of the
famous gangs are the Crips, the Bloods, MS-13, Mexican Mafia (and their affiliations), etc. Raymond
Washington formed the Baby Avenues in 1964. He founded the Crips in the date of October 13, 1969. The
Crips expanded quickly in Los Angeles and throughout the nation. Stanley Tookie Williams joined the Crips
in 1971. On December 1973, The Piru Street Boys formed the Blood gang. The Bloods acted as a rival gang
to the Crips since the Bloods was an alliance of people who originally opposed the actions of the Crips.
Raymond Washington was murdered in 1979 by a person. By the 1980’s, violent, criminal gangs were
involved in the drug trade like the Mexican Mafia, the Crips, the Bloods, etc. The Drug Trade and the War on
Drugs harmed communities all over Los Angeles of every color. Crack cocaine came into LA in January 1981.
Militarized police or SWAT Teams would harass poor and communities of color during the 1980's. Poverty
would plague LA including police brutality. Movies like Boyz N the Hood (which came out in 1991), whose
Director John Singleton is a South Central native including musicians like Ice Cube (of NWA) would describe
the reality of the inner city. I don't about agree with any misogynistic lyrics in any songs (I don't believe in
using the N word), but the brutality of black people and others in Los Angeles by crooked cops should never
be ignored. Police brutality is a serious problem today and black people have every right to resist oppression
period. The Ramparts scandal of the 1990's documents massive police corruption during that decade.

Police brutality is an epidemic in our country and we need to continue to have social activism as a way
for us to confront evil and bring justice for all.
Rodney King was unjustly assaulted by numerous police officers. All of the officers were white. When, the
officers were all acquitted originally, people were legitimately outraged and the LA Rebellion happened in
1992. This occurred when I was in elementary school. Rebellion happened in Los Angeles and all over the
county. National Guard troops were sent by then President George H. W. Bush to respond to the situation.
From 1992-1993, the Blood and the Crips would have a truce. Afterwards, some cops were convicted, but it
were just cosmetic convictions. By the mid-1990s, there are 650,000 gang members in the U.S. and 150,000
in Los Angeles County alone. Blood and Crip gang factions are found throughout the U.S. as well as abroad.
In the 21st century, Tookie Williams died via the death penalty in 2005. Some think that he was innocent,
some view him as guilty, Tookie Williams proclaimed his innocence throughout his life. Tookie Williams
before he passed would condemn violence and write children's stories as a way to teach people about love,
respect, and solving problems constructively. LA issued gang injunctions massively in 2004 and 2006. Gang
violence is a reality in LA. The crime rate in Los Angeles now has gone down since the 1990’s. One important
point is to be mentioned. It is not enough to condemn crime. We have to use programs to end the War on
Drugs, end police brutality, and to end the corruption found in the prison industrial complex (as the system
of mass incarceration must end), so people can live fuller, healthier lives. We know that rap music is never
the cause of drugs, violence, and poverty in our society. Likewise, it is wrong and evil for many artists to
show misogyny and misogynoir in their lyrics. That is true too. We need solutions and not the
scapegoating of suffering people.
There is an elephant in the room. There is an issue that many people outside of LA don’t discuss about
much. You know what I’m going to mention next. There has been Black vs. Brown tensions for decades. Yet,
it wasn’t always in this level. From the 1940’s to the early 1990’s, rarely would Black and Brown gangs attack
each other (out of racial reasons). It escalated into another level by the early 1990’s in LA. There have been
killings of black people in Los Angeles by racist Latino gangs. Similar attacks have taken place in Harbor
Gateway, Highland Park, Pacoima, San Bernardino, Canoga Park and Wilmington, among other places. In
Highland Park the Avenues gang since the late 1990s has been actively using aggressive violent tactics to
discourage black residents from living in the area. RIP Brothers Christopher Bowser and RIP Kenneth Kurry
Wilson. Many gangs from prisons (a lot of tensions comes from the prison system. In prisons, many people
are segregated by race and by gang affiliation in order to survive. Northern CA Latino gangs ally with black
gangs and Southern CA Latino gangs ally with white gangs even with the Aryan Brotherhood. These tensions
spread into to the streets) have ordered attacks on black people. Some Latinos have been unjustly assaulted
and killed too. I heard of this tension years ago. Activists have tried to establish solutions to end these

