Volume 1 | Issue 2 | Police Brutality & Voter Suppression RIVERDALE TAKES ACTION |
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Riverdale Takes Action is an activity that aims to inform the Riverdale community about social justice issues and create opportunities for the community to engage in activism. However, we understand that it can feel overwhelming to take action with demanding academic and social lives, especially when there are endless lists of petitions to sign and articles to read. With this newsletter, we hope to fulfill our mission by providing the community with accessible, comprehensible resources. To ensure that action and discussions are occurring continuously, we will suggest some ways to take action every month. With the national election occurring in a few weeks, we want to focus on crucial issues like police brutality and voter suppression that you or someone you know should keep in mind while voting. |
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| | PHONEBANKING EVENT | Take Action: On Friday, October 30 from 10-10:50am, we will be phonebanking against police brutality and voter suppression. Not only is this an opportunity to demand justice for Breonna Taylor and ensure everyone can exercise their right to vote, but also learn about these issues through a historical and legal lens. If you are interested, please click the button below to fill out a quick form. Click on the image to read an article about how current political candidates are disenfranchising Americans! | | |
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| | VOTE: Every year, countless Americans, especially, people of color, students, the elderly, and people with disabilities, are unable to exercise their fundamental right to vote due to voter suppression. Some ways politicians who want to manipulate political results to make them more favorable for themselves restrict people's votes are through voter purges, voter caging, voter restriction laws, and gerrymandering. Voter purges is when state and local officials remove citizens from registration polls, and voter caging is when political candidates challenge the legality of someone's right to vote. Voter suppression not only undermines the people affected but also our democracy. The best way to prevent voter suppression is to vote informed and encourage others to do so too, especially if you cannot vote yourself. Click the button below to access a guide by the ACLU "to exercise your voting rights, resist voter intimidation efforts, and access disability-related accommodations and language." Click the image for more information on voter suppression. | | |
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| | PETITION | Defund the Police: The brutal murder of countless Black people, like George Floyd, Tony McDade, and Breonna Taylor, has made it evident that the United States' law enforcement system must be reformed. Many activists and experts argue that the solution is to defund the police. But what does that mean? Defunding the police means redirecting some of the funds from police departments to underfunded sectors of the government that provide social services, like education, housing, mental health care, and youth services. Despite lacking the training, the police are responsible for dealing with homelessness and mental illness. By redistributing funds to social service programs, communities', especially those of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of color), needs will be better met without facing the harms of policing. But why not reform the police instead, and wouldn't decreasing funding increase crime? Some activists and experts argue that police reforms to increase police accountability, like body cameras, have not prevented police brutality. Additionally, according to The Washington Post, an increase in police funding does not necessarily mean a decrease in crime. Learn more by clicking on the image. To demand the defunding of police departments, sign the petition by clicking the button below. | | |
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| | ORGANIZATION | Educate Yourself: The mission of the Brennan Center for Justice, as outlined on their website, states, “the Brennan Center for Justice is an independent, nonpartisan law and policy organization that works to reform, revitalize, and when necessary, defend our country’s systems of democracy and justice.” This amazing organization works to reform and defend our country’s systems of democracy and justice so that it applies to everyone. Among its central goals to improve criminal justice, poverty, and economic justice, the Brennan Center is currently focusing on a campaign to fight against voter suppression called “Ensure Every American Can Vote.” This campaign works to develop solutions for voting reform and suppression to ensure that every eligible American can cast a ballot. Some of their projects pertaining to this issue include automatic voter registration and early voting policies. We encourage you to check out their website to learn more about their goals and to find ways to get involved. In addition, on October 20, Hannah Klain, a lawyer that works at the Brennan Center, will be speaking at Riverdale, so we hope you pay attention to her important talk on voter suppression and ask questions! | | |
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| | PODCAST | Educate Yourself: In the court cases for the murders of Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Eric Garner, Samuel DuBose, Alton Sterling, Terence Crutcher, Keith Lamont Scott, Jamon Clark, and Philando Castile, the jury’s verdict was predicated on a single question: would a reasonable police officer act in the same way? Case after case, the jury has answered in the affirmative, despite public outrage. "Radiolab Presents: More Perfect - Mr. Graham and the Reasonable Man tells the story of Graham V. Connor," which began the precedent of a “reasonable officer.” This precedent, put in place by Thurgood Marshall (the first Black Supreme Court Justice), was set with the intention of holding police accountable for excessive uses of force. So how did it become a police officer’s “first Amendment”? In short, the specific wording of the “reasonable police officer” question given to the Jury focuses on the police officer’s perspective just before the incident of murder rather than the entire incident. For example, in the murder of Freddie Centeno, the Jury was asked to decide if a reasonable police officer would shoot a man who pulled out what appeared to be a gun (but in reality was a fire hose). This analysis ignores the fact that the officer involved quickly approached a mentally ill man without taking time to assess the situation, barked orders while pointing a gun at him, and fatally shot him 1.53 seconds later. In order to stop these atrocities from continuing, we must completely understand the problem. We highly recommend you listen to the podcast to gain a more nuanced understanding of police brutality in America. | | |
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| | NOVEL | Educate Yourself: It has been almost six years since Moss Jeffries’ father was murdered by an Oakland police officer, and this traumatic event resulted in Moss having severe anxiety and panic attacks concerning his dad’s murder and the police. Moss, now a sophomore at West Oakland High, is faced with an increased police presence at his school. These officers conduct random locker searches, put in place new rules, and use constant intimidation to make Moss and his classmates feel like criminals. Moss and his friends decide that enough is enough and plan to strike back against the school’s administration. Anger is a Gift by Mark Oshiro follows the journey of a young black gay teen struggling to find his place in the world. The novel goes into police brutality, wage inequality, the double standard for black queer people in America, and more. Oshiro shows readers that police brutality is an ongoing issue and it does not just magically get solved once the book ends. However, this moving book is filled with warmth and love just as much as it is filled with pain, strife, and the harsh realities of life. Click on this link to listen to the first few minutes of the book! Click the button to buy or learn more about this novel from The Lit. Bar, a Black-owned bookstore in the Bronx. We suggest that you buy your books from Bookshop, a user-friendly online bookstore that donates a portion of its profits to local bookstores. | | |
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