Every single day carries a new story (or stories) about egregious assaults by police against the citizens who have entrusted (and paid) them to serve and protect. Even the Bureau of Justice Statistics had to conclude recently that police brutality is grossly unchecked across the nation by the political system. Such unchecked power is even more frightening when we see police becoming as militarized as any Third World dictatorship. And of course, to back up this lawlessness is a ready-and-waiting prison-industrial complexthat leads the world in caging its own citizens.
Shooting pets, tasering kids, no-knock SWAT raids, raping, pillaging ... you name it - and it will only get worse until people have the courage to take action in huge numbers and put a stop to this madness that has been tolerated for way too long.
The October 22 Coalition to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation has been mobilizing every year since 1996 for a National Day of Protest on October 22, bringing together those under the gun and those not under the gun as a powerful voice to expose the epidemic of police brutality. Please view their videos below and find a location to participate.
The Coalition also works on the Stolen Lives Project, which documents cases of killings by law enforcement nationwide - the second edition of their book documents only the tip of the iceberg with 2,000 confirmed cases. According to the Coalition, 2014 has been particularly bad with 800 documented cases.
The full statement from the Coalition is as follows:
The Call for the 19th National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization
On the eve of the 19th annual National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation, a defiant new spirit is in the air. In Ferguson, Missouri, people continue to rise up in outrage against the killing of Mike Brown, an unarmed 18-year-old Black youth who was just days away from starting college. Despite the rapid and ruthless militarization of the town by racist police and the National Guard, people defied curfews, tear gas, rubber bullets, and calls for a return to business-as-usual—and oppression-as-usual—by protesting and rebelling for ten consecutive, sweltering nights in August. Thousands from around the country gathered in Ferguson this past weekend to stand in solidarity with the brave people of Ferguson. These are the moments where the decades of racist abuse, criminalization, and police terror at the hands of this system came crashing against fearless resistance from the very people it seeks to control, inspiring justice-seeking people not just nationwide, but around the world. The National Day of Protest was founded to oppose exactly these kinds of abuses. This year, in big cities and small towns, in the face of police brutality, repression, mass incarceration and the criminalization of youth we say, Let the spirit of Ferguson ignite hearts nationwide with an uncompromising passion for justice!
In the United States, this year has seen a litany of state violence, with increasing documentation and coverage making these ongoing atrocities more difficult to deny. Over 800 people have been killed by law enforcement nationwide, at least 200 since Mike Brown, and at least 23 people in one week. Although police criminalization of and violence against women and transgender people is nothing new, they have become more newsworthyoflate. There seems to be no level too low for law enforcement to stoop in their violence, whether it isagainstchildren and youngteens, theelderly, the deaf, or those who are emotionally or mentally distressed.
In New York City, the era of mass criminalization of Black and brown communities through "stop and frisk" was supposed to be over thanks to the election of a supposedly progressive mayor. What de Blasio brought instead though, was the return of William Bratton, the architect of Stop and Frisk! Bratton's highly oppressive "broken windows" style of policing, in which the smallest "crimes" are aggressively policed, has already led to an increase in police brutality and public mistrust. In this year, NYPD's use of "Broken Windows" has led to the highly publicized chokehold death of beloved community member Eric Garner, the beating of an 84-year-old immigrant man for allegedly jaywalking, a chokehold on a 7-month pregnant woman for barbecuing in front of her home, a young man kicked in the head while lying on the ground handcuffed, numerous people beaten for falling asleep on the subway, a raid of Harlem housing projects, and numerous other atrocities. Even some of the most well-known cultural aspects of New York are under attack, as subway performers are being arrested at astonishing rates simply for trying to earn a living as they have been doing for decades. Meanwhile, the same City Council that voted so strongly for police reforms earlier this year has remained silent in the midst of a new "progressive" administration, lifting their voices only to cry out for 1,000 more cops!
Law enforcement departments across the country have come to use on a routine basis the exertion of military enforcement and control in communities that are deemed a "social disturbance." Although there has been a longhistory of the militarization of police, the revelation of just how much military weaponry has been supplied to local law enforcement by the Pentagon and how the uprising in Ferguson was dealt with are a sobering reminder of the capabilities of law enforcement to exert standing army-like control over the population of non-combatant civilians. It also would be a moral crime to ignore the fact that the intensification of police arms and enforcement is borne out of the desire, on behalf of the state, to quell the expression of people of color in their demands for justice.
Through the unabated organizing and pressure from the people, we can rejoice over the release of political prisoners Lynne Stewart and Eddie Conway (and hopefully soon Sundiata Acoli), but we must continue our fight for the many political prisoners who continue to be unjustly locked up, along with the hundreds of thousands imprisoned for non-violent offenses due to discriminatory practices in the criminal justice system. The U.S. has the highest number of prisoners in the world, incarcerating almost one-third of the world’s female prisoners, and having more than 60% of prisoners being people of color – still a minority of this nation’s population. Despite solitary confinement being internationally designated as torture, over 80,000 languish in such conditions, including some as young as 16. Solitary confinement led to a death sentence for some, and more egregious evidence of torture in prisons are now coming to light. This brazen inhumanity is exemplified by border patrol’s abuse of immigrant children seeking safety within our borders, and the warehousing and deportation of literally millions of immigrants by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Under such a corrupt system, no imprisonments are legitimate!
