Paul Holdengräber is joined by George Gascón on episode 125 of The Quarantine Tapes. George is currently running for Los Angeles District Attorney. Their conversation hits on a wide range of topics, from the value of learning history to the DA’s role in countering environmental injustice.

Much of the episode is spent on issues of policing and criminal justice, as George tells Paul about his early career as a police officer. They talk about how his perspective changed greatly as he saw the harms of our current system of policing, then dig into the threat of the increasing militarization of police and the need to reduce the size of the criminal justice system.

Bio

George Gascón has spent his life working to make sure our justice system works for everyone, not just the wealthy & well-connected. George is a Cuban immigrant and an army veteran, raised in Southeast Los Angeles, most recently serving as San Francisco’s DA. Prior to his time in SF, he served 20 yrs on LAPD, then was recruited to serve as Chief of Police in Mesa, AZ, where he made national headlines taking on anti-immigrant Sheriff Joe Arpaio. As DA in San Francisco, he reduced violent crime to historic lows, prosecuted public corruption, and fought to reform our criminal justice system to make it more effective. 

George is the LA County Democratic Party & CA Democratic Party endorsed candidate for LA County DA, and has also received the endorsements of the LA Times, Governor Gavin Newsom, US Senators Kamala Harris, Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren, Congressmembers Maxine Waters, Tony Cardenas, Alan Lowenthal & Ayanna Pressley, State Senator Holly Mitchell, BLM co-founder Patrisse Cullors, Activist Dolores Huerta, and many more leaders, activists, and organizations.

Credits:

Paul Holdengraber - Co-Creator, Host, OLA Director
Anthony Audi - Co-Creator, Researcher, OLA Director
Alejandro Cohen - Co-Creator, Producer, Composer
Christian Pitt - Production Coordinator 
Erin Cooney - Copy, Production
Dublab Team