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Black Lives Matter of Greater Burlington delivered the following statement in front of a crowd of over a thousand people protesting the murder of George Floyd, and the countless other Black people killed by police. Dismiss! Disarm! Disband the police! The whole damn system is guilty as hell.

Here we are once again, gathered after injustice, after horrifying injustice. Once again, a new stream of bodies reaching back before Emmett Till, now lay before us!

Say their names! Repeat after me!

Ahmaud Aubrey – Ahmaud Aubrey. He was jogging in his neighborhood in Georgia on February 23 when he was killed in a shooting after being chased by Gregory and Travis McMichael, a father and son.

Breonna Taylor – Breonna Taylor. She was sleeping in her bed in Kentucky on March 13 when she was killed by being shot 8 times by plainclothes officer Brett Hankison.

George Floyd – George Floyd. He was buying groceries in Minnesota on May 25th when he was killed by officer Derek Chauvin putting his knee to Floyd’s neck for 8 minutes. There were 2 other officers involved.

Tony McDade – Tony McDade. He was outside of an apartment complex in Florida on May 27th when he was shot by a white police officer.

It should be clear by now, that the police is a violent institution, utterly resistant to reform. It should be easy for you to understand why you shouldn’t call the police on black people. If you’re standing here after all this, and you still don’t get that by calling the police on a black person for dumb, petty reasons, that you have signed on for that person to be murdered; we’re done talking to you.

The murder of black people by the police state and their white citizen handmaidens has been ongoing for actual centuries. We do not have the capacity for people who do not listen.

Which Side Are You On? Which Side Are You On?

To the white people who feel anxious and unsafe about coming to protests and riots – CHOOSE A SIDE!

This isn’t the first time that this has happened. Which side did you take during the Rodney uprising? Which side did you take during the Baltimore uprising? Were you nuiance trolling travon martin’s lynching? Which side are you on when Black and brown people have feared police violence and violence from racist white people for the history of this country?. Enough of this liberal “we like Black lives”, “that we agree with you in the goal you seek, but cannot agree with your methods of direct action”– no more fence sitting.

Which side are you on, for real?

If a white woman is having a really bad day and wants to call the police, she could, and another black life would be snuffed outYou could be a birdwatcher in Central Park and a woman could threaten to call the police and say “there’s an African American man threatening my life” because you asked her to leash her dog — as if the police is her personal assassination squad. Black people have to live with this, every damn day.

Which Side Are You On?

What happens in MN isn’t another person’s problem, it’s our problem because it could happen to any of us, and it has. We have dealt with police violence here recently, and it has gone unaddressed — We demanded the termination of Officers Cory Campbell, Jason Bellavance, and Joseph Corrow from the Burlington Police Department this month, last year. Those people are still working in this police department. They are still working. They still have jobs. As police, with a gun, and the authority to stop, and use any level of violence as they deem fit.

Which Side Are You On?

The reason why people are rioting and why we’re protesting is because our sense of Black love within families and within friendships in Black community can be taken at any moment.

That if you are a Black person in this country you walk around with the constant knowledge that your life could be snuffed out for no God Damn reason.

Every day is a constant reminder that our lives and the lives of those we care about most could be gone the next instant.

Which Side Are You On?

To the Black folks who are here, we may be living in different housing and different communities, but we have suffered through this together and we have suffered through this long enough.

Black Liver Matter of Greater Burlington Hosted a (Re)Watch Party of:
Racial Justice Has No Borders: Militarization in a time of Pandemic

Town Hall Webinar

More than 1000 people joined the stream live on April 6^th, hosted by Marc Lamont Hill, Professor at Temple University. We had a small and engaged group watching the town hall and breaking out into discussions.

We watched sections of the Town Hall including three panels. Local activists and community members watched the panels together and engaged in discussion around the topics that arose and important take aways we noted.

