How LAPD is responding to hate crimes, Democrats seize supermajority in the California legislature, photo editing helps ex-gang members see what could've been
Amid threats to SoCal mosques, a look behind hate speech probes
At least four Southern California mosques have received threatening letters in the past week and Muslim leaders are calling for more vigilance.
"We want the community not to be fearful, but we want them to take necessary precautions," said Masih Fouladi, legal advocate at the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
The letter, signed anonymously as "Americans for a Better Way," called Muslims "vile" and "filthy people" and said Donald Trump is going to "cleanse America" and "do to you Muslims what Hitler did to the Jews."
These letters appear to be part of a bigger trend of threats and hate crimes tallied both during the presidential campaign and in the weeks following the election. Nationwide, attacks rose by 78 percent in 2015 compared to the previous year and in California that increase surged to 122 percent, according to a study by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at Cal State University, San Bernardino.
Warning: The following letter contains that might be disturbing to some readers.
Police are investigating the letters, said Commander Horace Frank, assistant commanding officer for LAPD's Counter-Terrorism and Special Operations Bureau. At this point, the letters do not constitute a crime, he said. But law enforcement are taking the case very seriously.
"We want to make sure that this person doesn't have other ulterior motives, we want to make sure this is not the first step in them taking the next overt act," said Frank.
To listen to the interview, click on the blue media player above.
Why this week's House leadership vote will be a historic one
Democrats in the House of Representatives will meet on Wednesday for a closely watched vote.
They're electing leaders for the new term, and there's some question about whether California's Nancy Pelosi will be able to hold on to her role as Minority Leader.
But there's another leadership position that's guaranteed to go to a Golden State representative.
The two candidates vying for the position of vice chair of the Democratic Caucus are both from California, and either one would be the first woman of color elected to a House leadership role.
Los Angeles Times reporter
, who covers California's congressional delegation, joined Take Two to explain the significance of the vote.
To hear the full interview, click the blue player above.
Democrats dominate in the California legislature. Here's what it means.
The Golden State just got a little bluer.
Democrats have now crossed the two-thirds threshold in both houses of the state legislature, once again giving them a powerful supermajority.
A late counting of votes helped Democrats snag their 27th seat in the Senate -- they already had a supermajority in the Assembly.
Jeremy White, California politics reporter for the Sacramento Bee joined Take Two with more.
Press the blue play button above to hear the full interview.
The Brood: A sociologist explains how parents and kids 'grow each other up'
Parents raise their kids in all sorts of different ways, but there are certain conventional models around the parent-child relationship that most people tend to cling to.
The big one? That parents teach their children and that it's important, just like the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young song says, to "teach your children well."
But sometimes kids instruct their parents too. It's a phenomenon of great interest to Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot.
The MacArthur Prize-winning sociologist and educator has a new book out called "Growing Each Other Up: When our Children Become our Teachers."
She joined Take Two's Alex Cohen for a discussion about the lessons that children can teach their parents as they become adults themselves.
Interview highlights:
On the lessons that children teach their parents soon after they're born
A number of researchers, but particularly Berry Brazelton, has looked at mothers with their infants, almost right after they're born. And one of the things that he sees is this kind of dance going on as little infants, who come into the world, not as tabula rasas, not as empty people, but with their own— even that early— temperaments, and personalities, and characteristics and needs. And they help their mother— at least in these videotapes it's mostly mother, but fathers as well— they help them know what it is they need. And you see, almost immediately, parents learning from their little infant babies what it is that they can do to soothe them, to make them smile, to make them relaxed. So very much from the very beginning, we look to our children to help us know how to raise them, how to grow them up.
On the presumption that parents are the ones doing all the teaching in the parent-child relationship
Part of what I was interested in knowing is what happens in that time when our children are beginning to emerge into adulthood... what happens as children and parents are trying to navigate their relationship and negotiate intimacy and closeness against separation and distance, for example. And so there is this sort of presumption that parents are the cultural reinforcers, the guides, the ones who help their children learn values and behaviors, how to become successful, how to grow into independent human beings. But all of us who are parents, and even those of us who have been children, understand that this is a very lively dynamic and that children are our teachers. They become the most important people in our growing up as parents.
On the lessons that children teach their parents as they grow into adults
I found that when people told stories, they told stories about their children teaching them to become witnesses, for example. How to listen to them, how to be attentive, how to recognize how they are growing up and what their needs are. How not to try to fix them, how not to interfere... Another were lessons on intimacy, that as children get older and they need to make their place in their world and they need to separate from their parents, that's often very, very hard for adults, for parents, to manage... and so part of what our children help us learn is how to establish different ways of being intimate with each other, close to one another. And one of the surprising aspects of that is the discovery over time that if we give our young people distance, separation, that that allows space for intimacy to develop, for closeness to develop.
To hear the full interview, click the blue player above.
Introduction to "Growing Each Other Up" by Southern California Public Radio on Scribd
Excerpted from Growing Each Other Up. Copyright 2016 Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot. Published by the University of Chicago Press. All rights reserved.
How Photoshop helped ex-gang members gain a new sense of identity
You might have heard of Homeboy Industries, the downtown L.A. based group that helps at-risk youth and former gang members. Homeboy offers a variety of free programs such as mental health counseling, work-readiness training and even tattoo removal.
How those tattoos can change someone's self-image is the subject of a book project that turns the tables on gang life. "Skin Deep" features photographs of heavily tattooed ex-gang members before and after their ink has been removed using Photoshop.
