“A Compassionate City:” - Rutgers University

¡°A Compassionate City:¡±

OVER-POLICING OF BLACK AND LATINX YOUTH IN POMONA, CALIFORNIA

¡°A C O M PA S S I O N AT E C I T Y: ¡± OV E R - P O L I C I N G O F B L A C K A N D L AT I N X Y O U T H I N P O M O N A , C A L I F O R N I A

About the Authors

Acknowledgments

We¡¯d like to thank Gente

Organizada, in particular, Jesus

Sanchez and Pomona residents,

for their unwavering trust in the

fruition of this report that will

uplift the strength and power

of Pomona and the everlasting

fight for social justice. To the

American Civil Liberties Union

of Southern California¡ªVictor

Leung, Eva Bitran, Minouche

Kandel, Adrienna Wong, and

Doreen Govari¡ªthank you for

sharing your legal expertise

and thoughtful feedback

that amounted to this report.

We¡¯d also like to thank our

colleagues at the University of

San Francisco and University of

California, Davis, who provided

insight at the early stages of

this report. Finally, we¡¯d like to

acknowledge those who have

passed due to the COVID-19

pandemic. This pandemic

has had a disproportionate

impact on Black, Indigenous,

People of Color and has been

exacerbated and prolonged by

policies that prioritize profit over

people¡¯s lives. We¡¯ve lost too

many lives unnecessarily, and

we continue this work to fight

forward for them.

Bianca N. Haro, Ph.D., a feminista-educator-activist, is a firstgeneration college graduate and daughter of immigrant parents

from Guadalajara, Jalisco. In 2020, Bianca graduated from the

University of California, Los Angeles Graduate School of Education

and Information Studies with a doctorate in Education. Currently,

she is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Sociology at Pitzer College.

Using a Critical Race Feminista Praxis, her research examines the

factors that push Latina students out of school. Her commitment

to research is paired with a dedication to organizing with and for

Communities of Color. She is currently collaborating with Gente

Organizada, a community-led social action nonprofit organization

based in Pomona, California. Bianca¡¯s research agenda is a lifelong commitment to centering the voices of youth who are often

overlooked in research, policy, practice, and social justice efforts.

Frank Carlos Guzman Jr., is a Pomona resident and community

activist. In 2020, he graduated from the University of Michigan,

Ann Arbor, with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Applied

Statistics. Currently, he is a second-year Master¡¯s of Public Policy

candidate at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Frank

has 6+ years of experience in data analysis, political campaign

consulting, community organizing, nonprofit management,

legislative research, and strategic communications. His expertise

carries into working directly with his community through efforts with

Gente Organizada and the Pomona Leadership Network. Frank

is passionate and committed to fighting social inequities, poverty

alleviation, digital governance, and data-driven decision-making in

public policy.

Photographs courtesy of Brenda Gomez, Gente Organizada board member

and University of California, Berkeley student.

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¡°A C O M PA S S I O N AT E C I T Y: ¡± OV E R - P O L I C I N G O F B L A C K A N D L AT I N X Y O U T H I N P O M O N A , C A L I F O R N I A

Executive Summary

The Los Angeles Police Department, New York Police Department, and the Chicago

Police Department, to name a few, have notoriously had some of the worst policing

practices. This past summer, after George Floyd¡¯s death, thousands of people took

to the streets nationwide demanding an end to police brutality and racial injustice.

Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC)1 are most affected by policing practices

directly linked to centuries of systemic oppression and White supremacy. Despite the

ongoing training police officers receive, including the use of body cameras, the push

to diversify the police force, and other efforts to ¡°reform¡± the institution of policing,

these efforts have failed to effectively reduce police brutality and disparate harm

of BIPOC (Vitale, 2017). Policing malpractices and deaths at the hands of police

officers persist, not to mention police brutality that permeates institutions of learning

and consequently pushes young people out of school.

This report highlights the disproportionate arrests of Black and Latinx youth by

the Pomona Police Department (PPD). Our goal is to center the malpractices of a

police department that does not receive the same attention as a large metropolitan

police department yet suffers from similar systemic issues of racial injustice and

police brutality. In response to the question ¡°Where is justice needed most?¡± justice

is needed most for Black and Latinx youth in Pomona, California. We honor the

work of youth, parents, and community activists, as well as a social action nonprofit

organization, Gente Organizada, who together have demanded accountability

from its city leaders and PPD for the mistreatment of youth.

We capitalize Black, Indigenous, People of Color/Boys and Young Men of Color/Girls

and Young Women of Color as a means to challenge the marginalization of these groups.

