Activist Post

Every single day carries a new story (or stories) about egregious assaults by police against the citizens who have entrusted (and paid) them to serve and protect. Even the Bureau of Justice Statistics had to conclude recently that police brutality is grossly unchecked across the nation by the political system. Such unchecked power is even more frightening when we see police becoming as militarized as any Third World dictatorship. And of course, to back up this lawlessness is a ready-and-waiting prison-industrial complex that leads the world in caging its own citizens.

Shooting pets, tasering kids, no-knock SWAT raids, raping, pillaging … you name it – and it will only get worse until people have the courage to take action in huge numbers and put a stop to this madness that has been tolerated for way too long.

The October 22 Coalition to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation has been mobilizing every year since 1996 for a National Day of Protest on October 22, bringing together those under the gun and those not under the gun as a powerful voice to expose the epidemic of police brutality. Please view their videos below and find a location to participate.

The Coalition also works on the Stolen Lives Project, which documents cases of killings by law enforcement nationwide – the second edition of their book documents only the tip of the iceberg with 2,000 confirmed cases. According to the Coalition, 2014 has been particularly bad with 800 documented cases.

Click HERE to enlarge

The full statement from the Coalition is as follows:

The Call for the 19th National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization

On the eve of the 19th annual National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation, a defiant new spirit is in the air. In Ferguson, Missouri, people continue to rise up in outrage against the killing of Mike Brown, an unarmed 18-year-old Black youth who was just days away from starting college. Despite the rapid and ruthless militarization of the town by racist police and the National Guard, people defied curfews, tear gas, rubber bullets, and calls for a return to business-as-usual—and oppression-as-usual—by protesting and rebelling for ten consecutive, sweltering nights in August. Thousands from around the country gathered in Ferguson this past weekend to stand in solidarity with the brave people of Ferguson. These are the moments where the decades of racist abuse, criminalization, and police terror at the hands of this system came crashing against fearless resistance from the very people it seeks to control, inspiring justice-seeking people not just nationwide, but around the world. The National Day of Protest was founded to oppose exactly these kinds of abuses. This year, in big cities and small towns, in the face of police brutality, repression, mass incarceration and the criminalization of youth we say, Let the spirit of Ferguson ignite hearts nationwide with an uncompromising passion for justice!

In the United States, this year has seen a litany of state violence, with increasing documentation and coverage making these ongoing atrocities more difficult to deny. Over 800 people have been killed by law enforcement nationwide, at least 200 since Mike Brown, and at least 23 people in one week. Although police criminalization of and violence against women and transgender people is nothing new, they have become more newsworthy of late. There seems to be no level too low for law enforcement to stoop in their violence, whether it is against children and young teens, the elderly, the deaf, or those who are emotionally or mentally distressed.

In New York City, the era of mass criminalization of Black and brown communities through “stop and frisk” was supposed to be over thanks to the election of a supposedly progressive mayor. What de Blasio brought instead though, was the return of William Bratton, the architect of Stop and Frisk! Bratton’s highly oppressive “broken windows” style of policing, in which the smallest “crimes” are aggressively policed, has already led to an increase in police brutality and public mistrust. In this year, NYPD’s use of “Broken Windows” has led to the highly publicized chokehold death of beloved community member Eric Garner, the beating of an 84-year-old immigrant man for allegedly jaywalking, a chokehold on a 7-month pregnant woman for barbecuing in front of her home, a young man kicked in the head while lying on the ground handcuffed, numerous people beaten for falling asleep on the subway, a raid of Harlem housing projects, and numerous other atrocities. Even some of the most well-known cultural aspects of New York are under attack, as subway performers are being arrested at astonishing rates simply for trying to earn a living as they have been doing for decades. Meanwhile, the same City Council that voted so strongly for police reforms earlier this year has remained silent in the midst of a new “progressive” administration, lifting their voices only to cry out for 1,000 more cops!

We have seen other attempts at creating some modicum of accountability being thwarted or ineffective, such as the gutting of civilian oversight mechanisms and useless federal investigations of police departments by the U.S. Department of Justice, while those who document police misconduct are under attack. But we applaud the different ways that people have risen up and persevered.

