Life & Times; No. 159; Special Edition: After the Verdict; Part 2

<v William Violante>Grandmothers, [laughter] grandmothers. I mean, we are we are part of the community. And it's it's important to understand that and we have a job to do. One of the things that has to be understood is that we we have to be included in what's going on in the community. We had programs that were started years ago that were cut out by city government where we weren't- we could not continue with those programs. Those programs have to be re- reinstated. There has to be the police in- involvement with the community. Um one of the problems that we're facing there was- we we don't have sufficient training programs on the Los Angeles Police Department. We do not have sufficient cultural awareness training programs. We do not have sufficient uh psychological retesting programs, stress reduction programs for police officers. It took years before police officers were involved in shootings were able to even go to counseling after they had a shooting. They had to handle it on their own. These kinds of things are necessary. My question is right back to all the other questions we're talking about here. Where is the money gonna come from? <v Ruben Martinez>W- w- William ?inaudible?- <v William Violante>We are an understaffed police department right now. <v Ruben Martinez>Mr. Violante, you talk about wanting to work in partnership with the community, yet the Police Protective League is on record uh against uh Proposition F, which the Christopher Commission o- obviously has a lot of recommendations that which which they the Christopher Commission and the supporters of the Christopher Commission say would make a better working relationship with the police and the community. Why are you against it?

<v Jeffrey Kaye>L- l- I don't think right now, with all due respect, it's time to get into a debate on [people arguing] Proposition F. We will do that one other time. Yeah. <v Man 1>[inaudible arguing] Doesn't go far enough, that's the answer. Doesn't go far enough. <v Jeffrey Kaye>All right. Hold on a second. I I wanna go to Joel Fox. <v Patt Morrison>Thank you. <v Jeffrey Kaye>Hold on sir. Hold on. Hold on. I'd like to go to Joel Fox, ?a? taxpayer. [many people speaking at once] ?Howard Jarvis? Taxpayers Association. And where is the money coming from? <v Joel Fox>Where is the money coming from? It's not gonna come from the taxpayers. You know, last year we raised taxes in the state, 7 billion dollars. We actually brought in less money than the year before. More businesses are leaving the state. I heard this morning that uh 6 businesses that had been courted by Reno, Nevada and hadn't followed through called Reno after the riots and said, we're gonna come up and look around. I have some hope for the Ueberroth committee. I think that we have to get private money in there. I think one thing that's different now than than 27 years ago is 27 years ago, the solution was government's gonna fix the problem. Government did not fix the problem. Now we're gonna try some private sector fixing the problem. I think that's what the Ueberroth idea is all about. I think Mr. Ridley-Thomas would agree with that. And I think and I'm and I'm hopeful that that uh w- where government's role is, is it to make it easier for the private sector to get in there, to have incentives to bring money into the community? <v Jeffrey Kaye>I wanna go to the foun- to uh uh uh the president. Are you the president of the Founders uh National Bank?

<v Carlton Jenkins>Part of the ownership. <v Jeffrey Kaye>Part of the ownership. A black owned bank. We've heard horrendous stories over the years about redlining in the community. Uh how- we know how long it took to get a supermarket in the south central community. Realistically, what are we talking here about building off a community? <v Carlton Jenkins>Well, you know, a- as the only black owned bank i- in the state, for that matter, you know, we try to be very sensitive to what's going on. And, you know, one of the things that that it's apparent to me and and I'm very appreciative of a of a Wells Fargo that steps up to the plate in Americans savings, but where were they yesterday? You know, one of the problems, you know, as as we all watched the folks in line kept ya know getting checks and all that, they had nowhere to go with those checks. I mean- <v Jeffrey Kaye>Because there were no banks. [arguing] No branch offices. <v Carlton Jenkins>We opened on Sunday to accommodate uh customers who had stood in line Saturday and Sunday getting welfare checks. We cash checks for non customers. But I I guess one of the things that has to happen here is that the majority financial institutions have to to revisit the issue of doing business where they oughta be doing business. I mean, you don't you don't go through a mega merger and cast aside a community like South Central Los Angeles. <v Jeffrey Kaye>Have you been speaking to these major financial institutions?

