The Brief

At community colleges and universities across the country, men of color — including Black, Latino, Native American, Pacific Islander, and Southeast Asian American students — continue to graduate at lower rates than their peers.

To change this, educators at local community colleges banded together to found the Men of Color Action Network (MOCAN). It works to transform institutional practices to help these students succeed.

Each year, MOCAN hosts a conference at one of its participating campuses. There, students and higher ed professionals come together to share resources, network, and discuss how to better support men of color. Nearly 500 people gathered on Friday at Long Beach City College for a day of motivational speakers, workshops, and camaraderie. Throughout the program, men of color could be seen in leadership roles, whether it was facilitating a workshop or providing ASL interpretation during a speech.

Long Beach City College’s Superintendent-President Dr. Mike Muñoz said that was intentional.

“When I think about my own journey,” he said, “I didn't see Latino males in these roles. And so, it was hard for me to see myself ever being a college president, or being a dean, or just even earning a master's degree."

Muñoz welcomed men of color from as far as San Diego and Bakersfield. Most of them were college students, and some were still in high school. Others were professionals looking to move up in their careers, including adjunct professors and counselors hoping to secure full time positions.

“First-generation college students become first-generation professionals,” said Muñoz. “And so, it's equally important that we're thinking about the kinds of communities that we build to support our young professionals doing this work.”

Inside a student workshop

For students at the conference, the workshop options included everything from overcoming imposter syndrome to the transfer process.

Daniel Rosales, a Long Beach City College student who’s majoring in social work and addiction studies, had never heard of “imposter syndrome” before participating in the workshop — but he readily identified with the notion of feeling like he wasn’t good enough or didn’t belong.

Rosales went to prison when he was 17 and was released nearly two decades later. When he first enrolled, he felt overwhelmed.

“When I first started, I didn't know what a major was,” he told LAist. “I just wanted to learn more about addiction because I'm a recovering addict. After a year and a half, I realized I wanted to help others.”

Steven Perkins, an attorney at Gibson, Dunn, & Crutcher, facilitated the session on imposter syndrome. He told the students that before they walked, he thought: “I shouldn’t be up here teaching a class.” Then, he paused and told himself: “I’ve given lots of lectures before, and I am well-equipped to speak on the subject precisely because I have imposter syndrome.”

Perkins and the students also talked about tracking their success; going to therapy; and building out positive emotions by making time to jot down moments of hope, joy, awe, serenity, and gratitude.

“I struggle every day with mental health,” Rosales told LAist. “But I don't let it sabotage my education or my life anymore.”

In conversation with his peers, he talked about the Justice Scholars Program, which helps students who’ve been incarcerated, as well as their loved ones, navigate their journey through higher education.

Students make their way through the resource fair at this year's Men of Color Action Network conference, which took place at Long Beach City College.

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Julia Barajas

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LAist

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What did students see at the resource fair?

Students had the chance to explore the resource fair, which included booths with representatives from universities like Cal State Long Beach; the Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science; and several Historically Black Colleges and Universities, some of which offer guaranteed admission to California community college students.

The fair also had a booth where students, faculty, and staff could obtain information on free immigration legal services, including Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) renewals and advance parole.

For kinesiology major Charles Mason, the MOCAN conference provided an opportunity to reflect as prepares to leave Long Beach City College. Come fall, he will be a student at Cal State Long Beach — something he never imagined for himself when he was incarcerated.

“I kind of still can't believe it,” he said. “I have this ‘fear of failure’ thing going on, so it's a real big weight on my shoulders.”

Mason used to doubt a community college education could help him. Now part of him doesn’t want to leave. “I guess you can say it lit a fire in me."

Think of pretty much any country, and you can likely find its cuisine in Los Angeles. But when we saw that Belgium was lined up to play Iran on Sunday, June 21, at SoFi Stadium, it gave us pause. Is there a Belgian restaurant in L.A.?

It turns out the answer is complicated. Liège waffles — the dense, caramelized, pearl-sugar version of the Belgian classic — have a real foothold here, with spots like Belgium Waffle Haus in the San Fernando Valley. There's also FRitēS-FReaK, an Orange County food truck devoted entirely to Belgian-style double-fried fries, piled high with toppings like fried egg and bacon.

