LA March for Trans Liberation 08/18

Yesterday in Los Angeles close to a hundred people marched in support of trans women and gender non conforming peoples organizing for their lives against violence and recently reported murders.  The march started off with a rally at Mariachi Plaza where speakers touched on the many ways in which trans women of color particularly face uncertain futures. This is due to high rates of targeted and deadly violence, poverty, lack of adequate health access, and quick-to-escalate harassment.  All heightened when it comes to trans women that also face ableism, institutional racism, interpersonal anti blackness, imprisonment, or deportation.

Photo by Ezak Perez

The march winded its way down 1st street, pausing briefly at opportune moments to hold space and exclaim "TRANS POWER!" and "When trans lives are under attack, what do we do? Stand up Fight Back". It was an intentional march "not a celebration" as noted by Jennicet Gutierrez, who is now known for her disruption of the white house Pride public relations event. Set against the backdrop of a sunset over Downtown's skyscrapers, the march made its way through little Tokyo and attracted a small police presence.

In the space carved out at the intersection of 1st and Main st. there was a moment of silence and a die-in to commemorate the recent lives taken violently at the hands of transmisogyny.  This was followed by chants of "the cops and the klan are anti-trans!" before the march concluded with a circle at the corner of City Hall park. Trans women filled the center, sharing their needs, desires, fears and pain and calling for others to challenge transphobia and white supremacy on the daily. As well as Bamby Salcedo reminding the group that "we have power" and can grow the movement to "shut the city down". https://www.facebook.com/yesenia.valdez.756/videos/791887460930863/ The call out for the rally and march explained why direct, public and visible actions in support of trans women are needed: "Eighteen trans women have been murdered in 2015, and the year is not even over. Our community is getting killed! Just this past week, two of our sisters have been killed. We are gathering to honor our trans sisters who have been murdered and to show our discontent to the continuous violence that trans people continue to endure.

Trans women of color are dying at astonishing rates. Our community is in a state of emergency and we must take action now. It's time to take to the streets and demand an end to the murders of trans women, especially black and brown trans women whose safety is never guaranteed."

Transfemme revolt agitator Edxie said, “No justice. Just us! There is trauma that doesn't allow trans womn and gender non conforming femmes of color to often be, to love, to live.  Your normal is our hell on earth. But then we go to hell, right? How many trans womn of color have to die before you actively oppose the State and these inherently colonial institutions that cultivates this culture to demonize, exploit, and control us?!” More of their perspective shared yesterday can be found here: https://catsinrevolt.wordpress.com/

This crisis has not been without movement, but in terms of growing to support our trans sisters who are under threat for their lives, we definitely need to do more. As many transfemme writers have noted already, visibility doesn't only bring positive attention or support. Sometimes increased visibility attracts the violencelust of cis men. With growing visibility, so to must resistance and support for trans resilience grow. In the streets, our interpersonal relationships, we all have to actively support trans liberation by and for the trans community.

Demilitarize, Disarm, Disband: If the Leaders Support the Police Then They Are Part of the Problem

We have a serious problem in this country (many, actually) that is police terrorism against black communities and POC. You know, it’d be one thing if the system was set up to protect people from unaccountable violence from people in positions of authority. But that’s not the case.

In support of this deeply embedded and terrifying problem of racialized police violence, is the representative political process of managers to whom people appeal for nominal changes and reforms to at very least, please and thank you, *hold accountable* killer police.

Mainstream organizations who want status, recognition, funding or negotiating power for those “accountability reforms” tend to shy away from more structural changes like demilitarization, disarming the police, abolishing the police or banning them from particular communities pending structural changes toward restorative “justus”. Because we might have to discuss what that actually means if the power structure does not “choose” to disarm, demilitarize or disband a failed strategy (for non-whites) of organized policing and occupation. But while this debate happens, and the people in power pay lip service to the oppressed rising tide of black power, we should look at the meaningful effects of reform as it is practiced.

In Los Angeles the police union just successfully negotiated a 8.2% pay increase over the next 3 years including over-time. Forget the lawsuit pending over a brutal sexual attack by Olympic Division police against a woman of color in Koreatown who was thrown from a police vehicle trying to escape and suffered major injuries. Or the murder of a man in Pomona just last week at the hands of an LAPD officer now fired to save the department from having to address it’s institutionalized violence.

In Arizona this week the Senate approved a bill to protect the identities of police involved in executions and serious shootings for at least 60 days meaning that we will need to investigate the police OURSELVES and determine justus OURSELVES.

This is not a power structure that is levying pressure against the police to take seriously the cries of the oppressed, surviving family members of executed people at the hands of cops or victims of police brutality and state repressive violence.

Again, the people in power are in support of the problem (which is POLICING of poor communities of color most targeted by white supremacy, anti blackness, capitalism and so many other violently enforced hierarchies). The organization of the police and the local city and national government are intertwined to an inseparable degree. So let’s be clear, when we are asking for reform how does that reform actually comes down. If they won’t actually reform away from institutionalized interests of police power, then they must be disarmed (at least). Either way the casualties of this white supremacist for-profit property-over-black-life system has got to stop.

If they don’t disarm, what does our own ‘intervention’ to stop police violence actually look like? If they don’t demilitarize, what does organizing for self defense actually look like? If they don’t disband, what do we need to do to organize a force capable of keeping our comrades and extended communities from their prisons and early graves?

Would this mass unrest and support of black rebellion and self defense result in anything other than catastrophic violence at the hands of the state and it’s police agents? If there is such a period of heightened conflict and violence, is that not also a reason to prepare for revolutionary war?

LA Times Runs PR for LAPD: Solidifies Police Surveillance

Anyone in Los Angeles, and especially poor non white communities of color, will tell you that police choppers flying or hovering incessantly over your heads is not news.

So imagine the surprise when I read the LA Times recent article, which might as well have been featured in Minority Report, a popular dystopic fiction movie. 

Gone are the days fearing government overreach targeting "thought crime" criminalizing areas or people before an incident occurs. Now, we are in the era of "predictive policing" where technology is utilized for organized violent groups like the police, which systemically murder non white life while the conditions of violence and poverty remain the same, or get worse.

Even more troubling is the undoubted credibility given to mainstream "known by name" publications like the LA Times who conspire with the LAPD to bottom line pro-cop anti-poor narratives that invisiblize the structural and racial violence of the police.