Panel One:
Examining the Impact of The Militarism Here in the US and Abroad

Exploring the Crisis at Hand and the So Called ‘Solutions’ That are being Proposed 51:27 In this video.

Panelists:

• Hyun Lee – Women Cross DMZ and Korea Peace Now 
• Mahnker Dahneih- Organizer at Freedom Inc (Madison, Wisconsin)
• Melody McCurtis – Metcalfe Park Community Bridges (Milwaukee, Wisconsin)
• Hoda Katebi- No War ICampaign Iranian American Writer, Community Organizer (Chicago, Illinois)

One viewer loved that they identified the farcical nature of US rhetoric about the pandemic. Federal government seems to want to take on the pandemic with shiny new tanks, as Hoda said.

We need to try to unlearn how deep American exceptionalism is. It’s deeply embedded in the narrative.

How much there is to be diverted in terms of funding? Good that these women focused on how devastating US imperialism can be. For one viewer, this brought up quotes and writing by Audre Lorde, how similar things are now, and how we need to learn from the past.

Let’s look critically at how left leaning circles buy into this, how US exceptionalism and white supremacy permeates spaces.

USA military isn’t even its physical armies anymore. The empire maintained by fiscal control. US needs to shift to be a solidarity movement with international movements

Blockades & sanctions can be just as violent as armies. Cuba, Iran, Venezuela being shut out of fiscal systems because of Washington & London. Not able to sell resources and other countries fear working with US sanctioned countries.

Panel Two:
What are the harms of Militarism and what solutions are currently proposed?

1:15:26 In this video

Panelists

• Brittany DeBarros – About Face: Veterans Against War
• Krystal Two Bulls – Voices of the Sacred
• Khury Petersen-Smith -Institute for Policy Studies

They talked about how these systems were in place prior to crisis. It stood out when Krystal Two Bulls talked about how the government has criminalizing right to defend rights. Which systems are robust enough to remain post crisis? Krystal talking about militarizing police for the corporate profit. Look at how again and again, they prioritize corporate rights over people’s rights.

Relatives abroad and around the world are vulnerable. They are endangered because of corporate greed, we talked about this and asked, what does our country prioritize?

Reminder of that bumper sticker: “It will be a great day when our schools get all the money they need and the Air Force has to hold a bake sale to buy a bomber” What corporate interests are prioritized? Coke is so huge, not because Coke tastes good, but because the US forces it, supports it, also not able to drink safe water. Let’s not forget, profit reigns supreme even during pandemic.

When systems are not where they need to be to support everyone, it requires hero mentality, assuming people will have to step up versus making needed structural change.

Calling essential workers heroes to excuse not getting people hazard pay. Over and over again, we call them heroes but not give hazard pay. It’s so icky and messed up, look at how corporations embrace it – Applebees ads “thank you heroes”.

This displaces blame and promotes the savior mentality— this situation is not new. People who have access “help others” but end up displacing momentum – Basically fighting “Indian Wars” – when people become part of the army, already had own militia.

Don’t forget this history – the birth of US Police Force.  Andrew Jackson got start in fighting in Indian War— This is not new!!! Seminal combat experience fighting indigenous resistance as well as the Mexican American war. 

It can be hard to conceptualize a demilitarized future. Nothing really changes for tribes and recognition. Structurally things don’t change, but need too

Are we going to talk about black and brown and poor people are recruited into the military? History, structures and institutions. What structures are failing?

If indeed, we have collectively embraced notion of being essential right now – what does that mean? People who are essential have to support these failing systems. One viewer thought of times when workers were not wearing masks, they are essential enough to keep working, but not essential enough to be given masks. The narrative is powerful. Corporations like Dunkin Donut “keep America running” as slogan but are they really essential? What does this teach young workers when they are considered essential in this way?

Panel Three:
Why are these harms and failures really happening?

1:35:00 in this video

Panelists

• Reece Chenault – Justice Before Peace
• Barbara Ransby – Rising Majority
• Ramah Kudaimi – War Resisters League – Resisting Airwars Network

Our discussion began with the prompt – what can we envision for a more just future?

