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June 1, 2022 | VOLUME 123 ISSUE 8 | SANTA MONICA COLLEGE

Los Angeles Primaries Close In EVERY COPY OF THE CORSAIR IS FREE, EACH COPY AFTER IS 25¢ | SANTA MONICA COLLEGE, STUDENT-RUN NEWSPAPER SINCE 1929

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June 1, 2022

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CONTENT News | pg. 3-6 Arts & Entertainment | pg. 7 Culture | pg 8 Opinion | pg. 9

FACULTY ADVISORS Ashanti Blaize-Hopkins | Journalism Adviser Gerard Burkhart | Photo Adviser Sharyn Obsatz | Social Media Adviser

CONTACT Editor-in-Chief | corsair.editorinchief@gmail.com

SOCIAL MEDIA Twitter | the_corsair Instagram | corsairnews Facebook | thecorsairnews YouTube | thecorsaironline

WEBSITE www.thecorsaironline.com

FRONT PAGE Karen Bass speaks about abortion rights during the Woman's March in front of Los Angeles City Hall on May 14, 2022 in Los Angeles, Calif. After a leaked Supreme Court opinion piece seemed intent on repealing Roe v Wade precedent, woman's rights groups have mobilized efforts in response. (Marc Federici | The Corsair)

Carli Menendez (left) hugs her husband Franklin Menendez (right) after officially becoming a U.S. citizen. (Katheryne Menendez | The Corsair)

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

or 20 years, my mother spent every dad worrying about how she could provide for her family as an undocumented immigrant. Whether it be fear of deportation, inability to get high-paying jobs because of her status, her lack of English proficiency, or any other problem related to her undocumented status, my mother’s life in the United States has been filled with trial and tribulation. Since I was little, I’ve heard all about the American Dream and how great this country apparently is. I was taught that this was because of the ground-breaking democratic structures that our idealized founding fathers created, making this country the most free country ever, where everyone can make it as long as they tried. But I never saw this so-called American dream. Instead I saw my parents work to the bone while we were still relatively close to the ravages of homelessness, poverty, and deportation. In many ways, the peril my mother faced was due to the fact that socioeconomic stability is becoming harder and harder to obtain in the United States. If you are an undocumented immigrant, it is basically impossible. Besides rising prices and low, stagnant wages, my mother was also subjected to whatever politicians and governments she did not elect saw fit. In 2021, the LAPD shot 37 people according to Police Chief Michel Moore, and median home prices rose 15 percent reaching a record $805,000 according to the L.A. Times. In 2020, there were 66,000 homeless people in L.A. according to the Los Angeles Homeless Service Authority. It's no secret that elections which greatly impact our responses to homelessness, housing and policing are important. But it seems too often that primary and local elections are overlooked. Local elections have a great impact on citizens and noncitizens alike, and it is important that we take them seriously. The primary election on Tuesday, June 7 will be an important step in the election of many of our local and state politicians. Positions for everything from Governor, to U.S Representatives, to the next Mayor of L.A. will be on the ballot. And just like positions are at stake, so are issues that affect us. As the primary election comes, I am filled with a lot of emotions. This will be my very first election, as well as the first election my mother, who is 18 years my senior, will be able to participate in. For the first time in 20 years, she will be able to have a say in the country and its policies that have dictated her every moment and action. Besides the excitement I feel, I also feel wary of the many people's livelihoods at stake, and pity towards the many people who despite being above voting age will not have a say in this election. For the first time, my mother and I have been given a voice, and we hope to use it for the many who can’t use their voice. And as the dawn of the election approaches, I hope everyone who has a voice can use their right and duty to vote to help the voiceless.

