COMMUNITY VOICES
LOS ANGELES PUBLIC INTEREST LAW JOURNAL
2 L.A. PUB. INT. L.J. 210
LOS ANGELES: I DO MIND DYING
RECENT REFLECTIONS ON URBAN REVOLUTION IN SKID ROW Nicholas Dahmann with the Los Angeles Community Action Network From the perspective of our Skid Row community, the City of Los Angeles, the State of California, and the federal government are failing in their solutions to the current budget crises. These political decisions further intensify the effects of policies that produce poverty while eliminating the last traces of safety nets that help reduce the violence of poverty and homelessness. Our daily life experiences in Skid Row represent a particularly intense intersection of failed policies and short-sighted budget decisions that affect those in poverty nationwide. Nevertheless, our struggles and victories serve as hopeful reminders of the power of poor people’s movements and collective organization in fighting social funding cuts and disproportionate spending on police budgets.
*This is an excerpt. For the entire piece, please download the PDF. | AuthorsThe Los Angeles Community Action Network (LA CAN) was founded in 1999 by Skid Row residents in Downtown Los Angeles. As a grassroots membership organization, LA CAN is composed and run by Skid Row’s housed and homeless residents. LA CAN organizes primarily around housing, police violence, and women’s rights. Nicholas Dahmann began working with LA CAN in mid-2008 as part of his PhD on the Skid Row community’s survival and resistance to displacement as a result of gentrification and policing policies. He continues to work as part of LA CAN’s ongoing organizing work in addition to coordinating students and volunteers.
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