Law enforcement departments across the country have come to use on a routine basis the exertion of military enforcement and control in communities that are deemed a “social disturbance.” Although there has been a long history of the militarization of police, the revelation of just how much military weaponry has been supplied to local law enforcement by the Pentagon and how the uprising in Ferguson was dealt with are a sobering reminder of the capabilities of law enforcement to exert standing army-like control over the population of non-combatant civilians. It also would be a moral crime to ignore the fact that the intensification of police arms and enforcement is borne out of the desire, on behalf of the state, to quell the expression of people of color in their demands for justice.

Through the unabated organizing and pressure from the people, we can rejoice over the release of political prisoners Lynne Stewart and Eddie Conway (and hopefully soon Sundiata Acoli), but we must continue our fight for the many political prisoners who continue to be unjustly locked up, along with the hundreds of thousands imprisoned for non-violent offenses due to discriminatory practices in the criminal justice system. The U.S. has the highest number of prisoners in the world, incarcerating almost one-third of the world’s female prisoners, and having more than 60% of prisoners being people of color – still a minority of this nation’s population. Despite solitary confinement being internationally designated as torture, over 80,000 languish in such conditions, including some as young as 16. Solitary confinement led to a death sentence for some, and more egregious evidence of torture in prisons are now coming to light. This brazen inhumanity is exemplified by border patrol’s abuse of immigrant children seeking safety within our borders, and the warehousing and deportation of literally millions of immigrants by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Under such a corrupt system, no imprisonments are legitimate!

The Call for a Month of Resistance to Mass Incarceration, Police Terror, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation declares that this “will not stop unless and until millions of people, of all nationalities, stand up and say NO MORE, in unmistakable terms. The history of this and every other country shows that without struggle, there can be no positive change; but with struggle this kind of change becomes possible.”

October 22nd is a day that people around the nation have mobilized every year since 1996 for a National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation. It is crucial that we bring forward a powerful National Day of Protest in cities and towns across the U.S. to challenge the ongoing violence against the people. This October 22nd, stand with thousands across the country to express our collective outrage, creativity, and resistance in response to the crimes of this system.

Learn more about the history and mission of the October 22nd coalition here:

http://october22.org/history.html

Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/events/575298722532007/

Stop Mass Incarceration:

http://stopmassincarceration.net/

Find Your Local Place of Action Below

Last updated 21 October 2014. Information is posted as it is received, so check later if your area is not listed yet – contacts for areas with actions in previous years are included when this year’s details have not yet been sent in. Please email [email protected] if you know of an action that is not listed below or if any corrections need to be made and to send reports of your protest!

ANYWHERE WITH PHONE ACCESS

Virtual Freedom School

8:00PM EST Webinar on “Our Bodies/Our Beings/Our Babies and the Imprint of Police Brutality

559-546-1880, Access Code: 286792#

https://www.facebook.com/events/973367242690046/

ARIZONA

Phoenix, Arizona

*ON OCTOBER 25TH*

8:00PM Assemble for march at Civil Space Park at ASU Downtown Campus

https://www.facebook.com/events/1609974492563066

ARKANSAS

Fayetteville, Arkansas

*ON OCTOBER 25TH*

9:00AM Gather at University of Arkansas Courthyard (in front of fountain) for march to St. Paul’s Episcopal Church at 224 N East Avenue

After program at St. Paul’s, lining sides of HWY 71 Business in Fayetteville at the major intersections until 12PM

http://fayettevillefreezone.com/fayetteville-marches-in-solidarity-for-human-rights-sat-oct-25/

~ [email protected]

~ https://www.facebook.com/HandsUpNWA

CALIFORNIA

Anaheim, California

5:30PM Assemble at the parking lot of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Anaheim, 511 S. Harbor Boulevard

~ 657-229-4053

~ [email protected] (Quin)

Central Valley, California

~ 209-518-7997 or 209-513-4421

Fresno, California

5:30PM Assemble at the northeast corner of N and Mariposa Street, across from the Fresno Police Headquarters

http://fresnoalliance.com/wordpress/?p=9999

~ 559-250-2434 or 559-942-0708 (Irene)

