June 18, 2025 • 29 mins
This week, Diosa and Mala discuss constitutional rights: freedom of the press, the right to assemble, and what happens when protestors and journalists are targeted by law enforcement. From the streets of LA to national headlines, today’s attacks on the media is related to a long history of censorship and resistance.
Resources: LA Taco, LA Public Press, NDLON, CHIRLA, & CARECEN .
Sources cited in this episode:
National Archives: Bill of Rights
Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/locatora_productions
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Trying to get we need to speak here. Fine, that's fine,
La booboos and tyranny.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Let's get into let's get into it. I'm Theosa and
I'm Mala. Well, there's much to discuss, because not much
has changed since we recorded last week. I said, we
are still covering it, but today we want to talk
specifically about censorship, freedom of the press, and the current
(00:36):
crisis and fears that we have as two women, two
Latinas who are at this intersection that I think is
very unique to our show where we're not a newsroom.
This is not hard journalism, but there is a type
of journalistic integrity in the way we produce our show,
and we're going to talk about all of that today.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
And there is an expectation from our audience that when
big important things happen in the world, that we cover
those big important things, that we talk about them, we
provide our analysis, and over the years we've responded in
person and on the ground to cover events and happenings
in our community. And that's true today and with everything
(01:19):
that's been going on this past week in LA. By
the time this episode comes out, it will have been
two weeks into the ice raids, the deployment of the
National Guard and Marines in Los Angeles, and the demonstrations
and rallies that the community has put together in response
to those violent ice raids, daily kidnappings essentially of community
(01:43):
members on the street in different parts of LA City
and LA County. Ice raids at the workplaces of our
community members, at schools, at graduations, inside of people's homes.
It seems like the city is under siege, and it
very much is.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
If there was ever a time to really call it
what it is, it's now. We have descended into fascism,
into tyranny. And I think that there has been this
expectation or this hope and maybe even a little arrogance,
as is American exceptionalism, but that this could not happen here, right.
(02:23):
But I think what we're seeing and what we've been
seeing in the last days since the ice raids began,
is that it's here. And if there was a moment
you were waiting for to really define it, I think
that this is the moment, and there have been other
things leading up to it, but I think feeling it
here in La it's like, oh, it's here.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Yeah, it's not. Oh, martial law is coming. Martial law
has happened. We're in it. I mean the Los Angeles
is there's a military takeover of Los Angeles and as
of this recording, there is a curfew in downtown LA
that was instituted Tuesday night eight pm to six am.
(03:07):
What was interesting about the curfew interesting not being the
right word. What was terrifying about the curfew is that
it was implemented. I didn't get the alert on my
phone until like past ten ten o'clock. It was very
poorly rolled out at the last minute. And one of
the statements from Mayor Bass on local news was that
(03:28):
if you live downtown, if you work downtown, if you
have business downtown, you're fine. However, the lapd Ice, the
National Guard, the Marines, the military presence downtown, it doesn't
seem like they're checking people's reasons for being downtown. They're
just shooting at people with rubber bullets who are trying
(03:50):
to get home and detaining people whether or not they
live downtown, and they're not checking, they're not asking what's
going on here with the raids and with the curfew.
They're acting first and then asking questions later. So even
if you have your paperwork, even if you have a
valid reason, it doesn't seem to matter. And that's part
(04:15):
of what makes this whole situation so frightening, is that
we're engaged in this game that has no rules. You
can't follow rules that don't exist, and so then that
means that everybody is at risk of being targeted and
being accused of breaking the rules.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Yeah, and I think that's what makes these specific ICE
raids in LA. I mean to be clear, this is
not the first time there have been deportations in this
country or during the past administration there were also deportations, right,
but I think the way LA feels like seized, like
you said, and it feels like it doesn't matter anymore.
(04:55):
There is no law in order because there are unmarked
vehicles massed suppose it ICE agents, and they're just taking people.
They're not reviewing paperwork. It doesn't matter if you're a citizen.
And clearly if you fit the profile of and we
know what the profile is, if you're brown, if you
look other, then you fit the bill for them. And
(05:15):
so I think that is also part of the terror,
and that's a very important and crucial part of tyranny
and fascism. It's making everyone feel so afraid to be
out in the street to say anything, to protest, to
exercise their First Amendment constitutional right of the press, of
free speech. And that's like the current moment we're living in.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
It's the current moment that we're living in. And once
they've detained you, you've been detained and you've been you're
being processed.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
President David Auerta of SEIU is potentially facing six years
in prison and the charges are strange. He was filming,
he was protesting, not even protesting, he was peacefully resisting
and filming, and he could potentially face six years. And
the hope that is that that does not happen. But
(06:06):
if someone like David Wuerta, our labor president of SCIU,
is facing charges, if our Senator Alex Badea is being
physically forcefully removed from a press conference for asking a
question asking a question and there's video of him identifying himself,
then what does that tell us?
