East Los Angeles barrio packs town hall meeting about sheriff misconduct

Los Angeles, CA – On Thursday, February 27, at 6 p.m., Chicanos packed an East Los Angeles town hall meeting that was put on by the Civilian Oversight Commission of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department and LA County. Over 60 Chicanos from East Los Angeles and the immediate surrounding area joined the meeting, both in person and virtually, to denounce the attacks on Raza by the East Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department.

The town hall meeting was held at the East Los Angeles Service Center, with every seat filled and a large queue online. LA County officials held the event in response to consistent organizing by Centro CSO. In October 2024, the Dodgers won first the pennant and then the World Series. On both days, Chicanos took to the streets of East Los Angeles to peacefully assemble, wave flags, dance and celebrate. This joy was met with brutal repression by sheriff’s deputies, who attacked Raza with tear gas and other munitions. On the night of October 20, the East Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department indiscriminately fired tear gas into the crowd of families, including children. Two Centro CSO members were teargassed alongside them.

Since that day, Centro CSO and other East LA community organizers, like Lorraine Quinones, have fought nonstop to get justice. The East Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department (ELASD) were also seen wearing Fort Apache pins that night, which is a racist logo tracing its origins back to the 1970 Chicano Moratorium when East LA deputies beat and killed Chicanos.

Centro CSO has spent months organizing to get justice for the Chicano Dodger fans and to ban the Fort Apache Logo. Carlos Montes, a longtime Chicano revolutionary, was on the panel at the town hall, where he provided context on the history of repression by the Los Angeles and East LA Sheriff’s Department of Chicanos. He also talked about how even in the face of brutal oppression by the state, Chicanos have always risen up and fought back.

After the panel, community members from East LA and Boyle Heights gave public comments. Arcelia Covarrubias, whose 28-year-old son Adrian Rios was killed by ELASD, said, “I am here to support Centro CSO because they have always been there with me throughout my process. You guys showed a picture of the East Los Angeles Sheriff’s station. Well, that was my son Adrian Rios’s last stop.”

Rios had been picked off the street by ELASD and taken to their station in East Los Angeles. He was later “found” unconscious in a cell with bruises all over his body,

“I used to believe in the system honestly – no, he was at the worst place, he was in the hands of murderers, my son’s blood is at that station from the Bandidos,” said Covarrubias. The Banditos are a gang embedded in the sheriff’s department.

Antonieta Garcia, the co-chair of Centro CSO’s education committee said, “We need the Fort Apache logo banned and to be removed from the community and to never to appear again.”

Garcia was out there with her daughters celebrating the Dodgers and said during the public comment, “When I saw the East Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department in riot gear and shooting teargas, I literally had to remove my daughters and run home.”

Dozens of Chicanos spoke against the actions of the East Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department and painted a broad picture of harassment and oppression. Impacted families spoke of the harassment they received from the sheriff’s department after their loved ones, like Anthony Vargas and Fransico Nunez, were killed by LASD. Members of the Civilian Oversight Commission, and even journalists like Cerise Castle, who have long documented the deputy gangs within LASD, have faced threats and harassment.

Centro CSO is also part of Check the Sheriff Coalition, which supported and showed up to the event.

Overall, the town hall meeting was a big success for Centro CSO, which organized for months, tabling, flyering and using social media to get Raza out to the town hall. It was a big deal to even get LA County to come to East Los Angeles to hear firsthand from Raza. The fight to ban Fort Apache continues, as will the greater battle to win community control of ELASD, as the Chicanos neighborhood of East LA has been demanding that the East Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department be cleaned up.

Centro CSO is an affiliate of NAARPR and upholds the demand of community control of police. If you would like to join Centro CSO, you can find them on all platforms under the username of “Centro CSO.”

#LosAngelesCA #CA #InJusticeSystem #CentroCSO

Source: https://fightbacknews.org/east-los-angeles-barrio-packs-town-hall-meeting-about-sheriff-misconduct?pk_campaign=rss-feed