Local SURJ chapters and affiliates are partnering with local organizations and winning local policy changes, budget battles, and creating alternatives on a regular basis.  We feel it is important to lift up the successes and victories that are happening across the country to learn from, honor, and inspire future organizing!

Los Angeles Stopped the Jail plan
August 13th, 2019

It is with excitement that I share with you that today we had a historic vote to stop jail construction in LA county. Our chapter has been involved in the Justice LA and Reform LA campaign and I am excited that we are able to claim victory! More info below.

Warmly,
Dahlia 
White People for Black Lives and SURJ Leadership Team

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Today, Justice LA and many other organizations and community members accomplished what we were told was an impossible feat. For nearly a decade, the specter of a massive $3.5 billion jail plan loomed over the people of Los Angeles. We resisted the creation of more cages, we reclaimed the calls for public safety, we reimagined our county with community-based care, and we won. In February of this year, we successfully defeated the women’s jail plan, and today, the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 in favor of cancelling the contract with McCarthy to build a mental health jail! 

Read JusticeLA's press release here.

This victory is celebrated on the shoulders of community members on the front lines of state violence - the youth targeted by gang injunctions in our neighborhoods, the mothers that buried their children as a result of sheriff violence, the families separated because they could not afford bail. Through our collective work, we have not only stopped two jails in our county, we have redirected the county away from punitive systems and towards community reinvestment. 
 
But our organizing is not over! The sheriff’s department made it clear today that they will fight progress every step of the way. It is up to us to ensure the implementation of a new vision for Los Angeles. 

So what's next?
  • Ensuring the reinvestment of the nearly $1 billion that would have been used for jail construction.
  • Fighting for robust pretrial reform that does not replace money bail with risk assessment instruments nor an expansion of electronic monitoring in Los Angeles  
  • Continuing to build on the Alternatives to Incarceration Workgroup's interim report and ensure that the final report reflects the will of the community.
  • Building mechanisms to hold the sheriff's department, probation department and the district attorney accountable and strip power from their departments. 
  • Eliminating the attacks of police and law enforcement on LA's communities of color.

Our work towards decarceration and community reinvestment in LA County is not over. #JusticeLA will continue to lead on the implementation of the community-based system of care we envisioned. Congratulations to our coalition members and thank you to our partners and allies for standing so strong with us today! We encourage everyone to stay plugged in and stay activated! 

#JusticeLA
JOIN JUSTICELA TODAY
A Win in Louisville Campaign to Get Police Out of Our Schools

August 14th, 2019
Carla Wallace
SURJ Leadership Team and LSURJ Co-founder and organizer

In the spirit of the share about the Victory in LA—so so powerful--we wanted to share a smaller, but important victory on the road to getting police out of our public schools in Louisville, Kentucky.

After a two year campaign, the Jefferson County School Board, representing one of the largest school districts in the country, voted to end contracts with outside police forces. 

BLM Louisville, our strategic partner, set the political vision for the demands, calling for No Police, and a shift of funding to mental health counseling, conflict resolution, restorative justice and other programmatic focuses that actually support children and youth in our schools.

LSURJ helped build the coalition of over 10 community groups (including LGBTQ, teachers, Latinx and immigrant groups including Mijente Louisville, the statewide Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, peace groups, the ACLU of Kentucky and others. 
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Frontline community members, including students, family members. teachers, disability justice leaders, community organizations and others spoke to the impact on children of color, disabled, youth, LGBTQ and immigrant students.  We worked to get people down to school board meetings. Critical to the win was Louisville SURJ's work on creating a space for culture shift in the dominant narrative that police in schools = safety, and forcing the community to consider, safety for whom?  Our visibility work was dominated by "Police = School to Prison Pipeline" signs over a two year time frame. 

Next, we must be part of the conversation about what kind of “internal security” will be put in place in JCPS.

The struggle continues…….we will continue to push for ways to keep children and youth safe—ALL of them.
NYC PARTIAL JUSTICE FOR ERIC GARNER

September 4th, 2019

Yours in struggle, SURJ-NYC​

As we celebrate recent wins in LA and Louisville, SURJ NYC wanted to share an update on the firing of Officer Daniel Pantaleo, the NYPD cop who killed Eric Garner in Staten Island in July 2014. Though this fight for justice is far from over, firing Pantaleo is an important win for the police accountability movement in NYC. Action asks to support the ongoing fight are at the end. 

First, here is the statement from Gwen Carr, mother of Eric Garner, in response to the firing. She has been an unwavering leader in the fight for justice for the past five years. 

"I have fought for this day for five long years. I commend Commissioner O'Neill for doing the right thing by firing Pantaleo. It is some relief to see Pantaleo finally face consequences for Eric’s murder, but this is long overdue and not nearly enough. Every last NYPD officer who allowed Pantaleo to put Eric in that chokehold, who pounced on Eric and who aided in the cover-up must be held accountable. Mayor de Blasio and the NYPD cannot claim this ends with Pantaleo’s firing; this is the time for them to end their obstruction, stop spreading misleading talking points, and finally hold every officer responsible accountable.”

To give some background on how this all went down... For the past few years—after a grand jury failed to indict Pantaleo on criminal charges in December 2014—NYPD has stalled and blocked efforts to discipline Pantaleo. Despite the DOJ telling NYPD to proceed with their own investigation in tandem with the federal one, and the NYPD internal affairs bureau recommending, back in 2015, that Pantaleo be disciplined, nothing was done without pressure. Mayor de Blasio, as the boss of the Police Commissioner and NYPD, did nothing to advocate for Eric Garner’s family and continuously neglected or refuted his role in ensuring accountability. 