The Call for a Month of Resistance to Mass Incarceration, Police Terror, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation declares that this “will not stop unless and until millions of people, of all nationalities, stand up and say NO MORE, in unmistakable terms. The history of this and every other country shows that without struggle, there can be no positive change; but with struggle this kind of change becomes possible.”
October 22nd is a day that people around the nation have mobilized every year since 1996 for a National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation. It is crucial that we bring forward a powerful National Day of Protest in cities and towns across the U.S. to challenge the ongoing violence against the people. This October 22nd, stand with thousands across the country to express our collective outrage, creativity, and resistance in response to the crimes of this system.
Last updated 21 October 2014. Information is posted as it is received, so check later if your area is not listed yet - contacts for areas with actions in previous years are included when this year's details have not yet been sent in. Please email oct22national@gmail.com if you know of an action that is not listed below or if any corrections need to be made and to send reports of your protest!
ANYWHERE WITH PHONE ACCESS Virtual Freedom School 8:00PM EST Webinar on "Our Bodies/Our Beings/Our Babies and the Imprint of Police Brutality 559-546-1880, Access Code: 286792# https://www.facebook.com/events/973367242690046/
CALIFORNIA Anaheim, California 5:30PM Assemble at the parking lot of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Anaheim, 511 S. Harbor Boulevard ~ 657-229-4053 ~ hypnoquin@gmail.com (Quin)
Central Valley, California ~ 209-518-7997 or 209-513-4421
Redding, California [no contact provided last year]
Redwood Curtain, California 12:00PM Speakout at the Art Quad on HSU campus in Arcata 3:00PM Rally on Arcata Plaza 4:00PM March to Safeway parking lot near 7th and F Street 5:00PM Critical Mass/group bike ride toward Eureka 7:00PM Speakout at Cesar Chavez Park, 14th and E Street, Eureka, followed by candlelight vigil https://www.facebook.com/events/379319495556890 ~ 707-633-4493 ~ copwatchrwc@riseup.net ~ redwoodcurtaincopwatch.net
Riverside, California [no contact provided last year]
4:00PM Spoken Word & Open Mic commemorating the anniversary of the founding of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense and the National Day of Protest Against Police Brutality at Auntie April's Chicken & Waffles, 4618 3rd Street https://www.facebook.com/events/940216355994484
5:00PM Speakout and Press conference at the SF Police Department Military Equipment Center, Deharo Street and 17th Street ~ lvpsf@igc.org
San Jose, California 12:15PM Live art, flash mob, die-in, and live drum circle at De Anza College at the Main Quad (in front of the library), 21250 Stevens Creek Boulevard, Cupertino 1:30PM Public Policy Teach-in in Conference Room A https://www.facebook.com/events/1476737715947289/ ~ yiannimal@gmail.com
Lake Worth, Florida 5:00PM Protest in front of the Lake Worth precinct office of the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office, 120 N. G Street Simultaneous online petition/call-in drive ~ lynnejpurvis@gmail.com (Lynne)
KANSAS Wichita, Kansas [no contact provided last year]
KENTUCKY Lexington, Kentucky 2:00PM Walkout at all area universities 6:00PM Assemble at William Wells Brown Elementary, 555 E. 5th Street for march to 7:00PM Rally at Fayette County District Courthouse, 215 W. Main Street https://www.facebook.com/events/787590071299525/ ~ ybwsocialjustice@gmail.com (April)
Louisville, Kentucky 12:00PM Rally at 6th and Jefferson, across from Louisville Metro Hall, followed by march to 7th and Jefferson https://www.facebook.com/events/722099337866574/ ~ 502-874-7148
12:00PM Gather at Harvard University Science Center, corner of Kirkland and Oxford Street 12:00PM Gather at UMass Boston in front of the Student Center 4:00PM Gather at Ruggles T Station http://revolutionbookscamb.org/ ~ 617-492-5443 ~ info@revolutionbookscamb.org
Newark, New Jersey Leafletting at ten locations throughout Newark by the Newark Communities for Accountable Policing (details TBA) ~ 973-854-1730. ~ rdavis@aclu-nj.org
Greensboro, North Carolina 1:00PM Guilford College Die-in in front of Founders Hall, 5800 W. Friendly Avenue https://www.facebook.com/events/727519743998733 (contacts via Facebook on event page)
OHIO Athens, Ohio 12:01PM Hands Up Walk Out 12:20PM Rally at Ohio University of College Green 12:50PM March through courthouse, OUPD, Morton Hill, Baker, back to College Green https://www.facebook.com/events/369451476551221/
OKLAHOMA Tulsa, Oklahoma 5:10PM Assemble at Brady Theatre's main entrance, 105 West Brady Street to march to the BOK events center at 200 South Denver https://www.facebook.com/events/295700513955048/
SOUTH CAROLINA Greenville, South Carolina 6:30PM Rally at Greenville County Courthouse, then march to Law Enforcement Center/Jailhouse ~ enjericho@gmail.com
*Important - Please keep in mind that these types of demonstrations are ripe for infiltration by agents provocateurs. Stay vigilant for anyone promoting offensive violence in order to discredit legitimate protest and activism.
Assemble en masse, demand reform, and pursue justice.
If anyone would like to contribute their on-the-ground report from any of these locations, please contact Activist Post HERE, or leave your comments below.
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