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OSCAR LEON, TRNN PRODUCER: In the wake of the Zimmerman acquittal for the *** of
Trayvon Martin and the protests that followed, we move to L.A. The protest there last for
a week, from Sunday 14th to the 21st. Los Angeles Times reported 17 total arrest, most
of them for unlawful assembly, eight of which were juveniles. For many people, Zimmerman
acquittal was the straw that broke the camel's back.
UNIDENTIFIED: Once again the criminal justice system has betrayed the black community. But
was I surprised? Hell no, because I know in my heart that the white people on the jury
were people who felt that Zimmerman was more their son then Trayvon Martin.
LEON: In downtown Los Angeles, many march protesting the verdict. But not only Trayvon's
*** is the reason for the outrage.
UNIDENTIFIED: Well, Marissa Alexander, she got, what, 20 years for protecting herself
from an abuser? And she had the right to. She was in--standing her ground to defend
herself. So obviously the stand-your-ground law in Florida does not apply to black people.
LEON: On Tuesday, many gathered on Leimert Park to protest. Some people diverted from
the march and caused numerous damages to public and private property. Even bystanders were
assaulted. The local Walmart claims $15,000 of property damage. Many other business around
the city are a testimony of the rage. The protest follow [krInS@] Avenue until they
reach Hollywood. According to AP, on [incompr.], 13 individuals were arrested. Mainstream media
broadly broadcasted the violence. And conservative networks use it to set the tone for its talking
panels.
However, Sunny Sasajima, LAPD senior lead officer of the Southwest District say the
police are fully aware that those who vandalize are not the activists who protested in Leimert
Park.
SUNNY SASAJIMA, SENIOR LEAD OFFICER, LAPD SOUTHWEST DIVISION: But just to make it clear,
you know, we believe and in talking with a lot of people it really wasn't the case that
the protesters or the folks that were gathered here at the park were causing the problems.
It's people that use the protest as an excuse to come out here and cause problems.
LEON: He further states that LAPD is not a racist institution.
SASAJIMA: You look around our police department, if you go around and take a look at our department
as a whole, you see black, white, Hispanic, Asians. You see black, white, Hispanic, you
know, basically all races at various levels of our department. So to say that there's,
like, blatant racism, I don't believe that that's the case.
LEON: However, while the individuals might not be racist, the policies might very well
be. At least that is what the work of Ashley Franklyn from the Labor Strategy Community
Center seems to show.
ASHLEY FRANKLYN, LABOR STRATEGY COMMUNITY CENTER: So we have 2.3 million people in prison.
One million of them are black folks. Five hundred thousand and counting are Latino folks.
We have the largest school police department, and they have over a $54 million budget, right,
and at the time where we only have one counselor per 1,016 students. Right? Black students
are six times more likely than a white person to be arrested. Latino students are four times
as likely than a white student to be arrested.
So, given these conditions inside of schools, we have to talk about school-to-prison pipeline.
What are the laws and the policies that are pushing our students outside of schools and
making it so hostile and uncomfortable that they're not learning in schools?
LEON: Lola Smallwood Cuevas, from the Los Angeles Black Worker Center, believes unemployment
is one of the main causes for the youngsters' outrage.
LOLA SMALLWOOD CUEVAS, LOS ANGELES BLACK WORKER CENTER: The poverty that generationally our
families have experienced is pretty much the same for most African-American communities.
I mean, here in L.A. County, we have an unemployment rate amongst black working-age adults of about
21 percent. We have an underemployment rate of about 35 percent. So you have, you know,
over half of the black community in a compounded crisis.
LEON: The Black Worker Center is organizing a broad coalition of black workers in South
L.A. to demand a fair share of the construction jobs created by the Obama administration's
stimulus plan. She says that on the first stage, the jobs were filled mostly with Latinos
and white workers, leaving the black community very unhappy. Smallwood believes the youth
is especially at risk in this issue.
SMALLWOOD CUEVAS: You see sort of in the civil rights movement opportunities to come into
jobs, and then in the '80s a complete shutdown and a closing of the door and sort of regression
and going back to lack of opportunity. And so, you know, I would say in the last 30 years
the crisis has gotten to a point where, you know, young black men like Trayvon, unemployment
for those young men in our communities at 66 percent, right? So that's, like, a genocidal
level. At this point, because of, you know, the deindustrialization of cities, because
of the de-unionization, because of the deregulation that allows companies to just outsource work,
to pick up and to move to places where it's cheaper and you can really profit off of people,
because of all of that, we have been in this spiral down. And it's created--you know, what's
left behind is violence, is hopelessness, is despair, is broken schools, is lack of
credit, is poor health. You know. So the economic condition is the root of a lot of what's happening
in the black community.
