OUR DEMANDS
LAW ENFORCEMENT
We demand an end to the disproportionate targeting of Black people by law enforcement during the protest. We demand an end to the systematic profiling and abuse of Black people by the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Department, City Police Departments, and California Highway Patrol. We demand an end to the egregious racial profiling by law enforcement that is the reality in Sonoma County1. We demand an END to being tailed and stopped by law enforcement for NO REASON other than driving while Black. We demand an END to the intimidation tactics of community organizers such as drive-bys, menacing phone calls, and arbitrary stops2. We demand a thorough investigation of all law enforcement jurisdictions to identify and permanently REMOVE all active and affiliated white supremacists from employment3, utilizing investigation of social media content, tattoos and displayed images of white supremacist alignment such as stickers and flags. We demand the REMOVAL of any police chief or sheriff who harbors known white supremacists in their officer ranks. We demand the implementation of the 21 Recommendations created by the Independent Office of Law Enforcement Review and Outreach in all Sonoma County Police Departments and the Sheriff’s Office5. We demand that ALL law enforcement jurisdictions and city municipalities adopt the eight points of the 8toabolition reforms:
1. Defund the Police
2. Demilitarize Communities
3. Remove Police From Schools
4. Free People from Prisons and Jails
5. Repeal Laws That Criminalize Survival
6. Invest in Community Self-Governance
7. Provide Safe Housing for Everyone
8. Invest in Care, Not Cops
This essential transformation of American society is required to achieve “the strategic importance of non-reformist reforms, or measures that reduce the scale, scope, power, authority, and legitimacy of criminalizing institutions. We also recognize carceral agents’
constant attempts to co-opt and rebrand abolition through the language of harm reduction, as we are currently witnessing with the #8CantWait campaign. We envision
abolition as not only a matter of tearing down criminalizing systems such as police and
prisons that shorten the lives of Black, brown, and poor people, but also a matter of
building up life-sustaining systems that reduce, prevent, and better address harm. We seek
a reparations model, wherein our communities that have been harmed by policing and
mass criminalization for centuries are given their due from every corporation and
institution that has profited from policing.” 6 Create a website that collects data on officers
and investigates their past violations so that they may be handled correctly. We can also
decide whether we want to target certain city councils in certain areas to coordinate certain
reform/revolution efforts.
Possible Create a subcommittee that will tackle the prison industrial complex
EDUCATION
We demand the immediate end to the disproportionate suspension and expulsion of Black students and the implicit bias in charging Black students with “willful defiance”7. We demand adequate mental health services and counseling for Black students at school. We demand at least two Black/African American counselors reflecting gender diversity. We demand an end to the oppressive presence of school resource officers8 on school campuses, who exhibit
racial bias and further criminalization of our children9. We demand an end to the lack of regard by school districts of the existing conditions of racism and lack of support that create
barriers to our youth accessing their secondary and higher education aspirations. In 2014, the Santa Rosa National Association for the Advancement of Colored People(NAACP) gave the Santa Rosa School Board a D- for lack of Trust and Transparency, Institutional and Structural Racism, Cultural Competency, interpersonal Racism, and Inclusion. Things have not changed.
We demand the proactive incorporation of Black History education for our children that teaches them the unparalleled contributions and innovations of Black people, instead of a stilted view of our people through the narrow lens of slavery. We demand cultural competence in literary curricula and an end to texts which reinforce anti-Blackness, white saviorism, and enable teachers and students to use racial slurs in the classroom setting. We demand more Black teachers. We demand the board dedicate “ Funding teacher residencies—partnerships between districts and universities
training to teach in high-need schools and in high-demand subject areas. Implementing Grow Your Own programs at the district level that recruits teacher candidates from nontraditional populations (e.g., high school students, paraprofessionals, and after-school program staff). States can support these programs through university-based partnerships and other financial and programmatic policies and support.”11 We demand that racist and white supremacist students be stopped from their widespread, normalized abuse of Black students. We demand a Zero Tolerance Policy charter be integrated into every school’s policy and student handbook, prohibiting racism and bigotry, and be capable of identifying most types of racism. We Demand teachers create a safe environment for Black Students. We demand schools to inform students at least two times per year of their Title VI rights, district responsibilities, and whom to correspond with to file a complaint. We demand a Committee made up of Sonoma County Black Coalition members, teachers, students, and administrators to carry out the study and execution of these demands. This committee will also make up a list of Black and African Centered literature and pedagogical techniques other teachers can adopt and will be surveyed at the end of each year to ensure the usage of African American Studies is implemented in every class. This committee will have the 4 months of the Fall Semester to come up with specific rules to be enacted pertaining to each school and have them beginning implementation in 2021 Spring School Year. We demand that all schools uphold Title VI civil rights protections for students and that principals, superintendents, and teachers pledge to rid their schools of Anti-Blackness. Anti-Blackness training must be required and available voluntarily at all professional development events. Student groups such as the Black Student Unions, NAACP, and active Alumni should be reached out to conduct these workshops, in addition to experts on racial bias, unconscious bias, and anti-blackness. We demand the immediate and permanent removal of any and all public displays of the Confederate flag, plaques and/or statues commemorating the Confederacy on all school campuses and government sites countywide.
SCHOOL to PRISON PIPELINE
Black youth disproportionately make up a majority of the youth in Sonoma County’s Juvenile Hall. We demand an end to the disproportionate incarceration of Black youth in Juvenile Hall and the creation of restorative, trauma-informed, and comprehensive educational programs to exit Black students from this system by June 2021. We demand the closure of the juvenile hall and an end to the criminalization of our youth
Black Mental Health
We demand free counseling and trauma therapy for Black people who have been harmed by racist oppression and police brutality in Sonoma County. School counselors must
coordinate with the Sonoma County Public Health Office to make available therapists and counselors of Black/African American descent and of other ethnic communities. Individuals arrested and incarcerated by way of protesting for social justice causes or other infractions should also be given the right to be seen by a therapist or psychiatrist that reflects their Black/African American cultural identity. Provide housing for individuals that are homeless
and provide resources for people to get back on their time.
ECONOMICS
We demand the immediate formation of a Steering Committee on slavery reparations in Sonoma County for the descendants of slavery who reside in the County of Sonoma. We demand a thorough investigation into the intergenerational effects of widely utilized Jim Crow tactics such as redlining, discriminatory hiring practices, loan denials, sundown policies and others. This committee would also allocate funding to Black-owned businesses in Sonoma County, startups, micro-loans, and scholarships for high school, college, and university students. We demand to start a Black Business Initiative. These funds would also be allocated for emergency grants, rent subsidies, first time home buyers, and any other relevant cause deemed imperative for the Black Community by the Steering Committee. We support diverting tax revenue from sources such as cannabis sales to go directly to a Reparations Fund as Evanston, Illinois has done. This fund would be led by an appointed Steering Committee, made up of 3 Members from the Sonoma County Black Coalition,
