Seeking Justice: Emergency BLM Action - April 2021

Hi Teen Resisters!
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We hope you're doing well. This list mainly covers a few of the recent police killings and protests surrounding them. We have both actions related to the specific cases as well as more general policies and actions on the issues. This list got a little delayed, which just means another list in a week instead of 2 weeks-- get ready for more action :)

As the New York Times has said, a primary emotion of right now is languishing. We hope you're making it through that languishing and getting excited for more sunny days ahead. Remember to take care of yourself and those around you!

Peace & power,
​TR

Before you dive in: 
1) Some good news: The Biden admin’s ambitious vaccine timeline is going much faster than anticipated. Check on progress here, and look forward to (hopefully) better days ahead. 

2) Quick Action: Tell the Biden administration to end the destructive Title X gag rule
Trump’s gag rule on Title X, which he implemented in 2019, banned health care providers in the Title X funding program nationwide from giving patients full information about how they could safely and legally access abortion.  The rule disproportionately harms communities who already face systemic barriers to health care — people in rural areas and people of color, for example — and takes away those people’s ability to maintain their reproductive and sexual autonomy. 

Submitting a comment is even more directly impactful than signing a petition; federal agents are required by law to review every comment that is submitted. That means the more you personalize your comment (whether with statistics, anecdotes, or your personal perspective), the better. Submit a comment here (the comment is pre-written for you at this link, and you can add whatever you want). 

WHAT WENT DOWN

Following a pattern of systemic racist violence in the U.S., police have committed multiple killings of Black and Brown people over the past few weeks — reigniting nationwide anger and protest.

SAY THEIR NAMES:

Daunte Wright
On the afternoon of April 11, police officers pulled over 20-year-old Daunte Wright in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, citing a traffic violation related to expired registration tags. He then called his mother, telling her he was pulled over because of the air fresheners hanging from his rearview mirror. As the police tried to detain him, Daunte stepped back into his car; in the midst of this struggle, officer Kimberly Potter pulled out a handgun, claiming she thought it was a taser, and shot Daunte. The car pulled away and traveled several blocks before hitting another car. When medical professionals pulled up at the scene, they declared Daunte dead from a gunshot wound to the chest. 

The officer who shot Daunte, Kimberly Potter, was arrested a day after she resigned from the Brooklyn Center Police Department. Prosecutors are now charging her with second-degree manslaughter, where “a person acts recklessly with respect to a death” — a charge in accordance with Potter’s claim that she mistook the gun for a taser. Lawyers for the Wright family are arguing that she should be charged more severely.
Countless protests following Daunte’s death have called for justice, demanding that Potter be held accountable for the life she took. Yet these protests have been met with resistance from police forces. In many instances, police have fired shots into the crowd, dispersed tear gas, and employed riot gear to oppress voices shouting for justice and an end to America’s epidemic of police brutality.

Daunte was the devoted father of a two-year-old boy, Daunte Jr. Family and friends remembered him for his outgoing nature, smile, and bright demeanor. (As a freshman at Thomas Edison High School, he was voted a “class clown.”) At his funeral on April 22, Reverend Al Sharpton gave the eulogy: “You thought he was just some kid with an air freshener,” Rev. Sharpton said, “He was a prince, and all of Minneapolis has stopped today to honor the prince of Brooklyn Center.”

WHAT YOU CAN DO TO SUPPORT DAUNTE’S COMMUNITY:

• Here are resources that will aid Daunte’s family and loved ones:
  • Support Chyna, Daunte Wright’s girlfriend, and their child, Daunte Jr:
    • CashApp: $hubby98
    • Venmo: @Chyna-W-1
  • The Daunte Wright Senior Memorial Fund on GoFundMe — Organized by Daunte’s Aunt, and supported by various family members. These funds will help with funeral and burial expenses, mental health and grief counseling, support for Daunte’s infant son, and to help the Wright family in their fight for justice.
• Here are resources that will benefit the Brooklyn Center community:
  • Donate to the Brooklyn Center Mutual Aid to help provide protestors with protective equipment, food, and medical supplies
  • Local teachers have organized a food distribution project to provide students and families with access to free food
  • There is a supplies collection drive at Brooklyn Center High School to collect different items for Daunte’s family. These include:
    • Food: Milk, baby formula, fresh vegetables, fresh fruit, Gatorade, ramen, eggs, clementines, granola bars, juice boxes, boxed dinners, canned foods, hot chocolate, cereal, apple sauce, beans, tortillas
    • Water, medical supplies (gauze and gauze tape, ointments, first aid kits), masks, feminine hygiene products, diapers, umbrellas, portable chargers
• Check out these links for a more detailed list of all the different organizations and people you can donate and contribute to — here, here, and here.
• More resources here

