Current Campaigns
#ENDPOLICEASSOCAITIONS
Law enforcement officers have long been emboldened by white supremacy to kill Black people with impunity, and police associations like the Los Angeles Police Protective League (LAPPL) have played a major role in shielding officers from any measure of accountability. On Wednesday, Black Lives Matter-LA (BLM-LA) launched a campaign to end the LAPPL's labor union status and expose its central role in perpetuating white supremacy, anti-Blackness, and a culture of deadly violence within the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD).
Progressive justice reform
We support transformative change in the LA District Attorney’s Office and the commitments made by George Gascón to enact reforms during his first 100 days.
For more than three years, Black Lives Matter-Los Angeles and allies worked to oust incumbent District Attorney Jackie Lacey for her refusal to prosecute corrupt and murderous police.
When the new Los Angeles District Attorney was sworn in, he pledged sweeping progressive reforms that came as a mandate from the overwhelming majority of Angelenos who elected him.
The current attempts by law enforcement associations to override that authority are blatantly self-interested in seeking to uphold a racist system for the sake of job security and institutional preservation. Police and Deputy District Attorney Associations are working to undermine the will of the people. We must push back!
more than a Hash tag
More than a Hashtag is our digital living altar for people killed by police. It counters the false narratives put out by a state that sanctions the killing of our people by police and then assassinates their characters. This love offering tells the stories of who our people are from a family and community perspective. We are in relationship and have collaborated with many families and friends of those killed for this project. For others, we may not have a direct line to their loved ones and encourage those who know folks personally to contact us and contribute to their profiles.
#Boycott24
Corporations are often complicit in police killings. 24-Hour Fitness has engaged in a policy of calling police on its Black members, resulting in the killings of #DennisToddRogers in 2017 and #AlbertRamonDorsey in 2018. Both were unarmed and posed no threat. After the murder of Ramon by LAPD while he was naked and exiting the shower at 24-Hour Fitness’s Hollywood location, BLMLA attempted to engage the company and asked them to do three things. 1) Issue a public statement affirming the value of Black life. 2) Hold a company-wide day-long implicit bias and cultural competency training. 3) Implement alternatives to calling police in non-life-threatening situations. The company refused and BLMLA began a weekly boycott and picket, encouraging patrons to cancel their memberships and workout somewhere else. To honor social distancing, we continue these efforts online.
Los Angeles Police Commission Fails #LAPCFails
The Los Angeles Police Commission (LAPC) was established as an independent body of citizens to provide oversight to LAPD. The reality is that it serves as a rubber-stamp body that is in bed with police and treats the public that it is supposed to represent with disdain. The Commission is headed by law professor Eileen Decker, who has not been any more supportive of voices critical to law enforcement than her predecessors. LAPC meets on Tuesday mornings on Zoom. Each week BLMLA activists and allies attend the meetings in partnership with Stop LAPD Spying Coalition, Los Angeles Community Action Network, White People for Black Lives and others to raise questions, issue challenges, and monitor the body that is supposed to monitor the police.
Justice for #ChristopherDeAndreMitchell
#ChristopherDeAndreMitchell was just 23-years-old when two Torrance police officers shot him in cold blood within 15 seconds of approaching the vehicle in which he was sitting on December 9, 2018. Torrance police and city officials went on to assassinate his character after they killed his body. A team of BLMLA activists and allies has developed in Torrance to support Christopher’s family and to hold the City accountable. When held on Tuesday nights, the team attends Torrance City Council meetings via digital means. The Torrance-based team is also work on media and other actions to demand justice in Christopher’s name.
SIGN AND SHARE the petition demanding justice in the name of #ChristopherDeAndreMitchell, who was murdered by Torrance police.
Verified Black Owned/BLACK XMAS
How does an economic agenda play into a Black liberation agenda? It’s not enough to replace white capitalism with Black capitalism. We have to engage in “cooperative economics” (the principle of Ujamaa from Kwanzaa’s Nguzo Saba) and develop a model to bring collective benefit. Every year, from Black Friday to New Year’s, we center this with our Black Xmas campaign, to strengthen the economic muscle of the Black community year-round. As we are lured into spending during the holidays, we remember that every dollar feeds something so we choose to feed a stronger Black community and not corporations that don’t support us. Finite campaigns like #BlackXmas make it easier to begin the process of choosing Black community over White capitalism.
