From Cop To Progressive Prosecutor: George Gascón

Latino USA

My Cultura, Futuro and iHeartPodcasts

Society & Culture

4.9 • 3.7K Ratings

🗓️ 22 December 2020

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

George Gascón was recently elected as Los Angeles County’s District Attorney, and his victory was hailed as a big win for a movement of progressive prosecutors aiming to end mass incarceration. Gascón immigrated from Cuba to Cudahy, a suburb of Los Angeles, as a teenager. He spent more than thirty years as a police officer before becoming District Attorney for San Francisco in 2011. On this episode of Latino USA, Gascón talks with Maria Hinojosa about getting harassed by the cops as a teenager, how his years as a cop shaped his philosophy of law enforcement, and his vision for his new job.

Transcript

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0:00.0	From Futuromiria, it's Latino USA.
0:12.9	I'm Maria Inohosa.
0:14.3	Today, a conversation with a Cuban-American Democrat grew up in Los Angeles, became a police
0:20.8	chief and now is a progressive prosecutor, district attorney George Gaskon.
0:32.8	George Gaskon was born in Cuba in the 1950s, though at that time he wasn't called George.
0:39.6	No, no, they named me Jorge.
0:42.8	But then I went in the army and people kept spelling my name, G-O-R-G-E, and I finally
0:48.8	relented.
0:51.3	Gaskon moved with his family to Los Angeles County when he was 13.
0:56.1	He held on to his native language, but his Cuban Spanish started to change.
1:01.3	I grew up around Mexicans more than I did around Cubans, who actually went around Mexicans.
1:05.2	I sound less and less like a Cuban.
1:07.2	I had to be around Cubans for a few hours before I began to sound Cuban again.
1:13.5	Gaskon adapted to his new home and as a young man he joined the Los Angeles Police Department.
1:19.6	Now, he's making headlines for reasons that you might not expect from someone who spent
1:24.9	decades as a police officer.
1:27.5	Gaskon was recently elected as district attorney for Los Angeles County, which is the largest
1:33.6	local prosecutor's office in the country.
1:37.0	And his victory has been hailed as a major win for a movement of progressive prosecutors
1:43.0	who want to end mass incarceration and overhaul the United States law enforcement system from
1:49.2	the inside.
1:51.2	Gaskon has had a circuitous journey from beat cop to top prosecutor.
	...

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