Scroll down for a selection of past Knock LA video productions and releases. Subscribe to the Knock LA YouTube channel, then click the bell and choose All for notifications. Follow @groundgamela on Twitch for live broadcasts.
On October 15, 2022, deputies with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s department jumped out of their patrol vehicle and attacked Blake Anderson. Anderson works as a security guard at the hookah lounge. Deputies smashed him into the glass window, breaking it, beat him and slammed him head into concrete. Deputies put a gun to his head during the beat down. They pointed guns at the crowd filming them. Blake has been charged with assault on a police officer. Footage exclusively obtained by Cerise Castle. Read our story and support our reporting on Patreon.
EXCLUSIVE: Knock LA uncovered additional leaked conversations from the LA Federation of Labor. Listen to former Mitch O’Farrell staffer Hannah Cho and disgraced former LA Federation of Labor President and Ron Herrera discuss their preference for Mitch O’Farrell over Hugo Soto-Martinez as a candidate for city council district 13 in September 2021. O’Farrell succeeded Nury Martinez after her racist remarks prompted her resignation. Cho speaks about buying off endorsements of Democratic clubs like the Stonewall Democratic Club and LA County Young Democrats. Cho was an O’Farrell staffer until April 2022. Read our story and support our reporting on Patreon.
Knock LA uncovered additional leaked conversations from the LA Federation of Labor. Former LA Federation of Labor president Ron Herrera discusses moving funds around with an unnamed individual. Read our story and support our reporting on Patreon.
Knock LA uncovered additional leaked conversations from the LA Federation of Labor. Former LA Federation of Labor president Ron Herrera says that City Council District 13 candidate Hugo Soto-Martinez “sold out.” Herrera says Soto-Martinez should have absolute support of Herrera. Read our story and support our reporting on Patreon.
LA City Council members Nury Martinez, Gil Cedillo, Kevin De Leon and LA Federation of Labor President Ron Herrera embark on a racist rant while planning redistricting. They slur Black people, indigenous Americans, the Armenian community, advocate for child abuse, and plot to appoint Heather Hutt as a member of the council without an election. Read our story and support our reporting on Patreon.
On May 23, 2022, Knock LA presented the third Knock LA sheriff’s candidate forum. This covered training, jails, and alternatives to incarceration. Moderated by Cerise Castle, the author of A Tradition of Violence. The primary is June 7th.
[Content Warning: Violence] This is footage of Deputy Douglas Johnson kneeling on the head of Enzo Escalante, a man incarcerated at a Los Angeles County jail facility. Los Angeles Times reporter Alene Tchekmedyian reported on claims that Sheriff Villanueva directed a cover-up of the investigation of this use-of-force and is now the subject of a department investigation. California’s Shield Law provides absolute protection to both journalists and their sources who share unpublished information with the public. Sheriff Villanueva has also overseen ongoing harassment of the family members of people killed by deputies, who often have little to no resources for support. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department cannot investigate journalists for doing their jobs. We stand in solidarity with Alene. Share this video to show support. #LASDCoverup
On April 25th, 2022, at 6pm, Knock LA is presented an in-person sheriff candidates forum in Antelope Valley. It was co-moderated by Cerise Castle, the author of A Tradition of Violence, the History of Deputy Gangs in the LASD. Sheriff Alex Villanueva initially agreed to the event, but then backed out, saying the forum is not being put on by “community organizations.” Groups co-hosting the event include victims of deputy violence.
This is the most important race for LA County Sheriff in history
On April 5, 2022, at 7 PM, Knock LA hosted its first sheriff candidate forum, moderated by Cerise Castle. We tackled community issues, on the record.
The candidates for one of the City of LA’s most powerful, least understood offices answer questions about their vision for this. The City Attorney deals with misdemeanor prosecution, corporate polluters, wage theft, and more. Hosted by Kate Cagle of Spectrum News 1. Moderated by Marissa Roy of LA City Attorney Coalition.
Unrig LA and Ground Game LA discuss redistricting in Los Angeles.
Join us as writers and editors from Knock LA talk about their articles and raise money for Ground Game LA! Donate here.
Join community leaders and demand a permanent child tax credit!
Special KNOCK at Nite: A Tradition of Violence The History of Deputy Gangs in the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department
Live in conversation: bushidosquirrel, Maggie Clancy, Liam Fitzpatrick, Cerise Castle, and Andrés Dae Keun Kwon, Policy Counsel and Senior Organizer at the ACLU of Southern California
Footage right before LAPD arrests dozens of journalists and protestors on the streets near Echo Park Lake. Minutes later, two of our journalists—Kate Gallagher and Jon Peltz—were arrested.
