APTP in the News
A long line of cars leaving the Port of Oakland during APTP’s Reclaim MLK caravan (48hills)
Gunman disrupts protest—but community group de-escalates without the cops
Garrett Leahy | 48hills, January 21, 2021
“The caravan’s organizers said that the peaceful resolution of the threat by CRC proved the efficacy of alternatives to police in keeping communities safe. APTP Co-founder Cat Brooks said [she] believes that this success in the community’s trust of CRC’s volunteers and their trust in the APTP when they were told to disperse.
‘We’ve been pushing this line around community response for community crisis for six years, and what people always say ‘what do you do if somebody has a gun?’, that’s like one or two percent of the time,’ said Brooks. ‘The response to Monday started years ago, CRC and APTP has been developing trust with the community for years now, for people to actually listen and leave and area calmly is because of the relationships that we have. And nobody got hurt.’”
A person stands through the open sunroof of a black SUV at the front of a long line of cars. They have their fist raised and are holding a sign reading “All violence is state violence. Bring peace to the East” (Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group)
Gunman threatened MLK Jr. Day caravan, activists say
Annie Sciacca | The Mercury News, January 21, 2021
“After a man brandishing a gun approached peaceful protesters Monday who were rallying to honor the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., activists and community members are calling on city officials to denounce his actions and hold him accountable. […] Cat Brooks, of the Anti Police-Terror Project, said it had a negative psychological impact on the community.
She said the response from police and city leaders so far had been ‘lackluster.’ She and others during the press conference urged city leaders to do more.”
Cover of the Racial and Identity Profiling Board Annual Report for 2021
California board urges bias reviews of police social media
Daniel Macht | KCRA 3, January 21, 2021
“We’ve done all of the reformist things," countered Cat Brooks, executive director of Justice Teams Network and co-founder of the Anti Police-Terror Project. "We’ve done trainings, we’ve done body cameras, we’ve done police commissions, we’ve hired from the community. All of these things to tinker around the edges of this very large problem, but really what we’ve been doing is putting Band-Aids on gunshot wounds.”
A person, wearing a mask that says “being Black is not a crime” and pictured in a vehicle, looks at the camera and raises a fist (Brooke Anderson)
Anti Police-Terror Project Car Caravan on MLK Day
Veronica Erwin | SF Weekly, January 19, 2021
“In response to those who may worry the movement to defund Oakland Police by 50 percent is generating too much us-versus-them-style tension between progressives and police, APTP co-founder Cat Brooks reframes the question entirely. ‘It was us versus them when they were birthed out of the slave trade — police have never served Black people in this country, ever, so they’ve always made it about us versus them,’ she says. ‘This is us demanding that our humanity be seen and respected.’”
Cat Brooks raises her first on the caravan’s sound truck. A large banner with a photo of Martin Luther King Jr. reads “Refund, Restore, Reimagine” (BethLaBerge/KQED)
Man With Gun Approaches MLK Caravan in Alameda, Tells Them to Leave
Cecilia Lei | KQED, January 18, 2021
"‘We want our communities refunded, we want our neighborhoods restored and we want us to collectively engage in this process of reimagining what a just society looks like,’ [APTP co-founder Cat] Brooks said.
Responding to the presence of the armed man, Brooks said, ‘it’s clear that white supremacy is ending right now. It’s gasping for its last breath, and we’re going to continue to do our work and suffocate it ... Oakland is the place to lead that charge and that movement, and we did that today.’”
Cat Brooks speaks to a crowd of demonstrators outside of Oakland PD headquarters at a previous event (Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE)
Man with gun disrupts MLK Jr. caravan in Alameda
Brian Boyle | SFGate, January 18, 2021
“It’s the perfect example of ‘we take care of us,’” [APTP co-founder Cat] Brooks said. "As we talk about and build non-911 responses to community crises, the first thing critics want to talk about is the one- to two-percent [of violent incidents requiring intervention], maybe more now that white conservative and white supremacist forces want to have their end of the conversation with weapons. That’s what happened today. And community-trusted security were able to deal with the would-be assailant, and because they had the trust of community, they were able to effectively and efficiently get everyone to safety.”
