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Friend,
Yesterday in Minnesota, Derek Chauvin was officially deemed guilty of murdering George Floyd.
Minutes before that verdict, in Ohio, police killed a 16-year-old Black girl who had called them for help. Her name is Ma’Khia Bryant.
At news of Chauvin’s guilty verdict, people felt a sigh of relief and some accountability for George Floyd’s murder. But true justice would mean a system that never murdered George Floyd in the first place. Justice is George still alive and with us, along with Black and brown children and young people who’ve been killed by police even in just the past few weeks, including Daunte Wright, Adam Toledo, and Ma’Khia Bryant.
A group of Black and brown young people, called Dream Defenders, is envisioning a truly just world where we invest in our communities—where Black people aren’t in constant fear for their lives but instead are thriving and safe.
Sharing community-based alternatives for dealing with conflict and harm that actually honor people’s humanity, the Dream Defenders are visionaries for the world we deserve.
Please donate what you can today to Dream Defenders Fight PAC, so we can build the movement to reimagine public safety.
The fact that we all waited with bated breath for the verdict—despite Chauvin’s clear murder of Floyd in broad daylight—is a sign of how rare this type of police accountability is.
Instead of addressing police violence, police have been mobilizing across the country in preparation to squash protests around Chauvin’s verdict.
Close to Derek Chauvin’s trial, people protesting the police killing of Daunte Wright have faced brutal crackdowns from militarized police forces and the National Guard this week.
Residents of apartment buildings near the Brooklyn Center Police Department have endured near-constant teargas, which has made it hard to breathe, despite taping up their door frames and windows to protect themselves.
While beating and hospitalizing protesters in the past week, police officers have continually targeted and turned away journalists who are trying to cover the protests. A federal judge had to issue a restraining order, which wasn’t respected. This intimidating photo by Scott Streble shows police officers in riot gear lined up outside a church in Brooklyn Center, MN, which was harboring protesters escaping police violence:
As our power is growing, the police are fighting back.
But in their attempts to undermine our push for reimagining public safety, they’re demonstrating why we need to keep pushing. Clearly, this is an entrenched system and institution—not just some violent individual police officers. And the system maintains its power in part by silencing our dissent.
In Florida, where the Dream Defenders are based, Governor DeSantis just signed into law a frightening new bill criminalizing protest and violating our civil rights.
Planned in response to last year’s protests in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, the law creates civil immunity for people who run over protesters with cars—while making it a felony to block traffic while protesting.... or even to participate in a protest with three or more people. That means people in our movement could end up spending years in jail and losing the right to vote, just for exercising their First Amendment rights. The bill also denies protesters access to bail, which means they could be imprisoned for months without a conviction, just awaiting a court date.
The Dream Defenders have been fighting this legislation and fighting for our rights. Now we’re at a pivotal moment, and the fight must continue. Can you chip in now to support the Dream Defenders Fight PAC?
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Understandably, many people are concerned about public safety. But it is clear that more investment in police, incarceration, and criminalization will not deliver that safety.
The solution isn’t spending more money on police trainings and half-measures. For example, Minnesota invested $12 million into police training since Philando Castile’s murder in 2016, but where has that gotten us?
Instead, we should be investing more resources into our community.
Dream Defenders is calling to divert billions of dollars away from policing in our schools and communities, and instead to put this money toward what we really need to rebuild our communities, like social services that address the root causes of poverty and violence.
Their new toolkit shows people how to build power and move resources into programs that protect all of us and keep our communities safe.
We can imagine better, and we must do better. Our communities deserve better.
Please donate now to help Dream Defenders continue to expand political imaginations about what we can build together to ensure true community safety.
In solidarity,
Rashida
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