Katheryne Menendez Editor-in-Chief

NEWS

June 1, 2022

THE

The 5 W's of L.A.'s Mayoral Election

Gavin Quinton | Managing Editor

Illustration by Gavin Quinton

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NEWS

June 1, 2022

L.A. Mayoral Race Candidates

Photo By Marc Federici

Katheryne Menendez | Editor-In-Chief Gavin Quinton | Managing Editor

Sarah Nachimson | Copy Editor Marlene Herrera | Social Media Editor

Jackson Tammariello | News Editor

Sydney Adams-Smith | Staff Writer

Celso Robles | Sports Editor

Leo Gilad | Staff Writer

Photo Credit Caruso for Mayor

Design By Gavin Quinton

Homelessness/Housing

• •

• • • • • • •

•

Personally Lead Fight Against Homelessness Appoint a homelessness Chief and build a direct relationship with City Council Build More Affordable and Permanent Supportive Housing. - Convert Existing Properties - Bring the Private Sector On Board - Partner with Religious and Community Institutions Transition Individuals From the Streets to Housing and Services

Crime/Policing • •

Increase number of police officers by 200 Provide resources to police depts to ensure accountability and effectiveness

Public Transportation • •

Deliver transit projects more quickly Increase public transit reliability through dedicated bus lanes and make transit free while increasing accessibility

Education • •

increase investments in after school programs and summer youth jobs and internship programs Invest in child-care facilities by partnering with private and public employers

Appoint Executive Coordinator to lead efforts Declare state of emergency, clear encampments from the streets Create mental health service dept Compel homeless individuals into mental health services Expand project housekey/roomkey Leverage City's borrowing power to purchase land for housing Waive fees on afforadable housing projects,

Crime/Policing • • •

Increase Police Funding/against defunding the police 1500 new officers on the street Prosecute misdemeanors

Public Transportation • •

Replace city's fleet of buses to hyrogen-powered and electric vehicles Expand bike lanes and alternatives to cars

Education • • •

See more accountability with LAUSD Increase access to afforadable child care by reducing costs at care facilities and more programs at local parks and recreation centers Expand afterschool and youth prevention programs

June 1, 2022

NEWS

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L.A. Mayoral Race Candidates

Design By Katheryne Menendez

NEWS

June 1, 2022

Disruption and Division on Display at Debates Jackson Tammariello | News Editor Marlene Herrera | Social Media Editor Sarah Nachimson | Copy Editor

hroughout the primary election cycle, news outlets and universities hosted several debates to feature a handful of candidates running for Mayor of Los Angeles in the 2022 primary election. Despite the 12 candidates on the ballot for mayor in primary, only five candidates were invited to debates at Loyola Marymount University (LMU) and California State University - Los Angeles (CSU-LA) and only three candidates were on the stage at a KCRW-hosted debate. The first mayoral debate took place on Feb. 22 at LMU, with candidates Karen Bass, Kevin De León, Mel Wilson, and former candidates Joe Buscaino and Mike Feuer onstage. The candidates discussed their plans to address the homelessness crisis, with four out of the five naming it the number one issue impacting the city currently. “If we can move heaven and earth to build football stadiums and basketball arenas, we can sure as hell do the same thing to get our students, our veterans, and people of color out of encampments and into housing now,” De León said. The candidates then shared their platforms on funding the police and laid out the steps they would take to increase public safety. Candidates proposed increasing the number of police officers, from an additional 200 offi-

cers proposed by Bass to 1500 officers from Wilson. “Ninety-nine percent of the police officers are good,” Wilson said. “They’re hardworking, they want to come home safe that night. We need to help them. We need to help ourselves.” Several protestors disrupted the debate by shouting at the candidates, criticizing their willingness to increase police funding and their inaction on addressing homlessness. One of the protesters attempted to rush the stage before being escorted out by security. On May 1, the CSU-LA Pat Brown Institute (PBI) of Public Affairs and ABC 7 hosted a debate between Bass, De León, Buscaino, Feuer, and businessman Rick Caruso. The candidates shared their plans to solve L.A.’s homelessness epidemic and expand public transportation, among other issues. Absent from the debate stage were candidates Gina Viola, Alex Gruenenfelder Smith, Craig Grewe, and former candidate Ramit Varma, who all stood outside the theater doors during the debate. Viola’s support as first-choice for mayor at 2% was 1% ahead of Buscaino in an April 2022 University of California-Berkeley poll. She described the decision to not invite her as a speaker in the May 1 debate as voter suppression. “It’s not fair to voters when they get their ballot and they open them on June 7,” Viola said. “They’re going to see 12 names on it, and they’re only going to recognize five of them.” Before the debate, police forcibly re-

Protestors outside the University Student Union bang on the windows of the building as they are locked out of the current Mayoral debate taking place with only a very limited select few participants allowed in on Sunday May 1, 2022 at the Mayoral debate held at California State University Los Angeles. (Jon Putman | The Corsair)