Thinking about what we are against and what we are showing up for. We have inherited this system. Neo liberalism and racial capitalism set us up for this crisis. When we do this right, mutual aid allows us to feel uplifted. Not doing for the clout, for social capital, but because of community. We talked about Global reparations, should that be a part of the conversation. Today, we don’t talk much about the beauty of all these countries only the wars. Foolishly, it’s perceived that America is the only country able to handle things. We forget or we see it erased, that every single day people sustain and survive across difference culture. We are stuck in a cyclical industry of destruction. Society wants us to buy into the idea that US needs to save people and help them survive (while simultaneously causing harm)

What can help people see past the empire they live in?

“People have a right to resist their regimes… to be free.”- Rahma Kudaimi

Can we rethink what it means to be in solidarity, no need for perfection and intense planning. People lose their lives in resistance, how do we acknowledge that struggle and how it is worth it? How do we look through US propaganda (what is grassroots revolution?)And how do we move past white supremacy culture that we are subject to and that is normalized in this country? 

Can we get out of the structures and have a different way of living that doesn’t marginalize others. Thinking back to earlier panel with US resource from other countries, start acknowledging that. We need to seeing that we are not an island

Can we have a socioeconomic system not based on zero sum game of invading others for resources and wealth?

Can we remove Roman empire style of wealth acquisition? Recognize this obsolete system and invest in a system not interested in hoarding. We may need the current collapse of supply system, we may need to go swimming in some different water

These panels help, it help to hear from voices of impacted people and community and learning together.

Black Lives Matter of Greater Burlington condemns the police brutality of the Burlington Police Department (BPD) – both the brutality shown in body camera footage released in the last week, and ongoing brutality that continues to go insufficiently recorded or documented. The footage from two police incidents on September 8th and September 9th, 2018 reveal unprovoked attacks by police officers on three Black men¹. These assaults, along with the homicide of Douglas Kilburn at the hands of one of the involved officers², make it clearer than ever that the BPD is bringing danger into our community. In fact the presence of officers Joseph Corrow, Jason Bellavance, and Cory Campbell still threatens the safety of our community today.

Police brutality is nothing new to the Burlington Police Department. We hold up these three officers, Corrow, Bellavance, and Campbell, as examples of the prevalence of violence and excessive use of force in BPD. Rather than being a few “bad apples,” they demonstrate a pattern of behavior that is indicative of not just the culture of violence and racial bias within the BPD, but also reflects that of the broader US culture. This pattern has resulted in similar incidents in other police departments across the nation, reflecting the deeper, unaddressed history of how the policing institution is an oppressive structure.

The legal system itself, which the police uphold, is designed to maintain the power dynamics that oppress primarily poor people of color in the United States. The first “police” in the United States included “slave patrols” who would chase down escaped slaves to return them to their white “owners.”³ Beyond the institution of slavery, examples include police upholding the “laws” by arresting Black people for things such as loitering, unemployment, and theft. Their forced labor was, and still is, used by the state in exploitative and dangerous convict leasing programs for state-owned and private companies.  

Although the narrative is that police are upholding laws to maintain an acceptable moral standard for society, this has never been the case and is certainly not the case today. Since the 1980s, the “War on Drugs” has given increasingly militarized police forces the license to search, seize, and turn over so-called offenders in the name of the law. Combined with the system of mass incarceration, this process has separated thousands of people from their families and communities, in addition to causing them bodily harm. This culture of white supremacy in which all US police officers are inevitably steeped becomes weaponized against black and brown people in moments of stress and escalation.

Here in Vermont, freedom is being legally taken away from people of color due to the over-policing, racial-profiling, inequitable detentions and court diversion options, as well as the “Rule of Law,” where multiple offenses lead to “no choice” arrests and prosecutions. There is little to no care or concern for the needs and wellness of “offenders,” including food, mental health, education, healing, and community restoration.  

