Mayor Karen Bass wants to put a thousand more cops on the street and increase the LAPD budget by $65 million. But this is just a budget PROPOSAL and we still have time to change her mind. WE CAN CHANGE HER MIND! BLMLA IS CONFIRMED TO PRESENT OUR #PeoplesBudgetLA FINDINGS TO MAYOR KAREN BASS on April 27th. Make sure your voice is heard during this budgeting process and complete the survey at peoplesbudgetla.com/survey. It takes less than five minutes to fill in your responses. Already completed it? We thank you and urge you to please share it with at least 10 people and ask them to complete it right away! Again the link is online at peoplesbudgetla.com/survey. Let’s FUND SERVICES, NOT THE POLICE!
AND RALLY IN THE STREETS WITH US TO FIGHT AGAINST POLICE VIOLENCE AND CORRUPT POLICE DEPARTMENTS AT OUR WEEKLY PROTEST TO #ENDPOLICEASSOCIATIONS, WEDNESDAYS AT 4PM AT 1313 W. 8TH ST.
Happy International Women’s Day!
Black Lives Matter Grassroots is a womanist, Pan-Africanist organization that honors the revolutionary contributions of our foremothers like Yaa Asentewaa, Mama Harriet Tubman, Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer, Mrs. Rosa Parks, Mrs. Coretta Scott King, Ida B. Wells, Ella Baker, and so many others.
We claimed March as “Black Women Are Divine” month - national call to Black women around the world to reclaim our divinity in the names of #BreonnaTaylor, #SandraBland, #WakieshaWilson, and all Black women whose lives were stolen by state-sanctioned violence. This national campaign was initiated by our very own Sister/Mama/Dr. Melina Abdullah in honor of the spirit of #BreonnaTaylor, and serves as a reminder for Black women to celebrate life in collective joy, solidarity, and to build power. Join us this month in honoring the Black women around you! We invite you to participate in this campaign by:
1. Changing your social media profile picture to the logo above.
2. Celebrate the divine Black women in your life by sending them flowers, spending quality time with them, and offering other intentional expressions of love.
3. Tapping in with your local BLM Grassroots chapters to learn more about their events & campaigns that they are hosting to commemorate #BlackWomenAreDivine.
In Los Angeles, BLMLA is hosting our Black Women Are Divine celebration… Saturday, March 18th at Norman Houston Park. Join us as we honor Black women’s divinity and shower Black women with art, healing work, good food, flowers, gifts, love, and blessings.
Black women, girls, and femmes are invited to RECEIVE and be loved on.
People who are not Black women are invited to GIVE to the Black women in attendance…Bring flowers, small gifts, and Spirit of service.
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In the spirit of Sankofa, we honor Black History Month as a time to learn from the wisdom of our elders while forging new paths with the guidance of the next generation. Our revolutionary Ancestors guide us, ground us, and encourage us to propel the long tradition of resistance forward, until we free us. Police brutality is something our people have fought against since slavery. From the days of Strange Fruit hanging from the poplar trees, to the battered face of #EmmetTill on every newspaper around the world, to #TrayvonMartin, 2020 #BlackLivesMatter uprisings in the name of #GeorgeFloyd, #BreonnaTaylor, and #AhmaudArbery, and now the names of #TyreNichols and #KeenanAnderson…our Black history reminds us that transformation requires action from all of us. Let’s summon the courage deep in our bloodlines and spiritlines and continue to fight for a world where Black folks live long, happy, healthy and free lives.
EVERY WEDNESDAY AT 4PM, MEET US IN THE STREETS IN FRONT OF THE PEOPLE’S MURAL AT 1313 W. 8TH ST., LOS ANGELES, #ENDPOLICEASSOCIATIONS.
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We are angry…angry that after thousands of letters, tens-of-thousands of petition signatures, hours of public comment, and multiple demonstrations - all calling on Karen Bass not to reappoint LAPD Chief Moore, the first Black woman mayor of Los Angeles, a self-proclaimed progressive, would ignore the will of the people. Both Moore and Bass feigned outrage at the murder of #TyreNichols in Memphis, but LAPD has killed triple that number right here in Los Angeles so far this year. We demand accountability there and here.
JOIN US TODAY FOR A PRESS CONFERENCE AT 4PM WITH DEMONSTRATION TO FOLLOW AS WE VOICE OUR OUTRAGE AND DEMAND CHANGE IN FRONT OF THE PEOPLE’S MURAL AT 1313 W. 8TH ST., LOS ANGELES.
