sahra Profile picture
I write about how the legacy of redlining, policing & urban planning all intersect @StreetsblogLA. Email: sahra@streetsblog.org; DMs open; IG: sahrashootsstuff
Sep 27, 2023 7 tweets 4 min read
This (re the 110) is a bit oversimplified. The 110 was constructed as the Black pop. was experiencing rapid growth in South LA (which was still largely white then) and was spilling beyond the borders of redlined zones. It was more about containment/division than displacement. 1/ Where the East LA interchange was actively about "slum clearance" the 110 S. route was contentious b/c it was going to run thru white neighborhoods wherever it was put. Kenneth Hahn & protesters tried to push it much farther east to no avail. newspapers.com/image/68933525…
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Feb 6, 2023 4 tweets 2 min read
The LAPPL claims CM Soto-Martinez called for patrols to watch over his Lexus, but even Fox's own story has been corrected to note the CM doesn't own a Lexus & that it was a staffer who made the call about their personal vehicle. But why should police let facts get in the way...? C'mon guys. FOX 11 saw the staffer who made the request, David Mai. When
Feb 5, 2023 15 tweets 6 min read
On 1/18, Feezy filed a $10M tort claim vs. LASD for the NYE incident where dep. Justin Sabatine put a gun in his face & threatened to blow a hole in his chest. Audio of the threats quickly went viral. But the Sheriff did not respond for nearly a week 🧵: la.streetsblog.org/2023/02/03/any… When they finally did, the statement was underwhelming, categorizing the threats to Feezy’s life as “unprofessional language” & the displaying/drawing of a weapon. It didn't mention the intimidation Feezy faced at the station or answer any ??s I asked.
Oct 25, 2022 8 tweets 4 min read
This man tells Tavis Smiley he has spent the week offering his "profound" apologies and that he's hoping to spark a healing "dialogue." Image Now @kdeleon is just making sh*t up. He didn't suggest @mhdcd8 take LAX from CD11 to expand the Black middle class there. He didn't want assets taken from CD9 b/c it would likely result in KDL/CD14 losing assets.
Sep 1, 2022 6 tweets 3 min read
LAPD's statement that they turned off 🚨/sirens to indicate "they would no longer be attempting to stop the vehicle" as they approached the intersection doesn't make a lot of sense. Nobody being pursued thinks, "phew!" while 🚓 is just 50ft behind you.
latimes.com/california/sto… Sirens are as much a signal to the person being pursued as an indicator to other road users to stop/slow down/move right/get outta the way. This is the moment the signal was turned off. They're both speeding & the first vehicle is probably 3-4 car lengths from the intersection. Capt. Kelly Muniz says "...indicating they would no lonimage of the vehicle being pursued as it approaches the inte
Jul 30, 2022 42 tweets 15 min read
Saying the car part carried by Petit resembled a "nonfunctioning firearm" was bad enough, but it wasn't the only troubling assertion LAPD made at the hastily called "town hall" on the shooting the other night.
la.streetsblog.org/2022/07/29/lap… To justify the shooting, LAPD is working to anchor the narrative about the threat Petit allegedly posed in the 911 call. To do so, they took the highly unusual step of embedding a partial transcript in their official statement on the shooting. lapdonline.org/newsroom/offic… The following is a transcri...
Apr 29, 2022 8 tweets 4 min read
This season of Slow Burn treads a lot of ground Angelenos already know. But Ep. 1 reminded me that there were two passengers in King's car that night and I can't stop thinking about that. slate.com/podcasts/slow-… 20yo Freddie Helms died in a crash a few months later. But 25yo Bryant Allen was able to recount all of this terrible trauma...and then had to deal w/ NYT asking him to explain why he felt race played a role in the way they were treated that night. nytimes.com/1991/03/21/us/… In an interview, Mr. Allen said he feared for his life as he
Apr 26, 2022 4 tweets 2 min read
Alene Tchekmedyian (@AleneTchek) has done incredible and important work chipping away at the rot within LASD. Villanueva's contempt for journalists, particularly female journos, it seems, is reprehensible and dangerous. Clearly his preferred kind of journalism is when folks clap like seals for him, fawn over his biceps, and compliment his lawleisure wear. But we can't all be Pimp Daddy Melugin.
Jul 13, 2021 25 tweets 9 min read
The community is trying to get answers about why the LAPD chose to detonate dangerous explosives in their community and a handful of folks actually showed up with their "LAPD we are with you"/"Defend LAPD" signs. LAPD begins by apologizing and acknowledging the long road to rebuilding the trust that was tenuous to begin with.