Read more about that night here and follow all our Echo Park Lake coverage.
Footage by Kate Gallagher
At sunrise on March 24, 2021, the Echo Park Lake Tent Community held a peaceful action alongside hundreds of local allies. By sunset, 60 cop cars, two buses and sanitation trucks were poised to destroy the community that had been building in the park for the last year. Then, 400 cops descended and kettled, using force and entrapping anyone left. Queen, a resident and activist living in Echo Park, delivered this speech to the crowds.
Hosts @bushidosquirrel and @christopherroth (and Terry!) are having a conversation with @robquan_ focusing on redistricting in LA this week!
This week we’ve got Eleanor Bray and Rachel Ben-Menachen hosting! – @bushidosquirrel joins us for a rundown of the COVID timeline! – Teddy & Vivienne here to talk about the Ground Game LA Youth organizing and what it takes to organize your teachers! – Wendy Barranco and Kylie Jansen here to talk about Mutual Aid LA and the Community Health Worker (CHW) Program! – Tabatha Yelós here from the Nithya Raman office to talk about the transition their team went through from campaign work into holding power in a city council office. – Steve Diaz and Stasi Cusack-Mercedez here from LA CAN to talk about the organizing work that’s been going on in Skid Row! AND THEN WE HAVE A CONVERSATION WITH 6 FOLKS TO WRAP IT ALL UP!
After today’s disappointing vote on the future of the CSP program, POWER‘s Bill Przylucki called in to offer some perspective of what’s going on RIGHT NOW in the organizing work within Los Angeles’s public housing communities.
Chris took a few minutes after the Los Angeles City Council meeting on February 9th 2021 to explain what TFAR refers to and how it works to allow megadevelopments in Los Angeles to avoid having to include affordable units in their projects. Note: Chris is not an expert on this, nor a lawyer, but is providing a good-faith effort with what familiarity he has gleaned from a few years of interacting with municipal government on these kinds of issues. Please let us know if he’s mistaken in any of this!
Beratnas! It’s time. Let’s talk CLASS WAR in SPACE! Hosts @bushidosquirrel, @Loganchance, & @christopherroth are LIVE to discuss the politics, technology, & class struggle in The Expanse.
This week we’ve got Eleanor Bray and Caroline Johnson hosting! We’re joined by @bushidosquirrel for some emergency preparedness discussion, and guests Channing Martinez from the Bus Riders Union & Tyler Sandness from Rideshare Drivers United to talk about non-traditional organizing! Plus a special $GME investor guest appearance!
We had Alex Cave of Ktown For All and Rob Quan of Unrig LA joining Chris Roth to talk all about how to give public comment in municipal meetings in Los Angeles. We cover the Board of Supervisors, the City Council, the Police Commission, the Civilian Oversight Commission, and even Neighborhood Councils! We also answered a bunch of questions and gave some general tips & tricks that are super useful for anyone interested in giving public comment! Toolkit here
KNOCK at NITE is live with @BushidoSquirrel and @VickBooz. We’re talking to Daniel Lee, CA State Senate Candidate, and Mike Dickerson, co-founder of Ktown for All.
Organizers, tenants, and artists visited the homes of all 5 LA County Board of Supervisors members to wake them up to the fact that it’s time to Cancel The Rent! With appearances by Right To The City Alliance (Twitter: @ourcityRTTC, Facebook: @RTCalliance, IG: @ourcityRTTC), Cancel Rent Collective (Twitter: @CancelRentLA, Facebook: @CancelRentCollectiveLA, IG: @CancelRentCollective), Community Power Collective (Twitter: @cpcolectivo, Facebook: @cpcolectivo, IG: @cpcolectivo), Eviction Defense Network (Facebook: @evictiondefensenetwork, IG: @evictiondefensenetwork), and performances by La Marisoul (Twitter: @LaMarisoul, Facebook: @LaMarisoulMusica, IG: @la_marisoul), Mariachi SuperEstrella, Chakra Sok: Cambodian Classical Dance (IG: @chakra.sok), Le Balet Dembaya (Twitter: @LDembaya, Facebook: @leballetdembaya, IG: @leballetdembaya), Bloco Obini/Extra Ancestral: Afro Brazilian Drumming (Facebook: @blocoobini, @extraancestral, IG: @bloco_obini, @extraancestral)
Hosts Trinidad Ruiz and @bushidosquirrel are here with guests Walt Senterfitt, a founding member of the Los Angeles Tenant’s Union, and Iris De Anda of the group Reclaim and Rebuild Our Community. Support our work on Patreon and follow us on Twitter.