Speaker 1 (06:27):
There is no there is no rule of law, and
where have our constitutional rights and protections gone, namely freedom
of assembly and freedom of the press. Because in the
midst of the rallies, the demonstrations, we are seeing LAPD
and ICE agents very brutally tear gassing and pepper ball
(06:50):
spring demonstrators and protesters. On Wednesday night, I was seeing
reports that the protests that started in Pershing Square and
moved over to Grand Park an hour and a half
before the eight pm curfew, police started to kettle people,
(07:11):
gas people, and detain people, and in some instances in
front of City Hall in the Grand Park area, they
held demonstrators until the curfew and then arrested everybody. So
we're in a situation where our constitutional rights are very
much being trampled on in real time and on camera.
(07:34):
And I'm very grateful to all of the demonstrators who
are posting to TikTok into reels as things are happening,
or we would have no way of knowing what's actually
going on on the ground. And publications like La Taco,
they've had their journalists out on the ground every day
for the past week covering the protests and for the
(07:57):
most part, really focusing on the abuses that law enforcement
and whatever military presence is enacting on our civilian, unarmed
civilian population. So it's a very scary time, and at
the same time, we want to connect history to the
current moment because this is not isolated. History does repeat itself,
(08:21):
and as people who make media, we're very concerned about
the way that journalists are being treated.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Yeah, not to be super nerdy, but I'm gonna be nerdy.
I'm reading this book right now called on Tyranny, and
there is this saying history repeats itself. And Timothy Snyder,
the author of this book, first line, history does not repeat,
but it doesn't struct and so he is it's this
short read and it's this breakdown of how we can
(08:47):
learn from history and how we can do things differently
and not allow it to repeat itself. And so with
that in mind, there's these historical moments that we can
learn from and call upon and use them to instruct
us on how to fight back or how to resist
and whatever that looks like for the individual right, whether
that be doing mutual aid, whether that be making podcasts,
(09:11):
making art, right, taking care of their family members and
their community, or taking to the streets. Don't go anywhere,
look amotives.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
We'll be right back, and we're back with more of
our episode. We want to talk about freedom of press
because we see that very much under attack this past
week and on video on camera very clearly journalists being
targeted by law enforcement, being shot with rubber bullets, for example.
(09:43):
And maybe at this point you all listening have seen
these clips online because they've been circulating. An Australian journalist,
Lauren Tomasi of News nine Australia was shot with a
rubber bullet. I saw the footage and in this footage,
the journalist is speaking to can is standing quite a
distance away from law enforcement who are behind her in
(10:05):
this footage, and they are lined up facing protesters. As
Lauren Tomasi is reporting on the events, you can clearly
see behind her an officer take his rifle, turn, look
straight at her, point at her and shoot her with
(10:27):
a rubber bullet, completely unprovoked. She wasn't anywhere near him,
she wasn't talking to him.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
She was doing a stand up, she was reporting.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
And you see this this cop just very intentionally and
purposefully turn and aim his rifle at her and shoot her.
And she's not the only one. I saw another clip
of the protest had taken to the freeway and there's
law enforcement down on the freeway right across the lanes
and there's a journalist up top on the street level
(11:00):
right above above the freeway. So this journalist is very
very far away from the law enforcement, and this journalist
is reporting again to camera and again in the back
of this video you can see the law enforcement way
down there on the freeway spot the journalist turn aim
his rifle up directly at the journalist and shoot this
(11:21):
journalist with a rubber bullet. That is very scary.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
It's scary. And these are supposed supposedly non lethal project dials,
but they can cause serious harm. And this is not
the first time that they've been used on civilians and
on journalists. Even during this there was a British journalist,
Nick Stern, who was hid in the leg with a
projectile while he was covering the demonstrations in Paramount, and
(11:47):
his injury was a two inch hole in his leg
that required emergency surgery to remove the forty millimeter projectile.
And this was allegedly fired by La County Sheriff's deputy.
And so there's so many instances, not only during this
current moment, but even in past moments, so much so
that La Press Club Journalists Right advocate Adam Rose started
(12:11):
compiling data after the twenty twenty uprisings. He says to
news publication cal Matters that there has been a long
history of problematic dynamics between police and the press in LA.
There's other examples like the two thousand and seven may
date melee and going even further back, right, and so
this is not something new, but I think we are
(12:32):
seeing it in more direct, vicious and just straight up
out there ways. Now it's being documented by either the
journalists themselves and their like camera equipment or by like
civilian journalist mobile journalists on their phone, and it's now
on social media.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
And I've seen also footage of like journalists being detained
and removed from the protest and told you have to
leave and if you come back, we will arrest you.
In nineteen seventy on the Chicano Moratorium against the Vietnam War,
LA Times journalist Ruben Salasad was killed by LAPD officers
(13:14):
while covering the Chicano Moratorium, and notably, Ruben Salazar was
one of the first journalists ever to dedicate coverage to
the Chicano and Mexican American communities. And so LA as
much as we love it and we've had we've had
our own beautiful times here. It is a historically oppressive
(13:35):
place and with the LAPD, specifically our communities of color
have had big time issues. Now we're adding the addition
of the National Guard, ICE and the Marines. And I
was watching local news. I think it was KTLA that
(13:56):
I was watching on Tuesday night when the curfew was
implemented and down intown LA. And what the reporters, the
on broadcast news we're talking about is that in the past,
when LA has responded to oppression with protests, that our
protests in LA we outnumber the police. Today now that
(14:19):
is completely changed, that is no longer true. According to
our local news broadcast, civilian demonstrators are outnumbered by law
enforcement six to one. So we have never been in
this situation before. We've never been in this situation before.
