HELP SAVE LEIMERT PARK VILLAGE AS A BLACK CULTURAL ARTS CENTER

Beneath the Spin*Eric L. Wattree

HELP SAVE LEIMERT PARK VILLAGE AS A BLACK CULTURAL ARTS CENTER

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The Thrill Is Gone - But I Have A Dream That Can Sustain The Legacy

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Yes, the thrill is indeed gone. On Thursday, May 14th of this year, not one, but two Blues legends passed into history - the Great B.B. King, and his ever-loyal companion, "Lucille," slipped silently into the night.. Ironically, B.B.'s health seemed to rapidly fade shortly after his longtime friend, and another Lion of the blues, Bobby "Blue" Bland, passed on June 23rd of 2013.
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But we've lost more than just two giants in these two great men - with every Black person of their generation that passes, the Black community is also losing part of its collective memory of another way of life; a way of life where Black people understood the importance of sticking together, and working together for a common cause.  A lot of people don't know it, but Bobby Bland used to be B.B. King's chauffeur. That's right, but you'd never know it to see them above as peers honoring one another and singing each other's songs. That's the way Black people did when they were coming up - "If I got a job, you got a job"; "If I see your kid getting into something he or she shouldn't, don't worry about it; I'll handle it (I was the victim two of the best whippings I ever had from neighbors)."  Black people had to look out for one another just to survive in the Jim Crow environment that Bobby and B.B. King came up in. That's why even though Bobby was already a well known singer, he doubled as B.B.'s chauffeur.  B.B. was helping to supplement his income. They were hanging out anyway, so why not pay Bobby to drive - and well?  
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But things are rapidly changing in the Black community, and we're paying a a heavy price for it.  The social manipulators have managed to divided the Black community. They've convinced a segment of the community that they've "arrived" and life is now about class these days so it's everybody for themselves. So we have many Black people looking down their noses at the people in the community who continue to struggle, and that attitude among some of our people is preventing our community from moving forward as a whole. Many seem to equate "having arrived" with getting as far away from other Black people as they can get. Others are lifting boulders to try to find a reason to criticize the first Black President of the United States in order to prove that they've become so far removed from their former "Blackness" that they feel just as comfortable in attacking the most significant symbol of  Black competence in the world as any barefoot Hillbilly. It's sick, and it's an attitude that serves to keep the White supremacist system securely in place all over America.
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A good example of how the Black community is allowing itself to be manipulated can be found in Leimert Park, Ca. Leimert Park has been a premiere center for Black culture and art for decades. It's the home of the late drummer, Billy Higgins' "World Stage," a cultural center that has featured some of the greatest musicians, poets, and artists of all kind in the world today. But with the arrival of the new Metro Rail coming through Leimert Park Village, the powers that be have a vision - which many Black people are helping to promote - in spite of the fact that the Black community as a whole plays very little part in that vision. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not one of those people who's predisposed to looking under every rock for instances of racism, but I am a Black man in America, and my experience as such tells me without a bit of uncertainty that these people are not spending all of the money they're spending and snatching up all of the property in Leimert Park Village (on the down-low in many cases), in order to benefit Black people.  What we're watching take place in Leimert Park is a disgusting stampede of avarice, selfishness, and greed.
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A Home In The Black Community of 
Baldwin Hills, Ca. 

Leimert Park is perfectly located in one of the most beautiful parts of the city.  It's in the shadow of Baldwin Hills, one of the most prosperous Black communities in Los Angeles, and quite possibly America. It's minutes from the beach, and major freeways going both North and South, and, East and West, It's also within a block or two of the Crenshaw shopping mall. Then when you take into account the hundreds of billions - maybe even trillions - of dollars that can be made by converting the apartments in the "Jungle" and surrounding area into upscale condos, their dream begins to come into focus.
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So yes indeed, the powers that be definitely have a dream for Leimert Park, but that dream doesn't have anything to do with the Black people who are currently living in the community or have businesses there . The pattern is already clear. Not even the workman who are working on the various projects in the area are Black - and where are the politicians who are supposed to be looking out for the community's interest!!!?
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So okay, maybe they do intend to keep The Village an art center, but we're not talking about an art center filled with Black people viewing portraits of Charlie Parker, Dexter Gordon or Sarah Vaughan, we're talking about art galleries filled with rich White folks viewing pictures of Campbell's soup cans - and in order to pull that off, they're going to have to demolish the park and run off all of the street vendors (and many other Black people) so White folks will feel safe in the area.
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But I Have A Dream Of My Own

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Olvera Street is in the oldest part of
 Downtown Los Angeles, California, USA,
 and is part of the El Pueblo de Los Angeles
Historic Monument.

