The night..... in South Los Angeles, near where Ezell Ford was recently shot and killed by LAPD. The police were already investigating two black men in different cars that they had pulled over in the area. On the border of South Los Angeles and Inglewood is Chuco’s Youth Justice Coalition Center. A space filled with social justice art, Aztec and Black murals. Youth leaders come here to teach life skills. Inside there are people dancing samba, students learning self-defense and at the end in a barely lit warehouse looking space there are two Latino boys playing basketball. Chuco’s Youth Justice Coalition Center is named after Jesse “Chuco” Becerra, an organizer who was killed on September 24, 2005.
The center also houses FREE (Fighting for the Revolution to Educate and Empower Los Angeles) LA HIGH, a charter high school that focuses on black and brown experiences . Youth Organizer Emilio explains:
The center aims to teach youth about the school to jail tract system, where the belief is that public schools are setting up black and Latino youth to get into the jail system.
STUDY: TRACKED AND TRAPPEDMany of the students consider themselves “push outs” of the general public system. Dre, a youth leader, shares her struggles as a teenager and her future career goals:
Inside there is an altar which pays tribute to the people that have been involved with Chuco’s Justice Center and have been killed due to gun violence, police brutality or other.
Juan explains that public school did not work out for him because of heavy policing. He really enjoyed FREE LA, the alternative charter high school. He explains some of his experiences with law enforcement:
Juan, another youth organizer explains his inspirations and future plans: