We Want A World Free of Anti-Black Violence

As a White movement for racial justice, Showing Up for Racial Justice - Denver may not have a bullseye on our backs. We are not targeted for execution over and over; officers face consequences for murdering us. But we are not free until our Black and Brown neighbors, colleagues, comrades, friends, and family members are afforded justice and respect.

Denver demands an end to police and other state violence against Black and Brown people. We echo the call from Black organizers all over the country for transformation of policing in our society, so that policing no longer serves as an agent of racist oppression.

Mayor Hancock, Chief White, and Manager of Safety Stephanie O’Malley, your Denver community and Showing Up for Racial Justice - Denver demand:

1) Transparency

• Publish a written letter supporting demographic data collection of all policing stops and interactions in our city, signed personally by Police Chief White, Director O’Malley, and Mayor Hancock
• Track demographics of individuals contacted, stopped, arrested, injured, and killed by police, and make this information accessible to the public on a frequent and regular basis

2) Stop the Sweeps

• DPD/ DSD has the power to deprioritize and refuse the enforcement of laws that criminalize homelessness. We ask that you publicly declare an immediate halt on all sweeps of the homeless population of our city with a pledge to create a sustainable solution that does not involve criminalization
• Use your power and influence in the City of Denver to repeal the Urban Camping Ban

3) Divest, Demilitarize, Reinvest

• Divest $12M of Mayor Hancock’s $24M investment in DSD “reforms.” Instead of militarization against and criminalization of our communities, the DPD/ DSD should surrender military-grade weaponry in favor of community building reinvestments. 
• Use your power and influence, from each of your uniquely powerful positions in the City of Denver, to reinvest $12M in community support systems:
  -Double the current $8M investment in affordable housing in our rapidly gentrifying city
  -Double public mental health support funding to reduce the criminalization of people with mental illness

On July 20, members of Showing Up for Racial Justice blocked your doors. Denver refuses to allow continued policing business as usual.  Denver refuses to allow continued violence against our Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities.

Denver takes action in solidarity with the Movement for Black Lives who are occupying, demonstrating, marching, and chanting all over the country for a new future - a future in which they can be free from state-sanctioned violence and oppression. When Demands 1 - Transparency and 2 - Stop the Sweeps are met, Chief White, Manager of Safety Stephanie O’Malley, and Mayor Hancock should seek community leadership’s input for Demand 3 and more by contacting Black Lives Matter 5280.

Our community calls for the transformation of policing and the financial resources currently used for policing in our society, to reimagine purpose and implementation, so that Black and Brown people are no longer tortured, brutalized, and murdered by police.