Series:

Los Angeles Anti-Police Violence Movement

Topic:

Civil Liberties

Biographical Note:

Community activist and member of the Coalition Against Police Abuse, an organization that worked toward justice for victims of police violence and was active in the Los Angeles area in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s.

Interviewer:

Helps, David

Interviewee:

Settlage, Mabie

Persons Present:

David Helps, Mabie Settlage, Dorothy Herrera Settlage (interviewee’s sister-in-law).

Place Conducted:

The interview was conducted using the Squadcast video conferencing platform.

Supporting Documents:

Records relating to the interview are located in the office of the UCLA Library’s Center for Oral History Research.

Interviewer Background and Preparation:

The interview was conducted by David Helps, PhD candidate in History at the University of Michigan, as part of the research for his dissertation project (M.A. History, University of Toronto; B.A. Hon. History, McGill University). Helps’ dissertation explores policing and anti-police activism in Los Angeles between the early 1970s and the early 1990s.To prepare for these interviews, the interviewer consulted Max Felker-Kantor’s Policing Los Angeles: Race, Resistance, and the Rise of the LAPD; João Costa Vargas’ Catching Hell in the City of Angels: Life and Meanings of Blackness in South Central Los Angeles; Mike Davis and Jon Wiener’s Set the Night on Fire: L.A. in the Sixties; and the historical archive of the Los Angeles Times including a letter to the editor by the interviewee.

Processing of Interview:

The transcript is a verbatim transcription of the recording. The interviewee was given an opportunity to review the transcript but made no corrections or additions.

Length:

3 hrs

Language:

English

Audio:

Series Statement:

Between the early 1970s and the mid-1990s, thousands of people participated in protests, political campaigns, community organizing, and other activism related to issues of police violence in the Los Angeles area. This series documents this area of activism, including the work of the Coalition Against Police Abuse, the Police Misconduct Lawyers Referral Service (today Police Watch), and the Pasadena public-access television show Message to the Grassroots, hosted by Michael Zinzun. Through interviews with community organizers, police misconduct attorneys, and people with direct experience of police violence, the series shines a light on a crucial moment in the history of Los Angeles and the United States. In addition to documenting activism around policing, this series also explores participants’ experiences with other social justice struggles, such as Black Power, the anti-apartheid/Southern Africa freedom movement, the women’s movement, the labor movement, the Central American solidarity movement, immigrant rights defense, and activism against racism in the Los Angeles school system.The interviews were conducted in the aftermath of the 2020 uprisings against police violence across the United States following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis and the police killing of Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky.

Note:

The interviewer retained copyright.

Growing up—Family structure—Experience of Watts rebellion—Parents’ political backgrounds—Building racial consciousness—Learning from the Black Panthers—Racism in high school—Police abuse in Atlanta—Living in Atlanta—Working with the Metropolitan Atlanta Summit Leadership Congress—Religion in Atlanta—Machining and weapon-making—Pre-release center work and struggling friend—Move back to LA and retirement to Haiti—Teaching career—Racism in LAUSD—Anti-apartheid work-- Coalition Against Police Abuse—Police abuses in LA—Dalton Avenue raids—Leadup to Rodney King rebellion--Twilight Bey and gang truce—Student involvement with gangs—Influences on political consciousness—Liberation organizers coping after the movement dissipated—Hope for a world without white supremacy

1984 Olympics—Church’s role in organizing—Anecdote about El Salvador intervention during apprenticeship—Racial dynamics of Carver school—Organizing President Aristide’s school visit—Anti-immigration sentiment—Sodexho and capitalism’s fueling racial tension—Community relationship to INS-- Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador—More on racial dynamics and at Carver and in America—Gang activity at Carver and teacher response—Police abuse of students—Dalton Street Raids—Murder of Latasha Harlins and community response--Campaign for police civilian review board—Rodney King video—Rebellion following trial—Media’s racist rhetoric—Graffiti signifying kids—Erasure of rebellion as multi-racial—Black Lives Matter—Terminology around uprising

Letter to LA Times on Rodney King, Reginald Denny, and white supremacy—History of white supremacist condemnation of black violence—Differing circumstances and reactions within black community—Media’s racist rhetoric—Twilight Bey and gang Truce—Child soldiers in Mozambique—Gang members becoming Black Panthers—More on Gang Truce—Failure of Gang Truce with economic justice—Teacher and police abuse of school children—Work in Namibia and southern African solidarity work—South African support movement in LA—Anti-blackness of white organizers—Black Lives Matter and inheritance from Black Panther Party—involvement with Downtown Crenshaw Rising—Working with Civil Rights leaders—Working with Michael Zinzun—Civil Rights work with Dick Gregory—Home in Haiti