Today Roqayah and Kumars are joined by Ellie Virrueta, a student at Cal State LA and youth organizer with the Inglewood-based Youth Justice Coalition and the San Gabriel Valley Chapter of the Immigrant Youth Coalition. We discuss California Assembly Bill 931, the proposed legislation that would limit circumstances under which use of deadly force by police is allowed. Currently, police can get away with murder if their actions are deemed "reasonable", an impossibly vague standard. This new law instead requires lethal police violence to be "necessary", meaning all non-lethal alternatives have been exhausted. Ellie talks about the story of her 14  year-old cousin, Junior Rodriguez, who was killed by police during a mental health episode, and how this event motivated Ellie to get involved in the fight to pass this bill and against police brutality in general. We hash out the details of the legislation and go over the flimsy and laughable arguments against it from police unions and other pro-cop organizations. Finally, Ellie explains the timeline for AB 931’s passage and how you can support this and other efforts to end police violence in California.  

You can follow Youth Justice Coalition on Twitter @YouthJusticeLA, plus find out more information on how to get involved on their website.

A transcript for this episode will be provided upon request. Please send an email to deleteuracct @ gmail to get a copy sent to you when it is completed.

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