Recorded Workshops on Prison Reform and the War on Gangs.

Sponsoring Organization Name:
Youth Justice Coalition

150 years ago, Los Angeles declared a war on gangs leading to the massacre and burning out of the Chinese community, and the highest lynching rates in the nation throughout the late 1800s -- primarily targeting the Mexicanos/Californios. Gang suppression tactics continued until the 1980s when an intensified War on Gangs created the nation's first: gang databases, injunctions, court enhancements, militarized policing such as SWAT, gang units such as CRASH and GPS surveillance systems of both individuals and public housing developments. Despite the multi-billion-dollars spent on gang suppression during the past 30 years, and the highest detention, incarceration and deportation rates in the world, L.A. has seen an increase in both the number of alleged gangs and alleged gang members, as well as in homicides, injuries, prison investment and populations, and police violence. This workshop will cover the policies exported from L.A., as well as engage all of us to build strategies that can challenge these policies locally, at the state level, and nationally. Led by targeted youth, parents who have buried their children in both the ground and in prisons, and neighborhood OGs who are now working together to stop the killing through the building of community truces, street level mediation, and grassroots expansion of opportunities for youth on the streets and inside lock-ups.

Organizer Email:
freelanow [at] yahoo.com