Hashtagcompelsaccusations of‘toxic’campusculture · Matthew Chavez. Brethren Christian School was founded in 1947 and it was first lo-cated at Seal Beach Brethren Church, before

FERIN KIDD is the new Orange County.

As the national movement to ENDPOLICE BRUTALITY hasprogressed, he’s emerged as aprominent activist and charismaticcommunity leader, providing aunifying VOICE FOR THE BLACKCOMMUNITY through his organizationBlack OC.

Traditionally, many contend that Blackvoices have fallen on deaf ears inORANGE COUNTY. Black people makeup about 2% of the population. But,Black activists and leaders like Kidd areemerging as VANGUARDS OF THEMOVEMENT. They are young,emboldened and pushing for change.

“PEOPLE ARE READY,” Kidd said.“They want to know: what do we dogoing forward and how do we changethis? The reality is the only way webegin to change these things isthrough A MORE AGGRESSIVEAPPROACH, beginning with gettingout in the streets and protesting.

Scott Smeltzer | Staff Photographer

FERIN KIDD started the activist group Black OC andcreated the official flag of Black OC called the Unity Flag.

See Kidd, page R6

SUNDAY, JULY 12, 2020 /// Times Community News publication serving Orange County /// timesoc.com

It started with one social mediapost.

On June 1, the Laguna Collegeof Art and Design (known asLCAD) released a solidarity state-ment with the Black Lives Mattermovement on its social media.The letter, signed by the school’spresident Jonathan Burke, lookedsimilar to other posts by universi-ties and companies pledging tostand against racial injustice.

But the hashtag #AllLivesMat-ter was the sole text on display atthe top.

Students quickly noticed thattheir private arts school had used

the hashtag associated with dis-missing Black Lives Matter. Theystarted flooding the commentsection with their own experi-ences at LCAD.

At first, students said someoneon the social media team fueledthe fire by copy and pasting thesame apology to every angrycommenter, including the expla-nation: “When the person whomakes our posts entered the#BlackLivesMatter hashtag, inex-plicably, the other hashtag au-topopulated.”

Later, Burke hopped on toapologize in the Instagram com-ments, which quickly got buriedby other replies.

“I want to thank everyone for

speaking out about the variousways this post was mishandled,poorly composed and inappro-priately edited by our Social Me-dia Manager,” read part of Burke’sapology. “I am sorry for the hurtthis has caused. What happeneddoes not represent LCAD’s valuesor point of view.”

One month later, the disputehas triggered complaints fromthe student body about a hostileenvironment created by a mostlywhite school staff who some sayare often insensitive, insulting oremotionally harmful to studentsof color and those who identifyas LGBTQ.

Hashtag compels accusations of ‘toxic’ campus culture

Don Leach | Staff PhotographerTHE LAGUNA COLLEGE of Art and Design in Laguna Canyon hasdrawn some criticism after a hashtag on a recent social media post.

In June, a Black Lives Matter solidarity post from Laguna College of Art andDesign was tagged #AllLivesMatter. The subsequent uproar led some students,alumni and staff to share stories of alleged racism and other insensitivties.

BYADATSENG, VERACASTANEDA, LILLY NGUYEN

See Campus, page R4

R2 SUNDAY, JULY 12, 2020 TIMESOC WWW.TIMESOC.COM

The Santa Ana CityCouncil chose to reduce aplanned increase to thecity’s police budget from$9 million to about$3 million after dozens ofresidents spoke at a con-tentious council meetingTuesday night.

The council also de-cided, as part of its 6-1 ap-proval of the city’s newbudget, to allocate anoth-er $100,000 to the city’sdeportation defense fund,a program started in 2017that allows Santa Ana resi-dents facing potential de-portation to secure an at-torney they would other-wise not be able to afford.

The fund was set to re-ceive $100,000 less thanthe $200,000 budget it re-ceived the prior year afteran initial approval of thecity’s budget at the lastcouncil meeting.

Council members Vi-cente Sarmiento andDavid Penaloza dissentedin that vote.

Sarmiento, the lone dis-senter Tuesday night, saidhe supported some of themoves that city staff madeto reduce the increase tothe police budget sincethe last vote. He’s alsobeen a strong supporter ofthe deportation defensefund.

But, he said he was con-cerned that the police de-partment still could benarrowed down to basicpolicing functions. Oneexample he gave was thecity’s quality of life team,which deals with thehomeless.

“To me that is some-thing that could be doneby a civilianized profes-sional — maybe a mentalhealth worker or socialworker, somebody who istrained professionally toaddress those problems,”Sarmiento said. “Toomany times, a simple wel-fare check turns intosomething else because aperson who is autistic,who is approached bysomebody in uniform,doesn’t know how to re-

spond and may responddifferently, and bad thingsoccur.”

While voting for a muchmilder increase to the po-lice budget, council mem-bers still voiced supportfor the city’s department.

Councilwoman NelidaMendoza thanked the po-lice department for agree-ing to work with the coun-cil on the six-month de-ferral of police salaryraises.

“It makes no sense todefund the police,” Men-doza said. “... We cannotdo away with our policedepartment. Who is goingto respond to the emer-gencies that our publicneeds? It makes sense towork with them and tocontinue providing excel-lent public safety. Theremay be some reforms todo and maybe bettertraining, and we can lookat that. So, we are listen-ing.”

Mayor Pro Tem JuanVillegas similarly backedthe police department.

“One of the main com-plaints I get about officersis ‘What took so long [forthem] to get there?’ ” Vil-legas said. “Well, we don’thave the personnel, andSanta Ana is a very activecity. Let’s not forget aboutthe voice of those peoplewho called and are askingfor help and are asking forservice. Their voice mat-ters also. We need tomaintain the level of serv-ice best we can for thoseresidents.”

