October 22: National Protest Against The Police Stateselfnews Post Shooting pets, tasering kids, no-knock SWAT raids, raping, pillaging you name it and it will only get worse until people have the courage to take action in huge numbers and put a stop to this madness that has been tolerated for way too long. The October 22 Coalition to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation has been mobilizing every year since 1996 for a National Day of Protest on October 22, bringing together those under the gun and those not under the gun as a powerful voice to expose the epidemic of police brutality. Please view their videos below and find a location to participate. The Coalition also works on the Stolen Lives Project, which documents cases of killings by law enforcement nationwide the second edition of their book documents only the tip of the iceberg with 2,000 confirmed cases. According to the Coalition, 2014 has been particularly bad with 800 documented cases. The full statement from the Coalition is as follows: The Call for the 19th National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization On the eve of the 19th annual National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation, a defiant new spirit is in the air. In Ferguson, Missouri, people continue to rise up in outrage against the killing of Mike Brown, an unarmed 18-year-old Black youth who was just days away from starting college. Despite the rapid and ruthless militarization of the town by racist police and the National Guard, people defied curfews, tear gas, rubber bullets, and calls for a return to business-as-usualand oppression-as-usualby protesting and rebelling for ten consecutive, sweltering nights in August. Thousands from around the country gathered in Ferguson this past weekend to stand in solidarity with the brave people of Ferguson. These are the moments where the decades of racist abuse, criminalization, and police terror at the hands of this system came crashing against fearless resistance from the very people it seeks to control, inspiring justice-seeking people not just nationwide, but around the world. The National Day of Protest was founded to oppose exactly these kinds of abuses. This year, in big cities and small towns, in the face of police brutality, repression, mass incarceration and the criminalization of youth we say, Let the spirit of Ferguson ignite hearts nationwide with an uncompromising passion for justice! In the United States, this year has seen a litany of state violence, with increasing documentation and coverage making these ongoing atrocities more difficult to deny. Over 800 people have been killed by law enforcement nationwide, at least 200 since Mike Brown, and at least 23 people in one week. Although police criminalization of and violence against women and transgender people is nothing new, they have become more newsworthy of late. There seems to be no level too low for law enforcement to stoop in their violence, whether it is against children and young teens, the elderly, the deaf, or those who are emotionally or mentally distressed. In New York City, the era of mass criminalization of Black and brown communities through stop and frisk was supposed to be over thanks to the election of a supposedly progressive mayor. What de Blasio brought instead though, was the return of William Bratton, the architect of Stop and Frisk! Brattons highly oppressive broken windows style of policing, in which the smallest crimes are aggressively policed, has already led to an increase in police brutality and public mistrust. In this year, NYPDs use of Broken Windows has led to the highly publicized chokehold death of beloved community member Eric Garner, the beating of an 84-year-old immigrant man for allegedly jaywalking, a chokehold on a 7-month pregnant woman for barbecuing in front of her home, a young man kicked in the head while lying on the ground handcuffed, numerous people beaten for falling asleep on the subway, a raid of Harlem housing projects, and numerous other atrocities. Even some of the most well-known cultural aspects of New York are under attack, as subway performers are being arrested at astonishing rates simply for trying to earn a living as they have been doing for decades. Meanwhile, the same City Council that voted so strongly for police reforms earlier this year has remained silent in the midst of a new progressive administration, lifting their voices only to cry out for 1,000 more cops! We have seen other attempts at creating some modicum of accountability being thwarted or ineffective, such as the gutting of civilian oversight mechanisms and useless federal investigations of police departments by the U.S. Department of Justice, while those who document police misconduct are under attack. But we applaud the different ways that people have risen up and persevered. Law enforcement departments across the country have come to use on a routine basis the exertion of military enforcement and control in communities that are deemed a social disturbance. Although there has been a long history of the militarization of police, the revelation of just how much military weaponry has been supplied to local law enforcement by the Pentagon and how the uprising in Ferguson was dealt with are a sobering reminder of the capabilities of law enforcement to exert standing army-like control over the population of non-combatant civilians. It also would be a moral crime to ignore the fact that the intensification of police arms and enforcement is borne out of the desire, on behalf of the state, to quell the expression of people of color in their demands for justice. Through the unabated organizing and pressure from the people, we can rejoice over the release of political prisoners Lynne Stewart and Eddie Conway (and hopefully soon Sundiata Acoli), but we must