The institution of the US police does not only kill and dehumanize marginalized groups and individuals repeatedly targeted by the police. Working for violently oppressive and dehumanizing systems harms and dehumanizes the officers themselves, as well as bystanders who witness violent police encounters. Just as the profession of coal mining often leads to severe illness, physical disability, and death, we argue that the profession of policing causes physical and mental harm, often resulting in unaddressed PTSD, domestic violence, and suicide⁴.  As such, our call is to take collective action to work toward minimizing the need for police officers, and ultimately eliminating the institution of police as we know it. Rather than working for reforms that embed police deeper in our society, such as more training and additional officers, we want police officers replaced with more social workers and other safer alternatives⁵.

Chief of Police Brandon Del Pozo argued in his press conference on May 3 that the BPD has taken more measures than other police departments to address excessive use of force and racial disparities in policing⁶. The measures he cited included implementing body cameras, as well as providing implicit bias and de-escalation training. Clearly, the additional training and equipment have not prevented violent encounters like the ones seen on the body camera footage from last September or the recent homicide of Douglas Kilburn. No amount of implicit bias or de-escalation training will change the role of the police or the effect of policing on targeted populations. More police officers, as Del Pozo has recommended, will not make our communities safer.

It is obvious to anyone watching the videos that body slamming, shoving, and forcing people to the ground is not morally acceptable. Although police have a position of power that allows them to commit violence legally, their consistent patterns of violence against poor people and people of color is not acceptable or justified. We cannot rely on the rule of law, which values “law and order” over human lives, to give us our moral code. We also cannot trust the laws to protect us from the people who enforce them. Instead, we must hold our community leaders accountable for introducing improved systems that truly achieve justice and do not rely on the broken system of policing.

In addition to the need for structural change, those of us who are not police officers or part of the legal “justice” system must commit to community advocacy to end police brutality, eliminate the need for policing as we know it, and implement alternatives that increase safety in our community.  We must all take responsibility for how we interact with these institutions and each other. This includes seeing and acknowledging the risk of violent and irreversible outcomes of calling the police, particularly for Black people, and “thinking twice” before making that call. We must consider, who is really in more danger? Because of local and national histories of abuse, it is necessary to instill and maintain a healthy suspicion of police departments. We know that we cannot abolish the police overnight. Therefore, our question is: what can be done now to ultimately help decrease the number of police and substitute healthier and safer alternatives for justice in our communities? Our demands are as follows:

1. We demand the termination of Officers Cory Campbell, Jason Bellavance, and Joseph Corrow from the Burlington Police Department, as they are a threat to the safety of the community. They have displayed a pattern of violence without provocation or just cause, particularly targeted towards Black men.
2. We demand these officers not be re-hired by another state or local department or agency in Chittenden County. Their abuse of power demonstrates that they are unsafe and should not be in any position of governmental authority in the county.
3. We demand that all police operating in Chittenden County wear and consistently use body cameras, and that the free release of that footage to the public become mandatory. This includes the local police departments, the sheriff’s office, and the Vermont State Police that have jurisdiction over towns that do not have a local police force.
4. We demand that the Burlington Police Department halt the hiring of new officers, and instead employ more social workers for the community. What our community needs is more support, not more violence. As the police officers of the BPD have shown an inability to de-escalate and an instinct of violence, their presence does not promote safety in our community.