Cat Brooks speaks from the sound truck at the Reclaim MLK caravan. The truck has a large banner on the side which reads “Refund, Restore, Reimagine” (@CarrieHodousek via Twitter)
Demonstrators in Oakland caravan to demand justice against police brutality on Martin Luther King, Jr. day
Carrie Hodousek | KCBS Radio, January 18, 2021
“Cat Brooks, co-founder of the Anti Police-Terror Project, told KCBS Radio that Martin Luther King, Jr. had a dream, and so do they, which is to transform how we define and implement public safety.
‘We’re in a conversation in Oakland about reimagining public safety,’ she said. ‘We’re talking about taking money from the Oakland Police Department and putting it into the things that actually keep us safe.’”
Cat Brooks, with shoulder-length hair and a great shirt, speaks via video call
Oakland Activists Lead Car Caravan, Virtual Events Inspired by Teachings of MLK
Laura Wenus | SF Public Press, January 18, 2021
“Organizers with the Anti Police-Terror Project every year mark Martin Luther King, Jr. Day with demonstrations that underscore King’s revolutionary teachings — the ones that made him a target of political criticism and law enforcement.
‘While King’s legacy has been whitewashed, while he has been watered down to an image and a character that people can feel comfortable with, we take this weekend to remember that he was a revolutionary, he was a scholar, he was willing to put his body on the line for the liberation of Black bodies.” said Cat Brooks, executive director of the Justice Teams Network and co-founder of the Anti Police-Terror project.”
Cat Brooks, wearing a white blouse and a light pink blazer, speaks into a microphone
‘All This Does Is Make Us Stronger’: Oakland Activist Cat Brooks on Reckoning With This Moment and Forging Ahead
Devin Katayama, Ericka Cruz Guevarra, Kyana Moghadam, and Alan Montecillo | KQED, January 11, 2021
“This is America.
So, the next day, all the tweets and the speeches, [saying] 'This is not America. This is not who we are.'
Yes. It. Is.
It is who we have been. It is who we are and it is who we are doomed to continue to be if we don't admit that this is who we are and deal with it.” [– Cat Brooks, APTP co-founder]
Police wearing riot helmets look on at pro-Trump demonstration in Sacramento, Jan. 6, 2021 (Kris Hooks / CapRadio)
After Pro-Trump Extremists Storm U.S. Capitol, Racial Justice Activists Say Law Enforcement Treatment Of Protests Is Unequal
Sarah Mizes-Tan | CapRadio, January 7, 2021
“‘Who has a right to express dissent in this country? Who has a right to say we are not OK and happy with the way things are going,” [APTP co-founder Cat] Brooks asked. ‘[It’s] incredibly interesting that at Black Lives Matter protests, we’re trying to build an America that’s good for all folks — but that is not tolerated. But protests that’s about one demographic dominating this country, that that is tolerated by law enforcement.’”
Cat Brooks, wearing glasses, speaking to KPIX reporter via video chat.
Bay Area Social Justice Activist Calls Out Discrimination in Capitol Police Riot Tactics
Andrea Nakano | KPIX CBS Bay Area, January 7, 2021
“[APTP co-founder Cat] 'Brooks feels the attack further brought to the surface the racism that has been bubbling in our society and it gives America a chance to face it head on.
‘Now we have a choice as a country. [Are] we going to put a bandaid on a gun shot wound and bury it again or [are] we going to address this thing that has resurfaced that has been infecting and impacting every facet of our lives as Americans anyway,’ Brooks said.”
White supremacists attempt to break through a police barrier (Julio Cortez/AP Photo)
Police treatment of pro-Trump mob disturbs Black activists, Republicans embarrassed
Candese Charles | KTVU, January 7, 2021
"‘Given the work I do around police and policing I was looking for law enforcement's reaction,’ said Cat Brooks, co-founder of the Anti Police-Terror Project.
