Hawthorne Press Tribune Herald Publications - Inglewood, Hawthorne, Lawndale, El Segundo, Torrance & Manhattan Beach Community Newspapers Since 1911 - Circulation 30,000 - Readership 60,000 (310) 322-1830 - February 23, 2017 $2,500 Grant to Support Inglewood and Hawthorne Teen Centers Representatives of LAX Consolidated Solutions, a public/private partnership, presented a $2,500 grant to the South Bay Workforce Investment Board (SBWIB) to support the Inglewood and Hawthorne Teen Centers, during the February 7 Building for the Future seminar held in Hawthorne. Hosted by the SBWIB, the seminar provided an opportunity for small and disadvantaged subcontractors to learn how they could be part of the construction team that is implementing a multi-year expansion and improvement plan at LAX. Pictured from left are: John Kron, Vice President Construction, Tishman Construction Corp.; SBWIB Executive Director Jan Vogel; Bob Lavey, Regional Managing Principal, AECOM’ and Steven DeWitt, Senior Vice President, ACS Infrastructure Development, Inc. (Photo Courtesy of SBWIB) Stirring Black History Month Presentation Highlights City Council Meeting By Derrick Deane that we actually did gain the right to vote,” Black History Month took center stage to open Abernathy said. “And then Reconstruction came last week’s Hawthorne City Council meeting to an end and we lost those rights. It would as Donzaleigh Abernathy, the daughter of Civil take my dad and Martin Luther King to come Rights leader Ralph David Abernathy, gave a again to make America live up to the principles presentation. “When my dad died, I wanted to write about [him]…and I found that in writing about my father, I had to write about Martin “We were not allowed to try Luther King who I knew as Uncle Martin on clothing in the department stores who blessed me as a baby and who was my because of antiquated rules and godfather,” Abernathy said. “Then I realized as laws of segregation.” I was writing about my dad and Uncle Martin, that I was writing about the history of black people in America and even more importantly for which this country was founded.” than that, it was the history of America.” After showing a picture of her dad and King in Abernathy presented a stirring slideshow jail, Abernathy said they all went to Washington of images that included Dr. King as well as because “people were demonstrating in the other images from the Civil Rights Movement. streets, much like how they are demonstrating “We were not allowed to try on clothing in the in the streets today.” It was during that march department stores because of antiquated rules when King gave his iconic “I Have a Dream” and laws of segregation,” Abernathy said of speech. “In 1963, it was illegal for me to be a picture showing her dad and King in the married to my husband,” Abernathy said of the process of being arrested. words in King’s speech. “And here we were Before the Civil Rights Movement was even fighting for something as basic as integrated a flicker of an idea, Abernathy talked about schools. Something that we take for granted Abraham Lincoln passing the 13th Amendment today.” that abolished slavery. “It was a controversial Abernathy said that after that speech, the thing,” Abernathy said of the amendment. “In KKK was so angered by it that “they placed a 1865, in Massachusetts, they passed the first bomb in the 16th Street Baptist Church where Public Accommodations Act and the reason I five little girls had gone into the bathroom – mention that is because the laws changed and Carole Denise McNair, Cynthia Wesley, Carole they took away all of these things.” Robertson, Addie Mae Collins, and Sarah In 1866, the Civil Rights Act was created and Collins.” Sarah was the only girl to survive essentially guaranteed equal rights to all people the bombing, but was blinded in one eye and who were born in the United States, except for had 21 pieces of glass embedded into her face. those who were Native American. The following The explosion, which was set off by 15 sticks year, Congress passed the Reconstruction Act of dynamite on a timer, blew a hole measuring which allowed each state to decide if people seven feet in diameter in the rear wall of the would have the right to vote. “It wouldn’t be church and a crater five feet wide and two feet until the 15th Amendment was passed in 1870 deep in the basement. “Because these girls had died, it was imperative that they had to pass the second Civil Rights Bill,” Abernathy said. “Right after that on November 22, they killed our president, John F. Kennedy, because of his stand on Civil Rights. Martin Luther King would say, ‘You have got to be willing to die for something in order for other people to go free,’ and my dad used to say, ‘If we die, our blood will cry out from the earth for freedom.’” Abernathy continued to talk about voting rights and Civil Rights activist Amelia Boynton who helped organize black voter registration in Selma. Councilwoman Olivia Valentine, who helped introduce Abernathy before the presentation, said that it was “history taught so passionately that any student would love history after hearing it.” Valentine added that what she took away from the presentation was “how interdependent all the communities are and depend upon each other.” Councilman Nilo Michelin, who teaches history, said, “Their struggle is just as important today with everything that is going on as it was back then.” Mayor Pro Tem Hadir Awad echoed Valentine’s sentiments about inclusion. “Dr. King did quite a bit--not just for his own people--but for the rest of the nation. Without him and his movement, half of us wouldn’t be in this room today,” Awad said. “I wouldn’t be sitting where I’m sitting today. I can’t begin to speak for the number of things he’s done not only for his generation, but mine--and if you think if this never happened, where would we be? It’s scary, but it’s also beautiful because you can see that with a voice and with a leader, you can do anything and you can change anything.” Awad added that even though “things look a little shaky, we’re looking for our next leader to come out and unite everyone. Hopefully this will light a new fire into everyone…” • Inside This Issue Certified & Licensed Professionals.......................7 Classifieds............................2 Community Alert.................2 Community Briefs...............3 Seniors..................................7 Food.......................................5 Hawthorne Happenings....3 Legals............................... 2, 6 Pets........................................8 Sports....................................4 Weekend Forecast Friday Sunny 58˚/44˚ Saturday Sunny 60˚/49˚ Sunday Rain 54˚/52˚ The Weekly Newspaper of Hawthorne
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