KTLA News: "Protest against destruction of complaints against LAPD officers" (1979)

all the way to the Supreme Court. [Music] and to support him. >> I think that uh you have to look at the question of racism because the complaints that we're talking about come from the majority of third world communities such as the barios and the ghettos of Los Angeles. These are the people that were filed the uh the majority of the complaints that were shredded and the shredding of these complaints denied these people due process of law. PD officers and my sheriff's officers and we always get the same answer there. When we take that struggle to the courts, they hide from us. So I believe [Music] incident and we're going to carry on Supreme Court alleged beings, verbal harassments. And I think that everybody that is concerned about law and order and due process information act pines and no other high official that has anything to do with the law enforcement could cover up father police murders and excess. But because of the fact that Burke Pine is able to cover up for some officers who have been involved in more than one killing, we have no way of finding out how many times any officer have murdered any person. It's all because of the Freedom of Information Act. And I'm saying until the citizens will be able to actually get information on the police, there's no way that we can do anything. And because of Burks Pine's covenant, I'm saying that we ought to ask him to resign attorneys [Applause] being able to get about machine that we were still a historical moment even though maybe we don't really realize it because I wish that our numbers were ten of what it is today but it is very difficult to organize the masses of the people as we have found out time and time again the struggle for justice is not an easy struggle and it is not a struggle that you achieve in a short period of time. And so I think that for all of us that are here today and I know that we are serious about that struggle because I have seen your faces so many times and so many places and so that here really it is a gathering of friends on an issue that we believe. And so I think that this moment is historical because it marks the first time that representatives of the people possess the skills, possess the knowledge that we are able to utilize the institutions of this system to expose the inadequacies and the contradictions within that system itself. when we about two weeks ago a judge would not come out of his chambers and the other one was in hiding that is a victory for the people. He was not willing to face us because he knew that we had the knowledge and that we were in the right. So I think that we have to remember that this is a struggle that we are not going to win today. That this is a struggle that is going to have to continue and it is not going to be won in the courts I'm afraid unless the Supreme Court out of all its benevolence gives us the redress that we want. And we are asking them for a special prosecutor, a man with integrity, a man that will look at all of the facts and who will reach a conclusion that can be reached no other. and that is that they did violate the law. That the shredders of the records, the city attorneys, the LAPD officers did take the law into their own hands in a very frag fragrant fragrant and abusive way and yet nothing has been done. Why hasn't anything been done? The people and power are right in with the same camp. So I think that today what we have to maybe see it as is a continuing struggle of the people to reform and to change the law enforcement agencies in LA County because that is what has to happen by not sufficient evidence to proble to decide because we reach the masses of our people and we make them realize that it's going to take all of us uniting together that are just together with them and that are covering up their crimes. This is what we have to do. We have to take over >> that represent the peoples banding together in an effort to get her mind out of office and [Applause] >> Okay, Charles. Now, you say you're going to go to the Supreme Court with this case. Do you really think you're going to be able to get anywhere? Well, I don't think that uh it's a matter of uh saying whether we're going to get anywhere or not. I think that it's a matter of uh expending all levels of government that is available to us. And that's what we're about and that's what we're going to do. Uh if we don't get any redress from the California State Supreme Court, we feel very strongly about this issue, but we will take it to the federal Supreme Court. Uh there's any uh instances of racism in this uh whole controversy? >> It must be very difficult to be working on a project like this. >> Yeah, it's very difficult when you're when you're when you're going against the establishment and the status quo. Uh,