Dozens of residentsvoiced their anger at thecouncil during the nearlyeight-hour meeting. Manywere displeased that theyhad to appear in personto give their public com-ments, and yet wereforced to give their com-ments from outside thecouncil chamber. Councilmembers could seespeakers on a screen inthe chamber.

The change to includein-person public com-ments was made due to

Afterpublicoutcry,SantaAna increasesdeportationdefensefundby$100,000

See Defense, page R6

BY BEN BRAZIL

Schools aren’t supposedto close down, NicoleDonahoe said.

But her own was — andonly one year after shegraduated from BrethrenChristian High School in2019.

Coaches and a parent ofa recent graduate of theprivate Huntington Beachschool confirmed Tuesdaythat they received emailsstating that the schoolwould be closing ahead ofthe 2020-21 school year,with alumni saying thatthey found out through so-cial media. Leon Green,the head football coachthe last two seasons, saidthat Brethren Christianwas closing due to declin-ing enrollment and finan-cial difficulties.

“It financially was toomuch of a burden andthere just was not enoughmoney coming in to keepthe doors open,” Greensaid on Wednesday.

“The student body num-bers have just dropped toomuch. The biggest thingwas that they didn’t want

to close, but to counteractthat; they would have hadto let go of teachers to sup-plement the loss of in-come and that would havecompromised educationfor the students.”

The school did not re-spond to requests for com-ment on Tuesday andWednesday. School staffalso declined to commentin-person on Wednesdaymorning.

The school was located

at the Gisler Middle Schoolcampus on 21141 Strath-moor Lane until recentlyafter a long-term leasewith the HuntingtonBeach City School District

ended last year.The school relocated to

6931 Edinger Ave. just lastyear, making Donahoepart of the last graduatingclass of students at theGisler campus, whereBrethren Christian hadbeen located since 2008.

The Gisler property wassold to home developersfor $42 million.

“I don’t know anyonewho went to a school andthen … you don’t go to

school and then [the]school closes down,” Don-ahoe said. “That’s not athing.”

Emails requesting com-ment were not answered

as of Tuesday evening byBrethren Christian Supt.Matthew Chavez.

Brethren ChristianSchool was founded in1947 and it was first lo-cated at Seal BeachBrethren Church, beforeexpanding to Long Beachand Paramount, then mov-ing to Cypress and eventu-ally to Huntington Beach.

Donahoe said she heardthe news on Instagram onMonday while she wassigning up for her collegeclasses this fall semester.

“I don’t know. It’s such astrange thing and it makesme sad because there’s somany memories ... at[Gisler],” Donahoe said,“and then the schoolmoved from that location.There was already that[move] that made me up-set and sad.”

“Now the school’s clos-ing, it just makes it morereally, really sad for me,”Donahoe said. “It’s a reallybittersweet thing. Myfreshman year, it wasamazing and it was great.My senior year, it felt like it

Kevin Chang | Staff PhotographerBRETHREN CHRISTIAN relocated to 6931 Edinger Ave. last year after moving from the Gisler Middle School campus

‘It’s the end of an era’Brethren Christian High School closes after 73 yearsBY LILLY NGUYEN

“It’s a really bittersweet thing. Myfreshman year, it was amazingand it was great. My senior year, itfelt like it was going to end. We allkind of knew it, but we kind ofexpected it to happen.”

— Nicole Donahoe2019 graduate from Brethren Christian High School

See Brethren , page R6

When Basilico’s Pasta e Vinotook to social media to proclaimitself a mask-free location amidthe coronavirus pandemic in lateMay, it prompted responses rang-ing from overwhelming supportto stern admonishments fromcustomers who pledged never todine at the restaurant again.

On Monday, officials at theHuntington Beach establishmenthad a message for those who haveexpressed anger about their pol-icy. They updated the restaurant’svoicemail greeting, joking thatthey were “having some fun withthe haters.”

“As you may know, we havebeen recently featured in thepress and with great appreciationhave been receiving an over-whelming show of support by thecommunity and even from acrossthe state and country, so if you’recalling to place an order or ex-press support for our positionplease hold or leave a voicemail,”the greeting states. “If you’re call-ing to place a death threat, pleasepress 2 and leave your name,number and address so our cous-in Guido and his crew can payyou a visit.”

It is not clear whether therestaurant is mandating that din-ers remove their masks before en-tering. A man who identified him-self as the restaurant manager de-clined to comment to a Times re-porter on Tuesday. HuntingtonBeach police spokeswoman An-gela Bennett said officials havesent the restaurant a letter re-questing that they comply withthe state’s mask order.

But the restaurant’s defianceunderscores how Orange Countyremains a battleground where du-eling factions of the populationdebate the necessity of masks. Ascoronavirus cases have spiked,more officials are urging people tocover their faces when in public.But many are skill skeptical.

It’s part of a larger debate ragingthis summer as businesses reopeneven as coronavirus surges. Thepolitics of masks are particularlyintense among those who don’tlike the idea of the governmenttelling them what they shouldwear.

Public health experts have saidthat wearing a face covering is an

effective way to decrease thespread of the coronavirus. A studypublished recently in the Proceed-ings of the National Academy ofSciences, concluded that, “wear-ing of face masks in public corre-sponds to the most effectivemeans to prevent interhumantransmission.”

In early June, Orange County’spublic health officer resigned afterweeks of verbal attacks, includinga death threat, over her manda-tory mask rules. Her replacementrescinded the rules amid intensepressure from the Board of Super-visors, instead “strongly recom-mending” that residents wear facecoverings when in public.

