Resources
In their Los Angeles Times op-ed, "Lessons for L.A. from 1992," Liberty Hill Foundation President and Chief Executive Officer Kafi Blumenfield and Director of USC's Program for Environmental and Regional Equity Manuel Pastor address the ongoing work of relationship-building across the city's boundaries and differences that allows grassroots leaders to build successful reform efforts.
In "20 Years After the L.A. Riots--More Hope in South L.A. Despite Economic Realities," Community Coalition President and Chief Executive Officer Marqueece Harris-Dawson discusses the evolution of community organizations, churches, advocacy groups and citizen bodies working across racial lines and creating vehicles for residents to engage in community change. More resources from Community Coalition are available here.
In "American Toxicity: Twenty Years After the 1992 Los Angeles 'Riots,'” Darnell Hunt contends that the while “the racial elements were indeed quite real, they were more akin to symptoms than causes.” Hunt outlines how this turbulent period was indicative of a fractured socio-political atmosphere in American society.
The Los Angeles Metro Area on the American Human Development Index reveals wide variations in quality of life factors within the metro region. For example, a resident of the Newport Beach–Laguna Hills area can expect to live 15 years longer and is 15 times more likely to have a bachelor’s degree than a resident of Watts in Los Angeles.
In Celebrating the Legacy, Embracing the Future, the Second Baptist Church examines its role as an agent of social justice in one of the most under-resourced neighborhoods in Los Angeles. Consideration is paid to the changing demographics in the region--from a predominantly African-American population to a diverse Latino and African-American community.
Changing Demographics of South LA, a USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity report prepared for Community Coalition, explores the changing demographic character of South Los Angeles and illustrates the significance and diverse composition of immigrant populations in the area.
In this KCRW podcast entitled "20 Years After the Riots, Who is LA?," Manuel Pastor, Kyeyoung Park, Martha Arevalo and Cecil Murray join Warren Olney for a conversation on how America’s worst civil disturbance of the 20th Century shaped perceptions about the most diverse metropolitan center in the United States, perhaps in the world.