~ [email protected]

Hayward, California

[no contact provided last year]

Los Angeles, California

2:00PM Gather at Olympic and Broadway

https://www.facebook.com/events/631411423623693

~ 213-840-5348

~ [email protected] or

~ [email protected]

~ https://www.facebook.com/October22ndCoalitionLA/

7:00PM Candlelight Vigil for the 3rd Angelversary of Michael Nida II

12620 Paramount Blvd., Downey, CA

https://www.facebook.com/events/1505238699723839/

~ [email protected]

~ http://www.michaelnida.com/home.php

~ https://www.facebook.com/pages/Justice-For-Michael-Nida-II/171901759570991

Oakland/Bay Area, California

1:00PM Rally and march from Oscar Grant Plaza (14th and Broadway), Oakland

https://www.facebook.com/events/366711800154054/

~ 510-984-3648

~ [email protected] or

~ [email protected]

~ https://www.facebook.com/pages/October-22-Coalition-To-Stop-Police-Brutality-San-Francisco/203521866383449

Oxnard, California

~ 805-328-4763

~ [email protected]

~ http://todopoderalpueblo.org/

Redding, California

[no contact provided last year]

Redwood Curtain, California

12:00PM Speakout at the Art Quad on HSU campus in Arcata

3:00PM Rally on Arcata Plaza

4:00PM March to Safeway parking lot near 7th and F Street

5:00PM Critical Mass/group bike ride toward Eureka

7:00PM Speakout at Cesar Chavez Park, 14th and E Street, Eureka, followed by candlelight vigil

https://www.facebook.com/events/379319495556890

~ 707-633-4493

~ [email protected]

~ redwoodcurtaincopwatch.net

Riverside, California

[no contact provided last year]

Sacramento, California

9:00AM-4:00PM Rally at the North Steps of the California State Capitol, with funeral procession through the streets of the Capital

https://www.facebook.com/events/364140490400019

~ 916-546-5FTP (Christina Arechiga, Director of California Campaign to End Police Terror and Justice for Ernest Duenez Jr.)

~ [email protected]

~ https://www.facebook.com/endpoliceterrornow

Salinas, California

6:00PM Rally at Salinas Police Department, 222 Lincoln Avenue

https://www.facebook.com/events/704464579637245/

San Bernardino, California

[no contact provided last year]

San Diego, California

5:30PM Rally at City Heights Park, followed by march

~ [email protected]

~ https://www.facebook.com/capbsandiego

6:30PM Rally at City Heights/Weingart Library and Performance Annex, 3795 Fairmount Avenue

Candlelight march to and rally/vigil at I15

Overpass Light Brigade Message “Stop Police Terror”

https://www.facebook.com/events/1473251772950123

~ [email protected]

~ http://uaptsd.org/

~ https://twitter.com/UAPTSD

~ https://www.facebook.com/uaptsd

San Francisco, California

11:00AM San Francisco State University Die-in – Assemble in front of the library and march to Malcolm X Plaza for the die-in

https://www.facebook.com/events/485185524956482/

~ https://www.facebook.com/blacknbrownsfsu

12:00PM Bay Area-wide Walk Out – Rally at San Francisco City Hall

3:30PM Mass migration to Oscar Grant Plaza

https://www.facebook.com/events/324283454399340

~ [email protected]

4:00PM Spoken Word & Open Mic commemorating the anniversary of the founding of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense and the National Day of Protest Against Police Brutality at Auntie April’s Chicken & Waffles, 4618 3rd Street

https://www.facebook.com/events/940216355994484

5:00PM Speakout and Press conference at the SF Police Department Military Equipment Center, Deharo Street and 17th Street

~ [email protected]

6:00PM Join with Alex Nieto supporters to speak out at the SF Police Commission Meeting at Balboa High School, Green Room, 1000 Cayuga Street

https://www.facebook.com/events/378407538984854/

San Jose, California

12:15PM Live art, flash mob, die-in, and live drum circle at De Anza College at the Main Quad (in front of the library), 21250 Stevens Creek Boulevard, Cupertino