But the article is much more dangerous than it seems. While impacted (as opposed to benefiting) communities have organized tirelessly for alternative strategies to prevent crime, resourcelessness, violence and poverty in their communities the LAPD is opposed to all of it choosing instead to use a "hammer" approach of structural violence against youth of color.

Instead of more resources to prevent the conditions that create crime, resources take the form of funding for police, who just reached a negotiated settlement with the city for a 7% pay increase over the next three years. (also uncritically written about by the LA Times)

But the story isn't that we have uncritical media or lack of investigative journalism, it's that these tactics are used by the police for a long period of time before they are ever mentioned by the media. They are experienced long before they are "represented" in a palatable form for the consuming audience. When they are mentioned, it's done in a way that legitimizes the policy almost like the police called the Times and asked them to run a story because their ready to finally acknowledge what poor hyper patrolled people have known all along.

What's troubling is the framing of the article, despite the evidence presented.

Which means that while being marketed to the middle class aspiring populace, the increase in police helicopters probably has more to do with control and power for police and prisons than it does with "crime".

Especially given that it is not proven to prevent crime, but is likely to displace crime to other areas. A side effect we've seen again with "gang injunctions" which also rely on "hot spots", faulty profiling and police databases to create a restraining order in certain neighborhoods but likely has more to do with property value, development and ultimately the displacement of working class black and brown families.

While air patrols are frequent, the frequency has increased without much formal acknowledgement (until now) let alone input by the communities made to suffer the consequences. These disturbances have rather been a non-debatable aspect of increased militarization and surveillance culture "pioneered" by LAPD.

A few years back there was discussion from local activist communities about how to track the growing number of air-ships and map out the surveillance tactics of the police. In Echo Park for example, an area reeling from the influx of redevelopment, displacement and increased police harassment to effect gentrification- there were air-ships at all hours of the night sometimes for hours on end.

One night, a few of us meddling as we might in the affairs of the unaccountable police, decided to review the actions of police and investigate the situation. We found the established perimeter and began questioning why the police had shut down a block between 3rd and Beverly on Lucas.

We were told it was unsafe, that there was an armed gunman and to move away from the situation. We kept a distance and filmed, and as the chopper lingered for 5 hours we realized that the urgency and demeanor of the police was off. They were not moving cautiously, from building to building as people were trapped inside of their homes. In fact, in one lot an officer who had a higher rank modeled and illustrated to the group of officers running tactics how to use bolt cutters to get through a lot gate that was not locked.

It became apparent that not only were the police using poor neighborhoods heavily populated with people of color and migrants for training purposes but the prolonged use of the chopper at night was also designed to lay out the groundwork for increased air occupation and gauge how people respond. Just two weeks later we experienced a similar situation near Elysian Park where police locked down an entire neighborhood for 3 hours and went door to door and house to house unlawfully searching and occupying the street.

So while the LA Times and other mainstream propaganda rags are serving as the mouthpiece of the LAPD, communities are still left to deal with the fall out. Though there is rising movement against the execution of black life by law enforcement, the system that legitimizes collateral damage by the police runs smoothly through the mechanisms of institutional media. While we investigate the police in our own neighborhoods, the dominant narrative and apologists alike tell us that authority demands trust. The LAPD has proven that it deserves neither.

US Police Have Off-Record 'White Site' to Detain, Torture and Disappear

In a twist of non fictionalized domestic terror, the Guardian has gone on the record breaking news of a Chicago warehouse, known as Homan Square, used for non-legal detention of people captured by police. The secret-prison has been used by CPD for off-the-books interrogation often with abusive methods.

As the story unfolds more persons have come forward with experiences of abuse while being detained at the site. Stories range from detainees being beaten, shackled for long periods of time without food or water, no access to phone calls or lawyers, and possibly one account of someone who was found unresponsive and died.

While waiting for a politician to accompany them on a tour outside the Homan Square facility, a reporter and photographer for the Guardian were encircled twice by a masked man in an SUV (pictured) who said, "You can take a picture,” and then offered what he considered a joke: “We are all CIA, right?” (Thursday, February 26)

The story broke with accounts of protesters being held at the site in the case of the NATO-3 who were eventually moved to a booking station and charged with terrorism, mob action and arson. 

But as usual with police terrorism, it's not news until it happens to people with privilege or people with privilege begin to care about it. So that begs the question, why did it take us so long to find out about it if this site has been in operation since the late 1990's?

The brunt of police terrorism is not on protesters but on black, brown and poor communities targeted for criminalization for their very existence in the white supremacist economy. The warehouse, which "disappears" people usually making it impossible to find them in any police databases, has been used as a compound in the war-on-the-poor for drug raids and to detain people profiled in street organizations or "gangs" for decades.

These communities are not only targeted by law enforcement for state violence, but the violence against these communities is both legitimized and invisiblized by even the most progressive of liberals, extending from black and brown poor communities to the treatment of undocumented and migrant communities the world over.

Not only is there no data on police harassment, stop-and-frisks, brutality or detainment that doesn't result in arrest or charges, but the communities most targeted by the police (and most likely to be executed) are less than likely to come forward about instances of police abuse. 

This is because most talk about "accountability" is designed to protect law enforcement, and contain any concerns that may threaten the credibility of law enforcement making it severely unsafe for people to come forward. 

Which leads me to this conclusion: the unquestionable credibility surrounding the actions of police is why we haven't heard about this warehouse used for illegal detainment till now. It's why it took the Guardian UK to come and break a real story about police terrorism, because that's what it is.

It's also time for us to talk more about how police are not only individuals subject to their own racism, but participants and beneficiaries of an organization that operates on the methodology of racism. This site, if anything, can be seen as an extra-legal method of practicing violence and applying racism to achieve the objectives officers felt would be delayed by working within the already non-transparent mechanisms of policing.

This should not be seen as vigilantism. That would presume there is something to be restored about the practice of policing, ignoring how policing works within a larger framework of racism, social control and various other enforcement agencies in an agenda to use terrorism to achieve political objectives that preserve profit and authority. It should also call into question our reliance on the 'law" which is not neutral, but founded on violence and colonialism, and left up to the interpretation of those who practice it such as police and politicians. 

People elected to positions of authority have since been reacting to the news of the Chicago "white site", some calling for an investigation by the Department of Justice, others fearing this will affect their credibility in calling for improved police and community relations in the wake of the Ferguson insurrection and growing tide of black resistance and solidarity globally. Which is true, you can't improve your relationship with an organization intent on terrorizing you.

