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Volume 11 Issue 57
Santa Monica Daily Press
REMEMBERING KING SEE PAGE 3
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THE WALK THIS WAY ISSUE
Racial Harmony returns to Samohi BY ASHLEY ARCHIBALD Daily Press Staff Writer
SAMOHI A popular program promoting dialogue between racial groups will return to Santa Monica High School after a year-long hiatus, and, for the first time, with direct school district funding. The program, called Racial Harmony, is a two-day retreat that forces a group of approximately 50 students to confront ingrained stereotypes and undiscussed issues of ethnicity. Trained students run the groups, which tackle weighty topics like institutionalized racism, the history of ethnic groups and how racism becomes part of the culture of a place. Racial Harmony has been held sporadically depending on the availability of grant funding, but it was revisited in 2011 as district officials attempted to grapple with the fallout from a racial incident at Samohi. Officials acceded to the wishes of parent groups and organizations like the NAACP to do a thorough review of the school curriculum and add relevant material to educate students about different cultures and ethnicities. Members of the Board of Education also requested that the district bring back Racial Harmony, and that it be given a secure funding source. Where that will come from is still unclear, said Superintendent Sandra Lyon. “We don’t know how we’re going to pay for it,” she said. “But we have to figure out how to fund it.” It’s a bittersweet announcement for Rebecca Hardt, a one-time student and district employee who brought the program to Samohi over a decade ago when she was a junior. SEE SAMOHI PAGE 10
Daniel Archuleta daniela@smdp.com
REPRESENTING THE MASSES: Occupy protesters march down the Santa Monica Pier bridge on Monday on their way to Venice.
Occupy protesters honor MLK King’s mission a model for growing movement, protesters say BY ASHLEY ARCHIBALD
They came outfitted with a boom box to broadcast historic speeches as they walked. To keep things running smoothly, protesters wearing red clown noses were tasked with the security detail while others held signs and repeated messages delivered to them by organizers en masse like a human loudspeaker. “What we’re fighting here is injustice,” one of the men wearing a clown nose said. The day was particularly appropriate to showcase the Occupy movement because of King’s emphasis on equality, a message often lost in his more visible fight against racism and in favor of social justice, said The Rev. Jenenne Macklin of the Living Light Spiritual Center in Los Angeles.
Daily Press Staff Writer
OCEAN AVE “A time comes when silence is betrayal.” Members of the Occupy Venice organization rallied to those words by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Monday in Palisades Park in an attempt to show through their actions that they would no longer be silent. Approximately 30 activists gathered in the park for a potluck meal, silk screening of protest shirts and speeches before beginning their march along the boardwalk to Venice Beach in honor of King and in solidarity with other peaceful protesters across the country.
Andrew Thurm
According to the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change, founded by King’s wife in 1968, King shifted his focus from race to economic inequality after the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965. His work in this area, which he continued until his assassination in 1968, created the “Poor People’s Campaign,” a coalition of impoverished Americans that stretched beyond racial lines. The Poor People’s Campaign and its message was an extension of King’s earlier work to bring equality amongst the races, Macklin said. “That was the underlying message: SEE OCCUPY PAGE 8
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