Fighting Back

The STEP Act

The powers and pressures of the criminal justice system were increased by the California Street Terrorism Enhancement and Prevention Act (STEP Act) of 1988, and a list of interrelated laws. During the first phase of the prison expansion program in the mid 1980s, California declared war on gangs, specifically targeting Los Angeles County as the region where these new programs would be developed.

The STEP Act and the events leading up to its implementation, made evident what the ROC-ers had  already feared: the “system” had for years created a profile against young people whose rights and prospects were statutorily different from others. The Task Force on Youth Gang Violence argued that the region in most need of surveillance and control was in the Southland, profiling Black and Brown youth as gang members (California State Task Force 1986).

The act’s directive to identify all gang members within their jurisdictions seemed to the mothers likely to create indiscriminate listings based on race and space, in turn transforming any kind of youthful stepping out of line into serious confrontations with the system. With their new knowledge about the STEP Act, the ROC-ers decided to evolve their stage of activism.

Strategy

They created a flyer titled MOTHERS WARN YOUR CHILDREN, alerting and instructing parents to forbid their children to sign papers or allow their pictures to be taken by police on the street.

Mothers ROC’s mission was to be seen, heard and felt in the interest of justice. In order for MROC to achieve this goal it convened its activism on the varying stages of the criminal justice system. Their mission was to extend their invitation to all mothers and others struggling on the similar injustices, reaching plethoras of audiences.

A primary method was leafleting public places around jails, prisons, police stations, and courthouses in order to make their presence and organization known. This tactic allowed members of MROC to engage with the public mobilizing their organization while also educating the masses. Handing out business cards and flyers was not the only thing MROC provided, they engaged in public talks in primary and secondary schools, universities and colleges, churches, prisons and jails. This platform boosted MROC’s ability to make their presence known on a geopolitical stage.

ROC unconditionally invited all mothers to fight on behalf of their children in the system.   

In addition, ROC conducted meetings with attorneys, attended trials, and observed courtroom practices to familiarize themselves with strategies the justice system used to ensnare innocent children into the penal system. This would ultimately prepare ROC to demand answers from the justice systems actions and hold them accountable for their wrong doings.