Blood on Chief Bratton's Hands?
LAPD Chief William Bratton continues to put his head in the sand when it comes to at least one of the motivations behind gang violence in Los Angeles: race. Whether it comes to Special Order 40 or the motive for the murder of Jamiel Shaw, the Police Chief arrogantly and irrationally denies that race could ever be a factor.
On the other hand Sheriff Lee Baca is more realistic and feels that - according to the LA Times - "racial animus among various gangs a serious problem that is not being discussed enough." If we continue to follow Bratton into a mire of political correctness a lot more innocent people are going to die. Does the Chief want that blood on his hands?Labels: chief william bratton, Jamiel Shaw, sheriff lee baca, special order 40
Posted by Michael Higby @ 6/13/2008 04:00:00 AM
18 Comments:
Bratton is simply a political animal who has to keep favor with Mayor Tony, and lying is clearly not beneath him.
I would give Sheriff Baca points on this one, but he loses that and more when you consider how cavalierly he has treated inmate deaths and beatings in L.A. County's central facility. He is defiant and shows no ownership of the problem, blames the Bd. of Sup. and his budget and does not find solutions. This creates litigation, financial exposure and maybe, just maybe, even a bad role model for deputies under his command, not to mention tha actual harm to people in his custody and the taxpayers' wallet.
If you say "That's o.k., the inmates are criminals anyway", just think about the guy whose father did not bail his adult son out so that a weekend in jail might help be a life lesson to wake him up. The story in jail was spread around that this guy was a child molester. He was beaten nearly to death, the description of which is gruesome, but he survived. This victim got over a million dollars but that's no prize since his cognitive level is that of an 8-year old and that money is largely the cost for future care.
Suppose you got picked up on a warrant that was wrong for whatever reason, and you could not make bail to avoid staying in jail, or it might be a no-bail warrant. Anything could happen to you from that point in the County Jail. That's should not be any part of the equation, but it is. They don't care and don't think they have to be responsible for what goes on in the jail.
Baca acknowledges the race situation, but it's because he sees some benefit to himself by doing so, not anything else.
Bratton and Baca are both politicians and that identity is what control their actions.
Not a cynic, just an observer.
At least Baca is elected, and isnt beholding to anyone but the voters. He sees this every day in the jails. Bratton, the putz, is the Midgets sock puppet, and does what he is told.
756, that's an excellent post and you bring up some very good points.
You should write for Mayor Sam! :)
You are absolutely correct that these guys almost always do things because of the political benefit to them.
So given that Baca is at least one of the few pols who for whatever reason/motivation is willing to speak the truth on this issue, we need to at least motivate him with some props.
I have a great idea: vote these guys out, and motivate everyone you know to do the same, or let's stop talking about it.
We sit here all week and complain about these incompetent idiots, but you know what? We keep re-electing these City Council people. Villaraigosa is amassing a fortune to get re-elected.
Instead of our three dozen in concensus here, get out there and get just five or ten or fifteen people to see it as we do, and motivate them to motivate 15 others.
And so on.
And so forth.
And stop the insanity on this blog like that IDIOT valley ditz, who is self-absorbed, loves negative attention, and her idiotic self-serving foolery. There's nothing sadder than a middle-aged woman/mom looking for attention. Almost assuredly, she will respond with more foolery.
I agree that we need to do something rather than just griping. But what is there to do? We need to start putting signs up everywhere about Dummyraigosa, get people AWARE of what's going on...but what do we do??
Bratton is an arrogant, abrasive New Yorker who thinks if you can make it in NY, you can make it anywhere. He should go back to NY.
gary fouse
fousesquawk
Higby
I'm proud of you man, you crossed over to the dark side! You've mastered the art of spin just like the 3rd floor spinners!
Its so awesome that you failed to even mention that the LA Times article you are referring to also did a study that showed 90% of all homicides in the City AND County involved suspects and victims of the SAME race! That same article showed included quotes from LAPD saying they are aware of isolated incidents of race-based homicide but that is NOT a pattern nor is it a habitual issue...The LAPD also stated that they whole-heartedly believe that race IS a major factor in City, County, and State jails/prisons...
WOW, you really are learning from the pros, keep up the good work.
Anyone with any gang knowledge knows that the violence between black gangs and mexican gangs is race related and coming down from the mexican mafia.
Mayor Sam -
What Mayor Villaraigosa, Brattton and 10:50 a.m. are saying is that the killing is brown on brown or black on black, it's okay.
We need a certain amount of gang violence to justify those gang funds.
They know that when it comes out that Mexican gangs have hits on Blacks, whitey is going to be awful mad.
"90% of all homicides in the City AND County involved suspects and victims of the SAME race"
That's because homicides that are not gang crimes are generally crimes of passions, domestic violence, friends that get out of hand, etc. Typically they associate with people of the same race.
A significant portion however of gang crime is racially motivated at present. Baca knows this as does Bratton but Bratton has been told to shut up.
Baca has at least publicly said what has been relegated to the "conservative shock jocks" and blogs: there's a race war in Los Angeles. But, since it doesn't involve the residents of Brentwood, Malibu, Sherman Oaks or Cheviot Hills, it can't be a race war -- that's what City Hall and the MSM would lead us to believe.
