The Remaking of L.A.--Charity and Change Begin at Home : Government and business have huge roles to play--but so do individuals

Six weeks after the Los Angeles riots, many of us are in a sort of functional shock. We go on about our lives but remain deeply traumatized by what happened, and we wonder where the city goes from here.

Rebuild L.A., the organization headed by former Olympics czar Peter V. Ueberroth, was formed soon after the flames subsided. Some have suggested its task is not so much to rebuild Los Angeles to what it was as to build the city anew. The task force is expected to deal with helping businesses recover, directing investment back into the city, particularly in areas most devastated by the riots, and devising a private/public structure that will encourage and perpetuate a healthy economy for all of Los Angeles.

Even if Rebuild L.A. accomplishes all that--a daunting task--much will remain undone. Los Angeles needs its city, county, state and congressional representatives to better coordinate services for victims of the riots and to aim future cures at root causes of the violence that overtook reason on April 29. It needs more consistent leadership from the corporate community, which in some cases has displayed foresight and generosity but in other cases is shortsighted and timid.

But what Ueberroth does, and what elected and business leaders do, is just part of a good plan of action. It would be a mistake to put all our hopes on Rebuild L.A., the government or the corporate sector. If Los Angeles is to bounce back, everyone will have a part to play.

What can everyday people do? Plenty. No rebuild, recovery or redo can succeed without changes in the ways that individuals work with and relate to one another. Los Angeles is hyper-segregated, a fact that is evident even without the confirmation of sociologists. It is increasingly stratified by race, class and cultural difference. The multicultural mosaic we’ve bragged about is in need of some social glue and maintenance.

Individuals can make a difference. This is not at all to suggest that individual effort or volunteerism alone can solve what’s wrong with American cities. The mandatory and significant roles of government and business have been and will continue to be discussed in editorials. But here are 10 things that Angelenos can do now by individual initiative:

1. Revive extended family in a new way.

It wasn’t so long ago that if a kid was seen doing wrong, and his parents weren’t around, a neighbor would take him aside and tell Johnny it wasn’t nice to write on the sidewalk. The neighbor would later tell the parents, who would appreciate the adult pulling little Johnny back in line.

Now, Johnny isn’t just writing on the sidewalk; he could be spray-painting a palm tree or carrying a firearm. The neighbor may not even know him by name. The neighbor fears that if he dared to mention to the parents that Johnny was doing something he ought not be doing, the mother or father might curse him or threaten to sue. What to do?

In this day it’ll have to be the police officer--doing the community-based policing that the city embraced in approving Charter Amendment F--who would deal with anyone carrying a dangerous weapon. But most trouble that kids get into doesn’t involve Uzis, particularly when they are very young. And that’s the best time to nip potential trouble in the bud. Though Americans deeply value individualism, we also should restore status to promoting common values that all law-abiding people share. That can start by restoring personal links in the neighborhood.

Says Deborah Atwater, a Los Angeles-area mother who began a business of selling multicolored “unity bracelets” in response to the riots: “The riot took us down to zero floor level. It was more than just the burning of buildings. It was the burning of old concepts, old habits, the status quo. Now, along with repairing the city, we have to rebuild our human relations, or it’s going to fall through the cracks before we know it.”

2. Re-emphasize with children, by example, that honesty, selflessness and helping others are desirable and rewarded.

Society sends out a lot of mixed messages in this regard. Some would suggest that the riots in part sprang from the disillusionment that results when purported ideals are seen as totally out of sync with reality.

Thus programs like the one started at Irvine Unified School District are important. The program merely encourages schools to emphasize, within the usual classroom curriculum, non-controversial social principles such as honesty, responsibility, compassion, perseverance, respectfulness, cooperation, courage and citizenship.

3. Make government accountable to the needs and wishes of people.

In recent years, the city and county of Los Angeles have paid out many millions to settle lawsuits involving cases of alleged police misconduct and excessive force.

How else might at least some of that money been better spent? Pay attention to what your local elected officials are doing. If they are routinely approving such payouts without posing tough questions, ask them to explain. Patterns of discrimination or allegations of brutality should raise flags. Make sure your elected official is alert. If he or she is not, voters can always grab a politician’s attention on election day. Public money spent battling it out in court over recurrent problems is public money not spent on health care, better law enforcement, recreation and parks programs--all elements that must be improved if Los Angeles is to rebound and remain a livable community.

4. Stay informed.

Keep up on current events in order to better understand the community and the challenges it faces. Demand that the news media--television, radio, newspapers and magazines--do their homework. Don’t allow stereotyping of whole communities to go lazily by.

5. Explore new ways--or actually rediscover quite old ways--of financially investing in communities.

The kye, a rotating form of investment used by Koreans, is an extremely useful tool. The system, similar to one that has been used by Caribbean blacks, involves a group of relatives and friends who regularly invest a certain dollar amount. By lottery, and sometimes based on need, one person is chosen to get the sum.

Some black organizations and churches are spreading the word on how more African-Americans can save money in rotating credit associations. All of these methods are sensible and have the potential of spreading the city’s financial clout around.

6. Dedicate a couple of hours a week to interacting with people different from yourself.

All young people would benefit from meeting and socializing with youngsters from different races and economic groups. Existing organizations can coordinate it. Stereotypes can’t stay strong in the mind when there’s real-life, myth-exploding experience.

And churches, temples and mosques can do more of the kind of thing St. Edmund’s Episcopal in San Marino is doing--donating a ton of food every two weeks to St. Martin’s Episcopal in Compton.

7. Support programs that encourage more people to take an active role in making their lives better.

The Parent Institute for Quality Education, a nonprofit institute, offers a free course aimed at immigrant parents. Each session provides a blend of pep talk and common-sense advice on how the school system works. The Los Angeles Unified School District now uses the program in the hope that it will boost parental involvement and improve student performance, as it has done in San Diego.

8. Reach outside your usual, comfortable circle of friends and acquaintances.

It’s easy--too easy--in Southern California to stay within a fairly closed group of people. The suburbanization of the area, the car, and the regional malls encourage isolation. The riots proved that no one lives in a bubble.

9. Learn something new about people you don’t know much about. And don’t assume what you think is correct.

We know one Mexican-American man who is using a Korean-English dictionary. Already fluent in English and Spanish, he wants a working understanding of the language of one of Southern California’s fastest-growing groups.

10. Make an effort to restore a modicum of civility.

Is it really that important to zoom ahead of that driver trying to cut into the lane in front of you? Will it hurt to let the other person take the parking place?

As Rodney King put it during our recent troubles, “Can we all get along?”