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Today marks one year since Elijah McClain was murdered by the Aurora Police Department. His death has not seen justice. It has been 164 days since Breonna Taylor was murdered by the Louisville Metro Police Department. Her death has not seen justice. My heart is broken as I write another email calling for justice for another person in my community. It will take all of our voices and efforts to make this one the last.
Please share this story widely and encourage your community to take action. This work takes all of us. And for Jacob Blake and all others who have lost their lives to police brutality, we were already too late. The next best time is now.
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Nicole
TAKE ACTION
Call local officials to demand the police officers are held accountable:
Kenosha City Attorney 262-653-4170
Kenosha Mayor and City Administration 262-653-4000
Kenosha Police Non Emergency Line 262-656-1234
Wisconsin DOJ (608) 266-1221
Donate to the Milwaukee Freedom Fund, which is extending support to protestors in Kenosha: https://bit.ly/mkefreedomfund
Review the calls to action in our related newsletters below
GET EDUCATED
Yesterday evening, an unarmed Black man was tasered and shot in the back seven times by police officers in Kenosha, WI. Reports indicate that the police were on the scene to respond to a domestic dispute, and the victim was attempting to help settle it (Kenosha News). A video of the shooting was widely circulated on social media*. In the video, the victim can be seen walking to his car and opening the door before being restrained by a police officer and shot multiple times point-blank in the back. Another video released late Monday shows Blake wrestling with a couple police officers a few moments before walking to his car (Daily Mail). A reporter for WISN, a news channel in Wisconsin, later confirmed that the victim is 29-year-old Jacob Blake (Twitter). A large group of people was present to witness the shooting, in addition to his fiancée and children. As of the time of writing this, Blake remains alive and in serious condition. Protests have since erupted in the city demanding accountability.
Kenosha is less than an hour away from Milwaukee, where the Democratic National Convention was held last week. The police officers currently do not wear body cameras, but the Kenosha County Board voted 22-0 to include body cameras for the sheriff’s department in next year’s budget (Kenosha News).
This is an ongoing story and, because this was published in a daily newsletter, we’re unable to update or change the information published here. However, we will continue to update the web version of this newsletter on our website. In addition, please keep yourself educated on this topic from other news sources.
But to be clear: there is no additional information that can ever be provided to justify this shooting. There is no justification for an innocent citizen of this country to be restrained and shot several times in the back. There is no excuse or apology for millions of us to wake up to another video of senseless violence by those entrusted to our protection. We are not waiting for more facts to be outraged, overwhelmed with grief, or take action. This is not "just another" police shooting, because one shooting alone is more than enough to demand change. We wish Jacob Blake a full recovery and swift justice.
*We are intentionally not circulating the video in this newsletter, and urge you to do the same. Read this article for context (Recode).
RELATED ISSUES
8/12/2020 | Demand justice for Elijah McClain.
6/4/2020 | Don't tell Black people how to respond.
6/6/2020 | Give to bail funds – and abolish cash bail.
7/6/2020 | Abolish qualified immunity.
6/30/2020 | Boycott as a form of protest.
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