Dr. Nerdo Saurio Rex

June 13 anniversary of the eviction of the South Central Farmers.
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What was the fight for the South Central Farm? This land was given to the community as one of the solutions to resolve the unrest following the 1992 LA riots. Instead of applying for welfare programs, local families applied for plots of land to grow their own food at the SCF. Unfortunately, these 14 acres were sold via a back room deal by the corrupt LA City council and the district representative Jan Perry to developer Ralph Horowitz. The legal and community battle to preserve the farm was one of the struggles that engaged me as an activist in my high school years. I participated in the occupation of the land up until we were forced out by LAPD.

The farmers were displaced June 13 2006. I still remember that sad day. The morning that we were raided by LAPD I called all my activist friends in the Los Angeles MEChA Central Network and activists at Lynwood High School. So many people from the local community came out to protest the eviction day. The amount of LAPD officers present that day was insane. Police brutality was, of course, rampant.

I am thankful that it lit a fire inside me to fight for social justice in my community. I continued to work with the group afterwards and it inspired my ongoing activism and scholarship.

Fun fact: In the first image above I was in the 11th grade and this was the same morning that the farmers and activists were forced out of the farm. Many activists, of course, stayed behind and participated in civil disobedience—chaining themselves to fences and other parts of the farmland.

The farm may be gone but the movements and people it inspired have grown and flourished since then. I am happy to have been part of that experience.

For those attending NACCS. I’ll be presenting Thursday at 2:30. Cyall soon!