If you’ve driven along Mesa Street from Third to Seventh Street, you’ve probably seen the Black history month banners strung up on the light poles. The inspiration for the idea came from Tyris Hatchett, a long-time crisis intervention worker at Toberman Neighborhood Center.
“We see banners put up for events relating to the Italian and Croatian American communities, we see banners for Dia del Muertos and we celebrate Juneteenth, but I would like to see us celebrate the contributions of Black people in San Pedro.”
Hatchett noted that many people don’t realize the 15th District includes so many communities from San Pedro to Watts.
The longtime intervention worker was with Rev. Adams Stevenson, pastor of the Warren Chapel CME Church in San Pedro, thought aloud about putting up Black History Month banners in San Pedro. Rev. Stevenson ran with the idea by reaching out to McOsker’s office and got immediate buy-in.
“This is largely due to him,” Rev. Stevenson said. “Because [McOsker] is who I approached with the idea. “There was no, ‘Let me talk to anyone [about this]’ from the moment he said, ‘yes.’”
The following day, Rev. Stevenson said he spoke with McOsker and was asked to come up with a design for the banner with a staff member. The result was a banner bordered with geometric colored patterns with a fist (representing resistance to oppression) enclosed by two hearts above One-Five logo, which McOsker has promoted as a symbol 15th district unity.
Stevenson said McOsker’s office kept him and the San Pedro Network (formerly the San Pedro Committee responsible for the annual Juneteenth celebration at Peck Park) through the entire process.
Within two weeks of Rev. Stevenson’s phone call, the banners were designed and hung.
“This was pushed to make sure that happened that it happened on time,” the youthful pastor said.
Hatchett and Rev. Stevenson aren’t stopping with the banners. They, along with other stakeholders in San Pedro’s Black community were inspired by the candidate forums during this last election cycle to connect with resources throughout the 15th district from San Pedro to Watts and every in-between. So they connected with Cathy Davenport, the secretary of the San Pedro Committee Network, to put together a Black History Month Resource Fair at Toberman Neighborhood Center.
Davenport explained to Random Lengths that more than 25 businesses and nonprofit organizations have confirmed to participate in the fair as of Feb. 2.
There’s going to be live music and spoken word poetry featuring the Voodoo Sound Company and spoken word artist Larmar Harris.
Davenport said Providence Hospital, BHS-Join Efforts, Black Infant Health, City Lights Gateway Foundation, LA Public Library, Department of Mental Health, GRYD, Watts Community Core and many others, have been confirmed to attend.
In a case of serendipitous coincidence, the local chapter of the San Pedro, Wilmington and Palos Verdes Peninsula NAACP BRANCH 1069 will be honored with a plaque and then naming of Third and Mesa Streets as “NAACP Square” on the same day as the Resource Faire.
The act was pushed through during the waning days of Councilman Joe Buscaino’s administration on Nov. 22.
The dedication ceremony is set for Feb. 11. In a released statement, the branch president, Dr. Cheyenne Bryant, thanked the incoming Councilman Tim McOsker for his support, noting that this branch of the NAACP will be the first to receive a corner plaque in our state’s history.
“Our NAACP’s work of promoting jobs and contracts for our community with the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach will be highlighted,” Bryant said.”
Random Lengths News reached out to McOsker’s for a statement.
“I appreciate working with community leaders who reach out with new, fresh ideas for our communities,” McOsker said in a released statement. “It’s important to me that everyone in the district is seen and heard in the One-Five.”