A week later, Gov. Gavin New-som ordered all Californians towear face coverings while in pub-lic or high-risk settings, including

shopping, taking public transit orseeking medical care. The orderwas handed down amid growingconcerns that an increase in caseshad been caused by residents fail-ing to voluntarily take that pre-caution.

Last week, Health Care AgencyDirector Dr. Clayton Chau in-cluded a mask requirement in theOrange County’s latest order. Theorder also closed certain businesssectors including bars and indoordining at restaurants amid a trou-bling uptick in infections and hos-pitalizations in the county.

On Monday, Orange County forthe first time reported more than1,000 new coronavirus cases in asingle day, with young people ac-counting for the bulk of new in-fections. The county has the third-highest number of coronavirus

cases among the state’s 58 coun-ties and the fourth-most deaths,according to Los Angeles Timesdata.

Officials say the recent spikewas due in part to reports frombacklogged test results. Thecounty reported 1,028 additionalcases Monday, 1,013 of which werefrom specimens collected June 20to July 3; the others were collectedbefore June 19.

The county’s positivity rate hasalso skyrocketed in recent weeks.The positivity rate, which healthofficials use to gauge whethercase numbers are increasing be-cause of more testing or becausethere’s more disease spreadingwithin the community, was listedas 7.95% over a seven-day periodin mid-May. As of Friday, thecounty had a total of 22,650 cu-

mulative cases, and the numberof patients with confirmed infec-tions jumped 73% in the last threeweeks.

The state has set a desiredstandard average of 25 positivecases per 100,000 over a 14-dayperiod and a seven-day averagepositive test rate of 8%.

The surge in new cases and therecent rollback of business re-openings prompted SupervisorMichelle Steel, who had previ-ously repeatedly questioned thecounty health officer’s decision tomandate masks, to appeal to resi-dents to wear a face covering.

“With cases of COVID-19 in Cal-ifornia increasing over the last sixweeks, I ask the residents and visi-tors of Orange County to please

Many in O.C. resist masks even as coronavirus cases soarBYHANNAH FRYAND SARA CARDINE

SeeMasks, page R6

Allen J. Schaben | Los Angeles Times

LISAANDToddSmithenjoydrinksonMainStreet inHuntingtonBeachonJuly1as theygreet apasserbywhosays shecan’t getused towearinga facemask.

WWW.TIMESOC.COM TIMESOC SUNDAY, JULY 12, 2020 R3

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Part of LCAD’s missionon its website states, theschool “prepares individu-als for careers as creativeartists and designers in aculturally and ethnicallydiverse world.” It’s locatedin a city that was histori-cally considered OrangeCounty’s only liberal mu-nicipality.

“If the school advocatesfor diversity, everyone whoworks there should be wellaware of the meaning ofthat hashtag,” said fourth-year student Abigail Al-bano-Payton, who is Blackand Filipina. “There’s justno excuse.”

Albano-Payton said thatthe post was just “the tip ofthe iceberg. There are somany issues, a lot of themwhich have been lingeringaround for too long” — anopinion echoed by at least17 students, alumni, em-ployees and former staffthat TimesOC spoke to.

LCAD was founded in1961 and was known thenas the Laguna BeachSchool of Art. The schoolwas previously located onthe Festival of Arts groundsbefore the school pur-chased and acquired theoriginal 3.4 acres of land inLaguna Canyon, where it isnow.

The school offers 11 un-dergraduate majors, threegraduate degrees, nine mi-nors and a post-Baccalau-reate program and spansseven sites locatedthroughout both LagunaCanyon and nearby La-guna Beach.

The city of Laguna Beachis 91% white, according tothe 2010 U.S. Census.While there is some diver-sity among the more than700 full-time students atthe college — which, ac-cording to the website,breaks down to 48% white,21% Latino, 16% Asian, 2%Black, with remaining stu-dents classified as NativeAmerican, Pacific Islander,multiracial, “nonresidentalien” or unknown for fall2019 — the senior staff,professors and board oftrustees are mostly white.

TimesOC asked theschool for a racial break-down of faculty and staff,but officials declined.

Out of over 100 profes-sors, Larissa Marantz saidshe is one of a handful ofBlack faculty members atthe school. She has been apart-time, adjunct profes-sor at LCAD for 12 years.She is also the founder ofthe OC Art Studio in Or-ange, where she teachesyouth.

She believes the use ofthe hashtag was an inno-cent mistake by Communi-cations Manager MichaelStice.

Marantz said Stice, whofirst started teaching atLCAD 20 years ago, wasfired “because they wantedto make it look like theywere doing the right thing.They just threw him underthe bus. He admitted that itwas an error, but peoplewere calling for his head.”

She said Stice, who iswhite, initiated the idea ofdeclaring solidarity withthe Black Lives Mattermovement in the firstplace, as protests in thewake of George Floyd’sdeath popped up in citiesall across Orange County

But then he made the“grievous error,” she said,and “all hell broke loose.”

Stice did not respond torequests for comment.

Marantz said the realreason for the anger wasbecause people felt like the#AllLivesMatter hashtag,though considered dispar-aging, aligned with theirexperiences at the school.

“We are responding toour community’s com-ments, requests and ac-tions as a team, and ourdesire to make improve-ments is threaded through-out the various passionateand dedicated members ofthe school’s leadershipteam, the Equity and Inclu-sion Council, our supportstaff and our faculty,” MarcLyncheski, the school’s di-rector of marketing andcommunications, said.

School officials, includ-ing Burke, refused to com-ment further.

THE PETITIONRegardless of the hash-

tag’s genesis, it united like-minded students to publi-cly confront their institu-tion.

