Cindy Alonso, an intern with LA Roots For Peace addresses an LA Metro board meeting.
In late March 2024, a broad base of supporters rallied outside the Metro board meeting. Youth expressed outrage when the board shifted the agenda to address the issue three hours later than expected. This clearly prevented many working class people from making public comment.
Roots For Peace intern Cindy Alonso stated, “As a Mexican woman who has lived in the low-income community of South Central...I’ve borne witness to the continuous cycle of systemic harm that policing produces on black and brown communities.”
Maya in their comment pleaded, “If you want to keep us safe, put the money you were going to use for the police into the Green Shirt Ambassador program and into making the Metro free for everyone. I’m asking Metro to allocate funding for programs that have been proven to work to make riders safer. Listen to us, the communities you want to serve, when we tell you what we need.”
Roots For Peace plans to continue to stay engaged throughout the board budgeting process in hopes of increasing the green shirt ambassador program and building alternatives to policing.
Learn more from this recent AFSC Think Twice webinar featuring Adalberto Rios, LA Roots For Peace Program Director.