1:30PM Public Policy Teach-in in Conference Room A

https://www.facebook.com/events/1476737715947289/

~ [email protected]

Santa Ana, California

~ https://www.facebook.com/ChicanosUnidosOC

Santa Clara, California

~ [email protected]

San Rosa, California

One-Year Anniversary Community Potluck and Sunset Vigil for Andy Lopez

4:30PM Potluck and music at W Robles Avenue and Moorland Avenue

7:00PM Azteca blessing

7:30PM Candlelight vigil

https://www.facebook.com/events/1511862465727774/

~ 707-331-7389 (Ana Salgado) or 305-458-4071 (Terri Carrion)

~ https://www.facebook.com/JusticeforAndyLopez

COLORADO

Denver, Colorado

5:00PM Gather on the West steps of the Colorado State Capital

https://www.facebook.com/events/732260496821238

~ [email protected]

Fort Collins, Colorado

10:00PM (doors open 9:00PM) Hodi’s Half Note, 167 N College Avenue

https://www.facebook.com/events/971887506162149/

CONNECTICUT

Hartford, Connecticut

4:30PM Gather at Keney Park (Woodland Terrace)

https://www.facebook.com/HartfordMassIncarceration/photos/a.1533134666916100.1073741825.1533134246916142/1540865249476375/?type=1&theater

~ [email protected]

~ https://www.facebook.com/HartfordMassIncarceration/

New Haven, Connecticut

5:30PM Rally at New Haven City Hall, followed by march to the police department

https://www.facebook.com/events/604863192973108

~ [email protected]

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

Washington DC

5:30PM Candlelight vigil at the Washington Ethical Society, 7750 16th Street NW

https://www.facebook.com/events/386250278199662

~ http://www.ffoip.org/

~ http://www.ethicalsociety.org/

~ https://www.facebook.com/pages/Washington-Ethical-Society/39879906039

6:30PM Corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SE and Howard Road SE

http://thepeacehousedc.org/2014/10/13/protest-against-police-brutality-repression-and-the-criminalization-of-a-generation-washington-dc/

~ 202-842-2873

~ http://thepeacehousedc.org/

FLORIDA

Jacksonville, Florida

4:00PM Assemble at Heming Plaza

Sponsored by: New Jim Crow Movement

https://www.facebook.com/events/934436513238321

~ 904-631-1674

~ [email protected]

Lake Worth, Florida

5:00PM Protest in front of the Lake Worth precinct office of the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, 120 N. G Street

Simultaneous online petition/call-in drive

~ [email protected] (Lynne)

Miami, Florida

~ 305-761-6843

~ [email protected]

GEORGIA

Atlanta, Georgia

4:00PM Demonstration and speakout at Woodruff Park (Edgewood and Peachtree), followed by march

~ [email protected] or

~ 770-861-3339

~ [email protected]

HAWAII

Honolulu, Hawai’i

9:00AM-12:00PM Leafletting, banner drops and displays at McCarthy Hall, UH Manoa Campus

6:00PM Assemble in front of Honolulu Zoo (Kalakaua and Kapahulu) for march through Waikiki

http://stopmassincarcerationhawaii2014.blogspot.com/2014/09/events-in-solidarity-with-october-month.html

~ http://stopmassincarcerationhawaii2014.blogspot.com/

IDAHO

Boise, Idaho

~ [email protected]

ILLINOIS

Carbondale, Illinois

10:30AM Vigil at location TBA

http://fergusonoctober.com/day-of-action/blacklivesmatter-day-action-vigil/

~ 803-414-5518

~ [email protected]

Chicago, Illinois

9:00AM Release of the official WCG Shadow Report to the UN Committee Against Torture, “Chicago Police Violence Against Youth of Color” at Jane Addams Hull-House Museum, 800 S. Halstead Street

https://www.facebook.com/events/393181967499789/

~ [email protected]

~ https://www.facebook.com/WeChargeGenocide

12:00PM Rally at Daley Plaza (Washington and Dearborn), followed by march

https://www.facebook.com/events/560615807383459/

~ 312-933-9586

~ [email protected]

