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Meet the activists disrupting LA’s unjust justice system / Part 1 of 12
By Patrisse Cullors
RESIST | Meet The Activists Disrupting LA’s Unjust Justice System
Resist – This short documentary series maps the profoundly racist landscape of LA’s Justice system through the eyes of the activists working to change it.
Patrisse Khan-Cullors
Jayda Raspberry
Helen Marie Jones-Phillip
Bamby Salcedo
Jonathan Perez
RESIST is a 12 episode docuseries that follows the grassroots work of the intersectional organizations fighting the Los Angeles county’s $3.5 billion jail expansion plan in 2018. RESIST examines the issues of cash bail, unlawful arrest, over-policing of Black and brown neighborhoods, and mass incarceration.
Transcript provided by YouTube:
00:08
– We love our police. We love our sheriffs.
00:12
And we love our ICE officers. They have been working hard.
00:23
(police radio): Shots fired, shots fired.
00:25
(Patrisse): The mass incarceration of poor people,
00:28
Black people, Brown people, and undocumented immigrants
00:31
is not the way to make America great again.
00:41
We cannot rely on the President…
00:43
or the justice system to fix this.
00:46
We have to join together as a community…
00:49
and fight for our rights.
00:51
This is a call to action. It is a cry for urgency.
00:55
Black people are dying every single day.
01:06
My name is Patrisse Khan-Cullors.
01:10
I’m one of the co-founders of Black Lives Matter,
01:13
and a local organization in Los Angeles
01:16
called Dignity and Power Now.
01:19
with some of the people that I love the most
01:24
and being forced into incarceration.
01:26
I could either be extremely angry,
01:28
and let that anger fester,
01:31
or I could do something with that anger.
01:34
I made the choice that…
01:36
my anger could be used to help change
01:39
the State’s relationship to Black people.
01:42
We live in a city that’s tearing families apart
01:46
right now. What are we gonna do, y’all?
01:49
Justice LA is a coalition organization in LA County.
01:54
To stop the 3.5 billion dollar jail plan.
01:58
The other goal is to reallocate those funds
02:02
into education, access to employment
02:05
and people having access to housing.
02:07
♪ Throw your hands up ♪
02:09
– Well, my name is Jayda Rasberry.
02:14
I’m organizing director at Dignity and Power Now.
02:17
I did 6 years inside Valley State Prison.
02:19
While inside, I experienced a lot of crazy stuff.
02:23
By building these facilities,
02:24
the Board of Supervisors are saying
02:26
that state-sanctioned violence is OK.
02:28
A very close friend of mine passed away
02:30
inside W, due to medical negligence.
02:32
She was supposed to be home in a year,
02:36
Well, stroke-like symptoms. We…
02:38
The autopsy report is really choppy.
02:42
I was fuming, I was really pissed.
02:44
I was like, “I have to do something.”
02:45
I started working with Dignity and Power Now
02:52
The Sheriff’s Department in Los Angeles has a history
02:55
of brutalizing Black and Brown people.
02:59
It’s scary knowing that
03:00
two new jails are going into our backyard.
03:02
People will be dying in our backyards.
03:05
That scares the shit out of me.
03:12
– My name is Helen Marie Jones-Phillip.
03:18
My son John-Horton Thomas III,
03:22
he was incarcerated in 2009.
03:26
He was in there thirty days.
03:30
the day that they came by and told me
03:36
They said he had a fight with an inmate,
03:38
and they put him in the “hole”,
03:43
I knew that John wouldn’t have killed himself.
03:47
because we talked about that.
03:48
I said, “The police did this.”
03:50
I said, “They beat my baby to death.”
03:55
right then and there. I filed a lawsuit
04:00
The case was settled for 2 million.
04:02
The bruise that’s on my son’s head,
04:04
you can see it clear as day.
04:05
He’s been hit with a billy club, or a flashlight.
04:09
What brought me into working with DPN
04:13
is from what I went through with my son.
04:16
I wanted to speak out and help other people,
04:18
and try to save other lives.
04:20
’cause I couldn’t save my son’s life.
04:26
– My name is Bamby Salcedo.
04:34
and CEO of the TransLatina Coalition.
04:38
You know, my childhood was very difficult.
04:42
I was basically raised on the streets in Mexico.