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his week our hearts are heavy with the news of the 11 people massacred in Monterey Park, while people were celebrating the Lunar New Year. Black Lives Matter stands in solidarity with our Asian siblings and we’re sending all of our love and prayers to the Monterey Park community.
We also stand alongside the family of #TyreNichols in Memphis, Tennessee, who just viewed the January 8th body camera footage of five police officers viciously and repeatedly beating, tasing, pepper-spraying Tyre, while he begged for his life. Tyre suffered massive injuries, including a broken neck and later died in the hospital under cardiac arrest.
In Atlanta, Tortuguita, a forest defender who was working to stop the development of Cop City, was killed by police for his activism.
Here in Los Angeles, we continue to demand justice for in the names of #KeenanAnderson, #TakarSmith, and #OscarLeonSanchez, who were murdered by LAPD in the first three days of 2023. LAPD is now attempting to assassinate the characters of the people they killed.
This year is off to a tragic start, but we must continue fighting for justice in honor of all of the lives harmed or stolen by police violence. For the lives lost and the lives to come in future generations, collectively organizing will lead us to the victory for abolition.
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We march in the footsteps of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his radical vision for Black freedom. Led by spirit, guided by a deep love for our people. Dr. King put his body and freedom on the line in the fight for freedom and justice, and used direct action as a tool to disrupt. As we celebrate the courage and unwavering faith of Dr. King and Coretta Scott King, join us in engaging in their teachings and organize with us for transformative change. “Those who love peace must learn to organize as effectively as those who love war.” ― Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (Unlike white moderates and racists that posted their annual MLK quote even though they are the antithesis of his vision and would’ve denounced Dr. King in the 50s and 60s, when WE quote the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, WE evoke his spirit with genuine intention.)
We stand by the family of #KeenanAnderson in uplifting the 5 demands for justice in his name.
#NoMoreMoore
Remove police from traffic and all other places they clearly don’t belong.
Restrict tasers.
Release the unedited video.
#EndQualifiedImmunity
LAPD stole the lives of #KeenanAnderson, #TakarSmith, and #OscarLeonSanchez all within the first week of the new year. Say their names and surround their families with love and prayers.
AND LET’S TAKE TO THE STREETS AT OUR WEEKLY #ENDPOLICEASSOCIATIONS PROTEST, EVERY WEDNESDAY AT 4PM, 1313 W. 8TH ST.
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LAPD has claimed a terrible start to 2023…killing 3 people in the first 3 days of the year. #TakarSmith was a 44-year-old Black father of six, gunned down in his own home when his wife asked for mental health support for him. #KeenanAnderson was a 31-year-old Black father and schoolteacher, who was tased to death after a minor traffic accident. #OscarLeon was a Latinx brother who was apparently dealing with mental health challenges. All three of these men should still be alive. LAPD continues to demonstrate a blatant disregard for human life…an attitude that comes from the top, which gets to the core of why LAPD Chief Michel Moore must go.
As overwhelmed as we are by the attacks on Black life, we know that when we fight, we win. In 2022 we claimed many victories including:
We opened The Center for Black Power in Africa Town (Leimert Park).
We passed Measure A for sheriff accountability.
We voted Alex Villanueva out of office.
Nury Martinez and Ron Herrera resigned after pressure around their racist audio tapes. (Gil Cedillo had already been voted out and replaced by abolitionist Eunisses Hernandez.)
We ran Kevin de Léon from his home for being an anti-Black, anti-Indigenous racist after camping outside of his house for 18 days under the banner #OperationResignation.
We continued to build and organize with Black Lives Matter-Grassroots chapters around the country.
We erected the Black Lives Matter fist in the people’s park in Africa Town, sculpted by artist Jordan Powell-Karis
Four Torrance police officers responsible for the death of #ChristopherDeAndreMitchell were fired for their participation in the racist text messaging scandal.
We forced Cal State LA President Bill Covino to announce his resignation after he enabled campus police to violently brutalize our own Dr. Melina Abdullah.
And the list continues! We must celebrate these monumental victories that push us forward, AND we must acknowledge that there is much more organizing work to be done to ensure that #BlackLivesMatter in Los Angeles and globally.
START YOUR YEAR OFF BY JOINING US IN THE STREETS FOR THE 100th #ENDPOLICEASSOCIATIONS RALLY, WEDNESDAY JANUARY 11 AT 4PM!
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BUILD BLACK. BUY BLACK. BANK BLACK.