From left, Karen Bass, Kevin de León, and Gina Viola on stage at KCRW Radio for " L.A.'s Big Debate" in Santa Monica College, Santa Monica, Calif., May 2. (Marlene Herrera | The Corsair)

moved professor Melina Abdullah, the co-founder of Black Lives Matter’s Los Angeles Chapter and the former chair of Pan-African Studies at CSU-LA, from the theater. An officer approached Abdullah and informed her the debate was a ticketed event. In response to him, Abdullah said that she had a right to attend the event as a professor at the university. The group of police officers then grabbed Abdullah and dragged her from her seat to remove her from the premises. “They’re hurting me,” she said. “They’re hurting me, this is a public university.” Later in the event, all the candidates onstage affirmed their plans to expand policing. Former candidate Buscaino attacked Viola’s abolition platform. “What we're not going to do is one candidate that's not here, we're not going to demolish and decimate the police department,” he said. Buscaino and Varma dropped out of the race on May 12 and May 24 respectively, both endorsing Caruso, while Feuer dropped out on May 17 and throwing his support behind Bass. On May 20, KCRW hosted a discussion focusing solely on homelessness at the Annenberg Performance Studio on the Santa Monica College (SMC) Center of Media and Design campus. Karen Bass, Kevin De León and Gina Viola were the only candidates in attendance, with LA Times columnist and host Gustavo Yano mentioning that Caruso was invited several times, but declined to attend. There was a tight police presence, with no protestors outside. The discussion began with a yes or no question asking if housing is a human right, with all three candidates agreeing that it was. Mutual agreement between candidates deviated when the discussion touched upon the use of tiny homes as transitional housing in De León’s City Council District 14 and

in other districts. “For a human being who’s been living on the streets every single day for years if not for decades, it’s a godsend,” De León said. Viola characterized the tiny homes as “a prison cell.” “I know people who’ve been in them for a year in CD15. I know people who have been in them for a year,” she said, remarking on councilmember Buscaino’s district. “They’ve been sexually assulted there, they’ve had their belongings trashed, the sheds flood.” Viola then pointed out that the city budget under Mayor Garcetti for the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) increased 52 percent in the last 10 years. “That's all that the city has prioritized over housing, over health care, over things that truly do keep us well and keep us safe,” she said. “There's nothing in this budget that says housing is a human right. So if we're not starting there, we'll just keep spending.” Karen Bass talked about uniting fronts with all governments working together to find solutions to different aspects of homelessness. She said while the goal is permanent supportive housing, issues leading to homelessness such as substance abuse, mental illness, and other factors need to be considered in the response as well. “In this atmosphere right now, people are lumping the unhoused together as a monolith, as people who are service resistant, don't want to be inside. We have to break that mentality.” Bass said. She urged the need for the county and the city to unite and work together on the issue rather than being disjointed in its approach. According to a May 2022 poll by FM3 Research of likely primary voters, frontrunners Caruso and Bass are in a dead heat, polling at 37% and 35% respectively. De León polls at 6%, and other candidates poll at a combined 6% as well.

June 1, 2022

A R T S & E N T E R TA I N M E N T

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Adam Conover Talks Los Angeles Primaries Sarah Nachimson | Copy Editor

he Los Angeles primary is steadily approaching with election day on June 7. There’s a lot that Angelenos might not know about the process according to Adam Conover, a comedian who hosted the show “Adam Ruins Everything” on TruTV and created a brand-new comedy-documentary series about how the government works, “The G Word,” on Netflix. The L.A. primary, explained Conover, functions differently than the primaries in every other American city. In most primaries, there are separate races for Democrats and Republicans, and the winners from each party run against each other in the general election. However, candidates in L.A. all compete against each other, regardless of political affiliation, in a nonpartisan primary. “That's true of the mayor, it's true of the city council,” Conover said. “There is a final rule that if any one of those candidates wins over 50 percent of the vote, then they automatically win the seat and the general election is entirely skipped.” Conover is concerned that not many Angelenos are aware of the 50 percent threshold, which he attributes to sparse coverage from major media outlets such as the LA Times. That rule has come into effect in the past when Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti won the 2017 mayoral primary with over 50 percent of the vote and skipped the general election. Conover encourages those undecided to vote in the primary. “If you skip this election, because you are undecided, you're like, ‘oh, just wait until the general election,’ there might not be a general election,” he said. “You might have allowed everyone else to choose the mayor for you.” One candidate, Rick Caruso, is a contender who Conover believes will hurt the city as mayor. In a Twitter thread posted on May 13, Conover encouraged Angelenos to vote for any other candidate so Caruso would not pass the 50 percent threshold. The thread was retweeted over ten thousand times and shared across other social media platforms. According to Conover, the candidate who wins the position of Los Angeles mayor holds a lot of power. The mayor appoints members to boards and commissions across all areas of public infrastructure. Additionally, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) reports to the mayor. The mayor also puts forward a budget on how Los Angeles should spend its billions of tax dollars. “One of the things that Caruso says that he wants to do is to increase the police force by 1500 officers,” Conover

