Erin Aubry Kaplan
About Me:
Journalist and op-ed columnist Erin Aubry Kaplan's first-person accounts of politics and identity in Los Angeles, with an eye towards the city's African American community, appear every Thursday on KCET's SoCal Focus blog.
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My KCET.org Activities
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Posted Thy Neighbor, Thyself: You Never Really Know Everything About Your Neighborhood
in SoCal FocusJust when you think you know everything about where you live, you find out that you don't. Sometimes the information can be too much. -
Celebrating community spirit should be easy. Not this year.
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Yesterday was the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington -- and despite some memorable words from notable figures in the capitol, it was a day in L.A. like any other.
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Posted The Dream Preferred: MLK's Iconic Speech Was Also About Jobs -- We're Still Dealing With It
in SoCal FocusA half century after the March on Washington and King's galvanizing speech about American possibility, we have not realized nearly enough of it. Lost in the mists of time, but still very alive, is the crisis of black employment. -
A visit to Oakland highlights the uneasy realities -- and the possibilities -- of gentrification.
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The departure of my block's oldest resident, one of the first to move here, ushers out a whole chapter of Inglewood history. But the legacy remains.
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Posted Valerie Shaw is No Longer at City Hall, But She'll Still Be Making a Difference
in SoCal FocusValerie Shaw is one of those political appointees who has not only done her job, she's held up the world. -
Driving a less than lovely car in L.A. doesn't mean what it used to. That's both bad and good.
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The protests in Crenshaw about the George Zimmerman verdict are deja vu all over again.
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For blacks in Inglewood, moving into a desireable neighborhood once denied to them was hardly the end of the story
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The beloved scene on Degnan, the symbol of black cultural life in the city, is in trouble. So what else is new?
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In Inglewood, retail therapy is usually a political revelation.
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Little Saigon and other places like it have transformed space in SoCal, and that's a good thing. But African-Americans as a group are still struggling to plant the flag.
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For students who never thought they were traditional college material, graduation is not just about a piece of paper. It's about peace of mind.
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Posted Lost in Translation: Growing Latino Population is Changing South L.A. Job Market
in SoCal FocusWhat we don't say about about the realities of black/Latino relations can hurt us. -
The Crenshaw Subway Coalition is making a difference -- really.
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The end of the school year compels me to write another story -- though certainly not the last -- about one of LAUSD's most successful but most beleaguered campuses.
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The finer pleasures of Big Lots, a store for our times.
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The mayoral runoff is almost upon us, and every four years I think about how great it would be if all of us could vote for mayor. By "all of us" I mean everybody in the county.
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It's been 21 years since the April 29 that will live in local infamy. But what are those who weren't even around back then think about it?
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Tony Wafford fights the good fight -- mostly alone -- for HIV awareness in places that need it the most.
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My neighbors and new friends are definitely moving, something I just can't seem to accept.
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Elson: Thanks for reminding me of that fact about Davey Lopes. I'd love to see him again, though I'm frankly afraid he won't remember me and then I'll be crushed! Not sure I could take that.....
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Elson: Thanks for reminding me of that fact about Davey Lopes. I'd love to see him again, though I'm frankly afraid he won't remember me and then I'll be crushed! Not sure I could take that.....
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Growing up in the '70s, the Dodgers were my rock stars. Things have changed.
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My neighbors are leaving. But why they're leaving creates a loss that will be felt for a long time.
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I find that black support for marriage equality is real, but it's not a given--or a gimme.
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The ten-year anniversary of the Iraq War is hardly cause for celebration -- so what is it cause for?
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Black L.A. could certainly use change. Maybe we're not thinking big enough.
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Walking around an Inglewood landmark after a long time way made me think about the city's mixed past and its still unclear future
Recent Actions from Erin Aubry Kaplan
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Elson: Thanks for reminding me of that fact about Davey Lopes. I'd love to see him again, though I'm frankly afraid he won't remember me and then I'll be crushed! Not sure I could take that.....
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Elson: Thanks for reminding me of that fact about Davey Lopes. I'd love to see him again, though I'm frankly afraid he won't remember me and then I'll be crushed! Not sure I could take that.....
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DJ, thanks for the fascinating recap of the still-unfinished history of the Watts Towers and the artist who made them. It seems to me the stewardship of the Towers is a hot potato because Watts itself is a community L.A....
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C: Thanks for your feedback! The point I was making is that 'frizzy and curly' (and kinky and nappy..) are almost always viewed as undesireable, especially on colored people, even famous ones. The reaction to it tends to be, 'God,...
Responses to Comments from Erin Aubry Kaplan
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Posted Thy Neighbor, Thyself: You Never Really Know Everything About Your Neighborhood
in SoCal FocusJust when you think you know everything about where you live, you find out that you don't. Sometimes the information can be too much. -
Celebrating community spirit should be easy. Not this year.
-
Yesterday was the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington -- and despite some memorable words from notable figures in the capitol, it was a day in L.A. like any other.
-
Posted The Dream Preferred: MLK's Iconic Speech Was Also About Jobs -- We're Still Dealing With It
in SoCal FocusA half century after the March on Washington and King's galvanizing speech about American possibility, we have not realized nearly enough of it. Lost in the mists of time, but still very alive, is the crisis of black employment. -
A visit to Oakland highlights the uneasy realities -- and the possibilities -- of gentrification.
-
The departure of my block's oldest resident, one of the first to move here, ushers out a whole chapter of Inglewood history. But the legacy remains.
-
Posted Valerie Shaw is No Longer at City Hall, But She'll Still Be Making a Difference
in SoCal FocusValerie Shaw is one of those political appointees who has not only done her job, she's held up the world. -
Driving a less than lovely car in L.A. doesn't mean what it used to. That's both bad and good.
-
The protests in Crenshaw about the George Zimmerman verdict are deja vu all over again.
-
For blacks in Inglewood, moving into a desireable neighborhood once denied to them was hardly the end of the story
