#BlockGarcetti Protests Continue
A protestor raising their fist, a sign of solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, at a protest outside L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti's home in Los Angeles, Calif., on Fri., Dec. 11 (Johnny Neville / The Corsair).
Black Lives Matter-Los Angeles (BLM-LA) has decided to host a daily protest stating that LA Mayor Eric Garcetti should not be picked nor considered to be a cabinet member in the Biden-Harris administration. Protests in front of the Mayor’s Mansion on 6th and Irving began Thanksgiving morning and have continued every day, beginning at 9 a.m. BLM-LA says they will protest every day until they hear confirmation that Garcetti will not be considered as a cabinet member for the upcoming presidency.
Garcetti served as a co-chair throughout Biden’s Presidential campaign, and multiple news sources including the LA Times have reported Garcetti as a potential nominee for a cabinet position. Speculations have been brewing about the possibility that Mayor Garcetti may be the Transportation or Housing and Urban Development Cabinet appointee. Garcetti has said he has no intention of obtaining a cabinet position and that his focus is on containing the coronavirus.
“I have been focused 110% on these numbers and on COVID and on saving lives,” Garcetti said at his COVID-19 news update on Nov. 24. “It’s one of the last things on my mind right now. You know, we have deaths that are going to be increasing, we have record numbers of cases and so I don’t have anything to add on that, not because I have anything to hide, I just have nothing to add. Right now, my job number one is to make sure I protect the lives of Angelenos.”
Los Angeles residents have held Garcetti under a microscope for several reasons, including homelessness, increased police violence, and abuse in communities of color. BLM-LA claims Garcetti has abandoned Angelenos and is using his position as Mayor for his own personal gains. The organization has spread the hashtag #BlockGarcetti across their social media platforms, and encourages protesters and allies to use the hashtag to upload photos and information.
BLM-LA has created a “#BlockGarcetti Action Toolkit” that includes their goals, participation guidelines, and facts about Garcetti’s term as L.A. Mayor. According to a document linked within the Toolkit called “F**kGarcetti,” at least 618 people have died at the hands of police in Los Angeles while Garcetti has held office - none of which have been charged.
Protestors gather outside L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti's home in the Windsor Square neighborhood of Los Angeles, Calif., on Fri., Dec. 11 (Johnny Neville / The Corsair).
“Since entering office in 2013, he is responsible for exacerbating the double-figure increase in homelessness, condoning the destruction of affordable housing in low-income neighborhoods in favor of privately funded commercial projects, and muddling his commitment to transit projects so that they benefit tourist-driven mega-events, not long-term residents,” said BLM-LA within their Toolkit. “Garcetti’s political career is a failure at best.”
Deaths among unhoused people in Los Angeles has doubled since 2013, according to a report by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. An additional count by the Los Angeles Homeless Service Authority (LAHSA) in January of this year found that 66,436 people are currently homeless in the County. This count was conducted before the pandemic hit in March.
LAHSA’s reports also indicate that Black people are only 8% of the county population, but make up 33.7% of people experiencing homelessness. These conditions are one of many reasons BLM-LA protestors are speaking out against the consideration of Garcetti by the Biden-Harris administration.
Garcetti said in November that he has expanded the homelessness budget to more than 16 times what it was five years ago. He started “A Bridge Home” in 2018, a shelter program intended to get unhoused Angelenos off the streets immediately while thousands more permanent housing units are being built with city funds.
According to the City of Los Angeles’ official proposed budget for 2020-2021, drafted in April, the city’s total spending for this fiscal year stands at roughly $10.5 billion. Of that, roughly $430 million is set to be invested “in housing, services, and safety for Angelenos experiencing homelessness.”
53.8% of the city’s general funds would be put toward police forces if approved, while 7.7% will go toward public works projects like sanitation and transportation.
BLM-LA has brought a national spotlight onto Garcetti’s record as mayor. Their organization continues to advocate for equality in the hopes of rooting out systematic racism. As the protest continues and social media attention amplifies, the Biden-Harris administration will have to choose if assigning Garcetti as a cabinet member is worth the backlash from a movement that continues to speak out and rise up for Black lives.
