Thousands gather in Simi Valley for BLM protest as councilman comes under fire
Saturday's rally and march comes after Simi Valley City Councilman Mike Judge drew drawn harsh criticism this week for comments he made on Facebook and toward an organizer of this event. Judge apologized for the remarks Thursday.
A few thousand people gathered Saturday morning at the heart of Simi Valley, joining the chorus of demonstrations against police brutality in the region and nation.
The group of peaceful protesters stood on the sidewalks at all four intersections of Sycamore Drive and Cochran Street and then marched on the sidewalk down Cochran toward City Hall.
A heavy police presence blanketed the city, site of the 1992 verdicts in the Rodney King beating case, which set off widespread rioting.
At least two exits on Hwy 118 were closed and police could be seen on nearby streets though not directly near demonstrators.
Not a bad turnout in SimI Valley where a few thousand it looks like are gathered at the intersection of Cochran and Sycamore and others walking down sidewalk on Cochran. Heavy police presence coming into town… Also right after I stopped shooting, the dog howled. It was great. pic.twitter.com/ycVtvqKKcU
— David Rosenfeld (@RosenfeldReport) June 6, 2020
Saturday’s rally and march comes after Simi Valley City Councilman Mike Judge drew drawn harsh criticism this week for comments he made on Facebook and toward an organizer of this event. Judge apologized for the remarks Thursday.
In a private email exchange, which Judge later posted publicly, he asked organizer Mikiiya Foster to call off the march. In the email, he wrote that “almost all of the protest to date, have turned to Violence and destruction. (sic)”
“I am very hard pressed to find one example of a truly peaceful protest,” Judge wrote.
On Facebook Monday, Judge posted a meme that suggested using septic tanks with pressure cannons to hose down rioters, VC Star reported.
The Simi Valley Democratic Club and the Ventura County Democratic Party both called for Judge to resign, according to the paper. He was elected to the City Council in 2010.
Two petitions calling for Judge’s resignation have started on Change.org, one that has garnered close to 3,500 signatures and another with nearly 6,000 as of Friday night.
In his email to the young activist, Judge wrote that the city has been “targeted on social media platforms with threats of violence and with blatant acts of destructive graffiti in our city.”
The exchange puts into stark reality the anxiety felt by local officials as demonstrations play out across Southern California. After peaceful demonstrations devolved into looting and anarchy in other parts of Los Angeles last week, such as in Santa Monica, Long Beach and Van Nuys, business owners are not taking any chances.
Most demonstrations, however, have been void of vandalism or looting.
Even protests such as this one in Simi, organized by students, have drawn fears from businesses who bordered up their shops just in case vandalism did break out. The same went for businesses in the South Bay where 1,000 demonstrators marched from Manhattan Beach to Hermosa Beach on Tuesday, June 2.
Darren Williams, CEO of Wescom Credit Union joined four other employees passing out water and snacks to demonstrators near City Hall. He said it was important for his bank to support the cause, and they even gave employees a day off specifically to participate in a protest.
“We are so pleased to be a part of this peaceful protest,” Williams said. “We knew this was being organized by a gifted young woman. Our employees know this the only way change is going to happen.”
Mani Milner, 21, from Simi Valley up a sign more specific than most others. It’s said “Justice for Feras Morad.”
A federal jury ruled in favor of the Long Beach police officer who fatally shot the Cal State Long Beach student, deciding the officer did not use excessive force during their 2015 confrontation after the young man fell or jumped out of a second-story window. Morad was a 2013 graduate of El Camino Real Charter High School in Woodland Hills and a nationally ranked debater.
Morad was with his debate-team friends in an apartment in the 4600 block of East 15th Street when he fell out of the window onto an alley or jumped. Milner said her sister was among Morad’s friends.
After Morad’s death, his family sued – alleging, among other things, negligence and excessive force – the officer, Police Chief Robert Luna and the city of Long Beach. The family was seeking $28 million in damages.
“It showed me that in mental crisis police won’t help at all,” Milner said. “I refuse to support people who refuse to help us.”
Milner said she cried for hours after seeing video of George Floyd dying at the hands of police.
“I refuse to let this happen to anyone else,” Milner said. “I will be the voice for those who don’t have one.”
At least one counterprotester appeared, screaming slogans in opposition to the march, as the crowd gathered in a park beside City Hall. The crowd chanted “peaceful, peaceful, peaceful” in response. Only a handful of such counterprotesters were visible at the event.
Protesters planned to recall the 1992 verdict in the videotaped Rodney King beating, which lit the fuse to widespread rioting. Four white officers were taped repeatedly beating the black motorist during a 1991 arrest in front of a San Fernando Valley apartment building.
Pat Szerman, 63, attended the rally in Simi with her daughter and grandson, saying she was driven to come out by the recent comments of Judge, which she called “despicable”“I agree with free speech,” she said. “But there is a line.”
As for the Rodney King trial that took place in Simi nearly 30 years ago, Szerman said it was a bad rap, asserting that the verdict unfairly painted the community as insensitive.
In 1992, the accused officers’ trial was moved to Simi Valley, a then-largely white suburb, home to scores of law officers. After seven days of deliberations, jurors acquitted the officers of almost all charges, deadlocking on one assault count. Soon after the verdict was read, an angry Mayor Tom Bradley denounced it as “senseless,” declaring, “The jury’s verdict will never blind the world to what we saw on the videotape.” As word of the verdict spread, protests, rioting, fires and looting erupted and endured for days.
“Our courthouse took responsibility for holding that trial,” she said, adding that the stigma has lingered for years.
Saturday marks 11 days straight of demonstrations throughout Los Angeles, sparked by the Memorial Day killing of George Floyd at the hands of police. The protests, many of them led by Black Lives Matter groups, have expanded to include police brutality and racial discrimination in general.
Neighborhoods from the coast to the valley have organized rallies and marches over the past week as a way to take back the message of the movement from one dominated by images of vandalism and looting to one of peaceful non-violence.
Gwen Peters, 52, from Moorpark, said she was proud of her community for coming out in such force.
“It was beautiful,” she said. “I saw people of every color, ethnicity and gender type. We came to make our voices be heard for equality for all.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.