Whatever the lip service paid by people with positions in the governmental hierarchy, the actions taken by the Chicago police in using this site are not limited to the site itself. The practices and mentality that goes into the creation of an intentional site like this are present in the logic of policing and occupation everywhere. 

The representatives stepping forward with outrage would be better served by making this an anomaly, a one-time-thing, a sore-spot soon to be covered up with a town hall or press conference. This is why accountability (and justice) cannot be in their hands. 

How many people passed through the bars of Homan Square, shackled for days? Both violated and erased by a system that systematically incarcerates and devalues or executes lives of color. How many people felt that their suffering was invisible because of the untouchable credibility of policing? in a world that entraps, punishes and shames peoples response to an out of touch competitive economy that deprives people of resources and the means to live.

It is not up to the police to reform themselves or accept the reforms pushed on them by the politicians and DA's who are essentially collaborators in policing on a mass level.

This is why we have to collect the data. We have to research and expose the "white sites" used by the state (both locally and federally) to invisiblize its own methodology of violence. We have to be the investigative journalists, the whistleblowers, the agitators- not to use this information to petition for reform of a power structure that exists to affirm itself, but to create centers of trust to open up space for people to come forward with their own experiences about systematic racism and policing. 

To pressure for abolition of these systems of power that make state violence acceptable and profitable.

Where are the LAPD off-record "white sites"?

US Government Hosts 'Violent Extremism' Conference, Worries About Youth Radicalization

This week the White House hosted a summit on countering violent extremism of “all shapes and sizes”. The administration came under criticism for not focusing exclusively on ISIS, but seems to be strategically broadening their net in order to work more generally on preventing and repressing the radicalization of disaffected youth that might be recruited to oppositional groups and ideologies in the United States.

”The three-day conference will highlight domestic and international efforts to prevent extremists and their supporters from radicalizing, recruiting and inspiring others, particularly disaffected young people. The conference is designed to share best practices and emerging strategies to prevent extremists from carrying out violent acts.”

Considering how broad definitions of violence are used by the government to invisiblize its own structural violence and terrorism, this new synthesis of domestic/global “counter terrorism” combined with the most recent attempt by NYPD police commissioner Bill Bratton to unveil a standing unit to police protests with machine guns indicates a shift at the upper levels of (colonial) law enforcement towards possible resistance movements that might spring up against US domestic police terrorism and global white supremacist imperialism (to name but a few of the issues we have living/settling under US occupation).

Not mentioned in any accounts of the conference were leading factors in anti-western violence- namely poverty, white supremacy, colonialism and continued invasion and demonization of non white cultures by the for-profit US war machine.

But that’s not exactly what this summit was for anyway.  Why should the President come under heat for not focusing the summit exclusively on the ‘IS’ threat when there are so many cells of white-power-hate, islamaphobia and domestic ‘terrorism’ by violent white extremists right here in the United States?

Many would say these dynamics of white supremacist racial terror are actually integral to the basic mechanisms that make the US state and it’s colonial property based legal system tick.

When the US government says it is against ‘violent extremism’ in one breath and in the very next approves the export of armed drones to its allies, it shows that terrorism is not only status quo and profitable but a key export of the US war economy integral to maintaining relationships with other states to secure colonial power.

The very existence of any state is dependent on its ability to wield legitimized (and often invisiblized) violence, whereas under white supremacy, non-white non-western violence is made highly visible.  If ‘violent extremism’ is not used to describe the exponential growth of white power groups post 9/11 during the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, then we have to examine how these words are racially coded to refer only to the actions of non-white individuals or groups that may threaten western interests for-profit and acquisition of property/capital.

In a speech on Thursday at the summit, the President compared not working for change within the established political process as a leading factor toward violence and terrorism. In an op-ed article he said, “Efforts to counter violent extremism will only succeed if citizens can address legitimate grievances through the democratic process and express themselves through strong civil societies. “

These are dangerous words for those who reject the current non-representative political process, but especially for black liberation groups and indigenous resistance which bears the brunt of brutal repression from state forces.

The summit follows an announcement last year (Sept. 2014) by Attorney General Eric Holder outlined in this article "Department of Justice to Train Community Leaders to spot Radicals" calling for local ‘leaders’, like social worker and teachers, to “monitor their communities for signs of radicalization” and work with multi-leveled law enforcement to root out any potential violent actors.

This became relevant very quickly to local resistance communities fighting against anti-black state violent racism and police executions. During the Michael Brown uprisings in Los Angeles late last year, some local community civil rights leaders were noted as taking a pacifying role in the demonstrations while simultaneously meeting with police and government officials. Since Los Angeles had the highest number of arrests with the lowest levels of property destruction (a form of non-violence) these actions were viewed skeptically by communities participating in non-permitted (read: criminalized) direct-actions as possible police collaboration.

So it comes as little surprise that the opening of this summit against violent extremism began with Vice President Biden meeting with “representatives” (who would not be named) from Boston, Los Angeles and Minneapolis. “The three cities have programs in place to counter extremism and one official said the White House wants to “push them forward” as examples for the rest of the country.”

Los Angeles, the place where Bill Bratton (who also serves as a private consultant) tested his broken-windows policing strategy after acting as commissioner in Boston and Chief of Police in New York. The home of the “SARS” Suspicious Activity Reporting program, Special Order 1 an LAPD spying program with no checks, balances, or accountability for the files it opens on people and the information streamlined to fusion centers nationwide.  Where COINTELPRO against the black power movement took root in the form of the first noticeable use of SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) in an attack on the Black Panthers in 1969.

The summit included over 60 participating nations, but also some representatives from the private sector, nongovernmental organizations and social media companies. 

In the spirit of counter-insurgency, the summit was designed to streamline collaboration between the private sector, public community leaders, and those that exercise the tools of legitimate suppression, repression and violence; here that would be the US government and it’s unaccountable police forces.  

For those that are unsure, this is a dynamic of fascism where private companies and people with community support combined with the centralized power of the government work together to sabotage or violently suppress communities and resistance movements. All under the pretense of ‘combating domestic extremism’.

This is why language about ‘terrorism’ is so dangerous. It mostly excludes the largest beneficiaries of terrorism- the centralized state or government which uses violence (offensive or defensive) to expand an agenda of containment and control without addressing the very real conditions that give rise to discontent and violence in the first place. While giving license to target anyone taking action against these conditions, especially liberation movements.