And there seems to be no due process. There seems
(14:41):
to be no again, there's there's no there's no rules
to this game. There's no playing fair. Not that it
was fair before, but now even more so. I mean,
I'm seeing footage in front of city Hall, and you
can see city Hall, you can see City Hall in
Grand Park, and police on horses is trampling protesters. I
(15:03):
mean it's bad. So we wanted to do a little
refresh for our audience and for ourselves to talk about
why does it matter so much that press be able
to document and cover and report on civil issues and
rallies and demonstrations. Why does it matter? Well, let's read
(15:26):
a little something from the National Archives. Congress shall make
no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting free
exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech or of
the press, or the right of the people peaceably to
assemble and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
And so what we have here is a situation where
(15:48):
the only way right now that we can redress our
grievances with the government is by coming out in person
and taking to the streets and demonstrating. In a time
where the houses were republican, the Senate is republican, the
Supreme Court is republican, and our democratic leadership is not
able to vote things through. We can't vote things through.
(16:12):
Nothing is getting passed. What other recourse do we have
as a people then going out and demonstrating and protesting.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
Don't go anywhere, Look, amos, We'll be right.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
Back and we're back with more of our episode.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
According to an LA Times report, in a late night
order on Thursday, June twelfth, the US Ninth Circuit Court
of Appeals paused a court order that would have required
President Trump to return control of the thousands of California
National Guard troops in LA to Governor Gavin Newsom. So
all of this is still ongoing and on hold. The
(16:53):
hope is that Governor Gavin Newsom and his team have
all the tricks up their sleeves and are gonna try
to I think, regain control of California. Yeah, but of
course that's not going to be without resistance from the
federal administration.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
Yeah. Absolutely. And it's like we've spent so much money,
so much money, building prisons, beefing up law enforcement, billions
of dollars towards police departments all over. But those police
departments and the LAPD are not our friends, right, They're
not gonna like help us to defend California.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
Yeah, you know what I've been thinking, this is not
a Marvel movie. No, Like you know, there was a
someone commented on one of our posts like kind of
missing the point about our clip about Latinos who are
ice agents. And LAPD officers, and she was like, now, Dot,
this is not do not go common anything to her,
but this is She said something like yeah, and that's
(17:56):
why we need to remember that we shouldn't like be
mean to them, and we shouldn't like spit on them
because there are Latino brothers and Theos and Purimos and
this and this and that. And I'm like, this is
not a Marvel movie, this is not cop Ganda. This
is real life. And they're terrorizing our community, whether the
en they're a part of our community, if they're LAPD
even worse.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
Yeah, and those Latino cops are not treating Latino protesters
or undocumented Latin Americans with kindness or with more humanity
because you know, we share a last name. It doesn't
mean anything to them. They don't care. They don't care
at all, and they will brutalize just as much as
(18:39):
the next cop. And it's it's it's so wild to
witness all these years of the copaganda and where it's
gotten us.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
Now. Yeah, when my brother, just like aside anecdote in
the nineties, my brother was driving home from work and
he was pulled over and he was detained for having
tinted windows. He was sent to the Twin Towers.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
Oh my god.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
And he says, the cop that pulled me over was Latino.
And I was looking at him like, come on, dude,
like don't do this. Like I'm going home to my
kid right now. Yeah, my brother spent the night at
twin hours for having tinted windows.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
That's nuts. And that cop did not have to do that. No,
that was a choice. And I think what's happening now
as well, with people getting kidnapped and arrested and detained.
They're meeting quotas. They're still meeting quotas. This is all
quota based. They just want bodies, they want numbers, and
they're being very indiscriminate.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
Yes, which is why even if you're a citizen or
you quote did it the right way, they do not care.
I don't care. If they cared, they wouldn't be arresting
folks at their appointments in court. They're detaining folks there
that are going for their immigration appointments. Mm hmm. It
doesn't matter to them.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
It doesn't matter to them. And so keeping in mind
that the goalposts will continue to move and continue to shift,
and at some point they're going to start detaining people
who disagree with them. They are already detaining people who
were born here who have a quote birthright citizenship. If
(20:14):
you think that you're exempt, you're probably not. If things
get worse and worse and worse and worse, it's going
to look like the Red Scare where people were giving
up names of other people who were alleged communist sympathizers.
And that word sympathizers, by the way, what does that
(20:35):
even mean, Oh, your neighbor was an alleged communist? You
think maybe somebody said something that made it seem like
maybe they were sympathetic. It's vague intentionally. And today if
like that judge who got arrested for allegedly helping an
(20:57):
undocumented man like escape through her courtroom. I was watching
footage of that, and they show this judge speaking to
ICE agents while the undocumented man in question left the
courthouse with his attorney. They weren't running, they weren't sneaking.
They just walked out of an exit. And the way
that they're talking about this judge is, Oh, this judge
(21:19):
is distracting, distracting ICE agents to help this undocumented person
escape through a side room, a side door, you know,
like it could be any little thing, Yeah, that can
be twisted into you are fomenting revolution, You're an enemy
of the state, you're aiding in abetting criminals. And so
(21:41):
that means that like you maybe are a business owner,
maybe you're a white American who voted for Donald Trump,
and maybe you have employees who are immigrants, regardless of
their status, and maybe now you're having a change of
heart about your vote because your employees are being taken
(22:04):
from you, and maybe now you want to go petition
and say something to your government. Are you an enemy
of the state now?
