Erin Aubry Kaplan
Erin Aubry Kaplan is an author, journalist and essayist who has been writing about black Los Angeles and wider issues since 1992. She teaches creative nonfiction at Antioch University Los Angeles and current events at the OASIS center in the Crenshaw district.
Yesterday was the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington -- and despite some memorable words from notable figures in the capitol, it was a day in L.A. like any other.
A half century after the March on Washington and King's galvanizing speech about American possibility, we have not realized nearly enough of it. Lost in the mists of time, but still very alive, is the crisis of black employment.
A visit to Oakland highlights the uneasy realities -- and the possibilities -- of gentrification.
The departure of my block's oldest resident, one of the first to move here, ushers out a whole chapter of Inglewood history. But the legacy remains.
Valerie Shaw is one of those political appointees who has not only done her job, she's held up the world.
Driving a less than lovely car in L.A. doesn't mean what it used to. That's both bad and good.
The protests in Crenshaw about the George Zimmerman verdict are deja vu all over again.
For blacks in Inglewood, moving into a desireable neighborhood once denied to them was hardly the end of the story
The beloved scene on Degnan, the symbol of black cultural life in the city, is in trouble. So what else is new?
In Inglewood, retail therapy is usually a political revelation.
Little Saigon and other places like it have transformed space in SoCal.
For students who never thought they were traditional college material, graduation is not just about a piece of paper. It's about peace of mind.