It starts with community activists like Najee Ali and Earl Ofari Hutchinson enlisting the local clergy to educate and organize the community to press the city to seize "Billy Higgins' World Stage" through eminent domain and declaring it an historic landmark. In addition, I don’t think it would be too much to ask the powers that be to recognize the community by designating the block of Degnan - between 43rd Place on the South (including the park), 43rd Street on the North, and Leimert Blvd. on the East - be preserved by declaring it a cultural village. After all, it is one of the last - if not THE last - significant Black cultural centers in Los Angeles. Why can't the Black community have their Olvera Street? 
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Thereafter we should form a Black Cultural Arts Consortium that includes the surrounding businesses, our churches, and the community itself to support Leimert Park Village and help to make it an asset for the community. We can turn it into a world-class Black arts center and tourist attraction. If the people in the community would just invest $10 a month in the Village the consortium would be well endowed. Some of the money could also be used to provide affordable childcare for working mothers. That's one of their biggest expenses. Unemployed mothers and retired professionals within our churches can be hired to help instruct the children in everything from reading, writing and math, to music, poetry, and various other arts and crafts.  We could also help to support the numerous musicians in the community by placing them on salary to teach music and perform in the Village at night, and to hold sessions in the park during the day. That way, when people passed by on the Metro Rail, they'd be encouraged to get off in the Village and shop. The Village would also enhance property values, so the $10 a month would be well worth it.
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DO YOU REALLY THINK THEY'RE 
DOING THIS FOR BLACK PEOPLE?  
WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME THEY
DID SOMETHING LIKE THIS IN WATTS?

The Village could utilize the talents of people like Linda Morgan and Robert Carmack to organize events, and we'll need a citizen's committee to oversee the finances - and require multiple signatures to withdraw any funds. That will keep the self-serving deadbeats out. Because as we all know, we can  ALWAYS depend on having people around who'll try to corrupt anything positive that's trying to be done in the community. It's rumored, for example, that one musical wannabe who frequents the Village has organized a musical event at a nearby club and demanded that all of the participants who have CDs to sell give him a cut off of every CD that they sell - and he was only paying the performers peanuts to begin with. It has also been suggested that this very same individual has emulated a brand in order to confuse the public into thinking that his events are being sponsored by a more well-known promoter. The citizen's committee must immediately identify and ostracize such people. If we want to ensure The Village to be a viable endeavor, we must banish ALL self-servers from our midst. 

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We should also consider trying to enlist the The Nation Of Islam for security.  The Fruit Of Islam would provide a strong incentive for any would-be gangsters to avoid the area, because most gangsters understand that many of the FOI are former OGs themselves. If we did that, we could keep the people's contact with the LAPD to a minimum. Then later, if we're able to brag of zero crime, it would both give us a pride of community, and it would go a long way toward negating the demonization of Black people as a whole. 
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In addition, we should also encourage our churches to use some of their tithes to create businesses in the community and hire our young people ("They answered and said to Him, "Abraham is our father." Jesus said to them, "If you are Abraham's children, do the deeds of Abraham" - John 8:39). This is not a novel idea. The Black community of Greensboro, North Carolina has seen the light, just as we should.  The African Globe reports the following:

