August 19, 2014

Unión del Barrio, a political organization based in Southern California, stands with the families of Ezell Ford, Omar Abrego and all the families of the victims who have been murdered by the Los Angeles Police Department. We are also in solidarity with the struggles across the country against police brutality.

We know clearly that these latest murders by the LAPD are not isolated incidents and that these officers are not just “a few bad apples” within the department. These murders are completely consistent with the history of the LAPD and the relationship that police departments across the country have with poor people in general and people of color in particular. This is why we must demand true change!

Today Union del Barrio demands:

1. The LAPD to immediately release the names of the officers who killed Ezell Ford & Omar Abrego.
2. That Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey file murder charges against those responsible for the deaths of Ezell Ford and Omar Abrego.
3. That Councilmember Curren Price present/support a resolution to the Los Angeles City Council to create a Civilian Review Board that will have hiring and firing power over the LAPD. All members of the board would be elected by the community.
4. That Councilmember Curren Price present/support a resolution to the Los Angeles City Council that would make it mandatory for all LAPD officers to wear “lapel cameras” while on duty.

Our political analysis is that the police act as an occupying army in our communities and that they do not represent the best interests of our community. Although many of the cops who roam our streets are people of color, they still uphold and defend a White Power system that uses brute violence to keep us at the bottom; socially, politically and economically. The police also serve the role of the modern day slave catchers but instead of plantations, today they fill privately owned prisons to make billions of dollars annually at the expense of primarily Black, Brown & poor people. ¡Ya basta!

Union del Barrio understands that while protests, marches and rallies are important, those actions alone are not enough to stop these killer cops. This “Justice” system is corrupt to the bone; cops, judges, wardens, politicians…etc. The only way to stop this system from killing/brutalizing us is to ORGANIZE! We are committed to building independent community organization that will be strong enough to create a dual and contending power that can challenge and defeat the current system. That means that we must launch campaigns to win positions of political power in order to implement fundamental changes.

Lastly, some may claim that “There are good cops” in the LAPD, we raise the question, “If they are good cops, why do they not expose the corruption and the racism that is rampant inside of the LAPD?” Unión del Barrio firmly believes that “If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem!”

Statement originally issued by Unión del Barrio – Comité Local Patricia Marín