Welcome to the Respect Existence & Expect Resistance (RE&ER) Family! Thank you for taking 5 minutes out of your day to learn about the injustices that are happening in our nation.
Contents
American Law Enforcement
The Racism Behind Social Distancing Enforcement: NYPD and targeted enforcement
Assembling to Bring Back Affirmative Action: ACA 5 and the upcoming Senate hearing
To (Police) Reform or Not?: The Police Reform Bill
ICE is Poisoning Immigrants: The mass and unethical disinfecting of immigrants
We need your help: How you can help make defunding the police a reality
Justice in the News
American Law Enforcement
Erik Salgado killed and pregnant Brianna Colombo injured by CHP shooting: Both Erik and Brianna were unarmed when three California highway patrol officers fired up to 40 times at their vehicle; the officers have not been charged.
American police shoot, kill, and imprison more people than any other developed country: “A total of 10,310,960 arrests were made in the US in 2018 -- that's one arrest made per every 32 American citizens. Those figures give the US a far higher arrest rate than the UK or Australia, among others.”
74% of Americans support current Black Lives Matter protests: “The recent demonstrations have bipartisan appeal, with 87 percent of Democrats saying they support them, along with 76 percent of independents. Among Republicans, the majority — 53 percent — also back the protests.”
Black Americans are dealing with three crises at the same time—police brutality, high unemployment rates, and COVID-19: “‘I’m just as likely to die from a cop as I am from COVID,’ said Mike Griffin, a community organizer in Minneapolis.”
Camden, New Jersey, disbanded its police department 7 years ago: “The crime rate has dropped from 79 per 1,000 to 44 per 1,000” and they now use “‘community-oriented policing,’ which prizes partnership and problem-solving over violence and punishment.”
Ongoing Court Cases
The Racism behind Social Distancing Enforcement
What you should know about this case:
In 2008, David Floyd and David Ourlicht claimed that the NYPD employed the “stop-and-frisk” tactic without reasonable suspicion, a violation of the Constitution and Civil Rights Act of 1964
In 2013, after initial claims that the police did not impermissibly use race in deciding to stop-and-frisk Floyd, Judge Scheindlin ruled that the NYPD had violated the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments
Since this ruling, the number of stop-and-frisks has decreased dramatically, along with the crime rate in New York
Why are we bringing this case up now?
On May 26th, after many reports of racially biased NYPD enforcement of social distancing protocols, the plaintiffs (Floyd et al.) filed an emergency motion calling for a moratorium and investigation of this enforcement
On June 4th, a supplemental submission was filed in this case, asking for the investigation to also include the NYPD’s curfew enforcement.”
The investigation will look into whether curfew enforcement illegally targets Black and Latinx people
This is yet another reminder that laws are not always equitably enforced; while the social distancing protocols had good intentions (to lower the rates of COVID-19), the outcomes have been much more complex.
Education
Assembling to Bring Back Affirmative Action
The California Assembly on Wednesday, June 11th, passed measure ACA 5 to repeal Prop 209 and restore affirmative action back to California university admissions.
What you need to know about ACA 5:
It passed the assembly with an outcome of 60-14, well beyond the two-thirds majority
It will be up for Senate vote later this month, and if passed, the proposed measure will be on the November election ballot for California
It was authored by Assemblymember Dr. Shirley Weber (D-San Diego)
It is important because people of color are now the majority in California, in contrast to when Prop 209 was passed
Data For Affirmative Action
From 1976-2008, Black students college enrollment increased by 39 percent, Native American/Indigenous students increased by 46 percent, and Latinx/Asian students enrollment doubled
When affirmative action is banned, minority students experience a 23 percent decline in admissions to a prestigious university
Womxn college enrollment increased from 19 percent to 44 percent from 1967-2009
Affirmative action encourages college admissions to have a race-conscious and holistic admissions process to take into account systemic barriers
Ultimately, low-income and underrepresented students improve their chances of elevating their class status.
Data Against Affirmative Action
Prioritizes upper-middle-class minority students which disproportionately affects low-income students who would benefit the most from affirmative action
Admitted students from affirmative action tend to perform worse at prestigious universities than if they had attended less competitive universities due to mismatching
Once Prop 209 passed, the UCLA four-year graduation rates for Black students doubled
It perpetuates economic inequality due to selecting underrepresented students who are more affluent but less prepared over working-class Asian & White students who are more academically prepared
Why we support ACA 5:
Although there has historically been a debate over the purpose and goals of Affirmative Action, it’s a policy that is necessary to address the systemic roots of oppression. For centuries, BIPOC and womxn were excluded from higher education and the wealth/education gap between whites and underrepresented minorities must be closed. Thus, affirmative action takes a step in the right direction. From politics to business to medicine to law, being intentional in admitting systematically oppressed groups to higher education, will be the impetus to create a more inclusive society.