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"Winn Dixie and other large grocery chains had divided up market territory, resulting in the closing of some stores despite their profitability. The loss of this Winn Dixie turned Northeast Greensboro into a food desert . . . For more than 15 years, there were many efforts to lure a new grocery store into the space. However, while the store would be profitable, it wouldn’t be profitable enough to satisfy the demands of the shareholder-based economy of a large corporation. Fed up with essentially begging for access to affordable, quality food,  residents of this predominantly African-American and low-income neighborhood decided to open their own grocery store.
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"After learning about cooperative businesses, they decided to open a community-owned grocery store. The store would meet local residents’ needs for access to quality food and dignified, well-paid jobs. And now it’s going to happen. When the Renaissance Community Cooperative opens in 2015, it will be a conventional grocery store (like a Food Lion or Kroger) where wages start at $10 per hr."
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The Black Community Controls $1.1 Trillion - equal To Germany, The Third Riches Nation In The World

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The African American community controls as much in spending power as the Gross National Product of Germany, the third richest industrial nation in the world.  So why are we whining to the White man to provide for our needs?
Dr. James P. Neelankavil, a professor of marketing and international business at Hofstra University, says in his book, International Business Research, that "Since the output of a country is an indicator of its economic activity, the GNP [Gross National Product] is often used as key factor in evaluating a country’s economic strength. The five largest countries in the world based on their GNP are the United States, $7 trillion; Japan, $2.5 trillion; Germany, $1.1 Trillion; France, $873 billion; and China, $393 billion." 
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So based on Professor Neelankavil’s data, the African American community’s buying power of $1.1 trillion is equal to the economy of Germany, the third largest industrial economy in the world. We control $127 billion more than France, and $607 billion more than the gross national product of China. But here's the problem. Currently, a dollar circulates in Asian communities for a month, in Jewish communities approximately 20 days and white communities 17 days. How long does a dollar circulate in the black community? 6 hours!!! African American buying power is at 1.1 Trillion, and yet only 2 cents of every dollar an African American spends in this country goes to black owned businesses"(http://www.clutchmagonline.com/2014/02/african-americans-1-1-trillion-dollars-buying-power-putting-good-use/).
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But in spite of the $1.1 trillion passing through the Black community, there are many who still insist on coming up with the excuse that the problem is with the banks - they won’t finance Black businesses. That’s a lame excuse, and we really need to stop trying to make excuses for our condition, because by coming up with all of these excuses, we’re simply giving ourselves a convenient excuse for failure. With all of the money that passes through the Black community, if we came together we could establish our OWN banks. 

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Finally, I'd like to thank the Los Angeles Times for the front page coverage of B.B. King's passing. The Times sent B.B. out like the King he was, and by doing so, they not only honored him, but they honored the entire Black community.  Now it's time for us to honor ourselves.  Let's get on it. Talk to 'em, Bobby.

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Eric L. Wattree
Http://wattree.blogspot.com
Ewattree@Gmail.com
Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)
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Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

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"The World Stage" is not Just a Building - It’s a Black Cultural Oasis

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree
 

"The World Stage" is not Just a Building - It’s a Black Cultural Oasis:
An Assault on the Legacy of the Great Billy Higgins

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I was born in Los Angeles, and as I gazed upon the representation of the shiny new edifices that’s envisioned as the NEW Leimert Park, I was saddened and felt a profound sense of loss. All those impressive and shiny buildings didn’t fool me for a minute, because I’ve seen it before. What I saw was, yet again, the comfort and cultural moorings of the Black community being shoved to the side for the convenience of those who are already far too rich, far too influential, and far too powerful. Thus, the planned destruction of Leimert Park - and let there be no doubt about it, that’s exactly what it is - is metaphorically symbolic of a society that’s become hell-bent on giving the whims of the wealthy priority over the needs of the people.

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A community is far more than just a place where people sleep; it’s a place of comfort, and its familiarity serves to sustain the sense of well-being of the people who live there. But in addition to that, Leimert Park represents much more to the Black community. In the past it represented a symbol of Black upward mobility. It stood as a people-friendly and aesthetically pleasing Black middle-class community that reached out to aspiring young Black people to say, “Yes you can!," and as a result, many of us did.

