The U.S. Census might ask about citizenship, the Lucas Museum shares its plans for LA's Exposition Park, Snoop Dogg curates a gospel album
‘It's a war on urban areas’: who loses with a census citizenship question
Are you a U.S. citizen, or not?
That important new question will now be on the upcoming 2020 census.
The U.S. Commerce Department announced the change late last night, and it prompted a quick response from California Attorney General Xavier Becerra.
"California simply has too much to lose for us to allow the Trump Administration to botch this important decennial obligation," he said in a statement.
His office filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, arguing that the addition of such a question is a violation of the U.S. Constitution. (Take Two reached out to Becerra's office for comment, but did not hear back.)
Political experts say the question, if left in, could have big repercussions for California.
"The concern is that many households that have unauthorized immigrants might choose not to answer the census," said Louis DeSipio, political science professor at UC Irvine, "because they'd be fearful of the Commerce Department sharing that individual information with other government agencies including, Homeland Security."
And if people don't participate in the census, it could lead to an undercount.
"The census is supposed to be a complete count of the people," said DeSipio. "If the 2020 census comes to be remembered as a bad census, the implications go on for decades."
Here are some other key takeaways to know about the addition of this question:
- Congressional seats can be lost in critical areas — "If there were to be a serious undercount of immigrant communities," said DeSipio, "that would mean that California would lose representation – and urban areas, in general, would lose representation."
- Urban areas are the big losers here — "Democrats tend to live in urban areas. The effect would be to reduce the accuracy of the census, and the people who will be less likely to be counted are immigrants and their U.S. citizen family members."
- You're under no obligation to answer the citizenship question — "The Census Bureau is accustomed to people not answering some of the questions on the census, and they do what's called imputation. They make a reasoned guess."
- The Commerce Department said it added the question because the Justice Department asked it to. The Justice Department argues that by adding the question, it'll be able to fully enforce the Voting Rights Act.
Answers have been edited for brevity and clarity.
Beyond campus shootings, how one South LA teen is using this moment to raise awareness
Since 17 people were shot and killed last month at a high school in Florida, young people have been leading a nationwide debate about gun control and gun violence.
And that debate has gone beyond campus shootings.
The student activists from Marjory Douglas Stoneman High in Parkland, Florida attend school in what is typically a very safe neighborhood. They come from an affluent community. But they have recognized that many other young people have much different daily realities.
So how do personal experiences with shootings turn into political protest?
Fernando Mosqueda is a student at John C. Fremont High School in South L.A. who attended the March For Our Lives rally in Washington D.C. He was part of a group of students with the Community Coalition, a South L.A. grassroots organization.
He spoke to A Martí nez about how he deals with gun violence in his neighborhood.
Interview Highlights:
Tell us about where you live.
Fernando Mosqueda: I live in South Central...there's gang tension. We see drugs, day to day shootings, drive-bys. There are also positive organizations like Community Coalition that bring progressive changes to our community.
Within the last year, 21 people have been killed within a mile of John C. Fremont High School, 18 of those people were shot to death. How does this sort of gun violence touch your everyday life?
Mosqueda: Since I'm Latino, some people assume that I'm gang-affiliated, so I have to constantly know my whereabouts. I have to be sure I'm not wearing certain [gang-affiliated] colors, not looking mean, and make sure that if I'm walking with my earphones, that one of them is taken off...so I can hear if someone's coming or a car slowing down or if somebody yells something, I'm always aware.
Tell us about a time when you were worried about your safety.
Mosqueda: One time, it was late at night and I was hanging out with my friends. We had just come from the beach...I had to get home, but before I went to the bus stop, we heard a shooting right around the street corner. But I had to wait at the bus stop and was wearing a white shirt with blue pants [which can be identified as gang-affiliate colors]. Waiting there, I was scared, especially since my friends wanted to wait with me. I didn't want [them to be in danger].
What was the response from friends and family when they learned you wanted to join the movement for gun control?
Mosqueda: It was a little pessimistic. They wondered if youth would really make a change...but a lot of that has shifted, especially after the March For Our Lives. So they see the momentum that youth are building.
Did it bother you that you had to convince people that this would make a difference?
Mosqueda: No, because in South L.A., a lot of people's traumas are embedded into their consciousness, and they have to unravel that. So when they're pessimistic, I see it as something they need to work on, and I work with them...to recognize their power.
Before the Parkland shooting, we didn't see this type of mobilization against gun violence. Why do you think that is?
Mosqueda: Before Parkland, a lot of gun violence regulations and recognition of gun violence has been led by black and brown organizations like Community Coalition. Maybe the language is different. Our language aims to get to the root cause of the issue, like mental health. But the movement since Parkland has been led by white people in more affluent communities. So obviously race [is a factor]. It's angering, but it's also motivating us to take up more space and making sure that our platforms are shared.
Even if it's ‘not the art you're looking for,’ the Lucas Museum aims to please
Los Angeles' Exposition Park is feeling the Force, as the new Lucas Museum of Narrative Art broke ground.
