00:00:00.009 - 00:00:17.309

Actually my name is Loretta B actress Randall. I always say Loretta beautiful Randall. Um, my middle name is named after my father's oldest sister who lived to be 100 and six years old. She just passed away a couple of years ago. I'm from small town Vallejo.

00:00:17.319 - 00:00:37.509

I'm the mother of one son and he is an awesome son and father of my three, awesome and amazing grandchildren. They're all in the Bay area at 25. I was tired of the drama and the violence that was coming against me and I just felt so

00:00:37.549 - 00:00:57.049

uh imprisoned because what was happening now that I can look back on it was that the move of God calling me to purpose for purpose was happening in the throes of the chaos. So I snatched up my eight year old single mother, son got in my

00:00:57.060 - 00:01:15.279

1971 yellow Volkswagen and hit the interstate five with just the phone number. Well, on a tank of gas, it, it brought me here to Los Angeles. Yes. Uh, gas must have been about 25 cents or 50 cents a gallon in 1973. I, you know, it was

00:01:15.290 - 00:01:36.449

affordable I stepped into L A in what I call the fast moving current of social justice work. Didn't, didn't have a sense of big city wide, sprawling lai. I came from like a bubble and stepped into all of this. Well, actually let me just start with

00:01:36.540 - 00:01:56.169

uh Pepperdine's jubilee celebration last year and they asked me to open up in prayer. I am a licensed minister as well. But anyway, so I was studying on what is jubilee and in the bible, the Lord speaks to taking a rest 49 years. You have been

00:01:56.180 - 00:02:13.320

toiling now. I need you just to take a rest. And so that word rest resonated with me. And I went like, oh my God. Yeah, this is my jubilee. I hit the ground in 1973 and I got instruction and inspiration just last year. Now is your

00:02:13.330 - 00:02:32.089

time to rest. So you can come up off the ground because I've been on the ground and uh Children in foster care going after Children in human sex trafficking, going after African American boys not reading by nine. And you know, really praying for uh Children diagnosed

00:02:32.100 - 00:02:54.860

with childhood cancer because my middle grandchild was diagnosed with sickle cell anemia. So those four anchors uh are the strategies of a secondary ministry that emerged called when 1000 grandmothers pray. So my work with Pepperdine places me at the childcare Center of Girls Club of Los

00:02:54.869 - 00:03:16.940

Angeles. Given the timeline of the Pepperdine exit in 1976. I was in escrow in 1976 to purchase my first home on 83rd and western. I do call it my neighborhood, my city, I own it. I remember being trained in a Christian training program says, you know,

00:03:16.949 - 00:03:32.850

encourage servants to live where they work and work where you live. My life experiences, as well as my work experience, as well as my ministry experience have all been South L A. So I don't put see myself having any boundaries. One of my callings when I

00:03:32.860 - 00:03:53.350

was the executive director of te Post Youth Information Center in the Watts area was to one strategy was to get the Children and families beyond the five mile radius or most people don't travel more than five miles outside of their neighborhood. So I became obsessed with

00:03:53.360 - 00:04:10.649

taking these young people from w to the theater, you know, to Hollywood, you know, to the ocean. So all of those things just wh they fill me up. But see God has a way of delivering you, healing you so that he can feel you with his

00:04:10.660 - 00:04:30.760

spirit of compassion and servant leadership. Well, why let me just say this Pepperdine was exiting and they were doing it very, so quietly, so to speak. I knew they there was a movement and because the buzz was in the community, but no one kind of what

00:04:30.769 - 00:04:53.559

understood the implications of that institutions have to be responsible. You, you just can't just show up and then unplug without how is this gonna impact the people who have been like, relying on, depending on uh servicing you patronizing you giving you their, their best, you know.

