On September 26, 2019, six officers from the Hyattsville police department (along with one officer from Mt. Rainier and three from Prince George’s County) participated in the killing of Leonard Shand. During a town hall meeting held on October 1, 2019, at the University Christian Church, Hyattsville Mayor Candace Hollingsworth, Chief of Police Amal Awad, and City Administrator Tracy Douglas spoke to the community and reported that all the officers involved would be placed on administrative leave pending the conclusion of a homicide and administrative investigation. On April 13, 2020, Chief Awad reinstated the six Hyattsville officers were reinstated to full duty by Chief Awad without benefit of the homicide and administrative investigation being completed. City Administrator Douglas responded to community concerns about reinstating these officers without benefit of the investigation by stating, "City officials reviewed the events surrounding Shand’s death and found no violations of internal policies…[p]reliminarily, the city police command staff conducted an executive review of the unfortunate death of Mr. Shand and determined that the actions were consistent with departmental policy.” A police department investigating itself is NOT ACCEPTABLE! Any policies that justify the firing squad-style killing of a mentally ill man who was forced to run toward the shooters are NOT ACCEPTABLE! According to the ACLU of Maryland "officers used a flashbang grenade, which inevitably led to the killing of 49-year-old Leonard Shand, according to @PGPDNews. Running away from an exploding flashbang grenade is a natural and inevitable response. The police created a dangerous situation, causing an armed man to run towards them, and then used the inevitable result of their actions as the justification to shoot him. The PGPD Twitter account released photos of bloody knives that the victim was alleged to have been carrying, yet, the the footage released, didi not show anyone to be stabbed. The police left 40+ bullet holes not only left in the victim’s body but in nearby buildings that could have easily hit any other passerby.

There are currently only three states that identify Murder in the third degree (Florida, Minnesota, Pennsylvania), California is not one of them. The State of California Penal Code is specific, and covers a broad range of murder definitions, however it does not identify any requirement for peace officers to act in the protection of citizens in their custody. This is an opportunity for the State of California to positively respond to the events of the last decade and make a clear change. This action will also provide local law enforcement the ability to swiftly address and enforce self-governance in a way that may prevent future public protest and ensure a just and lawful review of events in a court of law.

By reporting this stuff you are also repeating it and spreading it. This is causing mass confusion and cynicism. Some people no longer believe anything they’re told, The Lie having become such a common tool of the Republicans.

The criminal justice system cannot work if it is inherently biased. ALL Citizens cannot feel safe from random acts of police violence if there is no systematic accountability and protection from such acts. Time and again it has been demonstrated that the police and local officials have been unable to rein in such behavior that targets specific groups with racial bias, animosity and violence. It is time for reform and change. We are calling on the NYC Council to take action by implementing the 5-Point Plan.

We must send a clear message that there is no place for the inhumane treatment of any citizen within the state of Georgia. The modifications I am proposing will make this one of the strongest Bipartisan Hate Crime bills in the nation. I need your support. Let's make Georgia better for ALL of Us! Please sign my petition and share it with everyone you know.

It happened again. His name was George Floyd, and on May 25th he was murdered by Minneapolis police officers. George Floyd was a Black man, who was murdered in broad daylight after a grocery clerk called the police thinking he was writing a bad check. For seven minutes, George laid on the street while officers Derek Chauvin and Tou Thao held their knee on his neck as he was struggling to breathe. He lost consciousness and yet they continued to strangle him. Numerous bystanders pleaded with the police officer to let him go, while Floyd said the words “I can’t breathe,” several times, but the officer refused to remove his knee from Floyd’s neck. After the murder, officers called his death a "medical problem." And it wasn't until the video was released clearly showing them choking him, did we finally see the truth. This was a blatant and disgusting coverup to prevent accountability for their brutal act of police violence. This is incomprehensible. His life was taken in a senseless act of violence at the hands of the Minneapolis Police Department, all for being “suspected” of writing a bad check. Police continue to hunt down Black folks in cities across America and we refuse to sit silent. It was not too long ago we heard Eric Garner utter the same last words, “I can’t breathe.” And just months ago, officers stormed Breonna Taylor’s home and murdered her in a botched investigation. On May 26th, officers Derek Chauvin and Tou Thao, and two other officers who were present, were fired from the Minneapolis Police Department. This is a step in the right direction to hold the officers accountable for murdering George Floyd but more action must be taken. We are calling for further action from Mayor Jacob Frey and County Attorney Freeman. Mayor Frey must 1) block the officers from receiving their pensions and 2) ban them from ever becoming police officers again. And County Attorney Freeman must immediately charge the officers with murder.

