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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DWAN SMITH-FORTIER / ‘Arts Help Us to Understand Another’

Dwan Smith-Fortier, 47, of Sylmar is a writer, director and producer. She is a board member of the Boys & Girls Club of San Fernando, and a member of the National Council of Negro Women.

“My particular interest is the arts, not so much from a show business standpoint, but from being able to teach people, children particularly, how to communicate, how to say and show what you feel. When the riots happened, (I was asked) if I would write something to explain to children the events of the riots, to help them understand and become calm. Our children go to multicultural schools, and we didn’t want them within their classes and school to turn on one another. I came up with a play called ‘Windows . . . Mama, why is L.A. burning?’

“There were four family groups--African American, Latino, Korean and Anglo--on stage at the same time. They were sitting on separate stages, and it was representative of their home and their neighborhood. And there was a window on the front of each one of their homes, and these windows were pointed to the center stage, which represented the city.

“Through ‘Windows,’ we were able to see through each other’s windows and see how other people felt. See how they lived, see why they felt as they felt--which uses the arts to help us to understand one another.”