CommentsTHE VIEW FROM HERE--Can the One L.A. Organization "make democracy work" again in Los Angeles? Not without addressing a still segregated and purposefully dumbed-down LAUSD that is exclusively run for the benefit of its entrenched bureaucracy and the obscene profits of their corporate vendors' interests that keep them in power.
There is not one issue of social disruption that ‘One LA’ is trying to address that wouldn't be put to bed by the kind of vibrant public education that used to exist as the most effective means of societal integration in the 1950s and 1960s by giving folks the education and well-compensated work they are entitled to.
‘One LA’ is a multi-ethnic and community organization that for many years now has been trying to reach across Los Angeles' diverse ethnic communities to try and address issues like gun violence, that continues to take 300 lives a year in the city.
It is also concerned with affordable housing and homelessness in a city where those of moderate income have more and more been forced out of their homes as prices for both ownership and rentals goes way beyond the ability of those of moderate income to afford.
But most of all, what ‘One LA’ is trying to do in the aggregate is tap into the strengths of these diverse communities to form a truly unified democratic coalition to increase the chances of success and quality of life for all Angelenos.
However, what I felt was regrettable about their most recent meeting was a failure to link the aforementioned issues of concern as a predictable result of LAUSD failing to give the vast majority of its still segregated students- who are socially promoted through it without an education- any skills that might keep them from being homeless, imprisoned or dead.
Mayor Eric Garcetti spoke to resounding applause about his desire to see LA as a "city of safety and justice." But what I found most interesting about his speech, which in reality was mostly political platitudes, was his failure to mention the key negative role LAUSD continues to play in virtually every issue that ‘One LA’ was trying in good faith to address. This even though he had no problem in agreeing with me after he spoke in a brief conversation about LAUSD's clear culpability.
If Mayor Garcetti or others doubt me and find my continued vilification of LAUSD's criminal behavior visa vie its over 90% Latino and African American student populations to be unwarranted, there is a rather inexpensive means of determining whether or not I'm right about LAUSD being the primary cause of just two issues like murder and homelessness in Los Angeles. Try giving the CAHSEE exam to people arrested for murder or those homeless through no fault of their own.
One would think that you wouldn't have to offer much of an incentive to these folks to find out their lack of prerequisite education accounting for their present situation. Only one caveat: Don't let LAUSD administer the tests.
Mayor Garcetti is looking for a political issue that might just get more than 12% of eligible voters to come out in the next election. He should try addressing the continued and systematic marginalization of our now majority Latino population when it comes to the public education that was key to the integration of all prior immigrants to this country. Si, se puede? Me llame.
(Leonard Isenberg is a Los Angeles observer and a contributor to CityWatch. He was a second generation teacher at LAUSD and blogs at perdaily.com. Leonard can be reached at [email protected])
-cw