I don't know what motivated Baca to write his OpEd piece -- personally, I think he's trying to differentiate himself from the other LA political drones -- the discussion of the racial tensions in LA has FINALLY hit the MSM and that can't be bad.
"A Times examination of slayings in 2007 largely backed Bratton's assertion about the racial factor in gang killings. The Times analyzed the circumstances of 562 Latino and black homicides from 2007 in which the race of the suspects was known, including all LAPD and sheriff's cases, plus those of smaller police agencies such as Long Beach and Inglewood. The analysis found that nearly 90% of both black and Latino homicide victims had been killed by suspects of their own race." - LA Times 6/13/08
Hey 12:40 and 12:42, most homicides are gang-related and not "crimes of passion".
the fact is that mexican gangs and black gangs don't get along because of race not turf or other disputes witch do happen but thats not the main reason. when in jail they all seperate to there races and thanks to the mexican mafia that has spilled over into the streets.how many follow orders and attack blacks? not that many but enough do.
"Despite their dwindling numbers, Villaraigosa and his clients still need those all powerful Black votes. Its the only way that Latinos can cobble together enough votes to get elected to inner city elected office.
That being said one of the biggest fears within the Villaraigosa inner circle is the loss of African-American support because of an increase in racially based attacks on Blacks by Hispanics and the perception that Villaraigosa and his Police Chief William Bratton are sweeping the issue under the rug.
"If African-Americans were to depart the Mayor, he'd be in serious trouble," said one veteran political consultant, "I would imagine that is why the Mayor's handlers are terrified with the Special Order 40, Jamiel Shaw stuff going crazy on the talkradio shows. More poor Black people showing up to City Hall demanding justice will create a deep problem for Antonio."
If you live in an area that has gangs you know that the Mexican Mafia does not like black gangs and that they would like to drive them out of california. So you could call it a turf war, but it's a turf war to get rid of blacks from south central. Baca know this is true and he is telling it like it is. Most black leaders know this is true also but few say anything because they don't want to be critical of other minorities. In Huntington Park and Walnut Park any black gang member is taking his life in his hands driving or walking around. They are in Mexican turf and they better watch out they will be killed or shot at.
You see almost all latino gangs are beholden to the Mexican Mafia so the Mexican Mafia doesn't really care about the individual latino gangs, but they care about black gangs because they don't pay tribute to the Mexican Mafia so they want them eliminated. They hate them and consider them to be sub-humans. So the latino gangs will sometimes randomnly shoot blacks (even if they are not gang members) to make sure that blacks don't encroach into their territory and to try to get them to move out.
This is done for money and because latino gangs hate blacks, they consider them to be beneath them. So racism is major factor in these gang wars whether Bratton wants to admit it or not.
Baca's making his point based on the fact that he's fostered programs where people of different colors and backgrounds can get along in small groups, where they have a common interest.
That's true. Another example is the West Valley Leadership Academy in Van Nuys, which is being forced to close because LAUSD schools are no longer willing to send their most problem students to this school and others like it, even though under Paul White's leadership this school takes kids in gangs or on the verge and turns them into productive members of society by tough love. Makes them show up at school, do their classwork and hold down an outside parttime job, AND take a community college course before they graduate. Takes the "dregs" and turns them around -- kids of all colors, and former gang ID's.
But LAUSD wants these kids' warm bodies in their home schools, sure to fail -- like they do with fighting charters. This is literally criminal.
Instead, kids are put into gigantic schools, which act like prisons to foster anonymity and force gang and group identities for protection.
That's what's going on in communities and in both places, the situation has gotten really bad because millions of illegal Latinos have come here with unchecked immigration, and lots of political Latino Machine backing -- pushing blacks out of their schools and even neighborhoods.
On the street, where Latino gangs outnumber blacks by 4:1 in the city now, vs. the other way around 20 years ago, Latinos are emboldened to actively push out the blacks who remain. Then the blacks fight back -- although in earlier years, it was blacks who often tried to keep Latinos from taking over their streets and schools by doing this.
So it's NOT just skin color -- kids and adults of both races and whites CAN and DO get along when they have common goals in a positive environment. But on the streets and schools, where they've competed for the same things and the Latinos have taken over by sheer numbers, races form into gangs and "turf" has become all-important.
It's not gangs OR race, the two are intertwined. You get people of one race taking over the areas and resources of another race (and the whole city), and you'll get gangs based on race.
Uncontrolled Latino immigration which has squeezed out blacks from their own streets and schools is the white elephant neither wants to talk about: Bratton because he's PC and can't anger the Latino Machine, and Baca because he IS a Latino and is conflicted about his own people. IF he admits illegal immigrants taking over the streets IS the problem, he'll really have guts and start the discussion big-time.
It is true there is a race war. You must look beyond just homicides. Mexican gang members target black gang members and black gang members target weak Hispanic immigrants for robbery and assault. The Sheriff is right! The Times study is incomplete.
There is a big a difference between Sheriff Baca and Chief Bratton. Baca is an ELECTED official, by the people for the people, which allows him to be truthful regarding gangs. Bratton is APPOINTED by the Mayor and confirmed by the Mayor’s hand picked LAPD Police Commission and accountable only to the Mayor and Police Commission which does not allow Bratton to be independent.
The only persons to blame here are the voters who decided to change the City Charter.
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