Getting Involved : ‘It’s Your Community, Fight for It’

Beginning in 1990 my father, mother and sister died within two years of one another. It only seemed just that I raise my sister’s daughters, Matawandi and Timatia. A short time later, my niece was having problems with her son and was considering placing him in an institution. She and her husband agreed to let him live with me. Suddenly, I was a 50-year-old single father with three troubled children. The girls grieved for their mother and the boy faced his own challenges. I took courses on parenting and got strength from my church. Our lives together began to bloom. Maybe working with children came easy to me because I am a first-grade teacher at 49th Street School.

At St. Agnes Church, I teach confirmation classes. When you listen to the Gospel, as I do, you know when you’re being called. It was the Gospel that got me into community activism.

The Southern California Organizing Committee was created 10 years ago to empower residents to improve life in South-Central. I joined their very first meeting. I became especially active in the ‘90s after I realized, as a new father, that my children were watching and supporting me every time I tried to help our neighborhood.

SCOC fought hard for the Youth in Hope anti-gang program, which has finally been funded by the city and county. But we don’t win every battle. We lost an effort to put affordable housing at 95th Street and Broadway because we lacked support from City Hall.

Our fight today is to get a grocery store for our area, east of West Adams. The effort involves many neighborhood families. For nearly 10 years we’ve lobbied the Community Redevelopment Agency and City Council, but we’ve gotten a lot of doubletalk. So last March I made a commitment to my neighbors. I said, “This market is going to happen!”

At the same time, I sent out flyers to start a Community Watch. The children helped me. The response from my street was overwhelming. Working with the police, our Community Watch has kept drug dealers from flourishing.

After Community Watch got going, the City Council suddenly proposed to change our street name from Brighton Avenue to Stennis Avenue to honor a local restaurant owner who had died. Nobody asked us whether we wanted our longtime street name changed, and we were furious. The plan galvanized the community. We fought to keep Brighton Avenue--a name we’re proud of--and we won. All of us became very close-knit as a result.

Now we’re channeling the energy from that victory to our fight for a grocery store. Many years ago the CRA earmarked money to build a market on Vermont Avenue in our area. The CRA and Food 4 Less, a grocery chain, already own land at the site.

But having seen no progress at the Vermont site for many years, we were forced to take a dramatic step. Last November, SCOC launched an “action” against Food 4 Less. We 65 adults and children went by bus to the Claremont office of Food 4 Less’ chairman, Ron Berkel. His office was closed, so we distributed flyers outside. The leaflets compared the price of his home to the price of opening a new grocery store. Berkel heard about our activities and was pretty upset. But that got the ball rolling.

Our actions bore fruit. We were granted a meeting with Berkel and found out that he’s a nice guy. We’ve met jointly with Berkel and Mayor Richard Riordan twice. Suddenly, things look promising. After years of frustration, we feel hopeful.

What’s my message? No matter where you live, that’s your community and you have to fight to claim it. Jesus wasn’t real nice when he drove the money-changers from the temple. Sometimes you have to be firm. But don’t do it alone. You need the strength of people doing it for a common good.

Second, try to involve your children. I’ve found an activity that is fulfilling and that acts as an example for my children. Any parent--even a single parent--can find time enough for that.