Eric Langberg

On Saturday afternoon, in recognition of Nakba Day — the anniversary of the beginning of the displacement and genocide of Palestinians — people marched down Wilshire Blvd in Los Angeles, from the Israeli Consulate to the Federal Building.

Photos from the @redbull Soapbox Derby 2026 in Los Angeles (@redbullsoapbox ), which sent a few dozen homemade vehicles down an obstacle course from the Walt Disney Concert Hall practically to City Hall.

Today’s meeting of the LA City Council was LONG, full of presentations, N-words, swastikas, smiles, the phrase “representation matters” tossed around a lot, a soap star, a basketball star turned mental health advocate, kids singing “Over the Rainbow,” a volleyball player turned social media sensation, and much, much (much) more. And all I want to know is: what was up with the “Evil Queen On Throne” Funko Pop sitting in front of @councilwomantracipark — who, in committee, voted against the proposed pretextual stop ban that the City Council passed otherwise-unanimously last week? Some kind of prank? Or is she embracing her role on the council?

At Tuesday’s meeting of the LAPD Board of Police Commissioners, the LA Sanctuary Coalition gave a presentation about the harmful, dangerous effects on the community of witnessing the LAPD working with ICE. After commissioners asked what they can even do about it, Father Brendan Busse from the @doloresmissionchurch and @la__voice gave the commission a succinct, one-minute sermon on the difference between guilt and shame. He refused to let them off the hook, but he gave them powerful grace as he asked them to interrogate their own complicity.

Should you ever find yourself at a meeting of the LA City Council — all of which are open to the public — I highly recommend challenging yourself to see if you can watch the way information travels around the edges of the room. These meetings are open to the public, and they’re supposed to be on the public record, but as you watch the hushed conversations happening around the margins, you may feel like you’re intruding on something. All of these photos were taken at today’s meeting of the Rules, Elections, & Intergovernmental Relations Committee.

On Wednesday at 3AM, a Homeland Security Task Force raided the homes of Leo Martinez [@tacodpollo ] and other volunteers with @vcdefensa , rapid-responders who document ICE raids in Ventura County, CA. At a press conference today in front of the Federal Building in Downtown Los Angeles, Martinez and other members said that the DHS agents broke down his door, busted windows, held his mother at gunpoint, took his electronics, and more. They also took VC Defensa shirts and a skateboard with a VC Defensa logo. Martinez and VC Defensa maintain that all they’ve done is document ICE raids. After all, recording public servants in public in the commission of their official duties is firmly protected by the First Amendment. Nevertheless, volunteers with VC Defensa report being followed and harassed by ICE agents who call them repeatedly from blocked numbers, including taunting them about in-progress raids. Last year, Martinez was documenting a raid when an ICE agent intentionally rammed his truck. The federal government released a “Counterterrorism” plan last week that identifies anti-fascists as terrorists. It outlines a pledge to use all available methods to map “antifa” networks and stamp them out.

Today at the Board of Police Commissioners meeting at LAPD HQ, new President Rasha Shields condemned the culture at the LAPD in some of the harshest language I’ve ever heard this commission use. Referring to a report that LAPD officers at the 77th division have been conducting undocumented stops by manipulating their body cams, she pointed out that they can only remind officers of policy so many times before it starts to seem like a culture problem in the department. Otherwise, from sanctuary city policies, to the City Council’s effort to ban pretextual stops, to LAPD’s obvious complicity with ICE, everyone agreed to promise to continue the conversation and listen to each other so that everyone feels heard because it’s important that we discuss the debate about this important issue that affects the community who we all agree deserve to feel safe so it’s important we get this right so let’s take our time, and put some time on the calendar to get a report back about how this would affect the department. New President Rasha Shields also cut public comment time down to 2 minutes per person, and she had @docmellymel physically removed from the room, and then she too fled the room and called a recess. And she also freely admitted that she’s been scared to do anything about ICE because she doesn’t want to make the Trump administration mad at Los Angeles. So there’s that.

More photos from yesterday’s @metrolosangeles opening of the D-Line’s new Wilshire extension! Smiles all around, free food, “D” swag, free public transit for the weekend…! This is gonna make a world of difference in my ability to get downtown quickly! Subways are cool! They’re a reminder that, as Lady Gaga once said, “People can do hard things!”

Photos from today’s grand opening of three new @metrolosangeles stations! I rode from Wilshire & La Cienega to Union Station and back… so speedy…!! Also I had what felt like a quintessential “LA Photographer” experience — an unpleasant Spencer Pratt interaction!

This morning felt quintessentially LA. The @stoplapdspying coalition announced a lawsuit to compel the LAPD to release public records about their use of the Flock Surveillance System. Numerous members of the media showed up to the Board of Police Commissioners meeting because last week the LAPD kettled, ticketed, and even arrested journalists, in direct violation of court orders, instruction from that same commission days earlier, and hell, the Constitution. Chief Jim McDonnell said this happens because of people who pretend to be media and are not actually “duly authorized members of the press.” That is chilling language, completely disqualifying for the head of the police force ruling the second biggest city in the country. That is not how this works. He doesn’t get to decide who is “really” press. And also, at the same time, @ballardonprime filmed a fictional anti-cop protest on that very same plaza, including an actor holding a sign saying PROTECT THE 1ST AMENDMENT. Los Angeles, May 2026 is off to a surreal start. The World Cup starts in about five weeks! @maggieq @therealhamishlinklater @mrjclynch @benjaminbratt I’d love to hear how you guys felt about filming there today!

Today, a coalition of groups called NO CONCENTRATION CAMPS IN CALIFORNIA [@nocampsca ] held actions at every ICE facility in the state. There were car caravans out to for-profit facilities in the desert, where people are routinely denied medical care, access to a lawyer, even clean drinking water. There were also local actions at what they call “processing centers,” which aren’t supposed to hold people for extended periods of time. They very much do. At the Metro Detention Center in DTLA, MSNOW has reported that people are kept in cages for days on end so crowded they have to sleep standing up. The lights are always on, and sometimes their only meal of the day comes at 3AM.

“A drone takes off from the Metro Detention Center and hovers above us in the crystal-clear blue sky. I watch as a red-tailed hawk and a crow divebomb each other repeatedly, suspended in midair, tussling, while the drone watches nearby. I try to figure out whether the hawk or the crow is the aggressor, and I think the drone is probably in a position to get some great footage of such a display of the ferocity of nature… a display of predator vs. prey, perhaps… or maybe a display of ingenuity, footage showing that the smaller, smarter bird is better… But then I realize that there’s a good chance the drone isn’t interested in those battling birds. The drone might be watching me instead.” These 20 photos and more, and these words and more of those too, in the latest piece up now on my newsletter PARTS OF A NOVEL I’M DOING. [May Day 2026, post 5… the last one]