Lucilla Esguerra, Party for Socialism and Liberation candidate for California State Assembly in the 48th District and L.A. City College student, took a stand against the latest draconian attempt to criminalize working-class youth at a June 11 Los Angeles City Council meeting.
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The Council met to vote on whether the body should go on record opposing the misleadingly labeled “Safe Neighborhoods Act.” The act, also known as the “Runner Initiative,” will be on the November 2008 ballot as a proposition. It aims to put children as young as 14 on trial as adults for felonies that the police deem “gang related.”
The Runner Initiative is an open-ended invitation for the government to incarcerate youth for crimes ranging from selling bootleg DVDs to drug-related crimes. If approved, it will take money away from prevention and invest it into police enforcement and repression.
The measure was proposed by Republican Senator George Runner. Runner is also a leading supporter of California’s Three Strikes Law—a law that throws working-class people, people of color in particular, behind bars for 25 years to life after their third felony conviction. The Three Strikes Law has been applied to crimes as petty as stealing a pizza. The new initiative builds on the racist repression already codified in the law.
Esguerra spoke strongly to the L.A. City Council against the measure:
“I strongly oppose the Runner Initiative and I urge the City Council to go on record against this racist measure. It is an attempt to criminalize and imprison our youth. The U.S. government has for much too long relied on repressive state measures to relieve the social ills of society.
“If we want to take proactive steps in the direction of getting rid of crime, we must look at its many causes. Inadequate education and rampant unemployment are to blame for the wasting away of our youth. In the richest country in the world, can we not find an alternative to mass incarceration? I urge the community to get involved in my campaign. Let’s stand together against the Runner Initiative!”
Dozens of community activists filled the hall and spoke passionately against the initiative. Maria Tavarez, the mother of an incarcerated youth sentenced to eight years in prison, said: “Don’t give up on our youth. My son was a first-time offender and he was not given a second chance in juvenile court, and I ask and I urge you any of you that are parents and grandparents, if you don’t think it can happen to you, it can. … They [the authorities] want to give life for bad choices that they made when they were 14! I urge you to vote against this initiative because it is 10 times worse than what we have already.”
The City Council voted 9-1 to oppose the Runner Initiative. It was the mobilization of community activists that pushed the council to take this symbolic but nevertheless important stance.
The battle against the Runner Initiative illustrates why the PSL is running candidates at the national and local levels. We need a system that educates and employs our youth, not one that incarcerates them.
Esguerra’s campaign will continue to fight against the racist Runner initiative and all other manifestations of racism inherent in the capitalist system.
To read more about Lucilla Esguerra’s candidacy for the California State Assembly, District 48, click here. To read more about other PSL candidates running in local and national elections, click here.
