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OP-ED: When Will Justice Come for Black and Brown Families?

Published

10 years ago

October 26, 2015

By Patrisse Cullors, reprinted from Huffington Post

Last weekend, we learned with further certainty what we have long known to be true: Black and brown families will not be granted justice by law enforcement.

New investigations into the murder of Tamir Rice concluded that the actions of the Cleveland police officer who killed him were “reasonable.” Authorities can justify police murdering a 12-year-old boy sitting on a swing in a park as being “reasonable” because police are praised for killing Black and brown people.

Last week, I traveled throughout California listening to the stories and trauma of family members who have lost loved ones to police violence.

Over eight days, the Caravan for Justice led by the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights and the ACLU of California stopped in Oakland, Sacramento, Stockton, Salinas, Fresno, Riverside, Orange County, and Los Angeles. In each city, family members of victims of police violence, in the U.S. and from the UK, shared their stories.

In Sacramento, there was Christina Arechiga, whose cousin Ernest Duenez Jr. was gunned down by police while exiting from the backseat of a truck. In Salinas, Angelica Garza shared the story of her brother Frank Alvarado Jr., killed by police who claimed to confuse his cell phone with a weapon. In Los Angeles during Politicon, Black Lives Matter-Los Angeles member Misha Charlton shared how an officer responding to a domestic violence call killed her sister Meagan Hockaday.

Over and over, I witnessed families shouldering the burden of the violence their brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, grandmothers, and children suffered at the hands of law enforcement.

The Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, Forward Together, Research Action Design, and 20 other organizations across the country recently released a report, Who Pays? The True Cost of Incarceration on Families, documenting the overwhelming debts, health challenges, and severed bonds that families face as a result of mass incarceration.

But I saw on this tour that those costs begin before people are even arrested–they begin when police first target a family member. And for black and brown communities, we live our lives as targets.

Family members described the many legal battles they have fought, the lawyers they have hired, the medical costs they have faced, all in the pursuit of justice for their loved ones.

But too often, these costly pursuits of justice end in frustration, disappointment, and more grief. We must equip families to take action and lead so that they no longer suffer these injustices.

As I write this, I am aware that 902 people have been killed by police this year. That 64 were black and unarmed. That in California, 155 have been killed and of those, 73 were black or brown victims. And there are many others who have not made it among the counted.

Black and brown families are in a state of emergency.

For most emergencies, we prepare communities. We teach people to put out fires, board up their homes, or drop under a desk if an earthquake hits. But what have we taught low-income communities of color about how to respond to the more frequent incidents of violence they face in the streets and inside of jails?

The Caravan for Justice marked the launch of Justice Teams in nine counties in California. Those teams will be local rapid response networks, building infrastructure to support victims and survivors of law enforcement violence and their families, teaching them how to prevent police brutality and how to respond effectively when it occurs.

One month ago, neighbors called the police when they heard my little brother, who was having a psychotic episode, yelling outside of my apartment. Aware of the many black people with histories of mental illness who are killed during police encounters, myself and five other witnesses recorded the police with the Mobile Justice CA app as they arrested my brother. The app allows people to record law enforcement abuses and automatically submits the videos to the ACLU of California for review.

More communities need to know these tools exist and how to use them. Because justice will come for families when we fight for ourselves.

Tamir Rice’s family has now demanded the appointment of a special prosecutor because of concerns that the grand jury presentation will be a “charade.” But justice for families won’t come only from a grand jury indictment, or an officer’s conviction.

Justice will come when we demand truth and reinvestment. An acknowledgement that people of color are brutalized, criminalized, and incarcerated because of hundreds of years of racist policies that have involved forced labor, segregation, disparate opportunity, and organized state violence against black and brown people.

It will come when we reinvest. We have poured billions of dollars into punishment-based responses–from police arresting children for absences in schools, to treating people’s drug problems in jails, to creating barriers to housing, employment, and education for formerly incarcerated people after they finish serving their sentences.

