Southern California: Protesters recite names of those killed by police, demand accountability
One year after the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer, dozens of Angelenos gathered in downtown Los Angeles for an anniversary rally, during which speakers called for the defunding of police and recited the names of local people killed by police officers.
Floyd’s death inspired a torrent of public demonstrations across the nation, including Southern California last year. For weeks, protesters filled the streets daily in Los Angeles and other cities, taking a stand against police shootings, calling for
stepped-up prosecution of officers who kill people and urging greater accountability and transparency whenever officers fire their weapons.
Among the names spoken Tuesday in downtown L.A. was that of Grechario Mack, who was killed by police officers at the age of 30 at a mall on April 10, 2018, while he was experiencing a mental health crisis.
Standing next to a large photo of Mack that was taken when he was 5 years old, his mother, Catherine Walker, addressed the crowd gathered in front of the Los Angeles Police Department headquarters.
“LAPD took my baby’s life … when he has his mother, he has his sisters, he has brother, and most of all, he has his two daughters,” Walker said.
Organized by Black Lives Matter-Los Angeles, the rally was led by Walker and other parents who became activists after their children were killed by law enforcement officers.
Lisa Hines, whose 36-year-old daughter Wakiesha Wilson died in 2016 while in LAPD custody, lamented the continued killings of mostly Black and Latino people by police, and said this is something that should still inspire a sense of outrage.
“We gotta stay out here,” Hines said. “Keep showing up and showing out. And get mad, be mad … It is OK to be mad about it.”
The Police Commission in 2019 ruled that officers violated department policy when they used deadly force against Mack. The city paid $300,000 to Wilson’s family to settle a claim, after the commission ruled that officers were not “substantially involved” in her death.
Speakers at the rally also called for the defunding of police and for law enforcement officers who have killed Angelenos to be prosecuted, something that rarely happens.
In Minneapolis, former police Officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty of all three counts against him in the Floyd murder case after a three-week trial on April 20.
The anniversary of Floyd’s death comes as the city and counties of Los Angeles are discussing changes to law enforcement practices. Organizers and speakers at the downtown march said not enough has been done.
While some funding in the city budget has begun to be diverted out of the police department budget, spending on law enforcement continues to take up the lion’s share of spending, speakers said.
Tyler Boudreaux said that in a second year of getting input for The People’s Budget L.A., an alternate plan to the city budget released Tuesday, they found that there was a demand for spending public dollars on housing, public health, food security, “reimagined community safety” such as mental health services and other public amenities.
“There’s enough money in this city for everyone to live good and decent lives, to strengthen our communities and provide people with access to health care, good food and wellness resources to protect and uplift our most vulnerable communities,” Boudreaux said.
The City Council last year passed a $150 million cut to LAPD’s budget after repeated calls from civil rights groups and protesters. Chief Michel Moore pushed back against such cuts, arguing that they could weaken public safety.
In recent weeks, LAPD asked for $67 million to improve its response to massive protests after research spurred three reports that condemned how the department handled the wave of demonstrations, with harsh criticism aimed at how the department trained officers and planned for such demonstrations.
Moore, who has acknowledged the failures of last year’s response, vowed to make changes to the department. Still, he maintained that most officers behaved professionally even as violence flared at some protests, only cracking down when they saw threats to public safety.
Meanwhile, largely in response to the demonstrations, L.A. County voters passed Measure J, a requirement that at least 10% of locally generated, unrestricted funds be invested annually in community programs and alternatives to incarceration, with a three-year ramp-up period.
For L.A. County supervisors, the Sheriff’s Department budget is another bone of contention amid calls to defund or divert law enforcement dollars to social justice programs. At a supervisors’ budget review session last week, the sheriff’s budget was recommended to remain roughly flat to the prior year, at $3.4 billion, which has generated pushback from those who have called for shifting more dollars from law enforcement to community-based services and programs.
Sheriff Alex Villanueva has argued that the board is starving his department of funding and hurting communities of color in the process. At a May 19 hearing, he told the board that the proposed county budget does nothing to address “existential threats to the community,” including homelessness, rising crime, arsons and illegal cannabis dispensaries.”
L.A.’s City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to support a police overhaul measure pending in Congress.
City Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas, who introduced the resolution to support the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, said that despite the conviction of Chauvin, more needs to be done nationally.
“We will not see true justice … until we reform the very systems that allow this senseless violence against people of color generally, African Americans in particular, to persist,” he said. “If passed, this bill will increase accountability for law enforcement, misconduct, restricting the use of certain policing practices such as no-knock warrants, chokeholds — things we thought we had rid ourselves of many, many years ago right here in Los Angeles.
“It seeks to enhance transparency and data collection, establish the best practices and training.”
Rep. Karen Bass, DLos Angeles, the author of the pending legislation, issued a statement thanking the council for its backing.
“Many of my friends on the council remember the pain of not getting national reforms enacted after Rodney King was beaten 30 years ago,” she said. “I hope that acting this time on the heels of the torturous murder of George Floyd, we can enact real, substantive change to our policing system. Thank you again for acting in support of this important piece of legislation.”
As the rally was being held downtown, the city’s Police Commission met virtually with panel President Eileen Decker noting the somber anniversary and discussing changes that have been implemented in local policing — banning chokeholds, updating use-of-force policies, adding policies on no-knock warrants and searches and developing alternative dispatch models to modernize response to various calls for help.
“What is clear is that our work as a commission is not done,” she said. “We absolutely must do more. This commission will remain committed to advancing more reforms, working to ensure all communities in Los Angeles can feel confident in their police department, and that the department provides protection that is deeply needed in many communities, but does so in a way that is consistent with the Constitution. We certainly have much work to do.”
LAPD’s Moore again expressed his “disgust and disdain” at the video of Floyd’s arrest with Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes. He also insisted that changes are being made by the commission and the department to improve policing and bolster relations between law enforcement and communities of color.
Baba Akili, a longtime civil rights activist and member of Black Lives Matter-L.A., said that in order to stop more killings by law enforcement officers, the changes they are fighting for need to be “transformative.”
“We’re not talking reform, we’re talking about defund,” Akili said. “We’re not talking about tinkering around the edges. We are talking about making real change. And in order for us to do that, we’re gonna have to stay in the streets.”