AB953 HAS BEEN ON GOVERNOR BROWN’S DESK SINCE SEPTEMBER 14TH.
SINCE THEN, AT LEAST 5 MORE PEOPLE HAVE BEEN KILLED BY LAW
ENFORCEMENT IN CALIFORNIA.
ON FRIDAY, YOUTH WHO HAVE BEEN CRIMINALIZED, FAMILIES WHO HAVE BURIED LOVED ONES
KILLED BY LAW ENFORCEMENT AND CLERGY LEADERS LEFT FROM THE NORTHERN BORDER WITH OREGON AND THE SOUTHERN BORDER WITH MEXICO TO TRAVEL TO SACRAMENTO -#JOURNEY4JUSTICE. ALONG THE WAY, WE TALLKED TO HUNDREDS OF CALIFIORNIANS ABOUT THEIR EXPERIENCES WITH LAW ENFORCEMNENT, AND TO GATHER THEIR STORIES AND SIGNATURES TO CARRY TO THE GOVERNOR.
SINCE SUNDAY NIGHT, WE HAVE DELIVERED MORE THAN 2,000 CARDS SIGNED BY CALIFOIRNIANS TO
THE GOVERNOR, AND HAVE CAMPED OUT IN FRONT OF THE CAPITOL – PLEDGING THAT WE WILL NOT
LEAVE UNTIL HE SIGNS AB953 INTO LAW.
PLEASE JOIN THE STRUGGLE TO PUSH GOVERNOR BROWN TO DO THE RIGHT THING, THE MORAL THING!!!
1. Call the Governor and urge him to SIGN AB953: (916) 445-2841
2. Join us at the State Capitol. Just bring a tooth brush, a pillow, some clean underwear and a strong spirit!
3. Sign on to the Statement to Governor Brown from youth of color (below). You can sign on as a youth of color, and ally or an allied organization. e-mail your name, affiliation and city to kim@youth4justice.org.
GOVERNOR BROWN – SIGN ASSEMBLY BILL 953
9-28-15: STATEMENT TO GOVERNOR BROWN BY YOUTH OF COLOR ON
POLICE STOPS, RACIAL AND IDENTITY PROFILING AND USE OF FORCE
IN CALIFORNIA
Dear Governor Brown:
We are writing to urge you to SIGN ASSEMBLY BILL 953 to track, release data on, and address racial and identity profiling by law enforcement, including establishing a statewide commission to monitor implementation of the law that will include youth and community representation.
We are from California – #1 in the nation on law enforcement use of force resulting in homicide – where at least 147 people have been killed so far in 2015. We are the #1 targets – Black, Brown and Native youth. We are all just one bullet away from becoming a #hashtag. We are survivors of California’s War on Drugs and the War on Gangs. We have suffered from public policies and government budgets that prioritize saturation policing in our schools and communities over funding for education, jobs and youth centers. We live in a state that has more prisons (33) than universities (29). We get prison prep, not college prep. California thinks our hall of fame comes with locks and chains.
- We have been stopped on the street, forced to kneel on cold concrete or had our faces slammed to burning asphault, while we are patted down, our back packs emptied and our pockets checked, humiliated in front of our family and neighbors.
- We have been routinely questioned by police SO MANY times. The questions are almost always the same: “Where you from?” (Assuming we are gang members.) “Are you on Probation or Parole?” They never ask: “Are you okay?” “Do you need something?” “Are you safe?”
- We are targeted and lined up by law enforcement at bus stops and trains constantly to check us for fare, despite watching white people go by unchecked. Law enforcement sometimes rip up or confiscate our VALID transportation passes.
- We have been rounded up by police and sheriffs around schools – even as we are rushing in the front door just a few seconds late – to be served with expensive truancy tickets.
- Our schools are surrounded by police cars, and we walk past razor wire and security gates, through metal detectors, into halls painted a plain and soul-crushing beige or white. Police enter our classrooms to do random searches, sometimes with drug sniffing dogs.
- Our schools have more police and Probation officers than guidance counselors. (California is last in the nation with 1,016 students for every school counselor.)
- We have been handcuffed, ticketed and even arrested in front of other students and staff for “offenses” as small as being late to school, carrying a marker, or wearing a baseball cap. We have been detained in police interrogation rooms at our schools and questioned without knowledge of our rights to a lawyer.
- Some of us have been severely injured by law enforcement.
- Too many of us are related to and/or the friends of people who have been killed by law enforcement. We have been to far more funerals than graduations. For example, Brandy Brown, her one-year-old daughter Desire and her 4-year-old nephew Andrew lived on the block where Ezell Ford lived and knew him well for many years. The babies witnessed the shooting of Ezell by the LAPD on August 11, 2014. Desire – at a year old – said “Hands up, don’t shoot” regularly because she heard it chanted on the block so often. Eduardo Bermudez’ sister saw her brother shot by the LA County Sheriffs on November 16, 2014. She yelled to the Sheriffs – “Please!!!! Don’t shoot him. He is not dangerous.” After the shooting, the Sheriffs detained her for 9 hours “for her own safety” without any news of her brother. Johnny Martinez was killed on October 4, 2014 by sheriff deputies. His family also pleaded with the deputies not to shoot – that he had a mental condition.
The treatment we are describing happens to us on a regular basis, even to very young children. And, all of this happens without apology from law enforcement, including when neither weapons, drugs or stolen property are found. Many of us are so traumatized by these experiences, that we are afraid of law enforcement. Native youth fear leaving the reservation and having contact with police. Other youth fear leaving home and hope that they will return. And, from TJ to Pelican Bay, parents train their sons and daughters what to do if they are stopped by the police.
For all of these reasons, we have traveled numerous times to Sacramento, met with legislators, marched in the streets, and protested in front of your office to PUSH CALIFORNIA TO PASS ASSBMLY BILL 953. AS GOVERNOR, YOU HAVE A SWORN OBLIGATION TO PROTECT US AND SUPPORT US. As a step forward toward that responsibility, we urge you to sign AB953.
Sincerely,
Youth of Color in California:
Youth of Color throughout the U.S. because the laws passed in California is are often exported to our states:
Adults who are allied with us:
Organizations that stand with us: