PREVIOUSAs we mentioned, some actions carry more risk than others, especially during a pandemic. We encouraged you to take all safety precautions and to listen to best practices from their local public-health officials. Each day for the week of action represented one of our demands. We offered some ideas for you, your family, and friends to take action in your community, as well as resources to learn how. Given the public-health crisis, each idea was segmented by level of risk. Green was low risk, Yellow was medium risk, and Red was high risk. We trusted that you would make the best decisions for yourself and your community.
We Demanded a Divestment from the Police and Investment In Black Communities: We Demanded Local Schools, Colleges, Universities, and All Public Institutions Cut Ties with the Police
We called on localities and elected officials across the country to divest resources away from policing in local budgets and reallocate those resources to the health care, housing, and education our people deserve. More officers, guns, jails, and prisons are not a solution to longstanding problems of racial disparities, injustice, and police violence. We demanded police free schools across the country and an end to the use of police officers in public universities. All public institutions designed to serve the people must cut ties with the police in the interest of public safety.
We asked you to:
- Tweet at presidents of institutions, schools, and universities. See Twitter Storm Download.
- Tweet/social media–storm your city council, supervisors, and alderman to cut police budgets. See Twitter Storm Download.
- Create a people’s budget that illustrates how money can be shifted from policing to our people.
- To learn more about people’s budgeting, check out The People’s Budget Campaign.
- Text or call your friends and family and tell them why you want to defund the police. If you need help figuring out what to say, use some of the demands and descriptions as talking points.
- Phone jam. This tactic involves many people calling a target at once and repeatedly for a specific and strategic time.
- Create art installations at institutions with ties to police. Remember to say their names.
- Check out these resources from the Center for Artistic Activism.
- Safely organize actions outside of the homes of people who manage police contracts. Budgets are one way that cities illustrate their priorities. The decision makers who manage police contracts have to be held accountable for their part. Remember not to trespass.
