NATIONAL WEEK of ACTION in SOLIDARITY with the People of Ferguson, St. Louis and Beyond

By: David J. Smith, December 1, 2014

The Peace and Justice Studies Association, Center for Education Equity, The Sophia Project, Code Pink, Hands Up Coalition – D.C., and Why We Can’t Wait-D.C.,  call on all people of conscience to participate in a week of action to bring awareness about ending police violence against all people, especially people of color. This week of action begins Monday, December 1, 2014 and continues until December 5, 2014. We do this to stand in solidarity with the people of Ferguson and the larger St. Louis area.

The National Week of Action can involve any or all of the following:

1) Observing 4.5 minutes of silence at 12 noon outside your high-school, college campus building, business, government office, or place of worship.  This length of time is symbolic of the 4.5 hours Michael Brown’s body lay in the street after he was killed on August 9th, 2014.  His parents have asked for such an observance; beginning at 12:00pm each day

2) Conducting human rights teach-ins about police brutality, racism and racial profiling, civic responsibility, and nonviolent action

3) Organizing dialogues in your community on race, legal reforms, and methods of citizen oversight of law enforcement

4) Organize vigils, reflections and prayers in communities around police violence, the targeting of minority communities, and the militarization of our society.

If you would like to facilitate a teach-in or dialogue and need resources and/or contacts, please see the attached document titled “Learning from Ferguson & Beyond”.

This conversation cannot end! We cannot conduct business as usual!  Black lives matter! All lives matter!

We encourage all to act at whatever level appropriate and comfortable for your setting, but please do something.

Every act helps, no matter how small. We can stop the violence. Thank you for your participation to end police brutality.

It would be wonderful if you record your event and upload to thetruthtellingproject.org

Please forward this email, facebook and tweet this message using hashtags:

#fourandahalf

#speaktruth

#blacklivesmatter

Visit the facebook event and spread here.

CONTACTS:

Dave Ragland:845-475-8205, Visiting Professor, Bucknell University, Lewisburg PA, and a native of St. Louis, MO,and Co-Director;The Truth Telling Project :thetruthtellingproject.org.

Cris Toffolo: crisetoffolo@gmail.com. Professor & Chair, Justice Studies Department, Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago IL.

Barbara Wien: Faculty Member, American University, Washington, D.C.

Alex Bodkin: The Truth Telling Project, bodkin@slu.edu: thetruthtellingproject.org