00:04:53.570 - 00:05:14.519

So I just look, looking back, it's like Pepperdine could have done it differently and it left, it left a hole. So, Pepperdine. Wow. Good. You know, at his core, because I read the background on the founder Christian man, you know, and III I caught his heart

00:05:14.529 - 00:05:38.309

for wanting to train leaders, you know, from a, from a kind of a Christian biblical perspective. Although there is cloud surrounding, why Pepperdine relocated, I can't say this for sure that um there was an incident with a uh security guard and a young African American child

00:05:38.320 - 00:05:54.100

being murdered. And uh so there you have it again. Let's get up out of here. It's not safe for us as opposed to, well, what kind of impact is that gonna leave on the rest of the community? I know that God was preparing me, you know,

00:05:54.109 - 00:06:11.640

to be a voice in my unique way. So the buzz was happening and because I'm work oriented and action oriented and my mother was that example. So that's all I've ever seen. So buying a home, I didn't think about that. It was that close to Pepperdine.

00:06:12.109 - 00:06:28.399

But what I've come to learn was that there was the white Exodus, the even in my neighborhood, the white flight took you know, it was happening because it was, it was a mixed neighborhood. I still have wonderful neighbors. I'm on a, a ch a school that

00:06:28.410 - 00:06:47.920

is anchored by a large pink church, Saint Mark United Methodist Church. OK. So that was uh Anglo you know, founded and sustained. And so for the first few years that I was there, maybe the 1st 10 or 15 years that was there, I would see this.

00:06:47.940 - 00:07:00.910

Uh what do you call it? Like a wagon train of mobile homes would come and surround this church with the aging a former Christian man who took care of this church. And I was standing on my porch and I go like, yeah, that's it. That's, that's

00:07:00.920 - 00:07:19.190

what it's supposed to look like that right there. Even though you are not the, the, the dominant congregation, you're not the dominant member in this edifice or this place, but you still return to show your support and to show your presence, to show us how to

00:07:19.200 - 00:07:40.190

sustain. Now, my neighborhood, it was easy, it wasn't loud, it wasn't noisy. And then in the eighties when PC P and crack cocaine, you know, all the drugs just started filtering in. I was out at night with parents driving streets trying to find their child from

00:07:40.200 - 00:07:59.880

getting killed in gangs. And uh and then the gang violence I moved into my immediate neighborhood. So I have a reputation as auntie low getting in your face. Most of those young kids that we work with at the time they were being harassed. I mean, I

00:07:59.890 - 00:08:18.690

was making court appearances, character references just trying to keep them from being incarcerated. The lady who I was living with at the time knew the executive director at Teen Post at the time and he needed administrative assistant. So I stepped into a culture, wow, on the

00:08:18.700 - 00:08:39.299

ground, social justice, community activism, I stepped into the uh culture of the what is it called? The US organization, Doctor Doctor Ron Kinga. And so I enrolled my son, they had a school on uh 43rd in Crenshaw called the Kawa IA Educational Center. The work that

00:08:39.309 - 00:09:05.700

we did on the ground, I mean, it was uh what would you call it when it was trailblazing every African American that I knew were doing some type of social justice, social entrepreneur, community activism. You know, we were in the height of the aftermath of the

00:09:05.710 - 00:09:24.674

65 riot. So there was a rebuilding going on in the education sector. People were going back to school and getting degrees, you know, to go back to schools, to teach. Uh new institutions were being formed, you know, health and well, not wellness but health institutions uh

00:09:24.684 - 00:09:42.715

that were not medical, you know, were being launched. Uh What do you call the drug rehab was big? So I, I don't take the work that I, I do lightly. I mean, the parents were quite involved. They entrusted their kids to us, we were taking recruiting

00:09:42.724 - 00:09:58.099

kids, even a Congresswoman Maxine Waters and some of the other agencies, they would come to the team post and say, Loretta, can you get us 100 kids? We want to drive them up to Sacramento and you know, have their voices heard up here. It, it's just

00:09:58.109 - 00:10:18.900

been a continuous just fight for justice. The word justice is a biblical term. So Proverbs 31 8 and nine says, mm open your mouth for the oppressed and for those who are destined to die, I didn't get that scripture until later. But, but I was so

00:10:18.909 - 00:10:36.080

driven, but it was my mother's footwork. So South L A it was raising up leaders, girl like never before. And I don't know if you remember if I've heard the name Mary Henry. Mary Henry was one of the first vocal voices that I sat at the

00:10:36.090 - 00:10:59.030

table with. And uh I witnessed uh an experience with a young educated person who was sent down from the state to participate in some of our activities. Mary Henry discerned the intentions or the lack of wisdom this on this girl's part and called her out. I

