Black Lives Matter Statement

The MOCA Union and Afscme Local 126 stand in solidarity with Black Lives Matter and the uprisings taking place across the country against systemic violence and white supremacy.

We honor the memories of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Jamel Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony McDade, Nina Pop and commit to fighting on behalf of the millions of other Black Americans who have experienced racial violence at the hands of police brutality and mass incarceration.

As we see it, the labor movement is about fighting for the rights of working people across every industry. Police Unions have historically stood in opposition to racial and economic justice and have held the labor movement back from achieving a grander vision. Their position is antithetical to the larger project of organized labor.

We call on our parent union, AFSCME, as well as the AFL-CIO, to end their affiliation with Police Unions and direct their sizable political power towards the goal of defunding the Police.

We also call on MOCA, and museums everywhere, to go beyond vague statements of diversity and inclusion and enact concrete actions towards dismantling oppression. At the very least, we would like to see MOCA no longer contract the services of the LAPD for events. On a larger scale, we want to see the museum disentangle itself financially from individuals and organizations that bolster this type of oppression.

The labor movement must be a crucial component of racial justice. The pursuit of economic justice should be enacted in tandem with the pursuit of the abolition of anti-Blackness in all its forms.