Morning Brief: Women And Transit, Body Cam Footage, And Living Your Truth

Good morning, L.A. It’s August 2.

The city is reopening, but for women, girls, and female-identifying residents, getting around L.A. is still not as safe as it is for men.

That’s what a new study commissioned by the Los Angeles Department of Transportation found. Researchers focused on three L.A. neighborhoods — Sun Valley in the San Fernando Valley; Watts in South L.A.; and Sawtelle in West L.A. — in an effort to understand how women, and specifically BIPOC women, experience navigating the city.

My colleague Ryan Fonseca reports that through community surveys, interviews with commuters and a series of in-person working groups, the study resulted in some useful insights.

For instance, since women are often the primary caretakers in their families, “women’s mobility is also a determinant of the health and wellness of their families and other dependents,” the authors wrote.

Women also face more barriers to transportation, including less access to cars. Study participants who identified as female are more likely to feel unsafe, and to report harassment, when using public transportation than men as well.

The researchers echo what other experts have been saying for decades: that for BIPOC women, inequity is more pronounced. In addition to gender-based discrimination, people in this group face racial barriers, historic underinvestment, and economic disenfranchisement.

Read more about the study here.

Keep reading for more on what’s happening in L.A., and stay safe out there.

What Else You Need To Know Today

• The L.A. County Sheriff’s Department released some body cam footage of the fatal shooting by a deputy of David Ordaz, Jr., 34, who was experiencing a mental health crisis that day.
• At last week’s Orange County Board of Supervisors meeting, anti-vaccine sentiments turned into a torrent of racist and xenophobic tirades against Supervisor Andrew Do, the board’s chair.
• A USC advisory board found that during 2019 and 2020, campus police officers stopped Black people at higher numbers than any other racial group.
• San Bernardino school officials are planning for most of the district’s 53,000 students to return to campuses for in-person learning.
• A state commission is opening an investigation into allegations that Cal State Long Beach misused a sacred Native American site located on the university's campus.
• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is now recommending face coverings for vaccinated people in certain situations. Here's what you need to know about when to mask up.

Before You Go ... Viola Davis To LMU Grads: 'Live Your Truth'

Viola Davis attends "Widows" New York Special Screening at Brooklyn Academy of Music on November 11, 2018 in New York City.

(John Lamparski

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Getty Images North America)

Loyola Marymount University honored the classes of 2020 and 2021 after canceling last year's in-person commencement due to the pandemic. Their commencement speaker, the Oscar, Emmy and Tony-winning actor Viola Davis, told graduates how she found her true voice and how they can find theirs.

"Will you feel you are at war for living your truth? Yup,” she said. “Will you at various times feel like you're standing alone? Yup. Will you be ostracized? Maybe. But the reward is that you will feel alive.''