Humanity Against Police Brutality

(We will gather in the parking area behind the Humanist Center. Park one block north or one block east. Masks required. Observe social distancing as much as possible. Bring water.)

Event will be recorded/live streamed--go here: https://youtu.be/H-qlif_qGOk

On Friday 6/5/2020 we will come together to give voice to outrage and peacefully protest against the continued persecution of our black brothers and sisters at the hands of an unjust system We advocate for social justice, equality and a recognition of our shared humanity. The time to stand together is now. Black Lives Matter.

We advocate for the Obama Foundation “Obama.org” call for each US mayor, (and AZ mayors!) to sign The Mayors' Pledge to introduce common sense limits on police use of force.

“These eight can’t wait” from the The Police Use of Force Project which illustrates how policies often fail to include common-sense limits on police use of force, including:

1 - Failing to require officers to de-escalate situations, where possible, through communication, maintaining distance, slowing things down, and otherwise eliminating the need to use force.
2 - Prohibiting officers from using maneuvers that cut off oxygen or blood flow, including chokeholds or or carotid restraints, which often result in unnecessary death or serious injury.
3 - Failing to require officers to intervene and stop excessive or unnecessary force used by other officers and report these incidents immediately to a supervisor.
4 - Failing to restrict officers from shooting at moving vehicles, which is regarded as a particularly dangerous and ineffective tactic.
5 - Failing to limit the types of force and/or weapons that can be used to respond to specific types of resistance and specific characteristics such as age, size, or disability.
6 - Failing to require officers to exhaust all other reasonable means before resorting to deadly force.
7 - Failing to require officers to give a verbal warning, when possible, before using serious force such as shooting, tasing, or pepper spraying someone.
8 - Failing to require officers to report each time they use force or threaten to use force (e.g., pointing a gun at a person).

But justice won’t be served by that alone. America also needs:

1 - A Department of Justice “George Floyd Police Misconduct Division” with a $6 billion a year budget, hiring thousands of federal agents to investigate police misconduct, and have Val Demings (a black Congresswoman from FL-10 who was Orlando’s Chief of Police) to lead it.
2 - Training and Education to retrain our officers NOT to “shoot to kill” within the first 3 seconds.
3 - Demilitarization and replacing with intermediate weapons and non-lethal approaches to slow down life or death decision making.
4 - Community-based policing, civilian input and oversight
5 - Body cams and transparency with local accountability
6 - Specific outreach programs to promote Officer diversity
7 - Decriminalize marijuana use, releasing non-violent offenders from prison and expunge their records.
8 - A shift from a punitive, mass-incarceration prison system to a restorative justice system.

Resources to inform -
https://www.obama.org/anguish-and-action/
https://www.obama.org/mayor-pledge/
Video - https://youtu.be/nASt3Xmwz8A
Campaign Zero - https://www.joincampaignzero.org/
Police Use of Force Project - http://useofforceproject.org/#project
The Leadership Conference on Civil & Human Rights - https://civilrights.org/value/policing/
Equal Justice Initiative - https://eji.org/
American Decendents of Slavery - https://ados101.com/black-agenda

Co-hosted with Humanity Forward AZ https://www.facebook.com/groups/PhxAzYangGang