Police Reform

At 19 years of age, Anthony "AP" Parish was pulled over for a minor traffic violation. An illegal search and seizure and/or planting of evidence by officers then occurred, which led to him being sentenced to over 100 years in prison. Now, 13 years later, he's still in prison for a wrongful conviction. The officer testified truthfully that she made Anthony "AP" Parish get out of the car, even though he had license and registration, because she had allegedly "heard" that he was supposed to kill the next police officer he encountered. However, when she gave her testimony at trial, she could not recall who had told her this. She further testified that she noticed the glove compartment was locked, so she had to take the keys and unlock it, whereby she allegedly found a gun and marijuana. Instead of detaining Mr. Parish, she simply confiscated the items and let Mr. Parish just drive away as though nothing had ever happened. Four months later, authorities made the decision to perform ballistic testing on the gun and it was linked to a murder at a local bar. Mr. Parish’s fingerprints WERE NOT on the gun or the bullets, but it was still decided that he be charged with the gun and the murder despite it being a strictly circumstantial case. It should be noted that Mr. Parish had received a birthday card from the Fort Wayne Police Department within a few days of the encounter, which stated, "Your birthday caused quite a stir around here but as you know we are not easily moved." It was signed, “FWPD.” Anthony “AP” Parish was targeted by local police and his life has been taken because of this. Lastly, on YouTube, in this video https://youtu.be/U0gGTS0DzPc  about 10 minutes and 45 seconds into the video you will hear officers telling a random black teen that they have pulled over, "You know who AP is? Anthony Parish? His case allows us to do this!" This video was taken 11 years after Mr. Parish was wrongly convicted and the police are using his case as precedent and justification to conduct illegal search and seizures that are warrantless. This needs to be stopped. #freeap #lmnop

In the wake of the brutal murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Roland Greene, George Floyd, and the countless others that preceded and followed them, we witnessed a summer of upheaval against structural racism in our nation and locally, that has disappointingly been followed by a lack of significant and meaningful structural change. As an educational institution, Mountain View High School owes its students, community, and each other to challenge the deep-seated racism that continues to linger and effect students of color in our diverse school, and take steps to become an actively anti-racist institution. As a community that preaches diversity, inclusion, and equity, we must put actions to these words by both acknowledging and addressing the issues young people of color continue to face during their high school experience.  As concerned MVLA alumni, current students and family/community members, we are calling on MVLA to take immediate action to design and implement a curriculum which adequately addresses the reality of systemic racism and oppression in America, and to foster an inclusive and safe learning environment for all students. We believe that our district can and should be a leader in this process. We also want to acknowledge the limitations of both the scope of our group and the list of actions we’ve collected here.  Remove law enforcement (School Resource Officers) from Mountain View Campus. Declare our status as a sanctuary school, and make resources for undocumented community members more obviously and easily accessible. Reform discipline and counseling policies, and work transparently with students, educators, and community members (inclusive of those with BIPOC backgrounds) to create a new public safety plan for MVHS.  MVHs should follow the examples of schools across the Bay Area and the country, including Los Altos High School, that are ending the presence of police in schools. The very presence of this institution on school grounds perpetuates an unsafe learning environment for students who come from communities profiled, abused, and often brutalized by the police, including BIPOC students and community members. We have gathered extensive testimonials from BIPOC students and staff about negative experiences with the police in our schools, as well as from community members with the LAPD and MVPDs overall. We do not intend to accuse every individual police officer of misconduct against our school population. However, the police as an institution has been harmful to the quality of students' education both here and in the United States in general. Removing law enforcement from all campuses in the District will create a safer environment for students and staff of color, especially Black and Latinx students and staff. This must be an immediate action starting with the 2021 school year. We understand that this is a tight timeline -- but students, educators, and alumni have been calling on the school board and city council to take action for an entire year. We do not have a “better” time to act.  