
Learn - Take Action - Be Anti-Racist
Police Violence, Harassment and Mass Incarceration
A touching Black Lives Matter video and statement
Confessions of a Former Bastard Cop
For those that still believe in reform and believe the problem is a few bad apples, read this article.
The Tragic History Of 'I Can't Breathe'.
3 Words - 70 Cases
The Washington Post has tracked every fatal shooting by on-duty police officers since 2015. Shown here with data analysis and a searchable US map. Less than 13 percent of the U.S. population is Black, but they are killed by police at more than twice the rate of White Americans.
Resources for Learning on Police Brutality and Mass Incarceration
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Mapping Police Violence - A detailed data mapping and statistics showing numbers and race of those killed by the police. Be sure to see the 2017 report which details statistics on 1100 killings broken down by race and other facets.
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The Marshall Project - A collection of articles on police brutality
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Police Brutality Bonds - How Wall Street profits from police violence. A fascinating look at something rarely discussed, the profits driven from police brutality.
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Capitalizing on Mass Incarceration - US Growth in private prisons
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The New Jim Crowe by Michelle Alexander - Mass Incarceration in the age of Colorblindness. Highly recommended!
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About Time: How Life and Long Sentences Fuel Mass Incarceration in Washington State. An ACLU-WA Executive Summary.
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The Stanford Open Policing Project - A data-driven study of racial disparities in traffic stops nationwide. The study looks at more than this, but I want to mention the comment on marijuana laws as mentioned at the bottom of the Findings. Legalizing marijuana is a civil rights issue. In states where marijuana is legal, namely Colorado and Washington, search rates go down. This is a good thing since Black and Latinx communities get searched at higher rates overall. Also, its known that some cops will plant drugs in a car during a search (as mentioned in the above article, Confessions of a Former Bastard Cop).
Being Black is Not a Crime
The case of Yunek Moore, a 17 year old girl wrongfully arrested in Peoria, IL, shows quite a lot here. Police coming in unannounced in the dark, disabling the person they were after with the bright light and then insisting she was resisting arrest when she'd done nothing wrong. She may have resisted, but if you are suddenly hauled up out of your chair for no reason, you might too. And does that really equate to the brutal treatment she received? Also, she had done nothing illegal that would prompt an arrest. The court case shows the bias towards the police and bias against the young Black girl. This follow up article makes a good point that this is not a situation of life and death and yet, still police became violent. Read the materials and make your own conclusion. This type of thing happens often in Black communities.