What is activism if not participation designed to pressure the policy making process to reform itself for the people? What is resistance if not action outside of legitimized acceptable processes of reform to shift the designation of power downwards from the top of the hierarchy to the people at the bottom making society run in the first place? Say what you will about peace and power, but resistance when attacked requires self-defense. 

If the government isn’t talking about US white supremacist militia groups when bringing up violent extremism, then who are they talking about? Recently it was reported that ‘sovereign citizens’ who recognize no state or authority are considered a rising threat. Bill Bratton is even campaigning to change ‘resisting arrest’ from a misdemeanor to a felony, in order to entrap more people who question police tactics in the prison industrial complex. 

But if we look at hxstory, we know that most state violent strategies are practiced and deployed against over-policed black communities of color. And with the most recent torrent of black solidarity taking the streets, these efforts to contain and neutralize the growing anti-police brutality movement and capture its energy back into reformism are sure to escalate.

With a hxstory of COINTELPRO targeting black power movements through various strategies ranging from infiltration, deception, psychological abuse, harassment, intimidation and violence we can be sure that the strategies discussed in this summit will be applied discriminately against groups and efforts that are oppressed by the stranglehold on violence practiced by the state. If we threaten state violence, state violence will threaten us.

Some of the strategies outlined by Vice President Joe Biden to the summit centered on targeting communities recently immigrated to the United States in a process we have come to term “assimilation” into the white cis-het euro-supremacist system and for-profit economy.

"We haven’t always gotten it right," Biden said. "But we have a lot of experience integrating communities into the American system, the American dream."

No doubt this and other efforts to control the public will be done with the help of community and non-profit organizations that provide training and resources (made privileges) dependent on learned behaviors of compliance including resignation of autonomy and culture for absorption into the Amerikan social, legal and economic fabric. Or through more deliberate collaboration with the social media industrial complex to combat radical ideologies online.

Considering increased targeting of resistance culture is our white and twisty future, exploring means for self, mutual and communal defense doesn’t seem that far on the horizon. CTT-NYC, for example, calls on groups in the anti-police-brutality movement to consider the following common principleshttps://canttouchthisnyc.wordpress.com/5-principles-for-the-anti-police-brutality-movement/ which includes supporting a diversity of tactics.

While the government seems intent on forcing integration and erasing its own extremisim, we look toward models of solidarity that don’t undermine each other’s hard fought emotional and physical oppositional labor. Almost everywhere there is a much needed refocusing on deconstructing learned anti-blackness, holding space for people of color to organize themselves, and exploring abolitionist means of mutual aid and support to survive, for black and indigenous autonomy from the settler colonial state. (in contrast to tried and untrue goals of assimilation, political representation, policy change and menial concessions while the power structure stays the same)

How Black Lives Matter L.A. Undermined and Co-Oped the Movement for Ezell Ford

Dr. Melina Abdullah, one of the leading members of Black Lives Matters Los Angeles undermined the movement for justice for Ezell Ford, dissed the Ford family, and gave District Attorney Jackie Lacey a trophy, amidst demands from the community that DA Lacey file charges for his murder. This was weeks before BLMLA staged a publicity stunt (Occupy LAPD) which undermined the movement they hadn’t put any work into, diverted the momentum into a dead-end, and made it about themselves.

The ‪#‎Justice4Fords‬ movement was started by loved ones, family members, friends and neighbors of Ezell Ford after he was brutally murdered by LAPD on August 11th, 2014; the organizations that supported were following suit and this is what made the #Justice4Fords movement strong, organic, and raw-it was lead by the hood. The demand was clear: We want charges filed, and DA Lacey became a target less than a week after his murder. Nine days prior to Ezell Ford being shot in the back, unarmed Omar Abrego was beaten to death by the same LAPD Newton Division, just 5 blocks away from where Ezell would be murdered. The Ford family swiftly connected with the Abregos and the struggle was joined in unity. The beginning marches were led by the families and loved ones of both Ezell Ford and Omar Abrego, together, demanding justice and charges! Ceebo Tha Rapper, a childhood friend of Ezell Ford, dropped a song/video called “Fuck Tha Police,” four days after his murder, and LAPD used Ceebo’s music to conceal the names of the officers, claiming they felt “threatened.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfeLEDQjS2s

The autopsy report likewise was withheld from the Ford family, as was the autopsy report and officers’ names who killed Omar Abrego. City officials realized the significance of the community’s response to these murders, and Ezell Ford and Omar Abrego’s cases were treated with the same disregard. The families were advised to cease public statements and appearances. It fell to the community to push for justice as though Ezell Ford or Omar Abrego were our own family members. Black Lives Matter Los Angeles remained conspicuously silent throughout these actions. There were daily protests, including the LAPD HQ march/protest that drew several hundred people. We demonstrated in front of the District Attorney Jackie Lacey’s office (alongside the family of Carlos Oliva, murdered by East LA Sheriffs), where myself and a Ford family neighbor were escorted inside. We provided her staff with a list of names of recent police murder victims and their corresponding family members’ phone numbers, which they signed, dated to confirm receipt, and said they would pass onto DA Lacey. Lacey’s office promised to give KTLA a statement regarding the demonstration, but they never did. Our follow-up request for an appointment via email with her was not granted. Youth Justice Coalition hosted an unhelpful captive-audience community meeting entitled “Get Answers” with LAPD Chief Beck and officials from the Police Commission and District Attorney’s office. Members of the Ford family and community sat together as Chief Beck and his cronies chewed up the clock, patronized the inquiries of community members, and provided no answers. While the community, a coalition of many organizations, the Anonymous formations, and a network of families who’d lost loved ones to police murder turned up for Ezell Ford, Black Lives Matter Los Angeles took a trip to Ferguson, Missouri, ignored Ezell Ford, and provided zero assistance to the groundwork being done right here in L.A.; the autopsy report and names of the officers were still being concealed by LAPD and DA Jackie Lacey continued to ignored the demands of the community that she file charges and make his murderers face due process. I fully expected the organization whose slogan was being echoed across the country (Black Lives Matter) to roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty in this uphill battle. Although amazed that BLMLA chose to take a trip across the country after Ezell Ford was killed only two days after Mike Brown, I was excited upon their return expecting the movement in here L.A. to receive a fresh burst of “ground-zero” energy, full of militancy and Black fists in the air, with tactics they learned in Ferguson and would apply here. I expected Black Lives Matter would make the movement stronger. Instead, they hosted a “Ferguson Reports Back” meeting where everyone sat at their feet and listened about their trip, a follow-up meeting where they spent 3 hours breaking into groups and writing vague “demands” on butcher paper, none of them regarding Ezell Ford, and executed detatched a die-in in Compton regarding the Compton School Board approving AR-15s for campus police. I found it even more of a betrayal that they not only went to Ferguson while ignoring our own Mike Brown here in Los Angeles, but they went to Compton to do a die-in for guns that may kill someone, yet could not make it to 65th and Broadway to offer any support for Ezell Ford, who had already been shot dead by police.