tensions. Progress has been made, but we have a long way to go. This is not just a West Coast problem. It
occurs nationwide. This doesn’t mean that every Latino is a racist. We know that the vast majority of Latino
people are not racists. It does mean that some people are doing evil and they are wrong for doing so. At the
end of the day, the system of white supremacy (not Latino people) is the enemy. I will never be follow Tea
Party extremists and be anti-immigrant. Black people just like Latino people have a great history and a
strong cultural heritage. Black people, Hispanic people, and all people should have freedom, justice, and
equality. There is no excuse for anyone to harm any innocent human being.
Socioeconomic problems and misunderstandings have fueled these tensions. Many Black people feel that
their economic resources are being stripped by non-black people and many Hispanic people feel that
undocumented workers are being scapegoated for society’s ills. When you look at the big picture, we see
how capitalist elites and other forces use divide and conquer strategies in order to cause tensions among
ethnic groups while they or big business capitalists make huge profits of the backs of the suffering of people
of color including the poor (big corporations made huge money from the prison system, the economic
system, and in the political system. It is important to note the history of Black and Brown Coalitions like the
Black Panthers working with the Brown Berets and other movements in our generation. "Black and Brown" by
Gerald Horne is a great book on showing information on how black people and Hispanic people have
worked together). Likewise, black people have every right to fight for black liberation.

I always believe in RBG 4 Life. Uhuru Sasa.

During the 1990’s, Los Angeles transformed a lot. In 1990, the Metro Blue Line connected Downtown to Long
Beach. This caused the light rail for commuters to return to the Los Angeles area. It will be joined by four
other subway/rail lines and busways. Magic Johnson would retire the first time in 1991 saying that he was
HIV positive courageously. He gave HIV/AIDS a new platform and he made it clear that this disease can
affect anyone. The Japanese American National Museum opened in 1992 in Little Tokyo. It shows the stories
of Japanese Americans. In 1993, the Museum of Tolerance opened in Western LA. It focuses on the Nazi

Holocaust, tolerance, and racism in general. By 1999, The STAPLES Center arena opens. This is the new home
for basketball, hockey teams, and the beginning of a renaissance in Downtown Los Angeles.

Los Angeles in the 21st century
Los Angeles during the 21st century started with massive changes. The Dolby Theatre came about in 2001
in Los Angeles. It is the new venue for the Academy Awards. During the 21st century, overall crime rates in
Los Angeles became to go down. Mayor James Hahn made the mistake of firing the popular Chief Bernard
and replace him with the Chief Bill Bratton (who was involved in Stop and frisk policies in NYC). This caused
Villaraigosa to be mayor of LA (since a coalition of Black and Latino voters voted for him). Also, another
historic event came about in Los Angeles in 2005. Antonio Villaraigosa became the first Hispanic American
to be mayor of Los Angeles since 1872. After his election, Newsweek featured him on the cover with the
headline “Latino Power.” There is nothing wrong with Black Power either. In 2006, the Getty Museum in
Malibu reopens after years of renovation as the Getty Villa, housing the foundation’s significant collection
of Greek, Roman and Etruscan antiquities. Educational issues have existed in LA for a long time, but this
time, the issue of charter schools and school cuts come about in a higher level.
Our education system should never serve the needs of the free market or private interests. It should serve
the needs and aspirations of the people alone. Even some Democratic politics agree with the privatization
of education. Like in the past, Los Angeles faces the evils of racism, economic inequality, poverty, and
immigration issues. Many black people have left Los Angeles, but black people have the most people living
in Los Angeles than any other Western city. Also, in 2006, anti-immigration forces supported the federal
Border Protection, Anti-terrorism and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005 (H.R. 4437). The act would
make "unlawful presence" an "aggravated felony." On 25 March, a million Latinos staged La Gran Marcha

