PLATFORM : Diversity’s Demands
New census statistics indicate that Los Angeles is one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the country. African-Americans comprise 14% of the population, Latinos 38% and Asians 10%. The city deserves a police chief who appreciates the diversity of our community and who can train its law-enforcement officers to deal more evenhandedly with its citizens.
When statistics indicates that one of every four young African-American males is or has been incarcerated and that a majority of those in prison have been convicted of drug-related offenses, it is time to take a critical look at our system of justice and its goals.
Leveling blame at immigrant or minority communities, imposing harsher penalties and constructing more jails are desperate solutions of shortsighted policy-makers who do not have the energy or resources to tackle problems of poverty, ignorance, racism and the misallocation of resources. Neither victims of crime nor society as a whole benefit from such policies of avoidance.
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