An amazing cross-section of African-American leaders in the civil rights, political, faith and residential communities agree, VOTE NO ON MEASURE J:

BETTY PLEASANT – Wave Newspaper Contributing Editor:

“Absolutely not! NO, NO and NO. We voted a tax increase for this not so long ago and now the county is asking for some more?! With none of it going on the Crenshaw Line?! NO.”

MARK RIDLEY-THOMAS – L.A. County 2nd District Supervisor & MTA Board Member:

“In an environment where … people are asking, ‘Why are we being hit by so many different tax proposals?’ Measure J is nothing more than a distraction.”

DR. ANTHONY SAMAD – Urban Issues Forum & Past President of 100 Black Men of Los Angeles:

“Villaraigosa has the audacity to float another half cent tax bond to complete current projects—not including the Crenshaw/LAX project. Let’s me get this straight—you want the black community to tax itself, until the year 2069, for transportation projects that won’t impact nor improve our community? Well, that’s straight-up JACKING.”

LARRY AUBRY – LA Sentinel Columnist & Former Inglewood School Board Member:

“The bottom line is the Black community is getting screwed again by MTA.”

DR. SANDRA E. THOMAS – Former California State Director of NAACP:

“Measure J is filled with FALSE PROMISES of job creation and accelerated traffic relief. It manipulates voters into paying more taxes without accountability…”

MIKE DAVIS – CA 48th District Assemblyman & Chair of Assembly Select Comm. on Rail Transportation:

“Since previous promises still go unfulfilled, can we really trust this proposition?”

REV. LEWIS LOGAN II – Co-Founder of Ruach Christian Community Church:

“This is principled opposition based upon the fact that Measure J is as old as this republic and as unfair today as it was in its origins: ‘Taxation without representation!’”

BERNARD PARKS – Los Angeles 8th District City Councilman & Former MTA Board Member:

“Although I fully supported the passing of the original Measure R, this particular rendition of a tax extension, [Measure J], is not in the best interest of the community.”

DR. MELINA ABDULLAH – Activist & View Park Prep Parent:

“We refuse to pay taxes to a system that has said we are expendable.”

CAROLYN FOWLER – Past President of New Frontier Democratic Club:

“I fail to understand how Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa thinks he can so publicly oppose the South L.A. community and black community efforts for a station at Leimert Park and underground rail on Crenshaw and then turn around and expect us to vote for his vanity transportation tax that has nothing for us. Our community is politically smarter than that. Not just ‘No,’ but ‘HELL NO’ on Measure J.”

NAJEE ALI – Director of Project Islamic Hope:

“Measure J is a slap in the face to South L.A. residents. It is a form of economic apartheid.”

DR. DAVID HORNE – Council of Black Political Organizations:

“[L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa] and Metro have consistently ignored the will of the Crenshaw residents regarding the Crenshaw Light Rail project. There is nothing in the narrative of Measure J to prevent that from happening again. We supported the original Measure R, and got nothing out of it. We are being asked to blindly support another fiscal measure that will be used for the benefit of other communities, but not ours. Fool us once, and that’s enough of that.”

CELES KING IV – Vice Chair of Congress of Racial Equality-California:

“This black leader is not going for the hokey doke.”

BARBARA LOTT-HOLLAND – Co-Chair of Bus Riders Union:

“Measure J is a racist regressive sales tax that will have our grand children paying for it for the next 60 years.”

ADDITIONAL BLACK COMMUNITY VOICES AGAINST MEASURE J

NATE HOLDEN – Former Los Angeles 10th District City Councilman & Former MTA Board Member
BOB FARRELL – Former Los Angeles 8th District City Councilman
Our Weekly Newspaper
New Frontier Democratic Club
California Democratic Voting Guide
California Friends of the African-American Caucus
Black Community Clergy & Labor Alliance
L.A. Community Action Network
South L.A. Power Coalition