This talk took place on the campus of Locke High School (325 E. 111th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90061) in the Watts district at 12:30 in the afternoon. In an environment where drugs, gang violence, and illiteracy are pervasive throughout the inner cities young Black boys & girls are constantly faced with dangerous circumstances. Single parent households where men are heavily absent leaves a gap in the makeup of these children to where stable examples of manhood become a rarity, or so it seems. This leads to an increase of young men without guidance which spills over into the community causing family violence, gang violence, an overall increase in criminality and even death by murder & suicide.
Rizza Islam being born & raised in Compton, CA coming from a family background where drugs, alcohol and gang violence were the reality is no stranger to how devasting this truly is. More examples of Black men & women who came from the hood and grew to make change in the very neighborhoods they came from are needed!
Rizza Islam has received awards from multiple cities including Compton, Lynwood, Los Angeles, Watts CA and well known organizations, such as the YMCA, the Youth For Human Rights International for educating over 2,000 inner city youth about their rights as a human being, and the Stephanie Hamilton “Community Spirit” award by the Ebony Awakening Foundation for saving the lives of more than 15,000 inner city youth & adults. As a registered member of the Nation of Islam, in July 2016 Rizza Islam represented Min. Tony Muhammad in assisting hip-hop artists, “The Game” & “Snoop Dogg”, in bringing peace between the Bloods, Crips and the L.A. police department, resulting in a meeting directly following the event with L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti and L.A. Police Chief Charlie Beck.
Rizza Islam is a voice of the community and to those within our younger generations. His example represents the ideal image of a role model to share with our students.
Watch Rizzas full talk with the students here:
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