Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Policing and South L.A.
Segments from the past year that examine policing in Los Angeles, the culture of the LAPD and life in South L.A.
By Madeleine Brand • • 52m ListenToday on the show, we have segments from the past year that examine policing in Los Angeles, the culture of the LAPD and life in South L.A.
First, author Joe Domanick talks about his latest book, Blue: The LAPD and the Battle to Redeem American Policing.
Then, a feature story about policing in and around Watts, which first aired in August, exactly 50 years after the Watts riots.
Next, author Jill Leovy on her book Ghettoside: A True Story of Murder in America.
And finally, a look at the recent effort to rename South L.A. “SOLA” and what it means to rebrand a neighborhood.
Banner Image credit: Chris Yarzab/CC
In this episode
4 stories'Blue' Explores LAPD Corruption
In the 1990s, the corruption scandal in the LAPD’s Rampart division was what it finally took to reform the department in a meaningful way. But now, some LAPD watchers wonder if the police department isn’t backsliding, reverting to old and dangerous behaviors that lead to the unfair treatment of the city’s poor, minority residents.
Read the story15 minWatts Policing: Then and Now
Back in the 1960s, LAPD Chief William Parker turned the department into an elite force of militarized troops. Its soldiers exacted swift and often brutal justice in black neighborhoods. Even after Watts erupted in 1965, policing stayed much the same through the ‘90s. But what about today?
Read the story15 min'Ghettoside'
Last year, 260 people were murdered in the city of Los Angeles. People like 20-year-old Christian Blanco, who was killed in a drive-by on December 29. Or Roland Moore, 32, who was stabbed to death on November 1. Or Larry McKay, 16, gunned down on July 17. They all lived in South L.A., and they were all African American.
Read the story14 minSouth L.A. to SOLA?
What’s in a name? A lot, if you ask people south of the 10 Freeway. First the area was called South Central. Then, because of the stigma of violence associated with “South Central,” the name changed to South L.A. More recently, city officials proposed changing it yet again to SOLA. And that’s not the only L.A.
Read the story7 min