But a full Belgian dining experience, the kind with mussels and frites and a wall of Trappist beers, is harder to come by. For that, you'll need to drive about 40 miles south down the coast, where Brussels Bistro — with locations in San Clemente and Laguna Beach — pays homage to the cuisine of the distinct but tiny country that's the size of Maryland.

Walk into the San Clemente location, and a marquee above the bar spells out a kind of Belgian shorthand — WE ♥ BELGIUM, CROQUETTES, WAFFLE, FRITES — more mood than menu. Near the entrance, a replica of the Manneken-Pis — one of Belgium's best-known symbols, the naked young boy happily urinating into a basin — sits on a shelf dressed in the Belgian national team jersey, an American flag planted beside him.

Chef-owner Thomas Crijns came from Ottignies, outside Brussels, in the early 2000s to consult on the Laguna Beach location — and never left. He runs the restaurant alongside his wife Carol, who is French-born with Persian heritage, a combination that will make the June 21 match particularly interesting in their household. When asked to describe the food of his home country, Crijns quickly quips: "Belgian cuisine is like French cuisine but with less pretension."

A World Cup match plays above the bar at Brussels Bistro, alongside a deep list of Belgian beers including Chimay, Duvel and Kasteel.

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Gab Chabrán

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The menu reads like a love letter to Belgian culinary tradition — mussels, waffles, and carbonnade à la flamande, a Flemish stew made with beer and mustard — alongside a draft list that includes Chimay, Duvel, Rochefort and Delirium Tremens.

But the dish Crijns is most proud of is one most Americans have never heard of. The shrimp croquette is a staple of Belgian brasserie culture, made here with North Sea shrimp — what he calls "the caviar of the North Sea" — flown in every Thursday from a Dutch supplier.

Four golden, breaded croquettes arranged on a white plate over a bed of fried parsley, with a lemon wedge and a dollop of sauce on top of one croquette.

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The croquettes arrived four to a plate, golden and perfectly formed, the exterior giving way to a creamy molten interior where the tiny shrimp created a texture unlike anything I'd had before — something close to squid, but more delicate. The kind of dish that makes more sense with a Belgian beer in hand and a side of frites within reach. The match, though, is a more complicated proposition in the Crijns household.

A taste of Belgium, one tap at a time, at Brussels Bistro in San Clemente.

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Gab Chabrán

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Carol would know better than most. Her uncle runs a Persian restaurant in Irvine, part of an Orange County Iranian community of nearly 37,000 — a concentration that rivals many a concentration that rivals many larger cities

On June 21, she expects fans from both sides to fill the restaurant.

"I'm gonna do everything I can to bring as many family members," she said. "To tease my husband as much as I can."

"I'm grateful that the tournament allows us to put aside our differences and bring people together."

Coming from almost anyone else, that might sound like a talking point. Coming from a French-Persian woman married to a Belgian chef, watching Iran play Belgium at their own restaurant — it sounds like something she's earned the right to say.

For the Iranian diaspora in Los Angeles, the feelings around Iran's World Cup participation have been complicated. Monday's game between Iran and New Zealand ended in a 2-2 draw at SoFi Stadium. Now, Iran prepares to face Belgium at the same stadium on Sunday in a match that continues to carry weight well beyond the scoreline.

For Sahar Shomali, who owns Kouzeh, an Iranian bakery located in the Miracle Mile neighborhood, those feelings live somewhere between the oven and the morning news.

Kouzeh takes its name from the Farsi word for a clay jar. A small row of them sits on the bakery case that greets customers when they walk in. On the wall above, a laminated National Geographic map of Iran hangs alongside a small illustration featuring an Iranian saying: "What comes out of the vessel is whatever's inside it."

Sahar Shomali didn't plan for the name and the saying to connect. She just liked the way Kouzeh sounded.

Barbari is one of Iran's most beloved breads — a long, oval flatbread with a golden, slightly crisp crust and a soft, chewy interior. It’s as common in Tehran as a baguette is in Paris. And for Shomali, it was the one thing she couldn't stop thinking about after she left and arrived in the U.S.