The museum is spearheaded by Star Wars creator, George Lucas, so yes there will be something for the aspiring Jedi, but there will also be art from Norman Rockwell, Degas, and others. In addition to the galleries, the museum will host events like workshops and film screenings.
To hear more about what visitors can expect once the museum is finished, Take Two talked to Don Bacigalupi, founding president of the Lucas Museum. Bacigalupi said the museum hopes to please all visitors, both the Star Wars fans and other art lovers.
"I think of it this way: I think my 12-year-old son will come into this museum expecting and demanding to see Star Wars stories. He'll want to see graphic novels and comic books. My grandmother will come in, and she'll want to see all those Norman Rockwell paintings, so I think there'll be something for everyone," Bacigalupi said.
Even if certain pieces are 'not the art you're looking for', Bacigalupi hopes those who visit the museum will be inspired by new discoveries in the collections.
Walking into the museum, visitors will enter a plaza space, they'll be shaded by the museum building, but if they look up, they'll see a large skylight, or technically an oculus, Bacigalupi said.
"It lets in daylight, it lets rain come through, it'll be kind of an amazing experience to walk into that area that lets you into the lobby of the museum and then look up and see sky above you, even though the building is above you," he said.
On the museum's first floor, visitors will find movie theaters and other amenities like a gift shop and cafe. To get to the galleries, they'll take a ride on elevators whose glass-tube design would fit with an intergalactic spaceship.
Los Angeles was not the original planned location for the museum, but Bacigalupi said they were happy to be joining the hub of culture and community that already exists in Expo Park. The Lucas Museum is excited to add its own contribution to what is already being offered by the museums in the area, he said.
The museum's physical design, with a lot of curved lines and organic shapes, even echoes certain aspects of the existing structures in Expo Park.
"Thinking about even [the Coliseum's] design, which is 100 years old or thereabout, it has curvilinear, rounded edges so there is a way in which the building responds to its surroundings and the company we keep," Bacigalupi said.
Aside from the museum building itself, the Lucas Museum is creating 11 acres of green space to extend the visiting experience to the outdoors.
There's will even be a park on the roof of the museum, Bacigalupi said, extending the green space five stories up and giving people a way to enjoy views of downtown L.A.
The outdoor areas are designed to work as gathering spaces for activities like outdoor film screenings and to complement the indoor spaces of the museum.
"In the south end of our building, there's a library and there's also an outdoor adjacent space that can be used for classroom activities, so if we've got a group of school kids coming for a library and gallery experience they can also go outside," Bacigalupi said.
The whole idea of the museum is to inspire creativity and imagination, a goal which has always driven George Lucas' work, Bacigalupi said. That mission lends itself to a design that is modern and unique in every aspect, from the galleries to the building to the outdoor spaces.
Although it isn't in a galaxy far, far away, the museum's opening date is a long time from now. The museum is now under construction and Bacigalupi said the current expected opening date is in 2021.
These LA hip-hop artists aren't afraid to get deep, y'all
This week on Tuesday Reviewsday, Oliver Wang from Soul-Sides.com shares some of his favorite hip-hop tracks from artists whose L.A. roots run deep.
Artist: MURS
Album: A Strange Journey Not the Unimaginable
Lo-Fi Nights
https://youtu.be/Sr8BUvx04ws?t=26s
Midtown
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAxqZHMoavA
Oliver Wang says:
Midtown’s finest returns with his 18th solo album (29th if we include collaborations) and while “his most personal yet” sounds like a cliche, he gets into some real-life stuff on here including his divorce, his new wife, the stillborn child they had together. MURS' lyrical style has always been straightforward. I think of it as journalistic except it’s inwardly focused. He’s clearly not afraid of talking about his own life through a very candid lens.
Artist: Snoop + B.Slade
Album: Bible of Love
Pain
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuaA0me3rEs
Oliver Wang says:
When people heard Snoop was doing a gospel album, it invited snickers, primarily because it came from someone who just put out a reggae album as Snoop Lion a few years back. But this gospel album is really good.
This isn’t Snoop singing or rapping about the lord as much as it is him inviting incredible talents onto his album and acting as an executive producer. He’s the Quincy Jones here, not Michael Jackson.
This song features B.Slade, who got his start in contemporary gospel and, in recent years, has branched off into R&B. For this project, however, Snoop managed to convince him to return to his roots.
Artist: Thundercat + OG Ron C and the Chopstars
Album: Drank
Song: Drink Dat
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oj3wohpMfIg
Oliver Wang says:
Thundercat’s music already can sound surreal and a bit under the influence, but on this new remix project, his 2017 album, Drunk, gets the Houston chopped and screwed treatment via OG Ron C and the Chopstars.
The new album is called "Drank," and it’s very much in the style of the late DJ Screw who pioneered the “screwed and chopped” production style, where you take a song, slow it way down and then cut it up. It works really well.