and win one for those that have the least among us. . >> was angeles was founded by a racial fantasy of creating the idealist white community on native land.

except for colonialism. and those people who are white and chinese immigrants to devise a series of new laws and that santa fe line of the black. >> so to police the kenyan these remain young african-american male in los angeles mass incarceration does it "city of inmates" is about the settler attempts

of elimination of. >> and they had failed in their attempt of that constant threat of calls blows that were targeted from incarceration in los angeles. >> that is a promotional trailer for the book "city of inmates" conquest, rebellion, and the rise of human caging in los angeles, 1771-1965 associate professor of history ucla kelly hernandez is the author. what was your goal and my goal was the excavate how keen to me we have the largest prison population in the world.

>> so we do have the era of mass imprisonment that is receiving a lot of attention right now but it does go deeper taking us back to spanish colonial period in the other - - year in the years. >> before we go back let's go forward how would you define the largest prison population?. >> that is a statistic i did not generate that the jail population here is the boss angeles but with the largest local jail population we have many other municipal jails including a private detention facility. >> 17,000 are imprisoned in the l.a. area right now?. >> we have more people in and municipal jails.

>> $1 million is what they spent?. >>. >> since 1865 talking about the of war on drugs that here it must angeles right now that those are the leading causes of incarceration. >> going back in history. >> so at the end of the rule and that the dawn of the anglo-american rule ended to

be at full capacity is the most publicly owned facility with the first public employee the jailer is working at the jail propulsive that transition from mexico to u.s. is a jail that is the first public institution the jailer is the first public employee. >> end having a strong judicial system?. >> we certainly have a historically strong commercialization and incarceration that predates the u.s. period. but it takes off after 1850 so that first fran of incarceration is the criminalization and incarceration of the native people in particular to fill up the local jail on the

trunk and vagrancy charges with those indigenous people said dealer was called the indian jailer. >> you say it is the cry realization?. >> think you for asking. >> at the beginning of u.s. ruled there is a passage of several state laws basket for the government protection of the indians then you have that unemployment by the native people in particular if they were found to not be employed at with a genocidal campaign that with their found without work or land they will be arrested and charged with vagrancy and incarcerated then usually the next monday morning with

the highest paying white bidder would take them. >> so the influx of white people to los angeles was a cause and effect?. >> so though full punchline of incarceration is that is his day project of removing and expelling and purging. >> mass elimination?. >> so if you talk about incarceration the first people we targeted were indigenous with the u.s. conquest to take root in this land to remove that indigenous population and squash all those indigenous claims and that is part of the up process of the 1850's

and '60s but that target change to. >> but the surprising saying that i found is that a new american sovereignty that the next target incarceration are pour white men fascinating story of the 18th-century america up privatization of the u.s. civil war with hundreds of thousands of white men that become the wondering for and homeless. the fantasy of the anglo-american conquest is you have wightman in the in settled down in the reproduce those on the land

if you have these men who were wondering who did not have steady work they have to do their own type of racial threat of the american west so there is a project to live with that social and racial threat and that is how they become the target. >> host: kelly hernandez with the growth of l.a. in the 20th century were there other trends when the movie studios moved in?. >> you have a decline and it is important 2.0 here in moscow angeles white men constitute nearly 100 percent of the population it is surprising

what we think about today but it is important to think historically about trends. so what happens by the 1920's is the incorporation of the white men in to a the military and they no longer constitute that same type of threat so this is a new moment but then it is the mexican and incarceration but for those employers across the south west in to work on the railroad but the with those to say we have spent the last 40 years in

congress what effectively has a cap on the with the passage of the immigration act. the businessmen in the southwest came in the back door for those mexican immigrants without limitation there was of a tussle between employers of the southwest to wanted large number of mexican immigrants to working and go home but with bad racial nationalist in congress to say we don't want anyone that is not white entering the country. so what happened during the twenties is fascinating. throughout that debate how

we are allowed to enter the country every year is 1929 a senator from south carolina so how many are allowed to enter the country every year? as make sure they enter the country that it can be controlled to turn the switch on and off. select this senator did in 1929 this was the of lawful entry into new the united states so congress passed a new law the immigration act which covers allies to unmonitored entry in the entire purpose was to compel

the mexican immigrants that we could control the number that came every year. >> many people had been doing for a generation and. >> again the fact of the stock-market to that have a thing to do with this? didn't the way it is enforced is to have some of the impact for the deed for those workers to lou implied to be imprisoned albee's charges. see you have these immigrants that our aggressive, negative

arrested and prosecuted in the u.s. bureau of prisons has to establish three new prisons and the third is right here in in los angeles on that island. >> wife is dead end in 1965?. >> so writing a brief history in the rise of mass incarceration as say backlash to want to bring us up to that moment. where we could be studying this for many more years. it was frustration over unemployment and underemployment the way

which labor unions made it difficult as they were refusing to hire african-americans and it was a historically segregated district and police violence that in the two years leading up to the outbreak many of them are shot in the back and it was a resistance to the recent surge of killing spousal of the decade-long struggle that the first recorded killing of the african american have been april the 1927 the key 80 launches a massive

campaign to bring those officers to justice they continue to move protest through the '30's and '40's and 50's and to address that issue of police brutality and is a trigger for 1965. >> host: do you know the california population of hand?. >> no. >> it started as a liberal progressive with a large prison population. >> that is a good question. there has been quite a bit of research with the state of california at the state level and much of that research comes back to los angeles as of place that led to the rise of mass incarceration with those

three straight losses -- the log their way it is so important that yes it is about was angeles but also of zero california with the largest prison populations. >> host: in so as we go through a discussion on criminal justice reform?. >> it comes back to the policies and practices the lapd has songs bin seen as progressive reformers of police practice for those the ec adopted across the country is true certainly going back to the 1920's. that is why a it is still important there is another way which is the diversity for a local jail system with federal facilities with

those immigration charges and we have those detention centers we don't have that every city but we do have it here. >> what is the reputation of the local jail?. >> who are you talking to? [laughter] >> working with community-based organizations they have held and told the story of incarceration in the last 200 years. so i would it say they are seen either the occupying forces of those segregated committees with those of healthy spaces with members of our communities to have problems and struggles that is not a problem in and of itself.

so i think it depends on who you are speaking to and with writing the book incarceration and policing are seen as the struggle there other communities to see the of local police to the flight as 82 engaged across communities that is one of the things i hope the book has accomplished the one thing that "city of inmates" does is paying these communities end to that conversation then give us that tool to talk together about the issues of policing incarceration. >> host: the militarization of the police forces?. >> there is allied to of research, that's what team

but the analytics i am putting forward talk about us incarceration talks about the evolution of colonialism in the american west it has not stopped gore ended and i would argue the of militarization of policing began at conquest and remained. >> host: assistant professor of history ucla ucla, but kelly hernandez all other of "city of inmates" conquest, rebellion, and the rise of human caging in los angeles, 1771-1965