California already has a “Sanctuary State law” (SB 54),  which was passed in 2017 and upheld by the US Supreme Court this summer, and Santa Clara County has its own sanctuary policy. However, it is imperative that local jurisdictions and school boards also pass their own clear sanctuary policies in protecting undocumented immigrants from ICE arrests on their school grounds. We ask that you clearly do so, publicly establishing that MVHS employees will not cooperate with ICE officials in any capacity whatsoever, including any possible information sharing about undocumented students and their families. As a sanctuary district, we also ask that MVHS t provide a full comprehensive resource page on their website that includes updated immigration rights, local organizations, mutual aid resources and legal services. We also demand that there be required training on ICE interactions for MVHS staff by the Santa Clara County’s Rapid Response Network. Current punitive disciplinary actions such as suspensions should be removed and replaced with actions that value community healing and well-being through restorative justice. In order to provide all students with sufficient access to interpersonal and wellness counseling, the district should increase the number of counselors available on all its campuses. It is in their best interest to respond to students’ mistakes by encouraging their growth instead of creating roadblocks that hinder students from learning and moving on from their actions.  We all have a responsibility in the fight against racism, and for the MVHS community, this must take the form of implementing concrete, institutional changes. These changes must allow our community to adapt to evolving social issues. As the MVLA mission statement says: “We are committed to creating a community of learners with the knowledge, skills, and values necessary to combine personal success with meaningful contributions to our multicultural and global society.” It is incumbent on MVHS leadership to institute systematic institutional changes so that this is not simply a mission statement, but also a reality for all students. Provide your students with knowledge of historical and contemporary racial injustices they need to think critically and participate meaningfully in our contemporary society. Fulfill your role as an educational institution in addressing the uncomfortable truths of racism and giving students the skills for larger scale discourse within our communities and our nation. Listen to and amplify the voices of your historically unheard students, and show rather than just tell them their safety, wellbeing, intellect, and talents are valued.  Now is the time to take action. We urge you to carefully review the actions we have proposed, and work closely with students and the community to immediately begin to implement them.  Sincerely,  MVLA Alumni, Students, Parents, Teachers, and Community Members.   1 Chavez, Nicole. “A Movement to Push Police out of Schools Is Growing Nationwide. Here Is Why.” CNN, Cable News Network, 28 June 2020, www.cnn.com/2020/06/28/us/police-out-of-schools-movement/index.html Harrington, Theresa. “Oakland School Board Unanimously Agrees to Eliminate Its Police Force.” EdSource, EdSource, 25 June 2020, edsource.org/2020/oakland-school-board-unanimously-agrees-to-eliminate-its-police-force/6 2 https://www.justicevanguard.org 3 https://www.chalkbeat.org/2020/6/8/21284538/police-security-guards-schools-black-white-students-racism 4  Bojórquez, Kim. “California's Sanctuary Law Upheld by Supreme Court. Here's What It Means.” Sacbee, The Sacramento Bee, 15 June 2020, www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article243546072.html 5 Bojórquez, Kim. “California's Sanctuary Law Upheld by Supreme Court. Here's What It Means.” Sacbee, The Sacramento Bee, 15 June 2020, www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article243546072.html

Recently, Bellevue, ID Deputy Marshal Nate Silvester was called out and exposed for his racially insenstive, unprofessional, and dangerous posts made under his "nateswildn" TikTok account which included skits mocking the seriousness of police killings, rants defending the murder of unarmed black men, and the promotion of mob violence. When members of the public brought this to the attention of his superiors, he was suspended without pay and placed under investigation. In response, a friend of the officer started him a GoFundMe which originally stated:"I just don’t want to see my friend lose out on any money for this, when it was meant to be satirical... Please donate what you can contribute." As blind "Pro-Police" donations started flooding in and the initial goal of $150K reached, the campaign goal was upped to $200K with the following update:"Nate is beside himself!!... He has decided to donate a portion to the charity The First Responders Children’s Foundation, a charity for the families of fallen officers and first responders. Therefore, I’m upping the goal again!" Yet, the recipient of the funds still shows Nate Sylvester. If the GoFundMe is for a non-profit, the funds should be going straigh to the non-profit, not through an officer being investigated for midconduct! Less than 24 hours after this first edit, the campaign reached nearly $250K and the goal was upped again to $500K with another concerning update from the organizer which reads: "Please know how much I appreciate all of your donations!! As I have mentioned these additional funds will go to support Nate and many other officers through a new non-profit focused on police advocacy."  This update was paired with a TikTok Video message from now suspended Officer Nate Sylvester pledging to use the funds to start a "new non profit advocacy organization" for police with little to no other details on what this organization would do or how the funds would be used.  ALL OF THIS has occured as it has now been brough to light that Officer Nate Sylvester was himself involved in the disturbing 2009 killing of a man named Randy J. Holler Jr., during which Sylvester and four other officers fired TWENTY ROUNDS at Holler as he stood in the middle of parking lot sending MULTIPLE rounds into nearby parked cars and at least one entirely unaccounted for!  IS THIS THE KIND OF DANGEROUS POLICING "WILD" NATE SYLVESTER'S NEW NON PROFIT WILL SUPPORT AND ADVOCATE FOR?  