on City Hall to protest the bill. It was the largest demonstration in California history. Similar protests in
other cities across the country made this a turning point in the debate on immigration reform. It is very
ironic that many of the same folks who scapegoat immigrants in a xenophobic way ignore the truth about
how immigrants (whether they are documented or undocumented) pay taxes, care about their families,
and they exist among a wide spectrum of backgrounds (some are from Latin America, some are from the
Caribbean, some are from Africa, some are from Asia, some are from Europe, etc.). Centuries ago, white
supremacists invaded the continents of the Americas, imposed tyranny, stole land, and formed countries
via theft and injustice. Immigrants coming into America seek a better life and they are never equivalent to
the actions of imperialists centuries ago. Therefore, we need a comprehensive solution to improve our
immigration system progressively.
To this very day, immigration is an important issue that is being discussed in America. I believe in
progressive immigration policies. One serious problem in LA is about poverty and economic inequality. The
percentage of people living below the derisory official poverty line in Los Angeles County has climbed to
19.1 percent. Los Angeles added a million residents between 1980 and 2010; however, during that same
time, the city lost 165,000 jobs. In 1980, Los Angeles had 12 Fortune 500 companies headquartered within
its city limits—now it has 4.

This is Los Angeles.

Los Angeles has made great contributions in the history of
America and L.A. is home to great, down to Earth people.

So, we need our infrastructure in America to be rebuild not just in LA, but nationwide. We see black people
fighting for freedom and liberation in Los Angeles today. There are police brutality issues in Los Angeles.

Many people have been killed by the police and these people were unarmed. Ezell Ford was killed by the
LAPD too and recently officials found out that the officers violated policy in their actions. In 2015, Charley
Saturmin Robinet was killed in 2015. That is why protesters continue involving the Black Lives Matter
Movement and other social justice movements (who are fighting against lax wages. $7.25 an hour is just
unlivable especially in our time). On June 2015, Los Angeles City Council passed a resolution to increase the
minimum wage to $15 an hour (by 2020), which was very historic. The Fight for 15 movement was heavily
vital in getting this new policy enacted. This is great news. The journey for justice will continue in LA and
throughout the Earth. The Special Olympics going on in Los Angeles in 2015 is great, because all of
humanity deserve dignity and the means to express great talents. I respect the Special Olympics a great
deal.

These are the many artists who were born in Los Angeles. These human beings are Mai Doi Todd,
Elle Varner, Will.I.am, and Yo-Yo .

Sister Rachel Robinson (who is a civil rights activist and the wife of the late Jackie Robinson), who was born
in Los Angeles, said these great words:
"...I think at any age, one can look around in your own setting and in your own family and find ways to
contribute to social change. When you see attitudes that hurt others, or limit their opportunities, you can
say to yourself: what is my part in this? Can I be a catalyst for change in my school, on my block, in my
church, wherever I am? The question is: do I have a responsibility for others? I would say yes because I
passionately believe that we are linked as human beings. Our destinies are intertwined. And what is
happening to me ultimately is having an impact on you. So, if someone is homeless, uneducated, without
medical care, without support, I have to feel some responsibility for them, and do whatever I can think to
do. We all need to stand up and be counted..."

The Culture of Los Angeles
Los Angeles has a very diverse culture. African Americans have lived in Los Angeles since its founding in
1781. As of 2010, there are about 365,118 black people living in Los Angeles. Black people had legal
discrimination in 1848 when California was handed over to the United States. In 1880, a large number of
black people came to LA after the construction of the Santa Fe Railroad. By 1900, 2,131 African Americans
lived in Los Angeles. One huge staple of black culture in Los Angeles deals with the black church. The black
church has inspired people and helped people for years. The First African Methodist Church of Los Angeles
was created in 1872. An African American woman and nurse Biddy Mason and her son in law Charles Owens
sponsored it. The NAACP in LA was formed in 1913. Jazz as greatly used by black people during the early to
mid-20th century, especially along Central Avenue. Jazz legend Charles Mingus was born in LA in 1922. He
was raised mostly in Watts and recorded in a band in Los Angeles during the 1940’s. Ray Charles lived in Los
Angeles too. There are tons of well-known black people who were born in Los Angeles like: Rachel Robinson,
Larry Wilmore, Will.I.am, Ice Cube, Florence Joyner (RIP Sister), John Singleton, Tyrese, Darryl Strawberry,
Allyson Felix, D.L. Hughley, Paul Revere Williams, Tracee Ellis Ross, Natalie Cole, Darlene Love, Willow Smith,
Eddie Murray, Paul Winfield (RIP Brother), Marion Jones, Betye Irene Saar, Woody Strode, Kenny
Washington, Dexter Gordon, and so many other Brothers and Sisters.