On June 9, students in-cluding Albano-Paytonstarted an online petitiontitled, “Demand for LCAD

Board to take online courseon Race and Racism.”

The goal of the petitionwas to collect 1,000 signa-tures. Organizers reachedalmost 1,500.

The petition describes“inequality at the hands ofmultiple staff/faculty/board members for theirrace, gender identity, sexu-ality [and] culture” it al-leges came to light after the#AllLivesMatter post, aswell as “LCAD’s normalizedbehavior of silencing, mis-treating and dehumanizingstudents when they usetheir voices to bring forthissues and problems.”

The petition focuses onthe need for diversity edu-cation for the board oftrustees to better under-stand the younger genera-tion of students who areincreasingly diverse interms of race, gender andsexual orientation in tan-dem with other campusesacross the country.

As an example, Albano-Payton said she wanted towrite a paper about thewhite male painter PaulGauguin (1848-1903) in-cluding the critique that heexploited Tahitian womenin his paintings. She saidher idea was dismissed,and she said being toldthat “a white man takingadvantage of women ofcolor for profit is not ‘ex-ploitative but appreciative’is to justify the exploitationand marginalization of mi-nority groups.”

Julia Friedman, anotheradjunct faculty at theschool who gave the as-signment to Albano-Pay-ton, said she was “struck bythe student’s hostility.”

Friedman said the as-signment was for Albano-Payton to show her under-standing of figurativepainting and not to specu-late on attitudes.

“What I said was thatGauguin was sincere in hisappreciation of the islandsand their culture, and hisuse of indigenous modelswas not a simple instanceof ‘exploitation’ in the waythe student was suggesti-ng,” Friedman said.

Alex Ferreiras, a fellowLCAD student who, alongwith Albano-Payton, isforming what is likely thecollege’s first Black StudentUnion. Ferrieras is thepresident of the club.

He said that once, afterhe gave a presentation, hiswhite professor called him“articulate, like he was sur-prised” — not understand-ing that “articulate” is con-sidered a disparaging wordfor a white person to say toa Black person, especially

because there were noother Black people in theclass.

Other students describedincidents of transphobia.

Phoenix Baldwin, a for-mer LCAD student who leftat the end of 2019, de-scribed an advisory meet-ing for the animation de-partment. Names of stu-dents were on display andread out loud, to bematched with names ofteachers for the upcomingsemester.

However, despite the factthat the school regularlyuses trans students’ pre-ferred names, Dan Boulos,the animation chair, usedseveral trans students’deadnames, the name aperson used before transi-tioning, including Bald-win’s, in front of over 100people.

At first, Baldwin, who is atrans man, attributed thisto carelessness, but now hethinks it’s a security issuethat’s often overlooked: “Ifa transgender student isfully transitioned but beingcalled by their deadname,then they’re suddenlyouted when they don’twant to be.”

Two sources who spokeanonymously cited a pro-fessor who saw the dis-comfort of several transstudents and their class-mates — and filed a com-plaint in hopes of prevent-ing the error from happen-ing again.

But those sources con-firm Boulos publicly dead-named trans students twomore times, as recently asApril, and the same profes-sor, who has since been letgo, brought the issue to hu-man resources.

Boulos did not respondto requests for comment.

Recent public protestswithin institutions are notunique to LCAD. Artschools, including Otis Col-lege of Art and Design andCalifornia Institute of theArts, received similar com-ments from students undertheir Instagram posts insolidarity with Black LivesMatter and have made an-nouncements to addressthose issues.

Last week, LCAD stu-dents started the Instagramaccount @blackplusatlcad“to air out their grievancesabout a school that prom-ised an environment of‘Culture and Care.’” It wasinspired by other accountslike @black_at_usc.

The design uses theschool colors and mimicsthe apologies that theschool has made on theirsocial media. But instead,it includes anonymous

comments, submittedthrough a Google docu-ment, like “I had a teachertell our class to ‘Stop beingpolitical,’ because we hadmentioned white privilegein class and how POC aretreated.”

BEHIND THE SCENESAs people started sharing

stories, senior staff tried tocontrol the public narra-tive.

Marantz said she waspart of a group of staff andfaculty of color who helpeddraft an official apology let-ter from the school. Butshe said it was edited andwatered down by the boardof trustees.

In a meeting with staff,administration and faculty,Marantz talked about herexperiences as a Blackwoman in America and inthe school, in addition tosuggesting some changes,like creating a scholarshipto help diversify its studentbody.

On June 19, the schoolput a new post on its socialmedia, explaining the stepsthey were taking to im-prove, including creatingan internal equity and in-clusion council, hiring athird-party restorative jus-tice professional, hosting astudent forum, developinga sensitivity-training pro-gram and working to diver-sify their board.

However, Ferreiras andAlbano-Payton said thatthe forum was rushed, or-ganized within a weekwithout contacting theirnewly formed equity andinclusion council. It wasalso conducted by the re-storative justice team, whostudents said seemed tothink the outrage waspurely over a botched so-cial media post.

To them, the school’s re-sponse seemed little morethan a last-ditch effort tosave its reputation.

When Marantz spoke infront of fellow faculty, staffand administrators, CristyMaltese, a new adjunct fac-ulty member, said she feltirritated.

She admitted she hadn’tbeen following the outcryon social media.

She said that Marantz’scharacterizing the schoolas racist did not match herown experiences theresince she started in January2020.

She sent Marantz andsenior LCAD staff an emailabout how, as a cisgenderChristian conservative, shefelt she often didn’t have avoice, and she asked for itto be forwarded to every-one at that meeting. She

also called diversity train-ing “a waste of time andmoney and an insult toregular, intelligent grown-ups,” and said scholarshipsshould be awarded onmerit, not racial quota.

