Culver City, CA–When I returned home from college in 2018, one of the first political events and spaces I covered was Karen Bass end of the year report. Congresswoman Bass grew up in the Venice/Fairfax area of Los Angeles, which is the same area she represents today.
Since 2011, Bass has served as the U.S. Representative for California’s 37th congressional which covers South Los Angeles, Crenshaw, Baldwin Hills, Miracle Mile, Pico-Robertson, Century City, Cheviot Hills, West Los Angeles, and Mar Vista.
She is one of most (and only) visible Black women in Leadership for Los Angeles and has worked in many areas that directly affected my life as a kid growing up in Los Angeles, which is the crack epidemic and the foster care system.
I appreciate elder Black people in leadership positions from politics and business in Los Angeles and I have to be mindful when illustrating my discontent when I look around my community. Although, I do feel current Black politicians in Los Angeles are not moving with a sense of urgency on the issues that continue to plague Black L.A from homelessness, to jobs. Many of these Black politicians have worked for decades in the field of advocacy. Perhaps, the work they have put in should be noted and appreciated, but the baton must be passed to the next generation to whom these issues are most pressing.
Everyday I am stuck between letting the system crash and burn but knowing along the way, we as the Black community only run the risk of being severely handicapped if we are not envisioning new systems or structures to operate within.
Black people wanting to involve themselves in politics, must be moving with a Black political conscience, or you are of no use to the real progress the community so desperately needs.