Speaker 2 (22:11):
Right?
Speaker 1 (22:12):
Are you a turncoat?
Speaker 2 (22:13):
Now?
Speaker 1 (22:14):
This is the type of stuff that we're looking at
down the line. So it's authoritarianism, yes, yeah, And I
think you know I've been I picked up this book
on Tyranny.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
I'm going to bring it up again because after the inauguration,
I was like, Okay, project twenty twenty five is it's
going to be in full effect? You know, this is
not what we voted for, but people did and let
me learn, let me learn something right. And so I
picked up this book and it's like twenty it's titled
on Tyranny twenty lessons from the twentieth century and some
(22:45):
of the things I wanted to just quickly bring on
for the show a couple of them that I thought
were really important, and please pick up the book for yourself.
But it's like, first one, do not obey in advance. Right,
what we're letting them do now is what they're testing
the limits now institutions and institutions meaning your local public radio,
your local newspaper, your library, Like, defend the institutions that
(23:08):
are protecting knowledge, that are telling stories, that are gatekeepers
of information, contribute to good causes, whether that be an
immigrant rights organization, a mutual aid, a GoFundMe for legal resources.
And this one I thought was really important. Listen for
dangerous words. So the words like terrorists, right, we're seeing
that with Los Angeles. It's a war zone. LA is
(23:30):
a war zone right now. And so they're using our
federal government and our president is using that type of
language so that we can and we as the general population,
not just in LA but beyond. But they're using that
to for us to surrender on our own freedom right.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
Yeah, and to criminalize civilian, unarmed civilian protesters and demonstrators.
It's not a war when only one side has guns
and weapons, a war on us.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
Yes, And this quote from the book is this, people
who assure you that you can only gain security at
the price of liberty usually want to deny you both.
And I think that that is a really important lesson
that we need to keep in mind, is that this
is all intentional and they're testing how far they can go.
Who's willing to like turn on each other, and what
(24:26):
else can they do? What can happen next? And finally,
and I'll stop talking about the book, but finally I
thought this really this really important thing because I don't
don't want to continue to like for us to be afraid.
It's scary times, right, But also lesson from this book
it's be calm when the unthinkable arrives. So it is
part of this like identify it, Identify what's happening right now.
(24:50):
Don't think that it can't happen here, because it's happening here,
and get yourself ready. Yeah, and you think, you know,
you think about back in history, and you think about
what happened in the nineteen thirty in Europe and other countries,
and you think like, well, what would I do you know,
would I keep my neighbor safe. You know, when I
think this, we're being tested right now, like the what
(25:11):
are we going to do now?
Speaker 1 (25:12):
Absolutely, be very careful out there and stay informed. So
of course there's legacy news like the La Times. We've
mentioned La Taco, La Public Press and Delon, the National
Day Labors Organizing Network Chiir La Garsen, and you're going
to see a lot of rallies and demonstrations and protests
(25:35):
being organized. I think it's important for us to consider
who is organizing the rally or the protest and to
what end, what are the aims, what are the goals?
Are these people who have a history of organizing for
a social cause, for a social good? Are these opportunities
(25:56):
for photo ops or are these k agents who are
like creating chaotic situations? Because those things also happen, and
it's not always a good faith attempt to gather a
ton of people in one place, and we have to
be careful about that as well. So do your research
(26:18):
before you put your body and yourself out there in
harm's way. Be safe. Check out the organizations we just
mentioned because they are also hosting fundraisers to aid immigrants
in detention to provide legal support and other resources. And
if you are looking for a way to contribute, we
(26:40):
recommend doing some research into the organizations that have a
track record of working on these issues in an organized,
ethical way.
Speaker 2 (26:49):
I encourage you to consider how you're going to show
up in this moment. Like we mentioned in previous episodes,
not everyone can join a protest for a variety of reasons.
So consider how you're showing up in this moment. Is
it driving by to verify ice agents or at a
certain location. We see sometimes fear mongering and sometimes good intentions.
(27:12):
We think that ice is in a certain location, turns
out they're not there. So consider is that how you're
showing up? Are also local businesses that are being heavily
hit right now because one people are not going out,
They're not showing up because they're afraid. How then does
our local economy suffer and intern our community? So consider
(27:35):
are you going hard and supporting your local Latino businesses
at this moment? Are you buying from street vendors? Are
you doing buyouts? Consider that there's so many ways to
show up in this moment, and that it is a marathon,
not a sprint. We are in this for the long haul,
and let's not police how each of us show up,
(27:55):
because we all have different gifts and different ways that
we show up in this moment and in this movement.
