Occupy Forum: The Militarization of Police: Arming a Racist System and Killer Cops

Information, discussion & community! Monday Night Forum!!
Occupy Forum is an opportunity for open and respectful dialogue
on all sides of these critically important issues!OccupyForum presentsThe Militarization of Police:
Arming a Racist System and Killer Cops

OccupyForum will focus on the militarization of police with a panel from Stop Urban Shield Coalition, Open Circle, (representing families of murdered black children); and Susan Harman, (representing Oakland Privacy Working Group and CodePink). Besides addressing the current national emergency, these groups seek creative alternatives to traditional notions of police practices and the role of police in communities and the state.Stop Urban Shield is a broad coalition of grassroots community and social justice organizations primarily based in the Bay Area but with partnering community groups across the nation who have come together united against Urban Shield. Urban Shield, a SWAT team training and weapons expo that brings together local, regional, and international police-military units to collaborate on and profit from new forms of surveillance, state repression, and state violence. The Stop Urban Shield Coalition includes members from various race, faith, political and social backgrounds and successfully stopped the Urban Shield expo from being hosted in Oakland in 2014.  Their goal is to end Urban Shield and hold accountable our cities and counties from their corroboration in increased racialized repression and violence. John Lindsay-Poland is Wage Peace Coordinator for the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) in San Francisco, and has researched, written and organized to address state violence for many years. AFSC is a member of the Stop Urban Shield Coalition, which has organized to stop the militarized SWAT team competition and vendor show in Alameda County since 2013.

Code Pink: Women for Peace is a grassroots, women-initiated, peace and social justice movement working to end U.S.-funded wars and occupations, to challenge militarism globally, and to redirect our resources into health care, education, green jobs and other life-affirming activities.

The Oakland Privacy Working Group is a coalition of Bay Area activists who originally came together to fight the proposed Oakland Police Department surveillance hub, the Domain Awareness Center (DAC). The DAC was a proposed, $10.9M Department of Homeland Security-funded, 24/7 surveillance center. The project had grown exponentially in scope since its inception and would have enabled law enforcement to engage in widespread warrantless surveillance of Oakland residents, using large numbers of surveillance cameras, license plate readers, thermal imaging devices, gun-shot detection sensors, toll payment tracking for those using electronic passes, and social media monitoring, along with other tools. It spawned a fierce groundswell of resistance, uniting a disparate coalition of impassioned residents who unwaveringly said “no” to government surveillance and the militarization of our community. OPWG continues to fight against the surveillance state and the technology that it uses.

Open Circle, ground zero for families who have suffered a death at the hands of police,  addresses police terror and systemic oppression.Time will be allotted for Q&A, discussion and announcements.