Families will receive justice when we end our addiction to policing and punishment, and resources are moved towards education, housing, healthcare, and employment for all communities.

Patrisse Cullors is one of the co-founders of #BlackLivesMatter and the Truth and Reinvestment Campaign Director at the Ella Baker Center.

Oakland Post

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Rest in Peace: A.M.E. Pastor and L.A Civil Rights Icon Cecil “Chip” Murray Passes

The Rev. Dr. Cecil L. “Chip” Murray, former pastor of First African Methodist Episcopal Church (FAME) in Los Angeles, died of natural causes April 6 at his Windsor Hills Home. He was 94. “Today, we lost a giant. Reverend Dr. Cecil Murray dedicated his life to service, community, and putting God first in all things. I had the absolute honor of working with him, worshiping with him, and seeking his counsel,” said Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass of the dynamic religious leader whose ministry inspired and attracted millionaires as well as former gang bangers and people dealing with substance use disorder (SUD).

Published

2 months ago

February 3, 2026

Oakland Post

The Rev. Dr. Cecil L. “Chip” Murray, former pastor of First African Methodist Episcopal Church (FAME) in Los Angeles, died of natural causes April 6 at his Windsor Hills Home. He was 94.

“Today, we lost a giant. Reverend Dr. Cecil Murray dedicated his life to service, community, and putting God first in all things. I had the absolute honor of working with him, worshiping with him, and seeking his counsel,” said Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass of the dynamic religious leader whose ministry inspired and attracted millionaires as well as former gang bangers and people dealing with substance use disorder (SUD).

Murray oversaw the growth of FAME’s congregation from 250 members to 18,000.

“My heart is with the First AME congregation and community today as we reflect on a legacy that changed this city forever,” Bass continued.

Murray served as Senior Minister at FAME, the oldest Black congregation in the city, for 27 years. During that time, various dignitaries visited and he built strong relationships with political and civic leaders in the city and across the state, as well as a number of Hollywood figures. Several national political leaders also visited with Murray and his congregation at FAME, including Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton.

Murray, a Florida native and U.S. Air Force vet, attended Florida A&M University, where he majored in history, worked on the school newspaper and pledged Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity. He later attended Claremont School of Theology in Los Angeles County, where he earned his doctorate in Divinity.

Murray is survived by his son Drew. His wife Bernadine, who was a committed member of the A.M.E. church and the daughter of his childhood pastor, died in 2013.

Oakland Post

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Court Throws Out Law That Allowed Californians to Build Duplexes, Triplexes and RDUs on Their Properties

Charter cities in California won a lawsuit last week against the state that declared Senate Bill (SB) 9, a pro-housing bill, unconstitutional. Passed in 2021, SB 9 is also known as the California Housing Opportunity and More Efficiency Act (HOME). That law permits up to four residential units — counting individual units of duplexes, triplexes and residential dwelling units (RDUs) – to be built on properties in neighborhoods that were previously zoned for only single-family homes.

Published

2 months ago

February 3, 2026

Oakland Post

Charter cities in California won a lawsuit last week against the state that declared Senate Bill (SB) 9, a pro-housing bill, unconstitutional.

Passed in 2021, SB 9 is also known as the California Housing Opportunity and More Efficiency Act (HOME). That law permits up to four residential units — counting individual units of duplexes, triplexes and residential dwelling units (RDUs) – to be built on properties in neighborhoods that were previously zoned for only single-family homes.

A Los Angeles Superior Court Judge ruled in favor of the cities, pointing out that SB 9 discredited charter cities that were granted jurisdiction to create new governance systems and enact policy reforms. The court ruling affects 121 charter cities that have local constitutions.

Attorney Pam Lee represented five Southern California cities in the lawsuit against the state and Attorney General Rob Bonta.

“This is a monumental victory for all charter cities in California,” Lee said.

However, general law cities are excluded from the court ruling as state housing laws still apply in residential areas.

