Vision Circle

Open Thread - Lucy Florence

There was not enough time to discuss all of the things that went down today at Lucy Florence, but there's no question that there's a great deal of interest in the issues that are pressing in Black Los Angeles these days.

I've invited folks to sound off here and I will probably be setting up a real Kwaku Network within the next few weeks to handle the overflow of opinions we have. What's clear is the Ofari has the pull and people don't say no to him when he invites them to speak. What's not clear is that any of this passion gets translated into action or communicated to all the people who might be interested right left or center.

The topics for this week are three.
Wal-Mart Inglewood
Wal-Mart intends on opening a superstore and the April 6th ballot initiative they are 'taking it to the people' in an end-around of the Inglewood city government. Supporters say it's all about the benjamins. Inglewood consumers deserve the lowest prices and the convenience Wal-Mart offers. Not only will there be the regular old Wal-Mart jobs that everybody jokes and spits about, but there will be a great deal of construction work necessary just to build the place. Detractors say that this is a classic sell out to union-busting capitalists who are not only generally not trustworthy, but particularly suspect in this instance. They say Wal-Mart has rigged the situation to completely bypass the political process. Furthermore, the giant is going to empty out Downtown Inglewood businesses creating 'broken windows'.

R. Kelly's Image Award
The NAACP has accepted a nomination for suspected child-molester R. Kelly. I'm afraid I can't even be open-minded about this one. That punk needs to be taken down. Let him sing in prison. The NAACP continues to fulfill its destiny as a laughingstock.

Donovan Jackson Trial
Steve Cooley's assistant DAs have no experience prosecuting police officers and the accountability of police department is completely compromised.

This is your opportunity to speak up. No time limits, no waiting for the microphone.