(from UJP)

When: Monday, January 19, 2015, 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm
Where: Old State House Boston, State Street & Washington St., Boston

4 Mile March to protest police repression of black community and related issues. 1 pm on Monday, January 19 at Old State House (Boston)

One demand calls for end of US interventions/imperialism abroad.

The group is responding to a national call named after the time (4 1/2 hours) Michael Brown’s body lay in the street. There was a long discussion of demands.

The group agreed with the following national demands for the march:

1. civilian oversight committee to review incidents of police brutality;
2. fear is not sufficient reason to use deadly force;
3. body cameras for all uniformed officers;
4. special independent prosecutors of police crimes;
5. extend federal ban of racial profiling to local law enforcement;
6. end prison industries that profit off prison labor;
7. police always choose life over death, capture suspects alive for judicial proceedings;
8. police must report illegal actions of other police;
9. police have communications and diversity trainings appropriate to precinct;
10. study sentencing based on race, gender and sexual orientation and set standards; skewed sentences to be reviewed.

The group agreed to the following locals demands for the march:

1. jail killer cops;
2. enact a living wage;
3. defund prisons, fund communities;
4. end mass incarceration;
5. no to Boston Olympics, use money to fund communities;
6. end US intervention around world, stop US imperialism

PRESS RELEASE — Activists Stop Commuter Rail before AFC Playoff Game

Contact Saif Rahman at (860) 966-2473 for more information and interviews

January 10, 2015

Dedham, MA — Activists from across New England delayed an MBTA commuter rail train at the Dedham, MA station traveling to the New England Patriots game in order to interrupt “recreation as usual.” This peaceful demonstration was organized to continue lifting up the message of the Black Lives Matter movement and in honor of the “2015 Year of Resistance.”

Organized by a diverse group of white, non-black people of color, and black activists, the action was meant to highlight white complicity that allows police and state violence to be carried out against Black people.

“As white allies, we are taking direct action to challenge white supremacy and amplify the demands for an end to the war on Black communities across the county,” said one of the organizers, Mallory Hanora of Boston, MA.

“As non-Black people of color, we know that the struggle for our autonomy starts with the liberation of Black people in the United States,” said Sherrie’ Anne André of Providence, RI.

The train was delayed for four and half minutes to represent the four and half hours Michael Brown’s body was left lying in the street; this span of time has become symbolic within the movement. Protestors quietly replicated the sound of a beating heart during that time.

“As a black woman, I agree that these actions are important, they demonstrate solidarity with our liberation and challenges white complacency with this racist system,” said Seneca Joyner of Boston, MA.

In Boston, Black people experience racial disparities at every point of the justice system, from unnecessary and unconstitutional stops by police, to overrepresentation in prisons, to the murder of unarmed Black people. The ACLU of Massachusetts released a report in October that found 63 percent of Boston police-civilian encounters from 2007 to 2010 targeted Blacks, even though Black people make up less than 25 percent of the city population. Even after controlling for crime, the study showed that police officers were more likely to initiate police encounters with Black people. Police gave no justification for 75 percent of these stops.

While white New Englanders celebrate our region as one grounded in principles of freedom and liberty, in reality white supremacy continues to impede the safety and well-being of Black people and their families. New Englanders continue to live under intense segregation and violent policing. At this game many white fans will cheer and celebrate Black athletes in the stadium while ignoring the racism Black people face in daily life. The AFC Division Playoff Game required us to insist that Black lives matter all the time, everywhere, on and off the field.