As part of our school discipline coverage, here is the second in our series of personal narratives about what happens in high school detention.  In this episode 20-year-old Derrick Williams explains how detention was a hang out spot for him and his friends.

See more videos at YouthRadio. Visit their website at YouthRadio.org

From the Richmond Pulse

by Keyannie Norford

Being a young person from Richmond, California, I face a lot on a day-to-day basis and I am thankful and grateful that we have a wonderful and useful health center at De Anza High School. It’s a place that students indeed go to when they are having problems, especially as a result of all the violence happening in the community. I personally go there and utilize their mental health services. The health center has been our place to vent and let out all our worries.

The health center at De Anza was established in 2007 as a collaborative effort between West Contra Costa Unified School District (WCCUSD) and Bay Area Community Resources (BACR). BACR is a non-profit agency whose mission is to support the healthy development of individuals and families in the community. Today, one of De Anza’s most popular student health services happens to be mental health.

Read more at The Richmond Pulse

Coachella Unincorporated reporter Fatima Ramirez is a member of Olive Crest Academy’s first graduating class.

FATIMA RAMIREZ/Coachella Unincorporated

COACHELLA — As I sit on a park bench, enjoying the appetizing food and appreciating the company of my classmates, I realize how much I have grown to appreciate every single one of them.

My classmates and I are taking part in a celebratory event known as Spring Picnic at Olive Crest Academy – the charter high school from which I graduate today — a  a day of fun, food and family at Bagdouma Park for the entire student body.

I have been a part of Olive Crest Academy (OCA) since the day it first opened its doors in 2010. While some might find it unorthodox to leave behind a familiar school in order to attend a completely different one, the promise of an early college model enticed me too much to decline the opportunity.

And with that leap of faith, I began my path to something I can only now recognize as fate.

OCA prides itself in offering qualified students the chance to participate in classes at College of the Desert. While I was applying to be a concurrent student during my junior year, I could not help but wonder what attending a college class would be like. After receiving the news that I had been accepted and the time came for scheduling classes, I was caught up in an array of bittersweet emotions. Although I had enrolled in a class during the fall term, it proved to be a more difficult task the second time around.

Read more at Coachella Unincorporated

New America Media, News Report, Valeria Fernández

PHOENIX — A federal judge ruled on Friday that Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio engaged in racial profiling of Latinos, violating their constitutional rights in his crackdown on illegal immigration. Civil rights advocates expect the ruling to send a chilling message to other law enforcement agencies that are planning to engage in immigration enforcement.

“The order today will have national importance in deterring others across the country,” said Dan Pochoda, one of the prosecuting attorneys with the American Civil Liberties Union in a lawsuit brought by the ACLU and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF).

In his ruling, U.S. Federal District Judge Murray Snow found that sheriff’s deputies engaged in a pattern and practice of discrimination against Latinos during immigration sweeps and enforcement of state immigration laws.

Snow said in the decision that the Sheriff’s Office had “failed to have a clear policy that required execution of the saturation patrols and other enforcement efforts in a race-neutral manner; made no efforts to determine whether its officers were engaging in racially-biased enforcement during its saturation patrols, and failed to comply with standard police practices concerning record-keeping maintained by other law enforcement authorities engaged in such operations.”

Read more at New America Media

By CSULB Senior Seminar Reporters Anthony Garza and Michelle Juvet. Videos by Shahrouz Khalifian

Tucked within the Carmelitos Housing Development in North Long Beach, the Growing Experience has been successful as an urban farm growing fresh and healthy produce and selling it at a low cost since 1996.

But in the last two years, however, the farm has begun to experience some growing pains due to location, labor and budget cuts.

“Our goal is to feed 400 hundred people,” said Jimmy Ng, the project coordinator for The Growing Experience. “Right now, we’re only feeding about 100.”

The seven-acre urban farm is operated by the Housing Authority of the County of Los Angeles (HACoLA) and plays host to many events, such as a farmer’s market every Saturday.

The food grown on the farm is also made available to members of the community through a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. There are cooking classes and summer youth programs during, and there is a community garden, free for Carmelitos residents, which is available for a yearly fee for Long Beach residents.

Councilman Al Austin of District Eight sees a lot of potential in the program.

“It makes a difference for those who know about it,” Austin said. “The Growing Experience educates children and families, but more work needs to be done to get exposure.”

Workers argue that the farm’s location within Carmelitos makes it difficult to find. The farm is not visible from neither of the adjacent streets, Atlantic Boulevard and Orange Avenue. Signs guide visitors looking for the fresh produce of the farm, but it’s hidden factor makes it unlikely that someone would stumble upon the farm.