<v Carlton Jenkins>We- we've starting to network with all of them. <v Jeffrey Kaye>[inaudible shouting] A- a- and what are- and what are they telling you? <v Carlton Jenkins>We're simply saying to them, look, i- i- if you don't wanna be in that marketplace, we do. So so why don't you step up with all this well intention a- and place where it can do some good, i.e. a Founders National Bank or a ?Broadway? or a Family Savings something like that. I mean, this is a market we're committed to. If if you're looking for a way into that marketplace, we can be that delivery system. I mean, I don't mind. I- I'll take the task the entire rebuilding effort myself, if all these good intention folks wanna find a conduit. Well, we got the only black owned bank in the city. Let's use it as a conduit. <v Jeffrey Kaye>You're one resource. What are the chances that the new security Pacific Bank of America marriage is is gonna pay off in the black community, for example? <v Oscar Wright>Let's talk about the small business ?inaudible?- <v Jeffrey Kaye>Wait. Hold on. <v Oscar Wright>Programs that we do provide. I think there are opportunities existing and tax payers uh uh payments that you've made already uh to existing programs. I'd like to have you challenge me as the regional administrator of the federal Small Business Administration to ac- to try to accomplish some of the things that we talk about in the community. For instance, the Community Reinvestment Act. Now, they have a responsibility to lenders in the community to make small business loans as well as housing subsidy loans. How many small business loans have they made? [murmuring] I think you'd wanna challenge them to that uh to that uh concern. <v Ruben Martinez>Hey Jeffrey [murmuring].

<v Oscar Wright>As well as- as well as the Small Business Administration. So you see, you need to have some policy entrepreneurs inside government working with the private sector and perhaps the Ueberroth Commission can accomplish every week. <v Hugh Hewitt>?inaudible? Jeffrey. We have got uh we've got at least two. We've got Dick Riordan, we've got Barry Sanders, general counsel of the Ueberroth Competitors Commission, sitting in the back row. The tax increase issue was raised and shot down by Joel. As perhaps one of the few conservatives along with Joel in the room, I think that might be the one thing we cannot afford to dismiss at this point for the rebuilding effort because there have got to be revenues. I'm wondering, Barry Sanders, you are close at hand. Is it inappropriate in this instance to consider sales tax revenues from this city in this county to assist the rebuilding effort, perhaps in the hand of the uh Rebuild L.A. group? <v Barry Sanders>I think we have to consider all sources of revenues, but we have to be very careful on sales tax issues. It's a highly regressive tax. And we already have one of the nation's highest sales tax rates. Now, it is true that after the earthquake in San Francisco, there was a half percent sales tax placed. And we have to consider the options. But I think we must look in other places, too. <v Hugh Hewitt>Can I turn the question then to Dick Riordan and say, don't you think I have set sales tax or something like that would give people who want to participate an opportunity to be involved in that participation through the revenue base, through the sales tax or is that just a crazy idea?

<v Richard Riordan>I think it's a it's an okay idea, but I think it's just a Band-Aid. I think there are a lot of positive things happening. Lois Rice and I just came from a meeting earlier this evening with the presidents of most of the major corporations in Southern California and I think Lois can comment, but we're very optimistic. Vons, Ralphs, ?Boys?, uh B of A, Wells Fargo, uh First Interstate, uh Arco, uh uh Union Oil are all committed now to reopen all of their facilities in cen- south central L.A. <v Jeffrey Kaye>Are they committed to go beyond- ?inaudible? reopening? <v Richard Riordan>Well, let me let me go on. Let me go on uh beyond that, because they are also uh there were also comments which cannot be mentioned now, but they will mention the next few days where they will make additional resources available to the businesses in south central L.A.. Secondly, I met with a group of mostly minority architects this morning, and they're are going to go into the churches in south central L.A., open up offices, give free services to the small businesses that don't have the resources to do architectural plans, to work with the SBA, to work with the city on permitting. So I think there's a lot of great things happening in this city. And I'm very optimistic. <v Hugh Hewitt>Let me ask my last question then to people of the of the ethnic community. The un- the people who are representing the people that had no voice. Do you believe the business community this time? 27 years later.

