March Against Berkeley Police

On February 12th Berkeley Police murdered Kayla Moore. Kayla Moore lived
with “mental illness” and has been described by friends and family as a
Transgender person who “passed as a woman.”

From Berkeley Copwatch:

“The BPD’s press release of February 13th says that they responded to “a
disturbance call” at Moore’s apartment. Media reports have said this call
was related to mental health. If she was going through a mental health
crisis, was anyone present trained to respond to that kind of situation,
to evaluate, and deescalate? According to an article from February 26th in
the Oakland Tribune: “Berkeley: Man who died after struggle with police
was severely mentally ill,” rather than take her to a hospital for
psychiatric evaluation, when they found out she had an outstanding warrant
in San Francisco, they told her they were going to arrest her.

An article in the San Francisco Chronicle dated February 13th “Man dies in
struggle with Berkeley police,” mentions “a disturbance between
roommates,” as causing the police to arrive. The Daily Californian
February 14th article “Man dies after being taken into police custody,”
says that other residents heard a “commotion on the fifth floor of the
building before the officers arrived on the scene.” None of the witnesses
we spoke to heard any sort of commotion or disturbance until after the
police arrived. Why the consistent difference? In fact, the police were at
Moore’s apartment twice that night. This isn’t mentioned at all by the
police or media reports. The police first showed up around 11:00pm, and
left without incident. The incident resulting in Moore’s death was the
second police visit, occurring around 11:50pm. According to witnesses,
when they returned a second time, there was a sizable police presence. Why
did they come back an hour later with so many officers? What were they
preparing to do?”

Nearly one month later and the Berkeley Police still have not released
information as to the cause of Kayla's death, leaving most questions
unanswered. However we do know that there was no commotion or overt
disturbance prior to BPD's arrival. We know when Berkeley Police arrived
at Kayla's home, for the second time in one night, they had police back-up but they did not have a mental health mobile crisis team with them. We know Kayla was
alive and not on the verge of death prior to the arrival of the Berkeley Police. We know police regularly murder people of color, gender-variant people, and people with “mental illness.” We also know only one Police Officer in California has been convicted in the death of a civilian and his charges were brought only after massive riots swept Oakland.

Unfortunately Kayla's death is not an anomaly. This past weekend Bay Area
Police have murdered four people and watched one woman bleed to death
after she was attacked by her abusive ex-husband.


San Francisco Police murdered Aaron Sawyer (23) after he allegedly stole a
car on Saturday morning. San Jose Police murdered a man yet to be identified after they deemed him to be “suspicious.” Union City Police shot an unidentified man to death after they pulled him over for an unstated reason. Hayward Police murdered an unidentified man after his car crashed into one of their police cruisers.


In the case of Kayla Moore, whether by neglect or intent the result is
the same.Kayla Moore is dead. The Berkeley Police killed Kayla Moore.

This is a call for an uncompromisingly militant march against the racist
and transphobic Berkeley Police who murdered Kayla Moore. The march will
begin at People's Park on Tuesday March 12th at 6:30pm. It is also a call
for queer people, trans people, women, and people of color to form a bloc
against police murders and harassment at the March Against Capitalism and
Police Repression taking place at Oscar Grant Plaza in Oakland on Friday,
March 15th at 8pm

Anonymous Queers in Action