South LA's Community Coalition works to enact social justice amid Black Lives Matter movement
As we have seen over the last week, tens of thousands of people are coming together to fight for change. This unity can help turn anger into action.
Alberto Rentana, president and CEO of Community Coalition, joined ABC7 via Skype to discuss social justice in Los Angeles.
Could you tell us more about your organization based in South Los Angeles and what you've been working to achieve?
"Community Coalition is an organization founded by Congresswoman Karen Bass 30 years ago in response to the crack epidemic. And for 30 years we've been organizing every day, residents from South Los Angeles, African-American, Latino, folks in our community that have been living in a neighborhood that's been chronically dis-invested in for many years," said Rentana. "We've been fighting to get resources, but also unifying our community to enact justice and change."
Can you explain what you mean by "re-imagine public safety?"
"When we talk about re-imagine public safety, we're talking about re-imagining the role that police play in lots of things," said Rentana. "So our call to re-imagine public safety is to divest and invest in the community."
Have you seen anything as powerful as what's happening in terms of outreach?
"Not in my lifetime. Black Lives Matter Los Angeles, Black Lives Matter across the country, has really captured the imagination and engaged tens of thousands of people," said Rentana. "What we're seeing is not just black folks standing up in defense of black lives, what we're finding ourselves is a multi-racial dimension defending black lives and that is a beautiful moment."
Watch the full interview in the video above.
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