Lobby Day for Assembly Bill (AB) 931

Monday, August 13, 2018

8:00 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.

State Capitol – 1315 10th Street

Help to dismantle the police state and save lives by supporting AB 931 at the Capitol with other community members including ACLU, Anti-Police Terror Project, Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice, PICO California, PolicyLink, and the Youth Justice Coalition. They will be speaking to legislators on why they should vote YES on this bill! If you aren’t able to show up on the 13th, please call your legislators. Call scripts and call info are linked here. Each call takes less than 2 minutes!

AB 931 would raise the legal standard that authorizes the use of deadly force by police to the highest standard in the nation, potentially saving dozens of lives a year and possibly leading to criminal convictions of negligent killer cops. We are closer than we have ever been to passing landmark legislation on policing — for more info about the bill, check out this fact sheet.

This is an incredible opportunity – but there’s huge resistance. This bill is historic – no effort to raise standards for police deadly force has ever been introduced. These incredible coalitions support the bill, but police unions are fighting back with everything they’ve got. They need active support from other allies fighting for justice to get it passed!

The law in California setting the standard for when “peace” officers could use deadly force was established in 1872 when natives were being driven into reservations or brutally exterminated; Mexican Californios were being systematically dispossessed of their land as a result of the Gringo War; African-Americans began migrating West post-slavery; and the war on immigrants had just begun.

Many don’t know that California had among the highest lynching rates in the nation at this time. Anglo American invaders had their own vision of a white, utopian California in which they owned all the gold and natural resources this state had to offer–Manifest Destiny. Chinese immigrants, African-American refugees fleeing the horrors of the post-Civil War South, Natives, and Mexicans had no place in this new society.

Law enforcement agencies like the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department and the California Rangers arrested, incarcerated, and killed people of color and Natives at will. That is why the very minimal deadly force standard was established in 1872 and hasn’t been touched since. California police have an almost unfettered authority to kill, which is why our state leads the nation in total number of killings by police.

In 2016, 162 people were shot and killed by police in California and, in 2017, 172 people were shot to death by police. 5 California cities ranked in the top 15 cities in the country with highest rates of deadly force. Kern County (Bakersfield) has the highest rate of deadly force in the nation.

Research conducted by community members who have lost loved ones to police violence, the Youth Justice Coalition, and students from Cal State LA found that at least 851 people were killed by police in LA County between 2000 – 2017. 77% of the people killed were Black or Latino and not one of those officers was charged!

We can pass historic legislation this year to shed light on deadly force and serious misconduct investigations, and reduce deadly force by police. Come through and support this overdue legislation and help save lives from police violence! For more information, visit the Facebook event page.