The 10 FWY ~ Los Angeles

Wilshire Blvd. ~ Mid-Wilshire

Wilshire Blvd. ~ Miracle Mile

“Guess where I’m at??? It never ends”

That’s what @Lamudercop tweeted in the early morning on October 11th. Sal La Barbera, according to his google and twitter profiles, is a supervisor for the Criminal Gang/Homicide Division. Hes been with LAPD for 30 years, 24 of those with CGHD and is the current Squad Leader of FBI/LAPD SOS ll Homicide Task Force. A New York transplant, he’s also provided consulting to writers and film makers throughout Hollywood and appears on television regularly.

Everyone knows the life of a murder cop is tough, and no one expects them to be cuddly, but I’m baffled as to why he would tweet a picture of a recently deceased person lying on the street and not show even a shred of compassion for the person or their family. On the job, cynicism is to be expected, but the world of social media changes things as it becomes public.

From reading the twitter timeline, the picture is of the corpse of a murder victim somewhere near 106th and Wilmington. When I saw the picture and the caption La Barbera wrote, the first thing that came into my mind was “fuck the police”. Actually, “FUCK DA MUTHA FUCKING POLICE!!!” is probably more accurate.

It’s one thing for media to ignore a death in a poor neighborhood and spend 30 minutes on the Michael Jackson trial, they’re idiotic like that and we don’t pay their salaries. But when an officer, no less a supervisor with 30 years on the force uses twitter to make light of someone’s tragedy, it makes me angry. It’s not just the coldness, it’s the double standard. You would never see a cop post shit like that on the Seal Beach massacre because people would be all over them and someone would get fired, reassigned, or reprimanded within days.

Social media is a two way street and can be a powerful thing when used correctly. The detective can tweet all the pics of food, friends and the things on the job he sees as he pleases, but in my opinion this crosses the line. It’s disrespectful to the community he’s supposed to be “protecting and serving”. I’m pretty sure that Sal or someone over at the LAPD is going see this and possibly take some sort of action against me. Maybe I’ll end up as one of his tweets. Who knows, but you can be sure I’ll tweet that shit right back. And that’s the power of social media.

Los Angeles ~ CA

MyCityofLA

Freewaves, Self Help Graphics & Art, La Causa and The East LA Society of Film and Arts (TELA SOFA)

present

DREAM + ACT
Film, videos, activism and information on immigration
at Self Help Graphics’ new home

Who has the right to study and work in the U.S.?
When people contribute socially and economically to a society, are they not citizens?
Is there a way for the politically disenfranchised to feasibly gain American citizenship?

On Saturday, April 30, Freewaves, Self Help Graphics & Art, La Causa and TELA SOFA will present DREAM + ACT, a selection of visual art and activism focused on immigration as it relates to communities in Los Angeles and beyond. Through film and video, DREAM + ACT will express multiple visions and viewpoints on the realities of immigration and how it affects us. We aim to build a community of dialogue and bridge the cultural communities in Los Angeles and countries around the globe.

In addition to providing encouragement for film and video makers and activists, this event seeks to promote deeper understanding of our diverse city by presenting a wide array of perspectives on the complex issue of immigration. The community will be able to interact with the filmmakers to further explore the issues addressed.

Program

7:30pm Discussion on the status of immigration and Dream Act organizing
8:30pm Screening of curated short films and videos
9:30pm Q & A with film and videomakers

Mobile silkscreening by Joel Garcia

LOCATION Self Help Graphics & Art 1300 East 1st Street Los Angeles, CA 90033, across from the Metro Gold Line Pico/Aliso Station.

PARKING is limited in the area. We encourage people to take Metro (www.metro.net) and exit at the Gold Line Pico/Aliso Station.

DREAM :: We believe art has the power to inspire, create new possibilities and broaden our perspectives so we can see our community through a different lens.

ACT :: Not content to dream only, together we aim to provoke thought and inspire solutions to the challenge of immigration in this country—a challenge shared by people throughout the world.

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DREAM + ACT is a collaboration of TELA SOFA, Freewaves, Self Help Graphics & Art and
La Causa.

TELA SOFA’s mission is to offer a venue for all interested filmmakers, first-time through professional, to explore issues affecting our world today while connecting them with the Hollywood film industry.

Self Help Graphics & Art (SHG) is a nationally recognized center for Latino arts that develops and nurtures artists in printmaking. SHG advances Latino art broadly through programming, exhibitions and outreach to diverse audiences in East Los Angeles and beyond and engages young and emerging artists from the community in all aspects of its activities.

Freewaves is dedicated to the creative exhibition of the most innovative and culturally relevant independent new media from around the world. Freewaves facilitates cross-cultural dialogues by inventing dynamic new media exhibition forms at experimental and established venues throughout Los Angeles.

LA CAUSA (Los Angeles Communities Advocating for Unity, Social Justice, and Action) engages historically disenfranchised young people and their families from East Los Angeles to take action against the injustices that impact low-income communities of color.

QUESTIONS?
info@telasofa.org

A group called Support Wikileaks Los Angeles has raised money and placed a billboard supporting the revolutionary website Wikileaks and its founder, Julian Assange. The billboard is up at the southeast corner of Highland and Santa Monica Blvds.

Venice ~ CA

While there are probably more than a few people (cough, Jeremy Marks, cough, Brian Hitchcock, cough) who agree with the above sentiment being shared by this Venice Beach vendor of old-skool skate decks, we met a homeless citizen last Thursday as night fell who was really shaken by his own run-in with police on the boardwalk that evening. A man with tats on his face wearing a pancho was pushing a shopping cart that had some sort of placard on the front designating his status as homeless. He said he had just been stopped by cops for no reason, who made him empty all the contents of his cart on the sidewalk while they searched him. Set free (because that’s what sometimes happens he you’re not doing anything), he sighed after telling us his ordeal and said, “I’m 40 years old and have been homeless for ten, I really don’t need this shit.”

Reparations Now! ~ (310) 632-0577 ~ John Peoples ~ Ted Hayes ~ Inglewood

Governor Jerry Brown, surrounded by nice people who don’t want to kill him. (Photo: Rtilden/Flickr)

Okay, okay, maybe not all graffiti is good graffiti. There’s some dude that writes crazy Bible stuff in messy red letters on a wall in the alley behind our apartment that freaks the shit out of us much more than the occasional trece placas that pop-up. Over in Santa Ana, police and the team in charge of protecting Gov. Jerry Brown’s butt are in a tizzy over two walls spray-painted with threats to kill Jerry Brown on Valentine’s Day. The L.A. Times shows one of the messages, which comes right out and says, “We gonna kill Gov. Brown 2/14/11″ and another says “26 more days for Brown” (don’t you hate a blatant lack of subtlety and style in people’s work?). The authorities are considering this a terrorist threat and probing links to earlier graffiti in the area that threatened Catholics. Of course, the second message comes with a swastika and like most racist graffiti we’ve seen, the writer can’t even get that right, with the symbol positioned backwards. The work of a determined terrorist or just another dumb-ass? You decide!