Black History Month / Today’s Voices : Perspectives on the Past--and the Future

From the African American who owned much of what is now the San Fernando Valley in the 1790s to the high school student who has devoted himself to keeping his peers out of gangs, people of African descent in the Valley have a long, proud history.

In this special report, we look back at some of that history and--with the help of several voices from the present--turn to the future.

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WILLIAM T. BROADOUS / ‘I Never Think It Is Too Late for Anybody’

The Rev. William T. Broadous, 49, is pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Pacoima. His father, the Rev. Hillery T. Broadous, founded Calvary Baptist in 1955.

“There is the question of the quality of the education for people who have been incarcerated for years. What do they have when they come back to society? What kind of education do you have for them--or is their only choice to be reincarcerated?

We should take some government money and develop a program, not just a Band-Aid program, but a workable one. Something that begins as they are incarcerated and continues in a community-based program when they come out.

First of all, we should find out what is going on with them, their history while being incarcerated. We should look at their skills, education, goals, and then match them up with something they know they can do.

A community-based support group should be available where the person lives, so they won’t get caught right back up with the same peer group.

Many young people from our community go in at 15 or 16, and come back out at 20. They return to the same conditions that they left. But the community group can help guide them back into the mainstream of society.

I never think it is too late for anybody.

Some of them genuinely want to do better. While in the system, they may make some definite decisions about changing their lives, but once they get out, there is nothing there to help them develop into the kind of person they want to be.”