Reclaiming King's legacy with 96 hours of direct action: community demands

We stand in solidarity with our sisters and brothers across the country who are reclaiming King’s legacy of militant direct action as we demand that the war being waged on Black people in America come to an immediate end.

In addition to the national demands put out by Ferguson Action, we make the following demands that were drafted by a collective of local organizations and individuals with a long history of fighting police abuses and violence in the city of Oakland:

• We demand that you stop profiling, targeting, stopping, frisking and killing Black & Brown families.  We have rights despite what you have been trained to do.
  

• We demand you end your relationship with Israel. That means no alliance, no cross training, no visits and NO Urban Shield in our city.
  

• We demand that our community review boards are actually effective and have true jurisdiction over the Oakland Police Department.
  

• We demand you get out of our schools.  Our children are students not criminals or criminals-to-be.
  

• We demand you - in the name of public service - give up 80% of your department budget to re-fund school libraries, arts programs and education.  The true solution to crime prevention.
  

• We want a complete overhaul of the Police Bill of Rights.
  

• We demand police officers receive leave WITHOUT pay when under investigation for a questionable shoot.
  

• We demand an end to your bleed out policy.
  

• We demand that you FIRE all killer cops.
  

• We demand that you end the extortion of nightclubs, bars and any other businesses you are strong arming for cash.
  

• We demand the right to peacefully protest.  These are our streets - not yours.
  

• We demand the immediate end to the harassment of the homeless.  These are their streets - not yours.
  

In honor of King’s legacy and Oakland’s current struggle, we make these additional demands:

• Drop the charges and rescind the ransom against the Black Friday 14
  

• Make Oakland the Sanctuary City we are supposed to be and provide amnesty for all immigrants.
  

• We demand a stop to all abuse and violence against LGBTQQIA people committed by law enforcement.
  

• Locally, the Oakland Police Department receives 69% of the city budget and nationally, the police receive 51% of the budget.  Redistribute these funds for co-ops whose purpose will be to improve the quality of life for oppressed nationalities by building schools, grocery stores, medical facilities and create living wage jobs with benefits.
  

• 50% of the jobs at the Coliseum City Development should go to people of color and 51% of the jobs should be protected for disenfranchised populations like those of us on parole and probation – even for violent offenses.
  

• Conduct a Health Impact Assessment that lays out how many Oakland residents will be displaced as a result of the Coliseum City Development and other undesirable outcomes
  

• Commit to proving living-wage jobs with benefits to all employees of the Coliseum City project from the janitor to the retail clerk.
  

• Protect the rights of all people to vote, especially disenfranchised populations like those of us on parole and probation.
  

• Abolish practices that continue to penalize people returning home from prisons and instead create “welcome home” packages that include housing, jobs, educational opportunities and counseling.
  

• Create a taskforce comprised of the most impacted community members to devise a plan that will allow for the abolishment of all prisons and instead create a set of community-based responses to violence/crime that do not further criminalize our communities.
  

And we are in solidarity with the national demands made by Ferguson Action:

• De-militarize law enforcement across the country
  

• A comprehensive review by the Department of Justice into systematic abuses by police departments and the development of specific use of force standards and accompanying recommendations for police training, community involvement and oversight strategies and standards for independent investigatory/disciplinary mechanisms when excessive force is used.
  

• A comprehensive federal review of police departments’ data collection practices and the development of a new comprehensive data collection system that allows for annual reporting of data on the rates of stops, frisks, searches, summonses and arrests by race, age, and gender. These standards must also include a DOJ review trigger when departments continue discriminatory policing practices.
  

• Repurposing of law enforcement funds to support community based alternatives to incarceration and the conditioning of DOJ funding on the ending of discriminatory policing and the adoption of DOJ best practices
  

• The repurposing of Department of Justice funds to create grants that support and implement community oversight mechanisms and community based alternatives to law enforcement and incarceration—including community boards/commissions, restorative justice practices, amnesty programs to clear open warrants, and know-your-rights-education conducted by community members.
  

• The development of a DOJ policy to withhold funds from local police departments who engage in discriminatory policing practices and condition federal grant funds on the adoption of recommended DOJ trainings, community involvement and oversight strategies, use of force standards and standards for independent investigatory/disciplinary mechanisms.
  

• A Congressional Hearing investigating the criminalization of communities of color, racial profiling, police abuses and torture by law enforcement
  

• Congressional hearings investigating the criminalization of communities of color and systemic law enforcement discriminatory profiling and other abuses especially at the local level—including an examination of systemic structures and institutional practices and the elevation of the experiences and voices of those most impacted. Congressional hearings will allow for a continuation of the national discussion about police abuse and it’s underlying causes.
  

• Support the Passage of the End Racial Profiling Act, which in law would prohibit the use of profiling on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin or religion by law enforcement agencies.
  

• The Obama Administration develops, legislates and enacts a National Plan of Action for Racial Justice which should be a comprehensive plan that address persistent and ongoing forms of racial discrimination and disparities that exist in nearly every sphere of life including: criminal justice, employment, housing, education, health, land/property, voting, poverty and immigration. The Plan would set concrete targets for achieving racial equality and reducing racial disparities and create new tools for holding government accountable to meeting targets.

  
  

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The Anti-Police Terrorism Project is a project of the ONYX Organizing Committee that in coalition with other organizations like the Community Ready Corps, the Alan Blueford Center for Justice, Workers World and Healthy Hoodz is working to develop a replicable and sustainable model to end police terrorism in this country. We are a group of concerned and committed institutions, organizations and individuals committed to ending state sanctioned murder of Black, Brown & Poor People. We are led by the most impacted communities but are a multi-racial, multi-generational coalition. We meet every 3rd Thursday of every month at Eastside Arts Alliance at 7:30 p.m.