October 22nd National Day of Protest Against Police Brutality March in Santa Rosa

Join us on the National Day of Protest Against Police Brutality, we are marching from Southwest Community Park at 4pm to Courthouse Square with a rally at 6pm. In the first seven months of 2007 seven people died at the hands of local law enforcement. Both Jeremiah Chass, a 16 year old boy, and Richard DeSantis, a father of two, were shot dead by officers responding to mental health calls. Haki Thurston, an unarmed Black man, died in a hail of SWAT bullets. Interactions with law enforcement have also resulted in the recent deaths of: Luis Sanchez, Terry Grinner Jr., Moses McDowell, Carlos Fernandez and Walter Heller. Ryan George, a 22-year old Black man, struggling with sickle cell anemia, was left to die in the County Jail, while his family's efforts to get him proper care were denied by the Sheriff. This pattern of deadly force is nothing new. Between April 1st 1995 and September 28th 2000, at least 22 people were killed by local police or died in their custody. Latinos are racially profiled by the Multi-Agency Gang Network Enforcement Team (MAGNET), a militarized law enforcement unit supposedly focused on gang violence. MAGNET routinely collaborates with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), to deport people who are not being charged with other crimes. Even youth trying to keep themselves entertained find their clubs raided and shut down, as in the case of Epiphany, a popular Santa Rosa night spot. DUI checkpoints have become a way to sweep working class neighborhoods for lapsed car insurance and expired driver's licenses. Local law enforcement agencies collaborate to impound the cars of those who can least afford it, while benefiting financially from these impounds and tickets. Here are four different handbills to print, post and distribute: handbill 1 handbill 2 handbill 3 handbill 4