Dear Representative Raskin, As residents of Maryland’s 8th district, we call upon you to use your position on the House Judiciary Committee to take real and concrete steps to address the systemic violence and racism that plagues every level of our criminal justice system. While the legislation you’ve supported thus far is an excellent start, the reforms we’ve tried in the past have not ended the brutality. At the moment, there’s no reason for us to believe the reforms in the bills you’ve supported will end the racist brutality now. We have moved past the time for moderate, reactionary reforms. The momentum to fundamentally change the system is here, and we call upon you to support legislation that puts the following demands into action. End the transfer of military-grade equipment to police departments, and eliminate funding for programs that supply these weapons to police departments. Require disciplinary action for officers who prevent body/car/street cameras (any and all recording equipment) from filming, even unintentionally. Require footage from all police interactions to be automatically uploaded to publicly accessible platforms to which police departments do not have editorial access. Oppose additional federal funding for implicit bias training, de-escalation training, or “neighborhood watches” that cities may create to replace police departments. End qualified immunity and allow for suits to be brought retroactively against officers (including federal officials) who have violated civil rights in the past. The Bivens Act must allow for retroactive suits to be brought. End suspensions with pay for officers who commit acts of brutality. Create police involvement and brutality databases, aggregated by race, gender, sexuality, etc on a publicly accessible and easy to use online platform (where police involvement means all police encounters with the public, including non-arrests; all stop and frisks, all speeding tickets, etc). Require disciplinary action for police who do not report their interactions with civilians, even unintentionally. Institute stronger federal protections for police whistleblowers, including but not limited to personal security (if so desired) and pension/benefits protection. Demand that the proposed Law Enforcement Identification Act must be coupled with disciplinary action for any officers who break it, whether “unknowingly” or intentionally. Ignorance of the law is no excuse for us; it cannot be an excuse for them. Fully legalize marijuana, remove it from level 1 status, and allow NIH grants to go to marijuana research. Release all nonviolent drug offenders in federal prisons (including non-marijuana charges), particularly those convicted under mandatory minimums. Federally decriminalize sex work, repeal SESTA-FOSTA. Demilitarize and defund ICE. We know this list of demands presents a challenge, but these changes are necessary to end the violence perpetrated against black, brown and poor people in this country. Note: “Disciplinary action” may include, but is not be limited to: suspensions without pay, firings, loss of weapons/firearms, losing the right to own firearms, pay cuts, demotions, press releases that include the officer’s name, photo, and specifics about the actions of that officer to local (and potentially national) news outlets

This is important because the City Council took a sacred site away from the historic aboriginal Tribe of El Dorado County and gave it to the Sutter County Tribe just as the El Dorado County Board of Supervisors did in 2004. The Upper Broadway site belongs to the Wopumnes Tribe with over 150 years of history in El Dorado County. This is their sacred site that they have been protecting for over 100 years. On April 16, 2020 the City of Placerville bull-dozed the site without CEQA review and without warning. The City claims they gave notice in their 2018 MND but the site was obscured from the construction activities so there was no need for the Tribe to reveal the site. On June 23, 2020, item 12.1 on the City Agenda, the Placerville City Council, in an unprecedented act of insensitivity and amidst much support of the historic tribe, decided to ignore the Wopumnes request to allow them access to their sacred site to monitor study and construction activities. Instead the City Council decided to give the Wopumnes sacred site to the Sacramento-Verona Band (who arrived in El Dorado County in 1980, owns Redhawk Casino and calls themselves (SSBMI)). The City did exactly what the El Dorado County Board of Supervisors did in 2004... they gave the Wopumnes' sacred site away to the Sacramento-Verona Band, an out of town group from Sutter County. The Citizens of El Dorado County say "Not in my town. Placerville City Council, give the Wopumnes back their sacred site so they monitor construction and study activities, and bring in UC Davis to do the dig, Collect, Study and Care for the Wopumnes Tribe's artifacts.

Stanley watson was wrongfully convicted for a murder he didn't commit. He was only 17 years old at the time and he deserves a second chance, also a responsible opportunity for release...There were truly a miscarriage of justice, witnesses were threatened and harassed to testify against Mr. Watson. All we want is for the courts. The governor Stitt and the state of Oklahoma to realize they have a innocent man in prison and to release him without prejudice. For he has already served 20 years of his life.. We need and demand justice..

