Morning Brief: Women And Transit, Body Cam Footage, And Living Your Truth

GRAMGood morning, LA It's August 2nd.

The city reopens, but for women, girls, and residents who identify as female, getting around LA not so sure yet as it is for men.

That's what a new study Commissioned by the Los Angeles Department of Transportation. The researchers focused on three Los Angeles neighborhoods: Sun Valley in the San Fernando Valley; Watts in South Los Angeles; and Sawtelle in West LA, in an effort to understand how the women, and specifically the women of BIPOC, experience navigating the city.

My colleague Ryan fonseca reports that through community surveys, traveler interviews, and a series of in-person workgroups, the study resulted in some helpful insights.

For instance, Since women are often the primary caregivers of their families, "women's mobility is also a determining factor in the health and well-being of their families and other dependents," the authors wrote.

Women also face more barriers to transportation, including less access to cars. Study participants who identified as female are more likely than men to feel unsafe and to report bullying when using public transportation.

The researchers echo what other experts have been saying for decades: that for BIPOC women, the inequity is more pronounced. In addition to discrimination based on gender, people in this group face racial barriers, historical underinvestment, and economic deprivation.

Read more about the study here.

Read on to learn more about what's happening in Los Angeles, and stay safe out there.

What else do you need to know today

• Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department posted some pictures from the body camera of the fatal shooting of a 34-year-old deputy for David Ordaz, Jr., who was experiencing a mental health crisis that day.
• At last week's Orange County Board of Supervisors meeting, anti-vaccine sentiments turned into a torrent of racist and xenophobic rants against supervisor Andrew Do, chairman of the board.
• A USC advisory board found that during 2019 and 2020, campus police officers stopped blacks in higher numbers than any other racial group.
• San Bernardino school officials are planning that the majority of the district's 53,000 students go back to campus for in-person learning.
• A state commission is opening an investigation in allegations that Cal State Long Beach misused a Native American sacred site located on the university campus.
• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now recommends that vaccinated people cover their faces in certain situations. This is what you need to know on when to mask.

Before I Go ... Viola Davis to LMU Graduates: 'Live Your Truth'

Loyola Marymount University honored the classes of 2020 and 2021 after canceling last year's in-person graduation due to the pandemic. Their graduation speaker, Oscar, Emmy, and Tony winner actress Viola Davis told graduates how he found his true voice and how they can find yours.

"Will you feel that you are at war to live your truth? Yes," he said. "Will you feel at various times as if you are alone? Yes. Will you be ostracized? Maybe. But the reward is that you will feel alive."