Marantz, frustrated, took

to her public Facebook, notnaming Maltese, butspeaking about how shespent an hour educating amajority non-Black facultyand staff about institution-

Continued from page R1CAMPUS

See Campus, page R5

Alex Ferreiras

A PETITION FROM students at Laguna College of Art and Design that demands the boardof directors take an online course on race and racism has gathered roughly 1,500 signatures.

Courtesy of Abigail Albano-Peyton

A SCREENSHOT of a social media post from LagunaCollege of Art and Design that was posted on June 1. Itwas meant to be a message to support Black Lives Matter,but mistakenly used the #AllLivesMatter hashtag oftenused to discredit the movement.

‘NO MATTER WHAT I DO’"Sometimes I think I scare people, but really I’m vulnerable.Unfortunately no matter what I do, people are going to beintimidated by my actions. I just embrace it now because Iknow who I am no matter what people perceive me as."—Alex Ferreiras, LCAD student

‘TWO PARTS OF ME’"This is a self portrait of me when I went back to visit myfamily in the Philippines in 2016. I'm Afro-Filipina, and for along time I had difficulty with my self identity. It's a portraitof me, a person who passes off more as Black to others, inBacarra. The reflection in the window is supposed torepresent the two parts of me ... I can resonate with it, theinsecurity, uncertainty, confusion. I no longer feel that way,but it was a painting that I used to self reflect."—Abigail Albano-Payton, LCAD student

‘MYSELF AS A ‘PHOENIX’’"I don't often speak publicly about being a trans man, butfor as long as I've been online, I've drawn myself as a'phoenix,' after my chosen name."—Phoenix Baldwin, former LCAD student

Don Leach | Staff Photographer

AMURAL ON on a wall at Laguna College of Art and Design in Laguna Canyon.

WWW.TIMESOC.COM TIMESOC SUNDAY, JULY 12, 2020 R5

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alized racism, only to have“Karen the white fragilityqueen” email her about“her suffering.”

Maltese demandedMarantz share her fullemail publicly, alongside aapology and “a promise tonever use [white] racialslurs again.”

“I’m sorry to any BIPOCLGBTQ student who hasever had the misfortune ofhaving you as an instruc-tor,” she wrote in herlengthy “apology letter” onJune 27 which was signedby about 60 students,alumni, staff and formerstaff. Now, over 120 peoplehave signed it.

Ferreiras said it was theirway of saying, “If you dosomething to [Larissa], wewill revolt … she’s such afantastic teacher and shecares so much about thestudents.”

He said that part of thereason he wants to speakpublicly is that he believesthe faculty that supportthem in bringing these sto-ries of injustice at theschool out into the openare putting their jobs onthe line.

As of press time, Marantzsaid she has not heard any-thing from school officialsregarding the emails sinceshe made them public.

Maltese, on the otherhand, said she was recentlylet go. In the postscript toher public email, she madewhat she refers to as alighthearted commentabout dropping maskingand social distancing in or-der to “swap some germs.”Some students were fearfulof taking her class, a re-quirement to graduate, inthe fall.

“The only beef I havewith the school, which is afantastic school, is with thecowardice of the adminis-tration,” Maltese said.

ACCOUNTABILITYThe school’s website

links to a PDF briefly de-scribing their “institutionalcomplaint process.” Com-plaints about students goto Laura Patrick, whilecomplaints regarding fac-ulty or institutional policyand procedures go to

Helene Garrison, theschool’s provost.

But many, includingthose who attended LCADin decades prior, also saythey never received feed-back about complaintsbrought to administration.

A week before BarackObama was elected presi-dent in 2008, an LCAD ani-mation student woreblackface and posed asObama for an on-campusHalloween celebration.

Marie Bower, an alum-nus who is Native Ameri-can and white, recalled thestudent dyeing his reddish-brown hair and eyebrowsblack and covering his fairskin with brown makeupthat was shades darkerthan Obama’s skin tone.She and a group of class-mates had warned him itwas blackface a day priorto the party.

He won the costumecontest. The blackfacephotos stayed up on the

school’s Facebook as re-cently as June 18, accordingto Bower who sharedscreenshots with TimesOC,and, at press time, remainposted on LCAD’s alumniFacebook page.

Bower, who was also astudent worker in the pro-vost’s office, said she toldGarrison and her executiveassistant.

“They were like, ‘it’s notblackface. He’s dressed likeObama.’ And that was theend of the conversation. Ididn’t know what else to dowith that,” Bower said.

In December 2019, Bald-win started a petition inthe animation department,which asked for six instruc-tors the students liked,who were having classestaken away from them, tobe reinstated. He providedTimesOC with a copy of thetext of the petition.

Before setting up a meet-ing with Burke, Baldwinsaid he asked 73 students

to sign it, and 70 signed.Baldwin recalled bring-

ing the petition to Burke,who deflected to Garrison,who then scolded him fornot following protocol.

She insisted that hebring the petition directlyto the chair, Boulos, de-spite the fact that Boulos,the one in charge of hiring,was the target of the peti-tion, and it made Baldwinuncomfortable.

A couple of weeks later,Baldwin said there was asecond meeting, this timewith Baldwin’s mother inattendance. Baldwin saidGarrison spent the meetinginterrogating the studentsabout which faculty mem-bers were behind the peti-tion.

“We’re just over there go-ing, ‘No, we’re here to saveteachers,’ “ he said. “ ‘Youdon’t understand. We wantto keep teachers, we wantto reinstate teachers.”

A few weeks later, Bald-

win decided to withdrawfrom the school, whichcosts approximately$35,000 a year to attend,without housing or finan-cial aid.

His mother sent Garri-son an angry email thatBaldwin shared with Time-sOC.

