Safety Showdown : South L.A. Activists Stop Train to Protest Hazards

A state assemblyman and a group of community activists stopped a train dead in its tracks Friday in a protest demanding the improvement of safety and environmental conditions of railroads that pass through South Los Angeles.

“We are going to make them clean this place up,” Assemblyman Kevin Murray (D-Los Angeles) said as he stood on the tracks that run along Slauson Avenue near San Pedro Street.

Calling the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad “a menace to our community,” Danny Bakewell, a developer and leader of the Brotherhood Crusade, said the trains violate “any type of safety for children.”

Bakewell said he has made repeated requests to the railroad for a meeting to discuss safety and environmental issues but has had no response, forcing his group to resort to civil disobedience.

Just before 10 a.m., Murray, Bakewell and about a dozen others gathered on the tracks--across the street from Brotherhood Crusade headquarters--as a four-car train approached.

The men did not move and the freight train came to a stop.

As the train sat on the tracks, Bakewell beckoned reporters over to the mangled carcass of a dog embedded in the railroad ties. “Look at this dead dog,” he said. “It could have been one of our children.”

The group of activists then marched down the tracks toward the train.

Bakewell climbed a ladder up into the yellow engine car and tried to hand a letter addressed to the railroad to the conductor, who threw it over the side of the train.

“That’s what always happens,” Bakewell said.

Burlington Northern Santa Fe officials were not available for comment.