Attorney General Bonta and his team are working to review the decision and consider all options that will protect SB 9 as a state law. Bonta said the law has helped provide affordable housing for residents in California.

“Our statewide housing shortage and affordability crisis requires collaboration, innovation, and a good faith effort by local governments to increase the housing supply,” Bonta said.

“SB9 is an important tool in this effort, and we’re going to make sure homeowners have the opportunity to utilize it,” he said.

Charter cities remain adamant that the state should refrain from making land-use decisions on their behalf. In the lawsuit, city representatives argued that SB 9 eliminates local authority to create single-family zoning districts and approve housing developments.

Oakland Post

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Funds for Down Payments and Credit Repair Given to Black First Time Homebuyers

The California Civil Rights Department (CRD) won a $10,000 fair housing settlement last November against a property management company, CIM Group LP, a global real estate company headquartered in Los Angeles, and property owner, RACR Sora, LLC, for implementing a blanket ban on renting to tenants with criminal histories at Sora Apartments in Inglewood. Three months earlier, the department, which enforces California’s civil rights laws, won another $20,000 civil rights settlement against a Lemon Grove property manager, who had targeted a Black tenant with a series of racist actions and threats of violence.

Published

2 months ago

February 3, 2026

Oakland Post

By McKenzie Jackson, California Black Media

Three months earlier, the department, which enforces California’s civil rights laws, won another $20,000 civil rights settlement against a Lemon Grove property manager, who had targeted a Black tenant with a series of racist actions and threats of violence.

CRD Director Kevin Kish said the department investigates cases of apparent racial bias in housing and sometimes more subtle acts of prejudice like nuisance-free or crime-free housing policies or holding tenants to different standards based on their race.

Kish said, “People will get evicted if they call the police. This can negatively impact victims of domestic violence. We also see these no-crime ordinances, or no-crime policies, used in racially discriminatory ways. If there is some kind of incident, and the police are called and it involves a Black family, then they get evicted, but other folks aren’t necessarily evicted.”

On April 11,1968, a week after Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated, President Lydon B. Johnson signed the Fair Housing Act, which prohibits discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing based on race, color, religion, and nationality.

Kish noted that William Byron Rumford, the first Black California State Assemblymember, who represented Berkley and Oakland, spearheaded the passing of the Rumford Act in 1963. That law sought to end discriminatory housing practices in the Golden State, five years before the Fair Housing Act became law.
Real estate agent and housing advocate Ashley Garner is the director of the CLTRE Keeper Home Ownership program. That organization gave 25 Black, indigenous, and people of color $17,500 each in down payment and credit repair support to purchase a home in Oak Park, a traditionally Black neighborhood in Sacramento, last fall. CLTRE obtained a $500,000 grant from the city of Sacramento to award the funds to the residents after they completed an eight-week homeownership program.

In 2021, the California Housing Finance Agency (CalHFA) noted that around four in 10 Black California families owned homes, which trails that of White, Asian-American and Latinos.
According to Forbes, the median price for a home in California is over $500,000, which is double the cost of a home in the rest of the country.

Black lawmakers recently introduced their Reparations Priority Bill Package that includes support for Black first-time homebuyers, homeowners’ mortgage assistance and property tax relief for neighborhoods restricted by historic redlining.

California Housing Finance Agency (CalHFA) spokesperson Eric Johnson said CalHFA helps prospective low-income and moderate-income Californians purchase homes by offering down payment and closing cost aid. “There are lots of people who have steady jobs, good credit scores, constant income, but they haven’t been able to save up the money that traditional banks need or want to see for a down payment,” Johnson stated. “We help those folks out. We give a loan for the down payment to get them over that hurdle.”
CRD and the Department of Real Estate hosted “Fair Housing Protections for People with Criminal Histories” Zoom call on April 10.

On April 25, CRD will also hold Zoom seminars focused on advocating for fair housing for people with disabilities.