-- From "The Call" for an October Month of Resistance initiated by Dr. Cornel West and Carl Dix and endorsed by author and poet Alice Walker, MIT professor emeritus Noam Chomsky, actor Peter Coyote, author Michelle Alexander, media commentator Dr. Boyce Watkins, Reverends Jerome McCorry and Frank Wulf, and hundreds of others, including many families with loved ones killed by police.
All of this aimed at taking the movement to STOP mass incarceration and police brutality to a much higher level.
October 2014 is a Time for Courage, Daring and Action - The Funds We Need
To those who are tired of seeing police step to our youth with harassment, brutality and even worse; to those outraged by racial profiling strategies like "stop and frisk" and gang injunctions that take away the rights of our youth; to Black and Latino youth tired of knowing that every time you leave your house you might be descended on by cops; to parents who fear that no matter what you tell your kids about surviving an encounter with cops it won’t be enough to keep them safe; to people who know this will never happen to them but also know it’s wrong:
Funds Needed for "Blow the Whistle" Movement
If You See Something... Blow the Whistle" - it ain't without risk, yet this campaign can save lives right now, and help the people in the neighborhoods and communities get organized and fight back against the racist police terror and brutality stalking our young people. Please donate generously so 50,000 whistles can be bought and distributed in cities and towns throughout the United States, ASAP. The "blow the whistle" movement must reach deep among the people this October, and grow from there. The vision: whole communities "blow the whistle" every time the police come around to harass and suppress the youth, and others. $10,500
Travel Fund to National "Hot Spots" of Police Brutality, Violence and Repression
The October 2014 Month of Resistance must be brought into the scene of every outrage and every outpouring of protest and resistance, and serve to create that defiance and resistance, nationwide.
This project helps fund teams of people that can travel to national hot spots of police brutality, violence, and repression, like Ferguson, MO, (including with thousands of whistles for the people in those neighborhoods and communities). October Month of Resistance activists - from the Bay Area, Chicago, New York etc. - went to Ferguson during the height of the protests there and made national and international news and impact. Some stayed for days, some for weeks. And some are there now....
FLASH: October 10-13 is Ferguson Weekend! We urge everyone who understands that the murder of Mike Brown and the subsequent military assault on the people are howling outrages, to answer this call! Go to Ferguson! Organize a car caravan. Jump on a bus or train! Send a delegation from your campus or church or neighborhood, or help send a delegation. Fund people who can go if you can't. If you can’t make it send a banner to the people of Ferguson signed by all who are standing with the struggle but could not be there in person. Your participation in this struggle to achieve justice will make a huge difference in strengthening the people on the front lines in Ferguson and in other parts of the country.
This extraordinarily urgent project needs immediate funding as teams are prepared to travel to Ferguson and wherever needed in the U.S. $15,000
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National Production and Distribution of Materials ~ Nationwide Promotion of October Month Of Resistance
$10,000 is needed ASAP to print promotional materials and get them to people.
Tens of thousands of October Month of Resistance flyers, palm cards, stickers, and posters have already been distributed nationwide... but... hundreds of thousands more need to be printed and distributed. Scores of colleges, hundreds of neighborhoods, concerts, film showings and symposiums - everywhere people gather, go to work and school - this is where the Pledge of Resistance flyers, posters and palm cards need to be. Tens of thousands of stickers announcing the October 22 National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation need to be circulating amongst the youth nationwide. $10,000 is needed ASAP to print these materials and get them to the people.
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Who Needs To Be Involved in October / What Difference It Can Make
All those whose lives are most directly affected... all kinds of organizations who are outraged about the fact that so many people have been criminalized, locked up and shot down... college and university students throughout the country, the high schools, the concerned religious community, the legal community, the culture and art scenes, prominent voices of conscience... and many others need to become active now and in the coming weeks to help bring into being the most powerful October Month of Resistance possible.
By donating funds, you are saying NO MORE! to mass incarceration and police brutality and murder. Give as much as you can, whether that be $2,500, $250, $25 or $5. It really matters. It really makes a difference.
In honor of the tens of millions of people whose lives have been impacted by mass incarceration and the all the lives stolen by law enforcement: Nicolas Heyward Jr., Malcolm Ferguson, Sean Bell, Anthony Baez, James Earl Rivera Jr, Clinton Allen, Dante Pomar, Diallo Neal, Kenneth Chamberlain Jr., Flint Farmer, Oscar Grant, Kelley Thomas, Manuel Diaz, Joel Acevedo, Andy Lopez, Amadou Diallo, Darius Pinex, Kendrec McDade, James Boyd, Eric Garner, Mike Brown, John Crawford III, Ezell Ford, Omar Abrego and hundreds of others killed and brutalized by police.
Other Ways You Can TAKE PART
Sign the Call for the October Month of Resistance at StopMassIncarceration.net.
Spread the word about October and bring friends together to discuss the October Month of Resistance, read together the Pledge of Resistance and Alice Walker's poem Gather, thereby building communities of resistance.
Take to the streets wherever you are throughout October and especially on October 22 National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality.
Approach clergy and encourage them to give a sermon in October on stopping mass incarceration.
Send an Email, text, or video to be posted at StopMassIncarceration.net
Who We Are
Initiated by the Stop Mass Incarceration Network, on April 3-4, 2014, 90 people came from 10 different states from around the country to a meeting in New York City to strategize for the October 2014 Month of Resistance against mass incarceration. Carl Dix and Cornel West, who had called for this meeting, gave the opening talks to the meeting.There was a great mix of people, old and young, of different nationalities, from many different walks of life: immigrants involved in the struggle to stop deportations and in support of the hunger strikes at detention centers; professors, social workers, and retired nurses; Black youth who are criminalized and brutalized by this system; parents whose children have been murdered by the police; ministers, high school teachers and college students; people working in the legal system and in the media; those who have loved ones in prison as well as former prisoners, including those who have experienced the terror of solitary confinement.
A Call for October was produced, which has now been endorsed by hundreds of people.
Thank You
Whatever you do, THANK YOU for being part of a movement that can really make a huge difference for people everywhere! As our Pledge puts it: Black Lives Matter. Latino Lives Matter. All Lives Matter.
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