We hope that you are able to make it to the protest/press conference against the LAPD "Sobriety" Checkpoint tonight. Thank you.
Ron Gochez Social Justice Educator/Community Organizer Southern CA Immigration Coalition www.immigrationcoalition.org =================================================== F O R I MM E D I A T E R E L E A S EPRESS CONFERENCE/PROTEST: Southern California Immigration Coalition (SCIC) to protest and take direct action against LAPD “Sobriety” Checkpoint that will be used to legally steal cars from undocumented and unlicensed drivers who will not be under the influence of drugs/alcohol. Coalition will alert drivers to not fall into Trap of LAPD. February 19, 2011 What: Community organizations to protest at an LAPD “Sobriety” Checkpoint in South LA Where: Florence Avenue between Gramercy Place and Western Avenue When: Saturday, February 19, 2010 Time: 6:00 P.M These “Sobriety” Checkpoints continue to be strategically used to legally steal thousands of cars from undocumented immigrants who are not under the influence of drugs or alcohol when their cars are impounded for a minimum of 30 days by the authorities. Stealing cars from undocumented immigrants has become a multimillion dollar industry that is now being used to alleviate the city’s and State budget deficit. In 2009, the state of California shamefully profited $40 million from these checkpoints. This is being done directly at the expense of the undocumented community and is a clear example of racial profiling by the Los Angeles Police Department. Under the pretext of looking for drunk drivers, the LAPD is specifically racially profiling Latinos by strategically placing “Sobriety” checkpoints in predominantly Latino communities where they believe there is a high number of undocumented drivers. These include “Sobriety” checkpoints on Tuesday mornings in strictly residential neighborhoods. These are obviously traps to catch unlicensed drivers. The LAPD acknowledges/admits that the GREAT majority of the cars impounded are NOT from drunk drivers but are instead from unlicensed drivers; most of whom are undocumented. Because Mayor Villaraigosa has publicly stated his opposition to the racial profiling that is taking place in Arizona, we call on him and the City Council to end this same type of racial profiling and attacks on immigrants here in Los Angeles. Elected representatives of the South Central Neighborhood Council, the Central Area Neighborhood Council, multiple union locals (SEIU 721 Social Justice Caucus, Roofers 36) and over 100 organizations have passed a resolution that calls for the end to the confiscation of vehicles at Sobriety Checkpoints for drivers who are simply unlicensed. The goal of the SCIC’s campaign is to eventually have the LA City Council pass this resolution to take on a policy like San Francisco, Oakland, Coachella, San Jose and several other cities that now permit unlicensed drivers to have someone else with a license pick up their car so that it does not have to be towed away to face a mandatory 30 day impound. The Southern California Immigration Coalition does not intend in any way to protect drunk drivers. This effort is stictly aimed at defend the people who have their cars taken away from them at "Sobriety" Checkpoints for simply not having a drivers license. The central objectives will be: 1) To take direct action and shut down tonight’s LAPD Checkpoint so that they cannot continue to steal the cars of the residents of South Central Los Angeles 2) To call on the Mayor Villaraigosa and the LA City Council to immediately halt the impounding of vehicles at sobriety checkpoints of people who are NOT under the influence. 3) To make a call for our communities to defend themselves from the Police by directly and legally resisting the racist “Sobriety” Checkpoints. Organizers will be available for interviews Contacts: Julia Wallace (English) [email protected] Ron Gochez (English/Spanish) [email protected] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Digest: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Help: <mailto:[email protected]?subject=laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yahoo! 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