Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón announced today the creation of the office’s first-ever African American Advisory Board, one of several advisory boards he formed to open dialogue toward building safer, healthier and more equitable communities.
“Although there have been milestones in civil rights, we still have a long, long way to go on the road to ending racism and discrimination in our criminal legal system,” District Attorney Gascón said. “Our new advisory board creates a precedent for my office to truly listen and learn from the African American community.”
The board will advise the District Attorney and his office regarding policies, priority issues and best practices related to the African American community and the criminal legal system. Members will meet regularly, conduct outreach and work to improve diversity and inclusion within the office.
Some of the appointees have ties to Eric Garcetti and Karen Bass who hopes to be the next mayor of Los Angeles.
The members are Charity Chandler-Cole, Aurianna Angelique, Donna Brown, Marcus Huntley, Tim Kornegay, Ramona Merchan, Erica Robinson, George Turner Jr., Bernita Walker, and Eduardo Soriano-Hewitt.
The move comes on the heels of a robust recall campaign of Gascon due to his lax policies on crime.
A judge recently ordered Gascon’s office to enforce the three strikes law, and Gascon was forced to backtrack on blatantly false accusations that the Sheriff’s department signed off on a lax sentence for a juvenile offender caught on camera hitting a mother and her baby with their car.