In the Kentucky primary election that occurred yesterday, several hundred voters were locked out of the KY Expo Center right at 6 pm, barring them from their right to vote. The only reason they were allowed inside is because both US Senate Democratic Nominees, Amy McGrath and Charles Booker, filed injunctions with the Jefferson County Circuit Court to open the doors and allow those waiting in line outside to vote. Charles Booker filed a second injunction to keep the polls open until 9 pm, and was denied. Kentucky's current election law states that polls are to be closed at 6 pm with the precinct election sheriff identifying the last person in line to be the last voter. This early closing time prevents many working people from getting to their polling place in time, especially if they work far from their home precinct. Restricting voting hours to end at 6 pm is voter disenfranchisement, aimed specifically at working-class citizens and people of color, who are more likely to be working in the service industries where there is little flexibility to leave one's shift to go vote. In the case of this last primary election, there was only ONE polling place for all of Jefferson County/city of Louisville -- where there are nearly 1 million residents. At 6 pm the traffic to get into the KY Expo Center was nearly an hour long. Voters were parking and running up to the doors to make it in time, only to find they had been locked out. With the coronavirus crisis continuing indefinitely into the future, we can only assume that our state and county will choose to have a singular polling place for the November general election. We MUST URGE our KY state officials, Governor Andy Beshear, Secretary of State Michael Adams, KY Senate Majority Leader Damon Thayer, and KY House of Representatives David Osborne to EXTEND voting hours to at least 7 pm, if not until 9 pm. That last hour is critial in expanding access for voters who cannot leave work in time to get to their polling place.

It's not just COVID and police brutality exposing racism in America. Black homeowners in Detroit are being overtaxed on top of these other injustices. We’ve all seen headlines about Detroit homeowners being overcharged $600 million dollars in property taxes. No community should be hit with such unjust bills and least of all a city with 40 percent of residents struggling in poverty. Detroit has one of the highest property tax foreclosure rates of any city since the Great Depression. A recent University of Chicago study shows that, even after Mayor Duggan tried to fix the problem, the City is still overcharging the lowest valued homes. These are deep, systemic problems that a task force should investigate, propose solutions to end the practice and help make the community whole. Governor Whitmer has proven that she can get the job done with COVID and is with us in the movement against police brutality. Now it's time to do the same for property tax injustice. We call on her to create a task force to investigate and stop unfair property tax practices and keep Detroit homeowners in their homes. Sources: https://harris.uchicago.edu/files/evalrespropertytaxasdetroit20162018.pdf https://scholarship.law.uci.edu/ucilr/vol9/iss4/3/ http://www.californialawreview.org/print/predatory-cities/#_ftn18 https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/11/opinion/coronavirus-cities-property-taxes.html

We have been closely following the development of a large encampment of unhoused people in Powderhorn Park, and the attempts by the Minneapolis Parks Board to deal with the situation. We support the Board Resolution 2020-253 passed at their meeting on June 17, 2020 in which the Board committed to allow the encampment to remain temporarily while working to find housing for the unhoused people there; and called on local and State government to increase funding to address this crisis. During the June 17 meeting, it was clear that the Park Board has no funding or expertise available to address the crisis presented by a large encampment of unhoused people during a pandemic and in the wake of an uprising centered just a few blocks away. David Hewitt, the Director of Hennepin County's Office to End Homelessness, testified that it will not be easy to find housing for the residents of the Powderhorn encampment, that the County's resources are already maxed out by the rapid adjustments that were made due to the pandemic, and that there is little or no capacity to address the needs of this encampment. Al Bangoura, Superintendent of Minneapolis Parks, stated that he is attempting to work closely with the Minnesota Interagency Council on Homelessness, but also stated that that no state or local government agency has committed any funds to assist the Park Board to keep the residents of the encampment safe or to find them appropriate housing. Parks Commissioner Lionel French stated that he believes Governor Walz needs to get involved, and we agree. We therefore are petitioning you for your intervention in this matter.