Adam Toledo
On March 29th, police in Chicago shot and killed 13-year-old Adam Toledo. The information released following the shooting seems to show that very late at night, Adam was handed a gun by a 21-year-old man who had just fired it. The body camera footage that was released in the following weeks appears to show Adam dropping the gun after being told to put his hands up; his hands are up and empty in the video. The officer shot him in the chest and he died on the scene. The shooting occurred in the predominantly Latinx neighborhood of Little Village, and Adam was Latino-- Latinos have the second-highest rate of death by police violence. Many have pointed out how the situation could be an example of Chicago’s problem with cycles of violence, especially for young people. No matter the factors and importance of the context, the fact remains that police used their killing power to kill an unarmed child. And that event is not unfamiliar to people of color and the state-sanctioned violence of this country.

Adeena Weiss-Ortiz, an attorney for Adam’s family, has said that Adam ”loved going to the park,… was a young uncle,… was an emerging artist… He liked playing cards, biking around the neighborhood with his little brother and [making] Lego creations.” Weiss-Ortiz emphasized understanding Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s and others’ connections to cycles of violence in Chicago and the dangers of the streets, while also acknowledging that “Adam was your typical 13-year-old boy.” Adam’s mother has been emphasizing the same thing: “He is being remembered by his mother as a loving and caring teenager with a big imagination, curiosity and someone who could make everyone laugh.”

WHAT YOU CAN DO FOR ADAM’S COMMUNITY:

• Adam’s mother disabled the family’s GoFundMe after it raised almost $53,000 in donations. 
• As officials in Chicago and Illinois work on the case, calls for a federal DOJ intervention grow. Join them:
  • Submit a comment
  • DOJ comment phone line: 202-353-1555
  • Phone or email script:
    Hi, my name is ___ and I’m from ____. I’m calling/emailing to ask that Attorney General Garland and the Department of Justice intervene in the case of the killing of Adam Toledo by police in Chicago. I am deeply distressed by the killing of a thirteen year old on our streets and would like a federal probe into the incident and the officers involved so that Adam and his family can hopefully achieve accountability for the robbing of his life. Thank you.​​

Ma’Khia Bryant
On Tuesday, April 20, a police officer fatally shot 16-year old girl Ma’Khia Bryant in Columbus, Ohio, just a few hours before jurors found former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin guilty of murdering George Floyd. Paula Bryant, Ma’Khia’s mother, said that her daughter had called the police for help because girls were fighting outside her house. Recently released bodycam footage shows an officer approaching the driveway of a residence where a group of girls were fighting (including Ma’Khia, who was seen holding a knife), yelling “Get down!,” and then firing four shots. Bryant collapsed on the ground, and was shortly pronounced dead at the hospital. 
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Franklin County Children Services recently released a statement explaining that Ma’Khia was a foster child under their care. "She was a very loving, peaceful little girl," said her mother, Paula, who also shared that Ma’Khia was on the honor roll. "Ma'Khia had a motherly nature about her, she promoted peace and that's something that I want to always to be remembered." One of her former teachers said: “She was going to run the world and she wasn’t going to be ostentatious about it. She was going to do it.” See Instagram account @justice4blackgirls for more on Ma’Khia’s vibrancy & humanity. 

​WHAT YOU CAN DO FOR MA’KHIA’S COMMUNITY:

• Donate to Makhia's family to ensure funeral funds, education, housing, etc. - CashApp and Venmo both @JusticeForMakhia
• @Justice4BlackGirls is resourcing services for Makhia's siblings-- if you or someone you know can offer healing, psychological help, etc., reach out to them.
• Demand that Nicholas Reardon, the officer who murdered Ma’Khia, be fired, arrested and prosecuted, via email: 311@columbus.gov, Mayor Andrew Ginther’s office
  • Script: Hi, I’m ____, I’m from ____, and I’d like to demand the immediate firing, arrest, and prosecution of Nicholas Reardon in response to his unjust murden of Ma’Khia Bryant. If a member of your police academy is unable to disarm and deescalate a fight with a a child, he has no place in the academy. Ma’Khia called for protection and instead was viewed as a threat. Far too often, Black girlhood is adultified; far too often, Blck girls in foster care are over-policed and underprotected. Too often Black girls are rendered disposable. We will not all Ma’Khia to be rendered disposable. Her life matters, her protection mattered, and the lack thereof has us mourning the life she should be living today. (Source: @justice4blackgirls)
• Call Public Safety director’s office at (614) 645-8210
• Donate to Columbus Freedom Fund (bail fund for protesters in Columbus)

