The Los Angeles Community Action Network organizes people to fight back against oppression. The mission of the Los Angeles Community Action Network (LA CAN) is to help people dealing with poverty create & discover opportunities while serving as a vehicle to ensure we have voice, power & opinion in the decisions that are directly affecting us.
Black people in Los Angeles have been forced to bear the brunt of discriminatory, racist policies for far too long. In leaked audio recording, Council President Nury Martinez says of LA's District Attorney George Gascón, “F**k that guy, he’s with the Blacks". With full knowledge that 76% of Black migrants in LA are deported due to contact with the criminal punishment system, these Council members blocked community-led efforts to create a City LA Justice Fund with universal representation. Instead they decided on a program that disproportionately harms Black immigrants with its racist criminal carveouts and refusal to include deportation defense services. And, this is only one example of the impact of these Councilmembers' anti-Black racism.
Recent studies show that Black Angelenos are more than twice as likely to be stopped and searched by law enforcement as their white counterparts. Our representative in government are supposed to hold systems accountable and ensure equity and fairness. That’s why we can’t allow this incident to go unchecked. Anti-Blackness must not be tolerated by any LA City or County official. We need leaders who challenge racism and champion our communities, not those who push dangerous narratives and anti-Black stereotypes about our families and loved ones. Until we ensure that elected officials like Martinez, Cedillo, and de Leon are held to account for their anti-Black beliefs and removed from office, they will continue to make decisions that place our communities directly in harm’s way.