Guest Contributor

Even accounting for factors lenders said would explain disparities, people of color are denied mortgages at significantly higher rates than white people

Dr. Omar Amr wrote about his experiences with racism, on his path to graduating from Harvard medical school and as part of Team USA’s Olympic water polo team, in a Race In LA essay last year. He never imagined the notoriety or loss of personal friendships that would follow.

As anti-Asian hate began rising during the pandemic, she began feeling less safe in her old neighborhood. She moved to Koreatown, seeking security among other Asian Americans. But nowhere, really, feels safe.

Asked to make a "persona doll" and write its story for a college course years ago, Leilani Burrell-White drew from her experience as a biracial child in the early 1960s.

Latinos in L.A. have suffered disproportionately in the pandemic. For one young doctor treating critically ill patients in a COVID-19 hotspot, seeing media images of sick and dying members of his community has made the pain worse.

"The story of how I found myself in this sometimes awkward position as a 'gringo' who really isn't one is, in many ways, the story of 20th century America."

For an Asian American working in the film industry, "What good is a seat at the table if you have no voice?"

She grew up Afro Latina in Los Angeles, where some people simply 'don't get it.' An Angeleña of proud Puerto Rican heritage shares her story.

"I think it is important for white allies to use their voice to help educate other white people about these problems." Local art student, Melissa Licari, writes about how she used her art to support Black Lives Matter.

The number of Black Angelenos and their agency has declined precipitously over the years. The spirit of Black LA, embodied by Nipsey Hussle and others who carry on his philanthropic legacy, urges the Black community to recover power by reclaiming and preserving Black spaces for the next generation.