America faces an emergency on three primary fronts: a public health pandemic, economic insecurities, and long-standing structural and institutional racism. Working families need job security, economic stability, and freedom from systematic oppression. That is, we must address the racial barriers from COVID-19 and the racial oppression that African Americans and people of color are facing. Furthermore, we must stress the importance of the HEROES Cares Act. So, please sign on and join us for this tel-town hall Wednesday, June 24th, at 6:30 pm, for the tel-town hall call-in number (866) 976-6355. Speakers for this event will be NC Senator Erica Smith-Ingram Dr. Michelle Laws- Department of Health and Human Services Fayetteville Mayor Mitch Colvin Action NC member Tarsha Gunn

On 5/29 and 5/30, Virginians outraged by recent police murders and systemic racism took to the streets of Richmond. The police met this unrest with violence, tear-gassing protestors and nearly running people over with a police vehicle. As in dozens of other cities, there was significant damage to both private and public property. Some protesters also defaced symbols of white supremacy with anti-racist graffiti. The next day, Mayor Levar Stoney called in the National Guard and imposed an 8 pm curfew for the city. That night, protesters took to the streets once more. At around nine o'clock, RPD interrupted an otherwise peaceful protest by firing tear gas into the crowd. They pursued and arrested 233 people, some of whom were not protesting and were unaware of the curfew. Police transported these individuals to the Richmond City Jail where they were kept in a hot poorly ventilated bus, some for over twelve hours. The full litany of abuses they suffered at the hands of police is too long to list here (for more see @nomoniker on Twitter). Over the course of the night, law enforcement officials sexually harassed protesters, failed to adequately address medical and psychological crises, dismissed concerns about COVID-19 exposure, and regularly denied arrestees water—all for behavior that should NOT HAVE BEEN CRIMINALIZED in the first place. More arrests were made on the second night of the curfew. More recently, on 6/14 and 6/15, protestors were maced and gassed by police in riot gear outside the precinct. On 6/14 Michaela G. Hatton, a 22-year-old protester with a master’s degree in social work from VCU, was targeted by RPD and charged with felony assault on a law enforcement officer and conspiracy to incite a riot. Michaela lost her job because of the arrest. Despite the numerous calls to drop charges against protestors, the City has taken NO substantive action to reject police repression and violence. Let's all pressure Commonwealth's Attorney Colette McEachin, Mayor Stoney, and Richmond City Council to protect the people they supposedly serve. We demand that our elected officials work to ensure that ALL chargers against protestors are dropped immediately!

The Washington Redskins exposed their hypocrisy recently while tweeting out on #BlackoutTuesday in support of #BlackLivesMatter while continuing to profit off of a racist and derogatory name—Redskins—and a caricature logo of Native Americans. Borne out of a genocidal past, the term “Redskin,” is a word dripping with contempt, racism, and a quite literal reference to blood; advertisements were placed in newspapers on behalf of governments and institutions perpetuating the genocide of indigenous peoples using this term—for example, from the The Winona Daily Republican in Minnesota: “The State reward for dead Indians has been increased to $200 for every red-skin sent to Purgatory. This sum is more than the dead bodies of all the Indians east of the Red River are worth.” While the team may claim that the term is used to honor the purported Native American ancestry of its one-time coach William “Lone Star” Dietz, the team knows full well that the name was changed to Redskin to avoid issues with the Boston Braves baseball team. Further, after an investigation, Dietz was found to have fraudulently posed as indigenous—the name of the football team only dishonors in many ways. Snyder argues that the term is one of honor and of benign origins—it is not. Native American leaders and peoples have been fighting to have the name changed across society, and have succeeded but in this one place. Since 1898, the term has been defined as one used contemptuously. If the Washington Football Team had to change the fight song for racist illusions, why not change the name? To claim that the term “redskins” honors Native Americans defies logic—no one would think to claim that, for example, a football team named for the confederacy honors African Americans. Other teams are named after animals (Philadelphia Eagles, Seattle Seahawks, Chicago Bears), after numbers (San Francisco 49ers), or after empowering, flattering, mythic characters (New England Patriots, New Orleans Saints, Houston Texans). In short, a racial slur has no place in the NFL's lineup. Academic studies continue to show that the name and mascot do not honor Native Americans; to the contrary, the term leads to “lower self-esteem, lower community worth, less capacity to generate achievement-related possible selves, and greater levels of negative effect” amongst Native American youth, perpetuating a cycle of poverty and oppression. The term, with its contemptuous nature, further builds a gap between native and non-native cultures, contributing to intergenerational trauma and continued racism. Leaders, historians, psychologists, and social scientists have concluded that “Native mascots are part of a much larger web of phenomena that contribute to oppression faced by Native Americans and thus it seems clear that these mascots should be eliminated.” While it should be clear, some people seem to be unwilling to see the continued consequences. Everytime the Washington team takes the field, the Redskins name conjures images of brutality. The Washington Redskins, the NFL, the media, and sponsors must discontinue profiting off of a racist trope. Native Americans are not mascots, they are people and are still here. Daniel Snyder cannot continue to muzzle and whitewash a people and history. Words have power. Symbols have power. It is time the media and sponsors cease their complicity in this cultural genocide, and stand with justice—boycott the name until the name changes.

