By The Vanguard Staff
LOS ANGELES, CA – Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón—weighing in about the scandal sweeping the Los Angeles City Council which made alleged racist comments that have led to resignations—said in a Los Angeles Times Opinion piece Friday that he was “with the Blacks…I am also with Latinos.”
Noting, “Los Angeles City Councilmembers Nury Martinez, Kevin de León and Gil Cedillo, and Ron Herrera, the top labor leader in the county, made many horrific comments on the now infamous recording…I can’t say that they were wrong about me. I am, as Martinez said, ‘with the Blacks.’”
“I am ‘with the Blacks’ because in Los Angeles County, Black people are victims of crime disproportionate to their population size. Black people are 8% of the population of the city of Los Angeles, but were the victims in 24% of hate crimes, the largest group of any in Los Angeles. This year, that number is rising,” said Gascón.
“Given what we have now heard elected City Council members say about Black people behind closed doors, the fact that hate crimes are committed disproportionately against Black people in Los Angeles now has a new context. If elected officials not only hold these racist views about Black people and Black children, but also feel free to share them with laughter in a meeting with colleagues, it is less surprising that other people act them out in our streets. While it may not be surprising, it is still shocking and unacceptable,” Gascón asserted.
He added, “I am also ‘with the Blacks’ because I know that we have underinvested in all poor communities throughout this state, and our response to that radical defunding of schools, housing, parks, clean streets, healthcare and job training has been to rely on law enforcement to ‘solve’ the resulting and predictable problems.
“Black people make up 9% of the county’s population but 42% of the unhoused population. I have long argued that we will never, ever arrest and incarcerate our way out of homelessness.”
Gascón, not only a former San Francisco District Attorney, but also a police officer, drew upon that experience.
He said, “As a police officer for 28 years, including 22 in Los Angeles, I have spoken up about the fact that Black people are disproportionately subject to pretext stops by law enforcement in Los Angeles County. Black people are also disproportionately the victims of police violence in California and in Los Angeles. That’s why I fight against mass incarceration in California, where Black people make up 6% of the population but 30% of the state prison population.”
Gascón went further in his LA Times Opinion piece.
“But I’m not only ‘with the Blacks.’ I am also with the Latinos. I’m a Cuban American immigrant who still speaks with an accent. I’m proud to be a Latino and to stand with my Latino and Indigenous brothers and sisters. Latinos are often stopped and searched by the police for no reason, which happens to Latinos in Los Angeles at greater rates than for white people, despite the fact that both Black and Latino people are less likely to have contraband than white people.”
Gascón noted, “We know that Latinos are targeted by ICE. I was with Latinos when I started an ‘immigration escort policy’ that assigned victim advocates to escort fearful undocumented immigrants and witnesses through the courthouse. I was with Latinos when I sponsored a law that forbade the prosecution or defense counsel from asking about a person’s immigration status when they testified, unless such a question had been approved by a judge.”
He added in the LA Times Opinion piece, “I stood up to Joe Arpaio when he conducted illegal deportation sweeps in Arizona. The disgraced former sheriff, I’m sure, had words to say about me behind closed doors, just like the disgraced Los Angeles City Council members. But words won’t stop me from doing the work needed to serve and to protect the people in this county.
“That means standing with the Black community, Latinos, Oaxacans, Armenians, the Jewish community, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, the LBGTQ community and with women. Supporting one group, particularly a group that has been marginalized, does not mean standing against another group. Elected officials who can’t understand this basic idea have no business remaining in office. Surely, the residents of Los Angeles deserve better.”
Democrats always try to bunch people of color (POC) together as if they’re one voting block. Obviously they’re not as evidenced by what these Latino politicians are saying about blacks behind their backs. What we have here is Democrats acting racist towards other Democrats and POC acting racist against other POC. This is the Democrat Party of today.
I think you have missed a key point. When Nury, Gil and Kevin – two of whom have long progressive track records, came out with these statements, the left admonished them and called for them to resign. When Trump came out with similarly racist comments, you bent yourself into a pretzel trying to defend it. That’s the difference between the left and the right – the left will not defend this indefensible here.
First of all here you go bringing Trump into the conversation which has absolutely nothing to do with the story. If I bring Biden into any comment when the article isn’t about Biden my comment gets deleted. Secondly I don’t think Trump ever said anything that was anywhere near as racist as what these Democrat politicians said about blacks. Democrats often tried to twist Trump’s words to make them into something that he didn’t actually say. In this case of Democrats acting like racists it’s a slam dunk, there’s no way to defend what was said.
How about what so called Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville said during a Trump rally? Wasn’t that blatant racism?
Whataboutism? This article is ABOUT Democrat people of color politicians saying racist things about other Democrat POC. It’s not about the GOP or Trump.
Actually it wasn’t about “Democrat people” you’re the one who introduced that.
No, the article did:
It is you David who introduced Trump into the conversation in an article that Trump has nothing to do with.
I am pointing out Republican hypocrisy.