Black Lives Matter-supporting mayoral candidate Gina Viola said she wants to eliminate the Los Angeles Police Department, which she dubbed a white supremacist organization, according to reports.
Viola has jumped into the race to replace Mayor Eric Garcetti, who is termed out and hoping to secure an ambassadorship to India. Other candidates are Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA), and real estate mogul Rick Caruso, who changed his party affiliation to Democrat to run in this election.
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Viola’s anti-police stance is at odds with the climate in Los Angeles, where a bipartisan coalition is almost certain to have enough signatures to force a recall election against District Attorney George Gascon. The coalition claims Gascon has weaponized the office with progressive politics.
Angelenos have a 1-in-33 chance of becoming a crime victim, which is 83% higher than the rest of the state. Homicides are at the highest rate in more than a decade, a 50% increase from 2019.
Caruso is running on a platform of cleaning up the city’s homelessness and crime, but Viola said she sees that as a racist endeavor.
“He doesn’t want to see any color in the city,” Viola told the Los Angeles Times. “I’m sorry — a vote for Rick Caruso is a vote for white supremacy. White supremacy is codified into our legal system, created to build white wealth, and law enforcement is its watchdog.”
Caruso’s camp fired back by saying more policing brings down crime and helps low-income neighborhoods.
“We need more uniting of our diverse communities,” Caruso spokesman Peter Ragone said. “We need more community policing to bring down crime and a compassionate approach to homelessness.
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However, Los Angeles BLM founder Melina Abdullah praised Viola for a “willingness to put herself on the line for black freedom,” the Los Angeles Times said.
At a recent debate at the University of California, Los Angeles, Viola embraced the fact that she is nicknamed the “defund the police candidate.” She said her plan is to phase out the LAPD slowly through hiring freezes and retirements, something that could take decades.
