Liberty Hill

Marriage Equality Has Strength in the Asian Community

We've been telling this story for over a year: Smart organizing by API Equality (and supported by Liberty Hill) secured majority support for marriage equality in the Asian community before last November's election. Read Reuters account. Read our story.

Green L.A. Agenda Advances With Mayoral Support

Green L.A., the kickbutt coalition incubated at Liberty Hill for the last two years, met with the mayor and Deputy Mayor David Freeman again last week to push for more citywide green policies.

A couple of policy advances were on the table. For years, Liberty Hill has been a frontlines player in organizing environmental justice forces throughout L.A. Those EJ forces asked the mayor to create three pilot "EJ Zones" in Wilmington, East L.A. and Pacoima, three of L.A.'s mostly densely polluted neighborhoods. A Mayoral Directive would prevent further pollution and begin to revitalize these communities. The Mayor's said he's on board.

Green L.A. also asked the Mayor for his support of a Complete Street Policy so that L.A. streets were designed to accomodate bikes, buses and pedestrians as well as cars. (Anybody ever been stuck trying to cross the street at Olympic, Fairfax and San Vicente? The lights are timed so you get half way across San Vicente and then you're stuck for 5 minutes in the middle of the street as cars whiz by you from both directions. Something in the neighborhood of 100 pedestrians are killed each year in L.A. I'm for ped-friendly streets.)

Green L.A. also secured support for a strong, low-impact development ordinance to help capture water and improve water quality to complement the City's Green Bulding program and an expansion of the City's Green Retrofit Program.

Another Budget Myth

Here’s a great blog post on Calitics.com on the myth that CA businesses are over taxed and as a result, are leaving the state.   In reaction to the budget crisis, there have been more proposals to increase taxes on businesses and to revise Prop 13 to readjust corporate property taxes.  And the opposition has been strong, often with the argument that we can’t afford to increase taxes on companies since that will drive them out of the state and further weaken our economy.

More on Green Jobs in L.A.

A couple of weeks ago, I went on a "green jobs van tour" put together by Jane Paul, Green Jobs guru for Green L.A. We blogged about it at the time. Now, Southern California Connected has produced a segment that visits the East L.A. Skills Center where people are getting trained for the new green economy. It was pulled together by my friend Saul Gonzalez, longtime producer with The Lehrer News Hour. Take a look.

Action Alert: Stop the Cuts Rally & March Monday, June 22!

The recent budget cuts have reduced or eliminated funding to essential human services that will have profound effects on our communities and state.

Join Community Change on Monday, June 22, 2009 at 6PM for a press conference and march to Barbara Boxer's office.  Bring your stories and photos of people impacted by the cuts to the rally and let your voice be heard.

For more details contact Karla Navarrette at 213.385.8010 or knavarrette@communitychange.org.

Continuing a Meaningful Struggle in the Mmere Dane of Obama

Last week, Liberty Hill President Kafi Blumenfield gave an inspiring speech at the UCLA All Afrikan People's Graduation Ceremony.  Congratulations to the Class of 2009!

Good evening!  Thank you for inviting me to be a part of this wonderful celebration and congratulations on your graduation!  Being here with you brings back the joy I felt celebrating my own graduation from UCLA Law and fills me with great pride.

I came to UCLA from Washington, D.C. where I was raised. So that my brother and I could attend better public schools, my parents moved to the White well-to-do district in the city. I didn’t experience the cruel racism my parents generation did. 

That experience, I only witnessed through family stories and study – lock-outs, billy-clubs, dogs, water hoses, jails, murder.  It was a rare day when racism took the form of violence in my childhood.  But it was there.  Kids in the neighborhood and in school forbidden to play with me because, as they would try explain, “their parents didn’t like Black people.”  Racial epithets that would tumble casually from people’s mouths. Cowardly anonymous hate notes. 

Memories of growing up with racism just a few miles from the White House makes this particular year feel like an out of body experience at times.  When the news captures images of the 44th President walking across the White House lawn (walking his walk), or shaking hands with a surprised policeman, when the 44th First Lady greets heads of state, or when the First Daughters are photographed -- just being themselves, tears of joy spring uncontrollably to the eyes of many Americans – no matter their color. Not just to the eyes of the old activists who never thought they would see the day.  But to the young.  Now those young, YOU, can really imagine reaching professional heights thought to be out of your reach just a short time ago. You are the first students to graduate in a world where a Black president is not a movie character to indicate a futuristic time, but a reality!

Labor & LGBTQ Communities say: Sleep with the right people!

This morning Liberty Hill hosted a training to discuss building bridges across race -- a concern not only relevant to building the movement for marriage equality, but on other issues as well.

Thirty or so organizers discussed the challenges of bringing labor and lgbtq communities together, noting some successful past collaborations like the Coors Beer boycott.

The need to build strong alliances is critical right now in the campaign for fair wages and marriage equality that has targeted the owner of the Manchester Hyatt hotel. The owner resists invested heavily in passing Prop 8 and has resisted efforts to pay fair wages to his employees.

How to make clear to both labor and lbgtq communities that they share a common enemy? These organizers launched a website called Sleep With The Right People.

Do you know of other examples of successful lgbtq/labor collaboration? Let us know. Let a comment below.

Do you want more information about Liberty Hill's leadership forging these alliances? Send us an email.

We'll be posting photos of participants on our Facebook page.

 

The Green Economy Taking Root in L.A. and California

The Green Economy is already helping California's economy. Liberty Hill has been a part of it. Our Green L.A. coalition has been instrumental in
advocating that L.A. become the national engine of the new green economy. We want to see these jobs not only come to L.A. but go to communities that need them most. Read today's L.A. Times story.

Have you seen green jobs sprouting in Los Angeles? Let us know. Leave a comment below.

Pictured here: students at the East L.A. Skills Center learning to install solar panels.

Next Steps for Marriage Equality

Last weekend in Fresno, Liberty Hill sponsored Meet In the Middle, a meeting of 200+ leaders to hammer out next steps on marriage equality. Liberty Hill’s Vincent Jones was the lead facilitator. Coming out of the meeting, Liberty Hill will be providing support for the next town hall in mid-July. Photos by Marta Evry.

Read the Associated Press report.

Watch a video from Saturday's rally.