LAPD Shooting on Skid Row: The number of bullet holes and their locations lead to more questions.

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Eyewitness accounts describe harrowing moments of contagious fire and lack of concern for residents. Additionally, eyewitnesses are outraged because LAPD Officers continued to shoot Kenny while he was down and clearly unable to move; and, putting an entire community at risk while doing so. Thus far local media reports have been incomplete and driven largely by LAPD statements. However, eyewitness accounts and physical evidence at the scene of the shooting suggests that there is more here than meets the eye. Stay tuned, we will report the facts as we get them.

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Operation Skid Row, and Making the Invisible, Visible.

Pre-Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Press Conference

Public Enemy Pre-Induction Press Conference: (Photo by Piero Gunti)
LA CAN Remarks

Los Angeles is a “tale of two cities.” It’s home to one of the largest media markets in the US and is also the homeless capital of the United States. Within a stone’s throw of where we sit exists the densest pocket of poverty—-skid row. Skid row can be considered the epicenter of this crisis. And to be clear, the crisis is heavily racialized with African Americans disproportionately representing the ranks of those “smothering in an airtight cage of poverty” borrowing from the words and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Since 1999 LA CAN has been on the front-lines battling poverty and against the structures and institutions that reinforce the socially crippling effects. We have used every social reform tool at our disposal, community organizing, policy reform, popular education, participatory action research, leadership development, social media, arts and culture and the list goes on and on……all to secure justice.

Two years ago, while collaborating on a book entitled Freedom Now: Struggles for the Human Right to Housing in LA and Beyond, Chuck D was struck by what he saw in skid row. I recall him saying: “I see Black until the eye goes dim” I have never forgotten that moment…

Our conversation quickly switched to the historical role of culture in building sustainable social movements geared towards healing our communities; and, dispersing our efforts to a larger audience. And the rhetorical question we wanted to answer was: Can Hip Hop make the Invisible, Visible? That conversation planted the seed that would blossom into Operation Skid Row. The answer, of course, was yes! Yes in Los Angeles, New York, Minneapolis, Philadelphia and the list goes on…that hip hop certainly makes the invisible, visible.

Additionally, Operation Skid Row was about building a platform for local artists to infuse the movement with their art and creativity–ultimately, fighting for our right to occupy the voices of those being heard on local and national media outlets. Occupy the Air! Coming to a neighborhood near you in 2013.

LA CAN congratulates Public Enemy for their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame—more importantly, we thank them for providing generations with a library of social anthems that have been used to explain social conditions, root causes, and activate the masses of those forgotten towards liberation.

I close with words of Nelson Mandela…
“Overcoming poverty is not a task of charity, it is an act of justice. Like Slavery and Apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings. Sometimes it falls on a generation to be great. YOU can be that great generation. Let your greatness blossom.”

DRUG WAR: What is it good for? ABSOLUTELY Nothing!

The Drug War And Mass Incarceration By The Numbers

The Huffington Post  |  By Matt Sledge Posted: 04/08/2013

NEW YORK — Despite an increased emphasis on treatment and prevention programs in recent years, the Obama administration in its 2013 budget still requested $25.6 billion in federal spending on the drug war. Of that, $15 billion would go to law enforcement, interdiction and international efforts.

The pro-reform Drug Policy Alliance estimates that when you combine state and local spending on everything from drug-related arrests to prison, the total cost adds up to at least $51 billion per year. Over four decades, the group says, American taxpayers have dished out $1 trillion on the drug war.

What all that money has helped produce — aside from unchanged drug addiction rates — is the world’s highest incarceration rate. According to the Sentencing Project, 2.2 million Americans are in prison or jail.

More than half of federal prisoners are incarcerated for drug crimes in 2010, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, and that number has only just dipped below 50 percent in 2011. Despite more relaxed attitudes among the public at large toward non-violent offenses like marijuana use, the number of people in federal prison for drug offenses spiked from 74,276 in 2000 to 97,472 in 2010, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

The punishment falls disproportionately on people of color. Blacks make up 50 percent of the state and local prisoners incarcerated for drug crimes. Black kids are 10 times more likely to be arrested for drug crimes than white ones — even though white kids are more likely to abuse drugs.

A chart produced by the American Civil Liberties Union shows just how staggeringly large the US prison population has grown.

 

CORRECTION: This piece has been changed to make clear the drop in the percentage of federal prisoners in custody for drug crimes from 2010 to 2011.

One Billion are Rising Today – February 14, 2013 Marks V-Day’s Worldwide Rise Up

Today is V-Day’s 15th Anniversary,  and they “are inviting ONE BILLION women and those who love them to WALK OUT, DANCE, RISE UP, and DEMAND an end to this violence. ONE BILLION RISING will move the earth, activating women and men across every country. V-Day wants the world to see our collective strength, our numbers, our solidarity across borders.”

LA CAN members joined One Billion Rising in Downtown LA today – a rising against street harassment.  In Pershing Square, dozens gathered to sing, dance, rise up and demand an end to violence against women.

LA CAN has been a part of V-Day since 2006 and is proud to be an ongoing part of the Vagina Monologues and now One Billion Rising.  We thank the organizers of the Pershing Square event for ensuring Downtown LA was included in this worldwide action!

“One billion women violated is an atrocity.  One billion women dancing is a revolution.“

Hundreds of Residents and Organizations Gather to STOP the CCFO! The Discriminatory Law Dies in Council!

