A Painful Lesson in Division
An old (from 2005) LA Times article that I had never read before about the racial integration that came to Inglewood in the 1970s. An interesting read. I really wonder what an “updated” history of Inglewood would look like, one that takes into account the arrival Latin American immigrants in the 1980s. Some things of note:
“Right where the Forum was breaking ground on Prairie, I remember all the white fathers lined up with their guns, and blacks coming down Manchester with their guns, as vivid as if it was yesterday,” Beam said.
….
By 1970, the city’s schools had 2,500 black children among 14,000 students, but they were clustered on a handful of campuses. Inglewood High had only 17 black students, while Morningside High had more than 600.
….
But by then, there was a new threat on campus. Violent street gangs had made their way to Inglewood from South Los Angeles. “In ninth and 10th grade we had to worry about the white kids,” Lewis said. “When we got to 11th grade, we had to worry about the Crips.”
Read it. Always interesting to hear from Inglewood old-timers.
