UPDATE: The Hands Up Coalition will not meet at the Department of Justice on Monday January 19th but join the actions below.
1). MLK Jr. Day of Action, Resistance & Empowerment to rally to pay tribute to all black lives lost to police violence
When: 12pm on Monday, January 19th
Where: White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, NW Washington DC
2). March to the Maryland State House/Annapolis, MD – The march will assemble at:
Time: 6pm
Where: 1st Baptist Church, Annapolis, Maryland, 31 West Washington Street, Annapolis, Maryland 21401 and march to the Maryland State House at 7pm.
In solidarity with the national call by Ferguson organizers for sustained actions following the failure to indict Officer Darren Wilson in the killing of Michael Brown, to seek justice for all families of victims slain by police and to demand immediate changes that end the systemic racism in the United States’ policing and criminal justice system, the Hands Up Coalition DC is holding weekly protests at the Department of Justice every Monday at 4 pm.
The Department of Justice is located at 950 Pennsylvania Ave., NW in Washington, DC. Meet at the corner of 9th St. and Pennsylvania Ave. [Note: There will NOT be a protest on Dec. 29]
If you can’t be in Washington, DC, organize a weekly protest at a federal courthouse or US Attorney’s office. Send the information to info@popularresistance.org and we will post it.
Sign the petition below to send an email to the DOJ calling for an end to racist policing.
[emailpetition id=”22″]
DEMANDS TO END POLICE BRUTALITY AND MASS INCARCERATION
The Coalition, standing in solidarity with #FergusonAction, has adopted the following demands:
1) The demilitarization of local law enforcement across the country.
Strict limits on the transfer and use of military equipment to local law enforcement and the adoption of the Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement Act of 2014. The federal government should discontinue the supply of military weaponry and equipment to and immediately demilitarize local law enforcement, including eliminating the use of military technology and equipment.
2) A comprehensive review of systemic abuses by local police departments, including publication of data on racially biased policing and the development of best practices.
A comprehensive review by the Department of Justice into systematic abuses by police departments and the development of specific use of force standards and accompanying recommendations for police training, community involvement and oversight strategies and standards for independent investigatory/disciplinary mechanisms when excessive force is used. These standards must include a Department of Justice review trigger when continued excessive use of force occurs. A comprehensive federal review of police departments’ data collection practices and the development of a new comprehensive data collection system that allows for annual reporting of data on the rates of stops, frisks, searches, summonses and arrests by race, age, and gender. These standards must also include a DOJ review trigger when departments continue discriminatory policing practices.
3) Repurposing of law enforcement funds to support community based alternatives to incarceration and the conditioning of DOJ funding on the ending of discriminatory policing and the adoption of DOJ Best Practices.
The repurposing of DOJ funds to create grants that the support and implementation community oversight mechanisms and community based alternatives to law enforcement and incarceration–including community boards/commissions, restorative justice practices, amnesty programs to clear open warrants, and know-your-rights-education conducted by community members.The development of a DOJ policy to withhold funds from local police departments who engage in discriminatory policing practices and conditioning of federal grant funds on the adoption of recommended DOJ trainings, community involvement and oversight strategies, standards for use of force and for independent investigatory/disciplinary mechanisms.
4) Congressional hearings to investigating the criminalization of communities of color, racial profiling, police abuses and torture by law enforcement.
Congressional hearings to investigate the criminalization of communities of color and systemic law enforcement discriminatory profiling and other abuses, especially at the local level–including an examination of the systemic structures and institutional practices. The hearings will explore how to elevate the experiences and voices of those most impacted. Congressional hearings will allow for a continuation of the national discussion about police abuse and its underlying causes.
5) Support the passage of the End Racial Profiling Act.
Support for the passage of the End Racial Profiling Act (ERPA) codifying the prohibition of the use of profiling on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin or religion by law enforcement agencies.
6) The Obama Administration develops, legislates and enacts a National Plan of Action for Racial Justice.
The development and enactment of a Plan of Action for Racial Justice by the Obama Administration. The ‘Plan’ should be a comprehensive in addressing persistent and ongoing forms of racial discrimination and disparities that exist in nearly every sphere of life, including: criminal justice, employment, housing, eduction, health, land/property, voting, poverty and immigration. The Plan would set concrete targets for achieving racial equality and reducing racial disparities and create new tools for holding government accountable to meeting targets.
Popular Resistance was a co-organizer with Hands Up Coalition DC of the Justice Monday protest on December 15 at the doors of the Department of Justice in Washington, DC.