<v Xavier Hermosillo>Well, you know I think-. <v Hugh Hewitt>I'm listening. <v Xavier Hermosillo>I think you know, we're missing the boat here on on on on a major issue. You know, John Mack earlier talked about, you know, Peter Ueberroth, you know, being just one element. Uh you know, I I think that what you have to remember is that 94 percent of all business is small business. <v Hugh Hewitt>Right. <v Xavier Hermosillo>And we've been talking here about, you know, ?Unical?, Bank of America, etcetera. It only represents 6 percent. You know the fastest growing segment of small business is Latino business. And, you know, with Mr. Ueberroth and you know, I wanna I wanna find out, are the black carpenters going to be involved in this? Are the Hispanic-American Contractors Association- <v Kerman Maddox>OK in front of you is Kerman Maddox, Xavier? <v Hugh Hewitt>And he hasn't said anything. Do you believe that this reinvestment is coming from both small and large business, Kerman? <v Kerman Maddox>Well, you know, I live in South Central. I have to be optimistic. But let me just say this, uh the Ueberroth thing. Uh that's uh- there are a lot of good ideas that have been brought up. But as the young man said earlier in the program, I don't know that there's anybody in this room, and I'm including myself, that truly represents that group of people that participated in the activities that took place Wednesday and Thursday. So you can build buildings all you want. You can have committees all you want. But unless these young people who participated in that activity Wednesday Thursday night believe that they have a stake in this society and it starts at the highest levels of government and the private sector. You can rebuild and they'll tear it down again. [people clap] <v Juanita Tate>'Cause there's no- see, there has to be stakeholders. Anyone that don't have a stake in nothing, they take no pride in it. First of all, let me say, you know, there's some diversity going on in this room because South Central ain't the only community that had problems. I mean, there's Councilman ?Yuroslavsky? Sittin' up there and he ain't said nothing, but when you look at Melrose Avenue Third and Fairfax, he got some problems. So, yeah, it's going to happen because you know what, if we're across the board this time, it's not just Watts. It didn't get just get confined to Watts. Because 27 years ago it was only Watts. This time it went across the board. And I'm sure we gonna have Councilman ?Yuroslavsky? And all his boys and all our friends helping us rebuild South Central.

<v Jeffrey Kaye>I wana hear from some people who haven't spoken. Angela Oh, lawyer and then we'll come to Rabbi Keller. <v Angela Oh>Back to his question, which is that is it going to happen this time? And frankly, in the I believe in the Korean-American community here in Los Angeles. Um it's not it's not gonna happen fast enough. People are homeless now. Kids don't have food now. Health care is not available now. We cannot wait for these huge organizations to move. We have to do it now. And we are gonna welcome whatever aid comes from the government or the private sector. But frankly, the churches, the community people- you saw 25,000 people out there on Saturday coming together. Um you know, people have different reads on what that was all about. But mostly it was a show that we know we have to take care of ourselves. Why? Because on the night that this thing broke, we had no assistance for hours and we had no idea whether we were gonna get that assistance. And it's the same thing now. <v Hugh Hewitt>Jeffrey.