So I hope you take care, hydrate, try to sleep,
check in with your friends, your family or community, and
we will catch you next time. Lok A Radio is
(28:15):
executive produced by Viosa Fem and Mala Munjos.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
Stephanie Franco is our producer.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
Story editing by Me diosa.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
Creative direction by me Mala.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
Look At Radio is a part of iHeartRadio's Michael Dura
podcast Network.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
You can listen to lok At Radio on the iHeartRadio
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Speaker 2 (28:34):
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Speaker 1 (28:37):
And thank you to our local morees, to our listeners
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Speaker 2 (28:42):
Besitos is Malasa look At Radio
Trying to get we need to speak here. Fine, that's fine,
La booboos and tyranny.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Let's get into let's get into it. I'm Theosa and
I'm Mala. Well, there's much to discuss, because not much
has changed since we recorded last week. I said, we
are still covering it, but today we want to talk
specifically about censorship, freedom of the press, and the current
(00:36):
crisis and fears that we have as two women, two
Latinas who are at this intersection that I think is
very unique to our show where we're not a newsroom.
This is not hard journalism, but there is a type
of journalistic integrity in the way we produce our show,
and we're going to talk about all of that today.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
And there is an expectation from our audience that when
big important things happen in the world, that we cover
those big important things, that we talk about them, we
provide our analysis, and over the years we've responded in
person and on the ground to cover events and happenings
in our community. And that's true today and with everything
(01:19):
that's been going on this past week in LA. By
the time this episode comes out, it will have been
two weeks into the ice raids, the deployment of the
National Guard and Marines in Los Angeles, and the demonstrations
and rallies that the community has put together in response
to those violent ice raids, daily kidnappings essentially of community
(01:43):
members on the street in different parts of LA City
and LA County. Ice raids at the workplaces of our
community members, at schools, at graduations, inside of people's homes.
It seems like the city is under siege, and it
very much is.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
If there was ever a time to really call it
what it is, it's now. We have descended into fascism,
into tyranny. And I think that there has been this
expectation or this hope and maybe even a little arrogance,
as is American exceptionalism, but that this could not happen here, right.
(02:23):
But I think what we're seeing and what we've been
seeing in the last days since the ice raids began,
is that it's here. And if there was a moment
you were waiting for to really define it, I think
that this is the moment, and there have been other
things leading up to it, but I think feeling it
here in La it's like, oh, it's here.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Yeah, it's not. Oh, martial law is coming. Martial law
has happened. We're in it. I mean the Los Angeles
is there's a military takeover of Los Angeles and as
of this recording, there is a curfew in downtown LA
that was instituted Tuesday night eight pm to six am.
(03:07):
What was interesting about the curfew interesting not being the
right word. What was terrifying about the curfew is that
it was implemented. I didn't get the alert on my
phone until like past ten ten o'clock. It was very
poorly rolled out at the last minute. And one of
the statements from Mayor Bass on local news was that
(03:28):
if you live downtown, if you work downtown, if you
have business downtown, you're fine. However, the lapd Ice, the
National Guard, the Marines, the military presence downtown, it doesn't
seem like they're checking people's reasons for being downtown. They're
just shooting at people with rubber bullets who are trying
(03:50):
to get home and detaining people whether or not they
live downtown, and they're not checking, they're not asking what's
going on here with the raids and with the curfew.
They're acting first and then asking questions later. So even
if you have your paperwork, even if you have a
valid reason, it doesn't seem to matter. And that's part
(04:15):
of what makes this whole situation so frightening, is that
we're engaged in this game that has no rules. You
can't follow rules that don't exist, and so then that
means that everybody is at risk of being targeted and
being accused of breaking the rules.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Yeah, and I think that's what makes these specific ICE
raids in LA. I mean to be clear, this is
not the first time there have been deportations in this
country or during the past administration there were also deportations, right,
but I think the way LA feels like seized, like
you said, and it feels like it doesn't matter anymore.
(04:55):
There is no law in order because there are unmarked
vehicles massed suppose it ICE agents, and they're just taking people.
They're not reviewing paperwork. It doesn't matter if you're a citizen.
And clearly if you fit the profile of and we
know what the profile is, if you're brown, if you
look other, then you fit the bill for them. And
(05:15):
so I think that is also part of the terror,
and that's a very important and crucial part of tyranny
and fascism. It's making everyone feel so afraid to be
out in the street to say anything, to protest, to
exercise their First Amendment constitutional right of the press, of
free speech. And that's like the current moment we're living in.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
It's the current moment that we're living in. And once
they've detained you, you've been detained and you've been you're
being processed.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
President David Auerta of SEIU is potentially facing six years
in prison and the charges are strange. He was filming,
he was protesting, not even protesting, he was peacefully resisting
and filming, and he could potentially face six years. And
the hope that is that that does not happen. But
(06:06):
if someone like David Wuerta, our labor president of SCIU,
is facing charges, if our Senator Alex Badea is being
physically forcefully removed from a press conference for asking a
question asking a question and there's video of him identifying himself,
then what does that tell us?
Speaker 1 (06:27):
There is no there is no rule of law, and
where have our constitutional rights and protections gone, namely freedom
of assembly and freedom of the press. Because in the
midst of the rallies, the demonstrations, we are seeing LAPD
and ICE agents very brutally tear gassing and pepper ball
(06:50):
spring demonstrators and protesters. On Wednesday night, I was seeing
reports that the protests that started in Pershing Square and
moved over to Grand Park an hour and a half
before the eight pm curfew, police started to kettle people,
(07:11):
gas people, and detain people, and in some instances in
front of City Hall in the Grand Park area, they
held demonstrators until the curfew and then arrested everybody. So
we're in a situation where our constitutional rights are very
much being trampled on in real time and on camera.