Apr 23, 2021 4 tweets 2 min read
Yesterday, @eastsidekboy got "stopped" while he was already parked at a gas station at MLK/Walton, talking to his son on his phone. LAPD pulled him out of the car, searched it, called his probation officer, etc. The excuse was tinted windows and expired tags. Audio from his IG: He explained his tags were expired b/c of covid. He was eventually let go without a ticket. But it could have ended very differently, given how many people showed up to handle him and his vehicle. instagram.com/p/CN_82IUAbiZ/ Image
Apr 22, 2021 18 tweets 8 min read
There may be no better argument for having trained unarmed crisis responders showing up to calls for folks in distress than what the footage from Isaias Cervantes' case shows us. It starts off so promising - dispatch talks to the caller at length and gets a history and picture of what's going on at the scene, just like you might hope. And that history is communicated to the deputies. ImageImageImageImage
Apr 20, 2021 11 tweets 6 min read
Kids rolling 30-40 deep on their bikes in Perth Amboy, NJ got chased at high speeds by several police cars til a few of them got cornered on a quiet street. One older👮 gives them a talking to and tells them to be safe. And it seems like they'll be let go. They even clap for him. The female 👮isn't having it though. She's mad and wants to take their bikes. Especially as they begin to protest and ask questions. She tells the older 👮he doesn't understand the situation, that she warned them earlier. They start taking the bikes.
Apr 20, 2021 5 tweets 2 min read
It's really quite something to kick off your speech calling it a justice budget and then immediately launching into what you're doing for restaurants. We are 20 minutes into the "justice budget" and, according to my transcription, he's said the word "Black" exactly three times so far. Loving Los Angeles means facing the bitter truth about our p
Apr 17, 2021 4 tweets 2 min read
Elex Michaelson & Bill "Pimp Daddy" Melugin, as Villanueva describes him, clap for the sheriff - who currently runs a dept. that is home to at least 18 deputy gangs -and compliment his biceps while he jokes about his casual civil unrest fashion choices. I think the takeaway here is that everyone covering the protests should identify themselves as Bill Melugin.
Apr 17, 2021 4 tweets 2 min read
Law enforcement continuing to position itself as the arbiter of first amendment rights while its rank and file remain convinced that the bulk of media is actively working against them cannot be anything but a recipe for chaos. LAPD at least hides their contempt slightly better than LASD does.
Apr 13, 2021 8 tweets 5 min read
At a 3/27 forum hosted by @BLMLA & @CentroCSO and attended by supervisors @HildaSolis & @HollyJMitchell, family members of those killed by LASD spoke of how ongoing harassment & intimidation by deputies stole their peace, time, and even space to grieve. la.streetsblog.org/2021/04/13/fam… It was part of a "triple assault" on the families, explained BLM-LA co-founder @DocMellyMel. The "theft of the [loved one's] body," the assassination of the loved one's character, and the criminalization of the families in such a way as to strip them of any sense of safety.
Apr 12, 2021 17 tweets 6 min read
People are getting better at not accepting other coded police narratives that frame how we think about encounters. And yet there is a tendency to let police define an obvious proactive pretextual stop as a routine traffic-related one. It matters. Pretextual stops are no-win situations for young men, and labeling them "traffic stops" compounds the problem.
Mar 3, 2021 18 tweets 6 min read
I've done a gazillion threads & stories on this... the extent to which over/underpolicing in disenfranchised communities has left youth feeling like they have no choice but to fend for themselves. And yet ppl are trying to get him to resign for acknowledging it. While his tweet could have been worded better, it's genuinely weird that folks are wringing their hands over that and not the tweet that inspired it - one that seems to be celebrating a pretextual stop and search of questionable constitutionality
Mar 2, 2021 13 tweets 3 min read
If you tuned into council today, you might have heard public comment from Fernando Rejón, ED of the Urban Peace Institute. The #FundPeacemakers campaign had asked for $54mil of the budget reallocation be directed toward funding intervention efforts. UPI runs the L.A. Violence Intervention Training Academy - a 140-hr course those looking to become city-contracted intervention workers take. They also provide technical training and assistance to the LAPD's Community Safety Partnership (CSP). urbanpeaceinstitute.org/our-work-urban…
Mar 2, 2021 20 tweets 5 min read
Contrary to the complaints they've heard, "We are meeting the moment" w/ the move to override the mayor's veto, says CM Nury Martínez. But as @UnrigLA pointed out earlier, this new proposal only came after the mayor 🚫 their original funneling of the $ into beautification projex. Most emblematic of the shamelessness of that first stab at redistributing those funds was David Ryu's effort to give himself a legacy, by putting funds toward a program he had championed.
Mar 2, 2021 7 tweets 2 min read
Thread re: LEA efforts to avoid defunding by championing internal programs that claim to provide the same kind of mental health, etc. assistance that advocates would like to be seen offered by real service providers or channeled toward preventative work I think one of the things that needs to be underscored about these programs is how little support LAPD gave them internally, effectively undermining them & setting them up to fail, yet sees no irony in touting them as potential models.