<v Angela Oh>Let me tell you also with regard to this youth issue I've been talking about, you know, it's very funny how the media all of a sudden wants to focus on this. There are a few things that I'm beginning to see as patterns coming up as I go around talking um in these different um arenas. Number one, I think we're seeing major white flight. Major white flight and that goes from the communities to the businesses that are fleeing California. <v Jeffrey Kaye>That's nothing new is it? <v Angela Oh>California is going to be a majority ethnic state, if not already. Number two, we see fear. We see major fear. All those people in those suburban communities that haven't had to deal with the reality of how our systems have failed us. We see fear. And number three, what's left in the way of hope are kids. That's all that's left. <v Jeffrey Kaye>I I promised Laur- Rabbi Laura Geller the opportunity to speak. <v Rabbi Laura Geller>?That? we see fear but I think what we saw over the weekend were people from different communities coming together for the first time. What's different this time from last time is that it touched all of us, just like Chernobyl touched all of us. This touched all of us. Synagogues across this city were down in south central Los Angeles, synagogues that have relationships with African American churches and others that don't yet have relationships, but now will. It seems to me that in- on top of the economic crisis, there's a spiritual crisis and we can look to the churches and synagogues of this city for help in giving people a sense of empowerment that we are here to stay and that we have to work together to find some way to pull this together. <v Ruben Martinez>Jeffrey, just to shift the gears of the conversation a little bit here. Uh uh indeed, you know, people are talking about looking for leadership across the board in this spiritual way and the political way. One thing that I heard consistently and this is in South Central, this is in Pico Union. This is in Mid-Wilshire. I heard unanimous disdain for just about every leader in this town across the board, city council, the mayor, the police chief and this is not just the the the pre violence anti-incumbency. It went over the top this time. Uh what, you know, does the leadership uh the leadership is on notice? The leadership in this town is on notice. And you represent the leadership. What are you gonna change in terms of your symbolism, in terms of your language, in terms of out-

<v Rabbi Laura Geller>And more basic than that why do you deserve to still be leaders after what has happened? <v The Rev. Cecil Murray>Is it possible- and we owe so much to KCET for this magnificent convening- that KCET could take the leadership and requesting all of the media to impact us with one day with all the proposals so that we can stop the information gap. People are talking the city to death. If they could have heard what we've heard today, they would be encouraged. I'm sure they would cooperate. They saturated us with the bad news. Now saturate us with information. <v Hugh Hewitt>Let's move on.

<v Jeffrey Kaye>I wanna just- <v Terri Jones>You asked the question of why do we deserve to be here? I'm not sure we do. But the fact is, we are. And um- and one of the things that the group of people that I was with this afternoon pledged itself to do, and again, that was a group of funders, was to make sure that the next time we met there would be community representation at the table as well. I- ?inaudible? <v Barry Sanders>We're already available. <v Terri Jones>Yes. Sure. <v Barry Sanders>I had the privilege of working with Peter on the Council on Competitiveness and we have a report that came out April 23rd. And even though it's here, not much is yet being done to implement its recommendations. As people have been saying here, we found that government isn't working. It isn't working at the state, local or federal level. But it's still true that our federal delegation hasn't met once together to discuss the people's business. [inaudible murmuring in background] ?Weeks'll? go by. <v Man 2>I'm I'm struck by uh struck by and challenged by uh the question why we deserve to be leaders in light of uh uh a disastrous situation that occurred over the past uh several days, and that has been in the making for a considerable amount of time perhaps. Uh and I don't know the answer to that fully, but this is uh the point that I wish to make. I think leadership oughta be credible. I think it oughta be hardworking. I think it oughta earn what it gets in terms of being uh called leadership. I think it oughta be self-critical. But having said that, I think it's much easier uh for people to be critical of those who step up to the plate and try to do something and then get called leaders, uh than to do something themselves. And I have some fundamental disagreement and difference with the legitimizing of those who have made choices for themselves that haven't been in the best interests of themselves and or the communities of which they are part. And it seems to me that a challenge has to be ?dual? at least. And so th- this is a critical point, because I think uh there's a kind of uh sympathetic chord that is justified uh toward uh some of of those who have made some serious choices about how they're going to do business in- what their lives. And I and I have a s- elaborate analysis of oppression. But I still think when the rubber hits the road, there's some choices people make. <v Jeffrey Kaye>W- well what choices are you talking about?