During that time, Gwen Carr and more of Eric Garner’s family members, with support from Communities United for Police Reform (CPR) and Justice Committee (JC), fought for transparency, accountability, and justice. The Police Accountability Working Group of SURJ NYC has, since our inception in 2016, been working with CPR and JC, and supported this campaign, among others. 

In 2017, the NYC Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB)—an independent agency empowered to investigate complaints of excessive or unnecessary force by NYPD—substantiated two complaints against Pantaleo in the killing of Eric Garner, for excessive force and use of an illegal chokehold (which has been banned by NYPD for more than two decades).

In 2018, NYPD finally turned over the necessary files so CCRB could carry out the investigation—this only happened because of public pressure. After that point, CCRB was able to bring the disciplinary case to trial. Through winter and spring, there were several pre-trial hearings at 1 Police Plaza, which had bearing on how the case would proceed, and whether it would at all (of course, Pantaleo’s lawyers did all they could to get him off the hook). The actual trial took place from mid-May to early June. After that, there were drawn out and vague time limits for when Deputy Commissioner of Trials Rosemarie Maldonado (the judge in this case) would release her recommendation (which was not binding), and when Commissioner O’Neill would announce the final decision. Maldonado’s rec came out on August 2nd, and O’Neill announced the firing on August 19th. 
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Over the course of this process, SURJ NYC played a small but meaningful role in the effort to get some measure of justice for Eric Garner’s family. We made dozens of phone calls to the Mayor’s office, and we consistently turned out members to press conferences, rallies, and marches, filling key volunteer roles to help things run smoothly.

We turned out to most, if not all, of the pre-trial hearings, as well as each day of the actual trial, coordinating notetakers, transcribers, outside support for lunchtime pressers, and lunch for the family and volunteers. We also fundraised to cover all the lunch expenses. Note taking played an important role, as many key details about the case—such as the names of other officers on the scene and their lies and misconduct—came to light in that courtroom, yet no taping was allowed and the courtroom transcript was not available to the public. The details were critical in pushing the campaign forward so that all the officers who were responsible for Garner’s death—including D’Amico, Bannon, Ramos, Furlani, and Adonis—can be held accountable. 

After the trial ended in June, SURJ NYC held down a number of direct actions to keep pressure on Mayor de Blasio, who continued to shirk his responsibility in the matter (meanwhile running for President with the claim that he has addressed police abuses in his city). We disrupted his media availability at the NYC Pride Parade, questioned him on his way in and out of Inside City Hall tapings, and interrupted his press conference the day that Maldonado’s rec came out and he could have spun the matter as having been dealt with, though it was not. We also engaged in political education and leafleted at ferry terminals in Manhattan to educate folks about the issues and the failure of the Mayor and NYPD to act. During this time, we did a lot of work both with the organizations we partner with and amongst ourselves, to remain up-to-date on the current state of play and navigate our own capacity and readiness to take on different roles. 

Now, the family continues to press for accountability for all NYPD involved, including Lt. Bannon, who texted “Not a big deal” when told of Mr. Garner’s death, Officer D’Amico, who filed a false arrest on Garner even after he was known to be dead, and those that did nothing while he died, crying “I can’t breathe.” On August 29, the family filed a petition to the New York State Supreme Court demanding a judicial inquiry into the violation and neglect of duty by the city and the cover-up that continues to date. The struggle goes on and SURJ NYC will keep showing up to fight for justice for Eric Garner even while we celebrate a measure of justice.

Here are some actions you can take to support the fight:
  1. Support Ramsey Orta, who filmed the incident. Since 2016, Ramsey has been imprisoned in New York where he continues to endure retaliation for sharing his video of NYPD officers killing Eric Garner. To support Ramsey, read and sign the letter here.
  2. Call Mayor de Blasio and demand that all officers involved in misconduct and the ensuing cover-up be fired. The number is 212-639-9675. 
  3. Make a donation to Justice Committee (JC) and/or Communities United for Police Reform (CPR) who will continue to support Gwen Carr and Eric Garner's family in their fight to hold all the officers accountable and to demand transparency from the city of New York. 
  4. Report the Pantaleo GoFundMe. There’s a fundraiser to support of Pantaleo post-firing, and it’s up to $160,000. The campaign description reads, “Let's help an officer in need who was only doing his job!” Obviously, he was fired for not doing his job. According to GoFundMe’s Terms and Conditions, they don’t allow users to fundraise for racist causes. Use the script and number below to report the campaign. Then, fill out this Google form, so we can track our calls! You can also sign a petition from Color of Change to suspend the fundraiser. Let's try to get this fundraiser taken down! 
  5. Call: GoFundMe Business Line at (650) 260-3436* On voicemail or with a rep, leave this message:
I would like to report “Officer Daniel Pantaleo’s family help fund” for fraudulent activity. The campaign makes the misleading statement that they are trying to help an officer "who was only doing his job!" This is false. An NYPD departmental trial determined that Pantaleo was guilty of reckless assault when he used a banned chokehold maneuver to kill Eric Garner. So, he was fired for NOT doing his job. 
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This campaign also violates your terms and conditions, which state that fundraising on this site cannot support "intolerance of any kind relating to race." While he was still an NYPD officer, Pantaleo was sued three times for misconduct--specifically for violating the constitutional rights of black men. And Pantaleo killed Eric Garner, an unarmed black man, by using excessive force. This campaign is openly fundraising for a racist former police officer. GoFundMe needs to suspend it immediately, and return all funds to the donors. 

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