The Peaceful Streets Project Police Accountability Summit

Thank you everyone for your wonderful support!! We met our indiegogo campaign goal and we had an extraordinarily successful summit! Write-up on the summit is forthcoming! For those who want to donate to help offset costs and help move us forward into the future, please go to http://peacefulstreets.com/donate. Thank you, again!

(Campaign launched Monday, July 29th, 2013, with a goal of raising at least $25,000 on indiegogo within 19 days!)

The Peaceful Streets Project will be holding their 2nd Annual Police Accountability Summit on Saturday, August 17th at the AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center in Austin, Texas. The summit will be a celebration of the people who have been coming together to fight police abuse throughout the country, a place where victims of police abuse can come together to gain strength through community, and an educational experience that will leave participants with an arsenal of peaceful direct action tactics to use against criminal cops, as well as a greater appreciation for the struggle we are engaged in.

Last year's summit was a great success and put into motion a chain of events that exposed the criminal nature of the Austin Police Department and other police departments throughout the country, forced police to alter their tactics, and emboldened activists throughout the country to stand up to criminal cops. Over the past year the Peaceful Streets Project has led over a dozen Know Your Rights training sessions, provided a platform for scores of victims of police abuse to tell their stories, organized over 100 cop watches, and grown from a local effort in Austin into a national movement with over a dozen chapters from Manchester (NH) to Honolulu (HI).

This year's summit is going to be even better than last year's! The 2nd Annual Peaceful Streets Project Police Accountability Summit will be an entertaining, educational and empowering experience for the community, and will serve as a celebration of our wildly successful year in the struggle against police abuse. We will be bringing in activists, speakers and entertainers from all over the country for this powerful event.

Headlining the event is keynote speaker Bobby Seale, co-founder of the Black Panther Party and long-time police accountability activist. In an attempt to aid African-American victims of police brutality and racial prejudice, Seale and the Black Panther Party pioneered the practice of cop watch by following police officers in their community, often times carrying rifles. As part of his speech, Seale will talk about how the camera is now a more powerful weapon against police abuse than the rifle was then.

The second keynote speech will come from Radley Balko, writer for the Huffington Post and author of Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America’s Police Force.  Other speakers include Carlos Miller of PhotographyIsNotACrime.com, Pete Eyre of CopBlock.org and Antonio Buehler and John Bush, co-founders of the Peaceful Streets Project. Entertainers include B. Dolan who will perform Film the Police and Tatiana Moroz who will perform a song written for the Peaceful Streets Project. 

Other activities will include a panel on family pets killed by law enforcement, a debate over whether we should try to reform the police or abolish them, Know Your Rights training, tactics for filming police and a movie screening. Food and refreshments will be provided, and there will be free childcare on site for families who attend.

Learn more about the summit on our webpage. 

Background to the Peaceful Streets Project

The Peaceful Streets Project was founded in response to the assault and illegal arrest of two people in Austin, TX on January 1, 2012. The first was a female passenger in a car that was pulled over at a 7-11. Despite committing no crime, she was violently yanked out of the car, thrown to the ground and put in a torture move (strappado) by Austin cops Robert Snider and Patrick Oborski. 

Antonio Buehler, a bystander who was serving as a designated driver that night, saw the assault and tried to take pictures with his BlackBerry. When the woman being assaulted saw Antonio, she begged him to record the incident. Antonio then began to yell at the two cops to get them to stop their assault. Patrick Oborski then assaulted and arrested Antonio. The female victim was charged with three crimes, and Antonio was charged with two crimes, to include a felony charge for spitting in a cop's face (2-10 year prison sentence if convicted).

Fortunately for Antonio, several people who witnessed the criminal acts by APD cops Oborski and Snider came forward. Every witness that came forward said that it was the cops who committed the violent and criminal acts that night, not Antonio or the woman the cops assaulted and arrested. One of those witnesses also captured Oborski's assault and illegal arrest on Antonio with his cellphone.

Given the credibility of the witnesses (business owner, tech employee, college professor), the fact that Antonio was a sober designated driver in a different vehicle, that the cops had assaulted and falsely arrested an innocent woman, that Antonio had no criminal history and a stellar resume (West Point graduate, Stanford graduate, war veteran, etc.), and video that proved that the cops committed crimes and then lied about it, the community rallied behind Antonio and the media picked up the story.

With a large following that transcended socio-economic, ethnic and political boundaries, Antonio and a few other local activists decided to harness the energy of his supporters to create the Peaceful Streets Project in order to bring about a cultural shift where individuals understand their rights and hold law enforcement officials accountable, and communities protect and serve each other.

The Peaceful Streets Project has been a bigger success than we had anticipated. We pushed the police in Austin into a corner. First they started illegally arresting volunteers, then they were forced to ammend their behavior. The incidence of cops in Austin harassing people filming them has dropped, and when they know we are watching them (as opposed to when we film them covertly), they often allow the people they're detaining to be free on their way. After our successful Police Accountability Summit in 2012, we were named the Grassroots Activist Movement of the Year by the Austin Chronicle.

After the 2012 summit we went national, launching chapters first in Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, New York City and Manchester (NH). As of today, in addition to those cities and Austin, we have chapters in Allen (TX), Boston (MA), Defiance (OH), Eunice (LA), Honolulu and San Antonio. By the end of the summer we may have up to thirty chapters!  