“In the meeting, I feltthat my child was interro-gated, disrespected anddismissed,” the email read.“After what has transpiredover the last couple ofweeks while my son hasendeavored to be heard, Ino longer wish to giveLCAD our attention or ourmoney … LCAD will con-tinue to suffer if the situa-tion remains status quo.”

Baldwin said that therehave been numerous stu-dent petitions over theyears that went nowhereand a history of students’concerns being ignored byadministration.

He questioned why

Burke would tell studentsthat, as the president, hecan’t do anything.

Burke recently an-nounced his retirement af-ter 40 years of teaching atthe school, 10 as president,though he is not scheduledto step down until the endof the year. Burke said thathe was stepping down be-cause he felt it was timeand to return to his art.There was no mention ofany campus strife in his re-tirement note.

Despite their criticisms— and the push-back fromclassmates who do not re-late to their experiencesand wish for them to beless public — Ferreiras andAlbano-Payton also speakpassionately about fellowstudents, faculty and staffmembers who they believewill be instrumental inbringing necessary changeto the school they love.

Marantz hopes thatLCAD can become a schoolwhere students feel liketheir voices are heard.

“There needs to be a setof guidelines and a pipe-line so that when a studentcomes to a faculty memberand says I’ve been har-assed, or when a studentcomes to an administratorand says this teacher isharassing me, that thereare steps that can be tak-en,” Marantz said. “Whereaccountability can happenand that these people whoare causing damage andharm are held account-able.”

“There needs to bechecks and balances andthere is clearly not.”

Both Albano-Payton andFerreiras say they are“hopeful but hesitant”about the future of theschool.

A fourth-year student,Ferreiras, 25, is older thanmost of his classmates, andas a 6-foot-1 trans man, heunderstands that it’s easierfor him to speak out.

So he wants to stand upfor the people who areyounger and smaller thanhim, who are too scared.

“It’s like, ‘I’m going toleave this school, and wedon’t want to leave you in aspace that’s toxic and un-safe,’” he said.

Continued from page R4CAMPUS

Illustrations by Larissa Marantz

LARISSAMARANTZ is the only woman of color who teaches at Laguna College of Art and Design. After post mistakenlytagged #alllivesmatter went up on LCAD's social media, she created a comic of herself explaining why All Lives Matter is anargument against Black Lives Matter.

[email protected]: @TheDailyPilot

R6 SUNDAY, JULY 12, 2020 TIMESOC WWW.TIMESOC.COM

technical issues with thecity’s phone-in publiccomment system duringprevious meetings.

“I think that you guysare utilizing the pandemicto silence the voices ofyour own damn constitu-ents and prevent us fromcoming in here,” said AbelDe La Cruz, of the activistgroup By Any Means Nec-essary. “Santa Ana has thehighest count of co-ronavirus in OrangeCounty, and you are usingthat to shut us up andprevent us from cominghere and confrontingyou.”

Regarding the budget,she said, “You are fundinga police force that system-atically targets and kills

brown and Black people ...Create a new budget thatincludes a complete de-funding of the police, acomplete abolishment ofthe police and actual pro-tections for immigrants inSanta Ana.”

Many speakers pointedout that Santa Ana’s de-partment is one of themost deadly in the state.According to Mapping Po-lice Violence, Santa Ana isthe fourth deadliest policedepartment in California.

“People are more com-fortable with drug dealersaround them than beingnext to police because ofhow scared they are — it’snot right,” said AnthonyHernandez, who said hewas born and raised inSanta Ana.

Continued from page R2DEFENSE

[email protected]: @_benbrazil

something different fromthe Brethren we knew andloved,” said McInally, whoworked as the office coor-dinator for the school’sfootball team, but nowworks at Calvary Chapel inSanta Ana. “We were alldistanced in the first place,so then, it was almost likewe thought it was going todie three years ago, notthat it was going to survivethree more.”

For him, McInally said

he felt it was only a matterof time.

His father, Pat McInally,who coached football atthe high school for sixyears, said he had a lot ofgreat memories at theschool and felt it was dis-heartening to see smallChristian schools close.

“Another victim of to-day’s economy and thechallenge of keeping thesesmall schools afloat,” PatMcInally said.

Green called the closurean end of an era.

“There’s a lot of goodthings that the school’sbeen able to do while itwas open and just, unfor-tunately due to the timesand everything that’s goingon, they’re not able topush past this hurdle,”said Green, a BrethrenChristian alumnus.

Green said he’s been intouch with his players, butthat he felt there were no

answers to be provided asmuch as there were ques-tions.

“I knew people whosegrandparents had gone toBrethren, whose parentswent to Brethren, they’vegone to Brethren,” JackMcInally said. “It’s toughin that sense that theywon’t be able to send theirkids there, but that’s life.”

was going to end. We allkind of knew it, but wekind of expected it to hap-pen.”

Like Donahoe, Jack McI-nally, 25, said he heardabout the closure throughsocial media, specificallybasketball coach Jeff Jef-ferson’s Instagram. McI-nally, a 2014 graduate, de-

scribed the news as some-thing that “broke [his]heart.”

“I went there for sixyears. I went there in jun-ior high, too. Sevenththrough eighth. I workedat Brethren for threemore,” McInally said. “Itwas tough.”

But McInally said thathe felt that “Brethrenwasn’t really Brethren thelast three, four years.”

“It was slowly becoming

Continued from page R2BRETHREN

[email protected]: @lillibirds

Barnes wrote.“As many other industries

are gaining compliancethrough an education-firstapproach, deputies willcontinue to educate thepublic about the statewideface-covering requirementand will request voluntarycompliance.”

