#DeathByCop

Death by cop coffins
600 plus coffins of police murder victims

 

Yesterday Black Skeptics Los Angeles participated in and endorsed the #DeathByCop demonstration and die-in in downtown Los Angeles. The demo was organized by the Youth Justice Coalition (YJC) and featured Black Lives Matter L.A., the Dignity and Power Coalition against Sheriff’s Violence and other local activist groups that have been on the frontlines of protesting state violence, terrorism and police murders in communities of color in Los Angeles as well as nationwide. The protest took place on the same day the nation was rocked by yet another revelation of a videotaped execution of an unarmed black man by a white police officer in South Carolina.

According to the Youth Justice Coalition, Los Angeles “leads the nation by far in law enforcement killings of community members”, with African Americans (who are 9% of L.A. County’s population) accounting for a whopping 28% of those killed by law enforcement. YJC reports that “since 2000 (according to data furnished by the District Attorney’s office)…there has not been a single prosecution of these cases” and that the D.A. will not investigate cases that involve use of force until law enforcement conducts its own internal investigation. One of the key policy changes that the Los Angeles coalition is pushing for is the creation of an elected citizens’ review panel that would have full subpoena powers to investigate, advise on and participate in the adjudication of cases of police brutality, shootings and killings of civilians.  Los Angeles has long been a major epicenter of police violence—from the Watts Rebellion of 1965, to the murder of African American homemaker Eulia Love in 1979, to the 1991 beating of Rodney King to the civil unrest of 1992 and into the present where “At least 617 people have been killed by law enforcement since 2000”, a figure that breaks down to one person a week.

the Youth Justice Coalition, Los Angeles “leads the nation by far in law enforcement killings of community members”, with African Americans (who are 9% of L.A. County’s population) accounting for a whopping 28% of those killed by law enforcement. YJC reports that “since 2000 (according to data furnished by the District Attorney’s office)…there has not been a single prosecution of these cases” and that the D.A. will not investigate cases that involve use of force until law enforcement conducts its own internal investigation. One of the key policy changes that the Los Angeles coalition is pushing for is the creation of an elected citizens’ review panel that would have full subpoena

Death by cop
powers to investigate, advise on and participate in the adjudication of cases of police brutality, shootings and killings of civilians.  Los Angeles has long been a major epicenter of police violence—from the Watts Rebellion of 1965, to the murder of African American homemaker Eulia Love in 1979, to the 1991 beating of Rodney King to the civil unrest of 1992 and into the present where “At least 617 people have been killed by law enforcement since 2000”, a figure that breaks down to one person a week.

 

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#DeathByCop
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