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Call for a National Day of Protest
to Stop Police Brutality, Repression,
and the Criminalization of a Generation --
October 22, 2000

Across the country the epidemic of police brutality continues to intensify. From Los Angeles, where the L.A.P.D. is engulfed in the largest police scandal in U.S. history, to New York where the courts allowed the cops who gunned down Amadou Diallo in a hail of 41 bullets to walk free and a wave of police killings followed close on the heels of this shameful verdict. Police and other law enforcement agents continue to brutalize and murder people at alarming rates and are still almost never punished by the courts. Meanwhile on the southern border, I.N.S. agents and sheriffs work hand-in-glove with vigi-lantes who are openly organizing the hunting and lynching of immigrants. All too often, politicians cover up this official brutality -- or even applaud and encourage it.

The authorities have subjected a whole generation of our youth to a cycle of criminalization which includes: harassment for the color of their skin, the way they're dressed or having too much attitude; anti-gang laws that make it illegal to have a beeper or even just hang out; warehousing them in prison; and legally lynching them on death row. Many of our communities have been turned into killing fields. We must transform them into arenas of resistance as we join together to throw these vicious attacks back in their faces!

In recent years many, many people of different races and from different backgrounds have joined in this important fight. Survivors of police attacks, youth tired of being treated like criminals, lawyers, religious leaders, teachers, students and many others have fought back, often in the face of open and underhanded attacks. Stolen Lives: Killed by Law Enforcement, which docu-ments over 2,000 cases of people killed by law enforcement in the U.S. in the 1990's, has put human faces on the problem of police murder. October 22 nd has become the day to bring all this resistance together. This year, in the midst of the national elections, we must force the problem of police brutality even more into the light of day.

On October 22, 2000, we call on you to join us in saying NO MORE! No more to police brutality, to repression and to the criminalization of a generation. Join us on the National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression, and the Criminalization of a Generation on October 22, 2000!

YOU MUST DO THIS BECAUSE:

• Cops stop, search, harass and arrest people based solely on the color of their skin. Too many peo-ple have been victimized by the police for Dri-ving While Black or Brown (DWB), for walking while Black, for using a cell phone while Black.

• Use of torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman punishment against people in police custody is widespread in the U.S.

• Youth of color are more likely to be arrested, held in jail and given longer sentences than white youth, even when they face the same or similar charges.

• Police departments around the country are increasingly employing harsh repressive tactics to suppress dissent.

• Mumia Abu-Jamal, revolutionary and award-winning journalist, victim of a trial that was a travesty of justice, remains on death row because of his outspoken opposition to police brutality and other government injustice.

• Over 3,600 people are on death row in the U.S. Most of them are people of color, many of them are innocent and almost all of them are too poor to afford decent legal representation.

• Over two million people are in prison in the U.S., the most in the world. The majority are non-vio-lent offenders. Women are the fastest growing section of the US prison population.

• Each year, hundreds of immigrants die trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border because the U.S. government has militarized the border. In addi-tion, many hundreds of immigrants are incarcerated in maximum security prisons for the crime of "trying to work". Also, at least 100 people are incarcerated under "secret evidence" laws which deny the person on trial access to evidence which the state is using against him or her.

• While killer cops continue to go free, family members of police murder victims, witnesses in police brutality cases, activists, attorneys, and others have been harassed, physically attacked and arrested in retaliation for their opposition to police brutality.

On October 22, 2000, the families of those killed by police and of those unjustly locked down behind prison walls will have a platform to tell of how official violence and abuse have devastated their lives. Stand with them. Stand with the youth who are tired of being treated like criminals and eager to fight for a different future. Join the people who face police brutality every day, and join people from all walks of life standing together seeking justice.

Last year on October 22nd , over 10,000 peo-ple took to the streets in over 60 cities across the U.S., large and small. Many, many more people wore black in solidarity with the protests and in memory of the victims of brutal, murdering police. This year we must come out even stronger. We must do this for all the victims whose lives have been stolen by law enforcement. They can no longer speak for themselves, so we must speak, and act, for them. We must do this because any of us could be victimized by police brutality. And we must step out on October 22nd for the future. Be out there to change the situation where police can brutalize people for being in the wrong neighborhood, speaking the wrong language or being the wrong color. Be out there to change the situation where cops can murder someone for pulling out their wallet or their cell phone. We must rally, demonstrate, hold vigils, march and in many other ways confront the powers-that-be. We must stand together and deliver in a loud voice a single message:

STOP POLICE BRUTALITY, REPRESSION and the CRIMINALIZATION of a GENERATION!

OCTOBER 22: NO MORE STOLEN LIVES!

WEAR BLACK! FIGHT BACK!

E N D O R S E M E N T / C O N T R I B U T I O N F O R M

The list of endorsing organizations and individuals will be published and distributed widely. To be listed, we must have your signature on file at the national office (endorsements are not accepted by e-mail ... faxes are acceptable) and a minimum $15 contribution.

___ I endorse this this call AND enclose $15 or more $___ towards bringing this day into being. ___ I would like to contribute towards the Day:

__$500 __$250 __$100 __$75 __$50 __$25 __$15 other: $_______

___ Check if this is an organizational endorsement only (your name will not appear on published listing)

Signature: ___________________________________

Name (print): ________________________________

Address: ______________________________________________________

Organization: _________________________________________________________________

Phone: _______________ Fax: ______________________ Email: _____________________

For more information, call 1-888-NO-BRUTALITY or 212-477-8062,
email Oct22@unstoppable.com http://www.october22.org

Donations are tax-deductible. Make checks payable to "IFCO/Oct.22". Mail this form and donation to Oct.22, P.O. Box 2627, New York, NY 10009

[posted 7/14/00]

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