Friend,

Historic uprisings are taking place all across the nation, and even globally, in response to the deaths of Rayshard Brooks, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Tony McDade at the hands of police.

Donald Trump’s reaction? Deploy the National Guard to violently suppress free speech and wage war against us. Then he insulted us with an executive order that reinforces reform measures that are ineffective and only fund law enforcement further.

We must call for an immediate end to police terrorism. It’s long past time that we divest from police and prisons and use that money to invest in community and protecting Black lives. That’s why we’re asking you to join us in calling on Congress to address police violence now.

Sign the petition calling on Congress to address police violence.

In the six years since the Black Lives Matter movement formed in response to Trayvon Martin’s violent, unjust, and untimely death, organizers have pushed for police reforms such as body cameras and implicit bias training. But those reforms have proved to be ineffective. Instead, millions of dollars are being poured into law enforcement agencies that only further terrorize our Black communities.(1) Just last month, a Black activist who trained a police department in implicit bias was shot by that very same department during the Black Lives Matter protests.(2)

Research has shown that what works is taking the billions of dollars in overfunding of police and instead investing those funds into community services and holding police accountable for their violence.(3)

That’s why Courage California has joined a coalition -- including BYP100, Daily Kos, Stand.earth, Rock The Vote, and others -- calling on Congress to:

Defund police and prioritize deep investment in community health, education, and housing.
Cities across the nation have already invested in programs that reduce police intervention while increasing community intervention.(4) Minneapolis City Council recently voted to defund and disband the police and will follow in the footsteps of those cities.(5)
Create a national database for decertified police officers and a national database of police shootings and use of force broken down by demographics.
Many officers who are fired for misconduct are rehired elsewhere, or even in their original departments. In one case, an officer fired for a deadly shooting was rehired so he could receive a pension, paid for by the community he harmed.(6) Another officer sexually assaulted a woman, and yet another handcuffed a man and challenged him to a fight to be released.(7) A database must be created and stipulations enforced to ensure these officers no longer have a job in law enforcement.
Eliminate federal programs that allocate military equipment to law enforcement.
Last month alone, deep in the middle of the pandemic, the government approved $850 million dollars for law enforcement agencies to buy riot gear and military equipment and hire private security -- all while claiming it could not provide funds for personal protective equipment for essential and frontline workers.(8)
End the qualified immunity doctrine that prevents police from being held legally accountable.
The Supreme Court has gutted a significant civil rights law that was meant to protect civilians against harm and abuse from public officials. Instead they reinterpreted the law so that the assumption is police officers are acting in “good faith” -- meaning they are always treated as if they are unaware they were breaking the law and assumed their actions were legal. But even in cases where officers are shown they clearly have broken the law, when their cases reach the upper courts, the upper courts rule in their favor. There is no reason police officers should be able to get away with “not knowing the law” when the rest of us are held to a different standard.(9)

More and more it’s become obvious that a world without terrorist policing is possible. And while we transition away from police control towards community control, it’s important we demilitarize the police, make sure officers who kill can never get a job as an officer again, and end the legal precedent that allows law enforcement to get away with assault, murder, and violence. It’s up to us to continue putting pressure on elected officials to do so.

Join us in calling on Congress to address police violence immediately!

Yours in the fight to end police terrorism,

Molly, along with Angela, Annie, Brian, Caitlin, Deepthi, Eddie, Gabby, Jay, Lindsay, and Raquel (the Courage team)

P.S. Click here for more ways to show up for Black lives!

Footnotes

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