Video: ‘Stop the violence,’ LAPD chief and rapper the Game urge in a new anti-violence PSA
LAPD Chief Charlie Beck and Compton rapper The Game released a public service announcement Wednesday encouraging an end to violence in Los Angeles. (LAPD)
The unexpected alliance between Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck and rapper the Game continued Wednesday as the pair released a public service announcement aimed at quelling violence across the city.
The 48-second clip — the first, the LAPD said, in a series of anti-violence videos involving public figures — was the latest signal of an ongoing partnership between the police chief and the Compton rapper, a coalition born out of an impromptu meeting at police headquarters this month.
The video opened with a somber Beck listing statistics about violence last year in Los Angeles. Almost 1,000 people were shot in 2015, the chief said. Almost 300 of them died. Eighty percent of both the victims and shooters, he added, “were young men of color.â€
“We have to stop killing one another,†the Game said.
“It’s time for a change,†Beck said. “It’s time to stop the violence.â€
“Stop the violence,†the rapper ended. “Be the change.â€
Beck and the Game, whose real name is Jayceon Terrell Taylor, initially met almost two weeks ago, after the entertainer and fellow rapper Snoop Dogg led a peaceful march to the LAPD’s downtown headquarters, arriving during a graduation ceremony for new officers.
Rappers the Game and Snoop Dogg lead a march Friday morning to the Los Angeles Police Department’s headquarters in downtown L.A.
The demonstration came the morning after a deadly attack on police in Dallas and days after two high-profile police killings of black men in Minnesota and Louisiana — shootings that rattled nerves and renewed tensions over race and policing across the country.
After the graduation ended, a handful of people from the march — including Snoop Dogg and the Game — met privately with Beck, Mayor Eric Garcetti and other police officials for about 45 minutes. The conversation, the group later told reporters, focused on their shared anger over the week’s events and the need for open dialogue in addressing not only shootings by police but violence overall.
There have been other meetings since then, including a town hall meeting the Game hosted Sunday in South L.A. Hundreds of people, including current and former gang members, attended.
“Your life should mean more to you,†the Game told the crowd. “Your life should mean more to you than what you’re showing.â€
Garcetti and Beck also dropped by, shaking hands with the rapper outside the venue.
Follow me on Twitter: @katemather
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