00:10:59.039 - 00:11:11.859

mean, my ears turned red because I felt sorry for the girl. I was like, oh my God. Well, I hope I hope I can live up to, to do the right thing. So I had to pay attention and my director at the time who was Lonnie

00:11:11.869 - 00:11:27.909

Wilson, he would send me out to all of these community meetings, the City Hall, we were at City Hall a lot making our voices heard when I, I first arrived at Team Post and I was trying to learn, you know, how to, what are we doing

00:11:27.979 - 00:11:49.070

and how were they doing it? And so the crew that I was working with were, uh, some were ex offenders, some were ex drug users, some were um affluent, you know, it was just a nice mixture. The community called us the motley crew. When we get

00:11:49.080 - 00:12:03.299

word that there was some gang violence somewhere. You know, the Lonnie Wilson would say, get in the van. Let's go. So we were trying to do intervention and prevention. At the same time, we get a call to come make a AAA presentation about what we do.

00:12:03.309 - 00:12:17.130

You know, we had a health education program and we had a kit that showed all the drugs that was our pitch. Don't use this, don't this is this, this is marijuana, this is red devil. This is this. It was truly trying to inform them, uh, at

00:12:17.140 - 00:12:34.929

the lowest level, the young man is going forth with his presentation. Then he turns and says, and now we'll ask, uh Loretta Randall to come and I, I was frozen and of course, when we got back to the office, I bopped him upside the head. But

00:12:34.940 - 00:12:51.369

I walked out on the stage and I'm looking at these babies out there. Look, all I could think about was Nancy Reagan's uh mantra. Just say no. So I didn't say it like that, but I said something to the effect of when was the last time

00:12:51.380 - 00:13:07.900

you said no. So anyway, that was my first uh platform of public speaking in South L A. But then that's when I knew that I was in the right place. So anyway, back to my neighborhood, so to speak South L A. How did we do what

00:13:07.909 - 00:13:26.900

we did? We did it collectively, we did it in collaboration and we did it in partnership when people were running for offices, our location on 85th and Broadway was always a stop. Non black people, you know, would show up at our doorstep, use our location to

00:13:26.909 - 00:13:44.270

collect data on this and that, you know, so like you, I would be sitting back going like mm OK. I see y'all, I mean, I didn't have words for it because I was still very young taking everything in. Well, I saw here here they are again

00:13:44.280 - 00:14:10.169

collecting information using African Americans to uh affirm or confirm or to promote. So it never trickled back to anything substantial to the agency or to the community. So I'm seeing kids in the news, I'm seeing kids being violated. I mean there was an event in 1997

00:14:10.200 - 00:14:28.760

an 18 month old child was taken into emergency surgery. And I said, what, what, why would that be on the news. And then they later said the childcare worker boyfriend is suspect I fell out. Then I went on the floor. I screamed, cried, God, where are

00:14:28.770 - 00:14:48.299

you? I said, oh, wow. So didn't know that the seed was being planted to protect Children. So I opened my home, I did six months later, my home was licensed as a Randall family home with the Department of Children and Family Services. There's no difference. That's

00:14:48.309 - 00:15:05.799

what Jesus came to do. He said I sit on the right hand of the father advocating for you and he gave us instructions. Go ye therefore and advocate for peace. I'm gonna put my own spin on it, be reconciled and help the people to be reconciled

00:15:05.809 - 00:15:26.869

to the father. That's social justice. So to me, it's, it's one package I was employed with World Vision for that seven years. We were right across the street from a county service that service Children. And they invited me over to sit at the table and be

00:15:26.880 - 00:15:42.070

a part of the team. So then they asked me something and I asked me a question. Well, I didn't feel comfortable saying what we needed to do concerning this child and the child is sitting right there. So why don't we ask the child? The child is

00:15:42.080 - 00:15:58.190

sitting right here. But I know there was some special needs going on. But at the same time, just because the body can't function, the spirit is alive. I have a special needs nephew. And the thing that he and I do when we get together is that