GoFundMe has always required strict transparency regarding how funds will be used but has now allowed this suspended officer and his friends to raise THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS that may very well be used to advocate for police officers who engage in brutal and lethal conduct. This Campaign benefitting Nate Sylvester is not only in violation of GoFundMe's own Terms of Service but also out of synch with the company's own pledge to "Supporing Justice + Equality" made in the weeks following George Floyd's murder by Minneapolis police which was paired with a statment from CEO Tim Cadogen: "The issues people are voicing are deep-rooted and require meaningful change. We understand that to drive change we must get involved and take action. To help drive that change, today we’ve created the Justice + Equality Fund to support organizations and people that are dedicated to addressing both urgent needs and systemic problems... We are committed to a sustained effort to create change and look forward to working with you to help our society become more equitable.” This was obviously nothing but a gaslit pledge designed to allow GoFundMe to profit off of systemic oppression.  So long as GoFundMe faciliates this fundraiser, it should no longer be trusted to host fundraisers for racial and social justice.  SIGN THIS PETITION: DEMAND GOFUNDME REFUND ALL MONIES COLLECTED BY OFFICER SYLVESTER THUS FAR AND CANCEL HIS CAMPAIGN, CEASING ANY FURTHER INVOLVEMENT OR SUPPORT. PLEDGE TO REMOVE YOUR OWN CAMPAIGNS FROM AND CEASE ALL FURTHER DONATIONS THROUGH GOFUNDME FOR ANY ENDEAVOR SHOULD THE SITE CONTINUE TO HOST OFFICER SYLVESTER'S DISGUSTING PLATFORM.  Find GoFundMe alternatives HERE!

To the Mayor and City Council of Northampton, We, the undersigned residents of Northampton, are deeply concerned that Mayor Narkewicz and the City Council are willfully ignoring a clear path to creating a safer, more inclusive city. The Policing Review Commission, which the mayor and City Council created only last year, called for at least $882,000 for the creation of the new Department of Community Care in its first year. Yet, only $424,000 has been budgeted for this vital Department based on compassion and non-coercive support as opposed to control and punishment To design and implement the Department for Community Care, we need an advisory board and team of fairly compensated individuals with lived experience that represent the communities most impacted by policing – which is impossible to achieve without adequate funding. The Commission has recommended, and we the undersigned urge the Mayor and City Council to replace armed police as the only option for emergency response with a Department of Community Care. Fully funding the Department for Community Care would mean that peer responders would be on call to handle emergencies within the community. Peer responders will be unarmed and trained in de-escalation, harm reduction, and would connect individuals with supports in the City outside of carceral options.  The Department of Community Care would center healing responses, minimize harmful power imbalances that often exacerbate emotional distress, and incorporate critical learning from a host of similar initiatives across the nation.  Often, people have no option but to call the police when they need help. The Department of Community Care must be fully funded in order to be fully staffed to provide multiple types of responders to community needs. To build these systems, we need a team of experts directing peer-led non-coercive crisis response systems. The Mayor’s current proposed budget for the Department of Community Care  is only $442,000, which only covers a director, a part-time administrative support staffer, and department start-up costs. Given the scope of work required to build a thriving Department of Community Care, inadequate funding would set the new Department up to fail. Let us not forget that the City Council resolved to have the department up and running by FY2023. A single underpaid full time staff member with a difficult job and the support of only one part time admin assistant will not be likely to create the department we need by FY2023. The Mayor himself vowed to follow the recommendations of the Commission: “I would say that if we move forward in this process and we identify things that will require funding in order to effectuate it, I would put forward that funding. If I was part of a process to determine what sort of reforms or changes are needed, I would put forward the request to make it happen. That’s been my, if you look at my track record in terms of when I, when we spend time studying issues, whether it’s, you know, looking at our parking system, and there’s a set of recommendations about technology we should be buying, I’ve sort of systematically gone through and followed those recommendations and requested the funding to pay for the technology….That would be my commitment, that if we come up with solutions, we would come up with the funding and do it.”  Mayor Narkewicz, June 10th, 2020, City Council Meeting The Policing Review Commission has come up with clear solutions, and now we must fully fund those solutions. We will not stand for hollow words from white elected officials, we demand actual, substantive action, and fully funding the new Department of Community Care by at least $882,000. We must begin to build an anti-racist Northampton by investing in human needs, creating a safer, more inclusive Northampton, investing in long term structural change and drawing from local wisdom and practices of peer-led responses to people in distress to fund new peer-led emergency responses.   We must listen to and act on the recommendations and insights of the organizers who are working to envision a future that invests in real community safety. We demand that the City Council and Mayor fully fund the Department of Community Care by at least $882,000 to respect the varied needs of all our residents and create a city where no more harm is ever inflicted on Black, brown, and people of color.