More Diversity Urged in Police Probe
Los Angeles Urban League President John W. Mack said Thursday night that corruption within the LAPD is “out of control,” but he commended the Los Angeles Police Commission for establishing an independent panel to investigate the Rampart scandal.
Mack, however, called for more diversity among committee members.
“It’s basically white male attorneys,” Mack said before the league’s 27th annual Whitney M. Young Jr. Award dinner. “What kind of message does that send?” he said. “It says we don’t have any qualified Latino or black attorneys.”
Addressing a crowd of about 1,500, Mack later discussed a number of pressing issues the city faces, including the janitors’ strike and the proposed breakup of the Los Angeles Unified School District.
Bishop Charles E. Blake, pastor of the West Los Angeles Church of God in Christ, received the league’s highest honor, the Whitney M. Young Jr. Award.
Blake has been pastor of the West Angeles Church of God in Christ for 31 years. The congregation is the fastest growing and one of the largest black churches in Los Angeles. Blake’s services are broadcast nationally.
The annual awards dinner, which raised $1 million this year, is the league’s largest fund-raising event in support of programs to aid impoverished blacks and Latinos. The programs range from job training to literacy classes.
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