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Volume 153, Issue 6 / TheGuardsman.com April 18- May 1, 2012 C I T Y C O L L E G E O F S A N F R A N C I S C O ’ S N E W S PA P E R S I N C E 1 9 3 5
Lessons from Trayvon: Jim Crow in the liberal Bay Area By Alexander Schmaus
THE GUARDSMAN / @SFBREAKINGNEWS / ASCHMAUS@THEGUARDSMAN.COM
Forty City College students participated April 11 in the “Hoodies and Hijabs” National Day of Action for Justice for Trayvon Martin and Shaima Alawadi. These two young people on opposite sides of the country were killed in senseless acts of violence nearly one month apart from each other. The students gathered outside City Cafe on Ocean campus to take a group photo while wearing hood-
ies and hijabs. “We want justice,” Ashraf Farah Suliman of the Muslim Student Association said. “We need to get together to show that we are united, we have to take action to show that we want change.” The two killings have brought the issue of racism and violence in the United States to the forefront of national debate. Alawadi, a 32-year-old Iraqi
immigrant who wore a hijab, was beaten unconscious in her living room on March 21 in El Cajon, Calif. She was found by her 17-yearold daughter, Fatima, who said there was a letter near her mother’s head that accused her of being a terrorist. Alawadi died from her wounds on three days later. Her killer remains unknown. Martin, a 17-year-old Miami high school student, was fatally shot INJUSTICE Page 5
INSIDE
Chancellor announces grave illness, early retirement Pg. 2 Tutoring center forced to suspend Saturday services
Pg. 3
High school seniors tour CCSF at FRISCO day
Pg. 7 Student loans out of control: here’s why
Pg. 12
kickin’ it at the
OLD SKOOL CAFE
Hope comes to youth in the poverty-stricken Bayview District with style, flair, and of course– delicious eats. Clockwise from top: Founder of Cora Jean’s Old Skool Cafe Teresa Goines at the Bayview youth-run supper club. Servers and bussers hear about a menu item before the restaurant opens on Apr. 13. Jerry Liu and Bethany Wang perform classical music during dinner. • BETH LABERGE / THE GUARDSMAN
By Lulu Orozco
THE GUARDSMAN / @LOALALANE / GOROZCO@THEGUARDSMAN.COM
Among the many routes offered by MUNI, the inbound T-Third metro line, which runs through the Bayview district, seems to be the least favorite. Despite the negative stereotypes of the Bayview that keep people away, it actually holds a restaurant filled with hope and promise. Cora Jean’s Old Skool Cafe, a nonprofit youth-run supper club, takes you back to a place where the dim candle lights, piano tunes and oversized booths could have been taken right out of the 1940s. It’s a cafe with a mission.
One of many programs in San Francisco for at risk youth, the Old Skool Cafe aims at mentoring and providing career opportunities to at-risk youth who may otherwise have never gotten an opportunity to explore their full potential. Founder Teresa Goines expressed her love, hope and dedication for the at-risk youth who are not often seen as capable, “Our responsibility for a young person is to get wind underneath their wings and help them soar,” she said.
Starting between the ages of 18 through 23, you’re no longer considered youth. Those are the years where many fall through the cracks, yet nobody seems to see them as youth, Goines added. Inspired by her early experience as a mentor at a youth gang prevention program in Santa Barbara, Goines’ vision of a youth-run supper club began in her house, running for nearly 5 years before finally landing a place in the Bayview district. “My first initial experience work-
ing with the gang prevention program broke my heart,” she said. At the age of 18 many young people are locked out of any support system because they are suddenly considered adults. She saw a large number of youth who needed that extra step towards motivation and transition, where a support system was necessary in a family-oriented community. If nobody shows you how to open a bank account, how to get a passport or how OLD SKOOL Page 9