The Wattstax celebration of 1972 took place in Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Over 100,000 Black residents
of Los Angeles attended the concert to celebrate black pride. A documentary was released about the concert
in 1973. Tom Bradley was the first African American mayor of Los Angles. He was mayor for 20 years. Over
the recent years, many black people have moved out of Los Angeles to either to the suburbs, areas outside
of LA, or across America. There is a massive African American art culture in Leimert Park, which is a mostly
African American neighborhood found in LA. There is the California African American Museum. It was
created in 1981 where research on African Americans from California and the Western USA is especially
found. There are massive collections of books, objects, photographs, memorabilia and other items. Watts
Coffee house is found on 103rd Street. It serves the community with soul food, walls have African American
themed movie posters, and there are jazz album covers too. The Watts Towers Art Center shows lectures,
exhibits, studios, and other parts of the black American experience. Harold and Belle’s is a great restaurant
filled with Southern cuisine in LA too.

BLACK CULTURE IS ALWAYS BEAUTIFUL. BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL.
There are events at the California African-American Museum in Exposition Park and the annual Pan African
Film & Art Festival too in Los Angeles. The African American Firefighter Museum or the AAFM collects,
conserves, and shares the heritage of pioneering African Americans in the fire service. It was opened in 1997.
The AAFM is housed in the former of Fire Station 30 in South LA. The museum shows over 100 years of
African American firefighters in L.A. The first floor shows stories, pictures of pioneering African American
firefighters, and vintage fire equipment. There is the Watts Labor Community Committee or the WLCAC. This
is a non-profit organization which is dedicated to improve the quality of life for South Central Los Angeles
residents.

Hispanic culture has a long history. Dances, art, music, and cuisine (which are Hispanic) all are found in Los
Angeles. Most residents of LA are Hispanic. Mexicans, Central Americans, Puerto Ricans, and other Latinos

are found in Los Angeles. Every year, there is the Dia de Los Muertos celebration in Hollywood Forever
Cemetery. Dia de Los Muertos is Spanish for “Day of the Dead.” People pray and remember loved ones lost
over the years. Aztec ritual dancers, art galleries, Mexican food vendors, etc. are found in the celebration.
There is Cinco de Mayo which celebrates Mexican independence from Spain each year. There is Mariachi
Plaza where parties are found. You can find the El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historic Monument, which
represents the birth of LA as a city. There is the colorful Mexican marketplace known as Olvera Street.
Olvera Street is considered the birthplace of the city of La Reina de los Angeles in about 1781 when the
Spaniards colonized the area. The indigenous people of Tongva Naiton originally lived there. Today, Olvera
Street is a great center of Mexican culture of Los Angeles and it has many restaurants, galleries, monuments,
etc. People can find handmade leather goods there, various foods like custard filled churros, and other forms
of enjoyment. Tourists are found there. Latino American theater is found in Los Angeles like the 24th Street
Theater and the Los Angeles Theater Center.
From September 15 to October 15 each year, there is the celebration of National Hispanic Heritage Month.
There are massive cultural heritage and traditions of the Latino population. The historic district of Los
Angeles is El Pueblo de Los Angeles. That district is the oldest part of the city. There is the Tierra Mia Coffee.
This location is found in LA’s Historic Core, which is a few blocks from Pershing Square. Tierra Mia was
opened in its first location in 2008. It serves artisan coffee (like Cafecito Cubano con leche) which reflects
Latin American culture. Grand Central Market was created in 1917 as an indoor market offering affordable
groceries to the surrounding community. Now, it is a place for professionals, tourists, and local families.

