COMPTON—How could anyone do something that would effectively shut down opportunities for inner-city youth to participate in constructive, fun, supervised activities?
That’s a question that for months has perplexed Jim Hawkins, a local senior who for nearly half a century has dedicated his life to bettering the lives of area youth.
His local community-based think tank is calling out state and local officials for what it cites as their failure to ensure that the government is operated in a manner that is in the best interest of the people relative to Hawkins’ assertion that they are preventing Compton kids from having fun, according to an undated release recently obtained by the Nitty Gritty.
Hawkins, founder of the International Think Tank, issued the release, which was addressed to state Attorney General Kamala D. Harris, state Deputy Attorney General Michael Witmer, the office of 4th District Compton City Councilman Dr. Willie O. Jones, city of Compton Community Redevelopment Agency Director Kofi Sefa-Boakye, city of Compton Planning and Economic Development Director Derek Hull, city of Compton Interim Parks and Recreation Director Homer Post and Brig. Gen. Mary Kight, the adjutant general for the California National Guard.
The California National Guard, the state Attorney General’s Office and the city of Compton are all cited for their efforts to “block” Hawkins’ 45-year-old youth-based nonprofit organization, Sports Spectacular Charities for Children and Families. The organization specializes in offering fun, healthy sports-related activities and competitions for youth ages 0 through 18.
The release accuses the agencies mentioned above of taking away “hula hoops, Big Wheels (and) Frisbees from children and making life more difficult for those who volunteer to help make their lives better.”
This past summer, through partnerships with the city, school district and other nonprofit organizations, such as Isaac Asberry’s TIP, or Teen Intervention Program, Sports Spectacular held a series of athletics-based championship competitions for children of all ages, such as hula-hoop contests, sack races and Frisbee tosses.
This photo flier depicts Compton-area youth participating in a Sports Spectacular Championship Game Day held last year at Compton Center to celebrate Halloween. Photo courtesy of Sports Spectacular.
The allegation stems from the city and state’s recent eviction of Sports Spectacular and several other nonprofit organizations from the city’s National Guard Armory property located at 2320 N. Parmalee Ave. behind Centennial High School. The nonprofits had legally binding arrangements with another nonprofit, N.I.C.E., to occupy and operate on the property. N.I.C.E. formerly had control of the property, though that arrangement was subsequently dissolved and Assemblyman Isadore Hall III successfully enacted legislation allowing the city to formally lease the property on a long-term basis from the state for specific uses.
The city’s most recent plan for the property was to relocate the City Yard there.
Hawkins attempted to fight the eviction through legal actions, asking for an extension until he had the means to move the organization’s headquarters elsewhere. The final deadline, however, passed before he was able to identify a site to which the nonprofit could be relocated, as well as obtain the funding necessary to remove all of Sports Spectacular’s equipment from the property.
His subsequent petitions to the state were not handled as he had hoped, resulting in the undated release sent via email to the Nitty Gritty on Jan. 14.
Noted within its text is Harris’ pledge when she took her oath of office on Jan. 3 to “ensure that state law is on the side of the people.”
“Taking hula hoops, Big Wheels (and) sack races away from our children is not the way to go,” states the release.
The release asserts that Harris is falling short of living up to her pledge by not addressing the circumstances surrounding Sports Spectacular’s eviction. It then goes on to list 10 suggestions, which appear to be at least in part Compton-specific, that Harris could and should consider acting upon. If fulfilled, the think tank believes the suggestions would yield a government that actually does work in favor of those being governed.
The suggestions are:
1.) Ensure that government at all levels be required demonstrate meaningful participation and involvement of its citizens at all levels;
2.) Encourage that all representatives and staff are ethical and representing the best interests of their constituencies;
3.) Revise the laws that allow elected officials to hold two public jobs at the same time (for instance, Mayor Eric J. Perrodin’s serving both as mayor of Compton and as a county prosecutor with the L.A. County District Attorney’s Office);
4.) Revise laws to prevent the California National Guard from ignoring local citizens and circumventing participation of citizens at every level;
5.) Revise laws that permit young people to be taken advantage of by ruthless administrators in group homes, foster homes and alternative schools; social workers; probation officers; and those who dispense medication, etc.;
6.) Revise laws that permit young people to be shot in the back multiple times by law enforcement;
7.) Develop new laws that prevent elected officials from ignoring the meaning of their sworn oaths of office;
8.) Prevent elected officials from operating local governments as if the governments were their private businesses;
9.) Revise guidelines to better prevent government officials and staff from stuffing ballot boxes and mishandling their volunteer elections staffs;
10.) Revise laws to permit young people to travel to and from school, home and the store store safely.
For additional information on Sports Spectacular Charities for Children and Families and the many services it offers for youth in the greater Compton area, as well as in cities across the nation, visit www.voay.net/.
Hub City Nitty Gritty 