LOCKED UP AND LOCKED DOWN! (col. writ. 4/10/20) ©2020 by Mumia Abu-Jamal For nearly a month now, all prisoners in PA State prisons, over 40 thousand men and women, have been locked down. What does locked down mean? When I was on Death Row, all of us were locked down, as the saying went “23 & 1”: or for twenty-three hours a day, with one hour for out-of-cell exercise - in a cage. After over a decade, it went to “22 & 2”. But this [...]
At the height of the COVID-19 Crisis, with state and local officials urging tenants to be “Safer at Home,” landlords are filing eviction law suits, their attorneys are encouraging them do so, and the court, for at least 15 days after Rule 1 was issued, sent out false and misleading notices to tenants; notices that violated the State Judicial Council’s April 6, 2020 orders. And because a landlord can print a Summons from the Court’s website we are now seeing cases where landlords are fraudulently printing and [...]
California 1736 Family Crisis Center 2116 Arlington Avenue, Suite 200 Los Angeles, CA 90018 (323) 737-3900 Mission To help children, women, men, and families through crises, including domestic violence, sexual assault, homelessness, joblessness, poverty, human trafficking, suicide ideation and attempts, addiction, post-traumatic stress, and emotional and life-survival challenges, thereby improving their prospects for long-term housing, psychological wellness, financial stability, and success. Who They Serve Victims of domestic violence Runaway and homeless youth Victims of human trafficking Homeless families Homeless and at-risk Veterans Unemployed adults and youth Other [...]
Social Cohesion and Social Solidarity as the Antidote to Social Distancing by Michael Novick, Anti-Racist Action-Los Angeles I think we should try to rename "Social Distancing." People in the U.S. are already far too socially distanced from each other, driving in our steel cocoons, riding the buses and trains in unreceptive, unresponsive isolation, each glued to our own screen, ears filled with our own soundtrack. Let's call it socially responsible distancing, adopting it as a sacrifice, and thereby acknowledging our social connection to, interaction with, and responsibility [...]
Notes From Italy's 'Red Zone' by Anthony Cristofani, Special to Change Links I moved to Italy two months ago because I thought it would be a more reasonable government under which to live and work for change. After the COVID-19 outbreak friends and family started writing and calling me with great worry in their voices, asking how bad it was here. In truth, I’m all the more grateful I moved here, and far more worried about my old home, the USA. Let’s start with the government’s response [...]
Los Angeles community organizations and unions call on the LA City Council to hold emergency meeting in response to COVID-19. Renters, unhoused residents and workers need immediate relief, groups say. In response to Council President Nury Martinez’ cancellation of a scheduled Tuesday, March 24, 2020 City Council meeting, organizations working in a newly formed network called Healthy LA responded by calling on LA City Council to immediately schedule an emergency council meeting this week. Groups operating under the Healthy LA banner have been calling on Council to [...]
Letter to the Editor: Don't Ostracize and Stigmatize All Cops As "Bastards" 02-23-2020 I am writing in response to Imani Beckett’s article, “Why all Cops Are In Fact Bastards,” in the February, 2020 edition of Change Links. Throughout human history virtually all major systems of power inherently draw to them those who seek to impose their strength over others. The fact that these systems often oppress others is particularly disdainful, because it is an abuse of that power against those less powerful who are in turn exploited. [...]
Criminal Justice System On Trial in March 3 Ballot Whether you think the criminal justice system is broken, or you believe it's doing what it was designed to do by targeting poor people and people of color, that system is on the March 3 primary election ballot in many ways. The presidential primary, along partisan lines, offers stark choices among candidates and visions. The other races in CA are all essentially non-partisan -- anyone can vote for any candidate on the ballot for each position, and [...]
Season For Nonviolence (Jan. 30th - April 4th) by Candace Carnicelli Our annual Season for Nonviolence - the 64 day nonviolence campaign initiated by Arun Gandhi in 1998 that takes place during the 64 days between the memorial dates of Mahatma Gandhi and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (Jan. 30th - April 4th) is celebrating its 23rd year! It focuses on the Power and Possibility of Nonviolence (Satyagraha [soul force]/Ahimsa/Peace), the Power of our Words - and just how much Life and the World can [...]
What is needed to solve the housing crisis in L.A. by Pete White of LA CAN (Community Action Network) www.cangress.org Three years ago, we released a community-based assessment of HHH spending and the lack of progress in a report entitled ”All Show, No Substance.” There were several action items listed that would ultimately serve as our organizing agenda. We've accomplished many things, but there is still much work to be done. It's important to note that many of the items we lifted in the assessment would become [...]
How to house 7,000 people in Skid Row? The LA Poverty Dept. is hosting a panel and discussion on Nov. 13. We’re talking about housing everyone now living on the streets of Skid Row –and more. Join us at The Skid Row History Museum on Wednesday, November 13th at 7PM, to learn together and in public how housing works and could work in LA. We’ve invited three housing policy experts to talk with one another and tell us everything we've always wanted to know about how to [...]
Alarming Death Rate Among Unhoused People in LA County Homeless Mortality Prevention Initiative Launched The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health released a mortality study that provides new and alarming data on deaths among people experiencing homelessness in LA County. Not only have the number of homeless deaths doubled, from 536 in 2013 to 1,047 in 2018, but the death rate, which accounts for increases in the total number of homeless people, increased by over a third during that same period. Drug and alcohol overdose was [...]