Councilman Barbee and Councilman Stephens cost the city taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars when they failed to show up for several council meetings in a row. By not showing up to meetings, city council could not conduct city business and official meetings were not able to be held. Both Councilmen intentionally boycotted official meetings for political reasons. The taxpayers should not be required to pay the costs of their political agenda's.

Why this is important is more than clearly delineated in the body of the petition itself.

H.R. 6666, otherwise known as the COVID-19 Testing, Reaching, and Contacting Everyone (TRACE) Act, was introduced and referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce on 5/1/2020. This bill is sponsored by Representative Bobby Rush (D) of Illinois District 1. The bill has 59 cosponsors, 58 Democrats and 1 Republican. Summary H.R. 6666 provides 100 billion dollars this year and unlimited federal funding in future years to create and operate a massive and likely unconstitutional surveillance, testing, and tracing enforcement system under the guise of “protecting” Americans against coronavirus. H.R. 6666 is a federal funding bill. It proposes to create a surveillance infrastructure that can be used by the federal government, as well as local and state governments and private businesses, to require medical testing and tracking of all citizens in violation of fundamental civil liberties as set forth in the Bill of Rights, which include the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution designed to protect individual rights and limit the power of the government. H.R. 6666 lacks safeguards and conditions related to funding of the proposed surveillance operation to prevent it from being applied to intrusive programs mandating testing and surveillance without an individual’s voluntary consent. If this legislation is passed by Congress and enacted into law, it could lead to denial of an individual’s right to appear in public spaces and travel; the right to employment and education or participation in government-funded services, and the right to receive care in a government funded hospital or other any other medical facility. H.R. 6666 specifically allows for funded entities to home quarantine a person against their will, even while they are healthy. Once a vaccine is available, the testing and tracing results potentially could be used to force individuals to be injected with a COVID-19 vaccine against their will. According to a Press Release from the sponsor Congressman Bobby L. Rush, “Reopening our economy and getting back to normal will be all but impossible if we do not step up our testing efforts and implement robust and widespread contact tracing,” said Rep. Rush. “Until we have a vaccine to defeat this dreaded disease, contact tracing in order to understand the full breadth and depth of the spread of this virus is the only way we will be able to get out from under this.” The Devil is in the Details H.R. 6666 would allow The Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), acting through the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), to award federal grants to eligible entities to conduct diagnostic testing for COVID–19, to trace and monitor the contacts of infected individuals, and to support the quarantine of such contacts. Through the use of mobile health units, as necessary, individuals would be tested and provided with services related to testing and quarantine at their residences. The amount of money appropriated for fiscal year 2020 would be $100,000,000,000 (one hundred billion dollars) and more money may be appropriated by Congress as necessary for any subsequent fiscal year during which the emergency period continues. A grant recipient may use the federal grant funds, in support of the above referenced activities to hire, train, compensate, and pay the expenses of individuals; and to purchase personal protective equipment and other supplies. Priority will be given to applicants in “hot spots” and medically underserved communities and to entities that hire residents of the community where the activity will occur. Hot spots are defined as a geographic area where the rate of infection with the virus that causes COVID–19 exceeds the national average. Medically underserved communities are communities given that term in section 799B of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 295p). Entities eligible for the grant money are defined as a federally qualified health center, school-based clinic, disproportionate share hospital, academic medical center, nonprofit organization, institute of higher education, high school, and any other type of entity as determined by the Secretary of HHS. H.R. 6666 Does Not Guarantee Privacy Section 2 (e) of H.R. 6666 is entitled “Federal Privacy Requirements”, but it does little to protect privacy. It states that “Nothing in this section shall be construed to supersede any Federal privacy or confidentiality requirement, including the regulations promulgated under section 264(c) of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (Public Law 104–191; 110 Stat. 2033) and section 543 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 290dd–2). In actuality, H.R. 6666 offers few privacy protections for Americans who will be surveilled and tested without their consent under programs funded with this grant. In fact, Americans can expect their privacy to be violated under TRACE funded programs. That is because the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) 45 CFR 164.512(b)(1)(i) has always allowed disclosure of private health information to government officials and other government approved entities including foreign governments without the knowledge or consent of the individual for the purpose of conducting public health surveillance, investigations or interventions. Bill of Rights Cannot Be Suspended During A “Public Health Crisis” The Bill of Rights in the U.S. Constitution cannot be set aside by the federal government or state governments during pandemics or other public health emergencies. In The United States Statement of Interest in Support of Plaintiffs, filed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) in a case last month in which church goers attending a drive-in sermon were issued citations for violating an executive order in Mississippi, the DOJ stated;

