There was one group of Jordan High School students who were largely responsible for the movement to change the library name to the Michelle Obama Neighborhood Library, and they were new to city-government bureaucracy. The change comes at an important time. The former North Neighborhood Library (also known as the North Branch) located at 5571 Orange Ave. just closed its doors on July 31.
Vice Mayor Rex Richardson recognized the efforts by the kids in the school’s program known as WRAP (Winners Reaching Amazing Potential). He credited them with initiating the idea, and Richardson knew early on that the project would likely spark their interest in civic engagement. The vice mayor acknowledged that the library itself at 5870 Atlantic Ave. would be in a key area, serving in many ways as a community center.
“That’s a huge opportunity to create a new entry point for a new generation of people to get involved in their community,” Richardson concluded.
A building’s name-change process often requires grit and patience to wade through the political theater and community meetings. Not everyone embraced the change. Some decried the choice to name the building after the first lady, citing concerns that naming the library after Obama is a politically motivated choice. Ultimately, the community and the city council supported the kids’ efforts earlier this year.
“And it wasn’t easy,” Richardson added, “but the kids stuck it through. They dealt with adversity.” The vice mayor, who also represents the 9th District on the city council, described how the students had to demonstrate maturity as they evaluated how different people felt about the issue.
It is a sweet victory for youth like 17-year-old Angel Posos, who spent much of his past year as a Jordan High sophomore attending the various community meetings.
In a telephone interview, Posos praised the first lady’s focus on youth and education. He specifically credits Obama and Richardson for inspiring the youth to take an active part in the name change.
He added that the kids otherwise “wouldn’t have had a voice,” declaring that he hoped the first lady would see that the library was really about the youth and that other kids would be inspired to use the library.
He said that the experience was a chance that the kids don’t usually get, and he would want to tell her that they did so much to get the building named after the first lady because they really admire her.
The effort was also more than a point of civic pride for Posos. He had one specific memory of a man at a meeting who questioned whether a woman as powerful as Obama would come to the city and that putting her name on the building would be offensive to her.
Posos hated north Long Beach’s reputation and insulting nickname of “the nasty north.” He knew that the area had been undergoing a revitalization process. Posos also knows that even if the library were to be named after the first lady, there was never any guarantee that Obama would ever go to his neighborhood. Posos still hopes. He is sure a visit from the president’s wife would take away the negative image of his neighborhood. He hopes she’ll see the building for herself.
“If we have a capability to bring a government official…to the city,” he concluded, “then we must be doing something right.”
Either way, the library project opened up a whole new chapter on civics for the kids that did not stop with the library. Posos described how the students became involved with the participatory budget process and getting solar-power light at DeForest Park.
While the Signal Tribune has made repeated efforts over the last several months to contact the first lady’s press office to comment on the library, calls and emails have not been returned.
Richardson said that Obama’s staff is aware of the library. There is so far a positive response to the library, and one representative has even toured the site. The celebration on Sept. 10, however, will be focused on residents and their community, Richardson said, as he explained that there might be security limitations when the first lady does visit. The vice mayor suggested that the first lady may come at a future date.