00:15:58.200 - 00:16:14.710

we laugh hard because he has a speech impediment. And so he can't get his words out. So I'm sitting at the table and I see that the, the voice of the child is not heard. Disconcerting for me also, I don't know how I became involved with

00:16:14.719 - 00:16:38.400

the group home, but at some point, somebody called me and asked me, would I come and pray over the Children at the group home? And so I get to the group home and there's an outburst. They said, Miss Loretta, uh what would you do? Um Give

00:16:38.409 - 00:16:54.869

her an orange and what I'm finding the orange is not only symbolic of hope, but it also refreshes you. It gives you a little something to calm you down because these two girls were getting ready to go away and they were huge girls. Look at them,

00:16:54.880 - 00:17:13.899

little me, you know, showing up. So the little, the big girl who was just in a rage, I asked her and all of this is in the spirit. I said, dude, you journal, do you, do you write? Yes, I said, go, go get your journal fast

00:17:13.909 - 00:17:34.680

forward. I'm a volunteer at Dream Catcher Foundation Group Home for girls. I asked them if I could do something unique. Can I bring in a tea kettle and have tea with them? Can I bring some oranges in and can I just play some soft music and

00:17:34.689 - 00:17:51.369

then we can just pray. And all I could see is these girls are just so broken. They wanted to be with their parents who couldn't be with them. So I stayed with them for a while. But this is also while in the midst of the Lord

00:17:51.380 - 00:18:10.349

calling me to return and complete my master's degree. Uh you know, the politics, the leadership, the conflicts that were going on. I'm a porch girl, I'll go stand on the porch but I listen in for sounds. You know, if I hear too many police cars, too

00:18:10.359 - 00:18:26.699

many sirens, too many medical trucks. I become concerned like what's going on, God, should I be concerned? Is it time for me to move? You know, or do I stay? You know, my, the big event that was, brings a smile to me is when we elected

00:18:26.709 - 00:18:47.260

Mayor Tom Bradley, uh seeing a black man in that role, first time he was the first one, first black man and he came in on the transition of the former police officer. The police officer was Darryl Gates. Oh, he was ruthless. He was mean and, and,

00:18:47.270 - 00:19:06.260

and, and everybody knew it. Mayor Bradley brought a shift in his, his spirit brought uh another level of hopefulness for all the what I call him, the the warriors on the ground. I'm big on having a presence whether you open your mouth or not. So the

00:19:06.270 - 00:19:22.869

events that are taking place, not just the neighborhood but the sofi in the Clipper Stadiums and the transformation of Inglewood and the re I don't even if the people are being relocated or the dislocation, a couple of families say, hey, me and my daughter were here

00:19:22.880 - 00:19:42.359

in, in Inglewood and we were paying this amount of rent. Now they tripled it and now we are homeless. So I'm a little peeved that, you know, how do you say the word gentrification, gentrification? It's always at the expense of, of the people who have helped

00:19:42.369 - 00:20:03.449

to maintain it. But nevertheless, what I want people to know about my neighborhood that the neighborhood exists because of the kind, the kind people who live there, they're kind people, you know, everybody's not corrupt, everybody's not uh do not fit in your the scriptures that it's

00:20:03.459 - 00:20:21.750

a safe place to come is a safe place to be South L A is a rich land. So I'm in relationship with my neighbors. I can knock on any door now. They don't knock on mine per se, but they all kind of know what's going on

00:20:21.760 - 00:20:38.239

with me. Like my neighbor to the right of me. They're like 90 years old. They heard that I was going through something. She sent her husband over there to put an envelope in my mailbox with $20 in it. $20 was like not big money. But it

00:20:38.250 - 00:20:54.609

said, hey, I'm thinking about you and then my neighbor, five doors down has a five year old who loves to ride his bike and stop in front of my house. Ring my doorbell. Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, auntie low. Come see me, ride my bike. You

00:20:54.619 - 00:21:09.780

know, that brings me so much joy. The pastor of the Saint Mark Church. He was sitting out on his porch for the first time and he waved and I did like this. Yes, I'm alive. See, they know I've been going through, I just did this. Thank

00:21:09.790 - 00:21:23.849

you. I know they're praying. I want people to know that it's love that makes the world turn, we gotta use love as the, um, as the key to turn things around. It's like.