(07:34):
And I'm very grateful to all of the demonstrators who
are posting to TikTok into reels as things are happening,
or we would have no way of knowing what's actually
going on on the ground. And publications like La Taco,
they've had their journalists out on the ground every day
for the past week covering the protests and for the
(07:57):
most part, really focusing on the abuses that law enforcement
and whatever military presence is enacting on our civilian, unarmed
civilian population. So it's a very scary time, and at
the same time, we want to connect history to the
current moment because this is not isolated. History does repeat itself,
(08:21):
and as people who make media, we're very concerned about
the way that journalists are being treated.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Yeah, not to be super nerdy, but I'm gonna be nerdy.
I'm reading this book right now called on Tyranny, and
there is this saying history repeats itself. And Timothy Snyder,
the author of this book, first line, history does not repeat,
but it doesn't struct and so he is it's this
short read and it's this breakdown of how we can
(08:47):
learn from history and how we can do things differently
and not allow it to repeat itself. And so with
that in mind, there's these historical moments that we can
learn from and call upon and use them to instruct
us on how to fight back or how to resist
and whatever that looks like for the individual right, whether
that be doing mutual aid, whether that be making podcasts,
(09:11):
making art, right, taking care of their family members and
their community, or taking to the streets. Don't go anywhere,
look amotives.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
We'll be right back, and we're back with more of
our episode. We want to talk about freedom of press
because we see that very much under attack this past
week and on video on camera very clearly journalists being
targeted by law enforcement, being shot with rubber bullets, for example.
(09:43):
And maybe at this point you all listening have seen
these clips online because they've been circulating. An Australian journalist,
Lauren Tomasi of News nine Australia was shot with a
rubber bullet. I saw the footage and in this footage,
the journalist is speaking to can is standing quite a
distance away from law enforcement who are behind her in
(10:05):
this footage, and they are lined up facing protesters. As
Lauren Tomasi is reporting on the events, you can clearly
see behind her an officer take his rifle, turn, look
straight at her, point at her and shoot her with
(10:27):
a rubber bullet, completely unprovoked. She wasn't anywhere near him,
she wasn't talking to him.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
She was doing a stand up, she was reporting.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
And you see this this cop just very intentionally and
purposefully turn and aim his rifle at her and shoot her.
And she's not the only one. I saw another clip
of the protest had taken to the freeway and there's
law enforcement down on the freeway right across the lanes
and there's a journalist up top on the street level
(11:00):
right above above the freeway. So this journalist is very
very far away from the law enforcement, and this journalist
is reporting again to camera and again in the back
of this video you can see the law enforcement way
down there on the freeway spot the journalist turn aim
his rifle up directly at the journalist and shoot this
(11:21):
journalist with a rubber bullet. That is very scary.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
It's scary. And these are supposed supposedly non lethal project dials,
but they can cause serious harm. And this is not
the first time that they've been used on civilians and
on journalists. Even during this there was a British journalist,
Nick Stern, who was hid in the leg with a
projectile while he was covering the demonstrations in Paramount, and
(11:47):
his injury was a two inch hole in his leg
that required emergency surgery to remove the forty millimeter projectile.
And this was allegedly fired by La County Sheriff's deputy.
And so there's so many instances, not only during this
current moment, but even in past moments, so much so
that La Press Club Journalists Right advocate Adam Rose started
(12:11):
compiling data after the twenty twenty uprisings. He says to
news publication cal Matters that there has been a long
history of problematic dynamics between police and the press in LA.
There's other examples like the two thousand and seven may
date melee and going even further back, right, and so
this is not something new, but I think we are
(12:32):
seeing it in more direct, vicious and just straight up
out there ways. Now it's being documented by either the
journalists themselves and their like camera equipment or by like
civilian journalist mobile journalists on their phone, and it's now
on social media.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
And I've seen also footage of like journalists being detained
and removed from the protest and told you have to
leave and if you come back, we will arrest you.
In nineteen seventy on the Chicano Moratorium against the Vietnam War,
LA Times journalist Ruben Salasad was killed by LAPD officers
(13:14):
while covering the Chicano Moratorium, and notably, Ruben Salazar was
one of the first journalists ever to dedicate coverage to
the Chicano and Mexican American communities. And so LA as
much as we love it and we've had we've had
our own beautiful times here. It is a historically oppressive
(13:35):
place and with the LAPD, specifically our communities of color
have had big time issues. Now we're adding the addition
of the National Guard, ICE and the Marines. And I
was watching local news. I think it was KTLA that
(13:56):
I was watching on Tuesday night when the curfew was
implemented and down intown LA. And what the reporters, the
on broadcast news we're talking about is that in the past,
when LA has responded to oppression with protests, that our
protests in LA we outnumber the police. Today now that
(14:19):
is completely changed, that is no longer true. According to
our local news broadcast, civilian demonstrators are outnumbered by law
enforcement six to one. So we have never been in
this situation before. We've never been in this situation before.