The organization I am a part of organized a march to the USC football game against Notre Dame, continuing to mobilize community pressure at DA Lacey to file charges. Although BLMLA continued to ignore Ezell Ford, Professor Melina Abdullah, one of the BLMLA leaders, and the Chair of the Department of Pan-African Studies at CSULA, invited me to announce our action in one of her activism classes, and even gave her students extra credit for attending. I appreciated any show of unity and maintained solidarity throughout my criticisms of BLMLA’s silence on Ezell Ford.  Then DA Lacey, who had dodged and ignored the community up to that point, made her first statement since Ezell Ford had been murdered: “It is not the fault of law enforcement that we have not provided them with the training and the tools to deal with the amount of mentally ill people that they have to deal with in Los Angeles County.”

We found out DA Lacey was being honored with an award by a prestigious Black Women’s organization, the Los Angeles African-American Women’s Public Policy Institute, as we organized, mobilized, and executed action upon action, targeting Lacey, as well as Mayor Eric Garcetti, and Councilman Curren Price.. Less than a week after DA Lacey, a Black woman, exonerated Ezell Ford’s murderers in her statement, she was being given the “Women In Action” award by this organization. We decided immediately to picket this event, and possibly disrupt Lacey’s acceptance speech.https://www.facebook.com/events/332023886974767/ After exploring the organization’s website, we found a huge conflict of interest. Professor Melina Abdullah, part of the Black Lives Matter Los Angeles leadership, was the vice-chair of LAAAWPPI, the organization honoring DA Lacey.http://www.laaawppi.org/board-of-directors.html When our organization brought this to her attention, she said that she would boycott the event and not attend. We suggested, instead, that she bring Tritobia Ford, Ezell Ford’s mother, as her guest. Melina obliged and after the candlelit vigil at the memorial site on Ezell Ford’s birthday, two days before the award ceremony, I handed Mrs. Ford the phone and introduced her to Melina. Being that Melina was the vice-chair of the organization honoring DA Lacey at a ritzy downtown hotel, I asked Melina if they would provide her with tickets for her guests. She obliged. She also asked me that night where Ezell Ford’s memorial was. In disbelief, I told her 65th and Broadway, where he was killed. How is it that a professor who taught activism classes on a university level and was part of the leadership of BLMLA did not know where Ezell Ford’s memorial site was in the city she lived in? It was too glaring of a contradiction, especially since she had taken the time to navigate through Ferguson, Missouri. The lack of interest was obvious.

The next day, the day before the award ceremony, Melina called me and asked, “You’re not planning to disrupt, are you?” When I answered yes, that I was, she told me she respected the organization honoring DA Lacey and that she was going to tell them because she didn’t want them to be surprised. She no longer wanted any part of it. When I asked would she still provide the tickets, she told me that I should get my own. And with that, she withdrew her support, uninvited Mrs. Ford, and threatened to squelch our action by telling the organization. For all of the talk about Black lives mattering, Melina invited Mrs. Ford, a Black woman on her murdered son’s birthday, to be her guest, and then dissed everyone to honor the DA who just exonerated the murderers less than a week before, and refused to charge them.

For my own protection, I asked a woman I met through a protester at our LAPD HQ action, to accompany me, and record the disruption, so that no false allegations would be made against me. She obliged, and we arrived at the ritzy Biltmore Hotel an hour before the ceremony was to begin. Folks from the community had already arrived and were picketing DA Lacey outside. Melina attended and gave me the icy shoulder, as if she never knew me.

The ceremony emanated prestige; this was Los Angeles’ prosperous, successful, and wealthy Black elite. I was too focused on the matter at hand to fully fathom that a couple of tables away from me sat the leadership of Black Lives Matter Los Angeles, who was also the vice-chair of the organization honoring DA Lacey, an elected official complicit with murder after the fact. A public servant, who had ignored the community’s demands, exonerated killer cops, cancelled appearances and refused to face the community, but was now stepping out in her high heels to collect a trinket.

The ceremony went on as usual, and when DA Lacey took the podium, I waited till she was about 10 seconds into her acceptance speech. “JUSTICE FOR EZELL FORD! JUSTICE FOR OMAR ABREGO! DO YOUR JOB JACKIE LACEY, WE WANT CHARGES! IT’S YOUR JOB TO FILE CHARGES! EZELL FORD, OMAR ABREGO, MURDERED BY LAPD! DO YOUR JOB, JACKIE LACEY, WE WANT CHARGES..” I pushed the demand of the community that Lacey ignored until the elite Black audience applauded the security physically escorting me out of the building. While Melina, the vice-chair of the organization and the leadership of Black Lives Matter, gave DA Lacey a trophy.

The community had been demanding charges of DA Lacey since August and BLMLA had played no part; it was clear that the only Black lives that mattered were the ones that had national headlines or the ones holding prestigious positions. Melina told me at an event I saw her at weeks later that she approached DA Lacey the night of her award ceremony and that Lacey told her that she “wants to file charges but she can’t until the investigation is over.” That they would remove her from the case, if she did. This is a lie; within eight days after Oscar Grant’s murder by BART transit officer Johannes Mehserle, he was dragged from his hiding place in Lake Tahoe and charged with murder by the Alameda County District Attorney due to direct pressure from the Oakland community. Lacey can file charges yesterday and today.

The South Central Neighborhood Council in October unanimously passed a resolution, calling on Councilman Curren Price to introduce a resolution to the Los Angeles City Council to direct the Los Angeles Police Department to release the autopsy results for Ezell Ford and Omar Abrego (killed just nine days prior and five blocks away by the same Newton Division cops). I physically handed Councilman Price a copy of the resolution at his “Days of Dialogue” event on Ezell Ford in late October. At the time, the Mike Brown decision had not been announced and the protests in Los Angeles had died down. After the resolution was passed, Mayor Garcetti came out and announced that Ezell Ford’s autopsy results would be released before the end of the year.

