On January 19 and 20, 2010, LA CAN members and friends will be traveling to San Francisco to join with allies throughout the West Coast in calling for housing justice!!
Check out the flyer below and watch the blog for more updates. We hope you will join us! We will be asking for a small donation per person, but no one will be excluded due to lack of funds.
Unity in the Hood
We wanted to express our sincere thank you for your strong showing of solidarity against the Safer Cities Initiative over the past two days – and a special thanks goes to those of you who are on our Safer Cities Committee. Please also share with your friends, colleagues and members that joined us that we are not reaching with this email.
Your participation embodies the bold resistance needed to swing the pendulum of change in our direction, far left of center. Your insistence that the creed, “…and justice for all” be truly recognized for all regardless of economic status, race, or gender affirms that a better day is coming. Your bravery in speaking truth to power on our terms is commendable. We and all of our members recognize and value your commitment to justice.
International Symbol of Distress, we are under siege!
On Monday night, about 150 people joined us throughout the evening as we claimed space and celebrated community strength on the steps of Central Division. On Tuesday morning, after a few dozen people rallied and distributed citations around City Hall, more than 100 people gathered in Chambers to address the Council. Councilmember Perry, acting president, promptly skipped over public comment when she saw the number of people there to speak out against SCI and her failed leadership in her district. While her stalling tactic caused us to lose a handful of people, most everyone was able to stay. After waiting patiently for a reasonable time, we refused to be blatantly ignored – we loudly and strongly demanded that public comment be heard and it was.
LA CAN members and staff were really energized by the two-day action. We were able to highlight community leadership and resistance, re-activate old members and gain new ones, and stand together as a broad Los Angeles community fighting criminalization of poverty. Also, as a result of our actions in Council Chambers, Councilmember Rosendahl called for a review of the Safer Cities Initiative. While small in some respects. this opens some new doors of possibility thus widening our opportunities to finally stop the occupation and human rights violations occurring daily in our homes and community.
Today we celebrate, tomorrow we continue the fight and we are honored to have you by our side. End SCI Now!
P.S. Below are a couple of the news clips, and it was also covered on npr and other radio, as well as Channel 7. This is the first year that the media covered only LA CAN and allies’ perspective on SCI, instead of solely our response to the City’s propaganda!! We’re going to be putting pics and videos on our blog in the coming days, so check it out at cangress.wordpress.com.
LAPD, Los Angeles Poverty Department, is in the house
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-cityhall-protest-2009sep30,0,1062625.story
http://www.dailynews.com/search/ci_13444226?IADID=Search-www.dailynews.com-www.dailynews.com
The Nation features LA CAN’s Community Watch Program–along with a variety of other great program’s–in it’s “Ten Things You Need to Know to Live on the Streets” segment. The segment, written by Walter Mosley alongside Picture the Homeless (NYC), lays out what you need to know when circumstances force you to survive on the streets.
Click on the link and check it out.
The Nation: Ten Things you need to know to live on the streets
REUTERS \”Los Angeles accused of criminalizing homelessness\”
Reuters brings the case of Los Angeles’ being the “meanest city” to the sight-line of the international community. What is clearly a human rights debacle is finally being seen by the world. This blog has written extensively about the the ill effects and impacts of the Safer City Initiative. We would urge you to read the many posts and pages to fully acclimate yourself to the real depths of the tragedies.
The list is long…but we need your involvement.
As members of the International Network of Street Newspapers LA CAN was granted the opportunity to participate in the 15th Annual Assembly General Meeting and Conference. We were joined in Bergen by ninety-four magazines and street papers representing over 33 countries–the common goal, social justice and telling the other side of the story. Moreover, we have begun to create relationships and opportunities that will translate into an even more powerful publication.
The Community Connection, LA CAN’s official news organ, has been distributed all over the globe and received raving feedback on it’s unwavering commitment to speak truth to power. We will return to the United States with renewed vision, an even greater tool-kit of possibilities, and a refreshed restorative plan of attack.
Stay tuned for video, pictures and highlights of this memorable occasion.
COMMUNITY ASKS FEDS TO INVESTIGATE LAPD’S
SKID ROW TACTICS
Justice Department Complaint Outlines Rampant Discrimination
and Other Civil Rights Violations
Community residents and groups will file a color of law complaint with the Justice Department this Wednesday, asking federal officials to investigate the Los Angeles Police Department’s Safer Cities Initiative on Skid Row.
New Attorney General Eric Holder recently made a speech about the Justice Department’s role and responsibility in addressing issues of race and discrimination. There is no better example of the intersection of race, poverty, disability and injustice than Los Angeles’ Skid Row, and that’s the message we will take to the Federal Government this week. Community leaders will hold a press conference and then hand deliver their complaint to the local FBI office.
Residents have made every attempt to address this issue on the local level. They have for two years been vocal in their opposition to the Initiative. During that time they conducted numerous delegation meetings to the Mayor’s Office; delivered public testimony to both the Public Safety Committee and entire Los Angeles City Council on numerous occasions; worked with the UCLA School of Law utilizing public records and declarations to clearly illustrate the illegal actions; and, collaborated with the Los Angeles chapter of the ACLU to bring forth a complaint in federal court that found the LAPD — by their own admission — guilty of unconstitutional practices.
All of the protests forced the Los Angeles Police Commission to hold an all-day hearing on the policing in November; however, the injustices continue in broad daylight, on a daily basis, and with reckless abandon. Community groups feel strongly that it’s time for the federal government to step in. The City of Los Angeles must be held accountable to all its citizens and end discriminatory practices.
Press Conference Details:
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
12:30 PM
Federal Building, 11000 Wilshire Blvd.
