Updated 10/7/20 1:30 p.m. with video and audio plus additional links.
More on last week’s discussion of Covid and Portland Protests, with some remarks from Professor Alex Vitale from Portland’s “Police Violence Comprehensive Forum.” In light of these observations, we then return to Washington DC, for a renewed focus on police reform, from the District’s new Commission on Police Reform and long-time observers.
Video below. Audio here
1 Introduction and Alex Vitale testimony from 9/23 PUAH Forum
2 (19:51) Dear Jews Who Say “Black Lives Matter”
3 (28:58) DC Police Reform and Justice for Deon Kay
Tune in weekly, via We Act Radio (audio only) or via Facebook Live Wednesdays at 11 EASTERN. Recordings posted shortly after air time.
PUAH and Alex Vitale
Police Violence Comprehensive Forum, September 23, was organized by Portland United Against Hate (PUAH), First Unitarian Portland, and Unite Oregon. Last week, we heard snippets from two experts’ testimonies —
Dr. Mira Mohsini, of the Coalition of Communities of Color, one of the authors of the PUAH Police Violence Is Hate Violence study, and
Dr. Maureen Katz, psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, and clinical professor, who worked for 35 years with survivors of torture and state sanctioned terror.
Today, we hear another testimony from the same event: Alex Vitale, author of The End of Policing, and Professor of Sociology at Brooklyn College.
PUAH is preparing the full video of the forum to share and gave us permission to share some expert testimony in the meantime. As Rabbi Debra Kolodny, director of PUAH, says in their introduction “truth is hard to come by and people don’t know what to believe.” Learn more at their website and Facebook page. Portland United Against Hate.
Join the ACLU of Oregon in calling on Governor Kate Brown to appoint a special, independent prosecutor to investigate and prosecute police abuses in Portland toward protesters, medics, and journalists.
Dear Jews Who Say “Black Lives Matter”
— full letter and related links.
DC Police Reform: Commission and Legislation
DC Council’s Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety hearing on Police Reform legislation is set for October 15.
DC folks: To testify — Sign up by close of business Oct 7 to testify “in person” — really by Zoom; submit testimony up through close of business Oct 23.
Visit Council website for legislation and/or view walk-through video from DC Police Reform Commission: review is split between August 26 and September 14 meetings.
Visit DC Justice Lab for proposals that are NOT in this bill but Patrice Sulton, founder and director, hopes to see the Council take up soon.
See also September 4 Emergency Meeting for questioning about the fatal shooting of Deon Kay that raises additional related issues. Portions of this meeting were included in the October 7 show. Here’s the whole September 4 video.
Video here for non-FB folks or here
Community Thru CRT: 