What We Need & What You Get 

We need to raise at least $35,000 to make this event a success. The cost in speaker fees, airfare, hotels and other expenses for our speakers and performers will likely be ~$10,000-12,500. The cost for the AT&T Conference Center plus food, refreshments and childcare for the attendees will probably fall between $12,000-$18,000 depending on how many people attend. The cost for advertising will probably be ~5,000-10,000, dependent on fundraising. And the cost of merchandise and signage for the event will probably run from $8,000-$15,000 dependent on how many people register or pre-pay for t-shirts. This will not be a cheap summit, but at the end of the day, it will be some of the best money spent in the fight against police abuse. This event will be a force multiplier.

What you get by donating, first and foremost, is the satisfaction of knowing that you are helping to push forward a social movement that will fundamentally change the way people view the police, the way they think about their relationship with the police and their responsibility to those in their communities. You will also have the opportunity to be recognized as a donor and supporter of the cause. Finally, we have some exciting perks that are available to those who donate.  

The Impact

In the fight against police abuse, the Peaceful Streets Project will get you the most bang for your buck. 

• We are a grassroots organization with no overhead. Your donations will be spent wisely.
• We have a compelling story that allows people of all socio-economic groups, all religions, all races and all political philosophies to join our cause. This allows us to have a much broader impact than special interest or partisan groups. 
• And we know from last year's summit that a successful 2013 summit will help propel this cause forward. Last year we were named the Grassroots Movement of the Year in Austin, and that helped spawn a dozen new chapters over the next 12 months. This year we expect to end the summer with at least 30 chapters in place.
• A fully-funded, successful summit will help keep Peaceful Streets Project chapters motivated and focused, ensuring that they continue to host Know Your Rights Trainings, Police Abuse Complaint Departments, Cop Watches and protests against criminal cops.

Other Ways to Donate

For those who cannot or are unwilling to donate online, you can still donate directly to the Peaceful Streets Project:

• Visit our webpage for additional donation alternatives to include rally and paypal.
• Checks, Cash and Money Orders may be sent to:
  2002-A Guadalupe St.
  PO Box 244
  Austin, TX 78705 
• If you live in Central Texas you may coordinate for a meeting to hand deliver Checks, Cash and/or Money Orders to Antonio Buehler, Cat Bleish, John Bush or other lead organizers of the Peaceful Streets Projects. Contact us on our facebook page or send an email to peacefulstreets@gmail.com.

Other Ways You Can Help

Maybe you are not able to contribute financially, but that doesn’t mean you can’t help:

• Please share this Indiegogo campaign with all of your friends via email, facebook, twitter, etc.! The more people who know, the more of an impact we will be able to make! Please use the Indiegogo share tools!
• Get five people to donate. Even if you don't have the funds to help us pay for the summit, you probably know people who do. Consider picking up the phone and asking five friends or family members to make a donation. Every little bit helps.
• Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube! 
• Share our videos and articles written about the Peaceful Streets Project.
• Share stories of police abuse. Over 1000 stories of police abuse, corruption, misconduct and criminal acts can be found at Free Antonio Buehler:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/FreeAntonioBuehler/

Together, we can bring down the police state!

Press Release: 2nd Annual Peaceful Streets Project Police Accountability Summit

July 25th, 2013

The media and the public are invited to join the Peaceful Streets Project at our 2nd Annual Police Accountability Summit from 10 am to 4 pm on August 17th at the AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center in Austin, TX.

The Peaceful Streets Project is an all-volunteer, grassroots effort that seeks to end police abuse and hold police accountable by empowering communities to exercise their rights and stand up for one another. Over the past year the Peaceful Streets Project has led over a dozen know your rights training sessions, provided a platform for scores of victims of police abuse to tell their stories, organized over 100 cop watches, and grown from a local effort in Austin into a national movement with a dozen chapters from Manchester, NH to Honolulu, HI.

The 2nd Annual Peaceful Streets Project Police Accountability Summit will be an entertaining, educational and empowering experience for the community, and will serve as a celebration of our wildly successful year in the struggle against police abuse. We will be bringing in activists, speakers and entertainers from all over the country for this powerful event.

The keynote speaker for the summit is Bobby Seale, co-founder of the Black Panther Party and long time police accountability activist. In an attempt to aid African-American victims of police brutality and racial prejudice, Seale and the Black Panthers pioneered the practice of cop watch, often times carrying rifles. As part of his speech, Seale will talk about how the camera is a more powerful weapon against police abuse than a rifle is.

Other headliners include Radley Balko, writer for the Huffington Post and author of the new book Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America’s Police Force, Carlos Miller of PhotographyIsNotACrime.com, Pete Eyre of CopBlock.org, and Antonio Buehler and John Bush, co-founders of the Peaceful Streets Project. Entertainers include B. Dolan who will perform “Film the Police” and Tatiana Moroz who will perform a song written for the Peaceful Streets Project.

In addition to hearing from speakers and entertainers, participants will have the opportunity to listen to a panel covering family pets killed by law enforcement, engage in a debate over whether we should try to reform the police or abolish them, participate in a Know Your Rights training session, and receive hands on training to learn tactics for filming police. Food and refreshments will be provided, and there will be free childcare on site for families who attend.

The facebook event page can be found at https://www.facebook.com/events/465581550193801.

Peaceful Streets Project Mission: Through community organizing, engaging in non-political and non-violent direct action tactics, and utilizing new technologies, the Peaceful Streets Project seeks to bring about a cultural shift where individuals understand their rights and hold law enforcement officials accountable, and communities protect and serve each other.