The crowded scene this morning at the African American Cultural Center just east of Crenshaw Boulevard, bristling with a mix of significant men and women, many garbed in colorful African robes, seemed an ideal setting for telegraphing a solemn, unprecedented message of unity from the spine of the black community to an often inattentive Los Angeles City Hall.
They are not shopping for favored experience. They say they mean to hold accountable all Los Angeles politicians seeking their support – for a change, for the first time.
Grimly determined to sharply upgrade the quality of treatment for their long-ignored neighborhoods, they say it differs from what the rest of Los Angeles takes for granted.
It may turn out this is the first time all identifiable elements of South L.A. are pulling in unison to elevate the services that are as normal as breathing for the rest of the metropolitan area.
Personalities of Stature
Black leaders with historic heft – who believe their community has been shrugged off too many times by government operatives – have banded together to craft a modern-day declaration of independence, with consequences.
To stamp the unmistakably African environment with authenticity, the inaugural greeting was in Swahili, and the assembled said it back to an officer of the Cultural Center.
Calling the three-page document A Black Community-Candidate Covenant, the three-year-old umbrella group the Black Community, Clergy and Labor Alliance say that from this day forward, they will hold all Los Angeles elected officials currying their favor to a promise to consciously address eight core communal values:
- Employment
- Housing
- Economic Development
- Education
- Legal Justice
- Health
- Preservation of Culture and Arts
- Transportation
[img]1872|left|Reverend Eric Lee||no_popup[/img]The Alliance steering committee is headed by the troika of the Rev. Eric P. Lee, president of the Alliance and chair of the Los Angeles chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Dr. Maulana Karenga, vice president of the Alliance, creator of Kwanzaa and chair of the Dept. of Africana at Cal State Long Beach, and Larry Aubry, vice president of the Alliance, longtime columnist for the Los Angeles Sentinel, and even longer he has been an eloquent, effective community activist.
Digging Inside Document
“The covenant is the result of communitywide collaboration that is to be used as a tool to assess how elected officials are doing their jobs,” said the Rev. Lee, flanked by Prof. Karenga and Mr. Aubry at the head table, surrounded standing behind their chairs by the nine remaining members of the steering committee.
“We must be clear about what we need.
“We are establishing a model here, but models only are effective if we stand together as a community.
“We bear witness to this as a people,” and later, “we have a document of responsibility.”
[img]1891|left|Mr. Larry Aubry||no_popup[/img]The Alliance hopes one word in the title of their intended ground-moving document, “covenant,” which carries ancient implications, will be an eye-catcher that will draw in hordes of the curious.
Leaders from the breadth of strands of the South Los Angeles community have organized in this shoulder to shoulder manner, possibly as never before.
Though this morning’s press conference – ignored by the mainstream media – was the formal introduction of the covenant, the campaign is under way.
The ambitious Alliance launched their drive by securing promises of cooperation from Eric Garcetti and Wendy Greuel, the mayoral candidates in next Tuesday’s runoff, as well as 9th Council District contenders state Sen. Curren D. Price (D-Culver City) and his rival Ana Cubas.
“We see this covenant as a moral and ethical document that we expect candidates to embrace and execute,” the Rev. Lee said.
“You use it,” he told his media-savvy audience. “This is yours, a community document. It is for everyone to use. Don’t wait for someone else.”
He vowed that “we are changing the paradigm” for the way Los Angeles politics is conducted. “We stand together.”
[img]1890|right|Dr. Maulana Karenga||no_popup[/img]The question was posed, What are the Alliance’s options if elected officials let them down? How long do politicians have to prove themselves, to fulfill their pledges?
For the current candidates: “As soon as they get into office, they need to have a plan to execute their promises,” said the Rev. Lee.
As for “our options, we are activists. We will show up in their offices, and at public events, with our covenant in hand, and their agreement” to abide by it.
Prof. Karenga said that “periodic reports on their progress” will be publicly issued.
Politicians cannot deny they have been warned.
