SOCIAL JUSTICE: A JOURNEY TOO FAR

I was astonished to see the once visible stained glass windows of the First Baptist Church of Venice boarded up!   With my eyes still wide with surprise I stopped at the 7^th and Westminster stop sign and turned my head to get a better view of the front of the Church.  Another surprise -- there sat Celia "Laddie" Williams alone on the Church steps. Gospel music was coming from her car parked at the curb a few feet from where she sat.  It was Donnie McClurkin singing "Stand". I decided as I turned the corner and parked that wherever I had been headed was no longer important. 

Laddie was protesting the sale and the destruction of the 100-year-old Church built by our Black community. , In the early 1900s racially restricted covenants relegated Black families to the 1.5-mile area now called Oakwood. In 2017 the Church was bought by a white billionaire who was the wealthiest of gentrifiers in the once predominantly Black Oakwood community. Now, here we sit contemplating the battle. On that Sunday in April 2017 with a confirming sigh, I sat with Laddie..

This story is about community organizing for Social justice and the wealth,  the racism, and the bureaucracies, that a small band of community activists stood against to succeed in preserving the beloved and historically significant Church -- the anchor and cornerstone of their community. Efforts to achieve social justice is a long journey, my years in the field tell me it's a journey too far, but justice is an ache in my bones and will not let me rest.

PRESENTER BIO

Dr. Naomi Nightingale is a 2014 graduate of the PhD in Leadership and Change program. She began her work with community-based organizations during the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. In response to a call for summer projects from the U.S. Department of Labor after the Los Angeles Watts Riots in 1965, she wrote a proposal to fund employment and job training for residents in the predominantly Black neighborhood of Venice, CA. Those years began her career in social justice advocacy and activism which remains driving forces in her life today.

Dr. Nightingale worked in public and government organizations and volunteered in non-profit organizations for well over 30 years before creating her management consultant business, Nightingale & Associates, LLC, in 2006. Her professional career is extensive including leadership positions in education, politics, public transportation and government and public affairs. As President of Nightingale & Associates, LLC, she contracts with organizations to develop strategies to achieve leadership goals through systemic change.

Dr. Nightingale is an Adjunct Associate Professor at Marxe School of Public and International Affairs at Baruch College in New York, a Leadership Coach and Faculty at Antioch University, Women in Leadership Online Courses, and a Professor at the New York Community Trust. Management Training Program for non-profit organizations.

Dr. Nightingale resigned March 2021 from the Los Angeles County Civil Service Commission, a quasi-judicial body deciding employee grievance appeals for employees where she served for 7-1/2 years – two years as Vice-President and the last year of service as President. Her service as Commissioner was among her most rewarding experiences especially because for six years, she was the only woman and the only African American on the five-member Commission. In June 2022 Dr. Nightingale created the Oakwood Preservation Coalition, a non-profit dedicated to the research, acknowledgment and preservation of history, culture, and personages that contributes to the establishment and growth of the Venice Oakwood community.

Education: 

B.A., Liberal Arts, Antioch University, Los Angeles, CA                     
M.A., Public Policy Administration, California State University, Long Beach
PhD, Leadership and Change, Antioch University, Yellow Springs, OH