Blacks Culture

Please don't offer Etha Robinson a chocolate chip cookie. Or an Oreo. Or a gingersnap. Not even with a cold glass of milk. Robinson, a baker who teaches biology at Dorsey High School, is committed to a cookie of a different sort, one with a past that is dear to her heart--and a bountiful future. "We grew up on tea cakes," said Robinson, who was born in Yazoo City, Miss., and now lives in Los Angeles. "They were a gift of love. If something has served you well, you never abandon it."

Leimert Park Village, the historical enclave of black culture and arts, has been showing signs of new life lately, and not a moment too soon. The nonprofit Barbara Morrison Performing Arts Center, named for the veteran jazz and blues singer, opened last month. In December, the Eileen Harris Norton Foundation premiered the Leimert Project, a space for arts education that has so far mounted two solo shows for local artists. On Leimert Boulevard, native son and internationally renowned artist Mark Bradford works out of a studio that has piqued new interest in the neighborhood in fine art circles.

It began, said Elizabeth Yiaba, with the desire to bridge the gap she saw between black people on both sides of the Atlantic. Africans and African Americans, for all of their rich common history, knew precious little about their very different cultures. The misperceptions and ignorance, Yiaba said, were ensuring that the twain had little chance of ever meeting. So Yiaba, a 30-year-old Sierra Leone native, launched a cable-TV talk show on Christmas Day, 1992, called "The Chesima Series."

Varnette P. Honeywood, an artist who gained fame when her vivid and joyful portraits of everyday lives of African Americans were prominently featured on TV's "The Cosby Show," has died. She was 59. Honeywood, who was diagnosed with cancer at least two years ago, died Sunday at a Los Angeles hospital, said her friend K. Joy Peters. As a black artist Honeywood was "extraordinarily important," partly for the visibility "The Cosby Show" gave her but also because young people were inspired by her "exuberant and positive images of black culture," said Paul Von Blum, emeritus professor of African American studies at UCLA.

On the shelves of the Grass Roots Bookstore, worlds and cultures mix in ways rarely seen on the streets of Los Angeles. Here works by African-American scholars such as W.E.B. Du Bois and John Henrik Clarke sit across from books by such Latino writers as Olga Rodriguez, author of "The Politics of Chicano Liberation." Maps of Latin America and Africa rest side by side, while portraits of Malcolm X and Anastazie, an American Indian metaphysician and healer, hang from the walls.

The year marched out to a different beat--a distinctively African-sounding one--for Gregory Ramey on Saturday. The Los Angeles resident took off early from work to attend his first Kwanzaa festival and parade. The nearly two-mile processional along Crenshaw Boulevard in Southwest Los Angeles drew about 10,000 spectators who watched more than 1,000 marchers celebrate an African-American observance of culture and unity.

Radio show host and producer Kwaku Person-Lynn would like to rewrite the history books. A college professor with a doctorate in African-American studies, he has the scholarly credentials to take on such a daunting task. Instead, he has taken to the airwaves to help promote a broader understanding of history and world cultures. "The main reason for doing this is because European and American scholars have lied to the world in writing world history," said Person-Lynn on Wednesday.

Four hundred years ago, when black slaves were brought to America, Africans who spoke the same language were separated from each other. What we're seeing today, with this insane campaign to intimidate rappers and rap music, is just another form of separating people that speak a common language. Too bad Nelson Mandela arrived here just in time to see this. Chuck D. of Public Enemy has called rap the black network we never had, and I believe it's true. Rap is the No. 1 selling form of music today.

Shakespeare, Eddie Murphy, Ella Fitzgerald, James Joyce and James Brown were just a few of the names mentioned in court here Friday as defense attorneys tried to establish for the jury the artistic company kept by the rap group 2 Live Crew. Most of the name-dropping was done by Henry L. Gates, a professor of literature at Duke University, who called 2 Live Crew's music "astonishing and refreshing."