<v Man 2>And they sometime- and they sometimes choose to bang on people who are so-called leaders. <v Jeffrey Kaye>Mhmm. <v Man 2>Uh and the and the the the sharpness of the criticism somehow seems to be legitimate by virtue of the fact that it ?was asserted?. <v Patt Morrison>Mark, I think your wife wants to interrupt you. <v Hugh Hewitt>Yeah we'll let that one happen, Councilman. <v Avis Ridley Thomas>Also talk about some leaders uh and some heroes in this situation who have been unsung and a particular program that happens to be working on the city level called the dispute resolution program, which uh involves all segments of the community to help us learn better ways to resolve our disputes. And I happen to have many of those listed. I'm going to pass them to you and all types of disputes uh that we have from the interpersonal to the interracial to the community. We now have people who are available who are taking leadership every day. Mediators call to offer assistance and they are taking leadership. <v Jeffrey Kaye>I I want to put a question- <v Avis Ridley Thomas>In cleaning up our community. <v Jeffrey Kaye>[stuttering] About- ?inaudible? Go ahead.

<v Woman 1>?inaudible? Question because I am a young entrepreneur and I was also a victim in in this these current events. What I have not yet seen- well, I've seen it in with one of our leaders. But I as a young uh entrepreneur would like to see people like the young lady sitting in the front to pull the young entrepreneurs together and asked us what is needed for us to rebuild and redevelop on a very on on a grassroot level because we haven't been addressed. It's always what are the big corporations gonna do, what are politicians are gonna do? We like to have someone come to us as business people in the community and ask us how can they help us to build, rebuild our businesses and also expand our businesses because we need more small businesses in the community to become these large corporations. <v Patt Morrison>Annie Cho hasn't spoken yet. The Korean-American Grocers Association, what would you like to see from the leadership? <v Annie Cho>Well, first of all, uh more than 500 of our stores have been uh demolished and we have uh sustained over 300 million dollars in damages. And most of our stores, we're doing business in South Central Los Angeles. It is true that we've had some merchant customer uh problems. However, we were making progress in that area. We were um continuing our dialogue to underst- better understand each other. And now with the riots, it seems it seems that um uh we are we've sort of been halted in that effort. And with our small businesses um so often we talk about the African American community um uh having been in uh sustaining a lot of injuries. But we have Korean American merchants, too, who have mortgaged their homes to open up these stores. And now they have all kinds of payments. They have no food. They have no place to sleep. In a month, they're gonna lose that house. And we really have to figure out what can the small business do?

<v Hugh Hewitt>Jeff- <v Annie Cho>I think a lot of lot of people are are saying that we have to unite and work together. And if we don't do that, we're gonna be losing our homes. L.A. is our home. <v Jeffrey Kaye>[inaudible murmuring] Let's go to ?Zev?.

<v Zev Yaroslavsky>I'd like to uh point blank address the leadership question. It may come as a surprise to you to hear what I'm about to say, but if we had a parliamentary form of government here in the United States and here in Los Angeles, the party in power would be out of its ?butt? right now, uh it's a failure. We uh did not see- we should have seen it coming. Some of us have seen it coming. U the the wide gap that's been developing between haves and have nots uh has been developing for some time. This didn't just happen in the last six months and we as a public sector have continued to behave as though y- we've we've never gotten out of our offices, we've we've continued to invest our public dollars with some of the people who are sitting in this room, not with the people out in the community. <v Patt Morrison>You're enablers. <v Zev Yaroslavsky>Uh the the uh the fact that over 10, 12 years we have deified people who have become billionaires and hundred millionaires uh and leveraged buyouts and and have popular shows like The Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. But we don't give a damn about the lifestyles of the common and not rich. Uh is is a ridiculous thing. So I say to you that you're right. Uh if if we were a parliamentary system, we'd all be out there being ?inaudible?. <v Ruben Martinez>It might it might yet happen.

