All black lives matter. No person shall be discriminated against based upon the color of their gender, sexual orientation, skin tone, economic status, social status, religious beliefs, or location. Everyone deserves adequate resources in order to live and thrive. Speaking out and standing against injustice is an essential human duty. There is a mutual duty to serve and protect between the community and its members. Acknowledge, respect, accept, and celebrate differences as well as commonalities. Believe in the power of words and their impact.

Aurora, Colorado’s police force is clearly dangerous — and it’s enabled by unaccountable police union leaders who prioritize abusive officers over true community safety. It’s time for the mayor, the police chief, and the city council to rein them in. Aurora officers murdered Elijah McClain almost a year ago. A few months later officers mocked and glorified the killing. Then just last month, community members holding a peaceful vigil of violin players — honoring McClain’s life and protesting his murder — were attacked by Aurora police in riot gear, with batons and pepper spray. The police unions’ response? Marc Sears, president of Aurora’s Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) went on offense, dismissing public criticism as completely unfounded and repeatedly attacking the city’s first openly LGBTQ city council member who has dared call for accountability. The Aurora Police Association, the city’s other police union, which has been silent since McClain’s death, finally spoke up last week — only to complain about the firing of one of the officers and launch a barrage of personal attacks on the police chief, not just decrying her actions but questioning her integrity. As these atrocities have come to light, there’s been no contrition, no apology, and far too little accountability. And Aurora’s police unions have been solely concerned with knee-jerk defense of officers and deflecting any honest conversation about the problems with the department and long-overdue reform. Mayor Mike Coffman says he’s committed to stopping police violence in Aurora and creating real change. But that can’t happen through negotiation between the city and Aurora’s police unions. Like police unions across the country, Aurora’s union leaders perpetuate a violent and unaccountable police culture, routinely defend abusive cops, try to win contracts that effectively put police above the law, and do everything they can to block reform. If they’re given influence over the process, they will block any meaningful change. If Coffman and the city council are serious, they’ll follow the lead of the mayor of Minneapolis and stop any negotiations with police unions about accountability and reform. If we can convince the city of Aurora to stop letting the police unions bargain over the policies and reforms that could hold police accountable, it will help pave the way for real change in Aurora, and send a message to other cities that they can break free of the power of police unions and finally have an opportunity for real change.

The name of the Washington team is defined as racial slur going back to at least 1898 printing of Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. But the possibility of a name change is finally within view. American Indian people and tribes have repeatedly called on the team to change the name for decades. Despite a claim that the team name “honors” indigenous people, the name itself is derogatory and comes to front the practice of collecting a bounty for “red skins” or scalps of Native men, women, and children murdered as part of this country’s history of genocide. The traditions of the team and its fans also reveal the racist nature of the name. The team’s logo is a racist caricature and the team fight song calls the players “Braves on the Warpath!” all calling up stereotypes of Indian “savages.” And some of the fans of the Washington team take the continuation of the name as permission to dress in costumes mocking and imitating Native people. The team name, its logo, all of these traditions are dehumanizing and perpetuate racism. According to a new UC Berkeley study, • 65% of Native Youth 18-24 year-olds found the Washington team name offensive. • 57% of people who feel highly connected to being Native American are offended by the Washington NFL team name. • Native American mascots cause higher rates of depression, suicide ideation, self-harm, and substance abuse in Native youth, and increased discrimination in schools against Native students. It’s clear. It is time for the Washington NFL team to #ChangeTheName and end its racist images and practices.

As of 2016, Norfolk police have killed twice as many people as any other agency in Virginia since 2010, according to a Virginian Pilot investigation. According to The Guardian newspaper, out of the 19 people shot and killed by police in the state of Virginia in 2016, seven of those were killed in the Hampton Roads area, with 5 of those deaths being in Norfolk alone. These issues are not "another place's problem." Members of Norfolk City Council have the ability to make concrete change and address the systematic abuse Black and Brown people experience everyday here in Norfolk.

If we want reform we need to have police that are joining for the right reasons. A chief who’s not only a black woman herself but mother to a black son and grandchildren who’s spent most of her life in Richmond in the community making a difference is the leadership we need, not just in Richmond but in every goddamn community. Can you imagine what a police force full of Carols would be like? I can. George Floyd would be alive. Tamir Rice would be 18 right now. The chief of police should be a mother who’s children have grown up in a system that is racist and cruel. Someone who wants, “police need to change their mindset from warrior to guardian; it’s not us (police) Verses them (the people), we as police are part of the community, we are one. “ Richmond, tell Mayor Stoney we don’t need another macho man. We need a WOMAN who truly cares about the community as she’s part of it. We need a chief with a career like Carols. If we can’t truly abolish police then let’s change what sort of people become police. There should be no greater honor then serving your community, we’ve had enough of police ENFORCING their power, we need to flip that to truly serving and working for the people. We need kindness. We need selflessness. We need love. Tell Stoney Richmond should have a say in who is in charge of the folks who SERVE the community. And in my opinion it’s time for a woman to do the job men can’t.