When the subjects see the images of their tattoo-free skin, their reaction is emotional and powerful.
Steven Burton is a photographer and the mind behind the project, which features the photographs of 27 homeboys and homegirls.
Francisco Flores is one of them.
Speaking with Take Two's A Martinez, Flores recalled his life before all the ink. "I grew up in South Central. It was a rough life. Both parents were addicts so I kind of had to fend for myself for most of my life," Flores said, "So, at a young age I got in trouble...then I went to prison. Once I got out of prison my parole officer was adamant about me going to Homeboy industries to get tattoo removal and that's how I started..."
Before he began the removal process, Flores speculates he had over a thousand tattoos all over his body including his face. His eyebrows, eyelids, lips, jawline and cheeks were all covered with ink. He said the sight of him would put people on edge.
"I wouldn't be able to walk up to people," Flores laughed, "I'd be walking on the street and I'll have somebody just jump away from me and grab their purse or grab their kids....I'm like, 'I'm not going to do nothing to your kid, I'm just like you.'"
It was around this time that photographer Steven Burton came into the picture. He was at Homeboy Industries to view a documentary about the organization's founder when he became drawn to the tattoo removal program. He set out to photograph as many 'homeboys' and 'homegirls' as he could.
"The actual photographs themselves didn't take too long, it was like a couple of days. The Photoshop took a long time depending on who I was Photoshopping," Burton said of the project's timeline, "If you could actually see any skin...a lot of times I'd have to take parts of my own skin and then Photoshop them onto him...so in total it took around 400 hours, but then after that the hardest thing was actually to find people again."
Once everyone was tracked down, they were shown the photographs and the reactions were raw and insightful.
In Francisco's initial reaction video, he says he'd rather be labeled a fat guy than a cholo. 'Cholo' is Spanish slang for thug or gangster, and a term that Francisco wants nothing to do with any longer.
"Cholo is just...I'm not that no more. It was my past, but it's not me no more and I still get labeled as that gang member, and it's like...I'm not a gang member no more, I'm a father...."
The tattoo-less images of Francisco had the most impact on his children. He has five, and he explained why they are the main motivation for the tattoo removal.
"I just want to show my kids something different. I just don't want them to see the gang side and be like 'Oh, what's that?' and have them go through it again and be like 'Oh I was gone for so many years out of your life, ' Francisco explained, "And they remember that and then it puts them in a place I don't want them to be. I want them to be happy and remember the good times and not go back and reminisce about the past and all the harsh things that I did and...I wasn't a good person."
To hear the full interview, click the blue play button above.
California public colleges call on Trump to continue DACA program
In an open letter to President-elect Donald Trump, the heads of California's public colleges called for the continuation of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) program.
DACA was created by an executive order signed by President Obama in 2012, and allows undocumented young people brought to the U.S as children to apply for work permits and financial aid for college. Since the program was introduced, nearly 400,000 have qualified for DACA in California alone. That's the most out of any state in the country by a wide margin.
President-elect Donald Trump has promised to revoke DACA, raising fears for many students.
In response, the open letter was co-authored by University of California President, Janet Napolitano, California State Chancellor, Timothy P. White, and California Community Colleges Chancellor-Designate, Eloy Ortiz Oakley.
The letter follows a similar message from over 300 institutions of higher learning across the country.
Take Two's A Martinez spoke with co-author and Chancellor-Designate of California Community Colleges, Eloy Ortiz Oakley.
To hear the full interview, click the Blue Arrow above.
Why California's dairy industry has beef with environmental regulations
California global warming opponents have a big beef with the dairy farming industry.
Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation in September that, for the first time, regulates heat-trapping gases from livestock operations and landfills.
But there's a problem. California is also the nation's leading agricultural state and farmers say the new law could severely challenge their businesses.
The California Air Resources Board is drawing up rules to implement the new regulations.
Take Two's A Martinez spoke with their science adviser Ryan McCarthy.
To hear the full conversation, click the blue player above.
Plan to update San Bernardino's City Hall rattles residents
They say you can't fight city hall, but San Bernardino residents are pushing back against a plan where the local government moves OUT of city hall.
Officials say the building isn't built to stand up to a major earthquake, and so office workers will temporarily move next door for several years during the retrofitting. In all, it would take 12 to 18 months and $14 million to complete.
But some people in San Bernardino are suspicious at the price tag, while others argue that the building is a source of architectural pride and shouldn't be changed.
Reporter Ryan Hagen with the San Bernardino Sun joined Take Two to explain the fight over city hall, even if the move is only temporary.
To listen to the interview, click on the blue media player above.
Joe Esposito, Elvis's friend and right-hand of 20 years, dies at 78
Right now in heaven, there is a great reunion taking place, perhaps over a peanut butter, banana and bacon sandwich.
Joe Esposito was one of Elvis Presley's close friends and the only non-Southern member of his inner circle, the so-called "Memphis Mafia."
The two met in the Army in 1958. A few years later Esposito became something of a personal assistant to Elvis, helping him navigate various personal and business relationships. He was even there to drive Priscilla Presley to the hospital to deliver her daughter with "The King," Lisa Marie Presley, notes columnist John Katsilometes.
Katsilometes writes for the Las Vegas Review -Journal and met Esposito on a few occasions, interviewing him for what would have been Elvis's 75th birthday back in 2010.
He says Esposito was known for his "unassuming" way and his "matter-of-fact relationship with Elvis."
Esposito died last week at the age of 78 at his home in Calabasas, California.
To listen to the whole interview, click on the blue player above.