continue our fight for the many political prisoners who continue to be unjustly locked up, along with the hundreds of thousands imprisoned for non-violent offenses due to discriminatory practices in the criminal justice system. The U.S. has the highest number of prisoners in the world, incarcerating almost one-third of the worlds female prisoners, and having more than 60% of prisoners being people of color still a minority of this nations population. Despite solitary confinement being internationally designated as torture, over 80,000 languish in such conditions, including some as young as 16. Solitary confinement led to a death sentence for some, and more egregious evidence of torture in prisons are now coming to light. This brazen inhumanity is exemplified by border patrols abuse of immigrant children seeking safety within our borders, and the warehousing and deportation of literally millions of immigrants by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Under such a corrupt system, no imprisonments are legitimate! The Call for a Month of Resistance to Mass Incarceration, Police Terror, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation declares that this will not stop unless and until millions of people, of all nationalities, stand up and say NO MORE, in unmistakable terms. The history of this and every other country shows that without struggle, there can be no positive change; but with struggle this kind of change becomes possible. October 22nd is a day that people around the nation have mobilized every year since 1996 for a National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation. It is crucial that we bring forward a powerful National Day of Protest in cities and towns across the U.S. to challenge the ongoing violence against the people. This October 22nd, stand with thousands across the country to express our collective outrage, creativity, and resistance in response to the crimes of this system. Learn more about the history and mission of the October 22nd coalition here: Facebook page: Stop Mass Incarceration: Find Your Local Place of Action Below Last updated 21 October 2014. Information is posted as it is received, so check later if your area is not listed yet contacts for areas with actions in previous years are included when this years details have not yet been sent in. Please email oct22national@gmail.com if you know of an action that is not listed below or if any corrections need to be made and to send reports of your protest! ANYWHERE WITH PHONE ACCESS ARIZONA ARKANSAS CALIFORNIA Central Valley, California Fresno, California Hayward, California Los Angeles, California 7:00PM Candlelight Vigil for the 3rd Angelversary of Michael Nida II Oakland/Bay Area, California Oxnard, California Redding, California Redwood Curtain, California Riverside, California Sacramento, California Salinas, California San Bernardino, California San Diego, California 6:30PM Rally at City Heights/Weingart Library and Performance Annex, 3795 Fairmount Avenue San Francisco, California 12:00PM Bay Area-wide Walk Out Rally at San Francisco City Hall 4:00PM Spoken Word Open Mic commemorating the anniversary of the founding of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense and the National Day of Protest Against Police Brutality at Auntie Aprils Chicken Waffles, 4618 3rd Street 5:00PM Speakout and Press conference at the SF Police Department Military Equipment Center, Deharo Street and 17th Street 6:00PM Join with Alex Nieto supporters to speak out at the SF Police Commission Meeting at Balboa High School, Green Room, 1000 Cayuga Street San Jose, California Santa Ana, California Santa Clara, California San Rosa, California COLORADO Fort Collins, Colorado CONNECTICUT New Haven, Connecticut DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 6:30PM Corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SE and Howard Road SE FLORIDA Lake Worth, Florida Miami, Florida GEORGIA HAWAII IDAHO ILLINOIS Chicago, Illinois 12:00PM Rally at Daley Plaza (Washington and Dearborn), followed by march 6:00PM Silent protest at 11th District Police Station/Court Building, 3151 West Harrison Street Rockford, Illinois INDIANA IOWA Iowa City, Iowa KANSAS KENTUCKY Louisville, Kentucky LOUISIANA MARYLAND MASSACHUSETTS Boston, Massachusetts 12:00PM Gather at Harvard University Science Center, corner of Kirkland and Oxford Street Cambridge, Massachusetts Lynn, Massachussetts Springfield, Massachussetts MICHIGAN East Lansing, Michigan Kalamazoo, Michigan MINNESOTA 6:30PM Rally at North Commons Park, Golden Valley Road Morgan Avenue North, followed by march Twin Cities, Minnesota MISSOURI Kansas City, Missouri St. Louis, Missouri NEVADA NEW JERSEY Montclair, New Jersey Newark, New Jersey Union County, New Jersey NEW MEXICO Santa Fe, New Mexico NEW YORK Buffalo, New York Long Island, New York New York, New York 2:00PM Rally in front of bookstore at Lehman College (near Gate 2 from Gouldon Avenue) in the Bronx White Plains, New York NORTH CAROLINA Greensboro, North Carolina 5:00PM Rally at Corner of Florida Street and Freeman Mill Road, across from Smith Homes community Raleigh, North Carolina OHIO Cleveland, Ohio Dayton, Ohio OKLAHOMA OREGON PENNSYLVANIA Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania SOUTH CAROLINA TENNESSEE 8:00PM Rally at Harris-Johnson Mark, across from Howard School TEXAS Dallas, Texas Houston, Texas San Antonio, Texas UTAH VIRGINIA Richmond, Virginia WASHINGTON Seattle, Washington 5:00PM Seattle Central College at 1701 Broadway SOLIDARITY ACTIONS CANADA Quebec NEW ZEALAND *Important Please keep in mind that these types of demonstrations are ripe for infiltration by agents provocateurs. Stay vigilant for anyone promoting offensive violence in order to discredit legitimate protest and activism. Assemble en masse, demand reform, and pursue justice. 