LEON: On Leimert Park we found Luigi, a rapper from the band Witchkraft. He incarnates a
generation that meet criminalization and jail at an early age.
LUIGI, RAPPER, WITCHKRAFT: I mean, I'm from Long Beach originally. I'm from a neighborhood,
I'm from [incompr.] everybody robbing people, shooting people. But my mom took the the determination
to take me out the neighborhood and for me--to take me somewhere where I could be better
and [incompr.] myself and graduate high school at least. [incompr.] people walking around
this park right now ain't graduated high school. Know what I'm saying?
But look at them. Look at them looking at us. You know what I'm saying? Like, they're
ready to hop out the car and beat--the cops are riding four deep. You understand? Listen,
the cops are riding four deep in the car. You're not paying attention to what the cops
are doing. You don't understand, 'cause you're not from around here. When the cop car is
driving past, it's the cage behind the back seat. The doors are locked, so you can't unlock
it. These guys take the cages out. Look at them looking at us. They take the cages out
the back seat, unlock the back doors. So it's four people riding in one car. They're ready
to hop out and beat somebody up and hop in the car and go do it to the next black man
or a Mexican or a white, whoever is protesting. You know what I'm saying?
LEON: Osbe, another rapper from the band, has lost all faith in the system.
OSBE, RAPPER, WITCHKRAFT: This is an ongoing thing. Like, society [incompr.] all type of
loopholes that we all know about that they're getting over with. You know. Injustice [incompr.]
all of that, especially on black people and minorities, period, but especially on black
people. You know what I'm saying? It's been going on for years, since slavery.
LEON: J Millz thinks generation X could change the world.
J MILLZ, RAPPER, WITCHKRAFT: If we--if our generation can put their mind to the point
and the maximum capacity of what they can do, they can change the world.
LEON: However, many in Leimert Park doubt that the generation X can fight back and get
real changes like those in the '60s.
RUDOLPH PORTER, L.A. PHILHARMONIC RETIREE: I think they're capable, but I must say I'm
still in question about this young, wild, youthful generation now. I'm not quite sure
where they're going to take it.
KUNTA SMITH, MUSICIAN: During my generation, we struggled for equality in this country.
So when we couldn't get equality, we had to fight for it and march for it in the street.
This new generation, they're all about tattoos, killing each other. So they're not about unity
like we were.
LEON: The racial struggle is connected to the economic one. And if a change is to be
implemented, a more tactical approach is needed. That is the thinking of David Hickman, a disabled
war veteran.
DAVID HICKMAN, DISABLED WAR VETERAN: Young people today, they don't understand that.
They think that they're supposed to create havoc and melee throughout the United States
for what happened. That's not the way to handle that situation, because it is politically
and politically minded to know how to handle that situation so you won't get in trouble.
I don't want to go to jail. But I don't mind voicing my opinion.
LEON: Maybe Hickman has a point and a strong African-American political movement is needed.
Here are some disturbing facts. In an article of the Black Agenda Report, Dr. Reginald Clarke
notes that since the president, Obama, was elected, the only group whose situation has
not improved as far as employment goes are the African American, for example going from
underemployment to steady jobs, while other racial groups have decreased its underemployment
at a rate of 20 percent. Clark says, "The rate of under-employment for blacks has increased
from 16% in 2009 to 20% at the end of 2012. This represents a 25% worsening in the rate
of black underemployment during Obama's first term in office."
The New York Times shows another stunning disparity. In an article by Sam Roberts, The
Times review a study by Becky Pettit and Brian Sykes, who try to quantify statistics about
African-American populations and found that "The real problem ... is that imprisoned black
men aren't figured into statistics about the standing of African-Americans. The consequence,
she says, is an overstatement of black progress in education, employment, wages, and voting
participation." They further note that "By the time they turn 18, one in four black children
will have experienced the imprisonment of a parent. More young black dropouts are in
prison or jail than have paying jobs. Black men are more likely to go to prison than to
graduate with a four-year college degree or complete military service. Black dropouts
are more likely to spend at least a year in prison than to get married." In the article
of The New York Times, Dr. Pettit states, "Among low-skill black men, spending time
in prison has become a normative life event, furthering their segregation from mainstream
society."
After a week of demonstration, many arrests, and thousands of dollars of property damage
and overtime for police officers, demonstrations readily toned down. Justice Department says
it is determining if it will file civil right charges against Zimmerman. But many are demanding
the Department of Justice take more profound action.
Reporting for The Real News, this is Oscar Leon.