Our annual Black Xmas campaign urges folks to reject white capitalism and exclusively support Black organizations and businesses during the holiday season. Instead of giving in to the lure of rampant consumerism, #BuildBlack by donating to Black organizations. If you must buy, #BuyBlack - let’s circulate our dollars within our own community! BLMLA is uplifting Black-owned businesses on our instagram page @blmlosangeles. And…there is no better time to move your money away from white corporate institutions that harm our people and #BankBlack…in Los Angeles, One United Bank has been a longtime partner of BLMLA. Visit blackxmas.org for a full directory of Black organizations and businesses we’ve profiled.
STAY TUNED! OUR ANNUAL #BLACKXMAS SHUTDOWN PROTEST IS COMING!
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We won! Our organizing won! Our people won some very important victories at the polls on Tuesday.
Measure A - for sheriffs accountability passed by a landslide. This was OUR measure - we wrote it, organized for it, and WON! Major shouts out to the families of #JohnHorton and #AnthonyVargas who led the on-the-ground work and our #CheckTheSheriff partners, especially Andres Kwon of the ACLU, who visioned and poured himself into getting the measure passed.
Villanueva got the boot! He’s losing by a landslide! Years of exposing his corruption and criminality have resonated with the people. His legacy of LASD gangs was exposed by courageous organizing and journalism with the families of those killed and harmed by at the center.
Kenneth Mejia won for City Controller! That’s right! OUR #PeoplesBudgetLA expert won the seat over lifetime do-nothing, vindictive politician Paul Koretz. We don’t endorse political candidates…but…
Yaaayyyyy Kenneth!!!!
Additional wins for the people…ULA for housing passed, Lola Smallwood Cuevas (of the Black Worker Center), Tina McKinner (of LA Voice), and Isaac Bryan (whose political home is BLM)...all won! Still waiting on final results for other races…but additional victories are possible.
And…in breaking news…the sheriff deputy who murdered #DavidOrdaz was CHARGED by DA Gascon today!
The lesson that continues to prove itself is that we must #VoteAndOrganize!
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As the extreme anti-Black racism that pervades the City of Los Angeles comes to light, we are making demands that address both the hurt and the harm. The leaked audio that includes horrific slurs about a 2-year-old Black child by still-Councilmember Nury Martinez breaks our hearts and calls on us to encircle Jacob, Mike Bonin’s baby boy, with love and protection. The context of that conversation is just as troubling and points to a much more nefarious plot to undermine and erode Black power in the City. Still-Councilmember Kevin de Leon attempted to minimize Black organizing, calling it “25 Black people yelling.” Still-Councilmember Gil Cedillo and former County Federation of Labor President Ron Herrera are just as guilty of spewing anti-Black, anti-LGBTQ, anti-Indigenous racist rhetoric, while also plotting to marginalize the City’s renters and progressive voices during the redistricting process. It is outrageous and reprehensible. Even more disgusting is that the three members of the City Council are vying to hold on to their seats even after literally everyone has called for their resignations. So let us say it louder…Councilmembers Nury Martinez, Kevin de Leon and Gil Cedillo MUST RESIGN IMMEDIATELY!
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The soul of #BlackLivesMatter is on the line! #BlackLivesMatter is one of the most powerful, visionary movements of all time and its resources have fallen into the hands of the wrong people. We intend to get them back!
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This month’s Black Lives Matter-LA monthly meeting filled our spirits with the history and power of the Black August tradition. Movement elders Harold Welton and Jitu Sadiki shared important insights into the background of Black August and ways that we can engage with political prisoners today, including advocating for their freedom. The month compels us to fight for our people and stay in these streets to demand justice!
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Black August is a month-long commemoration of Black freedom fighters and political prisoners. Black August was initiated by imprisoned comrades inside the California prisons in the 1970s and spotlights the long tradition of Black resistance. There are four core pillars, meant to deepen our commitment to struggle both inside and outside the prison walls.
FAST! Recognize the continued struggle of our incarcerated brothers and sisters by fasting from food and beverages from sunup to sundown.
STUDY! Feed the mind with revolutionary readings that inspire the continued work of Black liberation.
Black Lives Matter Grassroots is engaging in a collective read of George Jackson’s Blood In My Eye. Pick up a copy from Eso Won Books or your favorite Black-owned bookstore and read along with us.TRAIN! Center your strength through physical training and taking care of your body.
FIGHT! Refocus your spirit to the needs of the fight systems of injustice! Begin by meeting us in these streets on Wednesdays…
Today Emmett Till should be celebrating his 81st birthday. When white supremacists violently stole his life at 14-years-old, his mother Mamie Till courageously decided to have an open casket so the world could see what racism did to her baby boy. 67 years later and the family is still demanding justice for Emmett Till.