Dear Community Members, please stand with us by signing this petition:
https://www.change.org/p/burlington-police-department-call-for-the-termination-of-burlington-police-officers-corrow-bellavance-and-campbell

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¹ https://www.sevendaysvt.com/OffMessage/archives/2019/05/03/violence-caught-on-camera-leads-to-brutality-claims-against-burlington-cops

² https://vtdigger.org/2019/04/10/death-burlington-man-punched-police-officer-ruled-homicide/

³ https://plsonline.eku.edu/insidelook/brief-history-slavery-and-origins-american-policing

⁴ https://bluehelp.org/service/statistics/

⁵ https://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/news/2017/05/12/burlington-expand-police-force-1st-time-15-years/101466726/

⁶ https://www.facebook.com/OneNorthAvenue/videos/616638715468895

Governor Phil Scott
109 State Street, Montpelier, VT 05609

Sent via email to:
Attorney General T.J. Donovan
109 State Street, Montpelier, VT 05609

March 18th, 2019

Re: Call for an independent and transparent inquiry into Bennington criminal justice system

Dear Governor Scott and Attorney General Donovan,

We, the undersigned organizations, are calling for a public inquiry into Bennington law enforcement practices following revelations that Bennington officials failed to disclose evidence directly related to the safety of Kiah Morris and her family to investigators with the Attorney General’s office.

Five months after the Attorney General declared a “breakdown in Bennington” and weeks after the revelations about evidence being withheld from investigations were made public, the people of Bennington are no closer to an understanding of exactly what happened, who in Bennington was aware of key evidence that had not been provided or acted on, or whether additional information was withheld from investigators. This is absolutely unacceptable.

The Town of Bennington has denied all wrongdoing, while at the same time agreeing to hire an outside law enforcement expert to investigate further. Any such investigation must be prompt, independent, transparent, and thorough. Additionally, it must encompass not only Bennington law enforcement’s policies and procedures, but also past and existing practices system-wide—including but not limited to Bennington PD. Anything less will be unacceptable.

Finally, because the Town of Bennington should not be given sole responsibility for an investigation of itself, we call for an additional, independent inquiry by state officials responsible for responding to allegations of bias and discrimination. In recent years, Vermont has passed multiple laws at addressing systemic racism – now is the time to show such initiatives were not merely symbolic and that the state is in fact committed to rooting out structural inequality and injustice wherever it exists.

Sincerely,

ACLU of Vermont
AFT-VT
Black Lives Matter of Greater Burlington
Central Vermont Showing Up for Racial Justice
Constitutional Council of Accountability with Law Enforcement
Disability Rights Vermont
Elevate Justice 110
Fed Up Vermont
Green Mountain Crossroads
Green Mountain Solidarity with Palestine
Justice for All
LGBTQIA Alliance of Vermont
MoveOn Manchester
Middlebury Showing Up for Racial Justice
Migrant Justice
Peace & Justice Center
Planned Parenthood Vermont Action Fund
Rights & Democracy
Rutland Area NAACP
The Root Social Justice Center
Transition Town Manchester
Upper Valley Showing Up for Racial Justice
Vermonters for Criminal Justice Reform
Vermonters for Justice in Palestine
Women’s March Vermont
Windham County NAACP

An Open Letter from Vermont POC Racial Justice Community Organizers, Leaders, & Activists

Black Lives Matter of Greater Burlington stands in solidarity with Migrant Justice in the fight against ICE and Border Patrol. We recognize that their struggle is our struggle and we are united in this fight.

Our vision of the Greater Burlington area is one where black folks can thrive bodily, socially, and economically. This cannot become a reality as long as our comrades are being targeted, monitored, and deported. This cannot become a reality as long as immigrants are criminalized and terrorized by ICE, border patrol, and our militarized police force. We join Migrant Justice in demanding #Not1More deportation and an end to the targeting of immigrants.

The Black Lives Matter movement has its origins in part in the struggle against the over-policing and monitoring of black folks. As more police officers enter our schools, and more canines and tactical gear enter our police departments, one must ask: Who is it that they are hunting? This excessive and growing police presence, coupled with increasingly militarized officers in areas with higher black and brown populations in Vermont is a thinly-veiled tactic to oppress and control people of color in Vermont. Over-policing inevitably leads to racial profiling, violence, and over-incarceration, leaving us with 1 in 14 black men and a disproportionate number of hispanic and latino people incarcerated in Vermont.