Officially, Harvard University senior David Mays is majoring in government. According to university records, Mays' roommate, Jon Shecter, also a senior, is concentrating in English. But the truth is that the two 21-year-olds are majoring in rap, with a minor in entrepreneurialism. Or maybe it's the other way around.

"Central Avenue and Beyond: The Harlem Renaissance in Los Angeles" focuses on life along the storied thoroughfare that once was the heart of black L.A. But the exhibit's organizers couldn't resist illustrating ways African American culture flourished in other parts of the city as well. "We hope to open people's eyes a little," says Sue Hodson, curator of literary manuscripts at the Huntington Library in San Marino, where the show opens this weekend. "Everyone tends to think the Harlem Renaissance took place in one spot, however, Los Angeles was among many urban centers teeming with activity."

Ernie Barnes, a former professional football player who became a successful figurative painter, known for depictions of athletes and ordinary people whose muscled, elongated forms express physical and spiritual struggles, died Monday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. He was 70. His death was caused by complications of a rare blood disorder, according to his longtime assistant, Luz Rodriguez.

Live performances of traditional music from the American South, West Africa and the Caribbean represented the richness of black culture and provided the most deeply expressive moments in a plotless, hourlong piece by Brooklyn-based choreographer and performer Reggie Wilson, "The Tale: Npinpee Nckutchie and the Tail of the Golden Dek," at REDCAT on Thursday night.

Jeannette Lindsay didn't take the skeptical responses personally when she told people seven years ago that she wanted to make a documentary film about the thriving arts scene in Leimert Park. After all, she knew nothing about filmmaking. She had never even operated a home video camera. But if nothing else, she was determined.

Red-lettered signs urging "Save Leimert!" adorn the front lawns in a Southwest Los Angeles neighborhood. The slogan on the signs forming a path into Leimert Park Village, widely regarded as the heart of black culture in the city, harks back to an earlier campaign. It was part of an effort a few years ago to keep rising rents from threatening the jazz clubs and art shops that are hallmarks of the village.

Oscar Brown Jr., a singer and songwriter whose work reflected the humor and hard truths of the black experience in America, has died. He was 78. Brown died of respiratory failure Sunday at St. Joseph's Hospital in Chicago, said his daughter, Maggie Brown. She said her father was admitted to the hospital May 5 with a bacterial infection and underwent extensive surgery May 16 to try to stem the infection, but his condition deteriorated rapidly.

T. V.J.!!!!!! GIMME THAT BEAT! The Homeboy Shopping Network is chillin' on the box. Wiz and the Iceman, the hustling homeboy hosts, are on the mike, bragging to viewers about the great bargains they're selling from a truck loaded with stolen goods. "We got car phones, we got car stereos, we got car alarms," the Iceman boasts. Adds Wiz: "Yeah, and if you act now, we can probably get the car." B-B-BUST THAT F-FU-FU-F-F-FUNNY MOVE!!!!

As more African Americans ascend the socioeconomic ladder and move into affluent communities, they are increasingly joining local chapters of venerable organizations such as the NAACP and the National Council of Negro Women, as well as lesser known groups, to give them a sense of community where no traditional black neighborhood exists. Members of The Links, a black women's community service organization, tutor needy children on Saturday mornings.

When a new landlord raised rents on a row of storefronts along a stretch of Leimert Park Village, artist Kisasi Ramsess responded by slashing prices and declaring a "move-out sale" at his studio and gallery. Ramsess is not the only store owner talking about pulling up stakes. The World Stage began shopping for larger digs for its jazz and poetry performances. Hairstylist Stewart Clemons of Venusian Locks is closing down after more than two decades in the same location.

For some, the day after Christmas means great shopping and returning to work. But for others, it's the start of a seven-day celebration of family, community and culture for more than 28 million people worldwide. A black candle, one of seven sitting atop a kinara or candelabrum, was lighted Wednesday at a downtown Inglewood celebration, kicking off the start of Kwanzaa, an African American holiday, on its 35th year.