Our criminal justice system isn’t broken.
There’s a reason that Breonna Taylor’s killers were let off with “wanton endangerment” instead of being charged with the murder.
There’s a reason that the incarceration rate for Black Angelenos in Los Angeles County is 13 times more than that for whites.
There’s a reason that Black people make up just 8% of L.A., but are more than a third of its homeless population.
There’s a reason that only people of color have received the death penalty since our current District Attorney, Jackie Lacey, took office.
Our criminal justice system is doing exactly what it was designed to do: incarcerate poor people of color, perpetuate systems of oppression, and maintain political disenfranchisement.
So, when Dijon Kizzee is shot 15 times by a County sheriff deputy after he “violated a vehicle code” while riding a bike, and no one is held accountable for their death, we shouldn’t be surprised.
But we should be outraged.
We -- the voters of Los Angeles -- have the power to fundamentally change the criminal justice system. And it is our responsibility to do so.
The Los Angeles Times is correct: the most important race in the country, outside of the presidential election, is happening in our city this November.
It’s a race that will determine whether one of the most progressive cities in the nation continues to criminalize poverty, perpetuate institutionalized racism, and pursue a failed war on drugs that has devastated communities of color.
I’m talking, of course, about whether we elect a District Attorney who believes in using the law’s tools to fight the law’s harm.
Angelenos have made our priorities abundantly clear.
We want to end mass incarceration.
We want to make it easier to prosecute officers who use excessive force.
We want to ban officers from using chokeholds.
We want to limit the power of police unions by reducing their collective bargaining rights.
We want people who have served time and are returning home to be given the opportunity to rebuild their lives, earn a good living, and break the cycle of incarceration and recidivism.
And we want police officers to stop killing people.
Los Angeles County police have killed nearly 900 people since 2000.
In nearly all cases of police violence, DA Lacey deemed use of force as legally justified.
George Gascón understands that no one is above the law -- including police officers.
And his priorities align with those of the people he seeks to represent.
George Gascón is prepared to challenge the law-and-order ethos that has dominated L.A. law enforcement and push back against the political heft of police unions.
He has rejected contributions from the Los Angeles Police Protective League, recognized police unions as “obstacles to change,” and pledged to hold law enforcement accountable for misconduct and aggressively prosecute public corruption.
Jackie Lacey’s campaign is almost entirely funded by policing groups.
George reduced the disparity between sentencing between white and black defendants by 50%.
Under Jackie Lacey, whites in L.A. County were incarcerated in state prisons at a rate of 1.6 per 1,000 people, while for Blacks it was 20.8 per 1,000 people.
He co-authored Proposition 47, which reduced violations for some low-level felonies to misdemeanors and has expunged thousands of marijuana convictions.
Cash bail is a disgrace and must be abolished. George believes that no one should be sitting in jail because they are poor, and was the first elected DA to support the end of cash bail in 2012.
Jackie Lacey resisted efforts to end money bail.
He does not believe in the death penalty.
Jackie Lacey continues to send Californians to death row.
George Gascón envisions a system that is fair to everyone, no matter their color, class, or circumstance.
Jackie Lacey perpetuates a system that is patently discriminatory. A system that kills people of color indiscriminately.
Most importantly, George understands that Los Angeles is in a unique position: our decision to fundamentally transform our racist criminal justice system could have a ripple effect across the country.
Our city is home to the largest criminal justice jurisdiction and jail in the nation. Whatever direction we take will undoubtedly influence the future of criminal justice in our country.
It is imperative that we take advantage of this opportunity to set legal precedents that steer the country toward the compassionate treatment of our homeless neighbors, true accountability in law enforcement, and systemic reform of our justice system.
We can prosecute polluters instead of poor people.
We can end the school to prison pipeline.
We can crack down on police abuse.
We can reject the disastrous War on Drugs and instead adopt therapeutic, not punitive, solutions to address drug addiction.
We can prove that building a safe city does not need to come at the expense of the most vulnerable among us.
None of this will be easy. But, as voters, we are empowered to issue a clear mandate for transformational change.
The people of Los Angeles have taken to the streets, they have protested, they have borne witness to too many murders at the hands of police, they have watched the FBI cart away thousands of documents from corrupt members of City Hall.
Now we must do our part at the ballot box.
Our criminal justice system is not broken.
That’s why we need George Gascón to build a different one. And hope that the country follows suit.