Cities with their own po-lice departments in OrangeCounty, including Irvineand Newport Beach, havealso found success takingan education-first ap-proach.

While police in Irvine cancite people who refuse towear face coverings under acity order, officers have notfound it to be necessary,said Sgt. Karie Davies.

“People have been recep-tive to the information thatour officers provide. I thinksome of it is just a matter ofclearing up misinforma-

wear a face covering whenyou are in a public placeand unable to properly so-cial distance, as well as fol-lowing hygiene and socialdistancing guidance,” Steelsaid in a statement thisweek.

“This is of the utmost im-portance to protect yourhealth and the health ofothers, so that we can re-turn back to normal asquickly as possible.”

While more public offi-cials appear to be embrac-ing the mask requirement,law enforcement through-out much of the county hastaken a softer approachthan its northerly neigh-bors. In some Westside cit-ies in Los Angeles County,like Santa Monica, not

wearing a mask could resultin a $300 fine for a first of-fense.

The Los Angeles CountySheriff’s Department onTuesday could not immedi-ately provide data about thenumber of citations theyhave issued.

Orange County SheriffDon Barnes said in a state-ment that the departmenthas to be practical whenconsidering enforcement offace coverings in the sec-tions of the county wheredeputies patrol. Officialssaid the sheriff is not takingan adversarial approach tothe governor’s orders, but isoperating with limited re-sources.

“With limited exceptions,not wearing a face coveringis a violation of the publichealth order, but it is not apractical application of acriminal law violation,”

tion,” Davies said. “We’rereally trying not to give peo-ple citations, but if pushcame to shove and we reallyhad to, we would.”

Newsom on Monday in-dicated that counties notenforcing the orders couldrisk losing their share of$2.5 billion worth of statefunds, saying that if officialsare “unwilling to do it, thenwe will redirect those dol-lars to communities thatare.”

“I have great respect forthe overwhelming majorityof officials in OrangeCounty that want to do theright thing,” Newsom said.“If there’s a handful thatdon’t, we’ll work throughthem, around them or we’llwork through whatever theproblems are.”

Continued from page R2MASKS

[email protected]: @Hannahnfry

“Getting out and becom-ing active in the protests, Ithink that effectivelychanged the youth culturein Orange County fromhere forward. We are goingto see a much more multi-cultural Orange County. AnOrange County that isBlack-friendly and empa-thetic to Black residents.”

When Kidd was releasedfrom prison in 2017 after a10-year bid for armed rob-bery, he was given $200 asgate money. Kidd used thatmeager sum as a corporatefiling fee to start Black OC,a business that advocatesfor the rights of Black resi-dents of Orange County.

As part of Black OC,Kidd mentors at-risk youthin photography and vi-deography. He also worksclosely with the Heart ofJOB Foundation, whichmentors youth in the mu-sic business. Eventually,Black OC will include anonline marketplace forBlack artists and busi-nesses to promote, col-laborate and network.

Kidd needs funding tofurther expand the servicesof Black OC. Currently, it’salmost a one-man job,though he has several part-time collaborators.

The group has played anintegral role in the localanti-police brutality move-ment since the death ofGeorge Floyd sparked na-tional protests in late May.Kidd has attended manyprotests, including speak-ing at a few, and Black OCled its own large protest atSasscer Park in Santa Analast month.

The morning after Floydwas killed, Kidd flew toMinneapolis to visit thesite of his death and filmand photograph the pro-tests. That footage will beused for his documentary,“Bang for Change,” whichhe plans to release thisyear.

“I woke up and sawGeorge Floyd was mur-dered,” Kidd said. “I feltcalled to action like a lot ofpeople felt. I bought a one-way ticket to Minneapolisand went with my camera.I wanted to use my camerathe best way I could ... Iwanted to bring my cam-era out there to documentthe protests from an inti-mate level. That way I canreport what goes on with-out having to rely on themedia.”

Michael Daniel Lynem, aformer leader of the BlackPanther Party in OrangeCounty in the 1960s, saidhe and Kidd will be work-ing together in the futureon community organizingefforts. Lynem, who is nowa pastor in Orange County,spoke at the Sasscer Parkrally.

Lynem, 73, said OrangeCounty has dramaticallychanged. He said he hasexperienced more racismin Orange County than inKentucky, where he wentto school as a child. Butnow, the county is becom-ing more progressive.

“I experienced thatsouthern racism under JimCrow, but it was really in

Orange County that I ex-perienced that direct rac-ism,” Lynem said. “It waspretty blatant, and it waswhere I experienced themost racism on a daily ba-sis. Racial profiling, I be-lieve, was the official pol-icy of the police depart-ment.”

Lynem said he believesthe racial divide in thecountry is the worst it’sever been, but he has hopein this generation.

“Ferin and them are thekind of people, that withtheir direction, that iswhere the hope is going tocome from,” Lynem said.“It’s from groups like BlackOC.”

Kidd’s knowledge andpassion for civil rights wasfostered in confinement.

In 2006, Kidd was ar-rested for suspected armedrobbery and possession ofa firearm after years in andout of trouble for gang-re-lated crimes. He was facinga triple life sentence due tothe three-strikes law. Hewas able to beat some ofthe charges and wasbooked into prison on a12-year sentence, forwhich he served about 10years.

“Going into prison, Iknew I for sure couldn’treturn to a life of crimeand that I needed to figuresomething out,” Kidd

said. “I went in there, andI treated prison like it wasa school. Some of the old-er brothers I talked to inthe county jail gettingready to go into prison,they said they call thepenitentiary a university.They said that ‘you shouldcome out of this situationstronger in mind, bodyand soul.’”

