Antelope Valley Human Relations Commission

This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press
Tuesday, March 11, 2008.

LANCASTER – Antelope Valley College, 3041 West Ave. K, will present a public forum titled “My Color is Not My Name,” to be presented by the college at 7 p.m., Thursday, March 20, in the college boardroom, SSV 151.

A panel of community members will examine the question of whether there is a “race” problem and, if so, how community members can work together to resolve it.

“During the civil rights era, Hispanics and African Americans cooperated, but that’s no longer true, as we see in national politics,” said AVC English professor Charles Hood, organizer and moderator for the event. He cited instances of Jesse Jackson and César Chavez walking side-by-side in protest marches in years past.

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Tags: Attitudes, Community, Education, Race Relations by admin
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PALMDALE – The City of Palmdale will host a special panel discussion
event entitled “One Voice: Succeeding and Overcoming Obstacles in the
Face of Stereotyping and Discrimination” on Saturday, Jan. 19 from 1 to
2:30 pm at the Palmdale Playhouse, 38334 10th St. E. in Palmdale.

The event is free and is designed especially for teens and their parents.
Dr. Barbara Young, CEO of Young Enterprises, will serve as the
moderator for the panel discussion. The four panelists will include
businesswoman Helen Acosta, attorney Virgil Roberts, retired aerospace
worker and war veteran Lawrence Duplechan and school board member Ira
Simonds.

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Tags: Attitudes, Community, Discrimination, Education, Stereotypes by Darren Parker
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Violence-Free Zone kicks off at Knight and Eastside High

This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press
Saturday, January 5, 2008.

By TITUS GEE
Valley Press Staff Writer

Organizers of an initiative aimed at reducing youth crime and violence on area high school campuses this week began final preparations for a January launch.

Officials from the Antelope Valley Union High School District and the cities of Palmdale and Lancaster met Thursday with representatives for the Violence-Free Zone initiative. The group laid plans to kick off the new program January 17 at Knight High and Eastside High, officials said.

The Violence-Free Zone Initiative, an offshoot of the Washington -based Center for Neighborhood Enterprise, enlists community members to walk school hallways as “student advisers” who build relationships with students and help to defuse tension between teens.

Program leaders look for parents raising successful kids in tough environments and those who made mistakes early in life, then got their acts together. Such people already have the skill set to help students cope, said Robert Woodson, founder of the Center for Neighborhood Enterprise, which runs similar programs at 25 high schools in six cities across the nation.

Under the plan, the Antelope Valley residents will walk school yards and halls as an adult resource for students and teachers. They will run tardy rooms, detention classes and in-school suspension programs, organizers said.

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Tags: Attitudes, Education, Task Force, Violence by admin
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Noose Found At Spiritual Bookstore Occult Bookstore Run By Self-Proclaimed Witch

UPDATED: 6:29 pm PST November 13, 2007

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — A hangman’s noose was found outside a spiritual bookstore in Bakersfield run by a self-proclaimed witch.

Police are calling the noose discovered at Altar Bookshoppe , which sells occult books and supplies in Old Town Kern suspicious.

Bookstore owner Katie Oliveras said she had not experienced any previous problems in the neighborhood and takes the finding of the noose as a death threat.

Oliveras also said that if the point of the noose was to make the bookstore leave the community, it didn’t work. She doesn’t plan on leaving the community and Oliveras said the community is rallying around the bookstore.

Police are still investigating and said it’s too early to tell if the occurrence is a hate crime.

The bookstore has been in the area for more than two years.

Noose Found At Spiritual Bookstore

Tags: Attitudes by Lisa Morgenstern
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The National Conference for Community and Justice (formerly called the National Conference for Christians and Jews) released the largest ever survey of intergroup relations in America, Taking America’s Pulse III, on July 18, 2006. The survey reveals Americans’ attitudes about racial, ethnic, religious and social groups.

TAP III is the third in a series of large-scale nationwide surveys of American attitudes about intergroup relations.

Findings in Taking America’s Pulse III demonstrate positive progress in the areas of intergroup relations.

Generally, tension between groups is perceived to be less and overall satisfaction with how groups get along is up notably.

More intergroup contact is occurring and more people feel closer to racial and ethnic groups generally. Except for Muslims, most groups are seen as experiencing less discrimination and more equal opportunity. Although support for racial integration and equality has increased, most groups are perceived to have less influence than in the past.

Interracial/interethnic contact is higher now than 5 years ago in the TAP II study.

Reported contact by non-Blacks with Blacks increased to 83% (compared to 67% in 2000), non-Hispanics with Hispanics increased 75% (compared to 51% in 2000), and non-Asians with Asians increased to 56% (compared to 49% in 2000). The only decline reported was with non-Hispanic Whites which decreased slightly from 87% in 2000 to 85% in 2005.

Increased intergroup contact is a positive finding in that those who have greater contact with racial and ethnic groups are more likely to rate intergroup relations as a priority, have greater feelings of closeness, think that discrimination is high, and see minority groups as lacking in influence.

For more information on TAP III, you can view the Press Kit and request a copy of the Full Report.

Tags: Attitudes by Michele Chavez
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