<v Hugh Hewitt>And that may have [laughter]. <v Ruben Martinez>Jeffrey Jeffrey Jeffrey. <v Jeffrey Kaye>We haven't heard from Jane Pisano of the 2000 partnership. <v Jane Pisano>I think I think Zev is exactly right. I think that what [inaudible muttering] what we're looking at is not only a gap between the haves and the have nots, but a gap between the cities and the suburbs. And until our leaders realize at every level of government that making the cities whole has to be our highest priority as a nation, it's not going to pull together those who live beyond the boundaries of the inner city and have them recognize that this is all our challenge and we have to meet it together. <v Jeffrey Kaye>So is what happened a testament to to failed leadership. <v Jane Pisano>I think- <v Jeffrey Kaye>And if so what do you do with the current leadership? <v Jane Pisano>I- <v Jeffrey Kaye>And should we trust what the leaders are now telling us? <v Jane Pisano>I I I do think that it's a testament to um to priorities that weren't right. And we now have to seize this moment and really focus on building the cities. That's where our jobs are concentrated. That's where people are. And if we can't define community as something bigger than the inner city, then we've lost it. <v Hugh Hewitt>Jeffrey.

<v Jeffrey Kaye>Tom Watson, sorry to keep leaning in on you. <v Diane Watson>Pe- pe- Peter Ueberroth has been chosen to rebuild Los Angeles. That's fine, well, and good. And I think he has the connection and uh the relationships to raise lots of money. But what of the image that goes out there back on the streets? You've got to broaden the participation out. We need to have a co-chairman or maybe three people at the top. You need to have someone who looks like this lady next to me. You need to have someone that looks like me, because the message that is out there- who rebuilds? Peter Ueberroth cannot successfully walk South Central Los Angeles to find out the needs of the people who are really hurting and still suffering. <v Hugh Hewitt>Jeffrey- <v Diane Watson>So I I have some disappointment. <v Hugh Hewitt>And senator- <v Diane Watson>That is, you know, the leadership. <v Ruben Martinez>Senator that that that brings that brings up uh the risk of of of pushing the the ethnic and and race button, which had everybody's hands up just a little while ago. I think we ought to talk about the coalition politics in this town. The old coalition, which is fading slowly, I suppose, is the west side uh liberal and and south central African American. Now, of course, the city's demographics have changed dramatically. The the Latino population is the highest in the city in terms of percentages. The Asian community's rising. That we need a new coalition. Is that happening yet? <v Hugh Hewitt>Ruben, can I can I interject here? 'Cause I would like to pose that question. Los Angeles has very few historians, one of them is Mike. Let's go to Mike Davis and ask him whether or not that new coalition is even theoretically possible. The author of The City of Quartz.

<v Mike Davis>There have been two rainbow coalitions in uh L.A.'s history. The first was in the late 1940s between Jews and Latinos, blocs and and unions. The second one was the one that was built in the aftermath of the first burning in the Los Angeles. And that promise to rebuild the inner cities instead shifted all the tax resources to the harbor, the airport and the downtown. And I think, you know, the key question today is not relying on on the philanthropy of the uh the private sector, but recognizing that if we're to rebuild our cities, we have to redistribute the resources that have fled to the suburbs, have been confiscated by the suburbs and bring them back to the center. We have to begin to talk about repealing Prop 13 and progressive taxation and a lot of other stuff that people consider impossible. And secondly, when we talk about building a a coalition has to be totally inclusionary coalition, because in this city there's probably not a more voiceless community than the Central American community, more unrepresented community. So it can't just be a matter of of of Mexican Americans blocks and Asians. It has to include uh that community as well, it has to include the Armenians, has to include, you know, the Israelis. But the point is that we've come now to a watershed. And and and the watershed is this is a city of immense cultural energy and it's a city that a lot of us love, but it's a city that a lot of other people are bailing out of. And it's time to choose really which which side to be on. <v Ruben Martinez>Antonia Hernandez.