Kidd, whose fatherwasn’t in his life growingup, said that it was the firsttime he had access to olderBlack male role models. Hesaid he listened to theircounsel and read thebooks they gave him.

He educated himself oncivil rights. He learnedspiritual strength andgrounding through prac-ticing Islam.

Kidd spent most of histime at Ironwood StatePrison in Blythe. Severalyears into his sentence,Kidd chose to join thestate’s inmate firefighterprogram. He signed up forfour years with the pro-gram but transferred outafter two years.

“It allowed me access tosociety even in a very lim-ited way,” Kidd said. “It al-lowed me to do somethingthat was constructive, andI learned a brand newtrade and was doing some-thing meaningful. In manyways, it was a positive ex-

perience. But in otherways, to the conscious per-son, it was a very exploit-ative experience. They areoutsourcing prisoners as acheap labor source.”

Kidd said he was paid adollar an hour. Some daysthe inmates worked 24hours straight. Kidd saidmany of the inmates toler-ated abuse from higher-ups because they werescared to go back to pris-on.

“There’s a lot of harass-ment inmates tolerate,”Kidd said. “It has its pros,but it definitely has itscons. I saw that as very ex-ploitative. It is dangerouswork. There are timeswhen we are put in posi-tions that are very ques-tionable and highly dan-gerous. I had been com-manded by my fire cap-tains to go into situationsthat were clearly danger-ous.”

Kidd transferred to Lan-caster state prison for theremainder of his sentence.There, he started puttinghis organizing skills to use.

Kidd realized that thepredominately-Black pris-on lacked basic resourcesfor inmates that are re-quired by state law. So hewent to work.

First, Kidd drafted a pe-tition taking umbrage withthe sluggish pace of theprison’s mail delivery. Mail

was supposed to be deliv-ered within 72 hours, butsome inmates had to waitmonths for their mail.

Kidd unified the prisonyard to get behind the peti-tion. That wasn’t an easyfeat.

“In prison, we are ra-cially divided, so every re-spective race has their ownorganization, and inside ofthe races, you have sub-groups like Bloods andCrips,” Kidd said. “Each or-ganization has its ownpresident or leadership.For me, it was just aboutgoing to each racial groupand letting them knowwhat the petition was for. Ineeded to collect signa-tures from every race. Weneeded to show this isn’t aproblem affecting just onegroup. We need to let themknow we all stand united.”

The petition was suc-cessful.

From there, Kidd real-ized that the prison didn’thave a law library. Prisonsare legally required to havelaw libraries, so that in-mates can study their owncases and rights.

Kidd once again unifiedthe yard toward a commongoal. He said the prisoninitially agreed to open alibrary, but with onlybooks.

“That wasn’t goodenough,” Kidd said. “Wepushed the issue and let

them know that there willbe legal repercussions ifthere aren’t computers.”

Computers were added.Next, Kidd and the in-

mates were able to petitionthe prison to open itschapel, which had re-mained closed due to lackof staffing.

“Inmates have the rightsto religious services,” Kiddsaid. “There was a lot ofabuse on the inmate popu-lation in that yard.”

Kidd was their advocate.He cared for his fellow in-mates, though he kept onlya few close friends.

“He was very humbleand giving and caring topeople who didn’t havethings,” said TerranceHawk, Kidd’s friend at Lan-caster prison. “He wouldbuild connections withpeople who didn’t have toomuch. He would go out ofhis way to help them. Hechanged the whole envi-ronment in that yard, outof love.”

Kidd met Hawk in 2015when he arrived in Lancas-ter.

Hawk, now 25, was ayoung Black man search-ing for meaning and direc-tion in his life, much likeKidd when he first enteredthe prison system.

Kidd mentored Hawk,sharing books on civilrights, Black history andself empowerment.

“We built a bond aroundcivil rights and things wewere passionate about,”Hawk said. “I learned somuch about Black historyand different civil rightsactivists and revolutionar-ies. He really helped mebecome a better version ofmyself.”

They’d discuss in-depththe “Autobiography of Mal-colm X” or the moral ten-ets of the “Quran.” Theypracticed Islam together,finding self-growth andspiritual grounding in itspages.

Mostly, they spoke ofBlack OC and what Kiddwould create when he wasreleased.

They discussed what thegoals and mission of theorganization would be,and how it would betterthe Black community inOrange County that Kiddgrew up in.

“From day one, whenFerin got out, he was on amission,” Hawk said. “Hecreated Black OC fromnothing.”

When Hawk was re-leased from prison a fewmonths after Kidd, Kidddrove from Orange Countyto pick up Hawk’s motherand sisters to take them tothe prison. Kidd filmed theentire event to memori-alize the release of hisclose friend.

Hawk is now workingclosely with Kidd on BlackOC.

He said he owes every-thing to Kidd.

“To this day, I hear hisvoice in my head whensomething is going on inmy life,” Hawk said. “I hearhis voice in my head tellingme something he told meback when we were in pris-on.”

Continued from page R1KIDD

Raul Roa | Staff PhotographerORGANIZER AND executive director of Black O.C. Ferin Kidd spoke at the Juneteenth Change Makers Vigil, sponsored byBlack O.C., at Sasscer Park in Santa Ana on June 19. Dozens of attendees stood in the shaded area of the small park holdingsigns while speakers took turns at the podium. Kidd said that they were out there “To show solidarity with one another.”

Los Angeles Times

INMATE FIREFIGHTERS based at a camp in Azusa fight aTehachapi wildfire. Ferin Kidd worked as an inmatefirefighter until he decidedit was too exploitative.

Courtesy of Ferin Kidd

FERIN KIDD, left, and Terrance Hawk at Lancaster stateprison.

[email protected]: @_benbrazil