VICTORY ANNOUNCEMENT

10/8/20 Tom Gores resigned from the LACMA Board of Trustees.

In these unprecedented times, families deserve to hear from their loved ones in prison and jail without making the difficult choice between putting food on the table or staying in touch. But billionaires like Tom Gores — owner of Securus Technologies — profits from Black suffering by charging exploitative fees for prison phone calls.

Who is Tom Gores? Tom Gores owns the Detroit Pistons NBA team and is the CEO/Founder of the Beverly-Hills based private equity firm, Platinum Equity. He's a billionaire philanthropist and sits on the board of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). In 2017, he purchased the nation’s largest and most predatory prison telecom corporations: Securus.

Securus Technologies rakes in more $700 million annually by price-gouging predominately Black, Brown, and low-income families — charging them upwards of $15 for a 15-minute phone call. This is the system Tom Gores props up and directly profits from. And despite our repeated efforts to demand much-needed reforms, Gores refuses to act. Time and again, Gores has refused to acknowledge Securus’ devastating impact on Black and Brown people — even canceling a meeting with directly-impacted families.

This summer, LACMA — which proudly lists Tom Gores as a board member — released a statement in solidarity with national protests against anti-Black systemic racism. While we commend the art museum’s statement, we know that the practice of anti-racism allyship requires more than rhetoric. 

For many families in Los Angeles, who’ve been targeted by the prison industrial complex, phone calls are the only way to stay connected. To build a more equitable world for Black people, corporations, and organizations like LACMA must root out the racism within their own leadership. For LACMA, that starts with their Board of Trustees and board member Tom Gores. 

We are calling on LACMA to remove Tom Gores from the Board of Trustees. His affiliation with LACMA legitimizes his predatory and racist practices and props up the exploitative prison industry he profits from.

Now more than ever, we must accept and address the truth that many people with loved ones behind bars already know: public health, public safety, and social justice are not compatible with prison profiteering. 

Sign on our petition to demand organizational accountability and an overdue moment of critical reckoning. LACMA: Remove Tom Gores from your board NOW. 

Here is the Petition:

Dear LACMA Board Chairs:

Your prestigious museum board is no place for a ruthless prison profiteer like Tom Gores. The donations the LACMA receives from Gores are tainted, earned in part by exploiting families with incarcerated loved ones—disproportionately Black and Brown due to racist policing practices.

Gores owns the predatory prison telecom corporation Securus, which charges families egregious rates to connect with loved ones behind bars. His greed has broken up families and traumatized children.

It is your responsibility to ensure that LACMA remains a welcoming space for all Los Angeles artists and residents as a public institution. But Gores undermines your ability to make that a reality. It is critical that LACMA remove Gores from its board at this time and until he divests from Securus and the entire prison industry.

Sincerely, 

[Your Name]