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You wouldn’t know it from the data, but Latinos are the second most likely demographic to be killed by law enforcement in the U.S, relative to their population. We only have these statistics now thanks to the work of La Raza Database Research Project, a group of volunteers in Southern California who are bringing awareness to systematic police violence against the Latino population. They estimate that almost 6,500 Latinos have been killed by police between 2000 and 2022 – but the data has been missing until this moment. In this unusual installment of our monthly “Meet the BIPOC Press” series, Laura and Senior Producer Jeremiah Cothren sit down with LF&F Social Justice Reporting Fellow, Roberto Camacho, who interviewed members of the Research Project to figure out why Latinos are so frequently misrepresented. Camacho also spoke with the mother and sister of César Antonio Rodriguez, a young man that died in custody of the Long Beach Police Dept in 2017 and was misidentified in police records. Camacho is a Chicano multimedia journalist focusing on criminal justice reform, immigration and Chicano/Latino issues. He originally reported on this story for Palabra.
“. . . Racism and policing has almost always been viewed through a black and white binary, is very often viewed in very narrow terms. And in turn, the same goes for the Latino community. We are almost always viewed through the prism of immigration . . . We are seldom brought up in conversations involving policing and violence.” – Roberto Camacho
“Under a Trump administration, I’m not sure that there will be truth, justice or transparency, and especially not for people that are seen as savages or subhuman. But it is time for the community to organize and demand community oversight.” – Ivette Xochiyotl Boyzo
“There’s no federal mandate or state mandate to do this, so if it’s not there, they’re not going to do it . . . They were individuals, they were journalists that took this issue as their own and started the drudgery of identifying deaths through their newspaper articles or police reports.” – Jesus M. Garcia
“ got profiled and that’s what a lot of police officers tend to do, especially to the Hispanic and Black community . . . I know that if he would’ve been white, he would still be here.” – Priscilla Rodriguez
Guests
- Ivette Xochiyotl Boyzo: Research Project Manager, La Raza Database
- Roberto Camacho: Journalist; Social Justice Reporting Fellow, Laura Flanders & Friends
- Jeremiah Cothren (Co-host): Senior Producer, Laura Flanders & Friends
- Jesus M. Garcia: Research Project Statistician & Demographer, La Raza Database
- Rosa Moreno: Mother of César Rodriguez
- Priscilla Rodriguez: Sister of César Rodriguez
Transcript
Related Episodes, Articles, Uncut Conversations and More
Follow Laura Flanders & Friends on Patreon to receive our Show Notes every week and the full, uncut conversation from each episode. And check out our “Meet the BIPOC Press” playlist on YouTube.
Related Laura Flanders Show Episodes:
- Corporate Prison Reform Will Not Keep Us Safe: A Report from Los Angeles, Watch / Listen
- Black Journalists on Police Violence: Reporting from the Ground Up: Watch / Listen
- Emergent Strategies for Abolition: Andrea J. Ritchie’s Toolkit for Activists: Watch / Listen
Related Articles and Resources:
- Project Looks to Unfold True Count of Nations Killed by Police, by Keith Mizuguchi, July 2, 2024, KQED
- La Raza Database Project Seeks a True Count of Latinos Killed by Police but Determining identity Complicates Accurate Reporting, by Roberto Camacho, May 1, 2024, Palabra
- San Diego community demands more from law enforcement than non-binding policies to increase police accountability, by Roberto Camacho, June 9, 2022, Prism Reports
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