Hosts Tabatha Yelós and John Motter are joined by Sasha Grey and @bushidosquirrel to talk about COVID-19, organizing, mutual aid, and a whole bunch of other topics. Support our work on Patreon and follow us on Twitter.
Ground Game’s @bushidosquirrel is hosting a panel of badass lawyers to talk through Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon’s new sentencing and other reforms.
On October 22nd, 2020, protestors gathered in front of the SoCalGas Company Tower in Downtown Los Angeles to demand Governor Newsom put people, health and climate above SoCalGas profits. Hosts Nicole Levin and Christopher Roth are joined by live on-the-ground coverage from Jasmyn Vargas, Alex Nagy and Walker Foley from Food and Water Action. We’re also joined by guests Dr. Loraine Lundquist, Andrew Krowne, and Scott Schmerelson. Gov. Newsom must keep his promise to #ShutAlisoDown! He promised Los Angeles families he would shut down Aliso Canyon but instead, use of Aliso has increased by 3000% since he was elected. SoCalGas is a very bad actor. They are dodging investigations at the CPUC, suing the state for not promoting “natural” gas enough, and misusing customer funds to lobby for policy that benefits its bottom line. Here’s a thread for more background on the impact the leak has had on nearby communities.
This episode Chris, Caroline, Steven, Rachel, and Motter chat politics and decarceration in Los Angeles. Support our work on Patreon and follow us on Twitter.
Voting is just the beginning. Let’s get together and fix the city we love. Join us every Thursday night in Hollywood for open-door meetings @GroundGameLA
This is part 2 of the KNOCK.LA 2020 Progressive Voter Guide presented by [email protected]! October 14, 2020
This is part 1 of the KNOCK.LA 2020 Progressive Voter Guide presented by [email protected]! October 7, 2020
Hosts Rob Quan (tw: @RobQuan_) of Unrig LA (tw: @unrigla) and Chris Roth (tw: @christopherroth) of Ground Game LA (tw: @GroundGameLA) present a crash course on how to use the ethics.lacity.org website to Follow the Money at LA City Hall! We go through the basics and answer some great questions from the Twitch and FB audience who tuned in live when we recorded this. Hit us up on Twitter if you’ve got more questions for Round 2 of this presentation which we will ABSOLUTELY have to do soon.
Host @christopherroth breaks down the basics of what the LA City Council is and how they conduct their business!
A Crash Course in Local LA Organizing, brought to you by: – Ground Game LA (groundgamela.org @GroundGameLA) – Nithya Raman for City Council District 4 (nithyaforthecity.com @cd4losangeles) – Ktown For All (ktownforall.org @KtownForAll) – Black Policy Project (@uclabpp) – LA Forward (laforward.org) Speakers: – Kendall Mayhew, Co-Founder, Ground Game – @kmay (Tw) @ladykmay (IG) – Meghan Choi, Co-Campaign Manager, Nithya Raman for City Council District 4 – Sherin Varghese, Co-Founder, Ktown For All – @rehashingverse @sherinv1984 – Tim Hayes, Organizer, Ground Game – @bushidosquirrel – Mariesa Samba, Graduate Researcher, Black Policy Project – Godfrey Santos Plata, Organizer, LA Forward – @GodfreyPlata
Guests Maggie Clancy (@maggieclancy) of Knock LA, Cait Raft (@caitraft) of the @hotandrichshow, and Ashley Bennet (@AshleyNicholeB) of Ground Game LA join our hosts @VickBooz and @Rachel_Reyes to discuss the USPS, shitty famous people and alleged property schemes, and organizing with the unhoused community at Echo Park Lake.
Guests Bailey Benningfield (@baileybenns) of Knock LA, Paisley Mares (@paisleymares) of the LA Tenants Union, and Theo Henderson (@TheoHen95302259) of the We the Unhoused podcast join our hosts @BushidoSquirrel and @Rachel_Reyes to discuss housing issues, from the perspective of activists who are both housed and unhoused.
Guests Annie Powers (@abolishollywood) of KNOCK LA, Melissa Acedera (@mellemusic) of Polo’s Pantry, and Kiran Wali of LifeKit LA (@lifekitla) join our hosts @VickBooz and @BushidoSquirrel to discuss recent LAHSA firings and their connection to Councilman Mitch O’Farrell’s office, and food equity activism in Los Angeles!