Let’s (Not) Egg the Mayor’s House!

If you have not already heard, a man was shot in South Los Angeles by the police in the past few days following a foot chase after he bailed from his car. Carnell Snell Jr., was the man who was shot. Allegedly, Snell was armed with a firearm and police were led to believe that he was riding in a stolen vehicle. Police spotted the car with a paper license plates, which suggested the vehicle may have been stolen.

The victim’s sister described the events that unfolded near 106^th and Western.

Trenell Snell, 17, said she was outside with friends when she saw her older brother, CJ, running from police. Trenell Snell started running too, she said. Then she heard gunfire — "boom, boom, boom, boom."

She hit the ground. When she got up, she said, her brother was on the ground, handcuffed.

"At the end of the day, the cops came and shot my brother," she said. "Killed my brother."[1]

Shortly after word got out that another young black man was shot and killed by the police force, protests sprung up all over Los Angeles. The victim’s friends and family mourned their loss, giving statements to the media about who they perceived Snell to be.

Snell was attending college, enjoyed rapping and was pursuing boxing again after a hiatus, friends said.[2]

Sharply contrasting this idealization of Snell were some harsh facts.

Court records show that Snell was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon in July and sentenced to a year in Los Angeles County Jail.(2)

I feel bad for the victim’s family and friends. I can sympathize with their loss. But it is hard to ignore the facts. Snell had a criminal history that can not and should not be ignored. We should not be so quick to point our fingers at policemen when they feel like their lives are in danger or if they feel that a situation is questionable. However, I think that people should be able to freely articulate their views in this country and express when they think there are systematic problems going on.

The grief Snell’s family is feeling right now is almost palpable. I cannot imagine losing a son in such a violent manner. I can also understand why the African American community at large is upset. If I were in living in the same context and confronted with systematic oppression, I too would go out and protest for my rights. However, there is a catch. I don’t think that protesting in the form of vandalizing private property will get much of anything done.

In the past few days, protestors have marched to Los Angeles Mayor Garcetti’s house in Hancock park in a demonstration to I assume demand systematic changes in the way things are in Los Angeles. A few protestors apparently threw eggs at the Mayor’s house.

On Sunday morning, a carton of eggs was visible in the mayor’s driveway, and egg residue was visible on a gray Ford Fiesta parked out front as well as parts of the mayor’s home. City street services employees arrived later to hose down the house and water the lawn.[3]

In my opinion, this is about as productive as blocking traffic on the 405 freeway for your cause. I agree with the principles the protestors are enacting and ultimately do believe there is a police brutality problem in this country, but I think there are more productive and proactive ways in dealing with this issue. A Q &A session with local politicians maybe, or an organized march that does not obstruct people trying to get to and from work. Throwing eggs at a private property is juvenile behavior and we can do much better than that. Egging someone’s house sounds like the least productive way to get your point across and have your voices heard.

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[1] http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-south-la-shooting-20161001-snap-story.html

[2] http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-lapd-shooting-20161002-snap-story.html

[3] http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-protester-garcetti-egg-20161002-snap-story.html

Make Courts More Racially Diverse

Imagine one of the highest courts in the land being made up solely of White Americans. No, this is not the Pre-Civil Rights Movement America we are talking about. This is the modern state of affairs in Alabama’s supreme court, where all nine justices are white. In fact, years prior to the passing of the Voter’s Rights Act, Alabama’s highest court was still presided over by an all-white ensemble of judges. One might ask, why is this even problematic? The thing is, this not only shows how progression is moving at a snail’s pace in Alabama, but also puts blacks and other minorities at a severe disadvantage. It is time for Alabama to integrate its courts, enabling people who are not white to have a larger voice in their community in the form of fair and just representation.

Stephanie Mencimer of Motherjones.com talks about this topic at length, explaining why this is problematic and speaks about a lawsuit that could potentially address and fix this issue.

