Take Action TONIGHT to #DefundOPD & Support Alternatives to Cops!
Community,
Thank you for the fierce action you have taken these past two weeks to support the uprising to defend Black Lives.
The Anti Police-Terror Project put out the first call to #DefundOPD five years ago. Libby and the city council refused to support and many laughed.
It’s been uplifting to see so many youth take a lead in this critical work to end police terror. Together we can defund OPD and abolish police terror.
Tonight there are TWO ways you can take action to keep the pressure on to #DefundOPD and move us closer to abolishing the police — choose ONE below:
What: Speak out at Libby Schaaf’s Townhall on “Police Reform”
When: June 11, 2020 at 6pm
Where: To dial in by phone: (669) 900-6833, 413825986#
Yesterday thousands of protesters, led by Black and Brown Youth, showed up at Libby’s house to demand she defund OPD. Today she announced a town hall to discuss “police reform.”
This is Libby’s pathetic attempt to distract from what the People really want and demand: to cut OPD’s budget by 50% on the path to abolition — and to fund housing, jobs, health care and all the things that actually keep us safe.
Dial in TONIGHT at 6pm to speak out at Libby Schaaf’s fake virtual town hall about “police reform.”
What: Speak out at the Oakland Police Commission meeting
When: June 11, 2020 at 6pm
Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88652793270
Dial-in info: (669)900-9128 Webinar ID: 886 5279 3270
*Use the "raise hand" function to speak on items 8 (MACRO) and 10 (OPD Budget)
The commission will not only be discussing OPD’s budget; they will also be considering a draft report about so-called alternatives to policing for mental health crisis — known as MACRO (Mobile Assistance Community Responders of Oakland).
Yet the city’s high-priced study is deeply problematic. The process has excluded local impacted people and refused from the outset to consider approaches that explicitly do not work with police — despite multiple community partners asking for this and research/models to support.
What’s more, a non-impacted, unprincipled white woman has been given a leadership role in this process instead of affected Black and Brown community leaders. She has used her position to water down the study’s conclusions, even saying in the news that “abolition” was not part of the discussion.
Please choose one of these two meetings and represent!
Talking points about Defunding OPD and about our problems with the MACRO study are below.
Thanks again for powering this movement.
All power to the people,
APTP
Talking Points on MACRO:
The development of this report and pulling from a model in Oregon is deeply problematic.
The process has excluded local impacted people in the development of this model
There has been refusal from the beginning to consider processes that do not include police, despite multiple community partners asking for this and research/models to support.
Non impacted white woman leadership is quoted in the paper as saying “MACRO does not involve abolishing the police department.” yet key members of these community round tables were clear, we need an ALTERNATIVE to calling the police without involving the police.”
More than 50% of people murdered by police are in a mental health crisis: This is why APTP has been creating models (one launched launched in Sacramento and one in Oakland will be launching this August - this is led by and designed by those impacted by and of service with mental health and does NOT involve the police!)
Mental Health Hotline
Mental Health First Responders
Emphasis on accessibility (translation, TTY, etc.)
Demand the use of local models led by IMPACTED COMMUNITY MEMBERS.
Talking Points on DEFUND OPD:
For the past 5 years, APTP’s Defund OPD committee has been leading the call to defund the police and invest in our communities.
OPD takes almost HALF of Oakland's general fund each year, and that percentage has skyrocketed in the past two decades — consuming desperately needed resources from essential city programs and vital services.
The investment in policing has not made us safer. OPD remains an embarrassment to the city and a lethal threat to Oakland’s Black and Brown communities.
It’s time we tore up the blank check. We must Defund OPD!
OUR DEMANDS:
Reduce OPD’s allocation from the General Fund by 50% (roughly $150 Million).
Disallow unauthorized overtime by OPD.
Invest in housing, jobs, youth programs, restorative justice, mental health workers and other services that actually keep the community safe.
We can best keep our community safe by investing instead in living wage jobs, housing for all, youth programs, health care and other essential community services.
Instead of police, we want to hire more social workers, mental health workers, EMTs, teachers, and other civilian positions that actually keep our community safe.
Across the country, communities are already building real-world alternatives to criminalization and police as the first response to crises. APTP Sacramento, for example, has developed Mental Health First, a community-led, civilian mobile crisis response. A team of health workers and other trained volunteers respond when someone is experiencing a mental health crisis or other emergency.