#REIMAGINECHILDSAFETY
The child welfare system traumatizes children and rips families apart. Far from helping, law enforcement only makes things worse. The system disproportionately targets Black children for surveillance and removal, actions that, even when well-intentioned, terrorize and traumatize Black families. While Black children are 10% of LA County’s population, they represent 40% of the young people in the child welfare system. LA County's Department of Children & Family Services (DCFS) works in direct partnership with the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and LA Sheriff’s Department (LASD) to enter homes and remove our children. Police presence during DCFS investigations further traumatizes children and escalates the situation. Removing law enforcement from the child welfare system is the first step to curb the racist practices that break up families of color. BLMLA cares deeply about the safety of our children, which is why we are working to #ReimagineChildSafety and calling on the LA County Board of Supervisors to get #CopsOutofCPS and invest resources in Black families and communities to prevent children from going into foster care.
peoples budget la
Black Lives Matter Los Angeles (BLMLA) and its allies have been protesting the City’s outsized funding of LAPD. Historically, funding for LAPD has hovered around 50% of the general fund budget. The most recent iteration of the City’s budget is particularly unacceptable; LA mayor Eric Garcetti has proposed a budget that includes a marked increase — $200 million — to LAPD overtime, despite clear and measurable decreases in crime.
In this proposed budget, the LAPD will drain 54% of the general fund, while other departments experience furloughs, pay and budget cuts.
The People’s Budget LA Coalition is led by Black Lives Matter-Los Angeles.
Black Lives Matter - Los Angeles and BLM Grassroots are womanist, Pan-Africanist organizations that honor 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.
Our Victories
Black Lives Matter stakes our claim as heir to the Black Power Movement. We are not a part of the non-profit industrial complex; we are not a policy or a social service organization. To attempt to measure our "wins" solely in terms of electoral victories, legal processes, legislation, public policy, or service numbers is, in effect, to submit to the existing hegemony that we seek to transform and to miss the whole point. Our victories cannot be confined to quantitative measures. Like those upon whose shoulders we stand, our wins are much greater than the small buckets in which they seek to place us. Here are a few of our most recent tangible victories:
ALBERT RAMON DORSEY’S KILLING RULED OUT OF POLICY
The killing of Albert "Ramon" Dorsey was ruled out-of-policy by the Los Angeles Police Commission. Ramon was killed by two LAPD officers when employees at the 24-Hour Fitness location in Hollywood called police in on this Black male gym member. Ramon was naked and had just exited the shower when police killed him. The steps leading up to his death were captured on bodycam, but the officers allege that both of their cameras simultaneously fell off before a physical altercation took place. The Police Commission ruling was a major step in efforts towards police accountability. It marks the second time in 2019 that such a ruling has been handed down and is one of only a handful of times in the last decade. Find out more about the ruling and Chief Moore finally recommending the firing of Edward Agdeppa.
In conjunction with Students Deserve, Black Lives Matter Los Angeles successfully lobbied the Los Angeles Unified School District board to make sure that no student in the district will receive a failing grade on spring report cards, given the challenges of distance learning, the unequal access to technology and high speed internet service and other stressful factors around the COVID-19 pandemic that gripped the nation in spring 2020.
Ed Buck was arrested and charged with a federal drug crime after a third Black man overdosed in his West Hollywood home in two years. His federal charge is related to the 2017 death of #GemmelMoore, and he is also charged by the Los Angeles D.A. for crimes related to other involuntary druggings of Black men. This action from authorities is LONG overdue, and if they had acted sooner #TimothyDean, another man who died in Buck's home in January 2019 might still be alive. The fact that poor Black gay men were preyed upon by a wealthy white man clearly discouraged police and prosecutors from vigorously pursuing justice. A debt of gratitude is owed to Jasmyne Cannick, for leading the charge in demanding justice. Thank you to BLMLA and allies for keeping up the pressure. Our work is not yet done! More info
Passed Senate Bill 1421 - Police Transparency Bill
Until the passage of Senate Bill 1421 (the “Right to Know” bill), California had some of the most restrictive laws in the nation when it came to police violence and abuse. For the first time in its history, Black Lives Matter served as a bill co-sponsor for this critical piece of legislation, which provides access to the records of police who kill our people and officers found guilty of serious misconduct. BLMLA pulled together dozens of families whose loved ones were killed by police and worked in coalition with progressive organizations to defeat police unions and get the bill passed. The new law went into effect in January 2019 and BLMLA has already helped dozens of families file requests to gain access to the records involving the murder of their loved ones by police.