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S a m u e l D eW i t t P r o c t o r I n s t i t u t e f o r L e a d e r s h i p , E q u i t y , & J u s t i c e

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¡°A C O M PA S S I O N AT E C I T Y: ¡± OV E R - P O L I C I N G O F B L A C K A N D L AT I N X Y O U T H I N P O M O N A , C A L I F O R N I A

Introduction

Pomona, California, also known by its prideful residents as ¡°P-Town,¡± is located at the eastern edge of Los Angeles

County and the western edge of the Inland Empire. In 2018, the City of Pomona declared itself a ¡°Compassionate

City.¡± Despite this declaration, the city and its leaders have fallen short of the proclaimed standard and have

not progressed to better the lives of its community members. This is especially daunting as a large share of the

population of Pomona consists of historically excluded people in the United States. The City of Pomona has the

largest population in east Los Angeles County despite being one of the poorest in the region, with a population

of over 150,000, a per capita income of $21,257, and a poverty rate of 17.9%¡ªdiffering from state averages

of $36,955 and 11.8% respectively. Almost 90% of Pomona residents identify as Black, Latinx, Asian, American

Native and Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander, or two or more races. Census data

reveals 34.1% of Pomona residents are foreign-born (U.S. Census Bureau, 2019).

Table 1. Race and Hispanic Origin, 2019

In 2018, the City of Pomona

declared itself a ¡°Compassionate

City.¡± Despite this declaration,

the city and its leaders have

fallen short of the proclaimed

standard and have not

progressed to better the lives of

its community members.

RACE AND HISPANIC ORIGIN

PERCENT %

Black or African American alone

5.6

American Indian and Alaska Native alone

2.4

Asian alone

10.2

Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific

Islander alone

0.1

Two or More Races

4.4

Hispanic or Latino

71.7

White alone, not Hispanic or Latino

10.8

SEX

PERCENT %

Female persons

50.6

Male persons

49.4

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¡°A C O M PA S S I O N AT E C I T Y: ¡± OV E R - P O L I C I N G O F B L A C K A N D L AT I N X Y O U T H I N P O M O N A , C A L I F O R N I A

The City of Pomona is much poorer and more densely

populated than surrounding cities¡ªincluding Ontario,

Chino Hills, Claremont, among others¡ªand has a

significantly larger non-White population. For years,

these statistics and residents of surrounding cities

have painted narratives of Pomona as inferior. For

instance, people who live nearby refer to and look at

Pomona as a ¡°dumping ground¡± where other cities

bring their problems. Many Pomona residents can

attest to seeing out-of-city law enforcement dropping

off people experiencing homelessness in Pomona.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated inequities

as neighboring cities have extracted labor from

Pomona residents, putting them at heightened risk

of COVID-19. Additionally, the City of Pomona has

never had a program dedicated to youth diversion

from the criminal justice system. Most city spending

on youth attempts to improve police relationships with

youth¡ªnot youth development, park rehabilitation,

youth programs, or sports, but police. As city budgets

reflect our city leaders¡¯ values, it remains clear that

city leadership does not have a positive outlook for

the future of our youth.

While law enforcement is meant to serve, protect, and

uphold public safety, numerous personal anecdotes

reveal that Pomona residents are wary of and

traumatized by the police. Encounters with police,

the trauma inflicted by police officers, and sentiments

of distrust are systemically rooted in racial injustice.

An analysis of large police departments exposes a

positive correlation between the non-White share

of the population and law enforcement spending

nationwide. In other terms, where more Black,

Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) populations

exist, law enforcement spending is typically increased.

Table 2. Population and Income, 2019

POMONA

(LAC)

ONTARIO

(SBC)

CHINO

(SBC)

CHINO HILLS

(SBC)

DIAMOND

BAR (LAC)

CLAREMONT

(LAC)

LA VERNE

(LAC)

Population

151,691

185,010

94,371

83,853

55,720

36,266

31,974

Non-White population %

89.20%

84.10%

75.50%

70.50%

83.00%

51.10%

50.40%

Per capita income

$21,257

$23,476

$25,346

$39,607

$39,646

$44,536

$41,442

Persons in poverty, %

17.90%

13.60%

10.40%

6.00%

6.10%

6.60%

7.80%

Population per square

mile

6,494.30

3,282.40

2,631.10

1,674.10

3,732.80

2,616.60

3,684.80

We capitalize Black, Indigenous, People of Color/Boys and Young Men of Color/Girls and Young Women of Color as a means to challenge the

marginalization of these groups.

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