We gathered for September LASA with heavy and unsettled hearts after the passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and a small earthquake. Many of us have been engaged this past summer in conversations and activism towards racial justice and the role of policing in Los Angeles. For Saturday, we invited Eileen Decker, the President of the LA Police Commission, and Isaac Bryan, the Director of Public Policy for UCLA Bunche Center to help us continue learning about policing and justice in Los Angeles.
After reflecting on how Justice Ginsburg’s life and work impacted her own, Eileen shared her journey from a high school junior to her current role as well as details on the work of the Police Commission. Maya noted, “I was especially interested in learning about the process of commission reviews and force investigation. I also found President Decker’s description on the differences in dynamics between the Los Angeles Police Department and the Sheriff’s office with respect to public accountability extremely insightful. I enjoyed learning about the civilian oversight board, and the importance of reflecting community standards, as well as how changes to the LAPD reflect the Black Lives Matter movement.”
After time for students to talk amongst themselves and take a little break, we welcomed Isaac Bryan. He also shared his journey from high school to now – and his work on the Million Dollar Hoods Project, the Black Policy Project, and Measure J. Morelia shared she was “personally so inspired…I was moved by…the change he has been able to make.”
Isaac’s words and the underlying work at Million Dollar Hoods resonated with many LASA student’s interests. Anabelle shared that she’s taking a criminal law class in school and the Million Dollar Hoods project reports “motivated” her to get more involved with social justice groups “focused on [ending] mass incarceration or other systemic racial inequities.” Ava “was especially drawn to the topic of policing in schools. This institution seems like such an atrocious one, though I’ve been privileged enough to never witness it.” Maya was “particularly struck” by “Mr. Bryan’s description of the importance of reallocating funds to prevent incarceration and emphasize community investment…I also found his ideas about preventing the criminalization of poverty by being a ‘third check’ on police reporting especially relevant to current problems surrounding the increasing homeless population in Los Angeles.” And Colin noted his surprise with “just how many homeless people are simply arrested, instead of being helped. This means that we are allocating funds towards arresting homeless people instead of trying to get them out of homelessness. Therefore it seems like our taxes are high enough to help end homelessness in LA county, but we simply aren’t putting the tax dollars in the right places to solve any real issues.”
Both Eileen and Isaac left the students with similar thoughts – that they couldn’t have imagined as high school juniors the work they do today. They encouraged LASA students to continue following their truths and to take on new opportunities as they emerge.
We are so grateful for everyone’s time and thoughtfulness and look forward to meeting via Zoom again in October.