#FireBeck - Ousted LAPD Chief Charlie Beck for leading the most murderous police department in the nation
Under ousted Police Chief Charlie Beck the Los Angeles Police Department became the most murderous in the nation, killing more people than any other law enforcement unit. In 2015, BLMLA issued a set of demands to Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti; at the top of the list was to #FireBeck. It took 3 years and constant pressure, but in 2018 Charlie Beck was finally pushed into an early retirement.
Got the 5 Inglewood police officers fired for murdering #KishaMichael and #MarquintanSandlin
On February 21, 2016 #KishaMichael and #MarquintanSandlin pulled over to rest in their car after a night out when they were shot to death by five Inglewood police officers. They had seven children between them; Kisha was the mother of three boys and Marquintan the father of four girls. 20 bullets riddled their bodies and stole their lives. Immediately, Kisha’s twin sister, Trisha Michael, demanded justice. She reached out to Black Lives Matter and a team was built in Inglewood. Each week, a crew attended Inglewood City Council meetings to demand that public officials represent the people. We staged protests and engaged Congresswoman Maxine Waters, who provided valuable guidance and resources to the families. In May 2017, after nearly a year and a half of organizing the five officers were fired.
STOPPED RANDOM SEARCHES IN LOS ANGELES UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT
The Youth Vanguard spearheaded an effort to stop a clearly discriminatory practice.
In an intentional disruption of the school-to-prison pipeline, our Youth Vanguard led an effort to lobby the Los Angeles Unified School District board to end the practice of “random” searches, happening mostly at schools with higher concentrations of students of color.
With clear arguments and effective oratory, the Youth Vanguard changed the minds of the board members and ended the policy.
Jackie Lacey LOSES THIRD TERM ELECTION
After more than three years of weekly protests
in front of Los Angeles District Attorney Jackie Lacey’s office, led
by Black Lives Matter-Los Angeles (BLMLA) and many of the families of those killed by police, Lacey has been voted out of office. Demonstrators and organizers are claiming a victory.
“Today, we celebrate a victory that has been more than three years in the making and was only possible because we committed ourselves to ‘vote and organize.’ We also know the work is not done. We are hopeful, but we will hold George Gascon accountable too. The clock starts now for the new DA.” -Melina Abdullah, co-founder, BLMLA
“We will continue to organize for liberation to dismantle the police and carceral systems that harm and kill our people and create new systems of care that free us all.” -Patrisse Cullors, co-founder, Black Lives Matter
#BLOCKedGARCETTI
Mayor Eric Garcetti had been considered for cabinet positions (Transportation and Housing and Urban Development) in The Biden Administration, but we know a different side of him.
Currently, Los Angeles is experiencing one of the largest housing crisis in the nation and Mayor Garcetti has failed to remedy the issue. Additionally, in retaliation to #BlackLivesMatter protests, Garcetti closed covid testing sites endangering the health and safety of all Angelenos during this pandemic. This and many other offenses rendered him unfit to hold any office in the Biden administration.
After 22 days of consecutive protest, we #BlockedGarcetti from both HUD Secretary and Secretary of Transportation! This is al due to the power of the people!
Beyond the measurables, we have:
-Awakened Black people to our own POWER.
-Made it ok to say BLACK, be BLACK, and fight for BLACK freedom.
-Made RESISTANCE to oppression the new normal.
-Affirmed and practiced the centering of ALL BLACK LIVES.
-Directly challenged state oppression and violence and DISRUPTED THE EXISTING SYSTEM.
-Engaged in a radical imagining of Black freedom...VISIONING AND BUILDING towards the world in which we want to live.
-Ushered in an era of social justice work that honors our SPIRITUAL FOUNDATION.
-SPREAD BLACK LOVE AND SUPPORT...especially for those who are most directly harmed by state violence.
-Recommitted to the BLACK FREEDOM STRUGGLE as real, ongoing, and our sacred duty.
This is not an exhaustive list and there is so much more to do. We have not done it alone and we are not the first to lift up the mantle of Black freedom struggle. There have been many missteps and mistakes along the way. It is important, though, that we take inventory of the ways in which our work is transforming the world and ourselves.
As organizations slide in on policy, expand, gain recognition, get funding, and collaborate with existing systems, we cannot lose sight of who and what we are. Black Lives Matter is our sacred duty that honors those who walked before us, it is not our job. It is the freedom dreams of our Ancestors, not a policy outcome. It is the collective purpose of our people, rather than a campaign. Black Lives Matter is a MOVEMENT NOT A MOMENT.