A selection of breads at Kouzeh, including barbari (far left), kelaneh (the folded triangle), and several sweet breads tied to specific Iranian provinces.

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Growing up, she lived a 10-minute walk from a barbari bakery, and her father would go every morning before breakfast, coming home with two pieces still hot from the oven. There is a running understanding among Iranians, she said, that you never make it home with the bread whole. Someone always tears off a piece on the walk back.

Kouzeh, an Iranian bakery on Wilshire Boulevard in Mid-Wilshire, opened earlier this year.

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"I really missed that," she said. "Especially the barbari. That was my thing."

When she got to Los Angeles, she went looking for a replacement— and found Persian bakeries making barbari that were, to her, not the real thing. So she did what she calls the opposite: went to culinary school, and spent years moving as far from Iranian cuisine as possible, taking every Californian and French restaurant job she could find.

"So that I could just learn everything that I didn't know," she said.

It worked. In 2018 she left her last pastry chef job and applied everything she'd learned to make barbari. Once she felt she’d cracked it, Kouzeh followed.

Shomali doesn't just stick to barbari. She offers 25 very different breads, some sweet, some savory, each tied to a specific Iranian province. Standouts include kelaneh, a savory Kurdish flatbread with an herb filling — scallion, parsley, cilantro — pillowy soft with a slight char, somewhere between a flour tortilla and a scallion pancake. The kakouli bakhtiyari, made with grape molasses and flavored with fennel and fenugreek seeds, walks the line between sweet and savory. And eashly koukah, a festive bread from Tabriz filled with ginger and turmeric paste, rounds out a case that spans nearly the full breadth of the country.

The bakery case at Kouzeh, where each bread and pastry is labeled with its city or province of origin.

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Gab Chabrán

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None of the breads come from family recipes — Shomali built each one through research, conversations with friends, a single bread book her cousin sent from Iran, and a culinary background that lets her reverse-engineer a recipe from a description alone. The shelves lining the walls tell a similar story: Saba Jams, small-batch preserves made by a childhood friend now based in San Francisco; torshi from Nicole's Kitchen; goods from ZoZo Baking — all Iranian women food makers in California that Shomali sought out personally.

"I called them all up," she said. "I said, I have shelves, and I want Persian goods on those shelves."

While having little interest in sports or the World Cup, Shomali's heart lies with her home country. Every morning, before the bread goes in, she checks the news from Iran — a ritual her customers share.

Even mid-rush, Sahar Shomali makes time for the regulars who keep coming back.

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"We stress about it together, we grieve about it together. But people still show up and buy bread."

It's not lost on her, the duality of how she and her community feel torn between the country they adopted and the one they came from.

"Both of my countries are at war," she said. "I can't take sides in either one."

The Los Angeles City Council has approved a ballot proposal for November that would allow non-citizens to vote in council and school board elections.

The proposal, if approved by voters, could lay the groundwork for dramatically changing the electorate in Los Angeles. There are approximately 1.3 million to 1.4 million non-citizen residents living in the city, according to Data USA, making up nearly 36% of the city's population.

Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez championed the proposal, saying non-citizen residents have just as much of a stake in L.A. as citizens do.

“These are people who live here, they pay their taxes here, they raise their families here. And they are directly affected by the decisions we make every single day,” Soto-Martinez told the council. “They deserve to have a voice.”

The City Council voted 10-5 on Wednesday to place the charter change on the Nov. 3 ballot.

Councilmember John Lee voted no, expressing concerns about the cost of having non-citizens vote and the logistics of determining who is eligible. For example, how long would someone have to have lived in L.A. to vote?

“Those decisions will inevitably be viewed by some as benefitting allies or harming opponents even if that was not the actual intent,” Lee said. “The perception alone can undermine public confidence in our elections.”

Councilmember Imelda Padilla said she had another concern: “I am very nervous this could potentially create a disincentive to become a legal citizen.”

Soto-Martinez assured his colleague that the details of any plan to have non-citizens vote would be worked out in ordinances later. For now, he said, he wanted to send a message.

