OPERATION OAKWOOD – Search and Destroy
LAPD, Feds kick down doors, terrorize seniors in
early morning “Iraq-style” para-military operation Feb. 19. The
300-plus invasion force said they were looking for gang members but found mostly
elderly women, children and babies in the homes after kicking down the front
doors.
The View from Inside the
House
By the owner’s grandchild (name
withheld because of fear of
retailation)
The assault on 646 Broadway
was unfounded and unnecessary. There were no drugs. There were no weapons. There
were no felons. The home was occupied by Rosa Hamm and other family
members.
In the past if officers
had a problem or wanted to talk to a family member, they would ask to conduct
their search and leave. Under the existing agreement with the city: 1) certain
family members were banned and fined; 2) Signs were posted on the property that
read: “No trespassing, no drugs, no weapons; 3) the iron gate was removed
so the police could have
access.
The property was purchased
over 50 years ago and the neighbors wonder how we can afford to live in this
community. Gentrification is as evil as the Holocaust. The SWAT officers shot a
flash grenade through my Grandmother’s bedroom window. They also gained
entry through my Grandmother’s window. The officers then proceeded to walk
to the front door and beat it with a sledge hammer. All they had to do was
unlock the door. They never identified themselves as police or any other law
enforcement. They did not show a search warrant until they left. The house was
listed as closed before they even searched
it.
In some languages there is no
word for “moving.” People can be destroyed by simply moving them.
Forced eviction and seizure of the property is the goal, not the arrest of
individuals perpetuating the crimes. The perception is allowed to fester to
justify the injustice. Delay of arresting the people selling drugs was the root
of the problem. It was noted in the Los Angeles Times, “The general
Oakwood area- a roughly one square mile neighborhood was conceived as a
neighborhood for working- class blacks by Venice developer, Abbot
Kinney.”
Rosa Hamm is a
law-abiding citizen who has worked her entire life. Why should she be
prosecuted? Look deeply into your
community.
The City Attorney’s
office issued eviction notices to 13 residents of Oakwood and has filed a motion
to close the home at 646 Broadway, because of alleged drug
sales.
•••••
Oakwood
Residents Demand Their
Rights
By Jim
Smith
An army, at least 300-strong,
attacked that part of Venice known as Oakwood in the early morning of Feb. 19.
The ATF (Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms) troopers and the Los Angeles Police
Dept. used “dynamic entry” (kicking doors down) to enter at least 18
homes. Anger and horror stories of the day’s events flew at a community
meeting that evening.
One senior,
Mae Phillips, said she was roused from sleep when she heard someone outside say
her address. The next thing she heard was her front door falling
in.
“I woke up this morning
with a shotgun in my back and a gun to my head,” said another innocent
homeowner.
“I’ve been
here for 50 years, yet you kicked down my door looking for someone who has been
in custody for two months. Twenty-five officers were in my house. They beat my
14-year-old dog with a fire extinguisher, said another, her anger rising by the
moment.
Police Capt. Joseph Hiltner
responded, “this isn’t the forum to debate
that.”
Operation Oakwood, as the
police called the action, was well underway before Councilmember Bill Rosendahl
received a call about it. He said he received a call from Capt. Hiltner as the
Operation was beginning. There was no explanation why the elected official in
the area was not informed in
advance.
Police were allegedly
searching for illegal drugs and firearms, and targeting the Shoreline Crips, a
local gang. 60 arrest warrants and 25 search warrants had been issued by a
judge, according to police.
City Attorney
Rocky Delgadillo was apparently informed well in advance of the raid. He showed
up for a press conference at the Oakwood Recreation Center around 10:30 am.
Delgadillo vowed to clean up Oakwood whether the residents want it or not. He
claimed that gang members had taken over the Rec. Center and refused entry to
anyone else. This came as a shock to the Oakwood Seniors who have lunch in the
facility every day, and to this reporter who frequently goes to the center on
Beachhead business.
Another women said
that police put a gun to her niece’s head. “I almost had a heart
attack when you bashed down my door,” then she added: “Are you
saying because I’m an African-American woman, I can’t live in
Venice?