And what she saw was police officers politely opening gates for the mostly white, pro-Trump protesters.
’I was enraged right, thinking about all of the injuries we have suffered over the decades,’ Brooks said.”
Cat Brooks, wearing glasses, speaking to KRON4 reporter via video chat.
How police responded differently to U.S. Capitol attack vs. BLM protests
Terisa Estacio | KRON4, January 6, 2021
“[APTP co-founder Cat] Brooks is concerned with how the scenes of angry mobs storming the Capitol were not met with a forceful pushback from the police.
‘It reinforces the narrative that America doesn’t have a police problem. It has a race problem. It doesn’t fall all on Trump, but every single person that allowed the protesters inside the building that didn’t demand those folks to be removed, that they allowed to run amok and endanger lives like that.’”
Members of the National Guard wearing camouflage fatigues in front of the Lincoln Memorial (Bill Weir via Twitter)
Trump’s riot — and what it means
Tim Redmond | 48hills, January 6, 2021
“‘I’m not surprised by the lackadaisical response of law enforcement,’ [Cat Brooks, APTP co-founder] told me. ‘If Black folks were there, we would be arrested, dead, tear-gassed, beaten, and portrayed as domestic terrorists.’
I watched CNN, MSNBC, and Fox. On Fox, people tried to defend the cops by saying they used ‘restraint,”’ that they sought to ‘de-escalate.’ That, of course, is what progressives have demanded from the cops for years – and when the protests are about police violence against Black people, it never happens.
’Black people have been told we don’t have the right to stand up for our rights, and if we have the audacity to do it, we will be met with violence,’ Brooks said.”
Cat Brooks speaks into a microphone on the back of a white truck (Darwin BondGraham)
‘What privilege looks like’: Oaklanders reflect on mob takeover of U.S. Capitol
The Oaklandside, January 6, 2021
“[APTP co-founder Cat] Brooks, an Oakland resident, has led protests against police violence in the Bay Area for over a decade. Some of the rallies and direct actions she’s been involved with have caused interruptions of Oakland City Council meetings, freeway shutdowns, and other disruptive moments, all which might seem tactically similar to the takeover of the U.S. Capitol today. But Brooks said the differences are immense.
‘What’s different is the not-so-subtle threat of violence,’ she said about the protesters in D.C. and their supporters, many who have espoused the use of violence to prevent the transfer of power to the Biden administration later this month.
Supporters of Donald Trump scale a wall at the U.S. Capitol (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
‘America’s double standard’: Racial justice activists denounce police reaction to pro-Trump mob
Tatiana Sanchez | The San Francisco Chronicle, January 6, 2021
“Cat Brooks, executive director of the Justice Teams Network and cofounder of the Anti Police-Terror Project in Oakland, said the coup was a nod to the ‘blue lives matter’ movement, a pro-police movement that counters Black Lives Matter.
‘That’s who these people are,’ Brooks said. ‘They are in support of the same vision for America and that vision is not an inclusive vision, it’s an exclusive vision and they believe that violence is the way that they win. If cops are supposed to protect us from these folks and they’re in cahoots or collusion with these folks — and not just in D.C., let’s be clear — what does that mean for us in the days and weeks and months to come?”’
Collage of images: an image of shadows in a crosswalk, a partially visible ‘Defund the Police’ sign, a yellow vest with a “police” patch on the back (Illustration by John Gall; Photographs by The New York Times)
How to Reimagine Policing and Public Safety that Works for Everyone
Ephrat Livni | The New York Times, December 17, 2020
“We’ve given law enforcement an opportunity to address it. We’ve tried cultural competency training. We’ve tried, you’ve got to hire from the community. We’ve tried all these other things. What we are saying is that it is intense enough, it is bad enough, it is dire enough, is desperate enough. It is time. We are done with what we have been doing and we are clear that that does not work. And what we want is something radical, revolutionary and transformative, and we want it right now.” – Cat Brooks, APTP co-founder