---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Bilal Ali <[email protected]> Date: Wed, Jun 26, 2013 at 6:53 PM Subject: Hands off Deborah Burton To: John A Imani <[email protected]>, kwazinkrumah <[email protected] >
As residents of Los Angeles, human rights organizers and organizations, we demand: 1. That all charges against Deborah be immediately dropped. 2. A thorough investigation and the rescinding of the faulty evidence presented by Lt. Paulson which eventually led to the charges filed against Deborah Burton, and 3. An end to the aggressive prosecution of human rights defenders. Organizations across Los Angeles have come together to defend and promote interconnected human rights in our communities. Human rights violations occur on a daily basis. Protest has been at the core of all struggles for justice. Yet, the assault on political dissent and protest remains an ongoing tactic of the powerful. The City of Los Angeles has a long history of heavy-handedness and violence against people organizing for basic human rights. Lame-duck City Attorney Carmen Trutanich's malicious prosecution of Deborah Burton--a downtown resident --is part of an ongoing campaign to squash protest and political dissent in Los Angeles. Deborah's Case: Deborah, a longtime Los Angeles Communtiy Action Network (LACAN) member and organizer, has been unjustly charged with three counts of assault for alleged actions during a peaceful protest in April 2011. She was not charged until August 2012, 14 months later, and public records show that in the interim months LAPD and the Central City East Association (CCEA) actively lobbied the City Attorney to criminally charge LA CAN members involved in a monthly demonstration of the CCEAs Skid Row Walk. In one email in April 2011, CCEA associate-- Estela Lopez-- assures her colleagues that the City Attorney informed her that they would explore all legal options to protect us and allow us to conduct our walk without interference from LA CAN. In another email sent on June 1, 2011 the evening of the purported assault Ms. Lopez confirms they were able to complete their walk as planned and never mentions being assaulted or injured by Debora or anyone else from LA CAN. In a July 2011 email from LAPDs Lieutenant Paulson, Ms. Lopez tells the City Attorney that she needs information about the filing and documentation of cases related to the public safety walk because This is going to be an ongoing problem until it gets too costly for them (LA CAN). The case against Deborah Burton is nothing more than a conspiracy, abuse of power, waste of precious resources and the continued targeting of human rights organizers. Free Deborah Burton and All Political Prisoners! Los Angeles Human Rights Collective: Youth Justice Coalition- http://www.youth4justice.org/ Immigrant Youth Coalition- http://theiyc.org/ Dream Team LA-http://dreamteamla.org/ Union de Vecinos- http://www.uniondevecinos.net/ Los Angeles Community Action Network- http://cangress.org/<http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fcangress.org%2F&h=EAQEeGxlP&s=1> Los Angeles Anti Eviction Campaign- https://www.facebook.com/laantieviction IDEPSCA- http://idepsca.org/daylabor Stop LAPD Spying- http://stoplapdspying.org/ Los Angeles Human Right to Housing Collective-http:// lahumanrighttohousing.blogspot.com/ Labor/Community Strategy Center-http://www.thestrategycenter.org/ POWER- -- JAI RAC-LA [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! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
