June 19, 2020 | Vol. XLII No. 26

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Serving Bixby Knolls, California Heights, Los Cerritos, Wrigley and Signal Hill with 30,000 issues every Friday

VOL. XLII NO. 26

Your Weekly Community Newspaper

www.signaltribune.com

Current and former LBUSD students protest racism within school district

In this issue CULTURE

Long Beach Opera’s race discussion points to imbalances and inequity in the arts

Kristen Naeem Staff Writer

Page 4 COMMENTARY

Lissette Mendoza | Signal Tribune

Protesters lay on the ground at City Hall for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, the same amount George Floyd was on the ground for when he was killed by Minneapolis police. The protesters were making a statement against City Council who has yet to open the Civic Chambers to the public.

Community members announce they will begin the recall process of Mayor Robert Garcia Meanwhile LB City Council discusses a new open street measure and a new digital record system for the LBPD.

Bygone Days: Murder at the Hollywood Bowl Page 3 ONLINE STORIES Long Beach bakers join #BakersAgainstRacism in support of the Black Lives Matter movement ________________

People’s Budget Proposal released, calls for city council to defund police

Visit signaltribune.com for these stories and more

June 19, 2020

Lissette Mendoza Managing Editor

Daniel Green Production Manager

With the Civic Chambers closed yet again and punk band WACKO playing very fitting hardcore music, protesters outside announced a recall of Mayor Robert Garcia, while the Long Beach City Council discussed an open-street initiative, a law to ban chokeholds, new technology for the Long Beach Police Department and a new assistant city manager at its June 16 meeting. Consent Calendar Before voting began, Mayor Robert Garcia announced that two items were pulled from the June 16 agenda, including item 3, the agenda item from the LBPD requesting permission to destroy past documents. Garcia also announced that the city attorney has called for a oneyear moratorium on the destruction of these documents, which included records regarding use of force reviews, internal affairs complaint investigations and police compliance reviews. The council voted to approve the

rest of the calendar. Public Comments After weeks of not being able to call in, residents were allowed to call in to make limited telephonic comments on the agenda items. Some of comments were complimentary, most were critical of Garcia and the rest of the council. “In less than a month there have been over a dozen protests in Long Beach calling for the end of LBPD’s vicious brutality, many have attended in the thousands. I’m well aware that you have pulled today’s agenda item to destroy police records, but that does not wash the blood on your hands. I watched you approve the LBPD union contract last year that states it’s trying to circumvent SB1421 by letting the POA block any record request. We are not fooled by the LBPD saying they will review the procedure of the records. You have approved LBPD destroying records on police misconduct for years, do not waste your time with weak reformism. The blood of those that LBPD brutalizes is on your hands and the people are angry. If you want to continue to take millions, hundreds of thousands to the POAs to protect violent cops, I suggested you instead resigns and

save yourself the headache, we coming for y’all. You want to stay in office; defund LBPD and invest in the People’s Budget,” said Victor Bouzi. Meanwhile outside, protesters had began to take the microphone as police began to emerge on the second floor from within City Hall and look down at what the crowd was doing. “The mayor knows exactly why we’re here. He’s been hiding behind the front of being queer and Brown and slithered his way into office in Long Beach because that was the perfect thing for him to do for our area. And it’s worked it seems like, up until now. I don’t know no gay homies or any Brown or Black homies that f*** with Robert Garcia, and now his s*** is through, he’s out there hiding in his office,” said WACKO vocalist and guitarist Zaine Drayton. Drayton continued,“The mayor is in full cohorts with the Long Beach Police Department. The police chief of Long Beach gets presidential wages. The police chief makes just as much f***ing money as the president. What the fuck does that mean? I work at a f****** school, we don’t got s*** at that school, the educational resources for the kids at my see LB COUNCIL page 5

“Whose schools?” “Our schools!” chanted the crowd assembled outside the Long Beach Unified School District’s office, to remind board members of their accountability to the community on Monday, June 15. Later that day, the board was set to be discussing the upcoming 2020-2021 budget for LBUSD. The community members assembled outside LBUSD’s offices at 1515 Hughes Way, calling for systemic racism within the district to be addressed and for police officers to be removed from public school campuses. Chants by the crowd also included “No justice, no peace, no racist police,” and the names of two well known victims of police violence, George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. Organizers then invited current and former LBUSD students to come forward to share their experiences. Among them were two black students from Long Beach Polytechnic High School’s PACE program who are preparing for their senior year. They identified themselves to the crowd as Lauren and Cameron. The two students criticized the school’s practice of placing students in different “pathways.” Every student in Poly belongs to one of seven learning academies. The Program of Additional Curriculum Experiences (PACE) is considered a pathway for gifted students that see LBUSD page 7


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