 Only two African Americans have ever served, and only after first being appointed by a governor. The state's other highest appellate courts, the Court of Criminal Appeals and the Court of Civil Appeals, have never seen a black judge, despite the fact that more than a quarter of the state's voting-age population is African American. (Only two African Americans have been elected to a statewide office in Alabama. Ever.)[1]

Mencimer also points out the following:

In 1986, a federal judge concluded that after Reconstruction, Alabama intentionally shifted its elections from single-member district style voting to at-large races to dilute the voting strength of African Americans, "consistently erect[ing] barriers to keep black persons from full and equal participation in the social, economic and political life of the state."(1)

This situation is also problematic not only because it alienates African Americans from having representation in the courts, but also because statistics indicate that the Alabama’s criminal justice system as a whole reflects racial bias. This is shown by the sentencing of [primarily] minority children due to mandatory life without parole sentences in addition to 80% of people on death row being convicted of killing a white person. In addition, even if African Americans make up only 25% of Alabama’s population, they make up 60% of its population within prisons.

In my opinion, this perpetuation of an all-white supreme court is a deliberate attempt to marginalize blacks and other minorities. Alabama’s highest court being made up only of white individuals demonstrates how backwards this state is when it comes to voting rights. Thankfully, voting rights activists have aimed their sights on this issue today. Voting rights activists’ lawsuit centralizes on the idea that Alabama courts should change their voting procedures and effectively provide minority communities the choice to elect candidates they deem would benefit their interests.

If Alabama took the initiative to change its highest court’s racial composition and the process of being elected to courts, there would definitely be more positive outcomes and less bias in that state’s prison population. I think that Alabama’s high courts should heed the warnings of voting rights activists and their lawsuits because this simply is not the mid 1900s. African Americans and other people of color deserve a voice in their community and bias against them in a so called ‘justice system’ renders this system unjust.

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[1] http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/09/new-lawsuit-says-alabama-judicial-elections-violate-voting-rights-act

Clinton & The Blue Collar Youth

Rebecca Nelson of The New Republic thinks that the blue collar youth of America have the potential to be Hillary Clinton’s secret weapon in winning the Election. I for one, could not agree more. Nelson discusses how Trump is leading by 40 points when it comes to having the support of non-educated white youth. Clinton could definitely use the support of the millennials who are not college educated and are not privileged by their economic and educational opportunities. It is imperative that Clinton uses the young blue collar vote to her advantage.

Clinton tends to focus on the voter base that consists of college educated millenials, but she misses out on a big slice of the pie that could definitely help to secure her vote.

Politicians tend to ignore working-class millennials for a simple reason: They don’t show up on Election Day. Just 29 percent of blue-collar youth turned out to vote in 2012—about half the rate of those who’d attended college. But in market terms, that political disengagement represents an opportunity for Clinton: CIRCLE estimates there are more than 17 million eligible voters under 35 still waiting to be mobilized—the last big segment of American voters that is genuinely up for grabs.[1]

Such a large group of voters should not be ignored. However, to secure their vote, Clinton must undoubtedly change her strategy for swaying the millennial voter base. As opposed to focusing solely on the privileged college-educated youth, she must resort to taking on the issues of most concern to blue collar youth. She has to be willing to hear them out and take the initiative to make large structural changes that benefit the blue collar millennial.

An example of a policy Clinton should learn how to embrace is to simplify job routes for the average blue-collar youth.

To pry young, working-class voters away from Trump, she’ll need to champion a host of unglamorous, brass-tacks economic issues. Take one example that antiregulatory conservatives have embraced: streamlining the process of securing licenses for professions like hairdresser, electrician, or building contractor. (1)

As Nelson points out, Clinton does not have to take on the intrinsically ‘cool’ and ‘pop culture’ persona that Obama exudes, but rather, she must learn to listen to those that do not come from privilege and be willing to enact reforms that favor what they want out of their country. In doing so, she will not only sway them away from Donald Trump’s clutches, but gain a voter base that is underrepresented in the people who want her to win the election.

I think it would be a smart move for Clinton to shift her gears into convincing the blue collar youth to get on her side. She would be gaining an invaluable voter base as well as the support of a group of people that normally is not involved in the world of politics. It would give her an edge over Trump, which I think we can all agree is a necessity.

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[1] https://newrepublic.com/article/135729/forgotten-millennials