~ https://www.facebook.com/pages/October-22-Chicago/302904095656

6:00PM Silent protest at 11th District Police Station/Court Building, 3151 West Harrison Street

https://www.facebook.com/events/1487848628144241/

~ [email protected]

~ https://www.facebook.com/WeChargeGenocide

Rockford, Illinois

5:30PM Gather outside main entrance to county jail (Winnebago and State), then march to the Federal Courthouse (Court and Chestnut)

https://www.facebook.com/events/299085523620612

~ 815-398-6322 or [email protected] (Minister Johnson)

~ [email protected] (Christopher)

Download Your First Issue Free! Do You Want to Learn How to Become Financially Independent, Make a Living Without a Traditional Job & Finally Live Free?

Download Your Free Copy of Counter Markets

INDIANA

Indianapolis, Indiana

6:30PM Rally at 1 Monument Circle

https://www.facebook.com/events/615188135259181

IOWA

Des Moines, Iowa

6:00PM 251 East 1st Street, across from Des Moines PD

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152858989967780&set=a.10150120472212780.323987.509787779&type=1&theater

Iowa City, Iowa

7:00PM Rally Iowa City Hall, 410 E Washington Street

https://www.facebook.com/events/570347173111473/571810019631855

KANSAS

Wichita, Kansas

[no contact provided last year]

KENTUCKY

Lexington, Kentucky

2:00PM Walkout at all area universities

6:00PM Assemble at William Wells Brown Elementary, 555 E. 5th Street for march to

7:00PM Rally at Fayette County District Courthouse, 215 W. Main Street

https://www.facebook.com/events/787590071299525/

~ [email protected]il.com (April)

Louisville, Kentucky

12:00PM Rally at 6th and Jefferson, across from Louisville Metro Hall, followed by march to 7th and Jefferson

https://www.facebook.com/events/722099337866574/

~ 502-874-7148

LOUISIANA

New Orleans, Louisiana

~ [email protected]

MARYLAND

Baltimore, Maryland

5:30PM Assemble at Baltimore City Hall

https://www.facebook.com/events/862755707068011/

~ 443-928-5533 (Ameejill)

~ [email protected]

~ https://www.facebook.com/pages/Baltimore-Bloc/436997373037153

MASSACHUSETTS

Amherst, Massachusetts

[no contact provided last year]

Boston, Massachusetts

Share your story online (via Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram) to promote violence awareness (mention @Live4Bo and hashtag your city) – winner to be announced on October 22nd

https://www.facebook.com/Justice4BO/photos/a.1918467531626676.1073741827.144891648984282/2019329368207158/?type=1&theater

~ 617-506-9426

~ [email protected]

~ http://www.live4bo.com/

~ https://www.facebook.com/Justice4BO

12:00PM Gather at Harvard University Science Center, corner of Kirkland and Oxford Street

12:00PM Gather at UMass Boston in front of the Student Center

4:00PM Gather at Ruggles T Station

http://revolutionbookscamb.org/

~ 617-492-5443

~ [email protected]

Cambridge, Massachusetts

~ https://www.facebook.com/PeacefulStreetsProjectBoston

Lynn, Massachussetts

[no contact provided last year]

Springfield, Massachussetts

3:00PM March for Justice: Survival and Resistance from 467 State Street

https://www.facebook.com/events/1478985709042825/

5:30PM Know Your Rights training & potluck at Western Mass Recovery Learning Community, 340 Main Street

https://www.facebook.com/events/289273551279431/

~ 413-734-4948

~ [email protected]

~ http://arisespringfield.org/

~ https://www.facebook.com/ariseforsocialjustice

MICHIGAN

Detroit, Michigan

~ 313-768-7202

~ [email protected]

East Lansing, Michigan

3:00PM Rally at Beaumont Tower, 1206 E Oakland Avenue at the Michigan State University Campus, followed by march

https://www.facebook.com/events/871186929567125

Kalamazoo, Michigan

11:30AM Assemble for march at Red Square on Academy Street and Thompson (at the center of Kalamazoo College Campus), followed by rally on the quad