Major Upcoming Legislation: George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021

​The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021, or H.R.1280, is being considered in Washington. It has thus far passed the House. If it passes the Senate, it will:

• lower the criminal intent standard—from willful to knowing or reckless—to convict a law enforcement officer for misconduct in a federal prosecution,

• limit qualified immunity as a defense to liability in a private civil action against a law enforcement officer, and
• grant administrative subpoena power to the Department of Justice (DOJ) in pattern-or-practice investigations​

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

• Contact your U.S. senator here to tell them to vote for the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act:
  • Hi, my name is ______, I’m from _____, and I'm calling to ask you to push and vote for H.R. 1280, the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021. I believe that this legislation is a vital first step towards ending the epidemic of police brutality that terrorizes Black Americans every day in this country. The United States’ rate of police killings is at the level of police states globally; about 1 of every 1000 Black men will be killed by police in their lifetimes. [Continue to personalize however you want, whether with statistics, anecdotes, or your own perspective.] I urge you to use your conscience in making your decisions on this topic. Thank you.

WHAT CAN YOU DO TO ADVOCATE FOR MORE LONG-TERM CHANGE?

The problem of police brutality in the United States is pervasive and systemic. Black and Latino individuals are far more likely to be stopped and killed by police than others; 1 in 1000 Black men will be killed by police in their lifetimes. The rate at which people are killed by the police in the United States puts it on the same level as countries often described by human rights campaigners as “police states” — Egypt and Iran, for example.

There is little doubt that there is a clear and persistent problem of systemic racism within the police system. There are a few routes we can take to address this problem-- some would suggest attempting to purge the police system of that racism and bias; however, research suggests that tactic simply isn’t working. Many of the reforms meant to “root out” racism in policing, such as anti-bias training, body cameras, punishing killer cops, de-escalation training etc., were adopted by the City of Minneapolis before and after the murder of George Floyd last year. George Floyd and Daunte Wright still died. 

Many attribute this failure to the fact that racism isn’t simply present in policing — it is its basis; the institution of policing in the United States began as slave patrol. Additionally, American society itself is racist, raising people with implicit bias that is extremely hard to get rid of, so arming those people and giving them the power to kill based on their own judgement is inherently risky.

The communities in the United States with the least violence are the ones with the most resources, not the most policing. Surface level-reforms tend to divert more money towards, not away from, institutionalized police systems. On the other hand, calls to defund the police and reallocate that funding to community resources, as well as bigger social safety nets like healthcare, food, and housing, help us look toward a future that doesn’t see a faulty system of policing as the answer to all of our communities’ problems. We’re including below some resources to explore related to this idea, covering ideas and visions both small and big about our future. 

Reform vs. Abolition: Resources to explore

• Mariame Kaba: Thinking Through A World Without Police (compilation of articles  & thought-pieces exploring the issue of police abolition)
• ​Philip V. McHarris and Thenjiwe McHarris: No More Money for the Police
• What Is Transformative Justice?
  
• José Martin: Six Ideas for a Cop-Free World
• Rashawn Ray: What does “defund the police” mean and does it have merit?
• Abolitionist Futures: What’s Wrong With Reform?  (compilation of readings exploring the tension between abolition & reform)
• Instagram account: @thinkingabolition
• Who’s Left? Comic
• Public safety graphics​

Artwork by @enron__hubbard

There are a multitude of local community organizations and campaigns doing local work surrounding police brutality and mass incarceration in their communities. Here are just a few examples: 

• Project NIA, a grassroots organization that works to end the arrest, detention, and incarceration of children and young adults by promoting restorative and transformative justice practices.
• La Resistencia, a letter-writing network aiming to connect people inside and outside the NWDC determination center to expand the movement to end detention and incarceration.
• No New Washington Prisons, an organization aiming to end the expansion of women’s prisons in Washington.
• People’s Campaign for Parole Justice, a statewise grassroots coalition pushing for parole reform in New York State.
• Critical Resistance, an organization seeking to build an international movement to end the prison-industrial complex, has created an amazing police abolition toolkit, ““Our Communities, Our Solutions.” The toolkit includes resources and tools for developing strong abolitionist, grassroots campaigns against policing. 

More action:

• Our Juneteenth list from last year contains a plethora of links to places to donate related to racial justice
• The @justiceforgeorgenyc account is still posting daily protest information for New York City, and similar pages exist for other cities
• This toolkit for protecting Black Trans Lives
• This resource spreadsheet, which was contributed to by Teens Resist writers, includes information, places to donate, and more

Lots more resources for learning and action in these lists from last year.

This list was written by Ananya Gera, Kate Griem, Sonia Chajet Wides, and Sarah Germana.