L.A. Marathon Runners: on your marks for 26 miles
UKRAINE TO ROMANIA TO ABUJA: STUDENTS ARRIVE SAFE
See Page 8
See Page 7
Collegian LOS ANGELES
Wednesday, March 23, 2022 Volume 188 Number 3
RADIANT VOICE
Remembering Barbara Morrison Alumna Lives On Through Her Legacy BY DIANA CAMPBELL
B
arbara Morrison, the jazz treasure who graduated from Los Angeles City College and received three Grammy nominations, died on March 16. She was 72. The LACMA’s “Jazz Treasure” first female award recipient made Los Angeles her home in 1971 after moving to the West Coast from Detroit. Barbara Morrison Shortly after her arrival, she joined the Johnny Otis Band with whom she sang for 21 years. Her singing career took her to perform at jazz festivals in the California neighborhoods of Montreux, Monterey, Long Beach and North Sea. She performed at Carnegie Hall and jazz venues in Southern California and toured Europe with Ray Charles. She had concerts in Japan and Australia where adoring jazz fans asked her back year after year. Widely known as a staple in the historic Leimert Park Village, Morrison opened the Barbara Morrison Performing Arts Center and the California Jazz & Blues Museum to educate her California community on notable jazz performers. Taking her expertise and talents into the classroom, Morrison served as an adjunct associate professor of global jazz studies at UCLA and in 2020 launched the Barbara Morrison Scholarship for Jazz at the university. Morrison was scheduled to perform at the Catalina Bar and Grill in Hollywood with Dante Chambers, on the day of her death. Now, a memorial honoring her covers the sidewalk in front of the Barbara Morrison Performing Arts Center.
GEAR UP!
Students gravitate to campus for opportunity. See Page 6
The Voice of Los Angeles City College Since 1929
AROUND THE GLOBE
NEWS BRIEFS
‘Ukrainians Only’: Africans, Indians Search for Safe Passage
COMPILED BY HANNAH COBURN AND DANIEL MARLOS
DISTRICT ANNOUNCES FIRST ‘MI GENTE GRADUATION’
African and Indian students are among hundreds of thousands of people trying to flee Ukraine. Dark skin and “no blue eyes” present roadblocks.
V
Kherson State University is one of the oldest colleges in Ukraine, located in the south of the country.
African students from Gabon, Nigeria, Cameroun and the Ivory Coast are stranded in a basement in Kherson, Ukraine on March 13, 2022. They have been living there with limited drinking water and food since the Russian war began against Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.
For the first time in the Los Angeles Community College District history, the Mi Gente Graduation Celebration brings together Latino students and their families from all nine college campuses. The cultural celebration of the district students’ educational achievement will be marked by Latino diversity, music, language, and nationalities. The Graduation is scheduled for June 5, 2022 at 4 p.m.
BY JUAN MENDOZA
ideos have emerged on social media that show Black and Indian students face difficulties as they try to flee the war zone and cross the border into Poland, Hungary or Romania from Ukraine. Thousands of Ukrainians began to flee their cities and towns in a desperate search for safety to neighboring countries after Russian tanks invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. At the same time, African and Indian students caught up in the chaos during the Russian attacks found themselves trapped in their university towns. Many students headed for the Ukrainian border where the Ukraine military prevented them from boarding trains, according to reports on “Democracy Now.” Some say they walked from nine to 10 hours without food and water under extreme freezing weather conditions to get to the nearest border crossing. At the border, Ukrainian officials made the African and Indian students wait in a separate line just for people of color. Augustin Akoi Kollie is a Liberian student who has been studying medicine in Chernivtsi, a city located in the southwest of Ukraine. He left home Feb. 26, for a six-hour journey by foot for the southern border with Romania, according to a "Voice of America" news report. Kollie stood in line all night in freezing temperatures before being granted entry and traveling to the nearby city of Suceava, Romania. “While you are in the queue, if a Ukrainian comes you have to shift and make way for that Ukrainian to go to the front,” Kollie said. “It was very cold, my hands, my feet and everything went numb from the cold. Some students passed out due to hypothermia.” “Democracy Now” reports Ukrainian authorities are racial profiling. They have prioritized Ukrainian nationals over foreigners trying to leave the country.
BLACK GRADUATION CELEBRATION OPENS REGISTRATION
The Los Angeles Community College District African American Outreach Initiative program (LACCD-AAOI) announces its 12th annual Black Graduation Celebration (BGC) on May 24, from 3:00 to 5 p.m. The BGC is a culturally affirming celebration of academic achievement. This year's event will be in-person following the latest Covid-19 state and local guidelines. For more information and to pre-register, contact LACCD African-American Outreach Initiative.
SEE “UKRAINIANS” PAGE 4
EDUCATION
SEE “NEWS BRIEFS” PAGE 6
CITY WINS
PHOTO COURTESY OF "HESITANT HEROES" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stRPyR1vhNI
COLLEGIAN WINS TOP HONORS IN VIDEO NEWS
SEE “MORRISON” PAGE 4
INDEX Opinion & Editorial
S
tudents who participated in the California Humanities/ NEA program for emerging journalists called "Democracy and the Informed Citizen" have won a first place Gold Circle Award from Columbia University Scholastic Press Association (CSPA) for their work in 2021. Cal Humanities supported the work, which allowed four students to attend virtual sessions and receive feedback on their projects, which they shared with their peers in the newsroom.
2-3
A&E
4
Campus Life
5
News
6
Resources
7
Sports
8
STAFF
ILLUSTRATION BY MICHAEL SITAR
SEE “COLLEGIAN WINS” PAGE 6