Survivor has produced 40 successful seasons over 20 years by telling the stories of people who represent a wide array of human experience within the context of a game of social strategy, physical challenges, and survival. Representation matters. One of the most important ways we can embrace our diversity and evolve is to represent that diversity responsibly, equitably and fully. A commitment to the afore-mentioned actions would have a huge impact and move us toward a more fair, just, and equitable society.

We - Students, Parents, Family Members, Teachers, & Community Members demand our children see a brighter future - one where they are supported, not criminalized. Time and time again, children in the Kingston City School District have fallen victim to racial profiling, violence, sexual harassment, and trauma at the hands of the police. Due to the lack of Police Accountability, no justice has been served for most of the children who have been harmed. We do not understand why we have police in our schools. The narrative that Police make things safer has been disproved numerous times, An SRO at Marjory Stoneman Douglas never even entered the school during the shooting. Police contact can also hinder children’s educational performance through negative health consequences related to stress, fear, trauma, and anxiety (Geller et al. 2014; Golembeski and Fullilove 2005; Sugie and Turney 2017) The Memorandum Of Understanding between the KCSD and The Police Department says: “Under state law, the SRO shall not serve as a school disciplinarian, as an enforcer of school regulations, or in place of school-based mental health providers, and the SRO shall not use police powers to address traditional school discipline issues.” Despite the contract, the SROs in the schools are routinely involved in disciplining the children - criminalizing them at a young age. The $369,368.90 our district committed to spend in the 19-20 school year to criminalize our children should be used for counselors and education, not to feed the School to Prison Pipeline. We demand: 1. An immediate and permanent cancellation of contracts with Kingston Police Department, Ulster Police Department and all law enforcement. 2. A commitment to reinvest those funds into Mental Health and Community Resources for the children in the district. 3. Investigate all complaints of Police Violence and Misconduct that have been reported to the school district. Please sign the petition and contact members of the KCSD School Board and Superintendent Padalino to support the removal of School Resource Officers from KCSD and the reallocation of those funds towards mental health resources. In Solidarity, R!SE UP KINGSTON

I recently relocated to Georgia from Florida to work as the Georgia State Director for Planned Parenthood Southeast. In that role, I advocate for reproductive health and rights and help organize and mobilize voters, and fight for free and fair elections — because when voting rights are under attack, all of our rights are at risk. But despite the fact that I spend much of my time turning out voters, I was unable to vote in the Georgia primary. I sent in my voter registration weeks before the deadline, followed up multiple times by phone, and my mom even called on my behalf while I was at work to ensure my registration was processed. But come election day, I was not registered. Multiple county officials told me on the phone they were “still processing” all the voter registrations, but by June 9, an untold number of people, including me, were still unable to vote in the election. There were other problems too - voting machines didn't work, lines were up to eight hours long, and some mail-in ballots never appeared or were mailed out unusable. Black voters' ability to vote was severely obstructed by Georgia's dysfunctional election system, at the same moment that Black people and allies are taking to the streets in historic protests. We do not have the power to choose elected officials who will fight for the changes we need to defend Black lives unless we have the power to vote. Georgia elected officials must not allow this to happen again in five short months for the general election in November. Secretary of State Raffensperger has proven that he cannot be trusted to run a safe and fair election. We need more funding and support for all county boards of elections, expansion of voting by mail, and adequate training for poll workers. It is time to hold Secretary of State Raffensperger accountable because Georgians deserve better!