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Takin' it to the Streets
LA CAN fights the multitude of civil and human rights violations that occur in our community on a daily basis. The list includes: homelessness, lack of safe and healthy housing, hunger and food access, police abuse, governmental and institutional neglect, racism, sexism, and classism.
LA CAN launched CommunityWatch in November 2005 as an alternative private security presence in the community - one trained to ensure that civil and human rights violations by the Los Angeles Police Department and Business Improvement District (BID) security guards and others are stopped. LA CAN is working in partnership with the UCLA Public Interest Law Project to document human rights violations in our community. We plan on utilizing the direct action of trained CommunityWatch members, in combination with legal strategies, to stop these types of violations against poor and homeless people once and for all.
The Safer People Initiative ( click here for pdf download).
The Skid Row Safer City Initiative (SCI)is but a manifestation of an
old, ingrained anti-poor and anti-minority sentiment that has permeated
the fabric of life in the United States. Removing the veneer and holding
accountable those who support the erosion of civil and human rights must
be the first order of the day. Sadly enough, the most vocal supporters
of this policing method look exactly like most of us who have been
targeted by it. Mayor Villaraigosa, Councilmember Parks, Councilmember
Perry and City Attorney Delgadillo must understand the price that we all
pay when they grace the podium with words of support for the SCI. They
must understand that in their moment of support they have ultimately
supported the sentiment that led to lynching, castration, separation of
family and community, degradation of women...and the list goes on ( click here for pdf download).
We remain imprisoned by the past as long as we deny its influence in the
present.
-Justice William Brennan
LA CAN has been fighting civil rights violations since our inception. Our past work includes community-based research (click here to view/download
Business Improvement District report, and click here to view/download the
Industrial Street Encampment report), direct action, and community-based trainings to reverse the long-standing culture of abuse.
Images
Taking L.A. Police Chief Bratton to Task: image 1, image 2
Direct Action: image 1, image 2, image 3, image 4 , image 5
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