This is important because People that don't have a Support System in Prison go without Justice This man needs to be released he has done his time and more than that .. please sign the petition

In January of 2019, H.R. 40 was introduced to members of Congress. The bill states its purpose is "to establish a commission to study and develop Reparations proposals for African-Americans" and "submit to Congress the results of such examinations." The Committee found that “as a result of the historic and continued discrimination, African-Americans continue to suffer debilitating economic, educational, and health hardships including but not limited to having nearly 1 million black people incarcerated; an employment rate more than twice the current white unemployment rate; and an average of less than 1/16 of the wealth of white families, a disparity which has worsened, not improved over time.” Now, in the wake of a national health crisis that disproportionately affects the Black Community and the continued public slaughter of Black bodies at the hands of law enforcement despite international condemnation, African Americans continue to be left behind economically. The time is now for this country to pay back the Black community for this economic chokehold. Join me in urging members of Congress to move forward with the findings of Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee’s Committee to Develop Reparations Proposals for African Americans and encourage Congress to demand Reparations for African Americans. Read H.R. 40 here: https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/40

Ninian Edwards was a founding political leader and governor of Illinois in the 1800s. He was also a slave owner who actively encouraged the continuation of slavery in Illinois when the North West Ordinance of Illinois outlawed it. Edwards also participated and encouraged the removal and genocide of Native Americans in Illinois. In 2007, a statue of Edwards was erected and a plaza was named after him, right in downtown Edwardsville. Our downtown public spaces should celebrate our community's values and identity. The statue and plaza perpetuate negative messages about who is and is not welcome in our city, about who we revere and who we value. On November 17, 2020, the city took a first step by renaming the plaza. Edwardsville should demonstrate its commitment to equality and its opposition to racism by taking the next straightforward action - removing the statue. We believe this is the right action because of our history. We must learn about Edwards - who he was and what we did - but we should be doing so in a way that is appropriate for learning history, rather than revering him in the heart of our city. The statue can be rehomed to an educational/historical setting. Please join us as we work to achieve the following: 1) The removal of the statue of Ninian Edwards from the downtown Ninian Edwards Plaza. 2) The relocation of the statue to a museum or less public city space, to be displayed alongside information that describes the harmful historical actions of Ninian Edwards against Black Americans and Native Americans.

The current state flag bill prevents the Confederate battle flag from being used in the new state flag. On the eve that the bill was voted on, Senator Melanie Sojourner asked if the bill prevented all Confederate imagery and emblems from being used on the new state flag. Senator Briggs Hopson then stated that it did not. Senator Sojourner then mentioned that Georgia’s state flag is based on another flag from the Confederacy (the “Stars and Bars”). Details on the Flag Bill Process: The nine-member commission must adopt a new flag by September 14th. It will then be voted on by people in November of 2020. In the 2021 session, the lawmakers still must ratify a final flag design that voters vote on in the November election. If voters reject the design, the nine-member commission gets back to work, and voters would weigh in on another design in November 2021. On the nine-member commission, there will be at least one member from the Board of Trustees of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, the Mississippi Arts Commission and the Mississippi Economic Council.Contact your state representative, state senator, the Mississippi Arts Commission, the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, or the Mississippi Economic Council to express your views on what imagery the new flag should and shouldn’t include. Sources: Bill: http://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/2020/pdf/history/HB/HB1796.xml Article: https://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/politics/2020/06/28/live-mississippi-lawmakers-take-up-state-flag-bill/3275024001/

The DAS extends police power to surveil nearly all New Yorkers 24/7. The system uses cameras, license plate readers, MTA trip data, and radiological sensors to create a real-time surveillance map of New York City. It also taps into private data feeds ranging from Wall Street banks’ security systems to private data brokers. Once the data is funneled into the DAS, it can be stored indefinitely. Even worse, NYC gets a sweet kickback commission from Microsoft any time another city or town buys the DAS technology. The DAS heightens the NYPD’s racist policing practice against BIPOC and immigrants. Not only can the DAS technology allow unconstitutional warrantless location tracking, it can also provide information for ICE to help deport people, too. We shouldn’t have to wait years for the Supreme Court to strike down the DAS. Microsoft should ditch it today. We’re calling on Microsoft to immediately end its partnership with the NYPD on the Domain Awareness System.

This is important because now is the time for change and monuments made to preserve nothing but white supremacy and its violent dominance over non-white culture from suppression to genocide need to be removed. The exploitation of Native American culture also needs to come to an end.

San Francisco's Prayer Book Cross is a symbol that continues to glorify white supremacy. It whitewashes the narrative of colonizers, slave traders, rapists, and looters. It must be removed immediately. The maintenance of this religious symbol in a public park is a governmental endorsement of religion, which is illegal.