Thursday, March 28, 2024

Activists Push for LA’s Leimert Park to Be Renamed Africa Town or Wakanda

(Jon Schleuss / Los Angeles Times)

*Bee Hall and Ruth Isaacs Hamilton (pictured above) are leading a charge to rename the district of Leimert Park in California to something more Afrocentric.

The duo wants to give the district a new name that celebrates its ethnic identity.

“This is Africa Town,” Hall said.

Or Little Africa. Or the Pan African Arts District. Or, in a nod to the hit Marvel movie “Black Panther,” Wakanda.

It all depends on who you talk to, as noted by the L.A. Times. The publication points out that with “the soaring real estate market, there’s a push to preserve Leimert Park as an African American enclave before development transforms the Crenshaw corridor.”

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Kevin Wharton Price, left, founder of the Africa Town Coalition, and fellow members Abron Farley Jr. and William “Billion” Campbell shout to drivers and pedestrians to consider renaming Leimert Park “Africa Town.” (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

“Earlier attempts to etch out a space for black Angelenos have faltered, but some say there’s greater urgency now because of the demographic shift and development boom.”

“Hall hopes a designation might help merchants attract a larger slice of tourism; last year, 48.3 million tourists visited Los Angeles. A robust commercial center, she said, would push businesses to hire more employees, and the money would flow through the community.”

“Leimert Park is named after the white real estate developer who built the planned community. The area Hall and others want to stake claim to is along Crenshaw Boulevard from Stocker Street to Leimert Boulevard and south to Vernon Avenue.”

“Hall and her supporters know that re-christening an area won’t halt changing demographics. But “it will give our people something tangible for the community to tie into” and to promote pride in our community, said Ruth Isaacs Hamilton, 60, Hall’s teammate on the project.”

While Hall envisions the area as Africa Town, others want “to create a Pan African Arts District. It would encompass the surrounding area and be anchored by Leimert Park Village, renamed as Africa Town.”

Kevin Wharton Price, founder of the Africa Town Coalition, against a backdrop of the Black Nationalist Flag, hopes to rename Leimert Park “Africa Town.” (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Kevin Wharton Price, a leader of the Africa Town Coalition, has a national plan to establish Africa Towns in every major metropolis.

According to the report, in February, community activist Najee Ali collected more than 1,000 signatures in nine days in an effort to rename the commercial thoroughfare in Leimert Park Village from Degnan to Wakanda after the fictional East African nation in the blockbuster “Black Panther.”

“We need to start renaming streets in primarily black communities like Leimert Park that recognize black culture and black pride,” Ali said. “Too often black folks will drive down Adams, Washington and Jefferson [boulevards] and don’t even think these streets are named after former presidents but also former slave owners.”

EUR Extra Coverage: Check out videographer Keith O’Derek‘s report for KTTV/Channel 11 on Bumpy’s LA Restaurant which brought upscale dining to Leimert Park in the 90s:

Read the lengthy LA Times report HERE about why LA’s Leimert Park can’t be Africa Town. 

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