Above photo: Stop Police Terror Facebook page.
This Juneteenth, there are actions around the militarization of police and community-based efforts to create security without the police. Eugene Puryear, who works with Stop Police Terror DC, discusses the Washington DC version of “Stop and Frisk,” which involves Jump Out Squads, and the efforts to get data on how this program works. Stop Police Terror DC grew out of mass Black Lives Matter protests, which Puryer helped organize, in reaction to the police violence in Ferguson, MO and around the country. We also discuss current events including immigration issues around separating parents from their children and treatment of youth who were brought to the US as children, protests in support of Julian Assange, US regime change efforts in Nicaragua and the initial agreement between the United States and North Korea.
Listen here:
In the News:
Newsletter: Protect Immigrant’s Rights: End the Crises that Drive Migration
Relevant articles and websites:
The Black American Holiday Everyone should Celebrate by Jamelle Bouie
DC Day of Protest Against Police Brutality
BLM Opposes DC Mayor’s Increase In Policing
Guest:
Eugene Puryear is a Washington, D.C.based activist.
As a high school student in Charlottesville, Va., Eugene organized a walkout when the war in Iraq began in 2003. Upon arriving in D.C. in 2004 to attend Howard University, Eugene immediately joined the antiwar movement, helping to organize the large-scale demonstrations that took place against the continuing U.S. war and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan.
In over a decade of social justice activism, Eugene has been involved in a wide range of work. He has served as a key organizer around police brutality, prisoners’ rights, and abuses in the U.S. criminal justice system. He was a key organizer of the first demonstration outside Jena for the Jena Six in 2007, and was a founder of the Jobs Not Jails coalition and a co-founder of the DCFerguson Movement, a Black Lives Matter organization in Washington, D.C.
Eugene is the the author of the book Shackled and Chained: Mass Incarceration in Capitalist America, and the managing editor of Imperialism in the 21st Century: Updating Lenin’s Theory a Century Later and Revolution Manifesto: Understanding Marx and Lenin’s Theory of Revolution, all from PSL Publications. He is also a blogger for LiberationNews.org and a producer for LiberationRadio.org.
Eugene has appeared in a wide range of television, radio, and print media, including CNN, RT, and the Washington Post. He has lectured at colleges and universities around the country, including the University of Maryland, Morgan State University, Howard University, University of New Haven and Temple University.
He was the 2008 Vice Presidential candidate of the Party for Socialism and Liberation and ran for D.C. Council At-Large as the candidate of the D.C. Statehood Green Party in 2014.