Click HERE to watch KTLA Coverage of the day.

Hundreds of residents and organizations from ACROSS L.A. gathered at City Hall this morning to STOP the Community Care Facilities Ordinance (CCFO), which would unfairly restrict and eliminate shared housing options in LA, increasing homelessness and segregation in our communities.

With chambers at standing room only, the CCFO died in Council today – Council Member Mitch Englander simply did not have the votes to pass this discriminatory ordinance. While this campaign is far from over, the political winds have surely shifted. Englander, once defiant and sure of marginal support for the ordinance, has been reduced to polemic double-talk.

This was in no doubt due to the power of the diverse coalition that united on behalf of fair housing in L.A.! Thanks to all of you who showed up to let your voice be heard!

WE SHALL NOT BE MOVED!

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November 8, 2012

AN OPEN LETTER FROM THE RESIDENTS OF 2913 SOUTH FLOWER STREET

Dear Developers, City Officials and Members of the General Public,

This letter is meant to express one simple intention: we will not leave our community without a fight.

We are the residents of the neighborhood known as “University Park” and the building located at 2913 South Flower Street. What we would like for you to know about us is that we know what it is to be a community. With the length of time that we have lived in this building, between 15 and 35 years, we have managed to create friendship, security and trust amongst ourselves. Amongst us, we are never without a safe place to leave our children in time of emergency or a pair of hands that are ready to help. Among our children, we notice that the community which we have created together offers them more than just a sense of security but also healthy social development that includes mutual respect, companionship, and a strong self-esteem. Moreover, among the young students who, several years ago, began living among us, we see a good example for our children. We are part of the neighborhood and the neighborhood is a part of us. Everything we need is within a short distance: work, schools, and transportation. For these reasons we love our community and we will defend our right to live in it.

The changes and the development of the land are evident; our community is not the same as it was five years ago.  Today, what we see through our windows are new luxury buildings, a glorified train which will one day reach the sea, cranes and more cranes, little by little enveloping us. Recently, a group representing a local developer began knocking on our doors, offering us money to leave our homes. We recognize that the immense value that exists within these walls for us does not exist in the development plans of ICON, USC, Palmer, AEG, or even in the plans of the City. For this reason, we wish to make the following very clear: We demand people oriented development. We demand to be included in the development plans because WE WILL NOT BE MOVED.

In closing, we welcome development, and all the benefits that go with it- these benefits belong to us too- however, we do not welcome development that displaces families and destroys communities. We will not stand for it. We will defend our rights, our community, and our homes to the very end.  There is NO PRICE that is worth our stability – emotional, physical, economic and social. We repeat: WE WILL NOT BE BOUGHT.

THIS Thursday: Housing, Homelessness, Health, and Human Rights Event at Charles R. Drew University

We need your help! CALL-IN ACTION TODAY and TOMORROW!

We need your support TODAY to help lift the lifetime ban on receiving CalFresh assistance for people with a prior non-violent drug conviction, and who verify their participation in recovery or treatment programs.

See below for more information! This Action will take 5 minutes, but will help thousands of people receive access to critical nutrition benefits.

Click on Image for Full-Size.

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This week, members of the Senate Appropriations Committee will decide whether to advance AB 828, the bill to lift the lifetime ban on receiving CalFresh assistance for people with a prior non-violent drug conviction, and who verify their participation in recovery or treatment programs.

Thirty-seven other states and the District of Columbia have already taken this important step to fight hunger by removing the lifetime ban.

Take Action!

Join statewide call-in days on August 13 and 14 to urge the Senate Appropriations Committee to make the right decision and support nutrition assistance for families in need.

See below for a list of target committee members and their numbers. If you are not in any of their districts, call Senator Kehoe, the committee chair.

Sample message:

My name is_____ and I live in_____.

I’m calling to ask you to support AB 828, the bill to lift the lifetime ban on receiving CalFresh assistance for people with a prior drug-related conviction. People shouldn’t be sentenced to a lifetime of hunger for any crime. Food is a human right, and to put entire families at risk of hunger because one of them committed a crime for which they have already served their time is unjust and inhumane.

AB 828 would end the policy of denying families critical nutrition assistance for life because one of them committed a crime for which they have already served their time. Allowing these families to access CalFresh assistance would help to reduce hunger and recidivism, boost local economies, and increase program efficiency. Click here for a fact sheet on AB 828 (PDF).

Target Senate Appropriations Committee Members

Chair: Sen. Christine Kehoe (San Diego), 916-651-4039
Sen. Elaine Alquist (Santa Clara), 916-651-4013
Sen. Curran D. Price, Jr. (Los Angeles), 916-651-4026
Sen. Darrell Steinberg (Sacramento), 916-651-4006
Sen. Ted Lieu (Los Angeles), 916-651-4028

Contact Tim Shadix with any questions at tim@cafoodbanks.org or (510) 350-9917.

LA CAN on KPFK Radio

Last week, LA CAN’s General Dogon was on KPFK Radio discussing the ongoing LA CAN, Occupy LA, and Occupy the Hood Los Angeles siege against the Central City Association, mouthpiece of the 1% and a leading force of gentrification of Downtown Los Angeles.

Listen to the show:

LA CAN and Play Fair Farmers Field on KNBC4