Law
To (Police) Reform Or Not?
Last Monday, the Democrats in Congress proposed federal legislation, the Justice in Policing Act of 2020, that would hold police officers accountable and bring federal police reform.
What you need to know about this Act:
Bans chokeholds & restricts the transfer of military-grade equipment
Mandates racial bias training and body camera usage
It does not defund police departments
Led by the Congressional Black Caucus
Another set of reforms that are being pushed for by Campaign Zero, is 8 Can’t Wait:
The Justice in Policing Act & 8 Can’t Wait may not work, because studies have shown even with the proper training Black people are still being killed at disproportionate rates.
Police reform has not worked historically and increases police department funding
Minneapolis had 7 out of the 8 reforms, yet the police still killed George Floyd
Dylan Roof killed 9 Black people, but was given a bulletproof vest and taken to McDonald’s after the incident; meanwhile, Rayshard Brooks was attacked and killed by law enforcement for falling asleep in a fast-food parking lot.
There is a clear and common thread of implicit bias against Black people.
What’s next?
Justice reform is only the first step in reforming our current law enforcement system. The next big step is to defund the police. Defunding the police may sound shocking if you feel safe around the police, but it’s important to keep in mind that “American policing has never been a neutral institution.”
Here are ways we can keep our communities safe with less policing:
Social Workers & Medics as the first-responders to non-violent crime
Unbundling the police and reducing police responsibility
Immigration
ICE is Poisoning Immigrants
Although they are called “detention” centers, ICE detention centers operate like private, for-profit immigrant prisons. Currently, nine percent of the nation’s total prison population are in private prisons. A much higher share of immigrant detainees is in private detention centers.
What you need to know about privately-run immigrant prisons:
They hold over 70 percent of detainees
The GEO Group receives more taxpayer dollars for immigration detention than any other ICE contractor
In 2017, the GEO Group received $184 million, followed by Corrections Corporation of America/CoreCivic which received $135 million
Contract facilities run by for-profit prison corporations like GEO Group operate outside the purview of public supervision. These private companies are incentivized to cut medical staffing and deny care to maximize shareholder profit return; as a result, they have maintained a particularly negative record of detainee abuse and neglect.
On May 21st, 2020, two immigrant advocacy groups (the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice and Freedom for Immigrants) filed a complaint alleging that ICE is using a COVID disinfectant, HDQ Neutral, on the Adelanto ICE Processing Center every 15-20 minutes.
What is HDQ Neutral?
“A highly concentrated, low in-use cost, broad-spectrum disinfectant”
HDQ Neutral can cause skin burns and severe eye damage when inhaled and sprayed in poorly-ventilated areas.
Since May 11, 2020, at least nine inmates have fallen severely ill as a result
"The guards have started spraying this chemical everywhere, all over everything, all the time. It causes a terrible reaction on our skin," one inmate said. "When I blow my nose, blood comes out. They are treating us like animals. One person fainted and was taken out, I don't know what happened to them. There is no fresh air."
GEO facilities are not new to criticism regarding their lack of seriousness towards the spread of coronavirus throughout the course of the pandemic. Their negligence led to a massive number of COVID-19 cases among the imprisoned. The Adelanto immigrant prison has specifically been criticized for not properly cleaning to prevent the spread of the COVID-19. In response, they started using this HDQ Neutral as an easy “fix” to the problem and to stop the spread.
What you can do to help:
Sign this petition to demand that ICE stop poisoning immigrant detainees!
Call-to-Action
We need your help to make all of our communities safer.
John Oliver recently released a great episode on the Police where he discusses the roots of police and why defunding is critical:
Let’s make reform, defunding, reallocating a reality. If you have...
30 seconds: Text “Sign SEUDKP” to 50409 to end Qualified Immunity
1 minute: Send a drafted and pre-populated email to your local official
2 minutes: Register to vote!
5-10 minutes: Read this article on what defunding the police really means
$ for a good cause: Reclaim the Block, Critical Resistance, and more
Commit to unlearning racism: Justice in June
Written by: Namrata Subramanian, Daniele’ Evans, Daisy Flores, & Jacob Neel
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