A letter to fellow Angelenos
In support of Black Lives Matter and their demands
We now enter the second week of thousands of us taking to the streets to protest the murder of George Floyd, police brutality against Black Americans and our history — past and present, both in our country and city — of racial oppression.
I am in awe watching the years of organizing by Black Lives Matter, the Movement for Black Lives, and so many other Black activist groups take root across the country. Our campaign supports and stands with the demands of Black Lives Matter — Los Angeles and the nationwide Movement for Black Lives to bring an end to police brutality across America and here in LA.
But while our elected officials have attempted to indicate that they “hear” these demands, their response has been a crushing disappointment. Almost all of their efforts so far to speak on police brutality in LA have been extraordinarily weak — sometimes even actively deceptive.
The coalition led by Black Lives Matter LA has been clear: their demands involve serious reform and divestment from the LAPD. But if you look through the statements put out by any LA elected official this past week, you will see virtually no mention of LAPD violence against black Angelenos. Instead, they talked about needing to fight “systemic racism” — deliberately obscuring their own substantial powers to achieve racial justice and criminal justice reform here in LA.
Not one of them acknowledged the obvious irony: that LAPD has responded to protests against police brutality with more police brutality. We’ve seen ample documentation at this point of excessive and overwhelming force against protestors — but these have received nary a mention by our leaders.
It took six days of officers firing rubber bullets into crowds, often at people who were actively running away, for the Mayor to finally speak up and ask the LAPD to “minimize” their use. There has been no mention of the use of batons, pepper spray, or tear gas. No mention of police vehicles intentionally running through crowds and even over protestors. Instead, in the Mayor’s addresses this weekend, he condemned looting and property damage and praised the LAPD’s tactics. “I’m proud of you,” he told them.
More importantly, not one of them has been willing to directly acknowledge the LAPD’s long record of violence here — not just “the old LAPD” of past decades, but in recent years up to today. None of them addressed the lack of accountability for officers, nor the LAPD’s outsized place in the city’s budget. None of them mentioned the hundreds of people who have been killed by law enforcement or died in their custody over the last decade.
Our Mayor and Council control the LAPD’s budget. Thanks to charter reforms enacted in 1992, they also control their actions. But they choose not to speak out against the police, or even to discuss taking a single dollar away from their budgets. Remember: it has not always been this way. In the mid 1960s, LA spent 25% of its budget on police. Today, LA spends 54% of its budget on a police department that is outfitted with military gear, that invested heavily in surveillance tools that targeted communities of color, and sends predominantly black and brown men to jail in the largest municipal jail system in America.
What we see today is the result of choices made by our elected representatives who clearly believe they depend on the financial support of the Police Protective League to stay in power. Every elected politician in our city has taken their money.
As City Council attempts to avoid using their authority over LAPD, it falls on us all to demand that they do. This past week, led by Black Lives Matter LA, we saw our multi-racial city come together with the clear demands our elected officials refuse to name: end the killing of Black people in America. End police brutality in America and here in Los Angeles. Rather than increasing funding for the police, as this new budget does, fund services that are far more urgent both during and after the pandemic. Yesterday, over 1,000 people peacefully crowded the streets in front of the Mayor’s house with these same demands.
The council can still change this budget. But they need to hear your voice. #PeoplesBudgetLA
They do not want us to know about the power they have, because they’re terrified of using it. But we can pierce the veil of misdirection they’re putting up. We can insist on an end to the gaslighting, and tell them exactly how to use their power to advance justice.
As Angelenos, we can also do the following:
- Vote for George Gascon for District Attorney this fall. Jackie Lacey has only prosecuted a single police officer since she was elected in 2015.
- Follow and support organizations. Black Lives Matter- Los Angeles and the Movement for Black Lives. White Angelenos can get in touch with our local Showing Up for Racial Justice chapter, White People 4 Black Lives- Los Angeles. Read their websites!
- Support and get involved in the LA Justice Coalition, which is looking to reduce the number of prisons in LA County.
- Read these three books: The End of Policing by Alex Vitale (free to download right now from Verso Books), local author and professor Kelly Lytle Hernandez’ City of Inmates and Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors’ memoir When They Call You A Terrorist.
I am reading them now. Will you join me?
It is time for LA’s elected officials to recognize their power and take actions to eradicate systemic violence at home.
With fierce love and in solidarity,
Nithya