said. “Now, that's incredibly expensive, and the police currently are not able to even staff the number of positions they currently have. So it's difficult to know how he would do it.” Another major issue in the city is that thousands of residents in Los Angeles experience homelessness. Conover characterized Caruso’s platform towards homelessness as moving the unhoused residents of Los Angeles to a desert facility “like the kind they use to warehouse immigrant kids.” “Based on the work that I've done on homelessness, I'm really worried about that plan,” he said. “I think that's not an effective way to treat homelessness, and I think it really will hurt a lot of people.” Additionally, according to Conover, Caruso has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to anti-abortion causes in the past. With the leaked Supreme Court draft indicating a possible overturning of Roe v. Wade, Conover thinks that people in neighboring states such as Nevada and Arizona may look to Los Angeles and the rest of California to receive abortions. “I believe that we want Los Angeles County to be a place that supports abortion,” he said. “That makes sure that we have open access to it to as many people as possible, and I think the mayor can play a role in making that happen. Conover believes that the 63-yearold Caruso cannot genuinely change from Republican to Democrat, which Caruso registered as in 2022. “He's in the front row of the 2015 Republican debate, he made sure,” Conover said. “It was Donald Trump and Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio and all those guys. They're all talking about who loves guns the most, who hates abortion the most. Rick Caruso made sure he had a front row seat to that event.” Conover recommended that voters look at a guide from Knock-LA’s website, a local independent news publication, to inform themselves about the candidates before they cast their ballot. “Part of my new show, ‘The G word’ on Netflix, in the last episode of it, Episode Six, called ‘Change,’ we talked about how local politics is almost more important than national politics,” he said. “People get so upset about what is happening on cable news in Congress, right? Or with the presidency, when the reality is your vote goes so much more further at home, because so many less people vote in that election.” Conover highlighted city councilors as a local position which holds a lot of power. Two candidates who Conover described as having “really exciting campaigns” are Eunisses Hernandez in Los Angeles Council District 1 and Hugo Soto-Martínez in Los Angeles Council District 13.

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June 1, 2022

Undocumented Students Lack Representation in Politics Carmen Gonzalez| Culture Editor

any voters are set to cast their vote in the California primaries with election day on June 7 and again in the general midterms on Nov. 8. Elections like these will determine local, statewide, and federal representatives, legislation, and funding. In the United States, to be able to vote in most elections one must be 18 years old, meet their state’s residency requirements and be an U.S. citizen. Undocumented students fail to meet that last condition. Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), is an immigration policy which former President Barack Obama passed in 2012. It provides protection for children from deportation and a work permit for some undocumented people, but it does not grant them the right to vote nor a pathway to citizenship. A DACA recipient and sociology student at Santa Monica College (SMC) named Jesus, who asked to only use his first name for his safety, said that during the 2016 presidential election, he shared his immigration story with his Instagram followers. He hoped it would convince some of them to vote. “I was guilt tripping

them. If they cared about me, they would vote,” Jesus said. SMC's Interim Dean of Special Programs, Nick Mata, who oversees the Dream Program and Dream Resource Center, named after failed DREAM Act proposed by congress, said the program and resource center provides a holistic perspective to the undocumented experience at the college. Since the installment of DACA and the advocacy work of immigrant o rg a n i z at i o n s , Mata explained that colleges across California have created centers to provide support to the undocumented population. “Creating that awareness of who they really are and not this stereotype of what these campaigns play them out to be for whatever their political agenda is,” he said about combating the prejudiced