The woman in the picture to the right is named Ellen Ochoa (who is a Hispanic woman). She has worked with
STEM fields and NASA for years. There is the LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes as well. This is a cultural plaza where
visitors can learn about the founding of Los Angeles in interactive exhibits with a special focus on exploring
Mexican and Mexican-American identity. “Voces Vivas” is a growing collection of video testimonials, which
was produced by the LA Plaza staff. It features Latino residents who are telling their stories about their
cultural identity. The top floor has “Calle Principal” or the reconstruction of a main street in the 1920’s.
Visitors are invited to dress up in clothes from the department store, mix, and crush herbs in the pharmacy
or listen to a corrido, or a traditional Mexican ballad. LA Plaza e Cultura y Artes is located at the VickreyBrunswig Building, one of the earliest five story buildings in Los Angeles.

Asians are found all over Los Angeles. In LA County alone, there are almost 1.5 million Asian human beings.
There are Chinese, Cambodian, Filipino, Indonesian, Korean, Hawaiian, Sri Lankan, Thai, Samoan, and Pacific
Islanders, Indian, and Pakistani people in Los Angeles. Chinatown in found in Los Angeles including
Koreatown. These are communities of various ethnic groups with their own culture. There are Italians,
Armenians, and other ethnic groups in California as well. There is strong diversity among Asian American
culture in Los Angeles. Asians and Pacific Islanders are the fastest growing ethnic group in the city of Los
Angeles. Los Angeles is home to the very first established Chinatown in the U.S. and Little Tokyo was
declared a National Historic Landmark District in 1995. There’s also Koreatown or LAs very dynamic
neighborhood with three squares miles of hip new eateries and a bustling community. The Huntington
Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens shows must see gardens themed from around the world. The
Huntington is an ever-changing exhibition of color and breathtaking scenery. There are the Chinese and
Japanese gardens in the Huntington too. The Chinese garden is known in Chinese as Liu Fang Yuan or the
Garden of Flowing Fragrance, offers a glimpse into the traditional style of scholar gardens from Suzhou,
China. The garden complex is complete with pavilions, a teahouse and tea shop, stone bridges and waterfalls
that together comprise a scenery evoking tranquility.
The Japanese Garden celebrated its centennial in April 2012 and includes a drum bridge, Japanese house,
traditional Zen garden, expansive bonsai court, and a ceremonial teahouse and tea garden. The Fowler
Museum at UCLA has global arts and cultures from Africa, Asia, the Pacific, and the Americans. There are
collections from Insular Southeast Asia, including Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, and aboriginal Taiwan
are among the strongest in the United States. The Indonesian and Philippine textiles reinforce the Fowler
Museum's standing as a major repository for the textile arts. Also included are significant collections of
sculptural material from Sumatra, Borneo, Sulawesi, and Luzon, puppetry from Java and Bali, basketry from
Indonesia and Philippines, and metalwork from the Philippines. The collections from mainland Asia are
smaller but growing rapidly.
The Chinese American Museum or CAM is the first museum in Southern California that examines the cultural
and ethnic diversity shared by the Chinese people. Koreatown is a large district of Los Angeles. In Koreatown,
there is the 388 room Line Hotel, which was opened in January of 2014. It is across the street from the
Wilshire/Normandie Metro Rail station. Like table-top BBQs and karaoke, Koreatown is also known for its
proclivity of spa-treatment centers and most notably (and sometimes, slightly painfully), their body scrubs.
Crystal Spaincludes the requisite steam rooms, skin-care stations and massage rooms for a full-service luxury
spa. Crystal Spa can be reached from the Wilshire/Normandie Metro Rail station by heading one block north
on Normandie, then a block and a half east on 6th Street. There is the Korean American Museum. It shows

the area’s rich cultural and architectural history. It shows educational programs and it has various artistic
works too.

By Timothy

We will continue to fight for justice for us
and for our descendants.