On June 17, Party for Socialism and Liberation members attended a community forum in Sylmar, Calif., to oppose a gang injunction being pushed on the communities of Sylmar and San Fernando. The Los Angeles Police Department and City Attorney’s office want to criminalize oppressed youth in their own neighborhoods.
The crowd was made up of about 100 community activists and residents from the surrounding areas. Audience members who voiced support for the injunction mostly resided in areas outside the scope of the LAPD power grab. The vast majority of injunction supporters were white; those against it were overwhelmingly Latino.
Opposition to the injunction was a centerpiece of PSL candidate Stephen Hinze’s campaign for L.A. County Board of Supervisors, District 5. Hinze and his supporters went door to door to talk to Sylmar community residents. Hinze received almost 30,000 votes in the June 3 election. Even after the election, Hinze, PSL members and Sylmar residents mounted a grassroots campaign against the injunction. The authorities had the June 17 “Town Hall Meeting” for one reason—community members, with the full support of PSL activists, forced them to do so.
But the “Town Hall Meeting” was a charade. It was organized and formatted to suppress the free speech rights of audience members. When community members walked in the door, they were greeted by LAPD officers. The panel of approved speakers was made up of representatives of the LAPD and the City Attorney’s office. A representative of the ACLU, along with Luis J. Rodriguez, a local activist who works with oppressed youth, were also on the panel to express opposition to the gang injunction.
Audience members, however, were not allowed to make statements. They could only ask short questions. Many protested the undemocratic format of the supposed “Town Hall Meeting.”
Yet, the representatives of local capitalist politicians also were present and allowed to make statements. A representative from the office of L.A. City Council member Richard Alarcón, who represents San Fernando and Sylmar, expressed support for the racist gang injunction. Alarcón, a former state senator, is considered a liberal democrat. Up until the June 17 meeting, Alarcón sat on the fence and did not take a position either for or against the injunction—so much for standing up for the people.
Most of the meeting time was wasted with local capitalist bureaucrats talking at community members.
Despite the restrictions, several PSL members took the microphone to express outright opposition to the gang injunction. “We all pay taxes to the city—why isn’t our money being spent on programs to prevent youth from joining gangs in the first place? Where are the long-term solutions? Why do we have to suffer racism from local authorities instead?” asked PSL member Muna Coobtee. Much of the crowd roared in approval of Coobtee’s question.
Lucilla Esguerra, PSL candidate for California State Assembly on the Peace and Freedom Party ticket, asked why LAPD is engaging in racial profiling. PSL member Marcial Guerra protested the language of the injunction criminalizing youth by guilt by association. According to the gang injunction, anyone seen walking with an “alleged” gang member—even if the alleged gang member is a relative—will be considered a gang member.
Nobody has ever been taken off a gang injunction before. The targeted street gang, the San Fers, allegedly has almost 900 members, most of whom lack jobs and educational opportunities.
An L.A. County judge approved the preliminary injunction just days later. The youth named on it, and anyone who associates with them, will be considered criminals for life if the injunction is made permanent in the future.
Gang injunctions are imposed in urban areas unilaterally. There is no real democratic process available for the affected communities to reject the law enforcement tool. This kind of “process” once again exposes the U.S. political system as a rigged sham, even on the local level. Only an organized mobilization of the affected communities can intervene in the process and push back the authorities.
The PSL will continue to organize opposition to the San Fernando/Sylmar gang injunction, and all gang injunctions throughout the United States. Oppressed youth need jobs and education, not racist criminalization.
