By Najee Ali Contributing Writer Controversy continues to circle Black Lives Matter Los Angeles. A statement released earlier this week by Melina Abdullah, co-founder of Black Lives Matter L.A. in her endorsement of Herb Wesson for the L.A. County Board of Supervisors is the talk of the South L.A. Black activist community. And the talk […]
“...Every activist who keeps up with police reform knows Wesson is aligned with the Los Angeles Police Protective League, the union that represents rank-and-file L.A. police officers. The league has been one of Wesson’s major campaign contributors over the years and has endorsed his campaign for supervisor as well. How does the leadership of Black Lives Matter endorse a candidate backed by the Police Protective League? The police union has supported every LAPD officer who has killed Black and brown people in the history of Los Angeles.
In 2017, Wesson was a major champion in support of Charter Amendment C, which passed with 57.1% of the vote. That ballot measure significantly changed the way the Los Angeles Police Department handles serious officer misconduct despite warnings from a large segment of community organizations that included Black Lives Matter, the Community Coalition and the ACLU that it would result in more lenient treatment for problem cops.
Wesson, who was then L.A. City Council president, helped provide a major victory to the Police Protective League, which championed the measure. The Police Protective League has been a staunch critic of Black Lives Matter and now they are in bed together. The league hasn’t donated money to Wesson just to give it away. They expect to keep him in their back pocket as their advocate
Wesson also is one of the first Black political leaders to have endorsed L.A. County District Attorney Jackie Lacey in her re-election bid. Lacey’s record as D.A. has been marked with cowardice and failure.
For the last three years, Black Lives Matter has held a weekly protest outside Lacey’s downtown office calling for her resignation as well as protests outside her home. How can Abdullah praise Wesson as being courageous with a straight face when Wesson is a major supporter of Lacey, who Black activists have said for years is the tool of white supremacy?...”
