Mayor Garcetti: Jewish Values Require You to Condemn LAPD Violence

This past weekend, in a scene that has become all too familiar, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) used violence against peaceful protesters. This time, it happened right outside of Mayor Eric Garcetti’s official residence. Black Lives Matter Los Angeles (BLM-LA) and its allies had been demonstrating against Garcetti’s potential appointment to President-elect Joe Biden’s cabinet for nearly two weeks. These protests had been following COVID-19 precautions without any incidents, but on the thirteenth day, the police descended upon them unprovoked.

The LAPD justified their actions by claiming that a protestor had violated a municipal code by using a bullhorn and according to them, “after multiple warnings, four officers attempted to make an arrest… when the crowd moved in on the officers, punching, pushing, and kicking.” But several viral videos of the scene show a very different story: at least eight officers — several in riot gear — lining up and rushing the crowd, where they then beat protestors with batons. LAPD also arrested one person for helping an elderly person up off the ground after being knocked down.

https://twitter.com/PplsCityCouncil/status/1335663402706866176

LA’s Democratic lawmakers such as City Councilwoman-elect Nithya Raman, Assemblywoman Wendy Carrillo, Representative Jimmy Gomez, and Assemblyman Miguel Santiago rushed to condemn the violence and uphold First Amendment rights to free speech — but why has the mayor himself remained silent?

Mayor Garcetti, you have often turned to your Jewish values and traditions for strength and moral grounding. Now, the Jewish community calls on you to join the chorus of those publicly condemning the LAPD for these recent acts of violence. There is a long Jewish tradition of nonviolent protest, starting in Late Antiquity with the Talmudic Sage Rabbi Aqiva and continuing through the civil rights movement with martyrs Mickey Schwerner and Andrew Goodman. Nonviolence is a Jewish value, and you must not allow your city’s police officers to use force against peaceful protesters.

This latest injustice becomes even more apparent when we compare the LAPD’s antagonism towards this nonviolent gathering of mostly Black and Brown protesters — including young children and elders — with another protest that same evening in the exact same location. A group of conservative anti-maskers held a “block party” to protest stop-the-spread initiatives in the midst of a worsening global pandemic, and they were allowed to proceed freely.

Protests are allowed under Los Angeles’ latest stay-at-home rules, but unmasked, non-socially distanced anti-lockdown demonstrators pose a real risk to our safety, especially as Los Angeles emerges as a world hotspot of the coronavirus, with a daily record high of over 12,800 new cases and ICU capacity falling below 15%. One video of an anti-lockdown protest on Sunday clearly shows dozens of people standing together without masks and demanding that our city forgo crucial measures to protect our population. And yet, LAPD chose to leave the anti-mask gathering alone, instead spending their resources assaulting and arresting peaceful BLM protesters. Why?

LAPD chose to leave the anti-mask gathering alone, instead spending their resources assaulting and arresting peaceful protesters.

Earlier today, LAPD declared an unlawful assembly at a @BLMLA protest, allegedly for use of a bullhorn. No amplified devices here, but plenty of honking. Also, crowd has mostly stopped moving in front of house, which is against city ordinance. Practically no police visible atm. pic.twitter.com/X7yeTSykLv

— Samuel Braslow (@SamBraslow) December 7, 2020

This year’s uprising for Black lives has grown into the largest civil rights movement in history and is supported by the majority of American Jews. This movement has forced us to reckon with the fact that while many of us (especially white Jews) have been raised to believe that the police exist to protect us, in practice, that is not true for everyone. Policing, which grew out of the practice of slave-catching in the early days of this country and has grown more militarized over time, is an inherently white supremacist institution that does not keep Black, Brown and Indigenous communities safe — and that includes Jews of Color.

As Jews, we believe that when one of us is not safe, none of us is safe. We have also known the necessity of keeping ourselves safe from violent state forces who wished to extinguish us. That’s why it is essential that, if we are truly guided by Jewish values, we stand with the BLM movement to defund the police and put those needed funds towards community programs that we know truly keep every member of our community safe, such as supportive housing, mental health programs and more.

Just before this piece was published, Mayor Garcetti’s spokesperson released the following statement:

Mayor Garcetti appreciates those expressing their free speech rights and the difficult job that police officers have to do every day. We hope that the situation will deescalate because the safety of demonstrators and police officers is of the utmost importance.

We are disappointed that the mayor is failing to take accountability for his city’s police force, instead hoping that the situation will “deescalate” itself. Mayor Garcetti, your Jewish community calls on you to unconditionally condemn LAPD’s violence against peaceful protesters outside your home and to build a 2021 budget for this city that divests from policing and invests in reimagined public safety to keep us all safe.

Rebecca Green is the Southern California Organizer at Bend the Arc: Jewish Action.

Aryeh Cohen is Rabbi in Residence at Bend the Arc: Jewish Action in Southern California.