 

BLACK CULTURAL HISTORY - AND FUTURE - UNDER ATTACK
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Leimert Park also represents a longstanding source of Black cultural development, and "The World Stage" - which they plan to casually relegate to the dustbin of history - has long been the centerpiece of that cultural development. So the fact is, it would be nothing short of a cultural atrocity to look upon the World Stage as just another building to be demolished to make room for progress. The World Stage is not just a building, it’s a Black cultural Oasis for musicians, writers, poets, visual artists, and other creative spirits in a Black community where such gathering places are already far too rare.
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The World Stage was founded as a gift of love to the community by poet, Kamau Daáood, and the late drummer and jazz great, Billy Higgins - a name that resonates throughout the world as one of the premier icons in the annals of jazz - nearly twenty-five years ago. That fact alone, should merit the World Stage being recognized as a cultural - and even national - landmark worth preserving. That would have certainly been the case had it been founded, loved, and nurtured by Elvis Presley.

 

Poet, Kamau Daáood

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Billy Higgins was born in Los Angeles on October 11, 1936, and became world renowned as one of the greatest, most respected, and most swinging drummers in the history of jazz. He became the house drummer for the world-famous Blue Note Records (the Motown of jazz), made over 700 recordings, and played with the greatest names in jazz. Just a few of those names were, Dexter Gordon, Jackie McLean, Sonny Rollins, Hank Mobley, Gene Ammons, Sonny Stitt, Joe Henderson, Freddie Hubbard, Lee Morgan, and too many more to mention. Billy Higgins represented Los Angeles proudly around the world, yet, he still found the time in his furiously busy career to partner with poet, Kamau Daáood, to establish The World Stage Cultural Center as a contribution and gift of love to his community, a contribution that the City of Los Angeles is now poised to casually brush aside like a speck of lint on a brand new suit.

 

LOS ANGELES' WORLD RENOWNED JAZZ ICONS:

DEXTER GORDON AND BILLY HIGGINS
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I literally stumbled upon this situation when singer, Rita Edmond, approached me to do a little research on the planned Metro Rail System and its impact on Leimert Park and the World Stage. As a product of the World Stage, she was quite concerned over the fate of the entity that played such a powerful role in her musical development. So she asked me - no, harassed me - into looking into who was behind what's taking place. I reluctantly agreed, because like most, I assumed that the Metro Rail would have little or no impact on Leimert Park Village, other than, possibly, making it more accessible to more people. But while researching the issue I found what seemed to be some very interesting machinations going on behind the scenes, including a modification of the original plans that triggered a furious land-grab and displacement that threats to transform the character of the entire community. 

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First, I found it very interesting that Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas requested a tunnel and station in Leimert Park (on Vernon and Crenshaw) instead of on Slauson and Crenshaw (as planned), in spite of the fact that it would cost an additional $219 million, and that he and Tavis Smiley and Cornel West teamed up in 2011 to do a news conference to promote the plan. That alone immediately caught my interest, because as anyone knows who's familiar with my writings, I don't trust Smiley and West as far as I can throw a two-ton anvil. When Smiley's name popped up, the first thought that came to my mind was the Wells Fargo "Ghetto Loan" scam, and when he tried to help shove a Walmart store (his close supporter) down the throats of the people of Inglewood against their will, knowing full well that Walmart is renowned for putting small local businesses OUT of business everywhere they go. But the people of Inglewood fought back - and won.
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Also interesting is Cornel West's stake in this matter. He's not from Los Angeles, so what does he have to do with this issue? Another interesting point regarding Cornel West is he was personally involved in saving John Coltrane's former home in Dix Hills, New York from the wrecking ball, to be preserved as a museum. That was a good thing, but why would he work to preserve one jazz icon's former home as a museum on the East Coast, and work to destroy another jazz icon's gift of love to his community on the West Coast? After all, John Coltrane only lived in the house that they saved for three years, while the house that Billy built (The World Stage) has been serving the community for nearly twenty-five years. It would be interesting to hear Cornel's rationale on that issue.
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So we need to find out exactly why Ridley-Thomas made his request for a change of plans, what impact his suggested change of route is going to have on Leimert Park, and exactly what stake Tavis Smiley has in this matter. Would Degnan - and it's attendant businesses - have been spared if the suggested change had not been made, and how does his change benefit the people of Leimert Park?  And this bears repeating - does the change have any impact on Smiley Properties? The plan to create a station in Leimert Park was approved in May of 2013, and the property that the World Stage sits on was purchased for $1,250,012, cash, on June 12, 2013 by a limited liability company that conceals the name of the actual purchaser. So the community needs to direct some Sun light in that direction. Here are the facts as we know them, as reported by the Los Angeles Times:

