SOULVINE UNCHAINED- In my more than 40 years as a journalist, I’ve met, interviewed and written about more candidates for political office than I can count. But the one I met and grilled several weeks ago is by far the most interesting and intriguing aspirant to an elective office I have ever known. He grabbed my attention the first time I heard his unusual name: Prophet La’Omar Walker.
While recovering from the shock of his name, I learned he is 26 years old! Seriously?! I’m old and I like old people because we have a lot in common and we know the same stuff. I’m not one of those people who glorify youth for youth’s sake. I hold that if you’re young, then you ought to be learning something and doing something meaningful.
Here comes the potential deal breaker: In addition to his strange name and his mere 26 years in existence, Prophet Walker, candidate for the 64th Assembly District, is an ex-convict!! Instead of being an interview deal breaker, this piece of information made it imperative that I talk to him to find out what his deal is, so I went running around the community gathering as much input about this fellow as I could.
I learned that Compton Mayor Aja Brown had endorsed him and my activist brothers Najee Ali and the Rev. K.W. Tulloss, andthe actor Tyrese were actively campaigning for Walker’s election, and I had to find out why. So, bring him on.
Walker, who was named Prophet by his paternal grandmother, was born and raised in South Los Angeles. His mother was a heroin addict who died of her addiction when Walker was seven years old. His father, alone, raised him and his sister.
As is often the case, 16-year-old Walker got caught up in teenage rambunctiousness which ultimately led to a fight with a group of other teenagers, for which he was arrested and sentenced as an adult to six years in prison for great bodily injury and robbery because he took one of the other combatant’s technical devices.
Walker had an epiphany while in prison and he said to himself: “I am not a criminal. This is not going to be my life.” And, despite the odds against him, he turned his life around and became an innovator, a leader, a role model, a community activist and a juvenile justice advocate par excellence. Did I mention he is 26 years old?
While in prison, Walker helped create a program that gives incarcerated youths the ability to earn a two-year college degree and he became the program’s first graduate. I was told that to date, more than 100 of the program’s graduates have left jail and enrolled in four-year college programs --- including Walker, who attended Loyola Marymount University.
The program was so effective that in 2007 movie producer Scott Budnick visited Walker in prison and encouraged him to write a proposal detailing his juvenile justice rehabilitation ideas. Walker wrote the proposal; Budnick took it to Sacramento and presented it to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), which created a pilot program based on Walker’s proposal which has been in operation for the past seven years.
Later, juvenile justice advocates Assemblyman Richard Bloom of Santa Monica and Sen. Loni Hancock of Berkeley undertook the codification of the pilot program and wrote AB1276 based on the framework written by Walker. Last month --- on Sept. 26 to be precise --- Gov. Brown signed AB1276 into law. (Mercy! Walker isn’t even in the Legislature yet and he’s got a law under his belt --- sort of!)
I learned that, by no means, does Walker’s commitment to the community stop there. He co-founded the “Watts United Weekend,” which brings together young residents of local public housing projects before they turn into gang rivals.
He’s a founding member of the Anti-Recidivism Coalition, which advocates for prison and sentencing reform and helps young people get a fresh start after incarceration.
He serves on the Board of Directors of “insideOUT writers,” which teaches juvenile offenders to express their emotions through writing, and he was recently appointed to the board of Kids Progress Inc. (KPI), which supports at-risk young people living in and around public housing projects in Los Angeles.
Walker, who has an eight-year-old daughter, currently works for the Jordan Downs Redevelopment Project, which seeks to transform that major housing project and create jobs in Watts, and before that he was a project engineer for the Morley Builders, helping to build the ACE Hotel downtown. Walker also worked as a project engineer for Nautilus Group Inc., where he helped implement the first fully robotic parking structure in the United States.
Walker seeks the Assembly seat that represents Carson, Compton, Watts, Wilmington and North Long Beach. He said he is driven by his personal experience. “My goal is to serve as an advocate for children, as I am living proof that every young person can be a productive member of society,” he said. “In the Assembly, I will focus on economic development, improving public schools and reforming our juvenile justice system so that it rehabilitates our kids instead of giving up on them,” Walker said.
In addition to Mayor Brown, Walker has been endorsed by Rep. Tony Cardenas, former Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, LAUSD member Monica Garcia, Jose and Maria Garcia of Watts’ Amigos de Colores, Pastor Xavier Thompson, president of the Baptist Ministers Conference and several ministers throughout Carson and Watts.
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He has also been endorsed by SEIU California, the Black Los Angeles Young Democrats, the Los Angeles County Young Democrats and the Martin Luther King Democratic Club.
Okay. I get the picture. There’s a lot more to Assembly candidate Prophet La’Omar Walker than his unusual name, his youth and his incarceration. In fact, he’s downright fascinating and has the best bonafides of any candidate I’ve ever interviewed. I’m sorry I don’t live in his district and, therefore, cannot vote for him!
(Betty Pleasant, a longtime LA observer, columnist and urban voice, writes Soulvine and is a contributor to CityWatch.)
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 12 Issue 82
Pub: Oct 10, 2014
