Greetings, friends! Here’s what we’ve been up to:
On Sunday (4/2), we were invited by Claremont College’s SJP chapter to discuss our work. Akhil, Hamid, and Matyos discussed the ties between data-driven policing practices here in Los Angeles and Zionist efforts to displace Palestinians from their land.
This week, the Stop LAPD Spying Coalition had the absolute privilege of being joined by four interns from Fairfax High School’s Peace and Social Justice Club. The internship was organized and facilitated in large part by Chris Vin of Los Angeles Community Action Network’s Human and Civil Rights Committee. We want to thank Chris for organizing this incredible internship! Here are some of the things our students worked on:
Students spent their days getting acquainted with the various organizing endeavors at LA CAN and spent time digging into both the history of resistance in Los Angeles and examining how their personal histories intersected with struggles.
Our powerhouse attorney, Shakeer Rahman, introduced students to Community Lawyering. We discussed what happens when LAPD doesn’t comply with the California Public Records Act, with Shakeer providing an overview of some of the lawsuits won by the Stop LAPD Spying Coalition.
Akhil Gopal introduced the students to our work with the fight against the War on Youth. Students learned about some of the ways teachers, counselors, and therapists are being deputized to monitor students for risk factors, and how these assessments are proxies for racial profiling.
Students listened in on the weekly Board of Police Commissioners meeting and discussed potential reasons as to why the BOPC would impose limitations on the public’s ability to make public comment.
Students also studied the various resources created by the Coalition, including two of our websites, watchthewatchers.net and automatingbanishment.org, our various zines, and our reports.
The Human and Civil Rights Committee also invited our interns to visit the office of City Controller Kenneth Mejia. Students got a sneak peek at Mejia’s homelessness audit findings.
The Urban Grower’s Committee also spent time discussing food apartheid in Skid Row and allowed students the opportunity to work on our farm!
Finally, students discussed their own organizing agenda and created popular education materials to take back to students in their high school.
Tuesday’s (4/4) Gender and Sexuality meeting discussed some of the developing ways trans communities are being criminalized. Chella also provided a report back on her event for Trans Day of Reclamation.
Lastly, this week the city sued the Stop LAPD Spying Coalition for publishing records made by public by the city of Los Angeles. This is an attack on the public’s ability to request, analyze, and publish public records. We plan to fight for the public’s right to continue publishing public records. You can read our thread in response to the lawsuit here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CqtBeqdpbiA/
This is an attack on the public’s ability to request, analyze, and publish public records.
We plan to fight for the public’s right to continue publishing public records.
This week’s episode of Radio Insurrection (4/6) featured organizers from the Long Beach Immigrant Rights Coalition. Our guests discussed sophistications in surveillance and how these tools target undocumented immigrants. You can listen to the show at kpfk.org/archives
To plug in with any of the work groups listed above, or for more information about the Stop
LAPD Spying Coalition, email us at [email protected].
If you or your organization are interested in hosting a teach-in or discussion regarding our report, Automating Banishment, please fill out this google form.