04:46
I have been incarcerated in the Los Angeles County Jail.
04:49
I was at Twin Towers when they opened it
04:52
in the mid 90s. I have been beaten up
04:56
both by inmates and by guards…
05:00
to the point of unconsciousness.
05:02
I feel that I was given an opportunity
05:05
to turn my horrible experiences
05:10
To be a voice for those who are not able to speak.
05:17
– My name is Jonathan Perez.
05:21
Currently, I am the development coordinator
05:24
for the Immigrant Youth Coalition.
05:29
My family came because of the civil war
05:32
that has impacted my home country.
05:35
That’s really informed what I’m dedicated to.
05:37
Assata Shakur says that we have nothing
05:41
This is that moment. What kind of future do we want?
05:45
Justice LA is the coalition
05:48
that is really gonna push against jail expansion
05:52
Particularly the 3.5 billion dollars
05:54
they are gonna put forward to constructing
05:57
and so we’re gonna launch
05:59
a dynamic and fierce campaign
06:03
to really reinvest these resources
06:05
back into our communities.
06:09
– Today is the last day before we drop
06:13
of the Board of Supervisor’s office
06:15
to protest the building of more LA jails.
06:18
(woman): Right now, there has been approval for two new jails.
06:23
that will replace Men’s Central Jail,
06:26
and a women’s jail that will be out in Lancaster.
06:31
On Tuesday, there’s a few components.
06:35
Um… Please don’t share this with anybody.
06:43
where the beds are gonna be at about five in the morning.
06:46
And we’re going to transport the jail beds
06:49
to the front of the County Board of Supervisor office.
06:52
– Beds, in general, can represent where we dream
06:54
and our vision for Los Angeles,
06:56
but they can also represent another tool
07:00
So many of our folks die on those beds,
07:04
and are restrained on those beds,
07:06
give birth on those beds, and so this dual symbolism
07:10
hopefully will move not just the Board of Supervisors,
07:13
but other folks that see the action on Tuesday.
07:16
– What is the messaging in terms of signs?
07:20
– I think the strategy overall is to have people
07:23
reimagine what all this money would go into
07:25
if we had the power to define that.
07:28
Why isn’t the County prioritizing low-income housing?
07:32
Why isn’t the County providing
07:35
mental health services outside of the jails?
07:37
It’s to light a fire in people’s imagination.
07:41
– How are Black people being reflected in this?
07:45
Particularly since we are the people
07:47
who are most incarcerated.
07:49
– I think it’s actually an important point about
07:53
– The beds are very personal to me,
07:55
because they accused my son of sitting on a bed,
07:58
with his buttocks on the bed,
08:00
with his feet touching the floor and hung himself from a vent.
08:03
Can we do anything to represent victims like John?
08:07
– We should create alter space. – I appreciate that.
08:11
– Anytime organizers get in a room
08:16
some of our biggest enemies,
08:18
it’s powerful, it’s exciting.
08:20
I have the jitters about Tuesday,
08:23
but also, I believe in us,
08:25
and I just believe in what’s possible.
08:34
(Patrisse): It is our duty to fight for our freedom.
08:37
(crowd): It is our duty to fight for our freedom.
08:39
– It is our duty to win.
08:41
(crowd): It is our duty to win.
08:43
– We must love each other, and support each other.
08:45
(crowd): We must love each other and support each other.
08:48
– We have nothing to lose but our chains.
08:50
(crowd): We have nothing to lose but our chains.
08:51
– It is our duty to fight for our freedom.
08:54
(crowd): It is our duty to fight for our freedom.
08:57
– It is our duty to win.
08:58
(crowd): It is our duty to win.
09:00
– We must love each other, and support each other.
09:02
(crowd): We must love each other and support each other.
09:05
– We have nothing to lose but our chains.
09:07
(crowd): We have nothing to lose but our chains.
09:09
– It is our duty to fight for our freedom!
09:11
(crowd): It is our duty to fight for our freedom!
09:14
– It is our duty to win!
09:15
(crowd): It is our duty to win!
09:17
– We must love each other and support each other!
09:19
(crowd): We must love each other and support each other!
09:22
– We have nothing to lose but our chains!
09:24
(crowd): We have nothing to lose but our chains!

This post was previously published on YouTube.