Greg Zullo was left on the side of the road in Rutland to walk 8 miles home after a stop the officer claimed was for a registration sticker hidden by snow. Eli Calvo Cruz was accosted by ICE while standing outside of a gas station and was put back at risk of being deported after an immigration judge agreed that he posed no danger to his community and should not be deported. Meanwhile Christopher Hayden, who has a history of racially motivated aggravated assault, continues to directly threaten the wellbeing of people of color right here in the Greater Burlington area without accountability.

Law enforcement in Vermont consistently dehumanize people of color while forgiving and protecting violent and racist white people. Officers cannot operate in a racially just manner when our policing system has never strayed from its roots of returning the contraband of escaped slaves to their white “owners.” And to arm those within that system under the myth of objectivity, in a society steeped in racialized oppression, is something not even the best implicit bias “training” can overcome.

The criminalization of people of color in Vermont will not stop without a struggle. Migrant Justice has stopped deportations and freed immigrants from detention, fought tirelessly to hold dairy farm owners accountable to safer working conditions through the Milk with Dignity Campaign, worked towards the separation of the police from border patrol and ICE, and more. We support their work in fighting for the liberation of immigrants in Vermont.

We call on folks to stand in solidarity with Migrant Justice and demand #Not1More deportation and an end to the targeting of immigrants that is based in racism, xenophobia, and hatred because no human is illegal!

The White Caucus for Collective Liberation condemns the recent and ongoing harassment of Black Lives Matter of Greater Burlington People of Color Caucus organizer Jabari Jones by Burlington area white supremacist Christopher Hayden. Mr. Hayden has been using various tactics to threaten Mr. Jones’ safety and livelihood. During his well-documented history of harassment, intimidation, and violent assault, Hayden has targeted Vermont legislators, the Mayor of Burlington, and People of Color on Church Street. Hayden has been arrested for simple assault, charged with disturbing the peace with a hate crime enhancement multiple times, and continues to harrass Mr. Jones at his place of work via threatening phone calls regardless of the “No Trespass” order against him.

For many people of color, Vermont can be a hostile place to live. Under the guise of free speech, area white supremacists harass people of color in our community by leaving threatening flyers which promote white supremacy culture on people’s front doors. We have seen white supremacy culture rear its ugly head again and again in this community and in this state. Vermont State Representative Kiah Morris decided to step down from elected office due to death threats she continued to receive. Former Rutland mayor Chris Louras was voted out of office after formalizing a plan to assist in relocating Syrian refugees to Rutland. White supremacy group Patriot Front holds meetings in Vermont regularly without repudiation. The neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen spread flyers throughout Brattleboro this past summer. Local resident Sheldon Rheaume’s recent display of violence in Essex, VT was racially motivated. Vermont remains overwhelmingly white for a reason.

We, white people, accountable to people of color, are working towards a future where the Greater Burlington Area can be a place where all Black people can thrive bodily, socially, and economically. We are working to transform our community for our collective liberation, accountable to people of color, and with the increased use of political education and healing justice to embody a future where People of Color can thrive in Vermont. There is a clear racist, white supremacist culture present in Vermont. We must work to dismantle this culture and the systems that perpetuate it, through intentional, active organizing, as well as relationship building.

White Vermonters, we are calling on you. Face the reality that our community is unsafe for People of Color. You can no longer ignore the hatred and violence that exists on your streets and in your neighborhoods. Condemn this hatred, racism, and bigotry in our community. Actively resist through sustained and accountable organizing. Join us in dismantling the white supremacist culture and institutionalized racism so potent and present here in Vermont.

Contacts:
Drew Brooks, Coordinator, WCCL: [email protected]
Brian Clifford, Coordinator, WCCL: [email protected]
Sean Morrissey, Coordinator, WCCL: [email protected]
Emma Redden, Facilitator, WCCL: [email protected]