THREAD: This is about Compton, CA. About the choices we make as taxpayers. Whether to invest in families, in community, in health & safety. Or continue to throw billions away at police & incarceration that only harms. This thread is also about what you can do right now. Read on:
Compton, CA is an American cultural capital. And a city where glaring social inequities overlap. 30% of residents are Black, 68% are Latino. And incredibly, 1 in 5 are below the poverty line. Not enough money for medication, groceries, school, transportation, housing. The basics.
As families, children, & elderly struggle to survive, Compton taxpayers pay more per resident per geographic area to the Sheriff than any city in LA County. $22 million. All despite the harm of Compton Executioners: 1 of the Sheriff's violent deputy gangs.knock-la.com/lasd-gangs-lit…
Taxpayers foot a $35 million annual bill in Compton for pretrial caging. 97% Black & brown. On top of that, the human costs: Loss of jobs. Ineligibility for welfare programs upon release. Meanwhile, Compton has a life expectancy well below LA County average. It’s clear why. More:
Compton faces a critical lack of mental health hospitals. Access to healthcare hovers at 10% for Black residents. 20% for Latinos. 4.5% of deaths are from drug overdose. Another 4.5% from suicide. publichealth.lacounty.gov/ohae/docs/cchp…
Compton ranks lowest in terms of services for mental health & homelessness, according to the Justice Equity Needs Index. Identifies areas in greatest need of public investments in community healing, health, & prevention to reverse historical injustices: advancementprojectca.org/tools-we-use/m…
A budget says a lot about a government’s (at any level) priorities. Compton’s budget--prioritizing violent policing, prosecutions, arrests, & incarceration over supporting its people to live--is the norm across the country. An alternative, better investment: guaranteed income.
Embarrassed I didn’t know more about movement for guaranteed income until recently. Leaders in the movement for racial & economic justice have long advocated for it to disrupt harmful state systems. And it's not some crazy pie-in-sky idea. It's happening right now. I just gave.
I learned recently about the @ComptonPledge. An end-to-end solution to the problem of uneven and anachronistic welfare administration. Delivers cash transfers seamlessly, no strings attached. No hoops to jump through, or unnecessary data to provide. comptonpledge.org
The difference a basic income makes in people’s lives & its critical role in challenging where society DOES invest taxpayer dollars: Every dollar directly invests in residents like Christine – who is using these funds to build a homeless services nonprofit.businessinsider.com/how-ubi-helps-…
Intersecting crises of COVID-19, mass unemployment, & police violence renewed call for a guaranteed income. @ComptonPledge has since grown to be the largest guaranteed income program in country. $4 million disbursed to 800 low-income families. comptonpledge.org
It’s ridiculous we need to step in to do the bare minimum government refuses to. Till that changes we need models like this. Every dollar goes directly to families. To close 70% of the wealth gap. #PledgeCompton. Donate here:donate.comptonpledge.org
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Wow. Fiona Apple is a real one. Watch this video. Calling for donations to bail out Black mothers for Mother’s Day. Her fans already came through w donations & spreading the word. Over $30k! Let’s “fetch the bolt cutters” & support even more. I just gave. givebutter.com/nHSrnp
Two years ago, Fiona Apple popped up on a zoom call to get trained by local organizers to Court watch. Dedicated ever since. Her work has led to freedom, lawsuits, accountability.
The stories all here in this short video. She wrote & performed the score:
Be like Fiona Apple. Volunteer to CourtWatch. Visit this campaign hub, learn more, connect w/ a local courtwatch program, &/or learn how to start your own.
Injustice happens in empty courtrooms. Which allows police brutality to continue outside of them. Courtwatch.org
“No judge has ever lost their job setting bail on someone.”
A NYC judge whispered that. To a public defender. Before depriving their destitute client of freedom. This happens every day. Judges are intimidated to throw poor people in cages.
Thread on a history of intimidation:
Public defenders @elizaorlins & @APetrigh tell about the open secret of "justice" throughout the country People are deprived of liberty, not based on merit. But judicial fear of negative press.
"The NYPD’s recent social media attack against a judge who released a defendant under supervision instead of setting bail and detaining them. The case drew headlines because the NYPD’s aggressive social media posts were full of misinformation, including misidentifying the judge."
How copaganda works. Police, prosecutor, & prison interests use media to exaggerate & lie about "sensational" cases. Amplify them on repeat. Create the *perception* that "crime" or "migrants" are a "Crisis!"
Perpetual anger/fear buys votes & public opinion. Facts be damned.
How copaganda works. Police release a highly edited video that doesn't include their unprovoked, violent, & unjustified attack on a migrant. Manufactured "outcry" ensues. Lawmakers call for sweeping policy changes. New video later released. It's too late. Profound damage done.
How copaganda works. Even after previously withheld police footage showed the "attack on police" in Times Square was the opposite: An unprovoked attack *by police* on innocent people, reports continue only center the lie.
None (that I've seen) report on the overt police lie.
An interesting story for you. Was catching up w/ a friend at coffeeshop. The mother of her friend walked by & joined us briefly. She’s from Chicago. She told us a story about talking to a Chicago police officer. Thanking him for his service.
What he told her will surprise you.
As quick background, she is a white woman. In her 60s. Well off. Grew up in the suburbs of Chicago. Now downtown. Forever Dem. Supported the end of cash bail. But is “fed up” w/ “all the violence.” Thinks “something has to be done.”
She saw a cop the other day & went up to him.
She told the cop how scared she was by everything she was reading in the news. Couldn’t imagine how tough things were “for him” given the “crime rates.” (Note: Homicides are down significantly in most of Chicago, but violence remains a scourge).
Extraordinary work again from @TeenVogue -- the best justice journalism outlet in the country. On the day that cash bail is finally eliminated in Illinois, they release a critical explainer on "Copaganda."
How to identify & respond to lies & fearmongering about safety. Watch:
Must watch. The week that cash bail is finally eliminated in Illinois, local experts debunk harmful myths that the media peddles about bail reform. In this @TeenVogue video explainer.
"This fear has been built up & stoked by media misinformation. A refrain. A scapegoat " Watch:
Last year: Artists, survivors of violence, organizers, entrepreneurs, public defenders, policy experts, restorative justice practitioners, and system-impacted people sat for a series of conversations while exploring a groundbreaking exhibition on torture and incarceration.
Teen Vogue out again w/ the best in political commentary, justice journalism & truth. A compelling & easily digestible explainer on "Abolition."
New vision of safety: "If policing prosecution & incarceration created safety, we'd be the safest country in the world." Watch. Learn:
When people hear the word "abolition" they think 'crazy leftist.' 'Idealistic.'
In reality: "We're the clear eyed ones. We have the whole history of the world to let us know what were doing now is not sustainable. We want a world where violence isn't the norm." Part 2:
Last year: Artists, survivors of violence, organizers, entrepreneurs, public defenders, policy experts, restorative justice practitioners, and system-impacted people sat for a series of conversations while exploring a groundbreaking exhibition on torture and incarceration.