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10153227366323906&set=gm.718729631549290&type=1&theater

MINNESOTA

Minneapolis, Minnesota

October 20-24 Week of Action in and near University of Minnesota

https://www.facebook.com/events/305348296317258

~ https://www.facebook.com/StudentsUnitedAgainstPoliceBrutality

6:30PM Rally at North Commons Park, Golden Valley Road & Morgan Avenue North, followed by march

https://www.facebook.com/events/878060595554684/

~ 612-874-7867

~ [email protected]

~ https://www.facebook.com/CommunitiesUnitedAgainstPoliceBrutalityMN

~ http://www.cuapb.org/

Twin Cities, Minnesota

~ 651-270-7592 (Raees)

~ [email protected]

MISSOURI

Ferguson, Missouri

5:00PM Rally at Canfield Drive, 9300 W. Florissant, followed by march that will proceed through Canfield Apartments to the police station at 222 S. Florissant Road

https://www.facebook.com/1453132474947612/photos/a.1453135334947326.1073741827.1453132474947612/1491251664469026/?type=1&theater

~ 314-282-7087

~ [email protected]

Kansas City, Missouri

12:00PM Panel at University of Missouri-Kansas City Student Union, Room 402 (5100 Cherry Street)

https://www.facebook.com/events/289831277877328

~ 816-777-6574 (Rashad)

~ [email protected]

St. Louis, Missouri

6:00PM Panel on “LGBTQ+ & Black Oppression: Why We Should All Care About Ferguson” at Blank Space, 2837 Cherokee

https://www.facebook.com/events/758024147580248/

~ 314-265-4756

~ [email protected]

Also see ~ http://stlftp.tumblr.com/

NEVADA

Las Vegas, Nevada

~ 678-683-8279 (Cecily)

~ [email protected]

NEW JERSEY

Freehold, New Jersey

~ [email protected]

Montclair, New Jersey

4:00PM Rally at Church Street Plaza, walk to Unitarian Universalist Church Montclair, mobilize for petition-signing and legislative action in Trenton

http://www.uumontclair.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Mass-Incarceration-Postersmall.pdf

~ 973-651-6396

~ http://www.uumontclair.org/social-justice/undoing-racism/

Newark, New Jersey

Leafletting at ten locations throughout Newark by the Newark Communities for Accountable Policing (details TBA)

~ 973-854-1730.

~ [email protected]

Union County, New Jersey

~ 973-801-0001

NEW MEXICO

Albuquerque, New Mexico

4:30PM Gather at Civic Plaza, 400 Marquette Avenue NW, march to 400 Roma APD headquarters

https://www.facebook.com/events/1557863584425122

~ 505-934-2259 (Dyna)

~ [email protected]

~ https://www.facebook.com/pages/October-22-Coalition-to-Stop-Police-Brutality-Albuquerque/417594535009220

Santa Fe, New Mexico

8:00AM First Judicial District Court Building, 225 Montezuma Avenue

https://www.facebook.com/OccupySantaFe/photos/a.283786624982431.81340.283089501718810/921016294592791/?type=1&theater

~ [email protected]

NEW YORK

Albany, New York

1:00PM Rally at Townsend Park, intersection of Henry Johnson, Central & Washington

http://fergusonoctober.com/day-of-action/albany-ny-october-22-solidarity-rally/

~ 518-461-5702

~ [email protected]

Buffalo, New York

~ 716-587-1570 (Lewuga)

~ [email protected]

Long Island, New York

6:00PM Rally at First Universalist Church, 51900 Rt. 25, Southold

https://www.facebook.com/events/745299402231754

~ 631-765-3494

~ https://www.facebook.com/UUSouthold

New York, New York

1:00PM Assemble at Union Square South in Manhattan, march to Times Square

https://www.facebook.com/events/1493373830919151/

~ 866-235-7814 (toll-free voicemail and fax)

~ [email protected]

~ http://nyc.october22.org/

~ https://www.facebook.com/pages/October-22-Coalition-to-Stop-Police-Brutality-New-York/87429681537