officers - The Black Vault

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• •
JIM MENDENHALL I Los Angeles Times·
Rep. M~~ine Waters, the Rev. Jess~ Jackson and ~adio personality Casey Kasem lead protesters.
about the entire future of thi~ city.
What's very clear is that this crisis
· can only be resolved through new
.leadership in the Police Department."
Several speakers, including Rep.
Maxine Waters (D.,.Los Angek!s),_\
-also called for the ,.ou~ter of t~ose·:.J
Los Angeles City Council members ·
wh~ voted to block the Police
Commission's effort to put Gates on
a leave of absence.
"Nate Holden's got to go," Waters
chanted, referring to the one
black councilman who voted
against the commission's action.
"Joan Milke 'Flores's ·got to go,"
·Waters added.
· pormer Hawthorne Police Offi-
. cer Don Jackson stated the
· ·sentiment more pointedly, saying:
· "There is a color problem in this
!- city when we see Nate Holden
~- backing up the Police Department.
Nate Holden, you gotta go."
Ja.ckson, who is black, focused
; attention. on. police abuse three
years ago when an incident was
• 'Videotaped in which a white Long
~ Beach policeman allegedly pushed
, Jackson's head through a plateglass
window after stopping the car
in which Jackson was riding.
Other speakers added the name
of Coun.cilman Richard Alatorre to
the list of targeted council members.
·
Waters stood on the platform
with a group of public officials that
·included state Democratic Assem­
. blywomen from Los Angeles, Te­
: ·resa P: Hughes, Marguerite Ar~
chie-Hudson and Gwen Moore;
state Sen. Bill Greene (D-Los 'An.:·
geles) and Ja~kie Goldberg, presi-"
·-dent· of the Los Angeles Unified
School District board.
Onlookers alorig ihe march route·
occasionally cheered but mostly
were content to stop and look. ·An
RTD bus driver drew 'cheers frotn
· the . marchers when he waved,
smiled and honked his horn in
support.
Some of the protesters carried
. 'Pictures of alleged victims of police
brutality and~ hundreds waved
hom~made signs such· as one that
proclaimed: "Daryl just say yes."
Several demonstrators said that
they came to vent anger that has
simmered in ethnic communities
fo.r years. ·
"If Gates isn't .the disease, he's
certainly one of the symptoms,"
said Compton .resident Georgia
Cave. "The people in this community
have been angry for years.
This isn't an isolated incident. It's
just the fjrst one caught on film."
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