<v Antonia Hernandez>You ask the question is, a- are the coalitions for me? And yes, we have been for me. It's just that and once again, this is a criticism of the media, they only pay attention to the divisiveness. They don't pay attention to the fact that we have been struggling to try and find those coalitions and to speak honestly about our differences and our commonalities. And yes, we have to deal with the economics of rebuilding. But if we don't deal with the fact that a large percentage of our community feels that the justice system has failed us completely and we go back to what caused this riot, and the perception is that a a person of color cannot get justice in the justice system. You can do all of the economic rebuilding, but we're not dealing with the core, the morals and the fabric that holds this community together. And it's about time that people of color who are trying to deal with these difficult relationships, you know, get some respect and that we're not asked t- to somebody to explain what we have been doing, when we have not been asked as to what we have been doing with the Asian-American community, with the African-American community, and within our own community in trying to find those commonalities. And I think that it has to go hand in hand with the economic rebuilding, the moral, the political. And, yes, our elected officials have failed us. That's not to say they're failures, but that they've been put on notice that we have to deal with the reality of we all love L.A.. We're going to rebuild it. <v Patt Morrison>As long-

<v Antonia Hernandez>And that's where we have to start. <v Patt Morrison>As long as we're rebuilding, Ruben made a point which I think we all need to address. We have been divided in some senses by our language. We use words like coalition and throw them around and words like community and throw them around. We've constructed these shibboleths and a lot of these words, including multiculturalism, have been hijacked by people who've come into town lately. You've seen them. Bill Clinton has been here. George Bush is coming. How do you- <v Ruben Martinez>Mr. Ueberroth might be one of them. <v Patt Morrison>Mis- [chuckles] How do we get past words that have come to symbolize not unity anymore, but divisions? Who can speak to that? ?We're? reconstructing our thinking- <v Jeffrey Kaye>?inaudible? We're coming to the end of our allotted time. And I want to pose a question to Ms. Robinson, uh because earlier on- <v Ms. Robinson>Can I say one thing? <v Jeffrey Kaye>Say one thing. You you you you talked there was sort of a hopelessness earlier on and I wanna in listening in listening to- ?inaudible? <v Ms. Robinson>But I've transgressed beyond being uh uh controlled about how I feel. We need to come out of denial. We really- everybody wants the money. I mean, why won't we say that? If you give me- if we have a pie and you divide that pie equally, we all go away satisfied. My sisters and I would fuss over who got the biggest piece of cake. So why can't we just say we're talking about M-O-N-E-Y? Money has a strange way of making people feel awfully good about themselves. If it's very hard- I'm just saying in general, if people have money, if you've been paid well for what you do, you tend to feel good about it. So I think we need to create arenas for our young people like this young gentleman here mentioned before. We're nee- we're gonna need to create situations where our young people can become entrepreneurs. For instance, rather than always reinventing the wheel, why not duplicate successful businesses? I don't know of only maybe two businesses in the black community that may be franchises. We always come up with something different. We're gonna have to learn how to support one another. If one person has come up with a wonderful concept that works- <v Jeffrey Kaye>We are out of time.

<v Ms. Robinson>We're gonna have to learn how to support those issues. <v Patt Morrison>I'm sorry we have to say goodbye. Clearly, if we could do this 50 people at a time in Los Angeles, problems would be solved. We're not going to solve it in 90 minutes. We may not solve it in uh in 90 weeks. But what we wanna do is come back with these people to Life and Times again. You can watch this program again tonight. Give it some thought. Listen to it on KCRW ?9089.9? F.M. That they will continue the discussion with a radio uh telephone phone in show. We would like to thank you for joining us, Jeffrey Kaye, Hugh Hewitt, Ruben Martinez and myself. Please join us again on Life and Times. [applause] [music plays] <v Narrator 1>This program was made possible by a grant from the James Irvine Foundation, which is dedicated to the development of an informed California citizenry. [music continues to play]