This Weekend the LAPD Showed Everyone in Los Angeles Their True Colors

It was Blue Over You

It was 1987, I was seventeen and I was at the dentist. On the coffee table was the latest issue of Newsweek. They had decided to solve the problem of “Gang Violence” in America that week. I don’t remember anything really from the article but the photo spread will be burned in my brain forever. Three pictures in a collage: The Crips, the Bloods and the LAPD. Each group posed for the photo like little league team crossed with a posse. They dressed in their team colors and branded their weapons. The LAPD group photo looked exactly the same as the two gangs. The cops positioned themselves in a tiered arrangement, held their massive guns up to their chests and tried to look as menacing as possible. The results of that mentality were tragic and Los Angeles almost burned to the ground in 1992 because of it. I remember thinking WTF at the time and that I would never ever move to Los Angeles in a million years.

A lot has changed since then, but a lot has sadly stayed the same. First, I moved to Los Angeles and have lived here for twenty years now. I showed my seventeen year old self who’s boss. The Crips and the Bloods have made efforts to find peace over the years. After the tragic death of Nipsey Hussle, those talks accelerated and there’s been a lot of hope that will hold. The LAPD has made some progress too over the years, frustratingly slow but some. They’re more community oriented for sure and they’ve decreased their violence. But this weekend they reverted to that particular menace captured in that photo. They became a gang fighting for territory. They were not about our community. They were not about peace. They were about the color dark blue above all else. Part of the protest march went by a block from my building and my wife and son and I went down to applaud them and show solidarity. My son has been in quite a few marches in his eleven years on this planet and this to him was just another group of people trying to get their voices heard. Nothing violent. It was loud, angry but peaceful.

I understand that when some of that anger spilled over and the police cars were burned, the police needed to address that and move people away from the danger of the fires. But when you start piecing together the events with the evidence on social media and from news coverage, you see a different story emerge. The LAPD was there for a fight. I refuse to believe they were incapable of seeing or unaware of the choices they were making. They blame their horrible results on being “overwhelmed” but they made choices. On Monday LAPD Police Chief Moore revealed the cops’ motives and left nothing up to our imaginations:

“We didn’t have protests last night. We had criminal acts. We didn’t have people mourning the death of this man, George Floyd. We had people capitalizing. His death is on their hands, as much as it is those officers.”

LAist

Mayor Garcetti took the podium immediately after and called the chief back up to “clarify” his remarks but it was too late. Everyone had already seen how the LAPD gets down. They had one focus, one direction, one mission this weekend. They wanted to send a message to the anti-police protesters. The LAPD met those marchers with violence and extreme force while they left our surrounding neighborhoods unprotected. People completely unrelated to the march or protest began to commit crime while the LAPD focused their energy on their personal enemy: anti-police protesters. Their own numbers reveal their failure: over 700 arrests and under 70 for theft or “looting”. The mostly white and privileged citizens of the surrounding area were taught a lesson this weekend. If the cops have to choose between beating up someone holding a sign that hurts their feelings and protecting your business, they will always choose the person holding the sign. You’re on your own.

The police claim they had a plan, a tactic to preserve public safety over property. I would applaud that except for the videos of the LAPD wailing on protesters with batons and firing rubber bullets into them as a way to move them I guess? Still not sure what that achieved but they sure did love their paint gun toys. No one felt safe near a cop this weekend except if you were robbing a store. I felt safe near the protesters, but I would not feel safe around the LAPD if I had ever saw one in person the entire night. I am the public and I did not feel safe. So mission accomplished. I would maybe buy their excuse about “restoring order” except for hearing from the protesters themselves who said most were willing to leave but were pinned in by the LAPD. While they were being arrested they saw the stores being robbed over the cops shoulders and asked them “Excuse me, but legitimately, WTF?” The LAPD will try to blur the picture with their version of the facts. Unfortunately for them it was broadcast live on television (How about that Gil Scott Heron?), it was put out on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook Live. The LAPD had a focus but it wasn’t on public safety. They were all about the anti-police protesters and taking them on. All their movements of assets, their aggression and energy went towards facing off against the protesters. They lashed out at them, fired on them and cornered them while the news helicopters hovered above. They didn’t think we could see that they had their backs to people robbing stores? The protesters watched it and were pretty confused. Meanwhile, they brought in many hundreds of cops, police wagons, armored trucks and bags full of zip-ties to handle the few dozen protesters left while Melrose and Fairfax were obliterated behind their backs.

If you’ve never had an unpleasant interaction with the cops, then may your blessings continue. But if you’ve ever called the LAPD to tell them that a package was stolen, a bike was stolen or your car was stolen and heard the indifference and sometimes the disdain on the other end of the phone well then possibly you’ve had a window into their general attitude toward the people who pay their salaries. Maybe you imagined as a white privileged person that they had “more important things to do” and they were out there like TJ Hooker, sliding across hoods and taking down bad guys in the act, but um nope. They were out looking for fights with poor people instead. Of course, there are “good cops” and cops who do a lot for the community and cops who adopt puppies but there is a limit to their goodwill. They will always choose to defend their set. Their crew. Their brothers. Until we change the laws, lower their budgets and demand better from them that’s how they will be. This weekend they pulled back the curtain.