Defund Federal Grants to Police Departments that Don't Value Black Lives.
Sign the Petition
* denotes required fields
YOU WILL RECEIVE PERIODIC UPDATES FROM COLOROFCHANGE.ORG. YOU MAY UNSUBSCRIBE AT ANY TIME.
Defund Federal Grants to Police Departments that Don't Value Black Lives.
Update 7.19.16: The Republican National Convention kicked off this week in Cleveland, OH, a city that houses a police department that is infamous for exerting excessive force and killing Black people, including 12-year-old Tamir Rice. Yet, Cleveland PD has received $50 million of federal funding for equipment to amp up their militarization forces. With police brutality and lack of accountability already being heavily ingrained in CPD culture, this is a huge safety risk for Black folks living in Cleveland and anti-Trump protesters visiting during the RNC.
This month, we've witnessed several brutal Black killings at the hands of police--Alton Sterling, Philando Castile, Delrawn Smalls, Alva Braziel, and the list goes on. Yet, the federal government continues to give millions of dollars in grants to the very same police departments that are killing and over-incarcerating Black people.
Baton Rouge PD, the very police department that killed Alton Sterling, has been under investigation by the Department of Justice for civil rights violations TWICE—including for its harassment of Black people following Hurricane Katrina. Yet, federal officials continue to give them money--in fact, Baton Rouge PD has received 3 million dollars from the DOJ over the past five years. There are simple reforms these police departments can make to protect Black lives--yet they have failed to over and over again.
Politicians can’t keep promising the change we need in local police departments and quietly maintain the status quo by failing to take real action. Pres. Obama and Congress have real power to hold police departments accountable with their funding—if they are really about stopping police terror in Black communities, this is how they show it.
It's time for our political leaders to step up and insist on real accountability.
Below is the letter we will send President Barack Obama and your Members of Congress on your behalf:
Dear President Barack Obama:
Black people and their allies have been boldly advocating for police reform and accountability to end the unjust murders of Black people by police for years, but nothing is changing. We need you to use the power of the federal government to halt police departments that refuse to implement the reforms needed to protect Black lives.
Our criminal justice system is not properly holding police accountable. We must defund police departments that employ officers who are quick to kill and condone practices that do not value Black life. Our nation, politicians and many police are in agreement that police departments need reform, however, no one is ensuring this reform happens -and more and more Black people are getting killed because of it.
Please acknowledge the pain and frustration communities across the nation continue to feel people like Alton Sterling, Philando Castile, Delrawn Smalls, and Alva Braziel are brutally and unjustly murdered.
Will you take action before the next Black person is unjustly murdered by police?
Sincerely,
[Your name]
CC:
The United States Senate
U.S. House of Representatives