Henry Walton: Hate Cannot Stand in the Face of Truth

“I have been awarded a better life through educational opportunity, and for that I thank LACC and the Los Angeles Community College District.”

On Thursday, June 12th Los Angeles City College proudly awarded alumnus and current student, Henry Walton, with an A.A. degree. Henry’s connection with LACC began 56 years ago in 1958, when he decided to take a photography course.

From his home in South Central he took the ‘V’ car to get to LACC, which in his heart stood for ‘Victory’. However, Henry’s time at LACC was cut short when his professor told him not to take photos of his African-American friends because cameras were not designed to capture dark skin tones. While Henry justifiably dropped the course, he continued his love of photography and proceeded to photograph the everyday lives of people living in Watts during the height of the civic rights struggle.

Career of Service
Henry has since then served with the Army Corps of Engineers, worked for the U.S. Postal service, as an ambulance driver, computer operator, and Director of Political and Community Affairs, serving over 52,000 L.A. County and special district employees. He also organized workers in Central America, worked for Head Start, a major federal program servicing children and their families, and was an Adjunct Professor for Springfield College, L.A. Campus.

Henry was also the host and producer of the radio program, Labor Review, on KPFK Los Angeles. 90.7 FM for nineteen years, ending in July 2013. Henry stated to the Collegian in a recent article that “he takes pride in having had the opportunity to work with the leaders of human and civil rights, health care, labor, education, communication, political administration and legislative forums. He has planned and strategized with them, marched and even gone to jail with some of them in order to seek the progress, dignity and respect that all people deserve”.

Full Circle
Throughout Henry’s honorable career he always maintained an interest in photography, and in 2012 the photos he took as a young man in Watts debuted at an Art Gallery exhibit at UCLA entitled ‘The Light Between Dark Places’. LACC photography department chair, Daniel Marlos, just happened to be attending the exhibit and after hearing Henry’s story encouraged him to come back to LACC and retake a photography class.

Upon receiving notification of his honorary degree, which coincides with the 50th anniversary of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, Henry said, “at LACC we can just look around and see the diversity of our campus. Here is living proof that hate cannot stand in the face of truth. I have been awarded a better life through educational opportunity, and for that I thank LACC and the Los Angeles Community College District.”

Henry has two adult children, two grandchildren and has experienced the joy of being a foster parent.