The Fight for Education Equity
STOP THE STOPS
Daily, Black drivers are mentally and physically traumatized during traffic stops. Time and again, across the nation, we have seen Black and Brown men and women lose their lives for what are routine traffic tickets for other citizens. The routine practice of pretextual traffic stops is often marred by racial profiling, police misconduct, and the disproportionate targeting of minority communities. These stops typically involve officers using minor violations as a reason to conduct a stop and search. This has fueled frustration, anger, and disillusionment among Los Angeles residents who are unfairly targeted and marginalized.
In October 2019, Community Coalition joined together with a broad cross-sector of base-building, advocacy, and faith-based organizations to form the Promoting Unity, Safety, and Health in Los Angeles (PUSH LA) coalition. PUSH LA launched after data analyses in 2019 revealed that the LAPD Metro Division officers stop and arrest Black people at a rate more than five times their share of the city’s population.
The reality for Black and Brown Angelenos is that going about our every-day activities can turn into life-or-death situations when law enforcement officers choose whom they will follow, harass, and harm based on the color of our skin, our accents, or our zip codes.
PUSH LA partners include the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California (ACLU SoCal); Catalyst California; Black Lives Matter Los Angeles; Brotherhood Crusade; Brothers, Sons, Selves; Children’s Defense Fund California; Community Coalition; Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA); LA Voice; Labor Community Strategy Center; Million Dollar Hoods; SEIU 2015; SEIU Local 99; and Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), Southern California.
Central to the coalition’s demands are four key points:
Ending Pretextual Stops–Citing racial bias, inefficiency, and misuse of public resources, PUSH LA advocates for a ban on pretextual stops. Research indicates these stops disproportionately affect communities of color and fail to improve public safety.
Limiting Tickets, Fees, and Fines– Highlighting the financial strain and racial disparities exacerbated by traffic fines, the coalition urges reforms to reduce the economic burden on marginalized communities.
Prioritizing Self-Enforcing Infrastructure–Addressing the systemic lack of safe street infrastructure in South Los Angeles, PUSH LA proposes investing in self-enforcing solutions such as such as roundabouts and traffic medians to control flow of traffic speed and more traffic stop lights and signs that proactively enhance safety without reliance on punitive measures.
Promoting Care-Based Response Methods–Advocating for unarmed, civilian-led responses to traffic safety issues, the coalition aims to redirect law enforcement resources towards community-centered care initiatives rather than armed responses by law enforcement which creates a culture of fear when driving while black or brown.
PUSHLA’s Stop The Stops Rally and Press Conference
To learn more about PUSH LA, click here.
Longstanding educational inequities that underserved and underresourced schools in South LA coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic that widened the achievement gap indicate long-term structural damage to LAUSD schools in South LA. These conditions signal new battlegrounds that organizations like CoCo will need to engage around to continue to advance educational equity and offer rapid response/ interventions for South LA youth. CoCo youth and families are fighting to defend and implement core community-centered policies that include the following:
Equity is Justice
For the last decade, Community Coalition, alongside its core partners in the Equity Alliance for LA’s Kids, including InnerCity Struggle, Catalyst CA, and the Partnership for LA Schools, have fought to move LAUSD towards equitable funding through the Student Equity Need Index (SENI). SENI is a powerful budgeting tool developed by residents and co-created with the district that redefines equity with academic, health, and community level indicators. $700M dollars are annually distributed using the SENI with high and highest need schools getting the largest allocations. The current fight is to ensure the district’s full commitment and expansion of the policy while ensuring that funds are spent on resources informed through student and parent engagement and decision-making.
Police-Free LAUSD
After a successful campaign that ended “willful defiance supensions” and established the School Climate Bill of Rights in Los Angeles Unified School District, Community Coalition has continued it efforts decriminalize youth through the Police Free LAUSD Coalition. In 2020, the Police-Free LAUSD Coalition was created and successfully pushed LAUSD redirect 35% of its budget ($25 million) to funding alternative safety resources and supports rooted in mental health, restorative justice , and community-based safety practioners. The core steering committee includes Community Coalition, Brothers Sons Selves Coalition, Students Deserve, ACLU Southern CA, Black Lives Matter LA,, CADRE, InnerCity Struggle, Labor Community Strategy Center, Million Dollar Hoods, Reclaim Our Schools Los Angeles, Social Justice Learning Institute, UTLA, and Youth Justice Coalition.
Black Student Achievement
The Black Student Achievement Plan (BSAP) is a transformative initiative first implemented in September of 2021. It is rooted in the community campaign to redirect funding away from school police to build out holistic and student-centered supports for Black students and families. BSAP works to bring culturally responsive curriculum and instruction, partnerships with community-based organizations, and increased staffing to provide targeted supports for improved academic performance, social-emotional development, and a positive cultural Since the initial allocation, SCYEA has been at the center of continued advocacy the has helped expand the impact and budget of BSAP to $125 million dollars.