After the Mike Brown decision, protests against police brutality were larger than they had ever been before they began to subside. While we maintained the maximum level of unity, we continued to voice our criticisms of BLMLA’s silence on Ezell Ford to Melina. Melina informed us that Patrice Cullors, one of the founding members of BLM, would be returning. Once Patrice returned, she said they would join the movement for Ezell Ford. “You know it’s going to become ‘Black Lives Matter’, right?” she asked. “Cuz that’s what we’re about, the hashtags, social media..” We let her know that they had ignored Ezell Ford for over four months and that they needed to maintain unity and work with all the organizations and folks that had pushed this movement, rather than make it “theirs.” Jasmyne Cannick, a freelance writer, had leaked the names of the officers before Ezell Ford’s funeral, forcing the LAPD to release the names. South Central Neighborhood Council passed a resolution forcing city officials to respond with promises of the autopsy results for Ezell Ford. Ceebo Tha Rapper had led the #Justice4Fords movement, providing the soul of it, and you could literally follow the movement through his music videos, which documented our marches and uphill battle for justice as it unfolded. The protests at Newton Division and LAPD HQ, as well as video from the Chief Beck meeting, are included in music video “Mr. Officer”, where he lyrically responds to Chief Beck’s using him as a scapegoat to conceal the names of Ezell Ford’s murderers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65eA_WGQGvc

Ceebo Tha Rapper had emphasized Black and Brown unity, gave love to the family of Omar Abrego in his videos, called for rival gangs to peace it up and fight for justice. Embraced poor whites and everyone who maintained a presence in the #Justice4Fords movement. The streets were listening and the unity was there. His songs were soulful, uncompromising, empowering, and the fuel to the movement, such as his music video “I Get Out” which included video our protest at the USC football game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWpLifw7BPM

The #Justice4Fords movement had ALWAYS stressed that this was a human rights issue, and had been a diverse group fighting on the same side against police brutality. The movement was organic, with a soundtrack and lyrical/video documentation, bringing unity to Ezell Ford’s neighborhood. For this, they gave Ceebo Tha Rapper, a father of three, 17 years in prison on a bogus theft charge, in which he was “identified” by the color of his skin. The neighborhood where Ezell Ford lived had the audacity to stand up for themselves; for this they continued to endure harassment and terrorism from LAPD. BLMLA had played no role and offered no assistance to any of part of this to make claims that the #Justice4Fords movement would “become” ‪#‎BlackLivesMatter‬ when they finally decided to join it. I found it pompous and arrogant.

The autopsy report for Ezell Ford was finally released December 29th. Melina told me she passed my number onto another BLM organizer Sha Dixon. When Sha called me, she told me about their plans to Occupy LAPD until Chief Beck met with them. I informed her that Chief Beck had no power to fire or arrest the officers; only the Board of Rights could discipline the officers, and only District Attorney Jackie Lacey (or Attorney General Eric Holder) could file murder charges against the cops who murdered Ezell Ford. I also stressed the importance of not removing Omar Abrego from the conversation, as city officials have attempted to, and how the movement has always been one of unity. DA Lacey is trying to blame Ezell Ford’s murder on his mental illness rather than the Newton Division cops who beat Omar Abrego to death in front of his home, nine days before the same Newton Division shot Ezell Ford in the back. It actually hurts the #Justice4Fords movement to remove Omar Abrego. They are still concealing Omar Abrego’s autopsy results presently. BLMLA made no mention of him (Melina had told me during one of our meetings weeks before that the membership most likely wouldn’t uphold Omar Abrego because it was BLACK Lives Matter; but BLMLA only existed in the four walls of their meetings while the movement in the streets embraced EVERYONE). Only after the attention on Mike Brown died down and the attention on Ezell Ford was pushed to the maximum, did BLMLA finally concern themselves. I filled Sha Dixon in on some of the development of the movement that had unfolded and put forth the one demand of the community for charges from DA Lacey.

In Ceebo’s last music video, before his sentencing, Ceebo and the Ford family upheld the #Justice4Fords demand of charges from District Attorney Jackie Lacey https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXXhUr3lLf0

BLMLA put forth their own demand anyway: That Chief Beck fire the officers. Melina maintained that cops were still on desk duty and must be fired. Their secondary demand was that DA Lacey file charges; but this had been the one and only demand of the actual movement since the beginning, nothing less. The #Justice4Fords movement had never demanded the officers be fired, as though the officers were only guilty of writing bad tickets, or as if this was simply an employment or personnel issue. They murdered someone’s firstborn son, a brother, a Grandson, a man loved by his community. They killed a human being and took away someone’s family member, then continued harassing their mourning family afterwards. Nothing less than murder charges should be demanded, and DA Lacey is the only one who can implement that. DA Lacey had been the target of the actions since the first week. During BLMLA’s publicity stunt, they said they would Occupy LAPD until they “won” a meeting with Chief Beck. The autopsy results weren’t released out of the kindness of city officials’ hearts. It had been a long-fought battle that BLMLA played no part in. But at a time when the momentum was at an all-time high, right after the autopsy release, BLMLA co-opted the movement and diverted all the community pressure to dissipate at Chief Beck and LAPD HQ based on their own personal demand that Beck “fire” the officers. (Something Beck could not do anyway) They capitalized on a movement they had no involvement in and drew attention away from DA Lacey to Chief Beck and to THEMSELVES. (and whether or not they could chalk the sidewalk) The encampment became, not about Ezell Ford, but about whether Black Lives Matter would “win” a meeting with Beck. And when they got it, they championed this with a press conference, with Melina making the public statement “If nothing else, this demonstrates our power.” The “power” to hijack the community pressure built up after the autopsy release, the climax of months of work, and divert it to a dead end in a publicity stunt. Indeed, the #Justice4Fords movement “became” #BlackLivesMatter as Melina had said it would. Melina did Lacey yet another favor, drawing the attention away from her. To add insult to injury, Melina kept asking me to bring Mrs. Ford to their meeting at LAPD HQ, as if she hadn’t dissed her without even a backward glance ten weeks before. Now she was claiming to be acting on behalf of the Ford family, as if she knew nothing of them when she awarded DA Lacey. BLMLA jumped in front of the #Justice4Fords movement and hit the reset button, dragging the whole movement back to point A, undermining all the grueling work that went into it for months, when the community had already progressed from that. Several hundred of us gathered at LAPD HQ less than a week after Ezell Ford’s murder. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…/ezell-ford-protest_n_568657… The community and members of the Ford family attended a public meeting with Chief Beck and his cronies only a few days later. http://www.latimes.com/…/la-me-lapd-shooting-20140820-story… A couple of days after meeting with Beck, we demonstrated in front of DA Lacey’s office and were escorted inside, where we submitted requests for Lacey to file charges for the savage CHP beating of Marlene Pinnock, the murders of Ezell Ford, Omar Abrego, Carlos Oliva, and other victims of police murder. http://ktla.com/…/protesters-demand-charges-against-police…/ We targeted DA Lacey in several protests, from East Los Angeles to the campus of USC, to Newton Division police station. BLMLA was not doing anything that had not already been done within the first two weeks after Ezell Ford’s murder. None of the momentum they hijacked from the autopsy release was directed onto DA Lacey, but to THEMSELVES and Chief Beck.They brought the movement back to August, and we were in January. This was not an honest mistake; Melina had known all along that DA Lacey was the target, and we’d had several conversations about her role in awarding Lacey, BLMLA’s silence around Ezell Ford. BLMLA had the chance to target Lacey and join the community and other organizations in solidarity, but ignored protests all over Los Angeles regarding Ezell Ford.