“We’ve looked [at having the farmer’s market] at the adjacent lot on 52nd Street and Atlantic,” Austin said. “But other factors like available lavatories make it difficult.”

The Growing Experience is also trying to reach out by flyers, word of mouth and a Facebook page, said Karla Pua, the farmer’s market manager for The Growing Experience. She is also a member of the Carmelitos Housing Development and notes she has seen a rise in the number of residents who attend the farmer’s market, but agrees that it is necessary to attract more customers to keep the revenue flowing.

“I don’t know what it will take, aside from actually bringing them in by the busload,” Pua said.

Aside from being hidden, Austin says that there is a stigma associated with the Carmelitos Housing Development.

“The general public sees The Growing Experience as something for the housing development, not for them,” said Austin, who thinks that an important step is eliminating the stigma associated to housing projects.

“Carmelitos is a good community with good people just in unfortunate situations,” Austin said. “If we can bridge the gap between Carmelitos and Long Beach the possibilities are endless.”

Farmer’s market attendee and north Long Beach resident Kristen Strong was pleasantly surprised at the changes that have come to Carmelitos with the addition of the farm.

“Carmelitos used to be kind of a bad word. We would try to drive past it as fast as possible because it was always having problems,” Strong said. “It’s really so much better now.”

Finding sufficient labor is also holding back the farm from its full output potential. Considering there are only three paid full-time employees – two farmers and Ng – keeping the show running is no easy task.

Two times a week, as many as 10 different kinds of vegetables are harvested; once for the CSA pick-up, and once for the farmer’s market. The vegetables vary upon season. Summer squash, onions, broccoli, turnips, and various greens are currently being harvested. Manuel Cisneros, agricultural project coordinator for The Growing Experience, and two volunteers do most of the harvesting.

Cisneros plants, maintains, and harvests the garden year round.

“At one time we had 17 people working on the farm,” Cisneros said. “Every year we have less and less people.”

Cisneros says it is difficult to accomplish the farm work because there are not enough people to help. If more people worked on the farm, more fresh produce can be planted and harvested so that more people in the community could benefit.

“I love tending the farm,” Cisneros said. “I haven’t taken a vacation in six years, but I just can’t stand that something might not get attended to. The farm is just not a priority for the county.”

Ng noted that like many other government agencies, there have been budgetary constraints for HACoLA in the past few years.

“There was more staff in the past in a ‘trainee’ capacity,” Ng said. “However, with budgetary constraints, the training programs have been scaled back, to a core staff of two full-time employees plus myself.”

For now, The Growing Experience must rely on the help of volunteers in order to continue growing. Pua thought it would take at least three more full-time people to get to a place where they could support more customers.

“It would be a lot easier for everybody and we would have more produce because everything would be on time,” Pua said.

Pua and Cisneros said that both their fondness for the farm and the need to get more work done compels them to come in and help on their days off.

Just getting the word out about The Growing Experience seemed to inspire others to want to help out as well. Strong said she felt compelled to volunteer both herself and her son to help out on the farm in order for The Growing Experience to keep growing.

“Now that I know about this place, I want to come every week,” she said. “I’m going to drag my friends along too.”

For now, dragging in friends might be just the solution that The Growing Experience needs to, well, continue growing.

To view the type of produce the farm grows and how they compare in nutrition and cost to local grocery stores, look below, scroll over the photos and click on the image tools. For more information about the farm, go HERE.

By Queer Youth Radio/VoiceWaves Youth Reporter Chelcee Bunkley (pictured above third from the right with representatives from the Long Beach Gay & Lesbian Center)

Long Beach Pride: a time of year everyone (and sometimes their mothers) are waiting for.

My name is Chelcee Bunkley. I’m 22 years old and although I’m still young, I think I can now call myself a seasoned veteran of Pride.

This year marked my fourth time at the event. Some people might ask why? Isn’t it the same event every year? Yes, it is, but every year has a different energy to it.

I remember my first time going to Pride in 2009. I was 19 and had no clue what I was getting myself into. I actually had a really terrible time. I was alone with no friends in the city, as I had just moved to Long Beach from Moreno Valley—an inland empire city about an hour and 20 minutes northeast of the city.

It was hard for me seeing all the girls in couples and all the groups of friends partying, while it seemed I was the one single person in the crowd. It was a learning experience and I must say that since then, I have really grown to love Pride.

I can’t speak for everyone, and it’s very hard to pinpoint, but this year seemed to have a different air of unity and togetherness. I’ve heard some people skeptical of the event, complaining that it’s a bad representation of the community or its just another reason for people to get drunk, but I respectfully disagree and have to say that Pride is one of the funnest, most best enjoyed times in my year. There are 3 reasons why: the city, the people and the good vibes.