With six months to go until the November elections, the U.S. Senate has a waning opportunity to show our country what compassionate, bipartisan leadership looks like, and whether majority leader Mitch McConnell is capable of that leadership. His legacy will likely be defined by how the Senate meets this historic challenge. An obsessive focus on reshaping the federal judiciary will pale in comparison to an underwhelming and tepid response to the significant needs of our commonwealth and nation to meet the coronavirus crisis. Sen. McConnell's recent actions are deeply troubling. From stating, “Some of these governors, particularly the Democrat governors, it seems, enjoy this extra power over people’s lives, and ... the governors have been struck down, been overruled, for being sort of drunk with power at the opportunity to keep everybody locked up,” to recently saying that President Obama should "keep his mouth shut," and calling him "classless." This comes on the heels of his irresponsible suggestion that states should declare bankruptcy instead of expecting federal support. Please sign and share our petition to encourage Leader McConnell to make the most of the moment, and set a new, bipartisan direction for his leadership of the current Senate session.

We The People of the United States of America cannot tolerate an anti-democratic president who lies, abuses power, breaks the law, suppresses the truth, silences scientific experts, spreads propaganda, incites hatred and racism, refuses to lead in a responsible or thoughtful manner and refuses to act in the country’s best interest. Our “democratic” system has failed us when a minority of the population elects our President. We, the majority, will not tolerate this inept sociopath any longer. We cannot wait for the next election while Trump and his allies chip away at our Democracy. They must be removed now and replaced with an Interim President who can start to heal and guide the nation in a responsible way until we can have a free and fair election, hopefully this November. The Electoral College must be abolished to prevent this type of dangerous and irresponsible person from ever gaining power again.

This action is important for so many reasons, such as Mr. Trump and his administration’s: 1) racist and violent rhetoric; 2) dangerous refusal to sufficiently handle the current COVID-19 pandemic and its numerous associated issues; 3) shameful detention of immigrants and their families; 4) purposeful raiding of taxpayer funds to benefit the richest segment of US citizens; 5) flagrant unethical and unlawful behaviors; and 6) other issues too numerous to mention. - - - We must make our disapproval unequivocal. Please lend your voice to this political action. - - - “There is a power that can be created out of pent-up indignation, courage, and the inspiration of a common cause, and that if enough people put their minds and bodies into that cause, they can win. It is a phenomenon recorded again and against in the history of popular movements against injustice all over the world.” ― Howard Zinn, You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train: A Personal History of Our Times