narrative that immigrants face from certain politicians. 2022 California State University-Fullerton (CSUF) graduate Brenda, who will be using only her first name, believes American citizens can do more for the undocumented community beyond voting. “Voting is the bare minimum,” she said. “We need citizens to push for more immigration reforms, more funding for scholarships for undocumented people. We need them to show up for us.” The Dream Resource Center at SMC encourages and helps undocumented people find ways to get politically involved. Jesus is a member of SMC’s I.D.E.A.S club, a group which aims to bring awareness to the struggles of immigrant and underrepresented students. When Brenda was enrolled as a

“Voting is the bare minimum,” she said. “We need citizens to push for more immigration reforms, more funding for scholarships for undocumented people. We need them to show up for us.”

student at CSUF, she was part of her school’s Titan “Dreamers” Resource center and Latinx Community Resource Center. “Throughout my undergrad at Fullerton, I was as politically involved as I could,” she said. “I wanted my voice heard.” Mata explained that SMC’s Dream Resource Center and Dream Program aim to counter harmful political narratives against the undocumented communtiy. “‘They are here to take our jobs, they are taking seats at our colleges and that they don’t pay taxes, that they are receiving welfare’ and that’s just not true,” said Mata. “But that’s what happens during elections, they ‘other’ undocumented individuals giving all these falsehoods of who they are and unfortunately many end up believing them.” The American Immigration Council estimates 10.3 million undocumented immigrants lived in the United States as of 2019, many of whom have no legislative power. “I want to vote. I want to feel represented. In some cases, when in conversation I was so much more informed than people who are voting, it gets frustrating,” Jesus said. He and Brenda both urged citizens to exercise their right to vote.

Illustration by Carmen Gonzalez

June 1, 2022

OPINION

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Mental Health Must Be Taken Seriously in Fight Against Homelessness Ashley Cox| Arts & Entertainment Editor

n the city of Los Angeles, a study from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority estimated that more than 80,000 residents were unhoused in 2019. While the group’s 2020 count was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they placed the number around 42,000 just for the city of Los Angeles. The housing crisis that Los Angeles faces only escalates as the pandemic continues to rage on. According to data from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, an estimated 30% of the unhoused population suffers from mental health issues. That includes Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) which occurs after living through what human brains perceive as “trauma”. As an individual who suffers from PTSD, I can attest that it is both crippling and traumatizing in its own right. Mental healthcare can truly be the key to unlocking doors into one’s own psyche that would go otherwise ignored. PTSD comes in different forms, and can even take someone fully out of their reality and back to the incident that caused the problem in the first place. I am someone with the privilege to be housed, who when suffering from a bout of intense flashbacks, can still be left non-functioning and terrified for something that doesn’t physically exist. Making Sure there’s access to this healthcare is a basic need and should be available for absolutely everyone. “The city is depriving the homeless of human rights,” said Benito Flores, a resident of Los Angeles who was homeless for 15 years before claiming a vacant house. “They’re abusing the homeless.” The unhoused crisis can truly only be solved when the government begins to take mental health seriously, and without the stigma of perceiving survivors as weak for wanting help. Would someone not take insulin if their body did not produce it naturally? Medications that treat mental health disorders are vital and access to them should be easy and open to everyone. All Los Angeles mayoral candidates have expressed the deep need to help the unhoused get on their feet. But without truly addressing the root of the problem within someone’s mind, what good will their efforts re-

ally do? By not creating a space for the unhoused where healthcare is given with affordable treatments, the government is merely putting a bandage on a wound that needs stitches. Mental healthcare should be offered no matter a person’s socioeconomic status.

A 2022 report revealed that more than 40% of inmates in Men’s Central Jail, a facility in Los Angeles County, also suffer from mental health issues. They have little access to necessary care. To deprive anyone of that treatment is wrong and should be reformed immediately.

Without this care, the unhoused crisis will only continue to escalate and worsen. Those in charge of the city should understand this. They must create a platform claiming to take responsibility and action against our mental health crisis.

Encampments set up outside of the Los Angeles City Hall as City council met in the building yesterday (Gavin Quinton | The Corsair)