Park Mesa Tunnel and Leimert Park station
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In 2010, Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas requested a study of a tunnel through Park Mesa Heights. Metro staff studied the option and recommended against it. Staff concluded the option offers minimal benefit but high cost. The additional cost for the tunnel would be $219 million, or $167 million with Slauson station removed.
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In May 2011, Supervisor Ridley-Thomas asked the Metro Board to vote on a motion requiring construction of both the tunnel and the station in Leimert Park. The Board voted against the tunnel, but approved the station under the condition that the entire project can be completed within its original budget.
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In May 2013, the Metro Board voted 10-1 to include stations at Leimert Park (Crenshaw Blvd and 43rd Place) and another at Hindry Ave.

 

WHAT'S AT STAKE

We've got to get the people on top of this situation with the World Stage before it's too late. This is the way they erase Black history and dilute Black political power. This is just the beginning. Before we know it, they're going to gentrify the entire area. The apartments that are located in and around Leimert Park, including the Jungle, are going to be converted to condos, and Black people won't even be able to afford to live in the area. As a result, we're going to be scattered all over the city in such small numbers that our political power is going to be eclipsed. Then, if we even come into the area, we're going to be subject to stop-and-frisk. Ask anyone who USED to live in Harlem, New York. And Leimert Park is the perfect place for "THEM" to take over - it's beautiful, centrally located, with easy access to freeways going both North and South, and East and West. So now's the time to fight, because we won't be able to before long.
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Unlike the Black community, when other cultures settle into a community they immediately start building monuments to who they are. That not only makes it harder for the powers that be to come in and take them over, but it protects their legacy as a people.
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As soon as Billy Higgins died, we should have started mounting political pressure to rename Degnan, between 43rd Place on the South, and 43rd Street on the North, "Billy Higgins Place." And we should have also erected a statue of Billy, Kamau Daáood, and the late Richard ('5th Street Dick') Fulton, in the park. Billy's place in history is secure, Richard Fulton's life is one of the most inspiring stories ever told, and for all we know, Kamau Daáood may someday be looked upon as today's version of Langston Hughes. So we should give the people who are contributing to our community their flowers while they can smell 'em. That's how other cultures protect their history and their contribution to the nation, and so should we. By honoring those who work to move us forward, we also create an incentive to get more people to contribute to the community.

RICHARD ('5TH STREET DICK') FULTON
FROM SKID ROW BUM TO ENTREPRENEUR
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So this is not just a fight for ourselves - this is a fight to protect our legacy to our children's grandchildren so they won't have to dig through BLACK history books to find out who we were. We need to leave something behind for them to take pride in, and that will assure that they have a healthy sense of self. We should do that not only as a community, but as individuals.
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But I’m not an unrealistic man; I fully understand that the community's chances of holding back the power of greed, influence, and greased palms is not just slim, but none. However, in light of the discussion above, I don’t think that it’s too much to ask the powers that be to compromise with the community by designating that the block of Degnan - between 43rd Place on the South, 43rd Street on the North, and S. Leimert Blvd. On the East - be preserved as a cultural village. After all, it is one of the last - if not THE last - significant Black cultural centers in Los Angeles.
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Thus, the community, and its political leaders, should push for the preservation of that parcel of land, and there is a precedent for it - Olvera Street, in downtown Los Angeles. It was recognized as such an important cultural landmark that the city was simply built around it. So it seems to me that the block of Degnan in Leimert Park - and the Black community - deserve nothing less.

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THE NEW LEIMERT PARK AS ENVISIONED

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THE SOUND OF BLACK CULTURE IS WORTH PRESERVING
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MS. RITA EDMOND
A PRODUCT OF THE WORLD STAGE
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Eric L. Wattree

Http://wattree.blogspot.com

Ewattree@Gmail.com

Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)

 

Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

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