The Thorn West is a state and local news roundup compiled by members of DSA-LA. Our goal is to provide a weekly update on the latest developments in state and local politics, and to track the issues that are most important to our membership.
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Issue No. 12 - May 29, 2020
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- Black Lives Matter - LA organized and led a protest in downtown Los Angeles on Wednesday, joining continuing protests in cities across the nation to demand justice for George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, and demanding accountability for 601 people killed by police in LA County. Floyd was murdered by Minneapolis police officer Greg Chauvin on Monday, while on the ground handcuffed and pleading that he could not breathe. Taylor was murdered in her home by police officers in Louisville in March. The Los Angeles protesters successfully blocked the 101 Freeway, where a police car drove violently through a crowd of protesters, and gathered outside of District Attorney Jackie Lacey’s office. Black Lives Matter - LA further called on LA City Council President Nury Martinez to convene a special city council meeting to reject Mayor Eric Garcetti’s proposal to spend 54% of the city’s general fund on the LAPD, and instead adopt the People’s Budget, which has been developed with input from more than 20,000 residents and activists, to defund police and provide funding for services that help and strengthen Los Angeles communities. A full statement from DSA-LA on the murder of George Floyd can be read here, and the national statement from DSA can be read here. DSA-LA demands an end to the mass murder of Black and Brown people at the hands of U.S. law enforcement, and DSA-LA will fight alongside Black Lives Matter-LA and other BIPOC-led groups to dismantle the systems that uphold capitalism and white supremacy, which include police, prisons and detention centers.
- On Thursday, regulators at the California Public Utilities commission voted to approve PG&E’s reorganization plan to exit bankruptcy. The approval came despite widespread community outcry and public comment mobilized by DSA and other groups, and opposition from over 200 local elected officials. DSA will continue to organize to fight for energy democracy and to turn PG&E into a public and worker owned utility.
- Activists are continuing car protests to draw attention to the COVID-19 outbreak and unsafe conditions at the Otay Mesa and Adelanto ICE detention centers, and to demand that detainees be released. Carlos Ernesto Escobar Mejia was the first ICE detainee to die in US custody, but many other detained immigrants fear he will not be the last. He died in San Diego’s Otay Mesa, which has the largest coronavirus outbreak of any immigration detention center. He had lived in the US for over 40 years. Some of those detained with him notified medical staff many times, but Carlos was merely instructed to fill out multiple “sick cards,” and given ibuprofen. Immigrants are being held on civil offenses, not criminal, meaning they could be released at almost any time. Although 91 detainees have been released as part of the court order, many fear for the lives of those that remain.
- Big Oil has lost its appeal to stop California cities and counties from taking it to court to seek damages for the impact of climate change. The lawsuits target Chevron, Exxon Mobil, ConocoPhillips, BP and Royal Dutch Shell as being responsible and seek to make them pay for damages from climate change as well as for infrastructure to prevent future impact.
- A former close aide to Councilmember Jose Huizar pled guilty to criminal racketeering, the fourth such plea deal stemming from an ongoing federal corruption probe into City Hall “pay to play” real estate deals. Council President Nury Martinez and Mayor Garcetti have now both asked Huizar to resign. The plea agreement can be read here; as part of the agreement, evidence emerged that Huizar had used a bribe from a Chinese billionaire to privately settle a sexual harassment suit brought by a former staff member.
- A new citywide program will move $100 million of federal relief into a fund designed to help “qualifying” Los Angeles renters keep up with their rent during COVID-19. In announcing the program, LA City Council President Nury Martinez acknowledged that the housing department would likely be overwhelmed by demand. The program is designed to cover renters by making payments directly to their landlords.
- The County Board of Supervisors met on Wednesday. A debate as to whether to seek a variance that would allow cities within the county to reopen piecemeal, as each individually hits recovery benchmarks, split the board 2–2 and was moved to a closed session. Opponents argued that the piecemeal approach would disadvantage the communities of color that have been hit hardest by COVID-19.
- Many of the cities within LA County with the highest infection rates neighbor the city of Vernon, where there have been outbreaks at numerous industrial plants. The city has only a few hundred legal residents — most of Vernon's thousands of workers live nearby.
- Coronavirus infection rates in LA County jails are nearly 60% in some locations. More than 1000 inmates out of 13,000 have tested positive and over 5000 are currently under quarantine.
- Anti-lockdown protests are being attended by extremist groups such as the Proud Boys (designated by the FBI as having ties to white nationalism), and by armed militias that advocate for civil war. Brian Levin, a professor of criminal justice who studies extremism, says that their intermingling with other participants, who have a wide variety of concerns, is concerning because the extremists can recruit as well as create an environment that is a “petri dish for conspiracy theories and bad information, as well as aggressiveness.” Many of the anti-lockdown protests are funded by wealthy conservative groups, including the family of Secretary of Education Betsy Devos.
- Los Angeles County is reopening despite still being the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in California. All retail stores are now allowed to have in-store shopping at 50% capacity; personal care services such as barbershops and salons can reopen; restaurants can resume dine-in services; faith-based services can resume at 25% capacity or 100 people, whichever is lower; flea markets, swap meets and drive-in movie theaters can open; and public protests can also take place at 25% of a location’s capacity or 100 people, whichever is lower. Social distancing and the requirement to wear face masks remain in place.
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- California now faces a second suit to prevent the move to a vote-by-mail November election. The new suit, brought by the Republican Party, is in addition to the suit filed previously by a conservative group and Repulican Darrell Issa. President Trump has repeatedly undermined confidence in the democratic process by attacking the use of mail-in ballots as “rigged,” and is falsely claiming that California is distributing ballots to noncitizens and that people will send in hundreds of thousands of fake ballots.
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