These criticisms were brought to Melina in a face-to-face meeting recently, where she responded that she wouldn’t apologize for what had already been done and could not be taken back; that they were moving on to target Lacey after ‪#‎OccupyLAPD‬ “anyway.” A dismissive “anyway” to compromising justice for someone’s son. When I expressed that their action brought 90% attention to Chief Beck and 10% to DA Lacey when it should have been the other way around, Melina told me they couldn’t “just pack up and move to 210 W. Temple St”, where Lacey’s office is located. To which I responded “Why NOT?” And was told that Occupy LAPD was a unique action when the kids were on vacation from school that could not be repeated; she continued, though, to invite the community to join them in front of LAPD HQ. Black Lives Matter can pull a publicity stunt and bring attention to themselves anytime they want to; taking the heart of the movement after the autopsy release and deflating it as a “demonstration of our power” is not the time or place for that. This momentum is not a given, nor can that moment be recaptured; BLMLA undermined it and dissipated it to a dead end road. TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE. Black men are shot down in the streets by police often. Not everyday is their story told. The Fords (and Abregos) are the only ones who will have to live with the outcome of these shenanigans. If they do not get charges for their loved one, that is a heavy cross they will have to carry. Think of that, BLMLA, as you continue to ask the community to join you in front of LAPD HQ and mislead genuine people to believe they are pushing for justice. YOU ARE MESSING WITH PEOPLE’S LIVES. Anything less than charges filed is not a demonstration of power, it’s a selfish diversion.

Melina has expressed that BLMLA will begin to target Lacey (an opportunity they have had since August last year) starting Tuesday, January 20, when Lacey returns from burying her father. When it was a white man, Chief Beck, they camped out over the holiday while he was on vacation and refused to leave until he met w/ them) But DA Lacey, a Black woman who exonerated Ezell Ford’s murderers and refused to file charges on them, is being treated with kid gloves and understanding. I maintained unity in my criticisms, supporting their bail fund and their disruption and die-in at The Grove. When it comes to rich white people, Melina has no problem disrupting them. But when it came to disrupting rich Black people in prominent positions, she turned her back on a comrade in struggle, threatened to tell her organization, dissed the mother of Ezell Ford, and awarded the District Attorney of Los Angeles while the community demanded charges from Lacey. All less than a week after Lacey exonerated Ezell’s murderers. This is why Amiri Baraka said “Skin is thin, but Class will kick yo ass.” There is a comprador class of Black people who have sold out and Lacey is a part of that class. You can ride with Black all day, but what class do you ride with? Do you want to beat or become the one percent? Melina could have used her position as the vice-chair of LAAAWPPI to press the organization to pull DA Jackie Lazy’s “InAction Award” in light of her statements regarding Ezell Ford and brought significant media attention to the issue. Instead, Melina chose to honor Lacey. Melina continues to give Lacey a pass, representing that she “wants to file charges” and demanding “LAPD cooperate with Lacey to file charges”, rather than outright demanding charges of Lacey. Where is Omar Abrego’s autopsy report showing how the same Newton Division barbarically beat him to death in front of his home nine days earlier, just five blocks away? I do not expect an aggressive campaign against Lacey from BLMLA, or for them to uphold Omar Abrego as the #Justice4Fords movement had. However, an aggressive campaign against Lacey is needed, as well as the results of Omar Abrego’s autopsy. The family of Carlos Oliva, shot six times in the back by East LA Sheriffs, is also demanding charges from Lacey.

The membership of BLMLA who genuinely want to help, and those freedom fighters who are lending themselves to the struggle for justice, have a right to know. This is their fight, too, and they are being misled by Melina the leadership of BLMLA. 

Justice for Ezell Ford, Omar Abrego, and Carlos Oliva! ALL eyes on DA Lacey! NO CHARGES, NO PEACE!

- Keyanna Celina

Statement on Repression of Anarchist and Socialist Activity in Long Beach, CA

In late 2014, local autonomous participants, anarchists and members of Socialist Praxis at Long Beach City College began working together to host a discussion on police, prisons, and capitalism. This event was planned for January 10th and is now postponed after drawing the targeted attention of the Long Beach Police.

LBPD intimidated the owner of our chosen venue, Cultural Alliance Long Beach, into withdrawing their support less than a week before the scheduled date by citing inapplicable permitting requirements.

In this statement, we will seek to explain the substance of our event, detail the police repression of our political speech, and outline our next steps in gathering despite LBPD manipulating their position and the law to restrict our access to a community space.

While the event includes zines and literature, an open mic, DJ set, free burritos from Food not Bombs, and live performances from local bands, participatory discussions remain the main focus of our event. Our plan was to feature five speakers, each talking for 10-15 minutes, with open discussion amongst all participants between each talk. In this way, sitting in a circle facing one another, we hope to subvert the power dynamics of a traditional "panel", in which speakers drone from a lectern and others feel discouraged from participating. The planned topics were promoted as follows:

"The History of Policing (A Marxist Perspective)"

"Prison-Industrial Complex and Minority Communities"

"Hierarchy or Liberation"

"Why Riot? Anti-Police Struggles in Perspective"

"Opposition and BlackQueer TRANS*formation"

Our event drew support not only from anarchists and socialists, but various groups from the area, including a local chapter of Black Lives Matter, Food Not Bombs, Mission Solidarity, Fight for 15, and "Housing, Justice, and Equality Long Beach". In the days leading up to the 10th, excitement was building and we had high hopes for a smooth event at The Bungalow, a venue of Cultural Alliance Long Beach (CALB).

