Dear friends, It’s been a busy week for the Coalition. Check out some of the work we’ve been doing!
On Monday 1/17, the Data Driven Policing Work Group introduced some new folks to our work. We went over the various fights the work group is engaged in and discussed our next steps for these fights.
Tuesday’s 1/18 webinar was a free-flowing discussion around infiltration and the repression of political movement. Attendees discussed the history of infiltration within movement spaces and current efforts on the federal and local level to suppress political dissent. We also discussed the role of academics and nonprofits as infiltrators, co-opting the work of community-based organizers to enact the will of the state.
The webinar also included a call to action around the Targeted Violence Terrorism Prevention (TVTP) grant that was awarded to LAPD this past September. The LAPD intends to use the grant to grow their PATHE program. The Coalition in partnership with our comrades at the Palestinian Youth Movement and Vigilant Love have already started mobilizing against this harmful program that targets Black, Muslim, Indigenous, and Immigrant communities.
We released an organizational sign on letter with our affinity partners at Black Lives Matter Los Angeles, Students Deserve, Vigilant Love, and the Black Alliance for Just Immigration. You can read our letter at tinyurl.com/RejectTVTP. If your organization would like to sign on to our letter email us at [email protected].
The team has also created a petition individuals can sign onto that will email city council members demanding they reject TVTP. You can find the petition at tinyurl.com/RejectTVTVPPetition.
On Wednesday 1/19, the War on Youth work group met to continue strategizing around combatting TVTP in Los Angeles. We also continued the development of popular education tools that will be released in the near future.
On Thursday, the Coalition presented virtually to Reclaim Our Schools LA, a collective of educators, parents, and community members advocating for students within LAUSD. The Coalition discussed our history and the findings in our report Automating Banishment. We look forward to engaging with more community members.
On Friday, the Coalition continued our work analyzing the base budget documents we successfully obtained from the LAPD through a lawsuit. The Defund Surveillance working group has been analyzing these documents in collaborations with members of Black Lives Matter Los Angeles. To join this or any of the work groups listed above, email us at [email protected] .
Join us on Tuesday January 25th at 6pm as we continue Part 2 of Stop LAPD Spying Coalition’s online series of community conversations for collective learning, analysis, sharing, and building on our report Automating Banishment: The Surveillance and Policing of Looted Land. The Coalition will be placing in person teach-ins on hold while we monitor the spread of Covid.
To plug in with the mapping group or any of the work groups listed above, email us at [email protected].
If you or your organization are interested in hosting a teach-in or discussion regarding our report please fill out this google form.