Last week BreakOut!, a New Orleans based LGBTQ organization that focuses specifically on youth impacted by the juvenile justice system, began the first of their anti-discrimination training seminars for the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD). The training comes as a result of an investigation and subsequent consent decree by the United States Department of Justice mandating sweeping reforms and trainings throughout NOPD. 

As a part of their campaign, “We Deserve Better,” BreakOut! collected testimonials from its members about their run-ins with the police department. The culmination of these testimonials is a video, which is featured on their website and was also shown during their visit to the NOPD training academy. 

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On October 29th in St. Paul, Minnesota, Eric Holder, the Attorney General of the United States and the Department of Justice sponsored a two-day Tribal Nations listening session in order to address the growing crime rates on tribal lands in America. Also in attendance were Tracy TouLou, the Director of the Office on Tribal Justice, and representatives from the Health and Human Services, Education, Housing and Urban Development and the Departments of Interior. During the listening session, Holder pointed out that crime rates on tribal lands exceed the national average crime rates by as much as ten times. Displeased by these statistics, Holder proposed steps that need to be taken to improve these communities.

As a Native American of Navajo descent, and reflecting upon the conditions of various Native American reservations from first hand experience, I find it incredibly sad that the indigenous people of America are isolated in these reservations with little to no resources that are critical for our Native community to grow and prosper. I do not think it’s just for my elders to live in these conditions and for them to be ignored for so long.

In the wake of the shocking, cell-phone video recorded beating death of Derrion Albert in Chicago there has been a renewed focus on the issue of teen violence in the mainstream press.

A new survey by the U.S. Department of Justice concludes that over 60% of children are exposed to some form of violence, directly or indirectly. The survey took a rather broad approach to the definition of exposure, as USA Today reports:

The survey's authors defined exposure to violence as being a victim, or having witnessed violence, or learning about violence against a relative, friend, or hearing about a threat to their school or home.

That approach raised questions for some.

In Chicago, a new plan is being put into place to try and stem the tide of violence that has overwhelmed the city by targeting 10,000 students who have been identified as the most at risk to be either the victims or perpetrators of violence. From The New York Times:

Financed by federal stimulus grants for two years, the $60 million plan uses a formula gleaned from an analysis of more than 500 students who were shot over the last several years to predict the characteristics of potential future victims, including when and where they might be attacked. While other big city school districts, including New York, have tried to focus security efforts on preventing violence, this plan goes further by identifying the most vulnerable students and saturating them with adult attention, including giving each of them a paid job and a local advocate who would be on call for support 24 hours a day.

As The New York Times points out, cities across the U.S. are watching to see if the new Chicago plan might be a model for other cities hit hard by violence.

I have lived in Los Angeles for less than a year, and already, the amount of encounters I’ve had with law enforcement almost matches the amount accumulated before I moved here.

That’s a lot of stops, while driving AND on foot. While Michael Cherkasky- a monitor appointed by the court to hold the LAPD to their agreement with the Department of Justice to reform their patterns of corruption, brutality and racial bias- feels the LAPD has made vast improvements my experiences convince me otherwise. In the last two months I’ve been pulled over 8 times for things like a tail light, loud music, and “just looking suspicious” as one officer told me. That stop, as well as one other out of the 8, have resulted in searches. None of these stops resulted in tickets or citations.

I was put in the back of a squad car while being searched on a traffic stop for looking like a robbery suspect that JUST came over the radio. While in the back a call came in that we were fighting with the officers, of course an error, and ANOTHER squad car came over to investigate. Meaning I was pulled over WHILE being pulled over!