And there seems to be no due process. There seems
(14:41):
to be no again, there's there's no there's no rules
to this game. There's no playing fair. Not that it
was fair before, but now even more so. I mean,
I'm seeing footage in front of city Hall, and you
can see city Hall, you can see City Hall in
Grand Park, and police on horses is trampling protesters. I
(15:03):
mean it's bad. So we wanted to do a little
refresh for our audience and for ourselves to talk about
why does it matter so much that press be able
to document and cover and report on civil issues and
rallies and demonstrations. Why does it matter? Well, let's read
(15:26):
a little something from the National Archives. Congress shall make
no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting free
exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech or of
the press, or the right of the people peaceably to
assemble and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
And so what we have here is a situation where
(15:48):
the only way right now that we can redress our
grievances with the government is by coming out in person
and taking to the streets and demonstrating. In a time
where the houses were republican, the Senate is republican, the
Supreme Court is republican, and our democratic leadership is not
able to vote things through. We can't vote things through.
(16:12):
Nothing is getting passed. What other recourse do we have
as a people then going out and demonstrating and protesting.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
Don't go anywhere, Look, amos, We'll be right.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
Back and we're back with more of our episode.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
According to an LA Times report, in a late night
order on Thursday, June twelfth, the US Ninth Circuit Court
of Appeals paused a court order that would have required
President Trump to return control of the thousands of California
National Guard troops in LA to Governor Gavin Newsom. So
all of this is still ongoing and on hold. The
(16:53):
hope is that Governor Gavin Newsom and his team have
all the tricks up their sleeves and are gonna try
to I think, regain control of California. Yeah, but of
course that's not going to be without resistance from the
federal administration.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
Yeah. Absolutely. And it's like we've spent so much money,
so much money, building prisons, beefing up law enforcement, billions
of dollars towards police departments all over. But those police
departments and the LAPD are not our friends, right, They're
not gonna like help us to defend California.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
Yeah, you know what I've been thinking, this is not
a Marvel movie. No, Like you know, there was a
someone commented on one of our posts like kind of
missing the point about our clip about Latinos who are
ice agents. And LAPD officers, and she was like, now, Dot,
this is not do not go common anything to her,
but this is She said something like yeah, and that's
(17:56):
why we need to remember that we shouldn't like be
mean to them, and we shouldn't like spit on them
because there are Latino brothers and Theos and Purimos and
this and this and that. And I'm like, this is
not a Marvel movie, this is not cop Ganda. This
is real life. And they're terrorizing our community, whether the
en they're a part of our community, if they're LAPD
even worse.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
Yeah, and those Latino cops are not treating Latino protesters
or undocumented Latin Americans with kindness or with more humanity
because you know, we share a last name. It doesn't
mean anything to them. They don't care. They don't care
at all, and they will brutalize just as much as
(18:39):
the next cop. And it's it's it's so wild to
witness all these years of the copaganda and where it's
gotten us.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
Now. Yeah, when my brother, just like aside anecdote in
the nineties, my brother was driving home from work and
he was pulled over and he was detained for having
tinted windows. He was sent to the Twin Towers.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
Oh my god.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
And he says, the cop that pulled me over was Latino.
And I was looking at him like, come on, dude,
like don't do this. Like I'm going home to my
kid right now. Yeah, my brother spent the night at
twin hours for having tinted windows.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
That's nuts. And that cop did not have to do that. No,
that was a choice. And I think what's happening now
as well, with people getting kidnapped and arrested and detained.
They're meeting quotas. They're still meeting quotas. This is all
quota based. They just want bodies, they want numbers, and
they're being very indiscriminate.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
Yes, which is why even if you're a citizen or
you quote did it the right way, they do not care.
I don't care. If they cared, they wouldn't be arresting
folks at their appointments in court. They're detaining folks there
that are going for their immigration appointments. Mm hmm. It
doesn't matter to them.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
It doesn't matter to them. And so keeping in mind
that the goalposts will continue to move and continue to shift,
and at some point they're going to start detaining people
who disagree with them. They are already detaining people who
were born here who have a quote birthright citizenship. If
(20:14):
you think that you're exempt, you're probably not. If things
get worse and worse and worse and worse, it's going
to look like the Red Scare where people were giving
up names of other people who were alleged communist sympathizers.
And that word sympathizers, by the way, what does that
(20:35):
even mean, Oh, your neighbor was an alleged communist? You
think maybe somebody said something that made it seem like
maybe they were sympathetic. It's vague intentionally. And today if
like that judge who got arrested for allegedly helping an
(20:57):
undocumented man like escape through her courtroom. I was watching
footage of that, and they show this judge speaking to
ICE agents while the undocumented man in question left the
courthouse with his attorney. They weren't running, they weren't sneaking.
They just walked out of an exit. And the way
that they're talking about this judge is, Oh, this judge
(21:19):
is distracting, distracting ICE agents to help this undocumented person
escape through a side room, a side door, you know,
like it could be any little thing, Yeah, that can
be twisted into you are fomenting revolution, You're an enemy
of the state, you're aiding in abetting criminals. And so
(21:41):
that means that like you maybe are a business owner,
maybe you're a white American who voted for Donald Trump,
and maybe you have employees who are immigrants, regardless of
their status, and maybe now you're having a change of
heart about your vote because your employees are being taken
(22:04):
from you, and maybe now you want to go petition
and say something to your government. Are you an enemy
of the state now?