That's when the police chose to make their surveillance known. Five days prior to the event date, the manager of CALB was contacted by LBPD, who called the event "incendiary" and warned that it would "attract the wrong crowd." They went on to insist that the event lacked the proper permits and should be cancelled.

Unfortunately, CALB's owner caved into this pressure with seemingly little awareness of political repression or thought to the consequences of chilling our political speech. This came after we had paid a membership fee to CALB, which supposedly permitted us to plan and host events in their space. In addition, a Space Reservation Form had been submitted for the event to CALB in December and was approved by their manager. CALB has also been notified they will now be required to obtain permits for other community events in their space, extending our repression onto them by association. They have since stopped returning our phone calls, despite our efforts to maintain communication with them.

After pressuring to have the event cancelled, a police detective made repeated phone calls to the event organizer who booked the space. Thankfully, he declined to speak with them, and we commend him and the other members of Socialist Praxis for refusing to validate the disruptive tactics of the Long Beach police.

The Long Beach police have committed numerous violations and misapplications of the law in their attempts to repress our political activity, raising serious issues of selective enforcement and political discrimination. This is especially suspect given the nature of our event, which was to critically discuss the role of the police and their abuse of the law.

There is no such “gathering permit" we know of. The "Occasional Event Permit" knowingly misused by Law Enforcement to intimidate CALB holds no bearing on a free event centered around political speech, and is specifically intended for business related events involving their clientele for the sole purpose of entertainment.

We want to be as clear as we possibly can: our event is an expression of radical political speech and is not aimed to entertain anyone. There is nothing entertaining about police violence, and the structural violence of prisons and capitalism.

A lawyer has also advised the organizers that these permit requirements, even if legally applicable, have yet to be proven constitutional, especially if being used by the LBPD to restrict political activity that calls their own legitimacy into question. In the coming days and weeks, the State may well answer for these missteps in their own courts.

The police want to divide us from one another by raising issues of permission and legality: a traditional point of contention between anarchist and socialist groups. However, in response to police intimidation, we have decided to go forward without permit and open up a space for dialogue at a new location. If the police choose to continue their harassment, we will be prepared with CopWatch on stand by to film them. Lawyers and legal observers will be on hand to witness their actions.

We feel it would undermine the intent of our event and the growing movement against police terrorism to comply with a group (LBPD) that organizes itself on violence and intimidation. This repression is relevant to all movement people and community organizing in general because it exposes how dissent against State sanctioned violence is being targeted or coercively managed by those in established positions of power.

IN TIMES OF TENSION:

If the cops think they can shut us up, they need to think again. We say "Fire to the Prisons!" because so many are still locked in cages. We say "Fuck the Police!" because the institutional white supremacist violence of the state continues unabated. And we say "Open the Borders!" with our thoughts towards those deported, or locked in the open-air jails of repressive powers. In times of tension we choose not to be silent.

In response to police repression, we see cause for increased participation, collaboration and solidarity. The event is going forward, on Saturday January 31st. Keep an eye out for location and time updates.

Signed,

Local Anarchists Socialist Praxis

If you would like to extend your support and add your name please message this blog. The event is yet to be updated but can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/events/893316767366238/

After a Week, Police Raid #blacklivesmatter #occupylapd Encampment and Arrest Two Mothers

For seven days, organizers with the regional Black Lives Matter movement camped peacefully outside Los Angeles police headquarters downtown, calling their protest “Occupy LAPD.”

They had a set of demands centered on Ezell Ford and wanted an audience with Police Chief Charlie Beck. But Monday morning, they were forced to pack up tents, blankets, pots and pans and get off the sidewalk.

Then two women in the group were arrested as they tried to take a letter to Beck.

Activists demand charges in Ezell Ford, Omar Abrego shootings

The group had been camped outside LAPD headquarters on 1st Street since Tuesday after the release of the autopsy report on Ford, the South Los Angeles man shot and killed in August during a confrontation with police. For the most part, the camp-in was peaceful despite some heckling from passersby and what protesters called police intimidation.  

After loading their belongings into cars Monday, organizers began a planned news conference to go over their demands — the firing of the two LAPD officers involved in Ford’s death and a request that the district attorney file murder charges against the pair.

But the scene turned chaotic as two of the movement’s most vocal proponents were arrested.

The women — Melina Abdullah and Sha Dixon — had tried to pass barricades outside police headquarters to deliver letters with their list of demands to Beck, but they were blocked by officers. They then tried another entrance and were arrested on suspicion of trespassing.

“We are not a threat to anyone’s safety,” Abdullah told reporters as she gripped a large manila envelope and prepared to face the first barricade by police. “We are two women who are armed with letters.”

Protesters said actions Monday by police were due in part to the attention the group was getting from the media.

Organizers said police had previously been tolerant of their overnight sidewalk stays. They said they had even received unsolicited support from people who donated tents, a generator and food.

“All it is, is intimidation,” said Damon Turner as he gathered sleeping bags and blankets.

But police said the protesters had become a nuisance, blocking a public right-of-way.

LAPD Sgt. Barry Montgomery said the protesters was blocking the sidewalk and refusing to leave as a worker tried to steam-clean the area, where there were colorful chalk markings on the sidewalk.

Capt. Donald Graham said police would be looking at the markings, which an officer photographed, to see if they carried any specific threats against police.

“Your 1st Amendment rights are absolutely guaranteed,” Graham said. “We have done our best to facilitate that since the Ferguson decision. However, time, place and manner is the purview of the regulatory agency.”

Anya Slaughter, mother of Kendrec McDade, was among the protesters. McDade, 19, was unarmed when he was killed by Pasadena police in 2012. Slaughter said police were “killing our kids.”

She called on Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey to reopen the investigation into McDade’s death: “I want to know what happened to my baby.”

One of the group’s youngest protesters, 11-year-old Thandiwe Abdullah of Los Angeles, said she feared for her own future given the recent police killings.

“I have a target on my back everywhere I go to,” she said. “There is nothing I can do about it and age doesn’t matter anymore. I can be killed at 11.”

Fuck LA TIMES.