While police sirens rang in the background and a law enforcement helicopter circled above, Baba Akili stood calmly on the southwest corner of Temple Boulevard and Main Street in Downtown Los Angeles surrounded by hundreds of protesters who were still catching their breath after running away from police.
As a longtime activist and national field coordinator for Black Lives Matter Grassroots (BLM), Akili is no stranger to these streets.
For years, Akili and BLM held weekly protests against the District Attorney at the Hall of Justice, a block away from where Akili stood when we ran into him during an anti-ICE protest on June 10.
That afternoon, wearing a dark blue suit jacket, checkered button down shirt, a keffiyeh draped on his shoulders, and a fedora hat, Akili took to the same streets that he marched in back in 2020, not just to stand up for immigrants, “but all innocent people,” he said during a brief street interview with L.A. Public Press and L.A. TACO.
“We are outraged that the federal government sends in troops to snatch people off the street and that’s frightening and traumatic to a lot of people,” Akili said. “And if others of us don't stand up and stand with them then they will be more frightened.”