“Generate Justice means to me more than just reform. It means bringing justice on the grassroots level to the common Black and Brown person that is out here trying to live life in a meaningful way, without having to be impacted by a corrupt justice system. Generating justice is something that has to be done… reaffirmation.”
– Chris White, Community Coalition Monday
During the 1980s, over 50,000 children were taken from their homes and put into the foster care system—and 40% were from South LA. In the early 1990’s, popular media was awash with a narrative that our youth were a “lost generation.” It was as if the crack-cocaine crisis and rise in gang violence had caused adults to give up on young people. For Black and Latino residents, the twin catastrophes of the crack crisis of the 1980s and the “War on Drugs” broke up hundreds of thousands of families. Community Coalition rejected this assessment, and instead believed that an investment of resources was needed to build the next generation of leaders.
The mass criminalization of everyday life and the militarized over-policing of communities has destroyed families and made communities less safe. The “War on Drugs” and the “War on Gangs” continue to guarantee that the U.S. imprisons more people—over 2 million—than any other country. Our community is located in a county that operates one of the largest adult jail systems in the nation and about 44% of those jail beds are filled with people who await trial because they cannot afford bail.
“Generate Justice” demands a fundamental transformation of our social and economic ecosystem that prevents violence and raises the value of life, as well as the potential to heal. We demand a new justice, a reimagined justice, that generates true safety, restoration, and resources for addiction and mental health, one in which the replication of violence is absent.