For years we have tried all types of reform with the promise of finally
ending police brutality. It has failed.

[ [link removed] ][IMG][ [link removed] ][IMG] 

The mandate is clear: reducing the scope of policing. Demand Congress
acts now.

[ [link removed] ]sign the petition


John -- Following weeks of national protests calling for police
reform, political leaders in Washington are finally taking steps to
address the crisis of policing. Last week, Trump signed an executive order
that he claims addresses the problem of police violence.^1 However, the
executive order does not do much to actually hold police accountable.
Instead, the President has given us disingenuous band-aid solutions that
do not even address his own administration's moves to undermine police
accountability. 

Senate Republicans also announced a legislative package called the
“Justice Act on Policing” that would do nothing but maintain the status
quo -- they are determined to make police reform almost meaningless as
they do the bidding of police officers. To make matters worse, Senate
Majority leader Mitch McConnell has been pressuring Senate Democrats to
team up with Republicans and approve this watered-down and piecemeal
police reform.^2

This is why I need your help, John. Senate Democrats must
oppose this bill and commit to ending the transfer of federal money as
well as military equipment to local police completely. Our communities
need resources, not more police. 

For years, public officials have been significantly underfunding the
social safety net in Black and brown communities resulting in mass
unemployment, homelessness, and mental health crises as well as poor
quality education for our children. Yet, police budgets have only
ballooned over the years. More importantly, police are not trained to deal
with these societal issues with compassion or care but rather encouraged
to use lethal force. Overinvestment in police and underinvestment in
public services lead to more criminalization of Black and Brown
communities. 

Simply put, we cannot keep doing this. Police do not keep our communities
safe, they are dangerous and have demonstrated over and over again an
unwillingness to be held accountable. We have to try new strategies that
will cultivate stability and foster trust in our communities. And it
starts with reducing federal funding to police. Our lives literally depend
on it.  

[ [link removed] ]Sign the petition: Demand Congress invests in our communities instead
of policing. 

The federal government provides hundreds of millions of dollars in grants
and military-style equipment to local police every year. We've just seen
police all over the country responding to peaceful protests with violent
military equipment and tactics. Anything short of ending the
militarization of police completely is not good enough.

The federal government has also given billions of dollars to police around
the country. This year alone, the Department of Justice awarded over $400
million dollars to local police departments for hiring, and training
purposes. DOJ also administers federal grants through the Edward Byrne
Memorial Assistance program, totaling $264 million for the 2019 fiscal
year. And the Department of Homeland Security doles out $1.8 billion to
cities for emergency preparedness but requires 25 percent of that funding
to go to law enforcement. Quite literally, we have a system that uses
billions of public dollars to pay police officers to target, harass,
arrest, and kill Black people and brown people with impunity. 

Thankfully, cities across the country, are beginning to see the
contradiction of investing millions of dollars into violent policing while
also slashing funding for resources that actually keep our communities
stable and safe like affordable housing, jobs, accessible healthcare, and
quality education. In Los Angeles, Mayor Eric Garcetti publicly committed
to moving $150 million from the LAPD budget and to jobs for young people,
health initiatives, and community centers dedicated to healing emotional
and mental trauma. In Portland, city officials are planning to cut $15
million from the police budget. Most notably, in New York, city officials
announced a plan that would cut New York police's budget by $1 billion
dollars, effectively shrinking the NYPD budget by nearly 20 percent. It's
time for Congress to follow suit and do their part on a national level.

But John, we don't' have much time left. The Senate votes on
this bill on Wednesday. We must act quickly.

[ [link removed] ]Tell Congress: We must full speed ahead on TRUE reform. Black and brown
communities cannot afford to go back to ineffective and old methods.

Five years ago, at the height of the Black Lives Matter movement, our
communities were desperate for change and politicians offered minor
changes that we supposed to keep us safe -- from body cameras to implicit
bias training. Now our movement is much smarter and much more politically
mature. We understand that in order to really create change, we must get
at the root of a problem. And we must be courageous. To be quite frank,
there is absolutely nothing courageous about giving more money to the
police -- the very opposite is needed.

John, we have to be honest. For decades, our communities have
tried all types of reform with the promise of finally ending police
violence but none of them have worked. The mandate is clear: we must
reduce the size and scope of policing in this country and reinvest in our
communities. 

[ [link removed] ]Demand Congress to completely overhaul policing in this country.

Until justice is real, 

-- Scott, Rashad, Arisha, Erika, Malachi, Marybeth, Leonard, Madison,
Ernie, McKayla and the rest of the Color Of Change team

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

References:

 1. [ [link removed] ]"Trump signs executive order on policing amid mount pressure over
lethal incidents." NBC News, 16 June 2020.
 2. [ [link removed] ]McConnell sets initial police reform vote on Wednesday. The Hill,
22, June 2020.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------

[ [link removed] ]ColorOfChange is building a movement to elevate the voices of Black
folks and our allies, and win real social and political change. [ [link removed] ]Help
keep our movement strong.

<style type="text/css">

blockquote .original-only,
.WordSection1 .original-only
{
display: none !important;
}

</style>

<div class=".original-only">

You can unsubscribe from this mailing list at any time:
[link removed]
</div>