“I want this to be a way to show the world that Los Angeles is going the opposite direction of the federal government,” Soto-Martinez said. “While they are trying to take away people’s rights, we’re expanding it.”

The measure was one of several charter changes approved for the ballot.

The council is also placing before voters a plan to dramatically increase funding for the city’s beleaguered Department of Recreation and Parks. For years, the department has faced deep staffing cuts and struggled with aging facilities.

Under the proposal, parks funding would double over the next decade.

A coalition of parks advocates had sought the increase and many spoke to the council Wednesday.

“We need more green space and parks to have family gatherings,” said Ana Nieves of the Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust.

Councilmember Bob Blumenfield was the lone no vote on the measure. He said mandating an increase in funding for parks means there’ll have to be cuts elsewhere in the budget in the future.

“So don’t pat yourselves when you have an easy vote because it's out of context,” Blumenfield told his colleagues.

Voters in November will also be asked to expand the power of the City Council over the police department, including the ability to direct policy. Right now, a five-member civilian police commission appointed by the mayor has sole responsibility for setting policy.

Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez said the measure is needed because the commission has failed to reign in the police department on issues like pretextual stops. That’s when an officer uses a minor traffic violation as the reason to stop — and sometimes harass — a person.

“In some neighborhoods, policing is still like the 1990s,” Hernandez said. “It might not be happening like that in all parts of the city, but I can point to where it's happening in my district.”

Under the proposal, the council would be prohibited from getting involved in individual investigations or discipline.

Still, Lee warned the measure would lead to City Council meddling in the police department.

“Colleagues, I warn you against doing this,” he said. “Citizens oversight was put in place exactly to keep us out of politicizing the LAPD.”

The council approved a series of other proposed charter changes for the November ballot, ranging from increasing fines for ethics violations to establishing a director of public works.

The council rejected a number of other proposed charter changes, referring them instead to a City Council committee. They included a proposal to expand the City Council from 15 to 25 members and one to switch elections to ranked choice voting, saying the ideas needed more study.

The story first appeared on The LA Local.

Inglewood and L.A. Metro released a statement Wednesday after at least two videos went viral this week showing locals being blocked from their neighborhoods because of the World Cup events at SoFi Stadium.

One TikTok video, which received 1.4 million views and more than 92,000 likes, appears to show an officer telling a group of people in a car they cannot park on the street near their home. In an Instagram reel which received 221,000 likes, another officer tells drivers to turn around despite them heading home. 

“The City wants residents to know that denying access to homes has never been and will never be part of Inglewood’s traffic management plan for FIFA World Cup matches or any other event,” read the traffic update from Inglewood Mayor James Butts, which was posted on Instagram.

“Ensuring residents can safely access their homes and maintain a high quality of life during major events remains a top priority,” the statement read. 

In the same post, Metro L.A. released a statement explaining that they requested assistance from the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department to support bus movement out of the area, but did not call for “complete street closures.” Metro and Inglewood are coordinating a plan to better mitigate traffic around the stadium, according to the statement.  

This comes as hundreds of thousands of people descend upon Inglewood and L.A. for the World Cup. Traffic and parking remain a concern for locals, especially in light of other upcoming mega-events like the Super Bowl in 2027 and 2028 Olympics. 

Both videos caused widespread outrage because of officers’ treatment of locals. 

In the TikTok video, an officer told the group he doesn’t care that they live close — despite one person in the group saying one of the passengers has mobility issues — and that they have two options: Find parking on the street and get their car later or wait in their car until the event ends. Text over the video mentions that the traffic is due to “the FIFA event at the SoFi Stadium.” 

The officers also say they’ll leave during the video, however the passenger wrote that the officers were in front of their home from 7 to 10 p.m.  

Several comments are calling for the drivers to file a complaint with the Inglewood officials. 

In the Instagram reel, the person filming from the backseat repeatedly tells the officers that they live in the building across the street, however the officers shuts them down. 

Text over the video also explains that this occurred during the World Cup at SoFi.  

Like the comments under the TikTok post, viewers are calling for the drivers to sue Inglewood. 

Two comments under each of the videos mentions how other cities with stadium events give residents alternative parking options and routes to take home.