A series of National Night Out events, meant to connect residents with local law enforcement, were held across the country this week, including in L.A., where communities continue to reel from a summer of immigration sweeps and protests that resulted in clashes with the Los Angeles Police Department.
In Boyle Heights, the Tuesday event took place on 1st Street outside the Hollenbeck Community Police Station with pony rides, mariachis, and folklorico dancers amid a backdrop of demonstrators protesting the fatal July 14 police shooting of Jeremy Flores.
For Martha Ambriz, director of Ballet Folklorico Resurreccion, the event helped bring back a sense of normalcy.
“I loved the fact that they [police] are interacting with the community, especially with the youth,” said Ambriz, whose dancers performed at the event.
Ambriz said officers from the Hollenbeck station have helped sponsor some of her dancers by buying them their attire, and have assisted parents and students with any questions they may have about police matters.
“Because of what’s going on with ICE, a lot of things have been canceled … It’s hard to have a normal life when that is going on. This kind of normalized it a little,” Ambriz added.
Ambriz said parents likely felt secure attending the gathering because “it was an LAPD event.”
The event featured giveaways, including backpacks, coffee-making machines, as well as free tacos and drinks. LAPD cadets distributed popsicles from a paletero cart emblazoned with the police department’s logo.
The U.S. Marines were also there, doing pull-ups with attendees.
Maria and Fatima Jimenez, who stumbled upon the celebration while walking their dogs on 1st Street, described the event as “tone deaf,” especially with the presence of the Marines, who were deployed to L.A. earlier in the summer amid protests against the immigration sweeps.
The pair felt uneasy being at a law enforcement event after witnessing “police violence” during the protests. The event, they said, was a distraction as people seek to “disassociate.”
“It feels dystopian,” they said.
As a mariachi-singing police officer and the sister duo Las Mil Amores took the stage, and community organizations handed out information underneath tents, demonstrators with the social justice group Centro CSO chanted, “Jail killer cops!”
Earlier in the event, a video clip shows an LAPD officer wielding a baton as he charged at protesters with Centro CSO, who have demonstrated at previous National Night Out events. There did not appear to be further confrontations.
“We showed up asking for release of the body cam [and to] release the names of officers that killed Jeremy Flores, and we were met with batons at this so-called community event,” said Gabriel Quiroz with Centro CSO.
Boyle Heights Beat reached out to the Hollenbeck Police Station for comments about the event, but has yet to hear back.
Quiroz and others also accuse the LAPD of assisting federal immigration agents by providing protection during the raids. Many have pointed to video showing LAPD blocking access to areas where immigration raids have occurred.
“Most people in the neighborhood, they’re the ones telling us … the [police] work with ICE. Those are their words, from the community, from Boyle Heights,” Quiroz said.
At a recent LAPD Community Police Advisory Board meeting, LAPD Cmdr. German Hurtado stressed that the agency does not cooperate with federal immigration unless it is “criminal in nature.” This includes if there is a warrant for somebody’s arrest, and “if we encounter somebody [who is] a previously deported felon, LAPD may arrest for that.”
“We do not participate in civil immigration,” he said.
While the event drew a crowd, others who normally participate in National Night Out were missing from this year’s celebration.
Daniel Jimenez, with the Boyle Heights Wolfpack Football & Cheer, said members of the group voted to opt out of this year’s Hollenbeck event.
“With everything going on, with ICE being the way it is with the roundups [and protests], we weren’t going to be able to guarantee kids’ safety,” said Jimenez.
In previous years, the group engaged in a community march for peace during the event.
“Based on the safety of the kids and parents …. This was an easy decision to make from an organization standpoint,” Jimenez added.