Her statement reflects the
feeling of many in the community that the raid served more as an attempt to
intimate African-American homeowners in the gentrifying Oakwood area. Many of
the homes have been in family hands for generations and are owned by the
patriarchs and matriarchs of family groups that include grandchildren and
great-grandchildren. Many of the offspring use these homes as their address even
though they may rent in Los Angeles or Long Beach. Police either did not know
this, or knew it and went ahead with the mission
anyway.
The magnitude of the operation
attracted the interest of several out-of-town newspapers, including the L.A.
Times, Torrance Daily Breeze and the Marina Argonaut. All of them were
apparently “embedded” in the police and city attorney’s public
relations department, and gave scant notice to the community’s side of the
story.
Fortunately no one was shot
despite the firepower brought into the community by the 300 fully armed
“soldiers.”
In
addition, the raid may serve to bring the entire community together to protect
their own interests. However, when Jataun Valentine suggested the community have
a meeting without the police, Rosendahl responded that first they should meeting
with the Human Relations Commission, another city
department.
••••••
Police
Raid Results in Terror and
Evictions
By Peggy Lee
Kennedy
A community meeting was held at
the Oakwood Recreation Center the evening of February 19 to discuss the gang
sweeps that took place that morning and the previous
evening.
The community was visibly
distressed and complained that warrants were used with names of people not even
at the addresses. The Police crashed into the homes of senior citizens -
breaking down the doors, terrorizing them, and leaving them unable to secure
their homes. Guns were held to their heads. Officers screamed obscenities. An
LAPD dog defecated in one family’s house and a baby was almost trampled. A
14-year-old boy said that two guns were on his head, but he had never been in
trouble before. Homeless people – not gang members – made up part of
the grand total of 19 people
arrested.
Oakwood residents, including
very vulnerable senior citizens, affected by the so-called gang sweeps are now
receiving eviction letters from either the Los Angeles City Attorney’s
office or their landlords using the current abatement and nuisance law, LAMC
47.50.
Oakwood is a community with
generations of African-American homeowners and families. For many years they
have been dealing with the criminalization of their youth, police harassment,
programs such as PACE (Police Assisted Community Enhancement Program) that
negatively impact many seniors, and increasing amounts of more affluent
neighbors who refuse to fit in with the older
community.
The so-called gang sweep, and
subsequent eviction notices, are a low blow, according to many people in the
community, in an on-going attempt to remove these black people from what is now
a very high priced beach
community.
Tips:
•
What you say to the police or the city attorneys can be used against you.
Consider getting legal advice before meeting or even having casual conversations
with them.
• There are police
misconduct forms, and self-addressed envelopes addressed to Internal Affairs, in
every LAPD station. They should be sitting on the counter, or nearby. You do not
need to ask anyone for
them.
• People facing
eviction can contact the Eviction Defense Network for assistance on a sliding
fee scale. Call 213-385-8112.
•
There are a few good attorneys and referrals (not a guarantee of legal
representation). Contact me at
humanrights@freevenice.org.
• If we
stay in fear or only complain and never organize to document and oppose
violations of our civil rights, we will have no chance of winning or protecting
our civil
rights.
••••••
Two
Anonymous Comments from the
Community
A majority of the people
that the LAPD are searching for are already behind bars. This community member
received a letter the was “concerning the activities connected to the
park.” Many 3rd and 4th generation African-American homes received the
same letter because of their past and present associations of their family
members, who are not necessarily living at these addresses. The gentrification
that started back in the 1980s still continues to perpetuate ethnic
cleansing.
------
I
cannot tell you of the terror of the elderly people as so many different law
enforcement agencies swept through this community! It was terrible to break down
doors at 4:45am, awaken so many people in this fashion. If the individuals that
they were looking for could have been arrested on the streets, would not this be
the humane thing to do? We must come out and hold all entities who were
responsible, accountable for this type of treatment of our neighbors. We must
put aside our differences and realize that we all are human beings living
together in a great community by the sea. Civil rights have been violated and
this must be addressed and tackled so it will not happen
again.
Posted: Sat - March 1, 2008 at 04:27 PM
