From L Hamm: ATTEND THE FIRST ORGANIZING MEETING OF THE MILLION PEOPLE'S MARCH AGAINST POLICE BRUTALITY

[ This letter forwarded as a Public Service Announcement. ]
 
Police brutality is an ongoing, growing and deadly problem in the United States Of America.

It includes the unwarranted and unjustified killing of unarmed people, the use of excessive force, the violation of peoples' constitutional rights, racist and discriminatory practices, criminal activity, corruption and misconduct, increased militarization of police forces, and the failure of the criminal justice system to hold police accountable.

Police brutality is not an isolated problem.  It is a historical problem with roots that are deep in the social fabric of this country. It must be seen within the broader context of racial and economic injustice and inequality.

While the victims of police brutality come from all racial groups in society, the vast majority come from African American, Latino, Native American and other communities of color.  They are overwhelmingly poor and working class. Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Abdul Kamal, Kashad Ashford, and Rekia Boyd are among the recent victims.

Police brutality has been and continues to be the cause of social unrest in the country. Throughout contemporary US history incidents of police brutality have sparked explosive episodes of civil rebellion and unrest, with the most recent being that of Ferguson, Missouri.

The failure of the criminal justice system to hold police officers accountable  is causing a political crisis as more people discover that police brutality goes unpunished.  Police kill unarmed civilians and are not even charged.

One grand jury after another fails to indict police officers. The cases of Michael Brown and Eric Garner being the most recent examples. This is perpetuating a growing belief that the criminal justice system is racist and illegitimate.

Police brutality is a serious and longstanding problem.  For decades attempts have been made to reform the police. These efforts have only been successful when tremendous sustained political and social pressure have been brought to bear upon the appropriate government institutions.
For these reasons the People's Organization For Progress (POP) is calling a MILLION PEOPLE'S MARCH Against Police Brutality, Racial Injustice, And Economic Inequality. We will march to demand an end to police brutality and justice for all of its victims, police reform, and an end to the problems of racial injustice and economic inequality which lead to police brutality.

The first organizing meeting for the MILLION PEOPLE'S MARCH (MPM) will be Thursday, January 8, 2015, 6:30pm at the Abyssinian Baptist Church, 224 West Kinney Street in Newark, New Jersey. I urge all POP members, allies, supporters, friends, and people of conscience who want an end to police brutality to attend this meeting.

Do everything you can to spread the word about the meeting and the march. This is a huge project and we are going to need all the support we can get to make it happen.

The MILLION PEOPLE'S MARCH is scheduled to take place Saturday, JULY 25, 2015,12 Noon, starting at the Lincoln Monument, located at the intersection of West Market Street and  Springfield Avenue in downtown Newark, New Jersey.

For more information call the People's Organization For Progress (POP) a (973)801-0001

  This is a very important meeting on Thursday. Please make every effort to attend.

Power To The People!

Lawrence Hamm
Chairman
People's Organization For Progress

DECARCERATE THE GARDEN STATE LETTER OF SUPPORT FOR MILLION PEOPLES MARCH

MILLION PEOPLES MARCH ENDORSEMENT

To our friends and colleagues in the Peoples Organization for Progress,

We are writing on behalf of the Committee to Decarcerate the Garden State to formerly endorse or co-sponsor the MILLION PEOPLES MARCH initiative of POP.

We would also like to respectfully propose that under the unifying banner of  People's Organization For Progress MILLION PEOPLE'S MARCH Against Police Brutality, Racial Injustice, And Economic Inequality, that the march committee develop specific language to address the most pressing issue of mass incarceration and ideally, that the march include in its demands a specific demand for “sweeping” decarceration legislation in the state of New Jersey.  Furthermore, as one of our key members of our organization is Renee Felton, we ask that the cause of her son Kwadir Felton, who was blinded by police bullet and then sentenced to 16 years for a weapons charge without any physical evidence and a trumped up conspiracy charge, be included beside all of the other families of victims of police violence with impunity.

http://decarceratenj.blogspot.com/2014/12/justice-for-kwadir-felton-committee.html

We will utilize our resources, including our blog site, website, literature and our “Tour de Decarerate” roving panel discussion to promote and help organize the event and will hopefully help spread the word about it particularly throughout the state of New Jersey.Please let us know what else endorsement or co-sponsorship entails.

Thank you for this opportunity to work side by side Peoples Organization for Progress and other justice seeking organizations – we are sure the event will be a tremendous success.

ENDORSED UNANIMOUSLY BY DECARCERATE THE GARDEN STATE
http://DecarcerateNJ.org
https://www.facebook.com/groups/DecarcerateNJ/

Other happenings this week:

http://decarceratenj.blogspot.com/2015/01/nj-this-week-in-black-lives-matter.html