This summer, the Emmett Till foundation discovered an unserved arrest warrant for Carolyn Bryant, the white woman who falsely accused Emmett Till of whistling at her. The same white supremacist force that killed Emmet Till, is the same white supremacist force that failed to arrest Carolyn Bryant in connection with his murder. White supremacy continues to fuel the modern state of policing and the state sanctioned violence our communities experience today.
Organizing is how we end white supremacy.
Organizing is how we abolish police.
Organizing is how we keep us safe.
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After a brief car chase during a traffic stop, police officers in Akron, Ohio fired 90 rounds at Jayland Walker, a 25-year-old Black man, hitting him more than 60 times. After riddling Jayland’s body with bullets, the officers then placed handcuffs on his wrists. As if even in death, Jayland’s Black life was still a threat to the state.
A week later, a white supremacist opened fire into a crowd of families enjoying their 4th of July parade in a Chicago suburb. He killed seven people and injured at least 46 others. When Illinois police confronted the shooter, attempted a traffic stop and then pursued the suspect in a chase, he was taken into custody without incident.
We’ve seen this time and time again. Our people are gunned down during traffic stops while white supremacist killers get to have their day in court. The paradox of treatment proves who law enforcement are willing to protect.
This year marks 9-years of the Black Lives Matter movement. We say Black Lives Matter because firing 90 rounds at an unarmed Black man is an evil atrocity that must be stopped. We must fight for a world without state-sanctioned violence on Black bodies. We must uproot white supremacy and plant the abolitionist seeds of healing.
LET’S COME TOGETHER AND ORGANIZE IN THE NAME OF #JAYLANDWALKER AND ALL OF THE LIVES STOLEN BY POLICE VIOLENCE. JOIN US AT THE MONTHLY BLMLA MEETING SUNDAY, JULY 10 AT 7PM, 3423 W. 43RD PLACE IN AFRICATOWN (LEIMERT PARK).
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The overturning of Roe v. Wade is not only horrendous in and of itself, but marks a dangerous stripping of rights that sets the stage for an all out attack on Black and marginalized people, especially those at the intersections. Last Friday’s Supreme Dobbs ruling ended 50 years of federal protection for abortions, and 13 states immediately banned abortions (with at least 13 more slated to follow). Black women and Black pregnant people, who already experience maternal mortality three-times that of non-Black women, will be disproportionately impacted. Making Black Lives Matter means supporting body autonomy, Black pregnant people, freedom of choice, and the overarching fight for reproductive justice.
Black Lives Matter Grassroots is committed to building the movement on the streets. As conservatives come for us guns blazing (quite literally) and liberals offer non-solutions like term limits for Supreme Court Justices, we know that real change comes through the power of the people.
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For the past 8 years, LA Mayor Eric Garcetti has sold our city out to greedy developers, which sparked an affordable housing crisis, increased gentrification and drove displacement. Black people bore the brunt of Garcetti’s actions, including his increased police budgets and “community safety partnership” programs.
Los Angeles deserves a new Mayor that will put PEOPLE over profit and CARE over cops. Los Angeles deserves a leader who not only believes #BlackLivesMatter but will work to make #BlackLivesMatter in all aspects of the local government.
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STAND WITH DR. MELINA ABDULLAH AND CONDEMN THE UNIVERSITY FOR THEIR BRUTALITY AGAINST THEIR OWN TENURED PROFESSOR. JOIN US AT A PRESS CONFERENCE TODAY, WEDNESDAY MAY 4TH AT 2PM PT. CAL STATE LA UNIVERSITY STUDENT UNION - 5154 STATE UNIVERSITY DR., LOS ANGELES, CA 90032.
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Last week Eric Garcetti revealed his 2022-2023 fiscal year budget proposal which, if approved by City Council, will give the Los Angeles Police Department $3.2 BILLION – an 8% increase from last year. During Eric Garcetti’s 8-year tenure as LA Mayor, he has increased the LAPD budget by 54%. Even though LAPD already gobbles more than half of Los Angeles’ general fund, Garcetti continues to prove his liberal white supremacy by stealing more of our tax dollars away from much-needed resources. Our communities not only need, but deserve, deep investments in housing, mental health, youth services, jobs, infrastructure, and more.
This is why the People’s Budget LA-coalition, led by Black Lives Matter-LA, convened. We know that we need to #DefundThePolice and invest in our communities. As a coalition we’ve gone through two budget cycles engaging Angelenos on what priorities matter the most to them, and discussed the budget process in a way that city officials failed to do. This year is the third year of the People’s Budget LA cycle and we need your voice! Complete and share the 2022-2023 People’s Budget LA survey and learn more information about the People’s Budget LA online.