Where I grew up in Moreno Valley there was no apparent “gay scene.” Of course, there are gay people who live there but they don’t really get together like the gay community does in Long Beach. So for me, coming from places that only tolerated parts of me, to a place where people are embracing me as a whole and where they even have a Pride event at all– that means a lot to me. It was only when I came to Long Beach that I felt like I could be myself and not hide at all.

My first impression of Long Beach came only from gangster rap I had heard and I was under the impression that I would be shot just walking down the street, but to actually arrive and live in the city, I discovered how untrue all of that is. In many ways, I actually feel safer in Long Beach than anywhere else I’ve lived.

People come from all around to experience Long Beach Pride every year. I’ve met people from Texas, Utah, San Diego, Oregon and I’m sure there are even more people from much farther out who know that Long Beach Pride is the place to be. I’ve heard many people who’ve said LB Pride is better than Los Angeles Pride.

Something I think everyone would notice is that there is no lack of diversity once you walk into the festival. All kinds of people are around, tall, short, big, small, disabled, people of all colors– everybody. And as a plus, it was a breathe of fresh air to see a lot of more masculine women especially in a world where lesbians are frequently spewing out things like “NO BUTCHES!” and feminine men in a world where all the guys seem to be after “real men” as if it was a crime to be a little different from the norm. And I know others may have had opposite experiences, but everyone I spoke to was really nice to me and I was actually expecting a different outcome, but it just goes to prove that Long Beach Pride seems to have a good influence on people. It’s hard to explain the energy that fills the air during pride weekend.

Maybe its all the rainbows that are strung up all over the city letting you know that it’s your time and that more people supported you than you initially thought .or maybe it’s the new, excited faces you see around. Maybe it’s the weekend events and the thought that you will meet all these new people and have a great time, despite anything that may be troubling you at home or at work.

Maybe it’s that feeling that you can finally get away for a while and stop being a workaholic or a full-time student. And maybe its a mix of a lot of other things people feel, but the only way I can really describe it is to say that, at least for me, it’s more than just a party and it’s more than just an excuse to drink or get high or whatever else the typical skeptic likes to think. It’s a total experience, where self-expression is personified by every single person who attends it.

In the grand scheme of things Pride isn’t perfect and it isn’t the end-all, be-all of events in the world. A few things could stand to be changed.

Some major complaints I have would be that the price to get in is a total outrage, the food is overpriced, it was hot enough to give me an outline of my sunglasses around my eyes, if you don’t like to drink, dance, shop, or hit on people there isn’t a whole lot to do and at least three fights broke out this year.

But despite all that, the pros definitely outweigh the cons. I’m sure if we protest enough we can get the price lowered on the tickets, we can beat the heat by offering free water, and we can join the Pride committee to help come up with more things to do other than just be consumers.

Instead of thinking about it as, “Pride is this way and always will be,” it could be thought about as, “There’s room to grow.” I personally like to think of growth because that way there’s nowhere to go but up. And believe me, Pride can only get better from here, which is saying a lot since its one of the best times of the year in Long Beach.

This year was the 3oth anniversary of Pride in Long Beach. For more information about Pride, go to www.longbeachpride.com.

Picturing Health: Photo and Audio Stories by California Youth
Funded by The California Endowment

From VeniceArts

New America Media, Commentary, Damaso Reyes

Pictured above: Street Narcotics Enforcement Unit officers from the 28th Precinct conduct a Stop and Frisk in Harlem in 2006. Photograph by Damaso Reyes.

NEW YORK — It was one word that struck me. More than any other word spoken over the past 10 weeks of court testimony in Floyd v. City of New York, the civil trial questioning the New York Police Department’s policy of “Stop, Question and Frisk.”

“No.”

In over 8,000 pages of official court transcripts from the trial that ended on Monday, it is spoken time and time again by sergeants, precinct commanders and current and former high ranking officers within the police department. The question being replied to was a variation on this: “Does it bother you that in the vast majority, nine out of 10 stops, no enforcement action was taken? No summons, no arrest, no weapons found?”

“No.”

This is perhaps the heart of the case that the Center for Constitutional Rights brought to Judge Shira Scheindlin’s courtroom on the 15th floor of the federal courthouse in lower Manhattan. Authorities see no wrongdoing, despite the fact that over the past decade, NYPD officers have conducted nearly 4.5 million stops in a city of 8 million. Eighty-five percent of those stopped were black or Latino, meaning that many people have been stopped more than once.

Read more at New America Media