Speaker 2 (22:11):
Right?
Speaker 1 (22:12):
Are you a turncoat?
Speaker 2 (22:13):
Now?
Speaker 1 (22:14):
This is the type of stuff that we're looking at
down the line. So it's authoritarianism, yes, yeah, And I
think you know I've been I picked up this book
on Tyranny.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
I'm going to bring it up again because after the inauguration,
I was like, Okay, project twenty twenty five is it's
going to be in full effect? You know, this is
not what we voted for, but people did and let
me learn, let me learn something right. And so I
picked up this book and it's like twenty it's titled
on Tyranny twenty lessons from the twentieth century and some
(22:45):
of the things I wanted to just quickly bring on
for the show a couple of them that I thought
were really important, and please pick up the book for yourself.
But it's like, first one, do not obey in advance. Right,
what we're letting them do now is what they're testing
the limits now institutions and institutions meaning your local public radio,
your local newspaper, your library, Like, defend the institutions that
(23:08):
are protecting knowledge, that are telling stories, that are gatekeepers
of information, contribute to good causes, whether that be an
immigrant rights organization, a mutual aid, a GoFundMe for legal resources.
And this one I thought was really important. Listen for
dangerous words. So the words like terrorists, right, we're seeing
that with Los Angeles. It's a war zone. LA is
(23:30):
a war zone right now. And so they're using our
federal government and our president is using that type of
language so that we can and we as the general population,
not just in LA but beyond. But they're using that
to for us to surrender on our own freedom right.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
Yeah, and to criminalize civilian, unarmed civilian protesters and demonstrators.
It's not a war when only one side has guns
and weapons, a war on us.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
Yes, And this quote from the book is this, people
who assure you that you can only gain security at
the price of liberty usually want to deny you both.
And I think that that is a really important lesson
that we need to keep in mind, is that this
is all intentional and they're testing how far they can go.
Who's willing to like turn on each other, and what
(24:26):
else can they do? What can happen next? And finally,
and I'll stop talking about the book, but finally I
thought this really this really important thing because I don't
don't want to continue to like for us to be afraid.
It's scary times, right, But also lesson from this book
it's be calm when the unthinkable arrives. So it is
part of this like identify it, Identify what's happening right now.
(24:50):
Don't think that it can't happen here, because it's happening here,
and get yourself ready. Yeah, and you think, you know,
you think about back in history, and you think about
what happened in the nineteen thirty in Europe and other countries,
and you think like, well, what would I do you know,
would I keep my neighbor safe. You know, when I
think this, we're being tested right now, like the what
(25:11):
are we going to do now?
Speaker 1 (25:12):
Absolutely, be very careful out there and stay informed. So
of course there's legacy news like the La Times. We've
mentioned La Taco, La Public Press and Delon, the National
Day Labors Organizing Network Chiir La Garsen, and you're going
to see a lot of rallies and demonstrations and protests
(25:35):
being organized. I think it's important for us to consider
who is organizing the rally or the protest and to
what end, what are the aims, what are the goals?
Are these people who have a history of organizing for
a social cause, for a social good? Are these opportunities
(25:56):
for photo ops or are these k agents who are
like creating chaotic situations? Because those things also happen, and
it's not always a good faith attempt to gather a
ton of people in one place, and we have to
be careful about that as well. So do your research
(26:18):
before you put your body and yourself out there in
harm's way. Be safe. Check out the organizations we just
mentioned because they are also hosting fundraisers to aid immigrants
in detention to provide legal support and other resources. And
if you are looking for a way to contribute, we
(26:40):
recommend doing some research into the organizations that have a
track record of working on these issues in an organized,
ethical way.
Speaker 2 (26:49):
I encourage you to consider how you're going to show
up in this moment. Like we mentioned in previous episodes,
not everyone can join a protest for a variety of reasons.
So consider how you're showing up in this moment. Is
it driving by to verify ice agents or at a
certain location. We see sometimes fear mongering and sometimes good intentions.
(27:12):
We think that ice is in a certain location, turns
out they're not there. So consider is that how you're
showing up? Are also local businesses that are being heavily
hit right now because one people are not going out,
They're not showing up because they're afraid. How then does
our local economy suffer and intern our community? So consider
(27:35):
are you going hard and supporting your local Latino businesses
at this moment? Are you buying from street vendors? Are
you doing buyouts? Consider that there's so many ways to
show up in this moment, and that it is a marathon,
not a sprint. We are in this for the long haul,
and let's not police how each of us show up,
(27:55):
because we all have different gifts and different ways that
we show up in this moment and in this movement.
So I hope you take care, hydrate, try to sleep,
check in with your friends, your family or community, and
we will catch you next time. Lok A Radio is
(28:15):
executive produced by Viosa Fem and Mala Munjos.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
Stephanie Franco is our producer.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
Story editing by Me diosa.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
Creative direction by me Mala.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
Look At Radio is a part of iHeartRadio's Michael Dura
podcast Network.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
You can listen to lok At Radio on the iHeartRadio
app or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
Leave us a review and share with your prima or
share with your homegirl.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
And thank you to our local morees, to our listeners
for tuning in each and every week.
Speaker 2 (28:42):
Besitos is Malasa look At Radio
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